It’s our first #ThursdayKos of 2022 and there’s much to catch up on with Markos Moulitsas, Founder of DailyKos, Civiqs, and Host of podcast “The Brief.” Mark and Markos waste no time getting into President Biden’s speech earlier this week in Atlanta with honest reactions and addressing if it will really make a difference in the long run. And speaking of long run, what’s the deal with Democratic strategy now that we’re officially in a midterm year? What do Dems plan to run on, and what are the re...
Jan 13, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 492
LaTosha Brown, Cliff Albright, and April England-Albright of Black Voters Matter made the decision not to attend President Biden’s speech in Georgia yesterday where he addressed the attack on our voting rights–but it is being said that Biden is not going far enough to protect those rights. These leaders discuss why they chose not to attend, their expectations of Biden and congress, and why they’re no longer considering speeches as action. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temp...
Jan 12, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 491
Today you’ll hear from six more hunger strikers (Joe Madison told us his story yesterday, as he begins his second month of striking for voting rights), who are also faith leaders in their communities. They detail their own motivation, hopes, and fears for our country as our voting rights are under attack. And as one of the guests succinctly notes: the deadline for our democracy is January 17th. Will congress take action? Guests: Rev. Stephen A. Green, Pastor, St Luke AME of Harlem Rev. Dr. Cassa...
Jan 11, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 490
Joe Madison has been on a hunger strike for voting rights, now 65 days in, and he joins Mark to discuss why he’s striking, the physical affects, and what he hopes will unfold on Capitol Hill. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy...
Jan 10, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 489
Mark teams up with Danielle Moodie, Host of WokeAF, for our new monthly crossover series… Make It Effing Woke. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Jan 07, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 488
In this "best of MIP" episode, Dr. Amara Enyia of the Policy and Research Coordinator for Movement for Black Lives details a report the organization released, which demonstrates how the United States government persecutes activists with the hope of dissuading them from taking any kind of political action. Though it’s easy to blame red states like Florida for putting laws in place that would criminalize peaceful protest, the Biden administration is not off the hook, as they have yet to take meani...
Jan 06, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 486
In today's "best of MIP" espiode, 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-run? Scott also shares his biggest concerns for 2022, and fills us i...
Jan 05, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 485
Today is a "Best Of MIP Episode" with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, the author of “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World.” In the 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 impacting Black and Brown communities. And as Dr. Hayhoe outlines for us, c...
Jan 04, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 484
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 in her inimitable literature. BUY Nadra’s book here: https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9781...
Jan 03, 2022•28 min
What is the connection between the Virginia governor’s race, Toni Morrison, and Mark Twain? Those are the ties made in today’s conversation with James Henry Harris, Distinguished Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology and a research scholar in religion and humanities at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He’s also author of the book “N: My Encounter with Racism and the Forbidden Word in An American Classic,” a memoir recounting a semester spent in a...
Dec 31, 2021•44 min
Donna Haskins grew up in poverty in one of the most racially segregated cities in America with seemingly all the odds stacked against her. She was sexually assaulted at 13, and when she had an abortion, she thought she could never fulfill her dream of becoming a nun. Later in life, in a crisis about her identity as a Black woman and on the brink of suicide, she hears a sermon that shook her to her core and permanently changed her course. Dr. Onaje X.O. Woodbine is today’s guest, author of "Take ...
Dec 30, 2021•35 min
What’s the likelihood of an American experiencing poverty? Turns out, it’s the majority. That’s what Mark Rank covers in his new book (co-authored by Lawrence Eppard and Heather Bullock) out now, “Poorly Understood: What Americans Get Wrong About Poverty.” There’s a common misconception that poverty is an issue of “them” when it’s really about “us” -- not an individual failing, but a structural one. How does that play out in our society and economy? Mark explains that, and what can be done to ma...
Dec 29, 2021•25 min
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 relevant in the context of our current society where unarmed Black people continue to be murdered by...
Dec 28, 2021•43 min
In 2002, Julius Jones was wrongfully convicted of murdering Paul Howell. Last week, on the day of his scheduled execution for a crime he did not commit, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt commuted the death sentence just four hours before he was set to die. It is a victory that Julius’s life has been saved, but now the work continues to free him from prison. Pastor Mike McBride, Founder of Live Free USA and the Black Church PAC, played a large part in fighting for Julius’s life alongside other faith ...
Dec 27, 2021•33 min
Happy Holidays MIP family! We're bringing you some of the year's most popular episodes while our team takes a break. Enjoy this throwback episode and a restful, joyful holiday season! Robert P. Jones is the author of “White Too Long” (which recently received the American Book Award), as well as a leading commentator on the crossroads of politics and religion. He brings us his expertise in data and theology with what he has titled the “racism index,” a scale used to examine the impact religion ha...
Dec 24, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 477
Happy Holidays MIP family! We're bringing you some of the year's most popular episodes while our team takes a break. Enjoy this throwback episode and a restful, joyful holiday season! America is the wealthiest country in the world and yet our federal paid leave, or rather, lack thereof, comes up way short in comparison to other countries. Carol Joyner is the Director of Labor Project for Working Families and in today’s episode, she explains that we’re at a pivotal moment in our country’s history...
