And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Tavis senator Robert Menendez is an outspoken advocate for senate reform. He joins us tonight from capitol hill. Good to have you back on this program. Good to be with you. Tavis let me start with immigration. There are those who believe that if nothing happens to a dance this ball down the field by june, nothing will happen period. Do you take that kind of critique as accurate or inaccurate . Certainly, the window of opportunity is closing fast with a dash with Congressional Elections this year in the house and the senate. It makes for a very truncated legislative year. The Senate Passed a very strong bipartisan vote a year ago legislation that has not yet had a chance on the house floor. Wont necessarily subscribe to its june or nothing but i do believe that the window of opportunity is closing fast on us because, after words, we will be in an election cycle. I doubt this will be a lameduck issue. Anhave a few months left for opportunity for amounts of people and for really important policy decisions that float for Immigration Reform for the United States. Tavis but you do believe the window is closing and we have a certain amount of time here, weeks in fact to get things done , given we are in an election season. I am not naive and asking this, but to your mind, why is it that this issue has not been given a fair hearing, an up or down vote in the house . It is purely House Republican politics. Id like to give the benefit of the doubt to the speaker, that he wants to did something done, but he has as the most entrenchments and most interned in the members of his party in the tea party. He seems to be held hostage to that element in his caucus. So it is about his caucuss politics and his own standing in terms of the speaker with his caucus. I am convinced that, if the legislation we passed in the senate with 67 votes would go to the house floor, it would pass with a bipartisan vote, mostly democrats strongly supporting it, but also dump republicans who understand the power of this issue, the necessity and the imperative to get it done, the Economic Opportunities that flow from it as well as a National Security questions that are derived from it. It is a shame that we can vote thens of times to end Affordable Care act, but not cast once and will vote on the senate bill which i believe will pass. Tavis so youre telling me that a handful of people in the house can hold up the will of the entire nation and you dont see a way around it . Years the problem. Here is the problem. Over in the house of representatives, where i served 14 years, the new republican majority has a role that they have established in which they say that only what a majority of the existing majority, therefore the majority of republicans agree to can come to the house for. House floor. The problem with that is that a Republican House majority is a minority of the house of representatives as a whole. Therefore, a minority of the voice of the American People. That houseprocedure democrats are pursuing, which is what they call a discharge petition. If you cant get a piece of legislation to the floor because a Republican Leadership blocked it, members are free to sign a petition that says bring this legislation to the floor. Signatures,ts 218 which is one more than half of the house of representatives necessary to bring that bill to the floor, then that is the only other alternative. Which 218 time, in members sign the petition, we are at the whim of the Republican Leadership in the house and other minority within the caucus. Tavis what agency do the American People have in advancing this issue . Notice i asked not the Hispanic Community but the American People. What agency do we have in advancing this if those are the rules . That is the challenge of the congress. The Senate Passed with 67 votes a broad bipartisan bill. I thought that was going to create a lot of impetus it in the house of representatives to give there Republican Leadership cover. The only thing left would be the question of what the president is left to do in the failure of the house of representatives to act. What discretion he ultimately has in exercising his powers in determining how he enforces the saw and certain precedent that exist under the law under the department of Homeland Security under jeh johnson. That is the ultimate solution. In the absence of passing the law, we have certainly urged the president to use the maximum of his discretion and his way in which he enforces the law so we are prioritizing a criminal alias but not deporting parents who make paperwork violations and ultimately the poor 200,000 parents of u. S. Citizen children with over 5000 of them already being in foster care. That is not in the interest of the United States and not what we stand for as a country. Tavis you were talking about the republicans. About ask you a question barack obama who served as a senate served in the senate. Some in the Hispanic Community who feel the president has not done enough, number one on this issue. Number two, he had to be pushed off the hard to do what he has done. Number three, there are still more that he could do, namely on the issue of deportation. You know the list better than i do. There are people who think he really has not been as aggressive, as progressive as he should be on this. It is one thing to be up on republicans in the house. But has barack obama done enough on this issue . Let me ask you let me answer your question in this way. Number one, i believe president obama truly believes in Immigration Reform. I believe i know he was incredibly supportive during the senate process. Including when we asked him to a large degree to simply let us work our way so that republicans wouldnt use him as an excuse for not joining us in Immigration Reform. And he did. He made it very clear what is and were on Immigration Reform. But heed where he could largely let us work our way. He has called on house really on house leadership to have Immigration Reform. He has called on groups around the nation from the laroche groups to advocates to labor to a whole wide range of faithbased organizations that also port Immigration Reform and use his bully pulpit to move the house. In that score, i think the president has done what he can. However, where he has not done what