>> the man whose voice is heard on the record and on a second recording from the same conversation that was released on sunday is mr. sterling. i am banning mr. sterling for life with any association of the clippers organization or the nba. mr. sterling may not attend any nba games or practices. he may not be president at any clippers facility, and he may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. he will also be barred from attending nba board of governors meetings or participating in any

other league activity. i am also fining mr. sterling $2.5 million, the maximum amount allowed under the nba constitution. >> good afternoon. i'm krystal ball, and we do start with the breaking news that l.a. clippers owner donald sterling has been banned for life and fined $2.5 million for that racist rant that was caught on tape. sterling cannot attend practices or games. he is still technically an owner, but commissioner adam silver said he will work through the bilaws of the league to make sure that is soon no longer the case. reaction is pouring in on this big decision. especially in los angeles where game five against golden state is happening tonight. we'll take you there in just a minute, but, first, where all the action is happening now, at that news conference that just wrapped up here in new york. nbc's ron allen was there for the announcement, and, ron, this is pretty unhartered territory

here for the league. >> it's pretty clear they're going in the same direction, and it's unprecedented, yes, but it's also a very profound moment for basketball, for the country, even you can say. >> many people said they support the idea. it's an amaze and extraordinary thing when it happens, assuming that it does happen. the ban for life is unprecedented, obviously. it was very moving to hear the commissioner talk about this in very deeply personal terms. he seems very personally troubled by all of this. it wasn't about business, you could say. >> as i said before, this comes before the owners, i can't

imagine being the owner who would stand up and vote against this process for moving forward. there is such a public -- a huge public human cry and condemnation of donald sterling and what was heard on those tapes. it's a moment also when sports, as a number of speakers point the out, is leading the way in terms of race relations. >> just a profound moment for the nba, for sports, and an unprecedented decision to try to strip this man of his ownership. don't cry for him. he bought the team 30 years ago for some $12 million or $13 million. the market value, i have seen, estimated at some $700 million. is he going to walk away from

this, he and his family, with quite a profit. but, again, quite a moment for the league. quite a moment for the country. quite a moment for the nba and for the players who stood up and said, the commissioner, we're ready to boycott games if you don't do this. there was pressure on the commissioner to move forward. this is coming at a time when the nba is very much in the spotlight. the playoffs are happening. it's a really positive vibe for the play swrofz this time around because it's so competitive in the first opening rounds, which is not usually the case. the league had a lot at stake. the league's image is on the line, and the commission moved forward to keep that intact as best he could and to move forward and make a profound statement about how he felt about all this happening. >> i don't think anyone is going to be crying for don sterling. >> let's head now to the clippers home turf and nbc's joe fryer, and, joe, big game five is tonight. how is all of this playing there? >> certainly it's going to play out well. there were some nerves about tonight's game. there are protests planned for

before the game. it was unclear how fans were going to react. were they going to show up to support the team? certainly so far we're seeing this as being treated as good news by fans and many of the players who you just heard in that news conference, kevin johnson, kareem abdul-jabbar, steve nash and many others that are here in los angeles and have been pushing for drastic action. all along players and fans have really said that despite, you know, whether it be a suspension or ban for life, a huge fine, it doesn't really matter. the end game was that they did not want donald sterling to be owner of the team anymore, and that's because they thought players would leave and fans would boycott the team and sponsors, many of chom would already left would not be returning to the team and there would be no way for the team to function. this is just one step in the process. we have to say we don't know at this point, and commissioner silver said if sterling is willing to sell his team, if that's not the case, silver said that with a vote of

three-quarters of the nba owners, he would be able to force sterling out. this was something we didn't know if they could do the nba constitution is private. it was interesting to have silver share that information. he says he does have the support of the owners. mark cuban, the owner of the dallas mavericks, always well spoken. he tweeted i agree 100% with commissioner silver's findings, and the action taken against donald sterling. we'll have to wait and see some of the other reaction that pours in from owners and from players. we know magic johnson sent out a tweet. of course, he was part of this process, whether he liked it or not. he was in that instagram photo that apparently sparked these audio recordings and the conversation inside of them. he said he was very happy with the commissioner's decision.

