You know, it’s looking like one of those Fridays when the opportunity to drift away from anything to do with Washington until Monday couldn’t come fast enough.

Here are some midday news/views treats:

* Interesting timing: discharge petition aimed at saving Eximbank moving towards the requisite number in the House.

* Another weird angle in the House struggle: idea surfacing of Democrats voting with Republicans to elect a non-wacko-bird Speaker.

* Another campus on lockdown–this time Texas Southern University–for nearby shooting.

* Cruz doubles Rubio’s third-quarter official campaign haul with $12 million to $6 million margin.

* Joshua Green publishes profile of “most dangerous political operative in America,” Steve Bannon, who is executive chairman of Breitbart News.

And in non-political news:

* Doubts about powerful El Nino this winter dwindling.

As we break for lunch, here’s a sardonic and news-appropriate John Lennon tune from the White Album: “Happiness is a Warm Gun.”

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.