But Big Questions still loom today as nba commissioner adam silver begins his plan to force l. A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling out of the league. Completely. Following yesterdays lifelong ban on sterlings interactions with the league and the 2. 5 million fine that was levied against him which will be donated to antidiscrimination causes, silver says he will now pressure the board of governors, thats the nbas Shadowy Group of team owners, to make sterling sell. It will take a super majority of the board, threequarters o f them, to terminate sterlings owner sh e ownership. So what are the odds . Theres no way that they can continue to own a team and, on the other hand, support what mr. Sterling espouses. Even if there are some owners, lets say a handful, that have some misgivings not because they have any sympathy for sterling, but because they think theres something about the process that disturbs them, they cant run the Public Relations risk of appearing to in any way either side with Donald Sterling or to mitigate his guilt. Also unclear, whether sterling will fight his ouster in court. The team, after all, is his property. Joining me now is former nba player aton thomas. Thank you so much, sir, for joining. Thanks for having me. First off, forcing sterlings to sell comes down to the leagues owners. Youve worked with these guys. How do you think theyll respond . I think they have no choice but to respond the way commissioner adam silver said to respond. The way he did it, he didnt say he was going to poll them. He didnt say he was going to leave it up to them. He said he was going to drive this through. They dont have any other way they can do it. Mark cuban before was talking about how he was pretty much against it. After adam silver said what he said, mark cuban automatically tweeted, hes like, okay. Im all for what adam silver said. Because he has he wasnt given any other option. Right. And, actually, even for those relatively measured comments, he got a tremendous amount of blowback. In some senses they cant afford to appear to be supporting him. Of course theres also the issue of wealth here. Sterling paid 12 million for the clippers in the early 80s. If he sells now he could make as much as a billion dollars. Right. Given that he still stands to profit and this much, is the punishment enough, do you think . Well, you know, i would have liked to see him, you know, return just what he originally paid it for. Theyre not going to do that. I mean, hes still going to fight it. Hes definitely going to fight it. This is something where if it was worth 12 million in 1981 and right now he could sell it for almost a billion, what do you think its going to be worth in 20 more years . So he wants to keep it. Hes sitting on a gold mine. He doesnt want to give it up. I saw a clip of him saying hes going to fight this. Hes not going to bow out gracefully. Hes not going to offer a public apology and say hes sorry for what he did. He is who he is and who he has always been. When he settled the discrimination case back in 2003, he didnt apologizapologi. It was the biggest case in l. A. History to 2. 7 million. Him and his wife. I dont know why they dont put his wife with him. They were both in the discrimination case. His wife is not banned. Right. He didnt apologize anything. He said this is not an admission of guilt. That is just the type of character he has. He is a proud racist. Mr. Thomas, when you were in the league, did you experience this kind of culture of exploitation . Is it bigger than just this one individual . I think what what Donald Sterling remits presents is a b issue of society. Its interesting because affirmative action was just turned down again earlier this month. And Donald Sterling is a perfect example of why we still need affirmative action. Becau because Donald Sterling is not an anomaly. Theres a lot of Donald Sterlings out there in positions of power. He can discriminate against the people he doesnt like. Hes symbolic of the College Acceptance board that looks at an application and knows that one child comes from an Inner City School and knows another one is coming from the suh bubu and knows theyre not getting the equal education but give them the same standardized test as though theyre being educated equally. Youre saying its all a big setup. He is part of its bigger than Donald Sterling. Hes part of a racist system. The prison to pipeline the pipeline from school to prison that is right now hes representative of the judge who would give a little white kid affluenza and a black kid who does the same crime a prison sentence. What we all felt in response to last weeks news, you scratch the surface theres a lot of ugliness underneath. Etan thomas, thanks for that. In just under an hour Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin is hosting a press conference to discuss the famously grisly execution of this death row inmate that went awry last night. We want to look at that for a moment. Last night as i mentioned the state of oklahoma injected Clayton Lockett with an experimental mix of drugs. They refuse to disclose the source. Heres what happened according to the reporter in the room. 6 23 p. M. Execution begins. 6 28 p. M. Inmate shivering, shaking, gritting his teeth. 