restriction, in fact banged the gong with everything you re seeing with the shelby county decision, in 2013 eliminating the justice department clearance authority. and with manchin and sinema saying you need a bipartisan super majority for congress to act, there may be no effective constraint on what the red states can do. so we could be in a period of a significant unwinding of civil liberties and civil rights that go beyond voting rights in the red states. i mean, it is highly likely the supreme court is going to let the states the red states restrict or ban abortion. we re seeing roll backs of lgbtq rights, first amendment rights in terms of limiting how teachers can talk about race in schools or how people can protest, heighten penalties for protesters. there is a great divergence, i think, that is ahead between what basic civil liberties look like in red states or blue states, and today is a turning point or cross roads on that
red states. i mean, it is highly likely the supreme court is going to let the states the red states restrict or ban abortion. we re seeing roll backs of lgbtq rights, first amendment rights in terms of limiting how teachers can talk about race in schools or how people can protest, heighten penalties for protesters. there is a great divergence, i think, that is ahead between what basic civil liberties look like in red states or blue states, and today is a turning point or cross roads on that path. all of this the lions share of the blame should be placed on republicans because they re just not going to budge, but also on the two democrats who have this sort of misguided idea of what the filibuster is actually about and the history of the filibuster. go on. think of the asymmetry in place here. we re seeing republicans impose these voting restrictions in red states on a party line majority vote basis.
privately to primary kyrsten sinema in the 2024 election. he has not made a decision. i do want to emphasize senators kii kyrsten sinema and joe manchin have shrugged off. you ll stay on top of it. thank you. the first armed election police force. it s the latest in this list of eye-brow raising proposals desantis. everything from voting rights, roll backs to what s taught in public schools there. joining us now to dig a little deeper into the policies is cnn reporter steve cantorno. nice to have you this morning. tell us, how would the election security force work? are these police officers? reporter: yeah, this would be a dedicated sworn force of 20 police officers and another 32 individuals that would support them in investigating election laws in the country.
shannon. there s a glimmer of hope as covid cases throughout the country drop and now more governors are choosing to lift mask mandates under pressure from people who are frankly exhausted by the pandemic. rhode island, massachusetts, illinois and new york all announcing changes wednesday joining five other states that are also making roll backs but masks will still be required in schools in rhode island and new york, a decision, they say, was based on science. we re going to continue to be adaptable and responsive to the changing circumstances, but, again, the trends are very, very, very positive. reporter: still, the move by democratic governors to ease masking rules ahead of cdc guidance adds to growing pressure of the agency and the biden administration to loosen restrictions. cdc director rochelle walensky argues even though the number of daily infections dropped 44% since last week, hospitalizations and death rates remain high. the white house says it is internally discussing
i m isa soares. if you re just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories at this hour. several states are rolling back mask mandates for schools and indoor public places. they re making decisions due to high vaccination rates. the roll backs begin in the coming weeks. french president emmanuel macron has landed in kyiv where he will meet with ukraine s president vladimir zelensky. we ll have much more on both of these stories in early start in about 30 minutes or so. despite the diplomatic push to prevent a russian invasion, ukrainian forces are training for a possible war, chernobyl. the abandoned site is a space for drills after the world s