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How do you measure strangeness?

I am at a complete loss over this issue … which deals with measuring political strangeness.

The past two election cycles produced campaigns that competed for the title of Weirdest Campaign in Political History. The 2016 campaign resulted in the fluke for the ages when Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College vote while garnering 3 million more votes than the nimrod who won.

Then came the next four years of chaos and confusion.

The 2020 election resulted in the aforementioned nimrod losing the White House to Joe Biden. Then the Liar in Chief refused to concede the election loss, depriving the president-elect of the “peaceful transition of power” that he deserved.

Those two elections were weird.

Now comes the third in a row. How in the world do we measure its bizarre quotient.

It’ll be the same two men, apparently, competing for the presidency. Joe Biden is the incumbent this time. His opponent will be the moron he defeated four years ago. Polls show the Republican challenger leading, but by the slimmest of margins.

Will these two men debate each other? Hah! I am not going to wait for that to occur. Because they likely won’t. And why is that?

Do you think the challenger wants to answer questions about the upcoming trials that await him? He has been charged with felonious conduct relating to (a) the theft of classified documents, (b) whether he incited the mob assault on the Capitol on 1/6 and (c) whether he interfered with the 2020 election by demanding that Georgia officials “find” enough votes to overturn that state’s 2020 presidential election result.

To be sure, President Biden has some walls to scale if he wants to be re-elected. He has to deal with the immigration crisis; he must find a solution to the war in Gaza; he needs to keep the heat on Russia as it continues its illegal war of aggression in Ukraine. The GOP challenger is making hay on the border crisis … but he has no solutions to offer.

Biden’s State of the Union speech the other evening was a stemwinder. He has set the table nicely for a spirited campaign. However, I hate the notion of this presidential election causing one to nibble on his or her nails.

It should be a cakewalk for the incumbent. The nature of the challenger’s hold on so many MAGA minions, though, lends a quality that, for my money, makes this race the weirdest of them all.

North Texas gripped by GOP ‘disease’

North Texas Republicans politicians appear to be suffering from the malady that has gripped the national Republican Party in the era of the 45th POTUS.

If they vote a certain way, or if they oppose certain high-profile pols, they become victims of the “primary disease” that spawns opponents within their own party.

I want to single out a couple of North Texas legislators who are fighting this intraparty squabble: Candy Noble and Jeff Leach.

Noble represents little ol’ me and my neighbors in Princeton. She has drawn fire from within her own party. Her “sin’? She voted to impeach Paxton. She has been accused — incredibly, I must add — for wanting to bring “Sharia law” into Texas public education classrooms. What … the … hell?

I put my mitts on a Noble campaign flier that declares she “fought for cutting property taxes, parental involvement in education, better health care options and securing our southern border.”

Wow! Radical stuff, eh? Her MAGA foes, though, say she favors Muslim interests over, um, Christian interests. They want to start a religious tussle within the party? Not a good look. Abraham George, a former Collin County GOP chair, is running against Noble in the primary.

Leach is a Republican legislator who this past year took part in the impeachment trial of GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton. He voted to impeach the AG and then served as a prosecutor in the Senate trial that ended up with Paxton’s acquittal.

Paxton then vowed to go after all the Republicans who stood against him … the jerk! A primary opponent emerged to run against Leach, who continues to tout his conservative bona fides. And they’re real.

Daren Meis is the MAGA candidate opposing Leach. He is a former Allen city councilman who didn’t bother to take part in the Dallas Morning News interview process with the candidates.

So many of these Republican challengers are campaigning on hatred for those who stand on principle. As the DMN said in its editorial endorsement of Leach’s primary bid:

“We don’t think most Republicans take them seriously. But we hope this sort of politicking does cause voters to reflect on just how bad things have gotten in their party.”

House GOP only worsens its standing

Kevin McCarthy might have gone down as the worst-ever speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives … were it not for the arrival of Mike Johnson as his successor.

There you have it. The MAGA crowd that once demanded that McCarthy refuse to work with Democrats now has installed one of its brethren in Johnson. The mob of malevolent MAGA misfits ousted McCarthy because he had the balls to work with Democrats on funding the government … temporarily.

The MAGA crowd installed Johnson, who has shown no such proclivity. And what has it gotten the GOP caucus? Only more scorn from the rest of the non-MAGA voters out here in the country. Why is that?

Because Johnson, for one thing, refused to back a bipartisan bill that would have strengthened our southern border, something the speaker and his allies insisted on doing. Why do you suppose Johnson scampered into the tall grass? Because the immediate past POTUS who’s running for the office he lost in 2020 demanded it of him. The ex-POTUS did not want President Biden to score any political points prior to this fall’s election.

So, there you go. The speaker of the House works for the former POTUS and not “the people” he purports to represent as speaker.

