The Knesset in Israel failed to nominate a new candidate for prime minister by the deadline Wednesday, and the country will now head to its third election in less than a year.

According to the Jerusalem Post, the Knesset had 21 days to decide on someone who could form a government by midnight Wednesday.

The Knesset had three weeks to decide after Benny Gantz, Blue and White party chairman did not form a government by the November deadline. A lawmaker needs the support of at least 61 of the 120-member Knesset to form a government.

Previously, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had also not been able to secure a 61-seat majority.

In a video posted online Wednesday, Netanyahu said that Blue and White “wants to hide the fact that they did everything to avoid establishing a broad national unity government that would annex the Jordan Valley, apply Israeli sovereignty on the settlements in Judea and Samaria.

“They forced new elections on us. It is unnecessary and in order to avoid it happening again there is one thing to do and that is to win, and win big – and that is what we’ll do,” he said.

Earlier this month, Netanyahu said the Blue and White party did not work with his Likud party’s proposals for the new government.

“They refused every offer to form a wide unity government,” he said. “Now, when there are only two days left, they are demanding conditions merely to talk.”

Blue and White party members,…

A neutral third-party mediator has recused Judge Kim Cooks from the case of James Younger, a 7-year-old boy whose mother wants to transition him to a girl, according to the Christian Post.

The judge had rejected the jury’s decision to grant sole conservatorship to Younger’s mother, Anne Georgulas, and awarded equal guardianship to both of the boy’s parents as well as to James’ twin brother, Jude. However, Georgulas’ attorney went after Cooks after she posted about the case on Facebook.

The post included an article from The Dallas Morning News announcing Cooks’ decision to reverse the jury’s ruling shortly after Texas Governor Greg Abbott agreed to start an investigation into Younger’s situation. She included a caption stating that neither the “Governor nor any legislature had any influence on the Court’s decision.”

But according to Georgulas’ attorney, the Facebook post was not “in the best interest of the children in the case or to advance justice, but to simply advance her own political aims.”

An amicus attorney appointed by the court agreed and set the task of finding a new judge to Ray Wheless, a conservative Republican administrative judge appointed by Gov. Abbott. According to the Save James Facebook page, the new judge is the Hon. Mary Brown of the 301st Court in Dallas County. Luke Macias, a conservative talk show host in Texas, reported that Brown is a…

The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) forced an Oklahoma elementary school to remove a live nativity from its annual Christmas production, according to Breit Bart.

Earlier this year, the nonprofit sent a letter to the Center for Education Law in Oklahoma City regarding an Edmond elementary school’s alleged constitutional violation over the religious scene.

“Teaching students the biblical story of the birth of Jesus and having them regularly rehearse a performance of that story entangles the school with the bible’s devotional message,” the letter said. “Such a performance would be appropriate in a church setting, but not in a public school. We write to ensure that district teachers do not incorporate religious promotion into their lessons and that future school events do not include live nativities or other religious performances.”

Although the school district ultimately gave into the FFRF’s demands, the Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation firm protecting religious liberty, reached out to the Edmond School District and offered free legal assistance to fight the accusations.

“A live Nativity scene as part of a balanced Christmas program is not an automatic Establishment Clause violation,” the letter read. It continued, giving several examples of previous rulings where appeal courts have rejected FFRF’s lawsuits regarding nativity scenes.

Judge Easterbrook wrote…

Nearly one-third of independent abortion clinics in the U.S. have closed in the past seven years, according to a new report that is drawing concern from the pro-choice community but celebration from pro-lifers.

The report by the Abortion Care Network shows that 32 percent of all independent abortion clinics have closed since 2012, when 510 of them were open. As of November, that number was down to 344, according to the report. 

Independent abortion clinics don’t receive the political attention that Planned Parenthood does, even though such clinics provide the most abortions. Independent clinics represent about 25 of the nation’s abortion facilities but 58 percent of all abortion procedures, according to the report. 

“Over the last decade, abortion clinics have been closing at an alarming rate,” the report says. “Of those closures, the vast majority have been independent abortion care providers.”

The report blamed “medically unnecessary abortion restrictions and financial barriers.”  

“Given that independent clinics make up the vast majority of clinics providing abortion care later in pregnancy, the closing of independent clinics means that the constitutional right to care throughout pregnancy increasingly exists in name alone,” the report says. “… Anti-abortion restrictions continue to impose onerous barriers on independent clinics’ ability to provide comprehensive…