amna: good evening and welcome. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight, a consequential case. the supreme court hears arguments over whether a christian web designer can refuse to serve same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs. then, energy crunch. the u.s., europe and other nations impose a price cap on russian oil the latest global effort to punish russia for its invasion of ukraine. and, a crucial runoff. the final push is underway to get georgia voters to the polls. but with aritical senate seat on the line, republicans struggle to rally support. >> asking us to vote for herschel walker, the candidate , is akin to perhaps playing russian roulette with american democracy. amna: all that and more on

tonight's pbs newshour. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour, including leonard and norma clorevine, and koo and patricia yuen. >> the william and flora hewlett foundaon. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett.org. ♪

>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: the u.s. supreme court is facing a major decision on religion and lgbtq rights. the justices today heard a case involving a christian graphic artist to objects to designing wedding websites for same-sex couples. she says artists should not have to do work that goes against their faith. we will have more on this after the news summary. in the days other news coming u.s. hospitalizations for the flu are the highest they have been in a decade this early in the season. the cdc reported that surge today, and said 14 young people

have died of the flu so far. the agency also said large numbers of other respiratory cases are adding to the stress on hospitals. pfizer asked the fda today to authorize its updated covid booster for children 6 months to 4 years old. the reformulated vaccine targets the omicron subvariants. it also offers increased protection against new covid strains. china's move to ease strict covid rules is accelerating, amid rare protests and mounting economic damage. in beijing today, commuters were allowed to travel on buses and subways without a virus test for the first time in months. authorities in shanghai announced similar steps which some saw as gradual, but welcome. >> i am not particularly touched by the efforts. after all, we still need a test done within 72 hours for work and within 48 hours for dining. from my perspective, it didn't

open up that much. but it's a small step and it can be regarded as overall progress. amna: other reports said the ruling communist party could release new nationwide rules this week. in ukraine, government officials say a new volley of russian missiles killed at least 4 people and cut power again in much of the country. shells blasted huge craters as they tore up residential areas although kyiv said its air defenses shot down most of the missiles. meanwhile, russian president vladimir putin drove across a repaired bridge linking russia to crimea. it was damaged by a truck bomb in october. a new three dayeneral strike has begun in iran, with anti-government protesters calling for shops to close. some store owners in tehran heeded the call today, despite official warnings that they'd be arrested. others said they can't afford to close, but that they support the protesters. >> this is a legitimate demand and they should be heard, if society is divided and people regularly attack each other

not only will the situation not improve, but we will go backward. amna: the protests erupted in september after a young kurdish woman, mahsa amini, died in police custody. she'd been arrested for allegedly wearing her headscarf o loosely. 10 men went on trial in belgium today for the 2016 suicide bombings in brussels. the islamic state group claimed the attacks that killed 32 people and injured more than 300 at the brussels airport and a subway station. nine of the accused entered court, with a tenth being tried in absentia. they face murder and other charges. the trial could last 6 months or longer. in indonesia, entire villages are buried and key bridges destroyed after a volcano erupted sunday on java. ash and debris from mount semeru covered roads and homes. in the aftermath, people had to dig out their belongings and evacuate livestock. so far, there are no reports of deaths.

back in this country, tens of thousands of people in central north carolina faced a third night without electricity after one or more gunmen attacked two power stations on saturday. crews worked today to repair the substations. officials said it could take until thursday to restore power to the affected area, southwest of raleigh. there's no word on what motivated the attack. and on wall street, stocks sank after growth in the service sector raised new doubts about controlling inflation. major indices fell between 1% and 2% the dow jones industrial average lost 482 points to close at 33,947. the nasdaq fell 221 points. the s&p 500 gave up nearly 73. still to come on the newshour, tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political headlines. drag queen events are increasingly targeted by right wing demonstrators. a mother and son who are both poet laureates work to inspire others. plus much more.

>> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. amna: the rights of same-sex couples are once again before the u.s. supreme court. john yang begins with the back story of a case that wrestles with the blurred line separating free speech, religious beliefs, and discrimination. john: website designer lori smith's primary tools are a keyboard and a mouse. in her view, the tools of an artist. >> when i'm designing and creating many times, very much like a traditional painter would use a paint brush and colors and a white canvas. i approach my work the same way. i am custom creating and writing and telling a story through

imagery, color pallets, different elements. each and every thing that i create expresses some sort of message, some sort of expression, and everything i create is unique and one-of-a-kind. that's my specialty. john: as a devout christian, smith says that message has to reflect what she sees as her faith's view of god's design. >> it is important to me that the messages that i create are nsistent with my faith. and for that reason, there's some messages i can't design custom artwork for no matter who requests them. john: are there projects you've turned down for that reason because they didn't fit with your beliefs? or they conflicted with your beliefs? >> yes, there are. i have declined messages that are political. it is important for me as an artist that i'm not only passionate about what i create, but i believe in it. john: smith wants to offer custom websites for weddings, but colorado's antidiscrimination law would require her to offer them to same-sex couples. and that, she says, would force

her to create a message that conflicts with her beliefs. >> nobody should be put in that position. we should all be free to live and work consistent with our faith. john: sound familiar? in 2018, the supreme court sided with colorado baker jack phillips. he refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. that 7-2 ruling was on the narrow grounds that state officials were hostile to his religious beliefs. but smith is making a different argument, saying that the colorado law violates her right to free speech. she says that the government cannot dictate the message that a work of art conveys. colorado attorney general phil weiser says aror not, a business is a business. >> anyone, website creator, a book writer, a baker, can make whatever service products they want to. they then have to sell it to anyone who comes and asks for access to the product or service

if they're open to the public. you could imagine a situation where jews or muslims or women are told, i'm sorry, i have a certain expressive interest in providing this product or icrvice. itas tano tiex-dcliscrimyoination c john: the justices spent about two hours working through those issues. marcia coyle was there. she's chief washington correspondent for the national law journal. thank you for joining us. one reason it seemed to me why this took so long, these arguments took so long, is there are two essential freedoms in the constitution that are colliding. protected speech on the one hand, and equality on the other. marcia: absolutely. what also complicates this is both sides disagree on what actually is being regulated here. is it speech, as the website designer claims? or is it a business, has the

colorado government claims? the court spent a lot of time struggling with these two principles of antidiscrimination and free-speech. john: and there was also a question, and a lot of questions about whose speech was at, who was speaking here, the website designer or the couple getting married? marcia: that was something justice sotomayor looked at. you looked at the mockup of the wedding websites that she wants to create. she went page by page and kept saying, this is all about the couple. it is not about your speech. it is about the couple's story. it is not your story. yes, that was very much part of it, whose speech is this? the lawyer for ms. smith, responded, book authors tell other people stories, but it is still there speech. john: they also probed the question that we heard the colorado attorney general talk

about earlier, where is the line, if you carve out an exception to the antidiscrimination law for this, what else? here is justice soto mayor asking that question. >> how about people who don't believe in interracial marriage? or people who don't believe that disabled people should get married? where is the line? jo: does this get down to how they write this decision? marcia: absolutely. they are going to have to say, if they do rule for the website designer, they are going to have to say why what she does is different from, say, interracial marriages, for example. why is it different from race? i think both the liberals and conservatives on the court are concerned about this line. and where to draw it. i got the feeling after the argument, they really don't have much idea where they are going to draw it, at least not now. john: this is not the first time

this issue has come before the court. at one point, there was a tense exchange between one of the justices and the solicitor general from colorado, harkening back to that other case, and -- and the way the colorado civil rights commission treated him. what does this tell us about how this court approaches questis of religion? marcia: that six justice majority on this court is very strongly pro-free exercise of religion. when religion is part of a case, their alarm bells go up. because they want to be protected of the practice of religion. i think justice gorsuch's comments were showing that he thinks that religion is being disfavored again and again, and he did not like what he called the reeducation program that the baker had to go through, although the government claims it was not a reeducation program, it was important for

the baker to know what the law actually says. i thk it just reflects their concern that religion not be a second-class amendment. john: thank you very much. marcia: thank you, john. ♪ amna: today, the west is attempting something that has never been tried. capping the price of oil. the g-7 group of leading industrialized nations, the european union, and australia have agreed not to facilitate the export of russian oil unless it is sold for $60 or less a barrel. the eu banned all seaborne imports of russian oil. nick schifrin explains the impact of the farthest reaching efforts to target one of russia's main sources of income that helps fund its war in ukraine. nick: every day, russia exports an average of 7.7 million