>> this is a victory for values of civil rights and anti-discrimination. number two, we know that sports are big culture and big business, but this i think is a victory for people in the nba thanks largely, i believe, to the outside pressure for going beyond business. you'll pardon me if i refer to the political undertow here, but we an ongoing debate in this country with a yawning wealth gap that we talk about a lot on the show about whether business values should trump everything.

oh, well this makes money, so that's the end of the story. speak to today how this big business with so many fans and so many customers said it doesn't matter whether this team makes money or is in the playoffs under this management, this owner. what matters is that we have values that transcend that, values of equality and civil rights under law that have been so fractured here not only from his words, but also from his deeds, which we've covered, that we have to stand up and do something totally separate from the fact that the nba is also a business. >> it's ease where he to be a leader when it's convenient. that's what i try to say in the piece. you can be a leader when it's easy, but adam silver showed that the nba goes way above pricing families out. you know, it doesn't want to do that. sometimes that's the case. this is about more than money, about more than anything that has to do with fans. this is about an equality issue in america, and, you know what, i say that the nba had an enormous challenge. it also had enormous

opportunity. it took advantage to get a terrible person out of the position that he has been in way too long. this is an opportunity that the nba hilary clintons and it took full advantage of it, think it's a wonderful day for sports in america. >> let's talk about adam silver. this is really a huge day for him. the first real test on the job he has been in, as you said, about three months now, and making the point that we've got to fundamentally change the way that we think and the way that we act. i thought he handled it very well. he was to the point and compassionate. i know you know him very well personally. is it your sense that commissioners in the past would have made the same decision as him, or what does it tell you about him? >> his predecessor david stern, who he worked for for quite some time, there was criticism towards him that sometimes he might have put a halo over donald sterling because let's not forget, we know and we heard about donald sterling has been in the news before for racial discrimination, about elgin baylor who was his general manager, about not allowing blacks and hispanics and jews to rent out because he is a real estate mogul in l.a. i'm not sure how to answer that question other than to say that

he wanted to show what the nba stands for, which is an equality league and a league that's, by the way, almost 80% african-american. i just thought adam silver did everything right. sfwoo for one thing, we see in the situation that the rich are not necessarily intelligent. sometimes they are not. they're, rather, dumb occasionally. you know, this had is the -- this is or soon was the longest tenured owner in the nba, bought the team for $12 million. had you singular owners that might have been cooky. we talk about mark schact and --

now they cost $1 billion. you have to have a conglomerate basically to buy them. i think we're going to see less of these sort of cooky individuals that are fronting the team just because it's too expensive to purchase a team. sflo the milwaukee bucs, one of the least valuable franchises just got sold for $500 million. the fact that donald sterling is going to walk away with a substantial profit here is unfortunate, but it goes to show you how valuable these franchises are. the nba is one of the most successful leagues, not just in america, but worldwide globally. i also believe that what can not get lost here is that the nba -- i mention this earlier. i really want this point to be hammered home. there are two ways this could have gone. you know, if they were to hand it poorly, there could have been a boycott, like they had talked about. that would have been an absolute catastrophe in game five of the playoffs, but they did it the right way, and now look what happens. you have a galvanizing effect, and that's a big positive. >> i'm glad to hear that the players were willing to boycott, and i think that gave them a lot of power. >> jordan just quickly here,

technically don sterling remains owner of the l.a. clippers contingent on a vote of the board of governors of the owners, three-quarters voting in favor of him being stripped of his ownership. do you see any chance that don sterling remains as owner of this team? >> no, i don't. in fact, i have heard the word shocked used before. i would be stunned if that happened. donald sterling, his name -- change his name from tokawitz to sterling because he thought it sounded more familiar. >> we'll see later. >> very interesting stuff. jordan schultz, thank you so much. this is certainly not the end of this discussion. we will have more on this as it develops, but, up next, the violent weather will not quit. a tornado touched down during our hour yesterday, and we will find out what is in store today as the cycle rolls on for tuesday, april 29th.

