. >>> good evening, i'm tavis smiley. what the consequences might be if the grand jury convened in the missouri city shooting death of michael brown does not call for an indictment against the officer. it galvanized activists across the nation to see excessive force by police at some point come to an end. we're glad you joined us. that conversation coming up right now. and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. >>> the grand jury's decision whether or not to indict the officer that shot michael brown is expect in days. if they will choose not to indict the and consequences will have communities on edge. joining us to civil rights attorney and community advocate connie rice, front and center in the nation-wide efforts to bring about police reform certainly in la and beyond. connie, always great to be in conversation with you, although, i wish about something else. >> ditto. >> let me jump right in the time i have. what do you expect is going to happen if this grand jury decides not to indict?

angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight with the mid. term elections less than five weeks away now, we have an assessment where the congressional races stands with debbie wasserman schultz who is also chair of the democratic national committee, some pundits insist the republicans will retake the senate and hold on to the house, others are take the races are too close to call. then we'll turn to a conversation with two-time emmy winner, anna gunn who won back-to-back awards for her outstanding performance as skyler white, the wife in breaking bad. she's now the other side of the law playing a detective in "grace point" the ten-point crime drama debuting tomorrow night on fox. glad you joined us. those conversations coming up right now. ♪ ♪ >> announcer: and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >>> mid-term elections are less than five weeks away now with the power structure in congress hangs in the balance. joining us tonight is representative debbie wasserman schultz, chair of the dnc, the democratic n

>>> hi, i'm tavis smiley.me about john sec ada and his new memoir, "the new day." that's next time. see you then. >>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> rose: welcome to the program. we begin this evening with michael lewis whose written a series of best sellers it all began with liar's poker 25 years ago. >> i look for emotion. i like something, i need to feel something about the story that is going to get me out of bed in the morning. that's the sustaining thing. >> rose: that's a question. >> it's not just a question it's like a feeling, something that really gets my juices flowing. and it's a different thing with each book, but i just like the emotional, i'm having an emotional experience diswroovment we end with aaron david miller's book the end of greatness which he talks about what makes a great president and why we have so few. >> i began to understand about the presidency greatness three undeniably great presidents in 250 year

>>> hi, i'm tavis smiley.me about john sec ada and his new memoir, "the new day." that's next time. see you then. >>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> welcome to "film school shorts," a showcase of the most exciting new talent from across the country. experience the future of film, next on "film school shorts." >> "film school shorts" is made possible by a grant from maurice kanbar, celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image. and by the members of kqed. >> it was the summer. my mom had been gone for a year. my dad had gotten into

i'm tavis smiley. tonight with less than two weeks until the midterm selections, a conversation with senator patrick leahy of vermont, chair of the senate judiciary committee about how new voting rick may keep hundred of thousands -- riekzs may keep hundreds of thousands from casting their ballots this year. over a year ago, the supreme court struck down a key provision of the voting rights act of 1965, opening the door for states to place restrictions on who can vote including implementing new rules requiring voter i.d.s. leahy and other senators have a bill pentagon th-- bill pending now. we'll have a conversation with one of the true innovators of funk music, george clinton. after nearly 40 years of touring, he swears this is his last. he's written about his life and career. you'll love the title -- "brothers be like, yo, george, ain't that funking kind of hard on you? a memoir." glad you joined us. those conversations coming up right now. ♪ ♪ >>> and by characteristics to your pbs station from view

as always, keep the faith. >>> for more information visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> i'm tavis smileyuthor. that's next time. we'll see you then. >>> by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. downgrading nonviolent drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanor. the debate over proposition 47. >> the world's most intelligent stethescope. >> 50 entrepreneurs get set to present inventions that could change everything from health care to education. >>> plus the tiny house movement growing larger. >> come on in and take a look at my house. ♪

as always, keep the faith. >>> for more information visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> i'm tavis smileyuthor. that's next time. we'll see you then. >>> by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> rose: welcome took the, welcome to the program, we begin with the new film being released this week it is called birdman directed by alejandro inarritu and it edward norton. they all join me now. >> alejandro said to us in the beginning, this is a story about artists and performers, but in much the same way i think if you go all the way back to shakespeare, he said, you know, life is a play or on the stage, you know, i think alejandro from the get go said this, this isn't, there are lots of pleasures in sticking a fork in the movie i have, in artists a and their pretensions and egos but if underneath all of this, this isn't deeply relatable by anybody who has ever had that voice in=b self questioning, then we haven't gone to the level

