Make It Plain MIP with Rev. Mark Thompson

Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs and host of podcast “The Brief,” is back for our weekly #ThursdayKos chat, and it begins on the subject of the politicization of Colin Powell’s death, and how anti-vaxxers (and the media outlets they flock to) are forgetting some key details as to why Powell passed away. Looking over at the senate, Mark and Markos wonder aloud if Manchin will help g...

The League of Women Voters, People for the American Way, and Declaration for American Democracy have initiated a season of direct action and civil disobedience at the White House to demand President Biden take action to end the filibuster and protect our voting rights. Mark participated in yesterday’s rally (stick around ‘til the end to hear him speak), where leaders of the movement demand Preside...

Nadra Nittle is a Senior Reporter for Civil Eats and more recently she has taken on the title of author, with her book titled “Toni Morrison’s Spiritual Vision: Faith, Folktales, and Feminism in Her Life and Literature.” In today’s episode she discusses the many facets of the legendary Toni Morrison, which often lead us back to her spirituality and religion, and the ways we can see that play out i...

How deeply do you understand the critical legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer? Dr. Keisha N. Blain is a historian and author of her latest book, “Until I Am Free: Fannie Lou Hamer’s Enduring Message to America,” and she shows how Hamer’s words still speak truth to power in our society and what that actually means. Dr. Blain familiarizes us with Hamer, who didn’t know she could vote until she was 44 years o...

Nadya Okamoto is CEO of August, a company dedicated to producing sustainable, ethical, and impactful tampons and pads, as well as host of the newest podcast in the DCP Entertainment family, “Tigress.” She joins Mark to discuss the evolution of her career that began at the age of 16 and continues to evolve but always keeps her eye on the prize of abolishing the period tax and expanding access to af...

It’s time for #ThursdayKos and Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs and host of podcast “The Brief,” is back to talk all things 2024. But before we climb that hill, there’s midterm elections to be had, and Markos explains why losing either chamber of congress will absolutely kill the Biden legislative agenda. Luckily we have organizers like Stacey Abrams who know how to engage with peo...

Last week, a few reputable news sources ran a story that the Biden administration had made a serious cut in their proposal to get relief funds to HBCUs--and that story was incorrect. Trey Baker is a Director of Public Engagement for the Biden administration and he tells us that, in truth, the Biden administration is currently proposing a historic amount of funding for HBCUs, but the total dollar a...

Chad Stone, Chief Economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, is back for our monthly check-in on the economy via the jobs report. Chad points out that labor force participation is much lower than it would be in a normal strong labor market, because of the pandemic, and especially for parents. And September usually brings stronger numbers in education, as kids get back to school, but...

Wisconsin has the highest race of violence and sexual assault against Indigenous women in the country. Justine Rufus and Skye Boniasnoke Alloway are Co-Chairs of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force of Wisconsin, and Skye explains one of the task force's main goals: get accurate data on the number of missing and murdered indigenous women, and work to break down the barriers tha...

It’s not about comparing Gabby Petito’s case to those of Indigenous women, or saying that one is more deserving than the other--that’s not the case at all. It’s about cultural patterns, as Yonasda Lonewolf and Cliff Matias explain, and the fact that no missing Indigenous person has ever received national media attention. Yonasda makes a haunting connection between pipeline construction sites and m...

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm joins Make It Plain to discuss the Infrastructure bill that is resilient to climate impacts and improves our physical foundations, but also honors the human side of it, which includes things like getting families access to childcare, elder care, internet access--basic human needs that put extra stress people and their budgets. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman...

Scott Dworkin, who is also Founder and Executive Director of the Democratic Coalition and host of podcast “The Dworkin Report,” is here to download us on all sorts of strategy and analysis of what’s up ahead for 2022 and 2024. He shares that it’s believed Trump plans to announce a 2024 run early next year, before primary season, for one specific reason--but could that help Democrats in the long-ru...

