Here are my observations and opinions from my select news of the day.

SEN. CHARLES GRASSLEY (R-IA), is concerned, like me, that “the deep state is so deep that people get away with political crimes,” and that “(U.S. Attorney John) Durham should be producing some fruit of his labor,” warning that waiting until after November’s (election) contest might be too late.

During one of Attorney General Bill Barr’s recent interviews, he offered “sometime this summer” when we might expect the results of Durham’s investigation.  He cited the pandemic is slowing down interviews of witnesses.

While I understand Barr’s interest in keeping politics out of the date chosen for Durham’s report, the guilty parties spent three years in their political effort to end President Trump’s presidency.

I FOUND IT INTERESTING that one of the White House correspondents was critical of President Trump’s decision to order executive orders after complaining during his 2016 campaign of Barack Obama issuing so many executive orders.

Faced with the vacationing, do-nothing Democrat House that opposes anything that might make the president look good in an election period, Trump is doing what he can with his limited executive powers.

He issued eight orders last month, compared to 24 during the preceding five months.  Plans include for orders soon on bringing manufacturing jobs back from overseas, immigration and China.

SPEAKING OF MANUFACTURING, the Institute for Supply Management announced that its index of national factory activity jumped to a reading of 52.6 last month from 43.1 in May, the strongest since April 2019.  The factory employment measure rose to 42.1 from 32.1.

MORE STIMULUS? –  While negotiations between the White House and Congress to determine what will be included, like another round of stimulus checks and new business initiatives, President Trump continues to press for a payroll tax cut.

The Committee to Unleash Prosperity has indicated that the payroll tax cut would “disproportionately” help Blacks because they pay a higher share of income in payroll taxes due to earning levels.

The cut would lead to the creation of two to three million new jobs by curbing hiring costs for employers, according to the study. In addition, it could add one percentage point to economic growth.

UNBELIEVEABLY, the Black Lives Matter movement has migrated overseas with protests and the removal of statues.

The removal of a statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University’s Oriel College is under discussion after considerable demands by alums, including big donors. Oxford’s chancellor Chris Patten has called for a “sensible discussion” over the removal of the statue amid the destruction of other statues in Great Britain.

A letter, critical of the ancestry of Black students, purportedly sent to BLM protestors by Patten, was proven to be fabricated.  It found its way onto the Internet.

Rhodes, a politician, businessman and mining magnate, founded the DeBeers Consolidated Mining diamond firm, which used slave labor in 1888. He established the Cecil Rhodes Trust in 1902.  It provides scholarships to students from outside of Britain.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE – Fiona Onasanya, a Black Lives Matter activist and former member of the UK parliament, claims that Kellogg’s Rice Krispies is a racist cereal because it has “three white boys” as mascots, according to Rick Moran at PJ Media.

Further, she complained that Coco Puffs, made from essentially the same ingredients as Rice Krispies, has a monkey as a mascot.

“Sometimes, a monkey is just a monkey,” writes Moran. “And three little elves flitting over a bowl of Rice Krispies are just three little elves flitting over a bowl of Rice Krispies.  Not everything is a metaphor in life, just like everything isn’t a conspiracy.  Only the weak-minded and naïve believe otherwise.”

Someone responded to Onasanya’s attack with “Elves Lives Matter.”

GOING TO A NATIONAL PARK is now considered racist, because most of the people who go to a national park are white.

ABC NEWS recently tweeted @ABCNewsLive: “As millions of Americans escape home quarantine to the great outdoors this summer, they’ll venture into parks, campgrounds and forest lands that remain stubborn bastions of self-segregation.”

None of the Black people interviewed by ABC News could point to any specific instance of racism.

I’LL TAKE THE RISK of criticizing Illinois Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth, even though I respect her military service that left her as a double leg amputee.  Not only did she lie about the content of President Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech on CNN, she came out in favor of removing statues of George Washington saying, ”I think we should listen to the argument there.”

Incidentally, I understand she is being considered as running mate to Joe Biden. Now there’s a pair to draw to.

HOW ODD, patriotism wasn’t racist when former President Obama celebrated Independence Day, but since it was President Trump, known for being a super-patriot, his Mount Rushmore speech had to be attacked as racist.

It’s noteworthy that the words “white supremacy,” “racism,” and the mention of our founding fathers being slave-owners were not part of the Obama era celebrations.    Hmmmmm.

Stephen Green, writing in PJ Media, did a bit of research into Obama’s Independence Day remarks in 2014 and 2016:

“Those early patriots may have come from different backgrounds and different walks of life, but they were united by a belief in a simple truth: that we are all created equal, that we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (2014)

“How incredible – how incredibly lucky we are that people, generations ago, were willing to take up arms and fight for our freedom.” (2016)

“Those are lovely words, regardless of whether Obama actually believed in them or not,” wrote Green.

SOMETHING TO PONDER from Jim Treacher @jtLOL: “Modern journalism is all about deciding facts the public shouldn’t know because they might reflect badly on Democrats.”

May God continue to bless the United States of America.