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>> more bronze this businessesy tuesday in the cycle. the most dangerous line of severe weather so far this season is firing up for a fourth straight day. a quarter of us are in the path or could be before the week is out. detroit raleigh, atlanta, new orleans are all under the gun this afternoon. twister season may have arrived late, but it is clearly -- certainly here now. cycle weather expert w nbc rafael is checking it all for us. rafi, what do you see now? >> we're getting to the most dangerous part of the day, and the worst part is this is a look at yesterday's storm reports. you can see all the tornado reports clustered around

mississippi, alabama. >> exactly where we got slammed with tornadoes yesterday. places like birmingham, tuscaloosa, back towards mississippi. that's where we have the moderate risk. the atmosphere has been cooking all morning long with sunshine out there. temperatures on the rise. we have the spin. we have the instability now, and the storms are firing up. first tornado watches of the day. in fact, we've already seen tornado touchdowns today. thankfully they've been in rural areas of north carolina and also illinois. just to give you an idea of how much of the country is dealing with severe weather all the way up to the great lakes and illinois. here's our first tornado watch box, including jackson, miss mishgs meridian and hattiesburg.

we're seeing the storm developing. a super cell nature. don't have the full strength just yet, but the tornado watch will include, and the threat will continue there as well as north carolina. this is our second tornado watch box, including the city of raleigh, and that's where we had our tornado touchdown earlier east of raleigh, and, again, thankfully that was over rural areas. no one was impacted by that particular tornado. it was weak as well. flooding the other concern. we're expecting several inches of rain, and that's the other problem with these tornadoes in the south. they're often rain-wrapped. you can't see them coming. all you see is rain, and then all of a sudden the tornado is on top of you. multiple threats there. look how much rain we're expecting. over five inches in some spots. over the next couple of days. even here in the northeast we have a flood watch in effect for new york city. we are going to get soaked by this very same storm starting tonight right through thursday. very active weather pattern, and

we're watching the explosive severe weather this afternoon. >> wow. rafi, thank you, as always. a happy belated birthday to you. >> thank you. let's get you up to nbc's gabe gutierrez who is in hard hit vilmonia, arkansas. this is a vine video we showed our viewers yesterday. the images are hard to believe. can you try to put all of this in context for us? >>. >> a heart-breaking scene. as states to our east brace for more possible severe weather as you were talking about, here thankfully the sun has started to come out, and that is good news for the volunteers. you can see behind me we have a lot to clean up. now, president obama has just signed a federal disaster deck lashs for parts of arkansas, including here in falkner county. eight fatalities in this town alone. 50 throughout arkansas. as you can see, the devastation is just immense. the national weather service has released et cetera initial findings and say that the tornado that hit here late sunday night was at least 136 miles per hour. that's an ef-3 tornado.

the street we're on right now is aspen creek drive. a lot of military families here. we just spoke with the father of one of the victims. his name was dan wassen. he lived just down the road. he described how his son was with his wife and two young daughters late sunday, and he tried to shield his daughters. unfortunately, he was hit in the head by a piece of wood. he passed away. his father was heartbroken, and he was going through the rubble just down the block. really some heart breaking stories that we've been seeing out here. so far and over the past several days we've also confirmed that there have been 34 deaths over several states, over six states. though will take a long time to clean up, and the south is certainly recovering at this point. back to you, guys. >> all right. dave, thank you so much for that. we'll come back to you if anything else shapes up in that hour. turning now to another natural catastrophe. the latest on that deadly avalanche at mount everest. on april 18th 16 guys were killed in the deadliest single disaster ever on the world's highest peak, and now we are

getting an exclusive look at the day as it unfolded. members of an nbc news team were at base camp as they prepared to produce a live discovery channel special and captured the frantic rescue effort this sunday. discovery will air a 9046 minute documentary everest avalanche tragedy. that chronicles the weeks leading up to the climb through the moment the avalanche struck. crews were on the scene to produce a special event about jimmy who was preparing to make the first winged suit flight for discovery. he visited us here on the cycle before heading to everest after the tragedy. the jump was canceled, and he is now back with us. jobe, it's great to see you. i know it's been an emotional time for you. you were there when this happened. what did you hear and see? >> well, i was actually at base camp in my tent. it was pretty early in the morning. it was about 6:45.