. >>> good evening from los angeles i'm tavis smily. tonight a conversation with republican strategist david frum about what it would take for the republicans to gain control of both houses of congress. the author of six books, including "combat conservatism." he has a warning for republicans then we'll turn to a columnist alex tizon whose "big little man" takes a deep dive into the asian american men and examines why maniy of the negative ste o stereotypes surround them to this day. those conversations coming up right now. >>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >>> focus on campaigning and the midterm election just around the corner some pundits insist the gop will regain both houses of congress come november, but senior editor of "the atlantic" david frum says hold up, not so fast. his most recent title "crashing the party while the gop must modernize to win." david, good it have you back on this program, my friend. >> thank you very much. >> let me jump right into your piece. three arguments ab

al-jezeera america" on this week's show, tavis smiley. we don't do much entertainment. i suspect i will be the first person on this network to utter the following four words ? >> you might be the last. >> you know what? i never thought i would utter those words either. in part, because if you had asked me this, you know, five, 10 years', the answer would have been no. when they did ask me this year, i told them no 3 times. on the third time they said to me, just take a meeting with us. i took a meeting. long story short. i sat down at my kitchen table, poured out my pad, pros, cons. it turned out to my surprise, to my horror, quite frankly that the reasons for doing the show outweighed the reasons. the namely because i am about to turn 50. i figured i would do one last stupid, foolish, ridiculous thing before i turned 50. this is it. >> was one of the pro did wearing a sparkly costume? >> i had a long time talk. i am not going to be on youtube with a sparkly costume on. >> you and i are about the same age. your knees are messed up. how ar

tavis, you mentioned we have a brand-new abc poll. no surprise in the democratic side.ry clinton getting 64% of the vote right now to joe biden's 13. elizabeth warren hanging in there at 11 and jim webb down at 2%. maybe a bigger surprise on the republican side. look who is leading. there he is, mitt romney, almost double, more than double of the vote totals of jeb bush right now. mike huckabee hanging in there, rand paul, chris christie as well, you know, mary, i know there's been this tiny, tiny slight opening of the door by mitt romney closed by his wife ann romney again this week. almost certainly not going to run but really hanging in there in among the republican faithful. >> he's been doing yeoman's work. he was just in louisiana. he's been campaigning everywhere. he keeps holding confabs. i don't think he's going to run. i certainly don't think both he and bush would run. this is an i.d. poll as you well know, but the organization, there's an infrastructure of money, people and operatives and such and they want to get ahead -- they want -- we're champing at the

. >> i spoke with tavis at our studios in new york as he was about to celebrate his birthday king". >> i want to start with the book and it's probably fair to say you were obsessed with dr. king, you listened to his speeches, competed in contests. >> uh-huh. >> where you spoke his words. >> when i was 12, my father did something once in his life. it never happened after that. it had not happened. my father lost his temper one night. i had been accused of something in my church which wasn't true. sadly the minister didn't call me or my sister. my sister had been accused as well. didn't call us in but no questions asked got up in front of the entire church and in front of this massive congregation and accused my sister of and i of having done something we didn't do. my sister and me to be grammatically correct. my father lost his it temper that night. he beat us so severely we were in the hospital, both of us for almost two weeks in traction. i am a 12-year-old kid sitting in this line, in this hospital, trying to figure out how this has happened to me. how did this happen? a member of