barrels of oil. in october, that made moscow $17 billion. exporting those bail -- those barrows require a buyer, a ship which has an owner, charters, and managers. it also has insurance and reinsurance, and logistics. and now all these services subject to u.s., eu, or australian law, that's 90% of them, can't legally facilitate russian oil exports, unless that barrel is bought for $60 or less. >> we want to reduce the income putin gets from his oil because he's nancing his barbaric war with it and all the atrocities the russians are committing in ukraine. and at the same time not disrupt international oil markets. that would not help us either. nick: russia is the world's second largest oil exporter. and this weekend deputy prime minister alexander novak said russia would keep selling oil "only to those countries that will work with us under market conditions, even if we have to reduce production a little." those countries outside the cap include china, turkey, and

india, which together buy 3.5 millioseaborne russian barrels a day. today beijing said it would ignorehe west's efforts. >> china and russia always carry out energy cooperation in the spirit of mutual respect and mutual benefit. nick: u.s. officials believe $60 is high enough to motivate russia to keep producing. but ukrainian president volodymyr zelenzkyy called the cap too high. >> you wouldn't call it a serious decision to set such a limit for russian prices, which is quite comfortable for the budget of a terrorist state. this is a weak position. nick: for more on all of this we turn to elina ribakova, deputy chief economist at the institute of international finance. her organization is a global association of the financial industry. welcome to the newshour. how much will this $60 price cap reduce russian revenues? elina: it will rede russian

revenues by 1% or two percentage points of gdp. it will make russian deficit next year not to present. it will make it 3% or 4%. russia's debt to gdp is one of the lowest in the world at 17%. i would say not too much. nick: i'm sitting in ukraine thinking about this price cap, hearing zelenskyy say it is not enough, when presented to 2% sounds like a lot less than what ukraine has suffered. elina: absolutely. what russia has done since 2014 is prepare for -- it has protected its external finances, cleaned up its banking system, and the physical rule in order to beetter protected from future sanctions that might be imposed on them. nick: how is russia likely to respond the on the statement that we saw it make this weekend? are u.s. officials right in predicting russia will continue to produce the same level of oil? elina: this is a tough prediction. russia has been consistent from

day one, saying they will not comply with oil price cap, which is ironic because this price cap is close to their budgeted number. it might be convenient for them to comply. president putin can be extremely stubbornnd not guided by macroeconomic considerations, but how it looks on the geopolitical agenda. he might just refuse because so far, the message has been consistent. novak made the statement, minister of energy, putin himself, and they had guidelines for not complying. if one of their buyers are complying with oil price cap, it is illegal for them to sell to that person. nick: is there a risk that if russia decides to reduce reduction, it would drive prices up? elina: there is a risk. if russia refuses, it means it shoots itself in the leg, and then we go back to the embargo. we have spent a disproportionate amount of time discussing the oil price because of the complexity.

embargo, that is the real game chger. if you are refusing to bile russian oil. if russia refuses to sell the cap, that is when we go to an embargo. there is a risk of -- i have seen estimates between 3.5 million to 4 million barrels a day could be removed from the market. that will have a short-term impact on their oil price. nick: the embargo you are talking about is the eu stopping any kind of seaborne oil and shipments as of today. how significant is that, given europe's historic reliance on russian oil? elina: europe has demonstrated it can live without russian guests. it has been disproportionately more significant than russian oil. . yes, before the war, or the full-fledged invasion, europe refused to import more than 40% of russian oil. that picture has changed dramatically. we are seeing china, india, turkiye pickup oil, and they have reduced it significantly.

embargo is just on seaborne oil. but germany and poland said they will not use the friendship, ironic, pipeline. they will not buy oil from the pipeline either. for europe, if they have demonstrated they can live without russian gas, they can live without russian oil. nick: russia has created what industry experts call a ghost fleet of ships. basically ships not covered b traditional insurance. most of which is governed by the g7. will those efforts that russia is making allow it to effectively skirt around the price cap? elina: the fact that we gave them a headway, a head start to prepare for this measure, for european union, it was important for their own reasons to have this gap between the implementation of the six package and the force. russia established the working group, working very hard to circumvent the sections. they have bought extra ships and

found extra capacity. that is more than a quarter of their seaborne oil at the moment. they still have a big gap. once the embargo and oil price cap go into force, they cannot fully substitute the global companies provisions of ships for seaborne oil. nick: these two actions today, both the price cap that we have been focused on, and the eu embargo, are the largest attempt by the u.s. and europe to try to affect russia's finances when it comes to being able to fight the war in ukraine. bottom line, will these steps have an impact in how russia wages its war in ukraine? elina: i will turn around and ask you a question, -- he is willing to send more than one million people mobilized to the war that will likely die without any preparation for this pointless invasion.

