JOE BIDEN and Donald Trump seem likely to meet again in November (Shutterstock).

The rematch of the 2020 presidential election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump became a bit more likely when each won their party’s primary election in Michigan.

In the Republican primary, with about half of votes counted, former president Trump was polling 67.2 percent of the vote, garnering him nine delegates to his party’s convention.

Haley was receiving 27.7 percent, worth two delegates.

To date, Trump has 119 delegates and Haley has 22.

In the Democratic primary, President Biden was getting 80.6 percent, worth 86 delegates. “Uncommitted” got 13.6 percent, reflecting a protest vote by Arab Americans unhappy with Biden’s support for Israel.
Michigan, which went narrowly for Biden in 2020 and for Trump in 2016, is considered a key “swing” state. A public opinion poll in Michigan released on Sunday showed the two candidates deadlocked at 43 percent each.

Wildfires continue raging in Texas

The Texas Panhandle is being ravaged by wildfires driven by high winds on Tuesday. Conditions forced some evacuations and led to the shutdown of a nuclear assembly facility.

Blazes are said to be burning out of control as high temperatures and dry conditions feed the fires.
Gov. Greg Abott declared a disaster for five dozen counties as fires raged.

One of them – the Smokehouse Tree Fire – has consumed about 400 square miles, making it twice as big as it was on Monday. It is considered 0 percent contained

Highways have been closed and the number of cities ordered to evacuate is growing with no immediate end in sight.

Gay pride flag faces classroom ban

The Tennessee House of Representatives voted 70-24 on Tuesday to ban the display of “partisan or ideological flags” in public school classrooms.

SAME SEX MARRIAGE (Shutterstock).

The measure now goes to the state’s Senate. If passed and signed into law, it would ban all but the United States flag, the flag of Tennessee or an official school flag.

Specially prohibited are flags that are political, partisan or refer to “racial, sexual orientation, gender or idealogical viewpoint.”

The vote was along party lines, with Republicans voting in favor and Democrats opposed.

Voters in Huntington Beach will be asked next week to vote on a city charter amendment specifying which flags can be displayed on city property.

No NATO troops in Ukraine … so far

French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that troops from some North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries might join Ukrainian forces resisting Russian invaders.

NATO leaders quickly backed off, the secretary-general stating there are “no plans for NATO combat troops on the ground in Ukraine.”

However, Macron said “In terms of dynamics, nothing can be ruled out. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that Russia does not win this war.”

Weather: Warmer and then cooler

Temperatures in our West Orange County area will continue to vary, but the presence of cloudy skies will remain a constant. The forecast for Wednesday is for the daytime high to rise to 70 with an overnight low of 54 under partly cloudy skies. Thursday will cool to 65 (53) and cloudy conditions will move in on Friday with temps of 64 (55). Saturday will see a return to partly cloudy skies with a high of 62 (45).