Johnson is trying to “lead” the House with the narrowest of “majorities” imaginable. He cannot get his GOP caucus to agree on much of anything and he damn sure has no support among Democrats who, these days, are feeling their oats as they gain strength in the House.

And, of course, he faces the same threats of removal that eventually undid McCarthy’s brief tenure as speaker. He dares not do a damn thing to rile the MAGA mob, which I should add comprises a small minority of the total GOP caucus. But, oh man, it is a vocal crowd and manages somehow to outshout the rest of the legislative body at virtually every turn.

Do I wish for a McCarthy return to the House? Not even …

I do wish for a display of guts from his successor, who so far has shown himself to be a gutless wonder.

Way ahead of the curve …

Rarely can I boast about being ahead of the curve on political trends, as I mostly am wrong far more than I am correct.

As it involves the 45th president and his unfitness to hold — let alone run for — public office, well, I take a back seat to no one on that matter.

I made such a declaration long before he and his wife rode down the escalator in the office tower that bears his name. I noted that the future POTUS had zero public service experience, that his entire professional life was geared only toward self-enrichment. I argued vehemently on this blog that American voters must never let him near the Oval Office.

Well, as with most things, the voters didn’t heed my warning. He got elected in an Electoral College fluke, losing the popular vote by more than 3 million ballots, but being elected by pilfering key states and being awarded their electoral votes.

I truly wanted him to succeed. It couldn’t happen, though, because of that damn lack of public service background thing.

I said “I told you so” a time or three during his term in office. But again, the MAGA followers who happen to read High Plains Blogger were dismissive. I need to get over myself, some of ’em said.

Eight years later, the former POTUS is at it again. Only this time he has lost more than a step in speaking to the critical issues of the day.

He recently confused fellow GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley with Hillary Clinton, prompting Haley to declare — for the first time and way later than I ever did — that the GOP frontrunner is “unfit for public office.”

Well, no sh** Sherlock!

These missteps are going to chip away where his previous insults, gaffes and hideous pronouncements couldn’t.

Hold your applause if you’re so inclined to congratulate me. Hey, I was just stating the obvious. If only those MAGA followers would follow suit.

Get well, Mr. Secretary, but still …

Now we know the nature of the illness that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to keep from the American public and the president of the United States.

It’s prostate cancer. I want to join Americans far and wide in wishing a speedy and complete recovery from a disease that strikes one in six Black Americans and one in eight of all Americans.

However, none of this lessens the nature of the mistake Austin made in hiding himself from public view for four days and even keeping his whereabouts a secret from those in the White House who had every reason in the world to know his status.

That includes Joe Biden, the commander in chief of the monstrous military operation that Lloyd Austin administers.

Biden was kept in the dark for four days during a period of extreme military tension. Wars have erupted in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. Ukrainians are seeking to fend off an invading force of Russians; Israel is seeking to destroy the terrorist organization that sought to kill  thousands of Israelis with a hideous rocket attack on Oct. 7.

The United States is involved as it provides financial and military assistance to Ukraine and the Israeli Defense Force.

The secretary of Defense needs to be available 24/7 … period.

Secretary Austin need not lose his job over this mistake. He does need, however, to be scolded harshly by the president of the United States.

Austin was trying to protect his “privacy.” That’s a noble notion, except that the defense secretary is as public an official as anyone who holds that title, which means to me that he sacrifices his “rights of privacy,” particularly during these perilous times.

Still, I wish Lloyd Austin well and will pray he recovers from what ails him. Just don’t allow a recurrence of this sort of vanishing act!

Timing is everything

One of the tricks I learned quickly upon moving from Amarillo to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is how to navigate smoothly along this region’s massive highway network.

I’m sure you’ve heard about the traffic in this part of the world. Dallas’s traffic jams have become legendary … and Fort Worth is no picnic either.

Rule No. 1: Never attempt to get anywhere during “rush hour,” morning or afternoon. You wait patiently to schedule your sojourns when you expect everyone out there to be either at work in the morning or at home in the evening.

Rule No. 2: Find back roads that could get you there nearly as quickly as the freeways/turnpikes/parkways/toll roads. That’s problematic, given that others might already have discovered those back roads, rendering them next to impossible to navigate.

I drove today from Collin County all the way to southwest Tarrant County. I left after the morning rush and returned prior to the evening rush. The drive is about 60 miles in length, taking me a little more than an hour to complete.

I did so in both directions with little fuss and even fewer four-letter words muttered under my breath at the traffic jams. What’s more, when you live in West Texas for as long as my wife and I did — 23 years — you learn that to get anywhere, you just have to drive a good bit to get there.

None of this accounts for the possibility of an 18-wheeler overturning and spilling toxic substances all over creation.

Just wanted to share this learning experience with you. I realize it’s no great discovery on my part, but it sure allows me to go from Point A to Point B and back again without undue stress.