will that change his oculus? i highly doubt that. however, the fact that posing measures we are sending strong signals that we want to do what is possible to stop the war, it will have a medium-term impact on russia. maybe not today, not tomorrow, but potentially next year. it will have russia's ability to continue this war or start new ones. nick: elina ribakova, thank you very much. elina: thank you for having me. ♪ amna: tomorrow, georgians will decide the final uncalled race of the 2022 midterm elections. the runoff contest between democratic senator raphael warnock and republican herschel walker comes after neither received a majority of the vote in november. unlike last year, the race will not determine the balance of power in the senate but it is still neck and neck, with record numbers of early voting. laura barron-lopez traveled to georgia and has this report.

laura: outside a polling place in a decatur shopping mall are some of the people that turned georgia blue in 2020, now trying for a repeat. >> oh i see you dancing, come on now, that's right. can i give you a first bump, oh! laura: here and all over the state, the mobilizing group black voters matter offers a free t-shirt for a voter's phone number. >> now all you gotta do is forward that to five friends. if everyone we touch tells five otr people, guess what? that's how we build an army. that's how we build a movement. laura: cliff albright is one of the groupa™s founders, and has lived in georgia for over a decade. since 2016, he and others have transformed democrat's ground-game in the state. this runoff, he says they have reacillion black voters. >> 2 mhed st how d lo we geaet ? how do we create enthusiasm? how do we get people to feel like that they really matter, right? there's a lot of people that re about black votes, that don't care about black voters. we want people to know that we care about them and our communities and ousues.

laura: many we spoke to in this predominantly black and democratic area were backing senator raphael warnock, a pastor at the nearby ebenezer baptist church, where the reverend doctor martin luther king jr. once preached. >> are you ready to win this election? laura: warnock holds a slight advantage in recent polls as he fights for a full, six year term against republican herschel walker - a georgia football legend with a full-throated endorsement from former president donald trump. georgians at this early voting site in atlanta have been waiting in line over an hour as they try to cast their ballot. walker and senator warnock have had only 28 days instead of 2 months to get voters to the polls a second time. >> what they've done to this country in two short years. we give them any more time, we won't recognize america again. laura: republicans see critical ground to make up. walker finished narrowly behind warnock last month. but he received 200,000 fewer votes than republican governor briakemp. the two campaigned together to try to close that gap, with kemp making the case that walker would vote to support law enforcement and cut taxes in the

senate. >> do you want a guy that represents our values like herschel walker or do you want somebody that's stood with joe biden 96% of the time? laura: for months, walker has faced a barrage of scandals, including multiple allegations of domestic abuse and two former partners who have said walker pressured and paid for them to have abortions, which is at odds with walker's antiabortion stance. at a walker event in deep-red muskogee county, republican voters either took the football star at his word, or said they wanted a reliable vote against president joe biden's agenda. >> he stands for the values that i stand for. i'm a pro-life person. i don't like the policies of the biden administration. >> what did you make of the reports for the fact that he paid for an abortion for one of his ex-girlfrie? >> i don't know what to believe anymore. peop can say anything. i also believe in redemption and i believe people can make mistakes and turn their lives around. laura: those allegations have

republicans worried about walker's ability to turn out conservatives. walker supporters hope to win them back. bell kivu is skeptical. >> i don't know if they will be energized to go out and vote. laura: vu is one of the 200,000 split-ticket republicans who backed kemp, but not walker. >> asking us to vote for herschel walker, the candidate is akin to perhaps playing russian roulette with american democracy. laura: the former vice chair of the dekalb county election board, vu has vocally defended the integrity of the 2020 vote in georgia. he sees walker's statements denying the legitimacy of the election as disqualifying, and doesn't think the runoff will push anti-walker republicans to reconsider. >> herschel walker had a chance to stand on the side of truth and honesty the same way that governor kemp did, the same way that secretary raffensperger did. instead, he basically took a stand on a waterbed of lies. >> if you are a poll watcher,

god bless you. laura: but among the republican base, belief in lies about a rigged election system remains strong. at the cobb county gop headquarters, many are volunteering as poll watchers in the runoff, and they are encouraged to report anything they consider to be fraud or disenfranchisement. after a prayer, work began on phone banking and canvassing for walker. joyce wice said she believes walker is honest and will support fiscal responsibility in the senate. when asked about the allegations that he paid for an abortion, she said it didn'line up with his purported values. >> herschel walker, in a direct quote, said that's a flat out lied. and i believe him. laura: walker's core message has not chang for the runoff. >> i am a warrior for god. laura: his stump speech likened a vote for democrats to sending georgia to hell and focused on transgender players in sports and gender identity. >> what the heck is a pronoun? i don't even know what a pronoun is.

