country with herschel walker just taking the stage in georgia. you can see that live shot here, getting some backup from his gop friends. we re going to take you there and to upstate new york where president biden is, officially to talk jobs. unofficially, trying to help democrats keep theirs. we re live with our new reporting on his closing midterms message. spoiler. it s the economy. with the dow right now soaring on news of that better than expected gdp report. you know what else is soaring though? mortgage rates. we ve got the good, the bad and what is next for your money. plus, new reaction for the democrat running for governor in the high profile race in arizona. what katie hobbs said this afternoon after police make an arrest in connection with the break-in at her campaign headquarters. we ll take you live to phoenix. i m hallie jackson in washington. ellison barber is in monroe, georgia and shaquille brewster in new york, and mike memoli traveling with the president.
weeks, a scored earth policy, if russia can t have the territory, they will either flood it or shell it or light it on fire, and they re going to take people out of it. the entire southern part of this country has been absolutely decimated by what has been an eight-year war but really over the last year, just unbelievable violence in that part of the country. cal perry live for us in kyiv. thank you. well, ukraine obviously is a real and deadly target for russia, there is new reporting today on another target for moscow. russians themselves. agreeing to toughen up one of the already largest toughest law, anti-bkt laws and bans what supporters call anti-lbgtq propaganda and makes it illegal to say being gay is okay and it is the promotion of homosexual relationshiping saying it is normal and russians would not be allowed to talk positively about anything lbgtq in public or put anything online and forget about
which is a reference to the fall of the soviet union. this is the first step, but not the last. and hallie, this is a process that is known for years in vladimir putin s russia, accelerated since the start of the war in ukraine, a return to this kind of 19th century blood and soil, russian nationalism, charged by a very traditional, very conservative version of orthodox christianity, and hallie, we ve been monitoring lbgtq telegram groups in russia tonight, and there s really not many options for people who want to speak up against this. you cannot go out into the streets and protest in vladimir putin s russia. and the main message here, they re urging people to sign online petitions that, you need to be careful about putting your name out there, the main message on these forums is hold your loved ones tight and we as community will try to get through this, and hope for better days. tell me more about that, because you re teeing up the question that i had for you, and
movies featuring gay relationships or books or characters, and this is an attempt to erice the community from the culture. raf sanchez has more. where does it go from from here? reporter: that s the big question. this is the vice closing tighter on the already embattled russia lbgtq community. just rewinding, this bill is an amendment to the law that is on the books for ten years already, which outlaws the promotion of gay propaganda for kids. this law outlaws it for everybody. all adults. and as you said, this is just an incredibly expansive definition. so we can safely assume that it is illegal to make a movie, to produce a tv show, to write a novel, that portrays gay characters in a positive light. but hallie, if you re in a committed same-sex relationship in russia and you walk down the street and you briefly hold the hand of your partner, are you propagating gay propaganda?
no one really knows. there is also implications for foreigners. first of all, russians if they re convicted under this law, can be fined the equivalent of 6.5 thousand dollars and foreigners can be expelled from russia, and the first person who comes to mind is brittney griner, right, the wnba store is an openly lesbian women and facing eight years in prison for a separate offense, but it just gives you a sense of the hostile legal environment that she is being prosecuted under. there is also something bigger going on here. and it s to do with what cal was just talking about. i want to read you, hallie, a quick quote from a russian lawmaker who voted for this bill, he says in fact, it is a simple decision, designed to protect our society, and our children from this filth, which is now being dictated to us, including from the west. this is the first step for russia to leave the values and concepts that were imposed on us 30 years ago.