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Purveyor's JournalForget The Polls, Obama Is Still Winning: Predictwise
Economist and Microsoft researcher David Rothschild of PredictWise.com says the polls are misleading and that President Obama is not now, nor has he ever been, behind Mitt Romney in the race for the White House.
Rothschild’s forecasting model, which incorporates prediction markets like Intrade, gives Obama a better than 65% chance of re-election in November. (October 19, 2012)
http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/10/19/reuters-tv-forget-the-polls-obama-is-still-winning?videoId=238548267&videoChannel=117850
Israel Swaps Missile Drills For Earthquake Rehearsal
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM | Sun Oct 21, 2012 3:30pm EDT
(Reuters) - Israel dropped its annual simulation of a missile attack and held its first major earthquake drill on Sunday instead, but officials insisted the country remained as ready as ever for the possibility of a war with arch-foe Iran.
School children, civil servants and others participating in the "Turning Point 6" exercise were urged to flee outdoors if possible as radio and TV channels broadcast tremor alerts. In previous years, people were told to go to household bomb shelters in order to flee an imaginary missile attack.
"We want people to run into homes during a missile attack, and we want people to run out of homes during an earthquake," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said after he and fellow ministers evacuated their weekly cabinet meeting.
The change in format comes at a time when hostile rhetoric over Tehran's disputed nuclear program has waned, with both Israel and the United States about to hold elections and Western powers pursuing ever-stronger sanctions against Iran.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/21/us-israel-drill-idUSBRE89K0FA20121021
Putin Flexes Muscle In Big Test Of Russia's Nuclear Arsenal
By Steve Gutterman
MOSCOW | Sat Oct 20, 2012 3:34pm EDT
(Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin took a leading role in the latest tests of Russia's strategic nuclear arsenal, the most comprehensive since the 1991 Soviet collapse, the Kremlin said on Saturday.
The exercises, held mostly on Friday, featured prominently in news reports on state television which seemed aimed to show Russians and the world that Putin is the hands-on chief of a resurgent power.
Tests involving command systems and all three components of the nuclear "triad" - land and sea-launched long-range nuclear missiles and strategic bombers - were conducted "under the personal leadership of Vladimir Putin", the Kremlin said.
An RS-12M Topol Intercontinental Ballistic Missile was launched from the Plesetsk site in northern Russia, and a submarine test-launched another ICBM from the Sea of Okhotsk, the Defence Ministry said.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/20/us-russia-nuclear-putin-idUSBRE89J0EJ20121020
New Poll: Egyptians Turning Toward Iran, Want Nuclear Weapons
A poll of Egyptians conducted last month shows that they have increasingly positive views of Iran, believe that both Iran and Egypt should obtain nuclear weapons, and still trust their own military more than any other institution in Egypt.
The poll of 812 Egyptians, half of them women, was conducted in a series of in-person interviews by the firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and sponsored by the Israel Project, a pro-Israel advocacy organization with offices in Washington and Jerusalem. According to the poll, Iran is viewed favorably in Egypt, with 65 percent of those surveyed expressing support of the decision to renew Egypt-Iran relations and 61 percent expressing support of the Iranian nuclear project, versus 41 percent in August 2009.
Sixty-two percent of those polled agreed that "Iran and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, are friends of Egypt," though 68 percent held unfavorable views of Shiite Muslims.
Iran's deputy defense minister said recently that the Iranian regime is seeking more military cooperation with Egypt. "We are ready to help Egypt to build nuclear reactors and satellites," he said on the occasion or Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy's meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last month. Morsy's office has said the two didn't discuss military cooperation.
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http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/10/19/new_poll_egyptians_turning_toward_iran_want_nuclear_weapons?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+foreignpolicy%2Fthecable+%28The+Cable%29
Rebuffing EU, Netanyahu Says ‘No Limits’ On Jerusalem Construction
There will be “no limits” to construction in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
His comments come two days after the European Union, Britain and France condemned the Interior Ministry’s approval of a plan to build almost 800 new housing units in Gilo, a southern Jerusalem neighborhood beyond the 1967 Green Line.
“We are not imposing any restrictions on construction in Jerusalem. It is our capital,” Netanyahu said. He added Israel has a connection to Jerusalem as “ancient and powerful” as other states do to their capital.
Gilo is part of the city captured during the 1967 Six Day War and subsequently annexed to Israel proper, a move contested by the international community and the Palestinians.
