tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with george packer of "the new yorker." >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> billy collins taught college english in the bronx for 30 years before he became a bestselling poet-- one of the few whose books have sold over 200,000 copies, thanks to poems such as this one. >> the other day i was ricocheting slowly off the blue walls of this room, bouncing from typewriter to piano, from bookshelf to an envelope lying

tavis: good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with a true legend over the civil rights era, diane nash. she was on the student nonviolent coordinating committee better known as sncc. she takes part in a documentary about the freedom riders. it airs next month on pbs. a conversation with diane nash coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer. nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: an honor to welcome diane nash to this program. in the early 1960's she became a key figure in the civil rig

tavis: good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. it probably does not sound like a good idea to open in summer hollywood movie with no stars and almost zero advance publicity, but do not tell that to j.j. abrams, despite the lack of star power and a shy campaign, he opened number-one at the box office this weekend. he began his new project "super 8." but first, a bleak outlook on jobs. rana foroohar oversaw coverage for "time" magazine and is the author of an article entitled: " what recovery?" both are coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. >> nationwide is on your side >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers li

tavis: at least a quarter of a million dollars.n all seriousness, i am trying to get a sense of what kind of position people are in and around the world who are living in abject poverty with that kind of money for body parts. >> i'm worth about a quarter of a million-dollar is in america. in india, their bodies are worth less because they have no bargaining power. for a lot of people, they see their body as a last ditch the social safety net where they have nothing else to bargain with. the only thing they can sell is their body. i begin my book by interviewing an activist named maria. tavis: let me read it. "people are going with a glimmer of hope in their eyes. people speak that way about selling their kidneys. " >> these were all refugee survivors. they have building living -- been living in this camp for years with no government help. the organ brokers descended there. but in the course of a couple months, 80 women sell their kidneys. the women are -- you can see these cross sections taking out of them. is because that is all t

tavis: yes. you have turned philosopher on me now, larry. >> one of the great things about this book is, you don't have to read a chapter by chapter. tavis: an excellent point. >> are you writing another one at the moment? tavis: not at the moment. at some point, given all the drama with president obama and tavis, and i cover that in the book, i think at some point there will be a need for a number of treatises about this administration and about whether it lived up to all the hype. >> to you expect to be involved in 2012? tavis: only from this chair, only from talking about it. i do not involve myself in campaigns. i have a lot to say about the issues of the day, but i don't engage in the campaigns. >> we do say we are at a point where we have terrible animosity in this country? tavis: yes, and i thought it was sad that it took a congresswomen getting shut -- shot in the head to have a conversation about civility. that kind of went out the window once the budget debate kicked up in washington. i

tavis: good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. first up tonight, a conversation with "washington post" columnist and best-selling author, david ignatius. his spy novels are always connected to real-world events and his latest is no exception. "bloodmoney" centers on fictional c.i.a. operations in pakistan. also, ziggy marley is here. this year marks 30 years since the death of his legendary father. as ziggy is continuing to forge his own path in the music business, with his latest c.d., "wild and free." later, on, a special form mans from ziggy marley. david ignatius and ziggy marley coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side.

tavis: nouri still having fun? >> i am. it has been the perfect thing at the right time and i have a lot of friends who are wonderful actors who would like to be in my shoes so i will enjoy it while i got it. it has been a good ride so far. tavis: you cannot talk about gary sinise and characters and not talk about lt. dan. what did that world do for you for your career? >> oh, gosh. a few things. on the career side, when you are in a movie that is seen by about everybody multiple times like that, it gets all the awards and goes through that and you are playing a prominent role. you cannot help it in flight and in bigger your career which it did. it introduced me to some wonderful organizations because i played a disabled veteran. i was approached by the disabled american veterans organization one month after the movie opened. they invited me to their international convention and i did not know anything about the disabled american veterans. that was 1994 and a person so went to the convention, i have been actively involved i

