good tuesday morning. i'm erica hill. >> and i'm jim sciutto. it is election day in georgia. right now polls are open across the state as the republican senate candidate herschel walker looks to unseat the democratic senator, raphael warnock, in a runoff. ahead we'll take you outside one polling site in atlanta. plus, more than 36,000 customers remain without power in moore county, north carolina, this morning. as officials are still searching for the person who damaged moore county's power infrastructure. we have new details on the fbi's warning in the week leading up to the attack. plus the highest honor congress can bestow, the congressal gold medal, set to be awarded t several law enforcement members as congress honors who protected the capitol during the january 6th riots. we are live on capitol hill. we do begin this morning in georgia with that senate runoff. yes, the day is finally here. cnn national correspondent diane gallagher outside a polling sight in fulton county, georgia.

polls open just about two hours. we know there were a lot of early votes cast. how is it looking on election day? >> reporter: easy breezy right now here in atlanta, aside from a little misting rain. people are going in and coming right out. i'm going to bring a voter in with me right now. this is carmen anderson. carmen, it hasn't been as easy for you today. what are you trying to do and what's happened here? i'm going to bring you in just a little bit closer, carmen. what's going on? >> i am dropping off an absentee ballot for my disabled son. we filled it out and all of that good stuff, went online to try to find a place to drop it off to. and was told to come here, but to my surprise, i'm not able to drop it off here. i was told that i need to go to several other places that have the ability or capability of accepting my absentee ballot. i'm just disappointed. >> were you coming here expecting to see really big, long lines, you were going to

have to wait to do this? >> absolutely. i was expecting to see a long line. but with all of the other votes, early voting, you know, it was 50-50. but definitely just trying to get his voice heard. >> carmen, i'm going to let you go ahead and do that and get your son's ballot in. good luck today and thank you guys for participating in the democratic process. i appreciate that. look, she mentioned all those early votes. more than 1.85 million georgians have already cast their ballots. we're kind of seeing the reflection of what we saw in those days of early voting here this morning. according to gabriel sterling, the chief operating officer of the georgia secretary of state's office, they estimate more than 100,000 georgians have actually cast their ballots today, but the average wait time is around two minutes. they say processing, which is when you step up to actually go and sign in from the time they go and vote is under a minute. and so we're seeing a stark difference from those extremely

long lines, especially on the first and second and last day of early voting. remember, on friday, more than 350,000 people voted on that day. so it seems like if you haven't voted yet and you're a registered voter in georgia, today is a good day to go out and you're not going to have to potentially wait so long. >> interesting difference between the early voting days and the day itself. diane gallagher, thanks very much. cnn's john berman is at the magic wall. john, so which areas are we watching, particularly on how the midterms went? >> so i am watching, jim and erica, three counties in particular. these were the results one month ago in georgia. raphael warnock, herschel walker here. three counties, jefferson county, sumter county and clay county. and i have that orphan line right there. why these three counties? because of all 159 counties in georgia, these were the only three that voted for the democratic senate candidate,

raphael warnock, and the republican gubernatorial candidate, brian kemp. let me show you that effect one more time. red for brian kemp, blue for raphael warnock. red kemp, blue warnock. why does not matter? in the election, one month ago, herschel walker got about 1.9 million votes. but on this very same ballot, the very same ballot with the senate race was the gubernatorial race. brian kemp, the republican gubernatorial candidate, he got 2.1 million votes. so 200,000 more votes than republican herschel walker. herschel walker needs some of that 200,000 vote total right there. i'll write down that number. 200,000 votes he needs -- brian kemp won more of those than herschel walker. you can see herschel walker only trailed raphael warnock by some 37,000 votes. so if walker can do well among

those 200,000 hypothetical voters who liked brian kemp more than herschel walker, he can make up some of that ground. the libertarian, chase oliver, he got 81,000 votes. again, that's a lot more than 37,00 37,000. there will not be a third candidate in this, just two candidates, so you can see where herschel walker hypothetically could make up some ground. i pointed out those three counties. they're not very big. clay county down here, you can see the margins there. you're talking about several dozen votes raphael warnock beat herschel walker. another county, this is the home county of jimmy carter. those are small. where herschel walker stands to make up the most if he can is in a place like cobb county here, where you can see herschel walker, this is suburban atlanta. it used to be republican suburbs. now democratic.