>> because they are greedy, tavis.that's always the way it's going to be in capitalism. >> somebody has got to say it though. >> i just said it, they are greedy. >> tavis smiley death of a king. left wing magazine said somebody in the obama administration is calling netanyahu a chicken blank. ed henry on that. should the nurse who tweeted ebola patients in west africa be taken into custody for defying a garb teen? those reports after these messages. means keeping seven billion ctransactions flowing.g, and when weather hits, it's data mayhem. but airlines running hp end-to-end solutions are always calm during a storm. so if your business deals with the unexpected, hp big data and cloud solutions make sure you always know what's coming - and are ready for it. make it matter. >>> very liberal atlantic magazine printed in an article which quoted an anonymous person inside the obama administration saying netanyahu is a chicken blank afraid to wage full-out war is the administration trying to figure out who made these inappr

♪y >>> for more information on this show, visit tavis smiley on pbs.org. >>> i'm tavis smiley.time as we dive into what's grabbing the country's attention. that's next time. see you then. ♪ >>> by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> rose: welcome to the program. we begin this evening with a nobel prize recipient paul krugman talking about the economy, wall street, and president obama. >> if you were somebody who wanted to see the u.s. welfare state unravel, if you were somebody who wanted to see a radically smaller government, reagan did not deliver that, in the end he left the structure pretty much the way it was. obama, on the other hand, has left us with healthcare is essentially a right of legal residence in the united states, so obama has achieved a permanent transformation of america in a way that reagan did not and by my analysis that makes obama a more important president in the end that reagan was. >> rose: we continue with bernard-henri levy talking about isil and the threat it poses in syria. >> he is a crazy man has

okay. >> come on, put the blood on the cake. >> jimmy: thank you, tavis. >> stir it up.r the worm up. >> jimmy: we have bloody worms. >> cover them up good. >> jimmy: i think i did a pretty good job here. >> speed it up a little bit faster, please. >> you're not running this. >> jimmy: he's just trying to help. >> we need to cover this with icing. get you a big spoon like this here. >> jimmy: okay. >> you go like this and you're going to go across like this. got it? >> that wasn't across. that was down. [ laughter ] i mean -- it was down. >> jimmy: he does have a point there. it is down. >> how is that down? this is down. >> no, that's across. >> you don't even know. you don't even know. >> jimmy: okay. >> [ bleep ] security at to get him out of here. this don't make no sense, jimmy. >> jimmy: i didn't do a great job here. >> where's guillermo? that's okay. it doesn't matter. we're only putting it on here for the next step. >> you keep moving the stuff over here. >> my [ bleep ] shove you down. how about that? >> jimmy: what does that mean? >> what does it mean? >> now,

tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with author and krit irk, john lah. one of the play wrights that explores how his relationship formed his work. the author of "a streetcar named desire" to nak a play. writer and producer justin simien. sun dance and the san francisco film festival t. movie has the provocative title, "dear white people." glad you could join us for those conversations coming upright now. ♪ >>> contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >>>en tennessee williams is one of the most brilliant play rights. "a streetcar names desire," "cat on a tin roof." tennessee williams, mad pilgrimage of the flesh makes it clear it's written by john lahr, the only theater critic to win a tony award. lahr, good to have you on this program. i was asking you, when you came on the show, whether or not it was worth dedicating -- devoting 12 years of your life to this? >> yes, it really was. the job of a critic isn't just to look at the theater, but look after it. tennessee w

from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with kristen stewart who put the "twilight" saga in her rear-view mirror. she's getting acclaim and push back for "camp x-ray" in which she plays a young mp assigned to gitmo whose interactions with the detainee prompts her to rethink her political views. we are glad you joined us for a conversation with kristen stewart. coming up right now. >>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewersz like you. thank you. >> kristen stewart has been acting since"< she was 9. her first was in "panic room" with jodie foster. she's a worldwide phenomenon for her role as bella/x in the "twilight" saga. she's gotten independent films off the ground. she has three films getting acclaim on the festival circuit. including upcoming movies with julie anne moore and julie juliet binoche. in "camp x-ray" she is an mp involved with a detainee. available now on vod. >> 471, the detainee. you two are friends. >> no, sir. >> you're not friendly with him? >> thors. >> you don't ta

