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From targeting teachers who include lessons about American history, which keeps being erroneously labeled “critical race theory,” to banning books, GOP supporters have no limits. In the most recent incident of conservatives meddling in youth education, a children’s book author was forbidden from reading his book at an Ohio school.

Author Jason Tharp was banned from reading his book “It’s Okay to Be a Unicorn!” to students at an elementary school in the Buckeye Valley Local School District after the principal called with concerns that the book would “recruit” students “to become gay.”

“I just straight up asked him, ‘Does somebody think I made a gay book?’ ” Tharp told The Washington Post. “And he said, ‘Yes. … The concern is that you’re coming with an agenda to recruit kids to become gay.’ ”

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In an interview with WBNS, Jeremy Froehlich, the interim superintendent said the concern arose from one parent who visited his office on April 6. “They just wanted to make sure that we vetted the book and our staff thought that they had vetted it,” he said.

Tharp’s book was written in 2017 for children who felt like they needed to be seen. He told the Post he developed the unicorn character to remind his readers that it’s okay to be different.

“I sat down and tried to figure out what kind of character would be nonthreatening, that they will be instantly lovable, and I would be able to kind of get them … to be invested in the story,” Tharp said in an interview with The Washington Post. “I was like, ‘Kids like unicorns.’”

According to Tharp, the main message behind Tharp’s series of children’s books is pushing self-confidence, boosting self-esteem, and speaking out against bullying.

But of course, for some, a book featuring a blue and purple unicorn underneath a rainbow was too controversial.

However instead of arguing, Tharp respected the school official’s wishes and offered another book to read, “It’s Okay to Smell Good!” This book about a skunk seemed more fit, especially since it had no rainbows. Yet moments after his call with the principal, he received an email noting that higher-ups did not want him reading any books at all. Instead, he was asked to present without any reference to a book.

While the school district was against the book though, several parents were angry with the superintendent’s decision. An emergency school board meeting was held on April 8 to address the issue, during which multiple community members expressed their disappointment over the book being forbidden.

“It’s a rainbow. The fact that we had to take all of the students’ artwork down—it was gut-wrenching, and we couldn’t even believe we were in that position to do so, but we did what we were told,” Kaylan Brazelton, a parent and educator at the elementary school, said at the meeting.

This isn’t the first time assumptions about books have negatively impacted people’s careers. Last month, an assistant principal at a Mississippi elementary school was fired after reading the children’s book “I Need a New Butt!” to second-graders. The book was deemed inappropriate by the superintendent.

According to WSYX, the nationwide book bans have become more popular following the passage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The outlet reported that at least two Ohio lawmakers introduced similar legislation this week that would bar discussions mentioning sexual orientation and gender identity in some school grades.

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As of October, the U.S. Supreme Court will have the first Black woman justice in Ketanji Brown Jackson. That is a huge achievement on her part, first and foremost, but also on the part of President Joe Biden in nominating her and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in quickly and efficiently pushing her nomination through. From Day One, Biden prioritized saving the judiciary from Republicans with the appointment of the most diverse slate of new judges ever at an unprecedented pace.

That’s not going to stop before the midterms, says Schumer. “We are going to keep at it,” he told The New York Times. “Keep putting judges on the bench who are diverse, as we have done in the last year, both demographically but professionally.” As of now, they’ve achieved 59 judicial appointments: one to the Supreme Court, 15 to appeals courts, and 43 to district courts. That’s a record, but with a Supreme Court packed by Trump and Sen. Mitch McConnell, they need to think strategically about nominations and court expansions.

McConnell has made it pretty damn clear that shutting down Democratic judicial appointment is a top priority should Republicans retake the Senate after November’s midterms. Schumer certainly gets that. “The hard right has such a hammerlock on Republicans in terms of judges, you can’t predict what they will do,” he said. “But it’s not going to be good.”

RELATED STORY: Biden and Schumer are building a phenomenal judicial appointment record, but can’t stop now

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As of now, there are 16 nominees who have been approved by the Judiciary Committee but not yet sent to the floor: three for the appellate courts and 13 for the district courts. Getting those floor votes done is a big priority, as are the committee hearings for the 13 who have been nominated, as well as identifying candidates for the dozens of open slots.