herschel walker got just 40% of the vote there. brian kemp got 47%. so you can see where herschel walker could make up ground if he appealed to those voters out there who liked brian kemp one month ago. >> definitely important to watch those. j.b., appreciate it, thank you. joining us now, kevin riley, editor in chief of the atlanta constitution and david swerdlick, senior staff editor for "the new york times" opinion. good to see you both this morning. you know, it feels like, kevin, we have dissected this race every single way we can. i think it's important to dive down on those counties as john just showed us. but we've looked theat ad spend, early turnout, polling. is there anything you think that we have missed leading into election day here for this runoff? >> well, it's hard to think of anything that's been missed. this race has gotten so much attention and so much polling. but if you want to keep it

simple today to figure out what's going to happen, think of it this way. we went back to the election a month ago. raphael warnock would have won if we only counted early voting, and herschel walker would have won if we only counted election day voting. so the real question today is who can run up the score? can warnock run up the score enough with all of that early voting? or will enough people come out on election day for walker so that he can run up the score? who knows? everyone's guess -- everyone is guessing, but i think it's very hard to tell because we've never had a runoff in georgia that just went four weeks after the election. so things are very different this time than they have been in the past. >> kevin, can i ask you a question, and i don't know how widespread this is, but you see gabriel sterling talking about very short wait times today on election day. we saw quite long lines on early voting days. does that speak to given the

party's advantages in early voting versus the day of the election, is there anything to that or is that just coincidents? >> well, it remains to be seen, jim. we've got some rain here in georgia. we have many, many more polling places open than we had in early voting. and don't forget that early voting period was extremely compressed. we only had a month. we had record days of early voting, but we still had many fewer early voters than we had in that election a month ago. >> david, as we look at where we're at, there are, i think without question, broader lessons here for both parties, and that's not limited to the candidates you pick. it's also about how the campaigning is done, what the messaging is. what are you seeing in some of those broader lessons? >> good morning, erica. i think a lesson for democrats is that warnock could have put

walker awayi earlier on if he hd done a better job of touting the positive aspects of president biden's record. he had trouble answering that charge when herschel walker kept saying you voted with joe biden 86% of the time. and i think democrats nationwide going into the 2024 presidential year need to take something away from that. on the other hand, you have someone like walker, who has struggled to articulate an agenda beyond saying that he's tied closely to trump and that he is just on republican talking points on wedge issues. so both campaigns are looking for a win in an election that's going to be close but in a situation where as kevin said it's going to come down to a battle of turnout. the early vote versus the same day vote. it's also going to come down to some of these demographics. we've talked about so much in the last few election cycles.

warnock last time won big among african americans, he won big -- not big, but he won women, he won among college graduates. and so if you have some of those demographics together and we see high turnout for black voters in a state that's over 30% black. if you see high turnout among white voters with college degrees, particularly white women in the suburbs with college degrees, then it could be a good day for warnock. if not, walker could eke this one out. >> there's been a lot of talk of governor kemp putting his get out the vote machine to walker's advantage here. how impactful might that be, david? >> jim, i'm sorry, i didn't hear that whole question from you. >> governor kemp famously has a get out the vote machine that benefitted him in the election in the midterms. he's put that behind herschel walker.

does that make a difference? >> i think it makes a difference for walker to some extent. as john was just showing on that map of those three counties, governor kemp had coat tails on the regular election day. governor kemp is not on the ballot now and so walker is going to have to make up some of that difference where you had republican voters coming out to vote for kemp who may or may not come out now just to support walker against warnock. >> kevin riley, david swerdlick, thanks so much. cnn's special live coverage of the georgia runoff starts later today at 4:00 eastern time right here on cnn. still to come this hour, the north carolina governor says the suspect who attacked that power substation knew what they were doing to disable the power for tens of thousands. we'll speak with the head of a hospital there about the challenges they're facing now as this investigation into that power outage rolls on. plus, health officials issuing a warning about holiday gatherings and how they could potentially push already high rates of respiratory infections even higher.