Happy Veterans Day everyone!

Occasionally I feel a little strange paying tribute to veterans, given I am one myself. I mean, it’s a bit embarrassing to offer thanks to veterans, implying that I am thanking myself for the tiny bit of military service I gave to the nation I love.

But … what the heck. I’m going to do so again today.

You’ve heard me go on and on about my favorite veteran, my Dad, the late Pete Kanelis, a sailor who saw combat in World War II. He went to the armed forces recruiting office on the very Sunday the Japanese hit our military installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He intended to join the Marine Corps, but the USMC office was closed, so he walked across the hall to enlist in the Navy.

Those men served “for the duration” of the war effort. In late 1941, they had no way of knowing when — or if — they would return home. Dad knew the risk, but he was angry enough to follow his gut instinct. Dad wanted to get into the fight, and he did … along with 16 million other Americans.

These veterans are dying steadily these days. The last count I heard of the living World War II generation of veterans was fewer than 400,000.

The nation these days is bending over backward to thank veterans. Given that I am one of them, I accept the nation’s gratitude with humility. My own service in another war was insignificant, but it surely never lessened my own love of country, nor my commitment to serve my country honorably.

Millions of men and women have donned the uniform of all the services we deploy in time of war and peace. And at the risk of sounding a bit self-serving, I extend my heartfelt thanks — not just to the Greatest Generation that included my Dad — but to all the vets who did their duty with honor.

Another tragedy unfolds

You won’t read “thoughts and prayers” for the loved ones of the latest mass shooting coming from this blogger.

Indeed, the expression almost has become as much a cliche as “sorry for your loss ” and “at the end of the day.”

No, instead I am going to offer my expression of utter disgust that even after the moron opened fire in Lewiston, Maine — killing at least 20 people — we likely still won’t get any legislation that seeks to end this kind of senseless slaughter.

Barack Obama once declared that “the worst day of my presidency” was when he learned of the mass killings of those second-graders and their teachers in Newtown, Conn. He pushed Congress to act, imploring them to act in the cause of preventing other such massacres.

It didn’t work. Congress did nothing but offer “thoughts and prayers.” Uvalde came along and there have been many others since the Sandy Hook tragedy of 2012.

Now this.

We are represented in Congress by cowards.

GOP set to lose House

I am going to venture gingerly out on the proverbial political limb to make an assertion about the future of the U.S. House.

It is that the Republicans’ razor-thin control of the lower legislative chamber is in serious danger of flipping back to Democratic control after the 2024 election.

Why is that? Because the Republican hierarchy that controls the House cannot function. It cannot elect a speaker after ousting the guy who once had the office. Failure to choose a speaker puts the shutdown of the federal government into even more jeopardy, meaning it is likely to occur.

Who will get the blame? The feckless Republican congressional leadership, that’s who! And they deserve it, too!

Rep. Jim Jordan, the unofficial chairman of the MAGA board in the House, will not be elected speaker, which is a good thing. The guy happens to be an election denier and an unindicted participant in the action on 1/6 spasm that threatened to overthrow the government.

The House does have an interim speaker, Patrick McHenry, who doesn’t want the job. To avoid the calamity of a government shutdown, the House might give McHenry some more power to at least get the legislative wheels turning to avoid the shutdown.

All of this sets up a potential rout in the 2024 congressional election. Democrats need to flip four seats to take back the House.

Bring it!

Scalise: better of bad options

At least the U.S. House Republican conference can declare that it well might not have flown the coop completely … at least not yet.

The House GOP selected Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana as its candidate to be the next speaker. He’s not a good choice. Then again the House GOP caucus has a dearth of decent men and women I would want to be speaker of the House.

Then again …

House Republicans could have turned to Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio to succeed Kevin McCarthy as speaker after McCarthy was booted out of the powerful post this past week. Jordan would have been far worse for the House and, more to the point, for the country had he been allowed to compete for the role of Man of the House.

Donald Trump endorsed Jordan, who has been one of the ex-POTUS’s major apologists since Trump lost the 2020 election to Joseph Biden. It is clear to me that Jordan would have taken the House toward the proverbial cliff, sending it off on even more probes to find alleged (and non-existent) wrongdoing among leading Democrats.

The Democratic caucus will nominate someone, too. The frontrunner appears to be House minority leader Hakeen Jeffries of New York. He likely won’t be elected speaker. However, Jeffries elevate the House’s cumulative IQ simply by serving in the chamber.

Congress is broken. The House GOP caucus needs to be tossed aside and reassembled into an organization that follows more closely what the framers had in mind when they crafted the “loyal opposition.”

OK, so I’ll damn the House GOP caucus with faint praise for nominating Scalise as the next speaker by declaring … that it could’ve been a whole lot worse.