Given the relatively short time frame between now and November, and the fact that getting Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on board with any idea to expand the courts, Biden and Schumer should be focusing on getting as many appointments onto the most conservative district and appeals courts to try to limit the number of really damaging cases the Supreme Court gets.

That means Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin need to entirely scrap the “blue slip” tradition. That’s the process, a courtesy really, where home state senators allow a nominee to move forward or not. Republicans have played fast and loose with blue slips for years, denying them to President Barack Obama’s nominees when they were in the minority and tossing them for Democrats when Senate Republicans had a majority. Durbin needs to toss the blue slips and start getting those red state courts filled.

That could limit some of the damage. The larger problem is that this Trump-packed Supreme Court has shown that it’s happy to act on an “emergency” basis to end abortion and voting rights already, and to do it from the shadow docket without cases having worked their way through the lower courts.

Ultimately, the only solution to fixing the Supreme Court and saving everything is expanding it. The pressure needs to keep building on Biden, on Schumer, on Durbin, and on House leadership to make that happen. In the meantime, they just have to keep on churning out the confirmations.

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Tim James, a Republican who is running to be the next governor of Alabama, issued a truly disturbing TV ad targeting a public charter school in the Birmingham area. The principal of the school, Michael Wilson, told local outlet CBS 42 he was stunned to realize images appearing in the Republican’s ad featured a school fundraiser including not only the teachers’ faces but also the students. He believes the pictures were taken from the school’s social media. 

“And now, right here in Alabama,” James says in the ad. “Millions of your tax dollars are paying for the first transgender public school in the South. Enough of this foolishness.” As his voice bellows out, images of the Magic City Acceptance Academy run, including one from a drag show fundraiser. According to Wilson, less than 10% of the student population is openly trans, and while the school is explicitly inclusive, students don’t have to be LGBTQ+ to attend.

And the ad isn’t it. While that would be violence enough, according to Wilson, someone drove by the school, which serves just over 200 sixth to twelfth-grade students, and shouted slurs at students standing outside. Beyond that, Wilson says a woman attempted to film students on campus before staff intervened.

RELATED: Dad says stranger spewed anti-LGBTQ hate at his young children while trapped on a train

Wilson says he spoke to some of the students featured in the Republican ad and said they’re “angry” and have a right to be. At least one parent has already filed a cease-and-desist letter with James’ campaign, according to Wilson, and while the campaign edited that child out of the photo, they left the others in.

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The campaign released a press statement saying they didn’t receive such a letter but did receive an email from the parent. Communications director for the campaign Elizabeth Jordan suggested that if parents were truly concerned, they could pull their children from the school. Lovely! 

“What he’s doing and what others are doing in the way they’re campaigning is pushing voters away instead of bringing them in,” Wilson told the outlet. “It’s absolutely disgusting the angry nature of nearly every candidate’s commercials.”

“What should scare mothers and fathers of these children is what the faculty is doing by presenting this ungodly display through the drag show to which the children were subjected,” the statement reads in part. While there’s nothing wrong with exposing children to age-appropriate drag shows, like storytime events at a local library or classroom, Wilson says the children came up with the drag show idea but weren’t actually present for the fundraiser anyway.

Wilson stressed that the sheer hate spewing from James’ ads could incite violence in the community. He said ads like those “empower and embolden” people who have enough hate in them to “take action.”

In speaking to AL.com, Wilson said the ad is “scaring the hell” out of students and that the id is “nothing short of an adult bullying children,” adding that it’s bringing students more anxiety, especially cruel given the higher rates of reported depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation in LGBTQ+ youth.

In addition to inaccurately describing the school as the first “transgender” school in the south, James also misgenders swimmer Lia Thomas by calling her a “man in a woman’s bathing suit.” He also includes a misleading clip of Honorable Ketanji Brown Jackson from her confirmation hearings. 

“Male and female, He created them,” James says in the closing moments of the ad. “It’s time to fight back.”

Well, if that’s not a latent call to violence, I’m not sure what it is.

You can see the ad below, which is ripe with transphobia. The kicker? It’s called “Genesis.” Sigh.