we'll take a look at how they're preparing. and we'll go to capitol hill where leaders will come together to bestow congress' highest honor on those who defended the capitol during the insurrection. will it be a bipartisan show of support? that's coming up. ah, thesbills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term

policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. the new subway series menu. the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. for more on the new boss, here's patrick mahomes. incredible - meatballs, fresh mozzarella and pepperon- oh, the meatball's out! i thought he never fumbles. the new subway series. what's your pick? find your beat your moment of calm find your potential then own it support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your best every day with emergen-c

♪ i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a personal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. sofi. get your money right. i see an amazing place. feels like a dream. a place of many wonders - and full of life. i open my eyes: earth is our pandora.

'twas a wintry day, and at ihop quite soon hot cinnamon apples would be coaxed with a spoon on the fluffiest french toast with red currants on top we wish you a happy holiday, only at ihop. new gingersnap apple french toast, part of our new holiday menu. try all three flavors. pain hits fast. so get relief fast. only tylenol rapid release gels have laser drilled holes. they release medicine fast for fast pain relief. and now get relief without a pill with tylenol dissolve packs. relief without the water.

right now an increasing number of people in eastern north carolina are cold. some of them may be in the dark. the sun is up of course but in some areas we're still talking no power. this power outage entering its fourth day. the latest data shows those numbers, 30,000 residents without electricity. >> listen, it's having a big impact. schools remain closed, the county remains under a state of emergency as authorities are still searching for a suspect or suspects behind what they call a targeted criminal attack on the state's power grid system. whitney wild is in moore county, north carolina. whitney, the fbi was warning

about attacks like this in advance? what do we know? >> reporter: two weeks ago the fbi sent out a bulletin to private industry to basically say, look, these electrical grids are a very attractive target for domestic violent extremists and they, the fbi, warned that they were particularly worried about racially motivated attacks on the electrical grid. basically what this bulletin said is domestic violent extremists who are racially motivated would see an attack as an opportunity to cause societal breakdown and thus prompt a race war. it follows a pattern that we've seen from -- federal officials. the department of homeland security had warned earlier this year the electrical grid could be a target for domestic violent extremists. a similar alarm november 30th when they renewed an assessment bull tip that said the same thing, that critical infrastructure among many targets are attractive ways for domestic violent extremists to

mobilize to violence. so all of these alarms, now what is happening here in north carolina now proving that those alarms are not without merit. it is -- it is a shocking event here and law enforcement now scrambling to try to figure out who did this and why. officials releasing very little details, saying only that, yes, these two substations were fired upon. they sustained millions of dollars worth of damage. at one of the substations, a gate that leads to the substation was taken off of its hinges. but other than that, we have very little detail about what happened. so we are now turning to state officials like governor roy cooper, who is saying very plainly this was a targeted attack. >> this was a specific act. the person or persons knew what they were doing and what it took to disable this substation. so what we're going to have to

do is to work with state and federal officials, and i think this needs to be a national conversation about the level of security that we have at these sunshine stations across the country. >> reporter: we've asked about security here at this substation and the other one that was attacked. while duke energy declined to give many specifics about the type of security they have here, they did say they don't have a physical security guard here. just to put this into greater context, this substation that i'm at in carthage, north carolina, is basically in a neighborhood. these are accessible to people, heightening what dhs is saying about how vulnerable these areas are. >> whitney, appreciate the reporting this morning. thank you. that power outage understandably having a serious impact across the county. we're talking emergency services, health care. joining me is jonathan davis, the president of first health regional hospital which has postponed elective surgeries but is open operating on a backup

