Make It Plain MIP with Rev. Mark Thompson

It’s been 100 days of President Biden, and it’s been...quiet--but still productive for progressives, says Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos and Civiqs and Host of podcast “The Brief.” Markos and Mark dissect the Biden administration’s strategies and nominations and put them against the backdrop of American history to see where we’re actually advancing. Markos also shares his thoughts on Derek...

The Supreme Court is set to hear a major NRA-backed gun rights case, which will decide if New Yorkers can carry concealed handguns while in public. Igor Volsky, Executive Director of Guns Down America, is back today to explain how this potentially dangerous ruling could bring us such a great distance from what the 2nd Amendment was intended to do, according to the Founding Fathers. And as Igor rem...

Angelo Carusone, President of Media Matters for America (mediamatters.org) is back for an update on “UnFox My Cable Box” (unfoxmycablebox.com), which seeks to inform consumers on the ways they are (often unknowingly) funding the propaganda machine that is Fox News. Angelo also discusses the network’s massively inaccurate predictions of riots and violence that would follow the verdict in the Derek...

Reverend Michael Battle’s latest book, “Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor,” gives an unprecedented closeup of one of the most visible figures of the anti-apartheid movement. Rev. Battle has known Archbishop Tutu for more than 25 years, once living in residence with him in South Africa, serving as his chaplain and eventually getting ordained by him. In that time, he be...

In today’s final episode of “Reparations Are Coming,” we hear the remaining panelists share their final thoughts on witnessing history, and as Mark calls it, the “unfinished business of America.” These panelists are deeply ingrained in the fight for reparations, and they express their gratitude for those who work alongside them, as well as the giants whose shoulders they stand upon, as we watch th...

History is captured in today’s episode as we hear the Judiciary Committee vote to approve the reparations bill, H.R. 40, advancing it to the floor of the House of Representatives. The panelists discuss the GOP’s strategy to obfuscate the discussion on reparations with a mention of “packing the court,” or more accurately known as expanding the court. You’ll hear the historic vote as well as initial...

On April 14th, for the first time in history, the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the reparations bill, H.R. 40, which would establish the commission to study reparations proposals. As the bill was getting marked up on Capitol Hill, Mark moderated a panel of some of the key players in the reparations movement, and we’ll be bringing you that motivating conversation all week long. In tod...

On April 14th, for the first time in history, the House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the reparations bill, H.R. 40, which would establish the commission to study reparations proposals. As the bill was getting marked up on Capitol Hill, Mark moderated a panel of some of the key players in the reparations movement, and we’ll be bringing you that motivating conversation all week long. Today...

Maggie Haberman had unprecedented access to the Trump family and administration; now that we’re in our new administration, where are all her big scoops on Biden? That’s what Eric Boehlert, writer and publisher of Pressrun.media, wants to know today. He also says that Fox News should not be allowed to participate in White House press briefings after turning a blind eye to the scandal involving Rep....

Arisha Hatch is the Vice President and Chief of Campaigns for Color of Change, and in today’s episode, she and Mark dig into the difficult topic of optimism vs. pessimism regarding the outcome of the Derek Chauvin murder trial, which is incredibly complicated for the Black community. They share their fears and hopes for the outcome, and also explore what police accountability could look like going...

President Biden surprised Democrats when he announced a commission to explore expanding the Supreme Court. Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos, Civiqs, and Host of podcast “The Brief,” is back today to explain why Biden might have made that move and what could come of it, in terms of D.C. statehood and reparations. However, aside from the Supreme Court, there’s another issue to overcome: Senator...

What would it look like to engage in nonviolent direct action consistently, through strategic organizing? That’s what Kai Newkirk (Founder of For All www.forallorg.us) and Rev. Stephen Green (Pastor, Scholar, and Activist) explain in today’s episode, as they discuss the piece they co-authored, “Why Kingian democratic socialism is the best path forward for the progressive left.” This is especially...