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There’s a scene in the animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas, where the big bad, the Oogie Boogie Man, is revealed to be nothing more than a chaotic collection of insects and worms sewn into a crude burlap covering. As the pile of squirmy things falls apart, Oogie continues issuing threats, only his voice becomes increasingly tiny, and tinny, before it is finally silenced with the crushing of a single bug.

In the past 50 days, since sending tanks into Ukraine, Vladimir Putin’s stitching has begun to sag open at the seams. More than a few of those creepies, crawlies, and long-leggedy beasties have escaped. And his threats  just seem … a lot less threatening.

On Thursday evening, The Washington Post reported that Putin delivered a threatening letter to President Joe Biden. That letter expressed “Russia’s concerns in the context of massive supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kiev regime.” It warned the U.S. to stop sending “most sensitive” weapons to Ukraine, and moaned that the U.S. was ignoring “the threat of high-precision weapons falling into the hands of radical nationalists, extremists and bandit forces in Ukraine.” 

In short, Putin’s letter could be boiled down to “You better stop sending people who are trying to fight back against us things that are effectively helping them to fight back. Or else.” But what that Or Else might be, Putin doesn’t specify.

Most of the attention seems to be directed at the idea that Russia might move to stop the West from supplying more weapons to Ukraine. That could translate into more bombs falling on both Kyiv and the border city of Lviv, as well as attempts to destroy railway lines in western Ukraine. Some experts believe that Russia might also go after NATO supplies in NATO territory … which would be blisteringly foolish, unless Putin wants to see why F-15s flown by U.S. F-15 pilots have a 104 kills, 0 losses record in aerial combat. There are also probably a lot of generals who would appreciate the chance to check out the latest upgrades to the Abrams M1 tank … though to be honest, U.S. tanks also have a crappy record when it comes to going up against the highly advanced Guy Carrying Anti-Tank Missile.

Also on Thursday, Reuters reported that Russia was making threats toward Finland and Sweden as both nations continue on a fast track to joining NATO. The deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council said that Russia would “have to strengthen its land, naval and air forces in the Baltic Sea” if the Nordic pair signed on to NATO. However, threatening to send more Russian naval forces into the Baltic Sea just doesn’t seem so scary following events earlier in the week. Just like how a month of watching Russia operate on the ground in Ukraine has knocked about eight feet off the formerly 10-foot metaphorical height of Russian troops. 

Timing, as they say, is everything. And this is the wrong time for the Russian military to be making threats.

At the moment, it is absolutely clear to everyone that Russia has bitten off more than it can chew in Ukraine alone. The threat that they’re about to extend conventional hostilities anywhere else is not so much a threat as it is the desperate squeaking of those scattering bugs.

But of course there is one thing, and one thing only, that keeps everyone from going all in to grind Putin under the heel of a ridiculously tiny boot.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN Friday that “all of the countries of the world” should be prepared for the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons in his war on Ukraine.

Frustrated by an inability to secure quick victory and demonstrating their anger after the sinking of the Moskva missile cruiser, Russia has responded by lobbing more missiles in Kyiv and opening fire on civilians in what was supposed to be another of those safe corridors. Zelenskyy has a good reason to be concerned about those tactical nukes as Putin’s next option to express his anger.

Should Putin follow through on concerns about “attacking NATO weapons in NATO territory,” he would immediately trigger NATO’s famous Section 5 and generate a pile-on of multiple military forces. Those forces might stop at pushing Russia completely out of Ukraine. They might not. In short, dropping a weapon anywhere in NATO territory is a formula by which Putin would almost certainly lose Crimea and the Donbas region, along with his army.

But if Russia did deploy a tactical nuke inside Ukraine, the response would be … honestly, I don’t know. There’s a very good chance that neither President Biden or President Zelenskyy knows the answer to either what would happen next, or what should happen next. The use of a tactical nuke by Russia would be a desperation move on the part of Putin. It wouldn’t make the people affected by the weapon any less dead.

What could Russia do with a tactical nuke on the battlefield? Really, there’s not a lot. One of the reasons that research into these weapons dropped severely over the past 50 years is a recognition that there are few roles such a weapon can play. A tactical nuke might be useful in digging an opponent out of a heavily fortified bunker. It might destroy a large number of forces gathered at a military base. In terms of clearing the road so your tanks can drive through, it’s hard to find a workable scenario. But then, this is the army that dug entrenchments in a dead forest next to Chernobyl, so concerns about how this tactic would affect their own soldiers may be way down the charts.