i'm tavis smiley. first a conversation about the impact of the hispanic vote on the upcoming midterm elections with gary siguera, co-author of latino america, how the population is poised to transform the politics of the nation. then a conversation with marty stuart about his double cd titled "saturday night sunday morning" which pays tribute to bluegrass and gospel traditions. we are glad you joined us. those conversation cans are coming up right now. >> and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >>> there is an argument to be made that no single ethnic group will have more influence on the future of american politics than hispanics. with midterm elections around the corner the hispanic vote may be the key to winning both p houses of congress into the future. taking a dive into thej1 territy is how america's most dynamic population is poised to transform the politics of the nation cowritten by gary marteto and gary segeurra, chair of latino studies at stanford. glad to have you here. >>

>>> hi, i'm tavis smiley.next time for a conversation with prolific biographer and writer david rich, about his home and respect the life of aretha franklin. that's next time. see you then. ♪ >>> and by characteristontributr pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. >> rose: welcome to the program. we begin this evening with a conversation with amy poehler. >> my approach to the book was really less that is my life and more this is how i'm feeling and thinking. >> rose: this is my experience. >> this is my experience so far, yes. and it's kind of a compendium of essays and stories and personal stories and lists and lots of jokes hopefully. and my goal really was to be funny and truthful. >> we have atul gawande on his book being mortal, medicine and what matters in the end. >> i'm writing about things that confuse me like why are the healthcare costs the way they are. what is itching or in this case why even in my own limitations are we miss managing them towards the end and what coud

. >> thank you, very much tavis. >> before i get in to the text, the book requires unpacking.n you say, as a title, don't way for the next war. you know where i'm going, right? it suggests to my mind that war has become so much of a part of our world and our way, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, you have a general, wesley clark saying, don't wait until the next one, as if to say, there's another one coming. >> that is not really what i wanted on say by the title. it's wiabout the fact that americans go their own way. we have a hard time thinking strategic in this country. we don't have a really strong president by constitution. it's checks and balances and separation of powers and so,=$ it's not like our president can sort of set out a direction and everybody lines up like maybe a monarch would or something. and so the result is, americans typically, they don't come together unless there's a war. and what i'm saying in this book is there's issues out there that are so powerfully impacting us now we have to deal with them with more unity. we can't continue the disrupti

> hi, i'm tavis smiley.me with mull pl grammy winner, al jarreau. that's next time. see you then. >>> the california endowment health happens in neighborhoods. learn more. >>> by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> charlie: well come to the program. we begin this evening with ian bremmer. >> the single thing that has the greatest impact makes the iran nuclear deal much less likely to happen because we realigned with the saudis and sighting with the sunni arab monarchies, our top priority is i.s.i.s., not getting an iran deal. iran's top priority is i.s.i.s., not getting a nuclear deal with the u.s. we only have five or six weeks to get the deal done, everything i've seen on the ground in iran, erdogan is going out. >> charlie: and walter isaacson, his latest book about

> hi, i'm tavis smiley.me with mull pl grammy winner, al jarreau. that's next time. see you then. >>> the california endowment health happens in neighborhoods. learn more. >>> by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. >>> by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. sethi: this week on "quest"... sea otters combating climate change... sizemore: to see that change almost overnight was amazing. sethi: ...cars fueled by hydrogen... holloway: i was promised flying cars when i was a kid. this is as close as it's going to get. sethi: ...and scientists trying to build a more resilient forest. pecore: some of the best old-growth stands that we have are in the menominee tribal lands. announcer: major funding for "quest" is provided by the national science foundation. sethi: known as "science on a sphere," giant digital globes just like this one

more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >>> hi, i'm tavis smiley.in me next time for "nightcrawler." that's next time. we'll see you then. . >>> next a special report on key election issues involving science. a look at hydraulic fracturing or fracking and why opponents want it banned. the drought and proposition 1 and how would the bond measure change california's bond measure and genetically engineered food. the technology behind it and debate on the labels on it. science at the ballot box. >>> good evening and welcome to science at the ballot box an election special produced by kqed newsroom and science series quest. i'm treen