If you’ve watched the HBO documentary on QAnon (“Q: Into the Storm”), or if you spend any time on the internet, you know it revealed some key details surrounding the group of conspiracy theorists. But what you don’t know is what the filmmaker, Cullen Hoback, chose to leave out, and that crucial information is what Mother Jones reporter Ali Breland is here today to discuss. Ali and his colleague AJ...

Glenn Kirscher, Former Assistant U.S. Attorney, is on today to unravel the latest testimonies in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who knealed on George Floyd’s next until he was dead. Mark and Glenn examine what was heard from Dr. Tobin, an expert pulmonologist, as well as Dr. Baker, the medical examiner who performed George Floyd’s autopsy, in which Glenn found...

Racism is harming, if not killing, people of color in America, and there’s a small group that actually profits off it. That’s what Jim Freeman, author of “Rich Thanks to Racism: How the Ultra-Wealthy Profit from Racial Injustice,” unravels in today’s episode. There’s a number of billionaires and multi-millionaires (like the Koch brothers and the people behind ALEC, to name a couple) who invest in...

Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson is the Co-Executive Director of the Highlander Research and Education Center (the first Black woman to hold the position), a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the South. This renowned civil rights center suffered an arson attack in 2019, complete with a “white power” tag found at the scene. Ash-Lee and Mark discuss not just the fir...

Cecily Myart-Cruz is the President of United Teachers Los Angeles (and the first woman of color to hold the position) and as both a teacher and a parent, she understands the frustrations of at-home learning and the pressing desire to get kids back into schools. But she says there’s much to be considered first -- like how often students should take standardized tests in the coming year, for example...

It’s that time again for Chad Stone, Chief Economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priority, returns for his monthly status report on our economy. There is good news out of March’s jobs report, but as always, there’s many layers to understanding what it means. Chad breaks down unemployment rate vs. jobs added (which is reported by employers) and why the rate is not the best indicator on joble...

Ian Millhiser a Senior Correspondent at Vox, where he focuses on the Supreme Court, the Constitution, and the decline of liberal democracy in the United States, and his expertise on the courts is what fills out his new book, “The Agenda: How a Republican Supreme Court Is Reshaping America.” The agenda he’s speaking of is dangerous to voting rights and beyond, all at the hands of the one branch of...

Lawmakers say this level of gun violence, with mass shootings occurring almost daily, “should not become the new normal,” but Brian Lemek says we’ve already reached that point. Brian is the Executive Director at Brady PAC, the sister organization/political arm of Brady, the nation’s oldest gun violence prevention advocacy group. In today’s episode, he explains how senators could be passing legisla...

President Biden unveiled his infrastructure plan, and it’s no surprise the GOP is upset about the corporate tax hike; but Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos, Civiqs, and Host of “The Brief” podcast, points out what’s interesting about their hypocrisy this time around, and why Republicans are having zero luck treating Biden as an “other.” Markos also digs into the latest with the filibuster, whe...

Anti-Asian racism is on the rise and Roshni Nedungadi has the numbers to back it up. She’s the Founding Partner, Chief Research Officer, and COO of HIT Strategies, a leading millennial and minority-owned public opinion research firm on Capitol Hill, and one of the few AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) pollsters in America. In today’s episode she shares the startling truth found in a surve...

One of the most common reasons a person does not leave a domestic violence situation is because they don’t have the cash to do it. At FreeFrom, an organization dedicated to knocking down the barriers that prevent domestic violence survivors from holding economic and community power, Tannia Ventura and the team work to get direct cash payments to survivors so they regain their power. Tannia is the...

Reopening schools is just one of the challenges that lie ahead for teachers, students, and parents. Randi Weingarten is President of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and she explains that it’s not solely about getting caught up with academics; kids need healing from the traumas of the pandemic and should get back on track with human interaction and most importantly, having fun. Randi also...

Gun violence is centered in the national conversation once again, in light of the mass shootings in Atlanta, Boulder, and Chicago. Igor Volsky is the Co-Founder and the Executive Director of Guns Down America, and yesterday, his organization teamed up with other leaders and organizations in the fight against gun violence to launch a coalition letter to President Biden, calling on him to take immed...