tavis: good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight conversation with economist, author and the president of bennett college for women women, dr. julianne malveaux. the book is called "surviving and thriving." also tonight we'll remember actor peter falk, the man who became one of tv's most iconic figures as colombo passed away last week at the age of 83. back in 2005, peter falk joined paul riser on this program for a memorable conversation. we're glad you have joined us. dr. julianne malveaux and peter falk coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer. nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from vi

tavis: have you always cried? >> my whole family.ughter] misgivings are awesome. -- thanksgivings are awesome. tavis: listened to my words and not my tears. >> people get scared. they shut down. this happens all the time. [laughter] tavis: that is why i love sara bareilles. we will listen to her words and lyrics. sara is about to embark on a summer long tour. a whole bunch of us are excited she is out. we look forward to seeing her some more this summer. glad to have you want. that is our sure for -- show for tonight. good night from los angeles. for more information on today's show, a visit pbs.org. tavis: joining me next time is ziggy marley on the anniversary of the death of his father. that is next time. we will see you then. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. we are proud to join him in working to improve literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributio

tavis: good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. first up tonight, part two of our conversation with talk show icon larry king. he is out with a new book featuring his favorite moments from 25 years on cnn. the new book is called "truth be told". also tonight actress lucy punch is here in a breakout performance, "you will meet a tall, dark stranger." she is out next weekend with her latest film "bad teacher". we're glad you have joined us. part two of our conversation with larry king and actress lucy punch coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer. nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one nation at a -- conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station

tavis: good evening from los angeles. first of tonight, a conversation with the iranian-born journalist who spent 118 days in one of iran pose the toughest prisons. maziar bahari was captured in 2009. his book is called "then they came for me". and gabourey sidibe ishere. here. we are glad you havavoioid d . mamaar bahari a a actress "then gabourey sidibe.maziar >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: maziar bahari is an award winning journalist and filmmaker who was captured in iran while covering the presidential election for "

tavis: is it five or six? >> we have one republican who was going to take a break, but we have congressman who wrote a letter and said, hang in there. we have got to have some bipartisan solution, so we are still at it. tavis: what is the mission? what is the strategy? how did you farmout -- how to the five or six of you get the others to see it away you see it, to find some common ground? what is the strategy? >> you hit the nail on the heads. we have seen the republicans come up with mr. ryan's budget. we disproportionately made cuts out of medicare. it showed us how hard it is to take care of this problem. if you completely keep military spending off the table -- we saw the president come up with a proposal but also did not get a lot of attraction, so we have been saying, we have got this crisis triggered it is like we are about to drive over a cliff -- we have got this crisis. it is like we are about to drive over a cliff. every day $4 billion is added to our debt, that we will have to pay off. we used to

tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next week with my guest j.j. abrams and talk show legend larry king. that is next week. we will see you then. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with larry king. last year, he steps down from one of the most popular platforms. he is back with his new book on his time behind the microphone. larry king, his book is called "truth be told." we are glad you joined us for a conversation with larry king, coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide insurance is happy to help tavis improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: always pleased to welcome the king of talks, larry king to this program. i am the one against to ask the questions tonight. there is plenty to ask banks to the releas

tavis: good evening from los angeles. i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with barry manilow. next week he is out with his first album of original music in a decade. later on, a special performance from the new project and some great music throughout our conversation. we are glad you joined us. barry manilow coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all lived better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. nationwide insurance is proud to join have this in working to improve financial literacy and working to remove obstacles one at a time. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> what an honor to have barry manilow and his piano on the set to night. it is hard to believe we have not seen a project of new music in 10 years, but that is about to change. it is an honor to have you in this pro