he can and i understand the politics of it and the challenge of doing the right thing is in creating the space and using the power of his Discretionary Authority under the law to make sure that we prioritize criminal aliens but not families to maximize the ability of making sure that how he uses the budget for the department of homeland ,ecurity these are the ice which is immigration and customs enforcement, is used for people who commit crime out of the country and give flexibility to those people who just make a paperwork violation and overstating legitimate visa. And ultimately, if the republicans dont act in the house of representatives, to give further discretionary relief along the line what he gave the dreamers, which would give different deportation and an opportunity to have this legislation work its way and not have families get torn apart. In that respect, we have called on the president to do more. And i believe, when it comes to the point in time when he sees the house of representatives, is that what happens, doesnt act, i believe he will act and we will apply him at that time. Tavis we will soon happens there. I think some issues are above politics. It seems to me this is an issue of morality. To say that i understand the politics of it, as if he should not be pushed to do the right thing on the moral question for my thing to the extent you allowed him or any other president to state because you understand the politics of it rather than pushing him on that after all the time has passed and you just said earlier that the window is closing, im having a hard time just opposing those two points of view. I just said that i understand the politics of it. Im not excusing his unwillingness at this point to use some of that. I just understand the challenges you have. Tavis but hes not running is not violating the law. Tavis but it is a moral issue. And he is not running for reelection. So what is there to lose . I understand. Tavis cuba, for the 33rd year, was just but again on the list of terrorist nations. Is it time to review that policy . No, on the contrary. Cuba was a country sending arms violation ofa in the United NationsSecurity Council resolutions. The greatest violation according to the Security Council arms experts that has come in years of any country sending missiles and other equipment to north korea. So if they dont understand that the violation of international is not acceptable, in it dish and that in addition to a whole host of individuals who are wanted in the United States, including the killer of a new jersey state trooper, just to start the list, they deserve to be on the list and that has not changed on my perfect changing my perspective. Tavis they are on the level of syria . If you put under tons of sugar and hide missiles and maids and other military korea,nt sent to north that was intercepted in panama and then was disclosed, are you not engaging with the state that has by the international community, not the u. S. , been found to be violating International Norms and that has nuclear weapons, ones that we dont want to see proliferate and they are sending weapons to assist them . I dont think that resolves them of anything except that i should be on the terrorist list. Tavis this story is changing literally by the hour it seems. I dont know what will happen between now and when this airs. What say you now about this gray area, for lack of a better phrase, with russia on this ukraine issue . This is incredibly important because we must be resolute along with our european allies. Utin only understands strength. The wide array of potential sanctions against russia have to be serious the considered and pursued if we want them to stop being the aggressor in the ukraine and beyond. And finally, the rest of the world is watching. Iran is washing is watching as we negotiate. China is watching as they want to go into the South China Sea and takeover territories that we believe belong to japan and south korea. North korea is going to look and see how far is the west and the United States going to pursue this . This has not only real consequences for the ukraine and European Security moving forward, but global consequences on how we and the European Union act. Menendez, always an honor to have you on the program. Tavis great to be with you. Coming up, actor hugh dancy. Tavis there is something about serial killers that seemed to intrigue us as fictional characters during one of the most compelling is Hannibal Lecter as seen in movies like red dragon and silence of the lambs. Actor hughrn dancy. Lets look at a clip from the series. Roasted whole suckling pig. A gift from a friend. Yours. Nd of not a friend of the pigs. The farmer who hand rears lambs loves them. They love and kill what they love. And eat what they love. It is a paradox. Look to try have to to find something that we could nt scaret would folks at this time of the evening. Do things thato are graphic for the sake of it. But it is Hannibal Gary the theme is pretty dark. Tavis we seem to be intrigued by these serial killer at least as fictional characters. Why do you think that is . I think theres something about this fear or fascination about what real evil is and whether it exists and whether it exists in a person. Justserial killers are broken said human beings when it comes down to it. Createion, you can character like hannibal who is sophisticated and is even kind of appealing. I think we wonder if that is possible. Tavis what did you find appealing about the show hannibal that made you want to be part of the cast . It was the right thing. When i got the it was the writing. When i got the script it was straight off the bad, in that first script, there was something going on that was different to me from a character point of view. Lawrencer that, fishburne who plays the other lead character in the show got attached and it got stronger and stronger package. Tavis what do you think the teamenge is to a writing hannibalseries like was quote into something we want to watch when we have seen the movie already . It is a prequel. They are not strictly tight into the material exactly. I think there is a very fine line. You want to do justice to the books. It already has a huge following, a big audience, people who know the characters very well. The same token, nobody just wants to see an