THE SUNBELT STATES: Donald Trump has a strong lead in battleground states Arizona and Georgia and has a narrow edge in North Carolina, according to new polling by The NY Times/Siena College.

  Their poll has Trump leading by five percent in Arizona and four percent in Georgia. Joe Biden won Arizona in 2020. The Times Report says that Trump’s message of a failing nation is taking hold in some areas and that, “The presidential contest is shaping up to be one of the tightest in history.”

  Other recent polls show that Kamala Harris leads in the national race by a growing margin. CBS News says it’s Harris 52 percent, Trump 48. NBC News has it at Harris 49, Trump 44.

  In an interview with the right wing Sinclair Media Group, Trump said he doesn’t think he will run again in four years if he loses this fall. “No, I don’t. I think… that will be it,” Trump said. “I don’t see that at all.” But he added that “hopefully, we’re going to be very successful”.

ANTI-IMMIGRANT: Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance continue to focus much of their campaigns on whipping up fear and hatred of immigrants. Both men have told their campaign crowds that immigrants are committing violent crimes, taking jobs from American citizens, and driving up the cost of housing.

  In North Carolina Trump said, “This invasion is destroying the fabric of our country” and that “Every job in this country produced over the last two and a half years has gone to illegal aliens — every job.”

  Of course, that is nowhere near true.

  Both men have promised mass deportations if the ticket is elected. Neither has backed off the lie they’ve told that Haitian immigrants have been stealing and eating household pets in Springfield, Ohio.

  In Pennsylvania ,Vance told a rally that migrants deserved some of the blame for rising home prices because they were “people who shouldn’t be here, people who are competing against you and your children to buy the homes that ought to be going to American citizens.”

  Trump and Vance have begun to lump together both legal and illegal immigrants in their campaign of xenophobia. “Our message to Kamala Harris is ‘Stop giving American homes to foreigners who shouldn’t be in this country,’” Vance said. “Start giving them to American citizens who deserve to be here.”

THE SHOOTING GALLERY: A manhunt is under way for multiple suspects after a shooting Saturday night in the entertainment district of Birmingham, Alabama ended with four people dead and seventeen wounded. Witnesses said several men in cars pulled up, opened fire, and quickly left.

  Police say it was a professional hit job and the target was among the dead. Birmingham Police Chief Scott Thurmond said, “Someone was willing to pay money to have that person killed.”

  Investigators also said that the shooters appeared to have used trigger devices that enable a gun to fire with the rapidity of a machine gun … the very same devices declared legal by the US Supreme Court earlier this year.  More than 100 shell cases were found at the scene in Birmingham. 

STAYING OPEN: Facing the prospect of his party allowing the government to shut down before the election, Republican Speaker Mike Johnson has offered up a short-term spending bill stripped of the requirement to prove US citizenship for voter registration.

  The bill that would keep the government open until December 20^th includes an addition $231 million for the stressed Secret Service.

THE OBIT PAGE: Mercury Morris, nicknamed for his speed and agility after the Greek messenger of god and who helped run the Miami Dolphins to two Super Bowl wins and the only perfect season in the history of the National Football League, died Saturday night at age 77. No cause was given.

  Morris was the speed and agility in a Dolphin backfield that included running back, Jim Kiick, and the brutal fullback, Larry Csonka.

  Morris and Csonka became the first two players on the same team to gain 1,000 or more rushing yards in a season. The Dolphins won their 19th consecutive game in the 1973 Super Bowl and lost two games the following year before wining a second Super Bowl.

  Plagued by headaches in retirement, Morris got into drugs and in 1992 was sentenced to 20 years in prison for convictions related to cocaine trafficking. The convictions were later overturned, and Morris spent years claiming he’d done nothing worse than being a user.

THE SPIN RACK: Following a CNN report about appalling racist and sexual comments posted on a pornography forum by North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, nearly all of his campaign team quit yesterday. The Republican Robinson is running for governor. CNN found that on the website “Nude Africa” Robinson had described himself as a “Black Nazi,” called for the reinstatement of slavery, said he enjoys watching transgender pornography, and described a time he spied on women taking showers in a locker room. — Another 100 people were reported killed today in Israeli air strikes in Lebanon. Some analysts say Israel may be softening the ground for an incursion.

BELOW THE FOLD:  Donald Trump announced that he’s now offering the public “something incredible,” a Trump commemorative coin that he called in his announcement video “A true symbol of American greatness.”

  Always looking to make a buck, Trump has also sold Trump golden sneakers, Trump bibles and several batches of Trump electronic trading cards. 

  The new silver coin has The White House on one side and Trump’s face on the other in a portrait that inexplicably resembles his scowling criminal mugshot. 

  Trump said, “This beautiful, limited-edition coin commemorates our movement, our fight for freedom, prosperity, and putting America first, we always put America first.”

  But first you have to pay him $100.

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