tavis: you were born in detroit. i am curious as to what you make of the fact that you are birthplace is going through -- >> i think about it a lot. first of all, there is no baseball team. my dad had one year of college and he came out here, took a big risk. he is a self-made man, or was. my dad has passed away. but we got in a car, my vote -- my older brother and i, and picked up stakes and came down here and he did not make a deal in the real estate business for two years. but then my younger brother and sister were born. my mama was from a family of 11. we would go back every summer in the family car. tavis: california to detroit, every summer? >> we are sleeping on the floor and arguing who gets to sleep on the floor and who gets the hump in the middle. tavis: i have nine brothers and sisters, and we had a station wagon. used to run to the car to avoid sitting on the hope. >> we argued, and i was the younger of the two. my younger brother and sister were babies. there was no air conditioning, and with diaper cha

tavis: i wonder. over the years, of course, because of the nature of the position, there are always stories about the u.s. attorney covering manhattan, the nature of the job. you will get press because you are in new york city. tell me about the kind of profile of the kind of person that would want this job, that would be good at this job. it is a tough job and you do not make friends. you have to prosecute the elite. >> that is true. you are right. the southern district of new york has a long history of trying big cases, swinging for the fences. giuliani was a prosecutor, the u.s. attorney for the southern district. he went after political corruption and the milken insider-trading case, which was big in the 1980's. it made his career as a politician. i do not know that preet bharara has political ambitions, although there are suggestions he does. i think what preet bharara brings to it is a toughness combined with real intelligence. he has gone after some big players not only on wall street, but poli

. >> nationwide supports tavis smiley. we are proud to join him in working to improve the plans to literacy and of removing the obstacles to economic empowerment one at a time. >> and from contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> we are pleased to welcome kenneth brannagh to this program. out this weekend with what promises to be one of the biggest films so far this year. natalie portman and chris hens worth, now here seen in "thor." >> through your arrogance and stupidity you have brought these peaceful realms and innocent lives the horror and desolation of war. you are unworthy of these powers, unworthy of this title. you are unworthy. i take it from you in the name of my father and his father of four -- and his father before. i cast you out. >> we know you and celebrate she was a wonderful celebration shakespearean actor. how does that and formed this? >> you have anthony hopkins, a fantastic shakespearean actor remain -- bringing tremendous brought the cost of the role of the open. -- of o

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight a conversation about china with henry kissinger, a man who paved the way from the 1970's for the most populous nation. his latest vote is called -- book is -- "on china." with his reading. >> yes. difference -- >> you help us all live better. tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy a time. pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> dr. henry kissinger's long career includes his time as u.s. secretary of state, during which he was awarded the nobel peace prize. he made a historic trip to china, which ushered in an era end a relationship that continues to grow in importance and complexity. his new book is called "on china." thank you for your time. let me start with some basics. how much of the way we view china and the way they do business has to do with this huge and gap between the numbers of people -- 300 million american

tavis tavis you -- daff tavis: you said a lot. i'm playing devil's advocate, what you just described in west virginia, it can't be legal. it can't be illegal because it's happening and it can't be illegal because you have a documentary about it. how do you run this story to me which you have run brilliantly about what is happening in west virginia and tell me it's illegal. if it is illegal, it wouldn't be happening. >> don blanchen ship he had 67,000 violations of the clean water act. the enforcement has never given him a penny in fines and he has thousands of other violations that other agencies he has been able to disable the agencies that are supposed to implement democracy in this country. it can be illegal under the law. but it's not -- he can get away with it. and his business plan is to violate the law and get away with it. and you know, what we ought to look at today is that what happens when corporations take over democracy, everything becomes a commodity. you see in this film -- you know, they say, the coal industry brin

tavis: and good evening from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. a conversation with the outgoing head of the fdic sheila bair. she has done and therefore one of the most tumultuous eras in u.s. history. banks were deemed too big to fail. a conversation with longtime basketball executive pat williams on the labour situation in the nba that could lead to a lockout has week's end. the collective bargaining agreement is set to expire. he is out with a new look gang of about john wooden. sheila bair and pat williams coming up right now. >> a he is james and he needed extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all lived better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide works with tavis to have an economic empowerment one step at a time. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> sheila bair is the chairm