6 38 to 39 p. M. Inmate appears to be struggling. Trying to talk. Says, man. Appears to be trying to get up. Finally it was announced that the execution had failed. As a result, Clayton Lockett died of a massive heart attack 40 minutes after oklahoma began trying to kill him. Just last month nbc affiliate kfor spoke to locketts stepmother, ladonna holland, who expressed the familys fears about this exact kind of outcome. I know hes scared. He says that hes not as scared of the dying as much as the drugs thats being administered. I want to know what mixture of drugs are you going to use now . Is this going to cause horrible pain . Lockett had sued the state for refusing to disclose those details about the drugs origins. His attorney was outraged at what he saw last night when the state rushed, ignored locketts appeal and went ahead with the execution anyway. Listen to him. This was a horrible thing to witness. One of the things he said was, somethings wrong. He said, man, at one point. He kept trying to raise up. They wanted to hurry up and get it done. With as little transparency as possible. This is what they get. Just after locketts execution went so awry, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin issued a stay of execution for the second inmate, charles warner, who was scheduled to die last night. Look, these are some of americas worst criminals. Warner raped and killed his girlfriends 11monthold daughter in 1997. Lockett shot a teenage girl and then buried her alive. The question on many peoples minds is, should they die like this . Joining me now is stephanie mensimer. Stephanie, we know lockett and warner were appealing their death sentences. What was the states rush to get these executions done last night . Well, the state has been actually trying to defend a larger statute that goes beyond these two men. Theyve been working very hard to hide the source of the drugs theyre trying to use in these lethal executions. Thats really what the legal issue was all about. And i think they were just hoping that no court was going to rule against them before they executed these guys. Because theyve they dont want anyone to know where theyre getting the drugs. Whats necessarily in them. And how they were manufactured. And why do you think that is . Well, i think that there is over the last couple of years, there have been drug shortages for the drugs that are typically used in lethal injections and the death penalty. Partly because, of course, the European Union has banned these drugs to be exported for this purpose, correct . Right. And one of the manufacturers in the United States stopped making it completely. And so the states have been in a bit of a bind if they want to keep continuing to do lethal executions or lethal injections. They have to find new sources of the drugs or different drugs. And its kind of this this wild new experiment that theyre doing on human beings to try to find new ways to kill them. What are they afraid people will find out if they reveal the sources of these drugs . Well, you know, its funny. Theyve made some crazy arguments. They say that the people who are supplying the drugs have been you know, might be threatened with violence. Because, you know, antideath penalty advocates are such violent people. Theres some really absurd arguments about this. And i think really what theyre trying to do is keep the defendants from making a constitutional argument that these drugs that theyre using would constitute cruel and unusual punishment because of the way they were made or potential adulterations or in some cases theyre getting these drugs from compounding pharmacies, which have a really bad track record of, you know, distributing other sorts of drugs that have killed a bunch of people inadvertently. Theres some real concerns about where these drugs are coming from. So theyre trying to keep the inmates from making that case in court. As we mentioned, the governor of oklahoma did stay the execution for 14 days of this next planned killing. Do you think that thats long enough . She claims theyll make a thorough investigation. Is there enough time to do that in 14 days . Well, they might be able i mean, i guess theyve said that this execution went awry because of something that had to do with the vein exploding. Which sounds really horrible. But that would indicate, if its true, that it didnt really have anything to do with the drugs they were using. We should point out, by the way, weve had some of our experts look at that. When they say exploding its a term of art, apparently, that doesnt literally mean exploding. Its a collapsed vein, a damaged vein. Right, right. Which is actually pretty common. Something like 7 of all lethal injection executions go awry. Its often for this reason. The veins, you know, the needles arent put in right because its not done by doctors. Its usually done by prison guards. So theres a lot of, you know, complications just from inserting the needle itself. But i think the bigger issue is whether the state can continue to, you know, hide the source of the drugs. And thats what i dont think they can litigate in 14 days. And so if they want to get at that issue, theyre going to need more time. Thank you for that, stephanie mencimer. Well be watching this issue closely. Thanks. Remember what paul ryan said about the tail spin of culture in our inner cities. Up next, why ryan is now the one doing some spinning. Those Little Things still get you. Cialis tadalafil for daily use helps you be Ready Anytime the moment is right. Cialis is also the only daily ed tablet approved to treat symptoms of bph, like needing to go frequently. Tell your doctor about all your medical conditions and medicines, and ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. Do not take cialis if you take nitrates for chest pain, as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. 