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http://www.timesofisrael.com/rebuffing-eu-netanyahu-says-no-limits-on-jerusalem-construction/
With Romney Closing In, Obama To Launch Swing State Blitz
Source: Reuters
WASHINGTON/DEL RAY BEACH, Florida | Sat Oct 20, 2012 7:13pm EDT
(Reuters) - Facing a cliffhanger re-election attempt, President Barack Obama will launch a round-the-clock, two-day campaign blitz through six battleground states next week to try to fend off the challenge from Republican Mitt Romney.
Polls show Obama's strong debate performance this week gained him little or no ground against the former Massachusetts governor with just over two weeks until the November 6 election.
The pair are essentially tied in most surveys as Americans remain split between giving Obama more time to fix the economy or choosing a former business executive who argues he knows best how to create jobs.
Obama will campaign in Iowa on Wednesday, then hit Colorado, Nevada, Florida and Virginia, cast his ballot early in his home town of Chicago, then stop in Ohio to end the tour.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/20/us-usa-campaign-idUSBRE89F07J20121020
Iran Denounces Beirut Bombing, Points Finger At Israel
DUBAI | Sat Oct 20, 2012 5:12am EDT
(Reuters) - Iran on Saturday condemned a car bomb attack in Beirut that killed a prominent Lebanese intelligence official on Friday and suggested that Israel was to blame.
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The slain Lebanese official, Brigadier-General Wissam al-Hassan, was close to several Lebanese politicians who back the uprising in Syria and led several investigations into Syrian meddling in Lebanese affairs, including one that implicated Damascus and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah in the assassination of former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in 2005.
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"This action was taken with the aim of sowing dissension among different currents and segments of the Lebanese people and was conducted by an element who has never had in mind the interests of the Lebanese people and government and who only strives for its own impure interests and goals," said a statement posted on the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website.
"Without a doubt the main enemy of the people of Lebanon and the region is the Zionist regime (Israel), which benefits from insecurity and instability in the region," ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said, according to the statement.\
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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/20/us-lebanon-explosion-iran-idUSBRE89J04Y20121020
Guest Lineups For The Sunday News Shows
ABC's "This Week" - Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
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NBC's "Meet the Press" - Rubio; David Axelrod, adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign; Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.
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CBS' "Face the Nation" - Rubio; Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager for the Obama campaign; Kevin Madden, adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign.
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CNN's "State of the Union" - Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and Donna Edwards, D-Md.; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; former Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.; Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.; former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.
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"Fox News Sunday" - Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.
Israeli Envoy calls "Estelle" a Provocation While 7 Parliamentarians Sail to Break the Blockade...
Calling the latest sailing of a boat to challenge the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza a "provocation," Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Ron Prosor, called on the UN Secretary-General, the Security Council, and all responsible members of the international community to take immediate action to end this provocation."
Prosor added, "I want to stress that Israel is not interested in confrontation, but remains determined to enforce its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip -- and will take all lawful actions to this end. Their clear provocation raises tensions and could easily spark a serious escalation of the conflict."
Seven parliamentarians from five European countries are on sailing on the sloop "Estelle" to break the Israeli Blockade of Gaza. Among the 20+ passengers are parliamentarians from Greece, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and a retired parliamentarian from Canada.
More than 80 Irish Parliamentarians have signed a petition of support for the "Estelle's" mission, and 70 Greek Parliamentarians have also signed their petition.
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http://www.opednews.com/articles/Israeli-Envoy-calls-Estel-by-Ann-Wright-121018-75.html
Gary Johnson Adviser: RNC Chair ‘Reince Penis’ Belongs In A Police Lineup
An adviser to Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson on Thursday mocked Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party, by referring to him as “Reince Penis.”
In a radio interview on Thursday, Roger Stone told The Daily Caller’s Matt Lewis that the Republican Party was not allowing Johnson to participate in debates because they were worried he would take votes away from GOP hopeful Mitt Romney.
“It’s amazing to me the Republican National chairman, Reince Penis — I mean, Peebus, Priebus, pardon me — says that he — that Johnson is a non-factor, yet the Republicans spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to try to have him bumped off the ballot in Ohio, Virginia, Iowa, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and they have not succeeded,” Stone explained. “Gary Johnson is now a viable alternative on 48 states, which total 495 electoral votes.”
The Johnson campaign filed an anti-trust lawsuit suit in federal court in September, charging that the Republican and Democratic Parties were conspiring to keep third-party candidates from participating in debates. The campaign on Friday asked a federal court to intervene prior to Monday’s third presidential debate.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/19/gary-johnson-adviser-rnc-chair-reince-penis-belongs-in-a-police-lineup/
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