>>> hi, i'm tavis smiley.next time for a conversation with prolific biographer and writer david rich, about his home and respect the life of aretha franklin. that's next time. see you then. ♪ >>> and by characteristontributr pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. announcer: "image makers" is made possible by the members of kqed.

>>> good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight we continue with part two of our conversation with four-time grammy winner annie lennox about her new c.d. title the "nostalgia" which mimes the great american songbook including classics like "summertime," "god bless the child," and even "strange fruit." her reflect of songs honors the commitment to humanity. please join us for part two of annie lennox coming up right now. ♪ ♪ >>> and by contributions to your pbs station by viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >>> welcome back tonight to our conversation with the incomparable -- bam, there she is -- annie lennox. her new project, "nostalgia." we were supposed to talk last night for one show because she has so much to be doing. i begged her to stay for another night. the conversation last night was so rich. if you didn't see the conversation last night, go to our website, pbs.org. and find last night's conversation. you will not want to miss what we talked about last night. i think a good jumping off point from last night's conversa

i'm tavis smiley. tonight, first a conversation with journalist martin wolf considered by many to be one of the world's most(ú influential writers on the economy, associate editor at the "financial times" of london and latest text "the shifts and the shocks" what we learned and have still to learn from the financial crisis. and then we'll turn to a conversation with dancer and choreographer sharna burgess, my dancing partner recently on "dancing with the stars." she danced on broadway and the closing summer olympic ceremonies in her native australia. among her partners, andy d yy d keyshawn johnson and charlie white. those conversations coming up right now. ♪ >> and by contributions to your pbs station, from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ >> martin wolf, associate editor of the "financial times" at london, called the world's most influential economic writer and clom is considered required reading 6"6 the financial elit. his new book "the shifts and the shocks," what we learned and have still to learn

. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> hi. i'm tavis smiley. happens in neighborhoods. learn more. and by continue wuributions to s station from viewers like you. thank you. >>> next on kqed newsroom. with absentee voting under way in california, a look at the race for secretary of state, who is running and what's at stake. >>> and 20 years later, the legacy of a controversial ballot measure that targeted illegal immigration. >> the way prop 7 was written, it could have really torn apart families. >>> plus on its 29th anniversary, we'll remember the loma prieta earthquake and the world series it interrupted. >> it was beautiful indian summer weather, golden light as it started to get to the end of the day. it was a picture perfect, sort of enchanted setting.

. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> hi. i'm tavis smiley. happens in neighborhoods. learn more. and by continue wuributions to s station from viewers like you. thank you. >> rose: welcome to the programment tonight a conversation about the middle east with moshe ya'alon, israel's minister of defense. and we talk about israel, iran, the palestinians, isis and much more. >> this is a clash between civilizations. and actually islam in the history has declined. and you can see poverty exploited by their leaders. lack of relevant ideology like they adopted in the past like communism, or whatever. today islam, it seems to be the solution. this is the slogan. islam, this is the solution. and they know how to approach this frustrated people in their societies. to mobilize them,

i'm tavis smiley. one tony nomination, she sold more than 20 million records and starred in the hit a brks krrkb "ugly betty" and here in los angeles for which she was nominated for a slew of awards when the play debuted on broadway last year. we're glad you joined us. a conversation with vanessa williams coming up right now. >>> and by contributions to your pbc station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ >>> the acclaimed play "the trip to bountiful," vanessa williams, the role earned vanessa a slew of acting award nominations and those join some 11 gram knee Ñ@ nominatio nominations, one tonyvókç nominations. i'm out of breathe. look look at a scene it's here in los angeles. >> well, it's for her own good. she's crazy. >> why do you talk like that? you know mama -- know mama isn't crazy. stop saying things like that. >> well, you better do something, let me tell you that or she's going to clock out someplace. she goes to the bountiful side and bringing her body back. do you know anything like that