The bigger concern, seeing what Russia has done so far, is that it could also throw one of these up-to-Hiroshima sized weapons into a Ukrainian city using one of the same Iskander missiles its already using to attack those cities on a daily basis. The world should definitely think about how it would respond to that. 

Such concerns have to weigh heavily on world leaders, especially Zelenskyy, and some form of this threat is behind every little squeak issuing from the vicinity of Putin. But that doesn’t mean anyone should start taking his threats seriously and letting them affect planning.

When you have the Boogie Man on the run, you don’t give him a chance to get his sh#t back together.

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Republican Nebraska gubernatorial candidate and CEO Charles Herbster claims his opponents are behind accusations that he committed sexual assault against eight women.

The Nebraska Examiner first reported the allegations, which cites one GOP state senator and seven women (who prefer to keep their names private) who told the outlet that Herbster touched them inappropriately and without their consent.

Sen. Julie Slama confirmed to the Examiner that in 2019, in the middle of a crowded event, Herbster walked by her and put his hand up her skirt. Slama also has a witness who confirmed the act to the Examiner. That witness, along with two others, added that at the same event they saw Herbster touch another woman on the buttocks.

RELATED STORY: Even Trump must be sick of Trump whining about Russia and the Bidens

In a statement to Omaha’s KETV-7, Slama said:

“I indirectly referenced the assault in a February 2022 floor speech in the Legislature and prayed I would never have to relive this trauma. When the Nebraska Examiner contacted me about a witness account of my assault and the seven other women who shared their stories, I was not going to deny the truth. … I am not seeking media attention or any other gain, I simply was not going to lie and say it did not occur. I would request my family’s privacy be respected at this difficult time.”

Herbster has been accused of groping the women during political events or at beauty pageants, dating back from 2017 to this year. Sound familiar?

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Herbster’s campaign manager Ellen Keast challenged al of the claims in a public statement released Wednesday, saying, “this is a political hit-piece built on 100% false and baseless claims.”

Keast added:

“Charles W. Herbster has a lifetime record of empowering women to lead … His company, farm, and campaign are all run by women. Despite leading hundreds of employees, not once has his reputation been attacked in this disgusting manner.”

KETV-7 reports that Herbster’s campaign has called the claims “libelous” and “100% false.”

“For over thirty years, I’ve employed hundreds of people. I’ve respected and empowered women to run my company, my farm, and now my campaign,” Herbster said. “Not once has my integrity EVER been challenged in this manner. It’s only after I’ve threatened the stranglehold the establishment has on this state do they stoop to lies this large. This story is a ridiculous, unfounded dirty political trick being carried out by Pete Ricketts and Jim Pillen.”

Two of the women told the Examiner they are hoping to simply move on from the incidents, while three others said they are no longer involved with politics as a result of Herbster’s groping. Two women told the outlet they are now in therapy, and one reports she carries a gun for protection.

Theresa Thibodeau, Herbster’s former running mate and now a candidate running against him, told the Examiner she had never witnessed him grope anyone and had only just learned of the allegations.

However, Thibodeau told the Examiner that after she left his campaign she was disturbed by the fact that Herbster continued to work with former Trump campaign manager and aide Corey Lewandowski, even after it was reported in September 2021 that Lewandowski made lewd and unwelcome advances to a GOP donor at a Las Vegas fundraiser.

Thibodeau told the Examiner that Herbster issued a statement saying he’d asked Lewandowski to “step back,” but campaign staffers confirmed to the outlet that Lewandowski continues to work with Herbster.

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Buoyed by falling gas prices and a strong labor market, consumer sentiment jumped “unexpectedly” in early April to hit a three-month high, according to the University of Michigan’s sentiment index.

Due to continued inflation, economists had expected the sentiment index to continue its downward trend to 59 after a final reading of 59.4 in March. Instead the index rose to 65.7 in early April, a reversal that marked the measure’s first improvement since December.

The 10.6% bump in sentiment was primarily fueled by improved consumer expectations.

“A strong labor market bolstered wage expectations among consumers under age 45 to 5.3%—the largest expected gain in more than three decades, since April 1990,” wrote Richard Curtin, chief economist for the Surveys of Consumers.