saw the avalanche cover all the guy, including my guys. >> it shows some of the rescue efforts. let's take a look. >> as much oxygen as you can. he needs oxygen at the soccer field and above the scene. >> we need him taken to the katmandu teaching hospital. they don't need any permission to land there. they're working on the bodies at the moment. >> what we're seeing there is sort of how they deal with these situations. walk us through a little bit more of that, and also, if you would, as you know, the conversation often turns back to risk and the risks that you guys take, particularly the optional risk that goes into some of these kind of expeditions, but, of course, you're also doing something that's very exciting and inspiring to a lot of people. speak to any of that if can you share it with us. >> well, obviously i was there for a very different type of project, and, you know, everything was going really good. the conditions on the mountain looked better than i have ever seen them in 15 years. the weather was better than i have ever seen in that part of

the himalayans. everybody that's there participating in trying to get to the summit is well aware of the risks, and that's part of what makes reaching the top of the world so great and so inspiring. it is not easy to do. that is part of that process. every year for the last decade some people have died on mount evere everest. what's crazy about this is just the fact that so many people died all in one day, and the fact that they were all of our great sherpa friends. this is why it's such a big tragedy. >> absolutely. out of an awareness of that risk and danger, we have some footage of a buddhaist ceremony that they took part in the day before asking permission from the mountain to go forward.

>> i've been fortunate it never happened to me or one of the members of my team. you know, this year it was the opposite of that. it was all three of my sherpa people that i was working with. they were great friends of mine and amazing people, and they also knew the risk. this is part of why we're up there is to overcome these types of obstacles and make something special happen. you know, i will return to everest. the sherpa will return to everest. now is a time for kind of pulling back a little bit and, you know, like you said, we do ask permission to climb on the mountain, and the gods of the mountain were looking down on everybody in a little bit different way this year. nobody can really understand why it happened. in 50 years nothing like this has ever happened, and, unfortunately, it was just people in the wrong place at the wrong time. >> jobe, it takes a lot for you to come out here and talk about this. thank you so much for joining us. we appreciate it. >> in some other news, there was a major dedication in the nbc

news family today. the nbc news los angeles headquarters was formally name the brokaw news center in honor, of course, of our friend of the show and tv legend tom brokaw. the brand new facility at universal city is now the west coast center for nbc news, msnbc, cnbc, telemundo and knbc, our local station in l.a. a station that brought tom to nbc in the late 1960s. tom brokaw, nbc news in los angeles, the place where it all began for him and for us. now it is the brokaw news center. >> finally, the first day that i arrived, as i said, bob hope was parking in my spot, and we had several encounters over the years. i don't know where bob is now. i like to think because of delores and her faith and her attendance to the catholic church, he is in a good place. this was a very important place to him, universal studios. i would just like to send a message to bob. if he manages to get back in some fashion, he can park his car over by the tom brokaw

banner. thank you all very much. if i can impart one lesson to a new business owner, it would be one thing i've learned is my philosophy is real simple american express open forum is an on-line community, that helps our members connect and share ideas to make smart business decisions. if you mess up, fess up. be your partners best partner. we built it for our members, but it's open for everyone. there's not one way to do something. no details too small. american express open forum. this is what membership is. this is what membership does.

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president obama is about to get back in washington and it was largely overshadowed by the crisis in ukraine. congress is joining him back in the nation's capital after their two-week recess. you know they earned it. the question is who is back to work? well, howard fineman is, editorial director for the huffington post media group and friend of the cycle. how are you? >> oh. >> how are you? >> always with the -- always with the down beat. every jazz band needs a different eninstrument. howard, the main thing coming out of the asia trip, akrgtd to the traditional press is that the president's foreign policy doctrine is still in tatters. big front page in the "new york times" piece. i'm sure you saw it. more coverage of the feeling that secretary of state kerry didn't get a breakthrough in the middle east, although to be fair nobody has gotten one of those in some time. what's your view of this trip

and where the president stands? >>. >> i think the trip was a trip of good intentions. i think he has wanted to pivot to asia for a long time. can see that the president was right to want to pi on the to asia, right to want to concert our role and even militarily there. he has been wayleed by all kinds of things. he has been by vlad peer putin and energy issues, nagging problems in afghanistan and raik and so foth. so he was right to go there. it struck me, again, having been in that region recently as a little late and a little short. i think he accomplished something of what he wanted there. as you say, things were overshadowed by putin who is rampaging through politics and diplomacy today. >> yeah.