entirely faithful rendering of something they know already. So they have to find our own take on it, theyre on approach. We dont worry about that. That is not a conversation that comes up on set all the time because that is not a positive way to approach it. You cant worry about the shadow of the people that have been there before you. For sure, its got to be fresh. Tavis you look a little bit different than jodie foster. [laughter] not quite the fbi i really tried to gear my costume away from clarice sterling. [laughter] tavis tell me about the character you play. The equal tom is clarice starling in the books. Behindl is already bars. It was will graham who put him there. That is the first piece of information that we have. In are telling of there back story, will is a tortured guy. He has a great yet which is essentially as much of a curse, which is that he can easily place himself in the shoes or walk in the shoes of people who do very unpleasant things. That is a form of extreme empathy. There is a line from one of the first episodes in the first season when one of the characters says that empathy is a tool pointed at both ends. I am brought in to work on a , who isjack crawford lawrence fishburnes character. Once that starts, he immediately starts to get concerned about me and my state of mind. So he brings in an outside expert to assess may. And that outside expert is Hannibal Lecter. At this point, he is a practicing psychiatrist and a chef. Tavis what pulls us into the character initially . He is superficially a very appealing person. Kind of debonair. He is a great chef. He is a host. He is witty. He is even caring in this very bleak, dark world that the show takes place in. He is this extraordinary peacock of a character. He hosts dinner parties and someone. Ink beyond that is tavis i dont know who is in , but he is ating perfect villainous character. He plays it so well. Talk about a difficult role to step into. I was thought that the primary characteristic of any actor that they hired was going to have to be basically cajones. You need to put aside the fact that it has been done so well before. The second thing is that he has an incredible nuance in his performance sites that hannibal is by far the most enjoyable character or the most likable character. The most recent for that is that he is having so much fun. Tavis thats scary. When Hannibal Lecter is the most likable. [laughter] this is interesting. Lets see what happens here. He is not a guy with a grand villainous plan. He is more of an improviser, like an improvisational musician. Except that he is playing with dead bodies and so on and so forth. I think that is why he is so likable. Tavis what do you think of whatever it is about this medium of television right now that is pulling in major stars to lay in these series . Of course, you are on this show, but madge is on the show, lawrence fishburne, and all of these guys have had there turn in major film. At the moment, there are a lot of major stars that are coming back to this medium of television. Writing . I dont know which comes first, they sort of chicken are a thing. I think it takes one person that makes the sopranos or whatever show it was. To realizeople come is there is an audience out there for really sustained intelligent drama that can break out over 10 episodes, over four years. And it does not have to be a cliffhanger at the end of every episode. People have more expectations than that. I guess if there is an audience, the people who sign the checks will eventually follow that lead. And that is what is happening. Speaking from my point of view, the pleasure of it is exactly that. You get to work on a much longer kind of an arc. Ll a richer story. Tavis but you have to be a really good show to let the art play out. The good news is that stars are coming to television. The bad news, if you do not hit it off early on, you get the been pretty quickly. There are a lot of shows out there, good shows fall by the wayside all the time. We work in a very on hannibal, a very positive environment. It filters down from the top. But nonetheless, there is that sense of we did our first season. We had an amazing audience of bals as they have turned themselves. And it was touch and go that we would come back for a second year. It almost bears no relation to the quality of the show. Touppose that is testament how many good shows there are out there. It doesnt matter that you are getting great reviews. Tavis you are on one of the good ones and we are glad to have you here. Good to have you on the program. That is our show for tonight. Thank you for watching. As always, keep the faith. For more information on todays show, visit tavis smiley at pbs. Org. Tavis hi, im tavis smiley. Join me next time for a conversation with awardwinning director of new movie theylbelle. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Be more. Thank you. Be more. Pbs. [ midtempo music plays ] steves riding this gondola, you soar, landing in the sleepy, unpromoted village of gimmelwald. In 30 years of researching guidebooks, ive found hidden gems like this in every country. Gimmelwald would have been developed to the hilt, like neighboring towns, but the village had its real estate declared an avalanche zone, so no one could get new building permits. The result . A real Mountain Community families, farms, and traditional ways. Choosing places like gimmelwald and then meeting the people, you become part of the party rather than just part of the economy. This is a realistic goal for any good traveler. Eins, zwei, drei. Man [ chuckles ] steves take a moment to appreciate the alpine cheese. So, older is better . Man oh, yes. Woman i dont know. Man oh, yes. Woman for me, its the younger one. Steves once youre off the tourist track, make a point to connect with the living culture. Pitch in, even if that means getting dirty. Here, farmer peter is making hay while the sun shines. Announcemajor funding for quest is provided by. Sethi without water, life as we know it wouldnt exist. Our earths oceans, lakes, and rivers arent only cradles of biodiversity. They also play an essential role in regulating our climate, creating the oxygen we breathe, and quenching the thirst of our growing population. But the health of our waters is declining worldwide, and human activities are to blame