will speak with barbara blaine of the survivors network of those abused by priests and sister simone campbell of the catholic social justice group network, which was heavily criticized the vatican's report last year. in a black history month special, we remember the lives of the legendary civil rights activist, singer and actor paul robeson and his wife eslanda. >> i have never separated by work as an artist from my work as a human being. i have always believed more strongly to me my art is always a weapon. >> we will speak with historian barbara ransby, author of the new book, "eslanda: the large and unconventional life of mrs. paul robeson." >> both paul and essie refused to renounce their radical friends and refused to renounce their own radical views. again, they paid a price for it. paul was blacklisted, they lost their house, had extensive fbi files and so forth. >> but first, north korea has just carried out its largest ever nuclear test. it says the test was done in the face of increased hostility from the u.s. all of that and more coming up. this is "democracy now!," democracynow.org

senior simone campbell will join us and father edward beck is our guest. and time is running out. two proposals meant to avoid drastic spending cuts but they're both expected to fail, so can we avoid tomorrow's deadline or is it a lost cause. >>> and did the white house threaten journalist bob woodward over his reporting on those spending cuts? >> it said very clearly you will regret doing this. >> the growing controversy on how the obama administration is responding this morning. >> it's thursday, february 28th. and "starting point" begins right now. >>> welcome, everybody. our starting point this morning, the final hours of the sitting pope, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion catholics will officially retire in seven hours. right now we're awaiting a news conference from the vatican. the spokesman will hold that news conference and we'll bring that to you when it happens. earlier this morning pope benedict xvi met with more than 100 cardinals. they'll be the ones who will be choosing his replacement. he had a message for them. he'll share that in just a moment. here's how pop

. >> john: sister simone campbell. always a pleasure to have you on the show.gain. >> thank you john. >> john: the family of joe paterno released their own investigation of the jerry sandusky scandal: what we need are people prepared for the careers of our new economy. by 2025 we could have 20 million jobs without enough college graduates to fill them. that's why at devry university we're teaming up with companies like cisco to help make sure everyone's ready with the know how we need for a new tomorrow. [ male announcer ] make sure america's ready. make sure you're ready. at devry.edu. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] to many men, shaving can be a sensitive issue. but take comfort. it may not be you; it may be your razor. upgrade to gillette fusion proglide. our micro-thin blades are thinner than a surgeon's scalpel to put less stress on your skin by gliding through hair. switch to fusion proglide. number one dermatologist recommended on sensitive skin. and now introducing new fusion proglide sensitive shave gel. gillette. the best a man can get. irene, drop the itch. w

and others like sister simone campbell who led a 17-city nuns on the bus tour highlighting all of theoyed if mr. ryan's budget were ever to be implemented. once again mr. ryan spoke with forked tongue and the people were not having it. which brings us back to the challenge facing the gop. republicans like paul ryan are now trying to wash their brutal policies in a kind of fabric conditioner. but they're still offering the same hair shirt to the nation. and until their policies properly reflect some essential aspects of the christian gospel, then they should spare us all the religious clap chat. because as the new testament makes clear, faith without works is dead. you could always follow us on twitter and facebook. do like our page at facebook.com/bashirlive. thanks for watching. chris matthe

sister simone campbell is the executive director of the national catholic justice lobby. brian finny worked for opus dei. scary guys. let me start with you, sister simone. i wart to start with a serious issue. $3.3 billion has been paid out by the church in the past 15 years to settle rape and molestation charges of boys against priests. pope benedict has been accused of failing to act by some. the executive director of the survivors network of those abused by priests spoke. he said, quote, when forced to, he talked about the crimes but ignores the cover-ups. uses the past tense as to suggest it's not still happening. he has vast powers and he's done very little to make a difference. is that true? >> i don't know exactly what the pope has done to atone for what's happened. i do know that this has been a scandal in our church, but worst of all, it has been -- caused serious harm to children for many years. and that we as a church need to atone for that. paying money is one thing, but we all know that doesn't make up or atone for the sin of these crimes against children. we

and others like sister simone campbell who led a 17-city nuns on the bus tour highlighting all of the faith-based programs that would be destroyed if mr. ryan's budget were ever to be implemented. once again mr. ryan spoke with forked tongue and the people were not having it. which brings us back to the challenge facing the gop. republicans like paul ryan are now trying to wash their brutal policies in a kind of fabric conditioner. but they're still offering the same hair shirt to the nation. and until their policies properly reflect some essential aspects of the christian gospel, then they should spare us all the religious clap chat. because as the new testament makes clear, faith without works is dead. you could always follow us on twitter and facebook. do like our page at facebook.com/bashirlive. thanks for watching. chris matthews and "hardball" is next. ♪ >>> war on drones. let's play "hardball." ♪ >>> good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with this. just a day before the president's chief counterterrorism adviser john brennan heads to capitol hill

live in rome for you getting some insight from mon sar rick hilgartner, also sister simone campbell will the executive director of network and father edward beck will join us as well. >>> then a school forbids a first grader from using the girl's restroom because she was born a boy. she and her parents will join us to explain their fight that they're embroiled in with the school. >>> and this young lady won america's heart and mind at the olympics. now mikayla maroney is leaping into acting. we'll talk about her new gig straight ahead. >> it will be impressive, no doubt. >> i'm sure. >> thank you. >>> it is 45 minutes past the hour. it's the last day before those automatic spending cuts kick in. president obama will meet with congressional leaders at the white house tomorrow to search for a way out of this crazy fiscal mess. but a little too late. the president has warned of dire consequences but has now softened his tone a little bit. >> this is not a cliff, but it is a tumble downward. it's conceivable that in the first week, the first two weeks, the first three weeks, first month a lo

>> well, we're certainly hoping for sister simone campbell. >> bill: she's got my voice. >> unfortunately the right gender as per vatican rules. hopefully some day that will change. >> bill: it has to be a priest. therefore has to be a man. >> correct. >> bill: if is one of these -- we've talked before about -- and i've written about some of the things the church i think has to do something about allowing priests to get married. has to do something about allowing women to be ordained, just for starters. you know, what are the chances we'll get out of this group of 115, a pope who will go in that direction? >> i think your instincts are right that there's a lot of group think going on in the conclave. a lot of folks appointed to positions of authority based on their loyalty to the institution less than their individual ability to lead as a moral person. and i think that's unfortunate. but i have to believe that the spirit can work magic and i can only hope that we get a john xxiii to finish the reforms started 30, 40 years ago. >> bill: last day on the job for pope benedict xvi. what does