generator. i know you told my colleagues yesterday you could essentially operate indefinitely on that backup generator power. so based on that, what is your biggest concern? what are your biggest needs this morning? >> our biggest concerns and needs are really around communication. you recognize the internet is out and it really is kind of the mainstay of communication. so that's been a challenge for us, communication, cell phone, et cetera. so we practice for these as health care providers across the country and first health of the carolinas is prepared always to manage these situations, whether it's inclimate weather, covid. we had two years, two nand a haf years of practice with our safety huddles and command centers up and running all throughout that event, so we are prepared. >> all of that work is certainly paying off. the communications are understandably a massive part of

this but there's even concern about folks at home who may not have considered coming to a hospital who need power for things like a cpap or oxygen machine, dialysis, refrigerating insulin. you're also trying to work for the community to give them access whether it's power or refrigeration. how is that rolling out? >> yeah. so for us at the hospital, we have 60,000 gallons of fuel stored. that's three days of use. we refuel on an every two-day basis so we stay ahead of that. initially when this came, the power outage came on saturday, we really act quickly to make rounds in our hospital and then also the next day we opened up our command center and are triaging the needs of our community. so for us as a health care provider, we focused on getting people access to medical devices, charging their medical

devices. and the hillcrest rec center which can hold up to 250 people has overnight stays and then also helps people with power, charging their devices as well. so i do -- i think the longer this goes on, the more challenging it is to certainly stay in your home without power, so we are really focused on the public health and the safety needs of our community. people come here for a bit of respite to get food, et cetera. we're a city in and of ourselves, so we're meeting all those needs. >> in the fbi bulletin, hopefully you could hear the reporting from my colleague whitney wild there. but this bulletin that went out a couple of weeks ago, concern for infrastructure. do you have any concerns at all for hospitals overall infrastructure? >> i have no concerns on the hospital side. i think that we are always focused on being self-sufficient with our backup fuel. we are a health system of four

hospitals located in south central north carolina, with our hospital here in moore county in pinehurst. and we have moved a lot of our patient volume out to the other three hospitals that can support patients and have electricity. so i think as a health system we have really been symbiotic and leveraged our ability to take care of the region at large and are well on our way to do that each and every hour of the day with a great team. >> jonathan davis, really appreciate you taking the time to join us this morning. thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, the flu, rsv and covid all come together to push respiratory illness rates to abnormally high levels. why health officials are wary of holiday gatherings this month and how hospitals are preparing. that's coming up. but at t the end of the day, you know you have a team behindd you that can help you.

not havingng to worry about the future makes it possible to make the presesent as best as it can be for everybody.

♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ announcer: type 2 diabetes? discover the power of 3 in the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. announcer: ozempic® provides powerful a1c reduction. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. and you may lose weight. adults lost up to 14 pounds. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2,

or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. join the millions already taking ozempic®. ask your health care provider about the ozempic® tri-zone. announcer: you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. find your beat your moment of calm find your potential then own it support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your best every day with emergen-c

well, we fell in love through gaming. but now the internet lags and it throws the whole thing off. when did you first discover this lag? i signed us up for t-mobile home internet. ugh! but, we found other interests. i guess we have. [both] finch! let's go! oh yeah! it's not the same. what could you do to solve the problem? we could get xfinity? that's actually super adult of you to suggest. i can't wait to squad up. i love it when you talk nerdy to me. guy, guys, guys, we're still in session. and i don't know what the heck you're talking about.

new this morning, the national average for a gallon of regular gas dipped by another two cents overnight to $3.38 a gallon, according to aaa. way down, erica. remember $5 a gallon over the summer? >> i certainly do remember that. prices now down 42 cents in the past month. oil markets fell sharply yesterday. they're actually down again this morning. that's despite this eu embargo

on russian oil imports that went into effect yesterday. why does that matter? matt eagan will tell us why. so gas prices are down, that's great. oil continues to fall, which is also a good thing. the reason we say despite this, despite of course this new embargo is because there's concern about whether those penalties could end up backfiring i guess in some ways and jacking prices again. >> that is definitely the concern. so far oil markets are not freaking out about this, which is pretty amazing. oil price is down almost 1% today, actually on track to potentially close at the lowest level since new year's eve. six months ago if you had told me the war in ukraine would be going on nine months and europe would be banning most russian oil and yet oil prices would be below $80 a barrel, i would have said no way. we would have expected them to be sky high. that has not been the case for a variety of reasons, including concerns about the health of the world economy and the u.s.