now, howard, turning to domestic issues. we have been having this conversation about immigration reform. is it going to happen, not going to happen? we thought maybe boehner's over the top mocking of his republican colleagues with his -- >> oh, too hard. >> maybe this was a sign that possibly he was going to move forward with immigration reform. now we're getting word that he apologized to them. he was just teasing them. is will any chance we're going to see immigration reform before the midterm elections? >> he could get it done with a snap of his fingers. >> exactly. >> he could quit doing a pannamime out in his district and just let the discharge petition go and forget about it and bring the bill to the bill and the house where all the democrats, this is the imfwrags reform bill which the house democrats would almost uniformly -- i think would uniformly support their three republicans already supporting it. you would only need another handful of republicans to pass it. i think it would pass. john boehner has it within his

power to do it himself, and i don't know if he has the guts to do it. >> i think that's right. also, fwreenburg and jim carville are saying they're democratic strategists and advicing this year running saying, hey, don't say that we're in recovery because it makes them seem like that we are out of touch and that upsets people. this is the democratic challenge that folks are saying, hey, if you can't tell us after six years in charge in washington that we're not in recovery, then we should throw you out, which is a fundamental misunderstanding. the problems really stem from crushing unions, deregulation, and cutting taxes on the rich rather than things that the dems are trying to push. >> well, carville, james carville, is not exactly the white house's favorite strategist or analyst, and carville and greenberg have been saying this for years. they told the president and the democrats not to talk about recovery in 2010. i think they told them not to talk about it in 2012. they're telling them that again,

but, of course, if you have no offense at all, you're only on defense all the way along the way, and there are places to say things, and there are things to be said of positive news. it is true that the overall numbers of what's happened to real wages of middle class people, those numbers don't lie, and they say that both men and women have fallen back in recent years. still, you have to make a case of some kind, and i don't think the -- i think the white house and the democrats will try to do it where they can, whatever james and stan have to say. >> yeah. speaking of numbers, howard, there's a new poll out today, washington post, abc poll that i am sure you have seen. not great for the president or democrats. having his approval now at 41% down from 46% to the last three months of this year.

is this fatigue of people being tired of the person in office, or is -- >> i think that's the cop jute. it's what happens to every president in his sixth year. also, look, the affordable care act may end up doing a lot of fwood for a lot of people, ask there's a lot of documentation to show it. the way it entered the stage still has a lot of people upset and concerned and left a sort of -- it's hard to erase that earlier memory. that's number one. number two, the economy, as i said, has improved for some people, but by no means all people. foreign policy, which nobody was paying much attention to, is turned into sort of a net downer for the president now. things are spinning out of control in the ukraine. we've made all kinds of statements of drawing -- we're drawing lines in the sand again here just as we did in syria, and i think that brings up memories of president's foreign policy efforts that don't really help him right now. >> yeah. >> all right. thank you very much. >> ari, i will try to be more

fizzy next time around. >> just be you, howard. that's all we ask. >> this is the -- i'm speaking in front of the fineman robo camp right here in d.c. >> the camera, sometimes they don't feel that warm, but krystal is right. as they say in hip-hop, howard. just do you, that's all we want. >> okay. >> i will do so. take care. >> see you again soon. next up here, joining us in the guest spot, the woman on a mission to unseat scott walker of wisconsin wall street. what this democrat says is the most important issue facing the state. it might surprise you. [ female announcer ] who are we?

we are the thinkers. the job jugglers. the up all-nighters. and the ones who turn ideas into action.

we've made our passions our life's work. we strive for the moments where we can say, "i did it!" ♪ we are entrepreneurs who started it all... with a signature. legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses, turning dreamers into business owners. and we're here to help start yours. captain: when i'm looking for a hotel with a wet pool, i go to hotels.com. you can get up to 50% off with their private sales. that man's privates are no longer private. >> 2014 can see a number of record women on the ballot. one of those women is mary burke, a democrat running to unseat wisconsin governor scott walker. in the latest polls have her within striking distance. burke is a businesswoman, a

former executive at wisconsin based bicycle manufacturer trek, a company that her father founded. she also served as the state's commerce secretary under former democratic governor jim doyle and on the madison school board. the focus of her campaign is on job creation, like many this year. there's another little issue that has become sin anonymous with her state, thanks to other opponent, and that is the role of unions. you'll recall that in 2011 tens of thousands it crippled the power of public employee unions in that state by rolling back collective bargaining rights. in the wake of that law passage, he was challenged with a recall election in 2012. can he yo come this challenge by mary burke. she joins us now in the guest spot. thank you for being with us.