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Start building your confident retirement today. Im taking off, but, uh, dont worry. Im gonna leave the tv on for you. And if anything happens, dont forget about the new xfinity my account app. You can troubleshoot technical issues here. If you make an appointment, you can check out the status here. You can pay the bill, too. But dont worry about that right now. Okay. How do i look . Thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. Introducing the xfinity my account app. Were back. This very hour, congressman paul ryan is in a closed door meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus. Their goal . To clear the air following ryans controversial comments on a radio show last month. Heres a reminder of what he said. We have got this tailspin of culture in our inner cities in particular of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working. Or learning the value and the culture of work. So theres a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with. Ryan faced a barrage of criticism. He later said in part that he was inarticulate, not, in fact, implicating the tculture of any one community. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus say ryan has some pointed questions to answer. We see it as an opportunity to have a serious discussion with him about poverty and about ways to alleviate the lack of job and Job Opportunities with africanamericans. We want to really challenge his assumptions about the laziness, as it were, of inner city men. If you dont know and speak about that which you dont know, youre going to end up in a mouth trap. And thats where chairman ryan has ended up. That meeting just broke. Apparently congressman Elijah Cummings has already said that paul ryan, quote, still has a lot to learn. We are expecting a News Conference in the wake of that meeting. Well keep an eye on that. Joining me now, howard fineman, msnbc political analyst. Corey dade, contributing editor at the root. Thanks for being here. Corey, lets start with you. What do you think paul ryan will or should take away from this meeting . The black caucus and the members arent anything new to paul ryan. He works with them every day in one way or another. I think what hell take away from this is that, you know, the left, particularly democrats and the black caucus members, arent going to move off of this. This is really sort of a political meeting for both sides. For the black caucus, they get to hold ryan accountable for his remarks from the radio show. But on the other side, you know, this is part of paul ryans effort to soften his image and conservatives image coming into an Election Year. You know, hes been on this tour through the hood over the last several weeks. But hes yet to come up with any policy alternatives that address the issue of americas poor. I mean, you know, the earned tax credit in certain elements of his budget would suggest theres some substance in his commitment to poverty. What do you think of that. The earnings tax credit is a start. Its almost negated by so many other things in his budget plaen. Hes been very clear in saying his budget plan wasnt meant to include new ideas on addressing americas poor. Which to me kind of speaks to the fact that it was really a political manifesto in Election Year more than anything else. He wasnt expecting it to pass, clearly. Howard, listen to what buzzfeeds mckab cobbins writes. Ryan is fighting a welldrawn caricature of himself as a wolf in bros clothing. A right wing radical who disguises his agenda to dismantle the social safety net with an ernest homecoming king of congress act. Fair caricature . I think what you have to do is look at the at the ryan budget. And the ryan budget contemplates huge cuts in programs that that people need, who need a job, who need help, the poorest of our society. Whether theyre in the inner cities or in rural appalachia or whatever. Medicare, medicate, social welfare programs, medicate programs, you name it. That speaks louder, the numbers there, reliable or not, speak louder than whatever hes saying behind closed doors to the Congressional Black Caucus. My understanding from talking to some of those members is that was a point they made to him today. Corey mentioned some of paul ryans bigger political ambitions. Well see whether theres a 2016 run in the works. We have interesting new numbers in our nbc news wall street journal poll about other contenders and the landscape going into that race. One interesting thing we pulled out of that, 7 in 10 americans say there should be more candidates for president than simply a clinton or a bush. Corey, do you think americans are over political dynasties . When they stop voting for the members of those political dynasties, yeah. Then theyll really be over it. I think americans always want expanded choice. But the truth of the matter is, this is a america runs on a twoparty system. And weve seen time and again that candidates who arent anointed by those two parties dont get very far. Especially in a general election. Its certainly something i personally as a voter lament. That theres not more space outside of that rigid twoparty system. Howard, within that twoparty system and within those dynasties, the numbers were looking at right now to this latest poll are 48 viewing clinton positively. 32 viewing her negatively. On the other hand, 21 viewing jeb bush positively and even more, 32 viewing him negatively. What do you think of this question of whether 2016 is going to be a dynastic drag race if you will . I think its way too early to say that. I think somebody is going to run against hillary. Maybe several people. Theres very little Downside Risk to doing it. Right now on the democratic side shes a prohibitive favorite. If you run and make a statement, you dont spend or lose all your Political Capital because you dont have very much to begin with. Nature abhors a vacuum. So does the media. I think therell be a run against hillary clinton. Elizabeth warren says shes not g