let's give him a pronoun. let's give him former senator pronoun. >> this race is about character and competence. laura: warnock is also pulling from his general election playbook, bringing back former president barack obama to rally voters in kirkwood: -- kirkwood. >> i am back. yes, we can. laura: roughly 5,000 packed into pullman yards, a historic rail yard turned event venue to hear him speak. multiple black georgians told newshour they viewed walker's candidacy as an attempt by republicans to win them over through representation rather than substance. 69% of white voters compared to just 3% of black voters support walker, according to a recent cnn poll. >> i think a lot of people are just irritated by his opponent and that's forcing people to come out. laura: irritated how? >> irritated in that you just feel you can replace one black with another.

with another. so give me at least someone that's comparable in intellect. laura: in the final days, warnock has focused on voting rights, and the lawsuit his campaign filed and won against republican state officials to allow for saturday early voting. >> we saw record voter turnout last weekend but don't forget what we had to do just so that could happen. laura: this is the first runoff since georgia passed senate bill 202 last year, which made it harder to receive a mail-in ballot, reduced the number of drop boxesand shortened early voting. republic officials hav pointed to the record early turnout as evidence that the law did not restrict access but albright said those changes made a difference. >> two years ago, we were able to spend a month just registering new voters just for the runoff that weren't eligible for the general. we could not do that because in a 30 day period, the cutoff for voter registration was actually the day before the general election. laura: black pac, like other get

out the vote organizations, is reaching millions of voters by repeatedly knocking on doors until the last days before the election. >> i'm with a black pac, reminding people of the election. laura: senate control may already be determined, but the stakes for an increasingly diverse georgia could not be higher. for the pbs newshour, i am laura barron-lopez in atlanta, georgia. laura: with all eyes on that georgia runoff race tomorrow, that's where we begin with our politics monday team. amy walter of the cook political report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. welcome to you both. let's pk up where laura left off. amy, the senate race, the georgia runoff is not going to determine the balance of power in the senate. what is at stake, why does this matter? amy: what is at stake for democrats is a couple of things. the first is you are right, they

have the majority with or without georgia. and you have 51 states instead of 50, it changes the balance of power in terms of what they are able to do in committees they have. they don't have to power share with republicans. that matters a lot in terms of the agenda going forward. the other important thing it does is it helps to protect democrats going into 2024, gis them a little bit more of a cushion. the 2024 senate map is as bad as though 2022 senate map was good for democrats. in 2024, democrats have to defend west virginia, ohio, and montana, all states that trump won. if they lose one of those states, they can still have the majority, assuming that the president wins reelection. amna: how do you look at it? tamara: as president biden put it, as he was phone banking for raphael warnock from massachusetts, late last week, in a 50-50 senate, every senator is a president.

this is a line he has used before with some frustration. because just one senator could derail his agenda. and did. and used that power to shape the agenda for the president. if therere 51, then that makes it -- makes a difference for the president and his agenda. not having the house means it is of limited utility. but the other thing is right now, democrats are one a heartbeat away from losing the majority. and that extra buffer of one more senator does make a difference. amna: a little wiggle room. we start talking about024 this early, but that is where we are. i want to ask about somhing else, news from this weekend forcing more tough questions for republicans. these are commen president made about the constitution. here is wh he said for anyone who missed it. he said "a massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termation of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the constitution."

that led to republicans, including congressman dave joyce, being asked about that statement. here is what he said on abc yesterday. >> i can't be really chasing every one of these crazy statements that come out about - -- about any of these candidates. >> but that's an extraordinary statement. you can't come out against someone who's for suspending the constitution? >> well, first off, he hasn't -- he has no ability to suspend the constitution. secondly, i don't -- >> but he says he's for it. >> well, you know, he says a lot of things that -- but that doesn't mean that it's ever going to happen. amna: he is talking about terminating the constitution. should this be this hard to answer? amy: this is this dance that republicans have to do almost every day, is how to answer these questions. they know they don't have the right answer for. this is just becoming overwhelming, and yet, they continue to refuse to just call