>> tell us what maye burke is all about. >> the main issue in this's is going to be jobs and wisconsin's economy under scott walker is lagging. out of ten midwestern states, we're ninth in terms of job growth, in terms of the country we're 35th. he come at this from a businessperson's perspective. i was an executive from trek bicycle. i ran sales from $3 million to over $50 million, and that was in a few short years. >> the type of experience i can bring to this is one that can lead wisconsin forward. that means walking a fine line on many of the issues, including

labor, which krystal mentioned where you have -- and democrats who want to just abolish it altogether. you have not voiced support yet for repeeling, and have been focussing, as you said, on job creation. is this strategy intentional, to stay out of the union battle that so many of the voters are passionate about? >> well, we know that the issue -- the main issue in this race will be jobs, and i do support the rights to collectively bargain, and i don't think that that stands in the way of having an effective, efficient, and we have to attract good people to government and keep good people. that's based on my experience at trek bicycle. trek is a great company, but it's a great company because of its people. i want to bring the same type of skills to state government and make sure that we do have good people, that we're accountable, and we're effect ti.

how does that change when have you so much money coming in from people living in other states, like, say, kansas. >> i was completely against this citizens united decision. wronk it has a place in gut nat oral campaigns. i think i can raise the type of money that will be needed to get my message out. and make sure that the people of wisconsin are the ones choosing the next governor. >> thank you so much, and we'll be closely following your race. up next is locking up more people making us less safe? we'll get an early look at a thought-provoking new frontline documentary. >> incarceration has become the response to every social problem that we encounter. they're doing bad in school? lock them up. problem in the home?

lock them up. >> and trying to break the cycle. >> we have to look at a paradigm shift in this business of how we operate justice. live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪

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chances of getting cancer of the uterus, strokes, blood clots or dementia, so use it for the shortest time based on goals and risks. estrogen should not be used to prevent heart disease, heart attack, stroke or dementia. ask your doctor about premarin vaginal cream. and go to premarinvaginalcream.com this is worth talking about. cut! [bell rings] this...is jane. her long day on set starts with shoulder pain... ...and a choice take 6 tylenol in a day which is 2 aleve for... ...all day relief. hmm. [bell ring] "roll sound!" "action!" >> the vast majority of those who are in prison now will be released one day. released from prison that is are criminogenic, that turn people into worse criminals, released into a world of severely limited opportunities. what does it do to our society

that after people have served time, they have a very hard time rejoining society? let's look at one prisoner's response. this is a scene from frontline's new documentary series "locked up in america." >> you kick me out on the street, and you tell me do this and do that. at the end of the day i don't have clothes. i don't have food. i don't have no transportation. it's not easy. what do you expect that man to do? >> you look ahead at the rest of your life, what's going to happen to you? >> i don't know. i'm just being honest with you. i don't really know. right in here, i don't really care. >> that tear tells me he wants

to rejoin society, but he doesn't see how is he going to be able to. part two of the series titled "prison state" appears tonight on pbs. filmmaker damage edge joins us. what is the impact on society that after searching time it's so hard for people to rejoin society? >> we focused on one community in lieuville, kentucky, where almost every adult we met had been to prison or jail. it's a cycle that starts very, very young. we filmed with kids, 11, 12, 13 years old, who are incarcerated for very small scale stuff. for playing truant, for things like that, and you know and they know that they face a lifetime of settling in and out of prison and jail. >> dan, wufrt young women that you spoke with was demitria duncan. let's take a look at agents a little bit of her story. >> she has been locked up for six weeks.

the judge is trying to figure out what to do with her. >> i don't want to lock a youth up. that is not ever what i want to do. but as a last resort, if i cannot get them to come to court, if i cannot get them to quit committing crimes, if i cannot get them to do what they need to be doing, then sometimes that has to be done. >> this is one of the fascinating aspects that you highlight here even a judge who is participating in this system sees how wrong it is, but is sort of powerless to do anything about it. >> yeah. what we found and what we were told time and time again by some very well-meaning people working within the system is that incarceration in this community and many others across the country has become the kind of answer to every social problem. it's -- if the kid is doing bad in school? we lock them up. if the kid is skipping school, we lock them up.

