. >>> just ahead, my conversation with author and talk show host tavis smiley. tavis gives his assessment of president obama's time in office and responds to critics who say he's been too tough on the commander in chief. i can't find my discover card! wait, i can freeze my account. [touch tone] introducing freeze it, from discover. it allows you to prevent new purchases on your account in seconds if your card is misplaced. not here... ♪ and once you find your card, you can switch it right on again. hey...you're back! [touch tone] freeze it, only from discover. get it at discover.com. (music) boys? stop less. go more. the passat tdi clean diesel with up to 814 hwy miles per tank. just one reason volkswagen is the #1 selling diesel car brand in america. [ male announcer ] whether it takes 200,000 parts ♪ ♪ 800,000 hours of supercomputing time 3 million lines of code, 40,000 sets of eyes, or a million sleepless nights. whether it's building the world's most advanced satellite, the space station, or the next leap in unmanned systems. at boeing, one thing never change

. >> we got to wrap, tavis smiley faiza patel and alan dershowitz. still ahead. desperate for rescue from a sinking ship. i'll talk to a reporter who got their stories in a field semghts coming up. >> you realize the incredible long journey these people make and how difficult. i was seeing them disembarking >> it has been called a colossal humanitarian catastrophe by enzo bianchi the high commissioner for italy. mediterranean sea from north africa to europe. more than 1800 of them have perished along the way. each week "third rail" will catch up with an al jazeera correspondent wherever they may be, to share their experience that you rarely get to hear. stefanie dekker has been in the area, you have been reporting on the migrant crisis for quite some time now, hundreds of migrants losing their life, what has stood out for you the most given all this death, given all this pain that you've seen? >> reporter: i think it's the determination of the people. they all will tell you that they would do it again. and of course there's the situation on the other side in liby

. >> host: somebody else you've written with is tavis smiley. >> guest: yeah. i love tavis. >> host: how'd you get to know tavis? you've written a couple of books with him. >> guest: yeah. this is number three, and we're working on number four. how did can i meet tavis? oh yeah, the publisher of doubleday at the time, a man named steve reuben, had tavis under contract for an autobiography. and i had just written a book for steve about walter -- [inaudible] who was a big mogul in the music business. he was president of columbia records during the michael jackson days. and in any event, reuben thought that tavis and i would be a good combination, so he put us together, and i wrote with tavis his autobiography. and then last year he and i did a book together about martin luther king jr. the last year in his life. and recently we've worked together on this book on maya angelou about his relationship to maya angelou. but tavis is sort of the ideal collaborator because he appreciates what i do, you know, and shows me great respect. and also i love how he speaks, and i

. >> host: somebody else a else you have written is tavis smiley. >> guest: no yeah. >> host: you have written a couple of books with him. >> guest: no this is number three and we are working on number four. the publisher of doubleday at the time a man named steve rubin had tavis under contract for an autobiography and i had just written for steve about walter yetnikoff who was a big mogul in the music business. he was president of columbia records during the michael jackson case. in any event ruben thought that tavis and i would be a good combination said he put us together and i wrote with tavis his autobiography and then last year he and i put a book together about martin luther king jr.'s last year in his life and recently we have worked together on this book on maya angelou about his relationship to maya angelou but tavis is the ideal collaborator because he appreciates what i do and shows me great respect and also i love how he speaks and i love his voice. he is intrinsically a good storyteller so it's been a great combination. >> host: is the ghostwriting this is a pretty big bu

my conversation with author and talk show host tavis smiley.ma. >>> and riding the rails. why can't trains get n america get us there faster? how the u.s. is behind the times in this type of travel. >>> we'll be right back. iprise asked people a simple question: in retirement, will you have enough money to live life on your terms? i sure hope so. with healthcare costs, who knows. umm... everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor.... can get the real answers you need. start building your confident retirement today. how much protein does your dog food have? 18%? 20? introducing nutrient-dense purina one true instinct with real salmon and tuna and 30% protein. support your active dog's whole body health with purina one. congratulations. you're down with crestor. yes! when diet and exercise aren't enough, adding crestor lowers bad cholesterol up to 55%. crestor is not for people with liver disease or women who are nursing, pregnant, or may become pregnant.

we are first to los angeles and pbstavis smiley spent many years studying the consequences of poverty and tavis thanks for joining us this morning. do you think poverty is blame for what happened in baltimore? >> before i ask you a question right quick in case this is my last time on "face the nation" before you officially retire in a world where too many of us in this business focus on narrow casting you are the epitome of what it means fob our true broadcast, i very quickly want to thank you for so many years of your high quality work and witness, thank you bob schieffer, i appreciate you doing this great work all these years. >> schieffer: thank you tavis. >> now to your question yes poverty is blame for this. i was moved by your commentary about what we were enduring 50 years ago we ought to be in moment of celebration now 50 years after the voting rights act and 50 years after civil rights act, what dr. king warned us about 50 years ago, bob we are still dealing with king warned us 50 years ago about this triple threat that was facing our democracy, racism, poverty and militarism. what do