out donald trump, say we don't want you to run again, we would like somebody else, we need somebody who will focus on the future, not somebody who wants to continue to talk about things like overturning the constitution. but they cannot, as long as donald trump continues to have a pretty solid hold on the party, on the party's apparatus, and has still approval ratings in the 80's among republican voters, so they find themselves in the place they have always been. which is hoping that he either goes away, which obviously is not going to happen, or that somebody finally beats him in a primary, but they can't say that out loud. desjardins, has been chasing members of the republican leadership ticket comment. we heard back from a few. senator john thain, the number two republican, had this to say. "of course i disagree with that. i swear an oath to uphold the constitution, the bedrock of our country. so i couldn't disagree more." we heard from other republican lawmakers. there are folks like senator rick scott who dodged answering

the question, basically said, we need to enforce all of our laws, saying he believed mr. trump who said he was misunderstood. what do you make about the way they are answering this? tamara: the former president did put out another truth today, on truth social, and sent it around saying, i never said that, that's not what i said. which this year's word of the year from merriam-webster's gas lighting. that is what that is. and that i what the former president does constantly. he says something that maybe is a little unclear, but seems to imply something then he said, i never said that thing as soon as people react. that is the danger republicans find themselves in. if they react too strongly for he says wait, i never meant to say that, but let's just be very clear, that although in this poster for the weekend, he talked about terminating articles of the constitution,

what he was arguing for on january 6, what he has been arguing for since, which is either a rerunning of the 2020 election, or reinstating him as president, all of those things are out of line with the constitution. and just the other thing to note is that as amy points out, there are a large number of people who believe that -- they believe the lie, they believe he should be in office, they believe he should be reinstated now, and there are some subset of people who believe that is possible. amna: we will continue to see what republican lawmakers have to say. i'm sure there will be another round of questions. i need to ask you about the other big news on the democratic side, the new proposed presidential nominating calendar that president biden has put forward. instead of iowa going first, south carolina would be going first.

congressman from south carolina, jim clyburn, put out a statement and said in part this: "i have been asked what the potential of south carolina becoming the first primary state means for black voters. my response is simply, we are seen." black voters have long been the backbone. amy: and yet the two first states, isla new hampshire, notoriously not diverse. every four years, a party reevaluates the calendar. and they try to rejust based on what happened in the previous years. sometimes it is fighting the last war. we had 2 -- we had a process that was too dragged out. it was too short, we need to make it longer. this benefits, first of all, joe biden, who of course was rehabilitated by south carolina after coming in fourth and fifth in new hampshire. and iowa. butlso, this has been

something that has been in the works for years. this is not just immediately benefiti joe biden. it is reflecting a frustration among democratic voters that the core as you pointed out, the base of the party, black voters don't get the representation that they deserve as early in the process and there is an overwhelming focus on two states, including iowa, which is no longer particularly competitive. it was iowa that gave barack obama his boost because it allowed him to say, if a black candidate for president can win in a state like iowa, than i can win nationally. amna: does it change the nominating process? tamara: i think we will not truly know whether south carolina is the new iowa, whether it can be that launching point for several cycles, especially if president biden runs for reelection. it would be irrelevant this cycle.

i think we are not going to know the effect. . and biden has said, maybe in part to try to lessen the blow, that he thinks it should be revisited every four years. it may -- if that really happens, it would completely and totally scramble the nominating process. the political professionals that set up shop in the states and know how to work the states, and know each and every person who must be spoken to and whose backyard to go to, it would be scrambled. i will say, there are several of the states that have moved up, or given more prominence that art swing states, purple states, nevada, michigan, georgia. in is also a swing state. amna: you mentioned those political professionals setting up shop. any walters had a knowing smile. she knows that. amy: where to go for dinner. amna: amy walter, tamara keith, good to talk to you.

♪ amna: drag shows are no longer the underground phenomenon they once were. in fact, family-themed drag events are often held in many cities for younger audiences. but as the backlash and rhetoric against lgbtq people has grown, so have the threats to drag community. >> reclaim america! amna: more than 50 members of the far right white nationalist groups proud boys and patriot front marched in the streets of columbus, ohio on saturday. they were protesting a local schools' "holidrag storytime" event, where three local drag performers read children books and sing holiday songs. school officials at red oak community school decided to cancel the event citing safety concerns. >> the world is getting more and more unsafe for the lgbtq community.