Dec 23, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 476
Happy Holidays MIP family! We're bringing you some of the year's most popular episodes while our team takes a break. Enjoy this throwback episode and a restful, joyful holiday season! You know Brittany Temple as the Producer behind the scenes of Make It Plain, but she’s also a writer and publisher of a bi-weekly newsletter, Write All Along. Her most recent issue was inspired by Bill Cosby’s release from jail--she wasn’t surprised it happened, and felt frustrated with the continued fixation on bi...
Dec 22, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 475
Jen Miller is the Executive Director at the League of Women Voters Ohio, and she and her colleagues are working alongside the ACLU of Ohio and the A. Philip Randolph Institute to fight gerrymandering in the state. They recently filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court to fight against the state’s new Congressional district map and prove the maps are extreme partisan gerrymandering. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content:...
Dec 21, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 474
Eric Boehlert of Pressrun.media is back for his biting analysis of what the mainstream media is flubbing these days: this time, they’re following along with Republicans who invented claims about Critical Race Theory. They’re happy to indulge the fabricated GOP fears but fail to mention that CRT is something that is only taught at the college level and higher, not in elementary school. But the Republicans dictate the public discourse based on what they’re angry about or what controversy they’d li...
Dec 20, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 473
On December 1st, the Supreme Court heard Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, one of the more troubling attacks on Roe v. Wade and women’s access to healthcare that is currently unfolding in America right now. Daniela Diaz is the Federal Strategies Manager at All* Above All, and she helps us understand what this case means in the grander scheme of protecting reproductive health care and access. The situation is dire, but she also details creative strategizing happening, including the EA...
Dec 17, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 472
It’s #ThursdayKos and we’re back to strategizing for H.R. 40, the midterms, and democracy at large. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Dec 16, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 471
Dr. Sherice Janaye Nelson is an Assistant Professor at Southern University and A&M College. She’s from Oakland California and has only been educated at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Her research interests include Black political leadership, women as political agents, and the Black experience throughout the Diaspora. In her latest book, “The Congressional Black Caucus: 50 Years of Fighting for Equality,” she aims to make a clear statement on what the Congressional Black Caucus...
Dec 15, 2021•46 min•Season 1Ep. 470
Mike Elk was illegally fired from Politico for union organizing, and won a settlement in the aftermath. He used that money to invest in his labor news organization, Payday Report, where they cover the angle of labor unions and workers’ rights that traditional news organizations cannot. It’s through this lens that he examines the MLB owner lockout; Mike helps us understand what, exactly, is a lockout versus a strike, and how the owners are essentially manipulating players by shutting them out--an...
Dec 14, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 469
We learned last week that the United States Department of Justice is closing the case on the murder of Emmett Till, and will no longer pursue an investigation into his horrific death, which sparked the modern Civil Rights Movement. Deborah Watts is Emmett’s cousin and Founder of the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, and despite the DOJ’s disappointing decision, she is continuing to fight for justice and uphold the memory of Emmett Till. In today’s episode Deborah and Mark discuss the 2017 book by a...
Dec 13, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 468
Gun violence activists, survivors, organizers and advocates rallied in front of the White House yesterday, demanding President Biden finally take a different approach to the public health crisis that is gun violence. Igor Volsky is the Executive Director of Guns Down America, and in today’s episode, he tells us there's not a single staffer in the White House whose full-time job is to address this crisis, as gun violence continues to take lives. And since Biden pledged from the campaign trail, wh...
Dec 10, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 467
A Politico headline went viral that read “Democrats fall flat with ‘Latinx’ language.” Markos Moulitsas, founder of DailyKos, Civiqs, and Host of “The Brief,” is weighing in with the consideration of his Latino roots (he is from El Salvador), as well as some polling data from within the Latino community, to consider what the best-used term might be, and how President Biden might want to be careful about who he trusts when it comes to the language he should be using. Mark and Markos discuss all a...
Dec 09, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 466
We know Donald Trump is corrupt, but how deep does it go? David Cay Johnston’s latest book “The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family” answers that question, detailing just how far the Trump family will go with their schemes to steal. David has been chronicling Donald Trump and his family for more than 33 years and dubs him a master con-artist, laying out in his book the ways Donald was America’s “beggar-in-chief.” Will he be indicted for the deeds he’s ...
Dec 08, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 465
Senator Rand Paul’s days in the U.S. Senate are numbered, as far as Charles Booker is concerned: he’s running against Senator Paul in the 2022 midterm elections. Charles wants to make moves on the Hill that will serve ALL Kentuckians, as opposed to the wealthy few that Senator Paul is most concerned with. Charles comes from one of the poorest zip codes in Kentucky, and he realizes that the struggle cuts across party lines. That’s why he plans to build a sustainable future that gives access to pr...
Dec 07, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 464
This month is special for our jobs report recap, as we have two experts on the subject. First up is Angela Hanks, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training at the Department of Labor. She details the work her department is doing to develop more efficient pathways to jobs for those who are looking. Next up is MIP’s resident economist, Chad Stone, Chief Economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who helps us understand how the jobs report is so much more than j...
Dec 06, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 463
Why do Mark and Danielle believe that December do-or-die for Democrats? We’re fighting to save Roe v. Wade, prevent gerrymandering, stop the disintegration of voting rights, and so much more. But that’s exactly why this is NOT the time to get jaded, and Danielle and Mark break down the realities of the moment in order to ignite the fight within each of us. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Advertisin...
Dec 03, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 462