tavis: i saw this in new york city and i loved it. i was able to catch you. >> i am honored. >> i enjoyed your telling me, you think it is even better now? >> it makes me look like a braggart, that was between you and me. >> i thought it was amazing, how could it be better? gosh i have been performing in since the fall of 2009, so it should be better. i have a chance to really get deeper and deeper into characters, i guess. this thing has 20 different characters. had you not crisscross? >> why are you putting the idea in my head? i have to goack on stage, don't give me that idea. don't you remember that on talk shows they would always as aretha franklin, when you are singing a song, who are you thinking about? they say, i am trying to hit the note. it is technical stuff. >> what makes this fascinating for me is the research he did. tell me about the research you did to put together this particular thing. >> i interviewed 320 people on three continents. it is likely to do. i would love to see you act out the people that come here. gosh

[captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: dr. julianne malveaux is a noted economist, author and

tavis: it is information we

tavis: how the know, this is a dance tax. how did you get all of this? >> my research began when i was at a christmas dinner party seated next to a scientist named edward who live here in california. he said he had a story for me. as a reporter i hear that a lot. but what he said to me was phenomenal. starting in 1957, he developed stealth technology for the cia at area 51.

tavis a tough question to answer -- that is a tough question to answer. >> i will close with a questionth the breakdown of the vice- president biden's talks on the budget. what is your opinion of the process? >> i am still confident that we will come up with something. but if you look at the process, if we are gointo

cornell west, tavis smiley, reverend al sharpton, sewsofia nelson as well as tamara mcmillan.at's just a small part of the bigger picture that's happened at the essence music festival >> andist's always a good event. as you say, you have to talk about it, discuss those issues about those women and all of that. that's the best way to get it out there. and improve it. >> absolutely. >> so, listen, thank you, emil. as someone who's from louisiana, i want to thank "essence" for making a commitment to new orleans. i don't have time to talk about why you did it but i know you do it in part because you think it's important and it's an important city. so thank you and i look forward to seeing you next week, okay? >> great. thank you so much. >>> coming up i'll talk with actress miro sore vena about the worldwide plague of human trafficking. >> let me tell you one fact. the world on drugs spends more than all the money than all the money spent up to date by the united states government, all of its domestic and international programs on human trafficking. t0 ttd# 1-800-345-2550 ttd# 1-8

. >> reporter: halle berry spoke about her experience with talk show host tavis smiley two days afterelebrity mothers sarah jessica parker and salma hayek have expressed their concern over the paparazzi many times. >> they are parked outside of your house and they will not move for months. i didn't leave my house for nearly four months. >> these guys are just enjoying it. i just screamed leave me alone. >> reporter: there are laws in place but they're difficult to enforce. >> it is very rare when the celebrity will pick up the phone and call the police and get them to respond and it's only once the celebrity makes that call can the police get involved. >> reporter: and it's not just the celebrities being targeted in some cases, the home of sarah jessica parker's surrogate was broken moo for tabloid information and if you can believe, one of the pen was actually a police chief, and he will now spend the next couple of years in prison. >> wow. >> so they got him on that one. >> good thing. okay. andrea, thanks very much. now, let's go to lara with "morning menu." >> here's a look at wha

tavis is an incredible organization -- taps is an incredible organization that reaches out to a family as soon as they have been notified that their service member has been killed in action. they are doing wonderful work in making sure that those killed in action, their families are well taken care of and they get what they need. it is a difficult business that bonnie is in. but she has personal -- a personal relationship with that because she lost her husband. bonnie is right over here right now and i am privileged to have you here today. [applause] >> and by and large, in the work that is done in the private sectors, of course, is very useful and very good. there are occasionally some stories, like in the government, some stories that do not turn out so well. if "rolling stone" magazine reported on some foundations that were started by musicians that have essentially had to be restructured or " -- or closed. when you are on the road, how are you going to ensure that your foundation is operating as efficiently as possible and, indeed, it is a cause that people will find the on the lur