economy. so far energy markets taking the latest moves from the west and europe in stride because it's not just this embargo by europe, it's also a $60 price cap imposed on russian oil by the west and the united states. the goal of course is to punish vladimir putin, deprive him of some of the revenue from oil that he's using to finance the war in ukraine. but it's a delicate balance because they don't want to punish him so much that he takes his ball and goes home by slashing oil production because that would hurt everyone, including u.s. oil consumers by reducing supply. so far so good and that means that we'll continue to see gas prices continue to go down. the national average $3.38 a gallon. not just 42 cents in the last month but almost exactly to where prices were a year ago. just two cents higher than 12 months ago. again, pretty amazing given everything that's happened and this is giving consumers a well deserved boost after a year of very high energy prices. >> i'm going to take that good news and run with it.

i'm focusing on the positive. matt, appreciate it, thank you. health officials across the country really concerned about holiday gatherings. they could end up pushing these already high rates of respiratory infections even higher. some hospitals are pushed to the brink caring for patients with the flu, kids with rsv and an increase in covid hospitalizations only adds to that strain. >> joining us now to help us figure this all out, senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. so, elizabeth, this is familiar territory, right? coming up on the holidays. after a couple of years of the pandemic and being warned about holiday gatherings spreading infection here, it's less about covid and more about rsv and forms of the flu. how seriously should folks at home take this and are there any signs that these rates of infection are lettveling off? >> rsv seems to be leveling off.

if i don't seem excited about that, the numbers are still high. they're leveling off but still very high. let's take a look at flu and rsv. if you compare hospitalization rates for those viruses compared to other points in the year, in previous years, so this time but in previous years, the flu has the highest hospitalization rate in 13 years. rsv has the highest hospitalization rate in at least five years. let's take a look at flu. you see a very red united states. this is not a political map, this is a flu map. that means that almost the entire country has high or very high levels of flu. throw covid into the mix. covid rates are going up. the week of november 26th, there were 33,000 hospital admissions in the u.s. for covid. that's up 27% from the week before. jim, you asked a great question. how worried should we be as we think about holiday gatherings. i would say that depends who you are. if you're immune compromised, if

you have someone in your family who is or someone very elderly, you should keep this in mind. thankfully for the rest of us it's not as big of a deal but do keep it in mind for the most vulnerable people. >> elizabeth cohen, thanks so much. still to come here, supreme court justices reviewing the case of a colorado graphic designer who doesn't want to work with same-sex couples. none have asked her to work with them but she wants to make sure she doesn't have to do it. we'll drill down on that and what it could mean for their decision, next.

♪ this... is the planning effect. this is how it feels to know you have a wealth plan that covers everything that's important to you. this is what it's like to have a dedicated fidelity advisor looking at your full financial picture. making sure you have the right balance of risk and reward. and helping you plan for future generations. this is "the planning effect" from fidelity. get refunds.com powered by innovation refunds can help your business get a payroll tax refund, even if you got ppp and it only takes eight minutes to qualify. i went on their website, uploaded everything, and i was blown away

by what they could do. getrefunds.com has helped businesses get over a billion dollars and we can help your business too. qualify your business for a big refund in eight minutes. go to getrefunds.com to get started. powered by innovation refunds. find your beat your moment of calm find your potential then own it support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your best every day with emergen-c active psoriatic arthritis can slow me down. now, skyrizi helps me get going. along with clearer skin, skyrizi helps with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue in just four doses a year after two starter doses. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms had a vaccine, or plan to. ask your doctor about skyrizi to treat your skin and joint symptoms - so you can get going. learn how abbvie could help you save.

