the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. anne gumowitz. the betsy and jesse fink foundation. the hkh foundation. barbara g. fleischman. and by our sole corporate sponsor, mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with laura dern. she is once again receiving acclaim thanks to her appearance on the hbo series, "enlightened." the show is in its second season. we are glad you joined us. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i try to live my life every day we know that we are only halfwaywalmart committed $2 billion toas we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you. tavis: please welcome laura dern by on this program. t

major support for frontline is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund, with a grant from millicent bell, through the millicent and eugene bell foundation. >> it's been a week since the shooting. (bell tolling) for most of the journalists in this newsroom, they've never covered anything that came close to being as horrific as this. it is a singular event in the history of connecticut. (bell tolls) >> narrator: a week after adam lanza massacred 20 children and six adults at sandy hook elementary school, church bells tolled across the state. memorials were erected to the 26 victims. president obama read out 26 names. but there was a 27th person murdered that day-- the gunman's mother, nancy lanza. >> nancy lanza is the person adam was closest to in the world. she was the firs

the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. anne gumowitz. the betsy and jesse fink foundation. the hkh foundation. barbara g. fleischman. and by our sole corporate sponsor, mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >> welcome. there's hardly a sentient grown-up in this country who isn't aware that our economy is no longer working for vast numbers of everyday people. the rich and powerful have more wealth and power than ever, everyone else keeps losing ground. between 2009 and 2011 alone, income fell for the 99%, while it rose 11% for the top 1%. since the worst of the financial crisis, all of the economic growth has gone to the top 1% while the rest of the country has floundered. stunning, isn't it? the behavior of many of those one percenters brought on the financial crisis in the first place. we turned around and rescued them,

the john d. and catherine t.acarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. anne gumowitz. the betsy and jesse fink foundation. the hkh foundation. barbara g. fleischman. and by our sole corporate sponsor, mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. ♪ >>> welcome. you've heard me before quote one of my mentors who told his students that "news is what people want to keep hidden. everything else is publicity." that's why two books are rattling the cages of powerful people who would rather you not read them. here's the first one. "captive audience: the telecom industry and monopoly power in the new gilded age," by susan crawford. read it and you'll understand why we americans are paying much more for internet access than people in many other countries and getting much less in return. that, despite the fact that our very own academics and engineers, working with our ve

major support for frontline is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additial fding iprovid by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. >> although this downturn started in the housing sector and inhe financial sector, you're seeing a lot of things being hit. >> today's numbers suggest job losses are accelerating. >> that's the biggest loss since 1974. the unemployment rate... >> narrator: in 2009, wall street bankers were on the defensive. the great american mortgage bubble had burst. >> this is a huge amount of money. >> narrator: the economy was in ruins and wall street bankers were being blamed. bankers admitted they had miscalculated. but they were also worried that they could be held criminally liable for fraud. >> he and president obama will continue to work on... >> narrator:

major support for frontline is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund, with a grant from scott nathan and laura debonis. >> polls open across the... >> it's going to be a fierce battle for control of the house and the senate... >> one of the most closely watched midterm elections in years... >> decision day, voters across america head to the polls for midterm elections, with control of congress hanging in the balance... >> 435 house seats are in contention... >> and on top of that, 37 senate races and 37 governor's races will also be decided today... >> narrator: november 2010. president barack obama anxiously waited for the midterm election results. >> you can't understand what happened in the budget crisis that ensue and that still hovers, without understanding the 2010

major support for frontline is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information is available at macfound.org. additional funding is provided byhe park fodation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. >> good evening, everyone, as we watch the making of the president 2008. there are ten... >> as for the senator's schedule tonight, he is now at the hyatt regency hotel. he will watch the election returns and then... >> ohio is gone for obama... >> it is now 11:00 on the east coast and keith, we can report history. >> barack obama is projected to be the next president. >> senator barack obama of illinois will be the next president... >> narrator: november 4, 2008. on this night, in chicago, inside barack obama's private world, the news began to sink in. >> i kept watching obama as he transformed from this young man to the next president of the u

major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.additional funding is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund. with grants from scott nathan and laura debonis, and millicent bell, through the millicent and eugene bell foundation. major funding for this program is provided by the kendeda fund. >> chicago is now under full national security. >> a no-fly zone is in effect, except for the world leaders who are landing at o'hare, as president barack obama and a number of world leaders... >> hockenberry: it was a big weekend in chicago. last spring, the president was in town, along with the leaders of nato, to discuss threats to global security and nuclear proliferation. at a huge convention center, the eyes of the world were watching. >> ...that demands global solutions. we came to chicago... (police whistle blows) >> hockenberry: but across town in a small hotel

the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, rdant, and peafuworld. re information at macfound.org. anne gumowitz. the betsy and jesse fink foundation. the hkh foundation. barbara g. fleischman. and by our sole corporate sponsor, mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >> welcome. this week, two united states senators insisted that the justice depament come ean. why arwalltreet's g banks not only too big to fail but too big to jail? senators sherrod brown of ohio, a democrat, and chuck grassley of iowa, a republican, are outraged that the giant banks violate the law with impunity -- laundering money, cheating homeowners, falsifying information -- every trick in the ledger book. they sent a letter to attorney general eric holder demanding to know why the banks get away with fines instead of jail time. maybe they had their anger roiled by "frontline," public television's premier investigative

the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org. anne gumowitz. the betsy and jesse fink foundation. the hkh foundation. barbara g. fleischman. and by our sole corporate sponsor, mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >>> welcome. at the state of the union speech, there's always more than meets the eye. just out of sight is the reality of how we are governed. the house of representatives, where congress gathers to hear the president, used to be known as "the people's house." but money power owns the lease now and runs the joint from hidden back rooms. you're looking at the most expensive congress money can buy. the house races last fl cost over billin. it took more than $700 million to elect just a third of the senate. the two presidential candidates raised more than a billion a piece. the website politico added it all up to find t

well before the controversies of bringing in john d.. he said every president has a right to a watering hole. there are all those who admires him who can go and speak and not have to worry about the judgment of history. if it is ahat's true private facility. but the minute you make it belic, i think it can't published--- cannot be governed by those rules. again, i don't think the public recognizes that it has a choice. if you go to the different presidential libraries, you'll find this among them are shrines and others are places of serious discussion. the harry truman, for example, is a place of serious discussion. the johnson library is redoing its museum. i haven't seen it yet, but i suspect it will be a place for serious discussion. and there are others that are not. i think the public needs to figure out what they want. " your office is and what -- >> your office is in what relationship to the foundation? >> i chemical war historian. i had this discussion. when john taylor was encouraging me to take the job, i said, john, one of the

ray kelly, the new york city police chief, was on john d stewart last night. this is what he had to say about weighing the ban and the assault. >> it is a conceivable handgun that's killing people. i think assault weapons should be eliminated, but they're responsible for less than 2% of the shootings in this city. >> and he was making the point that governor cuomo's law in new york state is the toughest in the nation arguably. but the guns are still pouring in and they're coming up from the south, coming up that i-95 cory tore and a lot are stopping off in baltimore and your part of the world. >> that's right. and andrea, this law, the one that we are pushing -- creating a trafficking law, clearly would have a tremendous impact. you have to understand, these guns are more than likely many of them being purchased by folks who are standing in for criminals. the criminal knows he can not get a gun. so, therefore, we have one case where a lady bought her boyfriend who was a criminal 64 guns, she bought them in georgia and they ended up in oakland and the police fo