>>> good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight, our conversation with four-time grammy winner annie lennox about her new. -- new c.d. titled "nostalgia. k" -- "nostalgia" which mimes the great american songbook. includes classics like "summertime," "god bless the child," and "georgia on my mind." she's one of the greatest of all time in her records. she's received an obe, order of the british empire, in recognition of her humanitarian work, as well. we're glad you've joined us. a conversation with annie lennox coming up right now. ♪ whether ♪ ♪ >>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪ >>> annie lenox has four grammy awards, an academy award, golden globe, and obe -- order of the british empire -- in recognition of her humanitarian work to her credit. she's sold more than 83 million records worldwide, a testament from the public to her brilliant artistry. her latest is called "nostalgia," a good one. she turns her unique voice to classics from the great american song book, songs lik

state senator vincent hughes is joining forces with talk show host tavis smiley for the event.ell us more about the event. good morning. >> good morning. >> senator, philadelphia has been called the poorest big city in america. the numbers are just stunning. explain to our audience just how wide spread poverty is in the community. >> 30% of philadelphia's families live below the pofr level as it relates to education. 80% of the kids who attend the public schools are below the federal poverty level too. when you have the stress and trauma that centers around it, elaegs hard to brake the cycle of poverty and move the community and city guard >> tell us what you're doing today. give us some information about the event. >> tavis smiley and his foundation reached out to us to help pu together the 20 city -- there's going to be a lot of people there. it starts at 20 clock from 20:00 to 3 clon 30 at t3:30. some strategies about going forward. >> thank you so much for being here. we appreciate you taking the time. again that information on your screen. it's happening at the community c

"hot topic" tavis smiley is here. we have a new extended look at the alaiyah movie.

state senator vincent hughes is joining forces with with talk show host tavis milely for if event.ive to tell us more about today's event. philadelphia has been called the poorest big city in america. tell house how wide spread poverty is in the community. >> 25% to have families in philadelphia live below the poverty level. 80% of the children attending the philadelphia public schools are below the federal poverty level. it's a very difficult issue here in philadelphia. >> what kind of changes can be made to stem this tide for those at the bottom of the economic ladder. >> education is fundamental for all communities but especially for those who are in poverty. education is absolutely necessary. and so that's why we're talking about education in this national tour that tavis smiley and his foundation is conducting. he's come to philadelphia and we're really no kusing on education. if we can improve the education outcomes for the children in philadelphia, then they have a great opportunity to break the cycle of poverty that exists for so many families. and in too many cases it's ge

. >>> good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight we continue with part two of our conversation with four-time grammy winner annie lennox about her new c.d. title the "nostalgia" which mimes the great american songbook including classics like "summertime," "god bless the child," and even "strange fruit." her reflect of songs honors the commitment to humanity. please join us for part two of annie lennox coming up right now. ♪ ♪

. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. >> join me next time for aversation with melissa etheridge. we'll see you then. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. killing 11 workers and setting off the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. >> we haven't had an oil spill of this magnitude at this depth and in this environment. >> this was a systematic failure on the part of bp, the industry in general, and of the government regulatory regime. >> narrator: over the course of nearly three months, roughly 4.9 million barrels of south louisiana crude gushed out of the macondo well and into the gulf of mexico. >> it was beyond my worst fears. it was something ho

from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with kristen stewart who put the "twilight" saga in her rear-view mirror. she's getting acclaim and push back for "camp x-ray" in which she plays a young mp assigned to gitmo whose interactions with the detainee prompts her to rethink her political views. we are glad you joined us for a conversation with kristen stewart. coming up right now.