the attacks are constant and getting worse. the fact that we are not able to successfully host this simple event shows the extent of the damage we have to do better. amna: it's one of a number of drag story hours disrupted by far-right protesters this year, including in nevada, oregon and california. >> wake up, there! mumbled mole. amna events like drag queen storytimes are intended to promote inclusion and diversity to younger audiences,but they have now become a target for right-wing media and politicians. >> let's say you were interested in sexualizing children and unfortunately some people are, what would you do? you might have a drag queen story hour at a library or at school. that's where you would indoctrinate and sexualize children. it is happening across the country. amna: some republican candidates amped up targeted messaging before the midterms. in june, the gop nominee for arizona governor kari lake tweeted "they kicked god out of schools and welcomed the drag queens. they took down our flag

and replaced it with a rainbowaa -- with a rainbow." but those who track that rhetoric say the reaworld consequences are clear. a new report by the lgbtq media advocacy group glaad found at least 124 instances of drag events being protested, threatened or attacked this year in 47 states. the report also found a total of 8 proposed bills this year aiming to ban or restrict drag performances. to discuss these threats and the legislation and rhetoric targeting lgbt people, i am joined by glaad president and ceo sarah kate ellis. welcome to the newshour. thank you for joining us. for those unfamiliar, can you explain a little bit about the culture of drag and the place it holds in the lgbtq community? sarah kate: sure. drag has long been a place of joy, of protest, of expression. it is really an art form. it has been a sacred space, a

place where we have gathered as family, as friends, and it has been a place of joy. now it is a place of terror, quite wrinkly. it really has changed dramatically in a short time. amna: when you started hearing this political rhetoric of people accusing people of grooming at these drag storytime events, what did you think? sarah kate: i was surprised by it. we had heardhat rhetoric before around marriage equality and when we were fighting for marriage equality. and i thought it was done there. over this past year, what we have seen is a very quick and steady assault against the lgbtq community, both in words and in actions. i think it started during the legislative session this past year when we saw over 300 ti-lgbtq bills. we saw that starting to get

traction and build and build and build. a lot of that was against trans youth. really targeting -- the targets that have been against our community have been around trans, youth in our community, and now the drag community in our community. amna: you mentioned in that report 124 instances, protests, and attacks you have traed. you said it is likely an undercount. give us a sense of what we are talking about with protests and attacks. he said there is terror in the community. why? sarah kate: i think because of all of this rhetoric we are seeing. there have been so many articles, mentions, and to talk about the lgbtq community in a really negative, nasty way. what happens is social media goes unchecked and it takes those lies and that disinformation and it spreads it like wildfire.

it stirs that people and creates this environment that is very deadly. it is really interesting because we started doing this count right before colorado springs happened, because we realized that if you pulled back and you look at it holistically, there were so many attacks against the drag community, that it was not these isolated incidents. it was a coordined effort against the drag community, against lgbtq community. and right before that mass shooting happened in colorado springs at club q, all of a sudden, it came together that there were 124 attacks and protests against drag events. these events, just so you know, are light and fun. for my family during covid, we did drag bingo on zoom as a holiday event so that we all could get together and have some

fun and laughs enjoy in a really dark time. these are really fun events, and i think that now they are terrorizing us. so that we are scared. but we will never back down. we will never back down, we will never stop having drag events. amna: when you talk about the attacks and threats on these drag storytime events, is it fair to link those to the ramped up rhetoric we have seen from far right republicans? sarah kate: absolutely. you can see a direct link. from what the far right republicans are saying, to what is happening on social media, because what happens on social media is a gets repeated, amplified, and spread. people start to organize attacks on social media against these drag events. we just put a person that is lgbtq focused in the center for extremism with the anti-defamation league because we can see direct links from

what is being said from politicians, to what is said online, to then what the attacks on our community. yes, there is a direct line. and it is really sad. these politicians understand that people accept lgbtq people. the vast majority of americans accept lgbtq people. they try to u us as political ponds to inflate their career, raise money for all of their well-being, with lies and disinformation. amna: the violence is a disturbing trend to see. sarah kate ellis, ceo and president of glaad, we thank you for joining us to talk about it tonight. sarah kate: thank you. ♪ amna: becoming a poet laureate is a coveted role and rare honor. rarer still, having two

