By Sherman Frederick/Properly Subversive Nate Silver, the founder and editor of FiveThirtyEight, is now predicting that Republican Adam Laxalt will knock off Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto in November. “Republicans don’t have any sure-fire pickups; Nevada is the most likely, and even there, GOP chances are only 53 percent, according to our forecast,” he wrote over the weekend. Democrats still hold leads — but narrowing — in Pennsylvania and Arizona, leading Silver to call control of the Senate a “flip”. Politico reported that National and Arizona Democratic operatives are privately fretting that incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly is endangered, noting a shift by previously undecided voters toward the GOP, aided by a patchwork of new Republican spending to bolster Masters. Recent polling has shown Kelly’s lead shrinking to a few points, much tighter than surveys showed throughout August and September. The bottom line is this, Silver writes: “If you’d asked me a month ago — or really even a week ago — which party’s position I’d rather be in, I would have said the Democrats. Now, I honestly don’t know.” Dear readers, please vote – but only once – and then grab the popcorn. This election is going down to the wire. TRICK OR TREATRemember when President Joe Biden scolded Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for putting Venezuelan migrants “fleeing political persecution” on buses and planes to other states? “These were children, they were moms, they were fleeing communism,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre breathlessly exclaimed just a few weeks ago. Well, put on the spooky music because the Biden Administration has changed its tune. Don’t take my word for it. Here is the Associated Press report: “Two years ago, candidate Joe Biden loudly denounced President Donald Trump for immigration policies that inflicted ‘cruelty and exclusion at every turn,’ including toward those fleeing the ‘brutal’ government of socialist Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela. “Now, with increasing numbers of Venezuelans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as the Nov. 8 election nears, Biden has turned to an unlikely source for a solution: his predecessor’s playbook. “Biden has invoked a Trump-era rule known as Title 42 — which Biden’s own Justice Department is fighting in court — to deny Venezuelans fleeing their crisis-torn country the chance to request asylum at the border. “The rule, first invoked by Trump in 2020, uses emergency public health authority to allow the United States to keep migrants from seeking asylum at the border, based on the need to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.” Trick of treat: Venezuelan migrants. SPEAKING OF THE BORDERThis hit my Twitter feed last weekend. Another reminder that the U.S. Mexican border is a dangerous mess: “ BREAKING: In a blatant Friday late night news dump, CBP (Customs and Border Protection) has released the September border numbers, revealing there were 227,547 migrant encounters, the highest Sept. in DHS history. FY’22 ended with 2,378,944 encounters, also the highest ever, & doesn’t include gotaways. @FoxNews.” ONE MORE THING– Some guy is suing Texas Pete Hot Sauce because it’s not made in Texas. His life is going to be a wreck when he next turns to Moon Pies. – My wife and I are going to be super bummed if we don’t get a good grade on our daughter’s science project. – I asked a supermarket worker where to find canned peaches. He said “I’ll see,” and walked away. Irritated, I asked another worker. She said “I’ll see,” and walked away. Eventually, I found the canned peaches for myself … on Aisle C.
And, that’ll do for this week. Thanks for reading and until next week avoid soreheads, laugh a little and always question authority. “Properly Subversive” is commentary written by Sherman R. Frederick, a Nevada Hall of Fame journalist and co-founder of Battle Born Media, a news organization dedicated to the preservation of community newspapers. You can reach him by email at shermfrederick@ gmail. com.
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