what's the #1 retinol brand used most by dermatologists? it's neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair® smooths the look of fine lines in 1-week, deep wrinkles in 4. so you can kiss wrinkles goodbye! neutrogena® ♪ energy demands are rising. and the effects are being felt everywhere. that's why at chevron, we're increasing production in the permian basin by 15%. and we're projected to reach 1 million barrels

of oil per day by 2025. all while staying on track to reduce our carbon emissions intensity in the area. because it's only human to tackle the challenges of today to help ensure a brighter tomorrow. ♪ what will you do? will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. what should the future deliver? (music) progress... (music) ...innovation... (music) ...discovery? or simply stability... ...security... ...protection? you shouldn't have to choose. (music) gold. your strategic advantage. (music) visit goldhub.com.

today officers who helped protect the u.s. capitol during the january 6th riots and had great risk to themselves receiving the highest honor congress can bestow, the congressional gold medal. the capitol and d.c. metropolitan police defended members of congress as well as then vice president mike pence from those storming the capitol. they will be honored in the very same building in a special ceremony at the capitol rotunda. amazing to see them there, receive this award where they laid down their lives. >> melanie zanona is with us now. we are expected to see a united front from house members for the ceremony. we know republicans who voted against awarding these

medals. >> reporter: all four congressional leaders are expected to attend and give remarks, including nancy pelosi, chuck schumer, mitch mcconnell and kevin mccarthy. as you know, not all of kevin mccarthy's congress even agreed on this effort to award a congressional gold medal to these officers who defended the capitol. one of those members, andrew clyde, called january 6th a normal tourist visit. marjorie taylor gylor greene ha praised the jailed rioters more than the officers themselves so not all republicans can agree on the facts surrounding that day. but today is all about honoring those brave officers who defended the capitol. the congressional gold medal is the highest honor that congress can bestow. past recipients including martin luther king jr., rosa parks, nelson mandela. u.s. capitol police officer harry dunn reflected on the moment earlier this morning. >> it just means so much. i'm truly honored and humbled to

receive this. i was looking over some of the list of some of the recipients of the congressional gold medal. man, some of those people, it's truly an honor so i'm thankful for that. >> reporter: so a very well deserved moment for all of those officers who defended everyone here in the capitol on january 6th. >> one of many things still on the agenda for this congress during the lame duck is the same-sex marriage bill. it passed the senate with 12 republican votes. what's the status in the house? >> the house was supposed to vote today. they were trying to get past items done so now we are hearing from speaker pelosi's office that the vote will happen on thursday. we are expecting it to pass, which means it could be on the president's desk by the end of this week. erica, jim. >> all right, we will be following that. i know you'll keep us posted. melanie, appreciate it. several conservative

justices are signaling support during oral arguments for a graphic designer who objects to designing websites for same-sex couples. >> the conservative justices seem to view the case of the lens of free speech. they suggested that an artist or someone creating a customized product could not be forced by the government to express a message that violates their religious beliefs. here's lori smith, the website designer, at the center of the case. >> everyone should be free to create artwork, unique artwork. that goes along with what they believe, whether their views are similar to mine or perhaps different on the topic of marriage, nobody should be forced to create a message that goes against the core of who they are. >> joining us now to figure out the law behind all this, e elie honig, former assistant u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york. elie, i'm trying to understand here as a layman. and justice thomas made this

distinction in those questions yesterday. he said this is not a restaurant, this is not a riverboat or a train. from a constitutional perspective, what's the difference between a baker, the previous case refusing to bake a cake, design one for a same-sex couple, or in this case a web designer refusing to design a website for a same-sex couple. why is that different legally from, say, a restaurant owner or a train service saying i'm not going to let these people onboard or inside my place of business? >> well, jim, the fundamental conflict here is between on the one hand the web designer's first amendment right or free speech and on the other hand the right of gay couples to be married without discrimination or to obtain services without discrimination. the question you asked, what is the difference between the various types of services comes down to whether something is a public accommodation, a hotel, a train would be classic forms of public accommodation. it's easier for the court and state legislatures to outlaw discrimination. but the question is, is

providing a marriage or wedding website, does that fall into the category of a public accommodation or is that something else that's entitled to less legal protection. >> so as we look at it through that, i think it's also important to point out that lori smith has not been approached, she said, to design a website for a same-sex couple. so this is effectively a preemptive strike. she's saying i don't want to be forced. should this happen? how often does the supreme court take up a case that is really -- that is a hypothetical situation? this is a preemptive strike and it has not happened. >> this is a very unusual aspect of this case, erica. the courts in general and certainly the supreme court basically have ruled that we only rule on a real case controversy. we don't answer hypotheticals. when you look back at the case jim referred to regarding the bake shop in colorado, there was actually a couple that wanted a cake made. here there is no such thing.