Consumers also expect the national unemployment rate will continue to “inch downward,” which has boosted their perception of the overall economy.

Another positive sign: Consumers are also starting to feel more optimistic that the surge in gas prices is slowing, a reaction to falling fuel prices that was “immediately recognized” at the pump.

“Perhaps the most surprising change was that consumers anticipated a year-ahead increase in gas prices of just 0.4 cents in April, completely reversing March’s surge to 49.6 cents,” Curtin writes. “Retail gas prices have fallen since the March peak, and that fact was immediately recognized by consumers.”

President Joe Biden moved aggressively in late March to release 1 million barrels of oil a day from U.S. strategic reserves in order to ease Americans’ pain at the pump—a gamble that appears to have paid dividends for now.

Curtin cautioned, however, that April’s relatively modest gains in sentiment remain “too close to recession lows to be reassuring.” Continued economic uncertainty, new COVID-19 variants, and the war in Ukraine still pose significant risks to consumers’ overall economic outlook.

All that being said, trending up is certainly preferable to trending down.

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Democratic Rep. Ian Mackey spoke on behalf of the Missouri House Democratic Cause on Wednesday, April 13, and shared a passionate story about his own upbringing. The Missouri House of Representatives had a floor debate that included a discussion of the Republican effort to ban trans athletes from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Mackey, who is openly gay, used his time to call out Republican Rep. Chuck Basye, and the effort majorly paid off.

For some context, the state House of Representatives gave preliminary approval to House Bill 2140,  a voter ID law requiring residents of Missouri to show a form of photo ID at polls. Basye weaseled in language that would let voters within individual school districts decide if trans athletes can participate in the sports that align with their gender identity.

This is a bad idea for all of the obvious reasons; it’s harmful to students, it’s confusing for schools, and it’s not a system that’s easily replicated for other forms of play, like at the college level. It’s hateful, it’s discriminatory, and that’s obviously the goal here. 

RELATED: Inclusive school says students are being accosted on campus after Republican ad singled it out

According to Missouri Net, Basye said it sounds like “local control” and that he feels “very, very confident” that many people in the state don’t feel they have a voice and are afraid to speak out.

“I want to let them know that I’m speaking for them, and I’m proud to speak for them,” he stated. 

Mackey, on the other hand, was not trying to hide behind vague or broad language to suggest oppression and fear that doesn’t really exist. Here is that video clip.

Mackey began by asking Basye a simple question. “Do you remember your remarks on the floor last year when you brought this up?”

“Um, you’d have to give me a specific,” Basye replied. “I mean, I made a lot of remarks last year.”

“Sure. So, I recall a story you told. About your brother.”

“Okay,” said Basye.

“And I remember you said that your bother, or, rather, your mother called to tell you that your brother had some news that he was afraid to tell you.” 

“Okay,” said Basye.

“And your brother wanted to tell you that he was gay, didn’t he?”

“Um, he was expressing that to the family, and he thought that uh, that we would hold that against him and not let him my children be around him.”

Makey asked, “Why do you think he thought that?”

“Uh, I don’t know. It never would have happened, I’ll tell you that. My kids at that point in their life adored my brother.”

“Can I tell you, if I were your brother? I would have been afraid to tell you, too.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” said Basye. And that was meager remark was enough to let Mackey really unleash the heart of his argument. 

“I would have been afraid to tell you, too. Because of stuff like this. because this is what you’re focused on, this is the legislation you want to put forward. This is what consumes your time. I would have been afraid to tell you, too.

I was afraid of people like you growing up and I grew up in Hickory County Missouri. I grew up in a school district that would vote tomorrow to put this in place. And for eighteen years, I walked around with nice people like you. Who took me to ball games, who told me how smart I was, and went to the ballot and voted for crap like this.

I couldn’t wait to get out. I couldn’t wait to move to a part of our state that would reject this stuff in a minute. I couldn’t wait. And thank God I made it out, and I think every day of the kids who are still there, who haven’t escaped from this kind of bigotry.

Gentleman, I’m not afraid of you anymore because you’re going to lose. You may win this today, but you’re going to lose.”

From here, only one more vote in favor is needed to send the bill to the Senate.