Confederate monuments are coming down every day in this country, but as Connor Towne O’Neill details in his book “Down Along With That Devil's Bones,” we’re still fighting a “Cold Civil War,” where monument removal is a change that is important symbolism but does not get at the systemic problems. Connor became invested in the conversations and arguments happening around Confederate monuments w...

Color of Change ran their first campaign against R. Kelly and his alleged abuse in 2017, as they attempted to get his label, RCA, to drop him. Now that he’s been formally charged and found guilty in a court of law, Jade Magnus Ogunnaike, Senior Director of the Media, Culture, and Economic Justice at Color Of Change, discusses how we can move forward and find new ways to rehabilitate the women and...

Is it time for your booster shot? United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy returns to the show for an update on the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine booster shot. He answers questions like: what does the booster do in your body, who is eligible, what happens if you’ve had a Moderna or Johnson & Johnson shot, and how the boosters help the overall population. WHERE CAN YOU GET THE BOOSTER? Look her...

Progressives want an infrastructure bill PLUS the Build Back Better legislation, otherwise they’re not voting for infrastructure. Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos, Civiqs, and podcast “The Brief,” is back to give us the play-by-play on what’s happened so far and what might be around the corner, much of that dependent on the moves made by the so-called-centrist Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten...

Sojourner Gibbs was slipping into diabetic shock, so someone called 911 to help her. When the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived, they accused her of drug use, swept her feet out from under her, slammed her to the dirt face-first, and zip-tied her hands together. Even as she screamed, “I’m diabetic! I need help!” The officer who knocked her down was later promoted to detective. Thi...

Williams Evans and Omar Holman created a community on their popular website BlackNerdProblems.com as a response to the lack of diversity in comic and gaming culture. What grew from that is their new book of the same name, featuring a collection of essays that they call a “love letter to nerd culture” that also speaks to the sometimes-complicated intersection of race and nerd culture. The founders...

Dr. Katharine Hayhoe is the author of “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World,” and in today’s episode, she impresses the importance that we all have a critical role to play in slowing climate change. Building off some details from a recent conversation with the White House Climate Advisor, Dr. Hayhoe and Mark examine heat-related deaths disproportionately im...

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of people were released from prison to finish their sentences on home confinement, many of whom are elderly and immunocompromised. Now, those people are at risk of being sent back to prison when the pandemic recedes--unless President Biden acts NOW. Scott Roberts is the Senior Director of Criminal Justice and Democracy for Color of Change, and h...

It’s time for #ThursdayKos and there’s plenty to unpack this week, as haunting images of Haitians getting whipped at the US/Mexico border by patrol agents have some Democrats demanding the Biden administration rectify the situation immediately. What else is Biden’s problem? Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos, Civiqs, and podcast “The Brief,” say that dealing with Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrste...

Jennifer Rubin left the Republican party, declaring herself a “NeverTrump, pro-democracy opinion writer,” according to her Twitter page. And now Politico has taken it upon themselves to try and bring her down, publishing an “off the record” email she wrote, escalating the drama, which as Eric explains, boils down to their anger over her very-typical press practices. Eric Boehlert is the writer and...

Gina McCarthy is the former EPA Administrator for the Obama administration and she’s now back in the White House serving as the first-ever National Climate Advisor, and her appointment comes at a dire time in the process of climate change. We’re currently experiencing unprecedented and record heat levels across the country, and since there’s no turning back to “pre-heat” days, the Biden administra...

Jelani Cobb was watching the news one day when he heard a right-wing figure blatantly lie about Critical Race Theory (CRT). And as it’s become a widely discussed theory in the last year, Jelani knew he had to do his part to preserve the work and legacy of its creator, Derek Bell. Jelani is a Columbia Journalism professor, New Yorker columnist, and author of the book “The Matter of Black Lives,” an...

A right-wing rally is headed to D.C. tomorrow (Saturday, Sept 18th), and the participants will be armed. Justin Wagner is the Director of Investigations for Everytown for Gun Safety, and the organization is concerned about what lies ahead for this particular rally, given that their data shows definitive proof that guns in the mix make the scenario more dangerous. Everytown released a report that l...