huge amounts of money are being spent. this is what we examine in the film. on incarceration. far more in this neighborhood that we focused on than is spent on education. >> wow. >> spent on education. >> wow. >> you highlight mark bolton, the directioner 6 corrections at this pass ill. often times it's the wardens who see firsthand reality of what's going on. let's take a quick look at that. >> our number frequent flyer has been in and out of here over the last five years about 95 times. he is not dangerous, and throughout the entire criminal justice system, we have probably spent millions of dollars on this guy. >> we're locking up people that we're pissed off at. we ought to be using this space for people we're afraid of. >> i've never heard it like that before, we're locking up people we're pissed off at. if you have folks who are committing crimes and you don't put them behind bars, what do

you do with them? >> well, more than half of the 2.3 million americans locked up today are in there for nonviolent crimes. and we focus on just a few of them in our film. one of them, for instance, a drug addict, a vietnam veteran with peerious ptsd who has never been treated for 45 years, combat trauma. he's self-medicated with drugs. here's a guy that needs treatment. change is under way. states are realizing that in many cases treatment is far less expensive and far more effective than incarceration. >> that's absolutely true, dan. when you were inside the prisons did you see how the structure of prisons creates recidivism? >> yes. it's not just the structure of what goes on in prison. the prisons we filmed in in kentucky were well run institutions. it's the collateral consequences of doing a prison sentence. it's the fact that the punishment doesn't end with

prison. the punishment continues throughout your whole life, really, once you're branded a fell, it's very hard to get a job. it's very hard to get back on your feet, even if you want to. and the people we filmed for our front line film clearly wanted to become part of society. they just couldn't do it. >> that's absolutely right, dan, the way to make society safer is incarcerate fewer people. thank you very much. crystal is up next with a cold war history lesson. she's asking who's really stuck in the past? >> i recognize the press and i have different jobs to do. my job is to be president. your job is to keep me humble. frankly, i think i'm doing my job better.

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obviously, to great leaders but it was easier than it is today. simpler is maybe a way to put it. >> any bit of irony, a number of my conservative friends have made fun of secretary of state's john kerry's comments there saying the cold war was a simpler time. their ridicule of this cold war nostalgia is ironic. when our nation was locked in an existential battle between capitalism and communism, red baiting was a pretty successful tactic when shutting down debate. just yell communism, marksism, socialism and wait for it to go away. this time honored tradition can be traced to william f. buckley's dismissing of

keynesian economics to the present day. this has been on display during the obama presidency. perhaps you've seen one of these charming posters which seasonally summed up the opposition to health care reform. more recently we -- discussing inequality is class warfare we're told. the people at the very top have earned their success. they're the makers and you're just jealous. to suggest anything else is downright unamerican. there's just one problem. concern for inequality is in fact deeply american. in our real battle with communism, we actually focused our economic rhetoric, not on how awesome inequality is but on how broadly the rewards of our economic system are actually shared. take a look at this amazing economic propaganda video celebrating the aagalaterian system. >> another dramatic answer to

the question of america's distribution of wealth was given by a russian communist who visited america. >> who owns all these automobiles? >> the employees in the plant. >> that cannot be. they are chained to their capitalist machines. they're exploited, they have nothing, absolutely nothing under capitalism. >> our economic policy used to reflect concerns over inequality. thomas piketty in his blockbuster book points out that the u.s. was the pioneer in highly progressive taxation. in 1919 we ratcheted our top income tax rate up to 70%. then progressively climbed up to a top rate of 94% in 1944. it was only in the reagan area that these rates were brought crashing down under the bizarre and ultimately incorrect belief that doing so would increase growth.

the national review calls his book soft marxism. even "the wall street journal" tells him to read "animal farm." isn't that orwell's political parable farm animals where a bunch of pigs hog up all the economic resources within tell the animals they need the food because they're the prospectors and scare up a phony boogie man because their greed is challenged? deal with facts. either that or be relegated to the kids and the crazy uncle table at holiday dinners. this does it for "the cycle." "now with alex wagner" starts now. the nba speaks but will don sterling? this is april 29th. >> the walls are closing in

around donald sterling. >> basketball backlash. >> effective immediately, i am banning mr. sterling for life from any association with the clippers organization or the nba. >> huge press conference by the nba. >> i will urge the board of governors to force a sale of the team. >> this is not new with the clippers. this has been going on since i was in the league in '76. >> he thought black tenants smelled bad. this was out there. >> this has been a plague, a cancerous plague. >> it feels like a plantation mentality in the 21st century. >> that is the mentality of a slave master. >> this must end. >> more than a dozen spaonsors have cut ties or their relationship with the los angeles clippers. >> i hope that every bigot sees what happened to mr. sterling. if he can fall, so can you. >> he's be