laureates in the same family. jeffrey brown went to philadelphia to meet with a poetic familand hear how a mother-son duo works to bring poetry to a wider public. it is part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> want moves between or up, or down, or through the bloodline. desire is spacious. want is in the dna. jeffrey: airea d. matthews is philadelphiaa™s newest poet laureate. >> i saw his body disfigured, out of place, barbed wire around the neck. jeffrey: wes matthews is the city's former youth poet laureate. they are mother and son, perhaps the first such duo of their kind. we met recently at their family home. >> when i first got the news last january that i was going to be the poet laureate, we were driving back from florida. ani yelled back in the car to him, oh, i got the poet

laureate ship. and then he yelled back to me and he said, legacy. [laughter] jeffrey: you handed it down. >> i was being i was being tongue in cheek. jeffrey: in fact, wes, was the first laureate in the family. he is the second of four children of airea and her husband. a self-described shy child, he came to poetry early on by watching youtube videos of his mother. and it became a place to express himself. >> not everyone who has seen the bar of a cell knows its coldness. jeffrey: by 2018, at age 17, he was named youth poet laureate by the free library of philadphia. last year, the library named airea philadelphia's sixth poet laureate. >> i encouraged you to apply. then you encouraged me to apply. >> yet -- yeah. so i think that's kind of, you know, symbolic of the type of relationship we have as a whole. i mean, this constant encouragement. jeffrey: airea grew up in a working class family in trenton, new jersey. >> poetry was not on the agenda

or on the forefront of anyone's mind when it came to, what are the possibilities for a career? what are possibilities to sustain you? jeffrey: she got degrees in economics and public administration, before adding poetry to the mix, first as part of the poetry slam scene in detroit, before getting a masters of fine arts at the university of michigan. her 2016 debut poetry collection "simulacra," was selected for the prestigious yale series of younger poets. she is now associate professor and co-director of the creative writing department at bryn mawr college. >> i just try and hold space for the very many me's. the service airea, the poet airea, trying to wear very many hats, the teacher airea. all very different, but working toward the same goal. jeffrey: her commitment to service is what drew her to the laureate position. outside the main branch of the philadelphia free library, she spoke of wanting to make poetry

more available, giving poets new platforms to reach audiences, and bringing poetry to public places for people who don't usually have access to it. >> you might see a public projection. you might see a poem scrawled on a sidewalk. the sites that i'm targeting around the city are sites of distress. it's a redirection. my hope is that those thoughts redirect and lead to a library, something where you can get a book in your hand. people may never come in contact with a hard copy of a text, but you can still interact with a text. it can still interact with you. i can say that the literary has changed my le, so i'm hoping that it has the power to do that for other folks. >> i do love philadelphia. it's a beautiful city. i'm glad i got a chance to serve it. jeffrey: wes matthews, now a senior at the university of pennsylvania studying anthropology and religion, has also inherited a strong sense of serve. >> for me to feel fulfilled, there needs to be something hands-on.

there needs to be something more concrete. where i feel like i can help, i can serve, where i can be directly involved in the life paths of people, community. jeffrey: he writes and spends time at the campus' kelly writers house, editing recordings of readings and performances. he also works with local students, something that began during his time as youth poet laureate. teaching poetry workshops and music lyric writing. >> it really feels like a full circle of poetry. it feels like the fulfillment of the poetic impulse for me. just like my mother's youtube videos and her performances inspired me all those years ago, i want to be a vector of that inspiration for other people when i can. >> it is possible to fall -- >> in terrible love with burning. jeffrey: at one event at the kelly writers house, airea asked her son to join her reading her

poem "rebel fugue." some people worry about how many young people are reading these days or taking to poetry. what do you see? >> i see very young, brilliant writers who are looking at the world with a critical lens and an artistic lens at the same time. i think i see this ability to see outside of oneself. we're in the age of technology where the world is no larger than the screen that sits ten inches in front of your face. and'm seeing these students who are able to interpret a world beyond a screen. and that feels very encouraging to me. >> there are lot of people who don't think that poetry or music exists within themselves. they think, like a lot of people think of a poet as being this essential discrete category, like you either have it or you don't. and i've never viewed it that way. to write poetry, you need radical encouragement and radical engagement because it's hard. it requires observation and it

requires that you process observation in a certain way. but it's beautiful and it's fulfilling and it's, it's it's feeling. jeffrey: you got that? >> i did that -- i did. jeffrey: radical encouragement. >> radical encouragement. jeffrey: between all their other roles, both matthews continue their own writing. airea's next book of poetry, "bread and circus" will come out in the spring. amna: what a beautiful family tradition. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no contract plans and our u.s.-based customer seice team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv.

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