In the news:

Flotilla en route for Gaza; "11 km from Israel Navy ships"

"Still heading for Gaza, 70 miles from shore" pro-Palestinian activists aboard Tahrir boat tweet; IDF not expecting violent clashes but ready for all situations; US warns activists not to challenge blockade.

An IDF spokesperson said on Friday the "Israel Navy is prepared to stop vessels attempting to break the maritime security blockade on Gaza."

According to Army Radio, the IDF prepared itself on Friday morning for the arrival of the Gaza-bound flotilla carrying about thirty pro-Palestinian activists.

The United States warned on Thursday that the new effort by pro-Palestinian activists to send the flotilla to challenge Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip was dangerous and urged US citizens not to take part.

PA Inches Closer to Losing Security Council Vote

The Palestinian Authority is likely to lose the upcoming vote in the UN Security Council on Palestinian statehood, after several member nations have announced their plan to abstain.

CNN reported on Thursday that France and Britain plan to abstain in the vote. Two UN diplomats told the news network that both countries announced their intentions at a closed-door meeting on Thursday of the admissions committee for new UN membership.

AFP is reporting that Colombia has announced its intention to abstain as well.

The UN Security Council will meet on November 11 to discuss a report about whether or not to accept Palestine as a member of the international organization.

However, diplomats now believe that due to the three countries choosing to abstain, the decision is unlikely to pass.

“From what we heard today, there is no way the Palestinians could get the nine votes they need to get it passed,” a diplomat told AFP.

Arab League plan fails to calm Syria violence

Syrian tank fire killed at least three people in the city of Homs early on Friday as security forces pursued a violent crackdown on protesters despite a government agreement with the Arab League to stop shooting and talk to its opponents.

The latest deaths followed a bloody day in Homs, where activists said at least 22 people were killed as tanks shelled the Bab Amro district and troops and snipers fired elsewhere in the city, a hotbed of protests and an emerging insurgency.

"We have already seen the regime's bloody response to the Arab initiative today in the form of intensified shelling on Homs," Ahmad Ramadan, spokesman for the opposition Syrian National Council, said on Thursday.

"15,000 strong" army gathers to take on Syria

The national "Syrian Free Army" aims to be the "military wing of the Syrian people's opposition to the regime", its leader told The Daily Telegraph from a heavily guarded camp in eastern Turkey.

"We are the future army of the new Syria. We are not in league with any particular sect, religion or political party. We believe in protecting all elements of Syrian society," the Army's leader, Col Riad al-Assad, said.

Made up of defectors from the regime's army, SFA fighters are conducting "high quality operations against government soldiers and security agents," Col Assad said.

Col Assad appealed to the international community to impose a 'no fly zone' and a 'no sea zone'.
"We don't have the ability to buy weapons, but we need to protect civilians inside Syria," he said. "We want to make a 'safe zone' in the north of Syria, a buffer zone in which the SFA can get organised."

The Al-Qaeda Flag Is Now Flying High And Proud Over Libya

The Al-Qaeda flag has been flying high over Libya and the governments of the western world that helped remove Gaddafi from power don't seem to mind at all.

The flag, which contains the phrase "there is no God but Allah" with a full moon underneath, has been photographed flying beside the new national flag of Libya

But this should be no surprise. It has been known all along that al-Qaeda was very heavily represented in the army of "the rebels" and among the leadership of "the rebels".

And this:

So where is the uproar about this in the U.S. media?

The silence has been deafening.

I guess it would be hard to explain to the American people why they should be sacrificing their sons and daughters to fight al-Qaeda when we just spent billions of dollars helping them take over Libya.

Photo of the Day: Obama (Literally) Embraces Anti-Israel, Pro-Iran Islamist on World Stage

Take a look at the picture. The most disturbing aspect is found in the caption:

Our European allies, by contrast, received simple handshakes.

Never mind the apparent breach of protocol–what does this demonstrate about Barack Obama’s worldview?

At least he didn’t bow.

Obama adviser urges 'militancy' in nationwide Occupy protests

Three days before an Occupy Oakland protest turned violent, United Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard, an adviser to President Obama, called for "more militancy" in Occupy movements across the U.S.

Gerard serves on the board of a number of groups funded by billionaire George Soros, including organizations that reportedly helped to craft Obama's "stimulus" and health-care laws.

"I think we've got to start a resistance movement. If Wall Street occupation doesn't get the message, I think we've got to start blocking bridges and doing that kind of stuff," stated Gerard, according to a transcript provided by Newsbusters.org.

He also serves as a vice president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union.

Gerard further serves as co-chairman of the BlueGreen Alliance, whose partner is the Apollo Alliance. Gerard is also an Apollo board member.

The Apollo Alliance is run by a slew of radicals, including Obama's former "green jobs" czar, Van Jones; Jeff Jones, who heads Apollo's New York branch and is a former top leader of the Weather Underground terrorist organization; and Joel Rogers, a founder of the socialist New Party.

"Change" and Marxism

A young generation of Americans, who had never been taught real history in school, became galvanized by the Democratic Party’s pledge to “change” that rotting America. Some eighty thousand of them gathered in front of the now famous pseudo-Greek temple resembling the White House that had been erected in Denver, shouting for “hope and change.”

Of course, people everywhere want their political leaders to be better than their predecessors. But “change” is also the quintessence of Marxism, which is built on the dialectical materialist tenet that quantitative changes generate qualitative transformations.

In my other life, when I was national security adviser to Communist Romania’s President Nicolae Ceausescu, I wrote the lyrics of his ode to “change.” Ceausescu pretended that his predecessor had devastated the country, and he pledged to change that change. In those days I heard that ode to change a thousand times, and today I am stunned by its similarity with the Democratic Party’s “change.”

“Change” is now the slogan of the Occupy Wall Street movement as well.

Capitalism is evil, and it should be changed. “Rediscover other ways of relating to each other and the world around us.” “Tax the rich! Redistribute their wealth.” “Occupy. Block. Strike. Take over!” “Change! Cuba is the future.” “Long live Che!” These are just a few of the slogans and signs dominating the Occupy Wall Street encampments.

Greece exit from euro could trigger 'chain reaction' of collapses in Europe

At a late night news conference in Cannes on Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy shattered the bloc’s most sacred taboo, conceding openly for the first time that Greece might end up having to leave the tight-knit currency club it joined a decade ago.

The admission, after an intense two-hour meeting with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on the eve of a G20 summit, sets the euro zone on a perilous course that could reverberate in Europe and beyond for decades.

G20 Leaders Consider Boost To IMF Funds

World leaders are negotiating an increase in the International Monetary Fund's resources which could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Chancellor George Osborne said the heads of state and finance ministers gathered for the G20 summit were now "getting down to the nitty-gritty" of discussing how to increase the size of the international economic backstop.

New Supervolcano?

A broad swath of the Altiplano plateau in southwest Bolivia is inflating like a giant balloon, presumably as magma builds up deep underground. This aggressive rise hints that a new supervolcano could be awakening in South America, geologists say, and so they are keen to learn more about the underlying cause.

So far, they know the inflation is surprisingly fast: the center of the patch has risen 7.9 inches (20 centimeters) in the past 20 years. What is more, the uplift extends about 43 miles (70 kilometers) across -- similar in size to the caldera that formed in the wake of the latest eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, which blanketed half of the U.S. in ash 640,000 years ago.