In the news:

First up, we see escalating violence and rocket fire around Gaza:

Gaza rocket fire continues: 3 more Kassams fired at Israel

Palestinians say civilian killed, 13 wounded in IDF response to 10 rockets fired into southern Israel from Gaza; IDF says it regrets harm to civilians, blames Hamas's use of human shields.

Three Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip exploded in southern Israel Friday morning, the latest in a spate of rocket attacks in the past 24 hours. Two of the rockets exploded in the Ashkelon Regional Council shortly after 12 p.m. and another in the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council around 9 a.m. No damage or injuries were reported.

Overnight, the Israel Air Force struck targets connected with terrorist activity in the Gaza Strip in response to rockets Thursday, the IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement. IAF aircraft recorded direct hits on a center of terrorist activity in southern Gaza, as well as an additional terror target in northern Gaza.

Gaza Arabs: 1 Killed, 20 Hurt in Overnight Air Raids

A terrorist rocket struck Israel Friday morning, in the general area of Sderot. No one was hurt and no damage was caused.

A military spokesman said: "The IDF will not stand any attempt to hurt the citizens of the state of Israel and IDF soldiers and will continue to take resolute and forceful action against any element that employs terror against the state of Israel. Terror organization Hamas is the address and it bears the responsibility."

Gaza terrorists fired five rockets at Israel's southern population centers Thursday. Of these, two exploded in open spaces in and near Ashkelon, and one struck near Be'er Sheva.

Two terrorists were killed in IDF targeted strikes Thursday morning.

More Rockets Fired Into Southern Israel

The rocket fire from Gaza into southern Israel continues, and terrorists fired several Qassam rockets shortly before midnight (Israel time) on Thursday.

IDF Radio reported that residents of southern Israel have been asked to remain near protected spaces due to the repeated attacks.

Washington Post: Obama Waffling On Iran

The Washington Post castigated President Barack Obama in an editorial Friday for sending Iran "the wrong signals" in the showdown over its nuclear weapons program.

"Iran has been showing signs of increasing nervousness about the possibility that its nuclear program will come under attack by Israel or the United States," the editorial opined. "From the West’s point of view, this alarm is good: The more Iran worries about a military attack, the more likely it is to scale back its nuclear activity."

"What doesn’t make sense is a public spelling out of reasons against military action — like that delivered by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta last Friday before a U.S.-Israeli conference in Washington.

Mr. Panetta said that a strike would 'at best' slow down Iran’s program for 'maybe one, possibly two years'; that 'some of those targets are very difficult to get at'; that a now-isolated regime would be able to 'reestablish itself' in the region; that the United States would be the target of Iranian retaliation; and that the global economy would be damaged."

The Washington Post (surprisingly) counters with the obvious:

The Post took issue with two of these assumptions. It hinted that Arab states would be pleased with a strike on Iran and unlikely to rally around it, and asked: "if bombing destroyed thousands of Iranian centrifuges, which are manufactured from materials Tehran cannot easily acquire, would it really be so simple to rebuild?"

In any case, it said, "there is no reason for the defense secretary to spell out such views in public," when "alarmed Iranian leaders could well conclude that they have no reason for concern after all."

And this:

It also accused Obama of sending a "waffling signal to Tehran" by resisting pressure from allies such as France and from Congress to sanction the Iranian central bank. The administration’s stance in this matter is like Panetta’s message, the op-ed said. "In effect, it is signaling that it is determined to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon — unless it means taking military or diplomatic risks, or paying an economic price."

Media Promote Global Tax As Financial Crisis Deepens

A New York Times story about a “modest” global tax mentions some of those supporting the idea but forgets an important one—the United Nations. I attended a November 30 U.N.-sponsored conference in Washington, D.C., where officials of the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) appeared on a panel endorsing the idea.

The UNDP is supported by about $100 million in U.S. taxpayer money annually. The U.N. as a whole received $7.7 billion from American taxpayers last year.

A former UNDP official in the audience by the name of Fred Tipson said it was crazy for the U.N. to be promoting the raising of taxes to an American audience and that the world body should instead adopt the lingo of Occupy Wall Street and emphasize the problem of “social inequality.”

These and other exchanges with U.N. officials were captured in a video of the event. Alluding to an international IRS, U.N. official William Orme also said the imposition of the tax would require some kind of new global structure.

The Times mentioned that the global currency tax is an idea adopted by Occupy Wall Street—a subject we covered in a column on October 11. But the paper went on to quote an “administration official” as saying, “The president is sympathetic to the goals that a financial transactions tax is trying to achieve and he is pushing for a financial crisis responsibility fee and closing other Wall Street loopholes as the best and most feasible way to achieve those goals.”

In the past, Obama has backed international studies on the feasibility of implementing a global tax.

Speaking of OWS, once again we see the real 'puppet master' lurking behind the scenes:

Occupy's 'nerve center' staffed by Soros Activists

The so-called leaderless Occupy movement has just been caught red-handed operating what appears to be a nerve center staffed by professional agitators deeply tied to groups funded by billionaire activist George Soros.

The groups, most prominent among them being the Tides Center, have been involved with Occupy since the anti-Wall Street movement's inception.

The radical connections have been largely missed by the general public. CNN, the only news media outlet to receive exclusive access to Occupy's alleged headquarters, did not fully identify the activists found running it.

Shan's radical resume goes far beyond Occupy. He is the former program director for the Tides Center-funded Ruckus Society and an activist with the Tides-funded Adbusters.

Shan was listed as the contact person for protests outside the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Those protests were sponsored by both Adbusters and Ruckus.