this web designer as asked for a preemptive ruling saying i may want to expand my business to get into the wedding industry. however, i would like a ruling that i'm okay to do that, first. and the liberal justices objected to that. they said we're here thinking of these crazy he waypotheticals because we don't have a set of facts and it really is unusual in the court's jurisprudence to take a case in that posture. >> goodness, it opens up so many questions. let's keep up this conversation because a lot of potential consequences. thanks so much. we do have some news in just moments ago. president biden spoke at the white house. let's listen to him. >> there's more important things going on, they're going to invest millions of dollars in a new enterprise. >> the power outages in north carolina -- >> i don't know. >> do you have any idea -- >> no, i don't. i'm running that down.

[ inaudible question ] >> what's your response to that? >> i agree. >> i can only hear the answer on that last one. could you hear the question? >> i could not. difficult in the rain there. we'll talk to our white house team and get back to see if there was any news in there. >> he was saying he didn't agree with something. the question involved religious freedom but could not hear the rest of it so we'll figure that out and get back to everybody. still ahead, the iranian government has announced five more people involved in the killing of a revolution guard member have now been sentenced to death. the latest as clashes continue over a whole host of things, including government information. we'll have more coming u up. . try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love, plus the powerful cough relief youou need. mind if i root through your trashsh? robitussin. the only brandnd with real honeyand elderberry.

the holiys were awkward for romeo and juliet. ♪ thankfully, amazon had just the gift to bring the families together. ♪ shop legendary deals. ♪ my relationship with my credit cards wasn't good. i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. between the high interest, the fees... i felt trapped. debt, debt, debt. so i broke up with my credit card debt and consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. i finally feel like a grown-up. d rrow up to $100k. go to sofi.com to view your rate. sofi. get your money right. ♪ there's a different way to treat hiv.

it's every-other-month, injectable cabenuva. for adults who are undetectable, cabenuva is the only complete, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. it's two injections, given by my healthcare provider, every other month. it's one less thing to think about while traveling. hiv pills aren't on my mind. a quick change in my plans is no big deal. don't receive cabenuva if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking certain medicines, which may interact with cabenuva. serious side effects include allergic reactions post-injection reactions, liver problems, and depression. if you have a rash and other allergic reaction symptoms, stop cabenuva and get medical help right away. tell your doctor if you have liver problems or mental health concerns, and if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or considering pregnancy. some of the most common side effects include injection-site reactions, fever, and tiredness. if you switch to cabenuva, attend all treatment appointments. every other month, and i'm good to go. ask your doctor about every-other-month cabenuva.

ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.

this morning the iranian government a234nnounced it has sentenced sentenced five more people to death after the para military group used by the government to crackdown on protesters. it is a wing of iran's revolutionary guard. protesters had clashed with the guard last month during nationwide protests. the protests sparked by the death of 2-year-old mahsa amini. she died in police custody after being apprehended by the country's so-called morality police. allegedly for not wearing her hijab properly. according to the group, iran human right, at least 448 people have been kill sod far during the unrest.

cnn cannot verify those numbers but there has been a flood of skepticism after an iranian official said that the country would shut down their morality police. and some saying this is a p.r. stunt. joining me massa ajad. >> thank you for hosting me again. >> so first on this question of the government claiming to abolish the morality police as they're known. you say it is just a tactic to stop the protests. why? what do we know is the reality on the ground? >> first of all, the day actually when the headline was about iran abolishing morality police, the attorney general clearly said that this is not our responsibility to bring the morality police back into the streets. it is other organizations and they have to deal with it. but we make sure that we won't

get social service to unveiled women. so that was the whole sentence. but some media actually used it because the iranian regime knows when they are -- when they are shaken, they are in fear and in crisis. how do use disinformation, first to calm down the massive protests taking place in iran, second to mislead the rest of the world. and jim, you just mentioned about iranian regime sentencing protesters to death. this regime is not going to abolish morality police because girls from the age of 7, they have to cover themselves other wise they won't be able to get an education. >> let me ask you this. we've seen these protests going on for weeks now. largely young people but at times we've seen other groups such as businesses take part in this. now today the iranian government is claiming all of the businesses are open. what is the reality and what would the significance be if

this expands to the business community? >> it is correct. now they are really in fear that all workers will walk out and join the nationwide strike. which, as you saw yesterday, was the first day threes that the activists inside of iran asked for nationwide strikes and many shops across iran they closed and they joined iranian protesters. that will actually make a huge difference and it will be the beginning of -- the beginning of massive national strikes. so but i am going to tell you that the islamic republic lie with lies an fake news. across iran it shows that even well know football players joined the nationwide strike, and they actually went there and they closed his restaurant, his

jewelry shop. so that is why i'm telling you that the international media should pay attention. that now iranian regime is in a real and serious crisis because many they are part of the protests and they got arrested. that is why you try to mislead the rest of the world and appease the protesters as well. >> we've seen protest movements in iran before. i covered for instance the protests following the 2009 election there. but we've then seen those disappear because the government cracked down so hard. for folks watching at home, how will they know if this protest movement is different and has the potential to spark more change. >> that is a very good question. this is the first time in our history we see that many well-known athletes quitting their jobs and joining the people of iran. we've never seen that. even in 2009 you the covered the story and you know that. athletes were showing solidarity

by just putting some -- i don't know, like solidarity words on their social media or something like that. but now many well-known actress removing their hijab saying that no longer do we want to be participant of this propaganda. and we see that sense of unity among celebrities around the world as well. the tone the leaders of democratic countries has changed but we need more. we need secretary blinken clearly saying that nuclear talk is dead. but because this is what the iranian people believe, that the only thing that could help the islamic republic survive, it is the nuclear deal. if the western leaders understand that they have to legitimatize the revolution and cut their ties with iranian government, that would help iran to go to different stage. >> massa ajad, thank you for helping us understand what is going on there. >> thank you so much for not

abandoning the iranian people. >> still ahead here, polls open, the georgia senate runoff between raphael warnock and herschel walker. we'll take you live to georgia straight ahead. then own it support your immune system with a potent blend of nutrients and emerge your best every day with emergen-c the greatest sandwich roster ever assembled. for more on the new boss, here's patrick mahomes. incredible - meatballs, fresh mozzarella and pepperon- oh, the meatball's out! i thought he never fumbles. the new subway series. what's your pick? if you used shipgo this whole thing wouldn't be a thing. yeah, dad! i don't want to deal with this. oh, you brought your luggage to the airport. that's adorable. with shipgo shipping your luggage before you fly you'll never have to wait

though. shipgo.com the smart, fast, easy way to travel. ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ power e*trade's easy-to-use tools like dynamic charting and risk-reward analysis help make trading feel effortless and its customizable scans with social sentiment help you find and unlock opportunities in the market with powerful, easy-to-use tools power e*trade makes complex trading easier react to fast-moving markets with dynamic charting and a futures ladder that lets you place, flatten, or reverse orders so you won't miss an opportunity

two new ihop lunch and dinner menu items for twice the goodness, twice the flavor, and twice the choice. sirloin salisbury steak and all-natural salmon. perfect for lunch or dinner. only at ihop. download the app and earn free food with every purchase.

as a business owner, your bottom line is always top of mind. so start saving by switching to the mobile service designed for small business: comcast business mobile. flexible data plans mean you can get unlimited data or pay by the gig. all on the most reliable 5g network. with no line activation fees or term contracts. saving you up to 60% a year. and it's only available to comcast business internet customers. so boost your bottom line by switching today. comcast business. powering possibilities.