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 get rid of the filibuster in the name of voting rights, which he claims to support wholeheartedly. But if we want to stop the Sinema/Manchin circus, Markos explains why we MUST have successful midterm elections in 2022. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Make It Plain with Mark Thompson

Markos Moulitsas of DailyKos and Civiqs

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 President Biden and his administration address their campaign-trail-promise to protect our voting rights. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rally to End the Filibuster

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/9781506471518/Toni-Morrisons-Spiritual-Vision Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and Reporter Nadra Nittle

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 old, but eventually found herself on stage at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. But she also faced tensions within the democratic party and experienced a lot of difficult resistance to her radical honesty. But her dedication to her home state of Mississippi and to the movement are still evident today, as her message endures. BUY the book here: https://bookshop.org/books/until-i-am-free-fannie-lou-hamer-s-enduring-message-to-america/9780807061503 Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Author and Historian Dr. Keisha N. Blain

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 affordable (if not free) period products. And as her podcast takes shape, she’s expanding into topics like mental health, sexual assault and harassment, and family dynamics.  Check out Nadya’s show here: https://www.dcpofficial.com/tigress Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nadya Okamoto of Tigress Podcast

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 people outside of the election season, and Markos explains how that edge should give her the push she needs to be the next governor of Georgia. Over at Civiqs, where they’re tracking a plethora of polling data, Markos explains that Biden’s numbers have tanked with independents--that, combined with the fact that Trump could be a strong contender in 2024, should have us all contributing to organizations that will help us hold onto the hill. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 amount is still undecided. That’s where congress comes in.  See the HBCU-funding fact sheet here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/09/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administrations-historic-investments-and-support-for-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/ Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Biden Administration’s HBCU Funding

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 this year was lower than average, and Chad explains why. Ultimately, we’re reminded that COVID-19 is still driving the economy. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September Jobs Report with Chad Stone

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 that make that data collection so challenging in the first place. Justine and Skye share how the task force plans to tackle the systemic racism that has contributed to the distrust between Indigenous communities and law enforcement, and how that doubles down on what is already complicated and challenging: keeping Indigenous people safe, and accurately reporting the crimes against them. *Producer’s note: Mark mentions that Gabby Petito was found in Wisconsin, which is incorrect. Gabby’s body was found in Wyoming. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women

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 murdered and missing Indigenous women, and points out how Pocahontas was actually the original missing Indigenous woman. And to round it out, Cliff shares some special events happening this weekend in New York City and other cities across the country to honor Indigenous Peoples’ Weekend. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Indigenous Peoples’ Weekend

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 Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm

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 in on a key race in Virginia, where Terry McAuliffe is back for another run. Breaking from the future to look at the past, Scott explains why Mike Pence is an accomplice to the January 6th insurrection. And Scott also share why he thinks Facebook going out of service was a self-inflicted wound to distract from the whistleblower news, and why he doesn’t think Mark Zuckerberg will be running Facebook this time next year. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Dworkin of the Democratic Coalition

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 when he moved to Alabama and came upon a memorial for Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate Army general and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan--a man whose 200th birthday was just celebrated by Neo-Confederates this past summer. Connor shares the story of who Forrest was, the role he played in the Civil War, and why he’s still a hero to some racist white southerners today. And though his busts have come down in Tennessee, there’s much work to be done by white people, specifically engaging in conversations with one another about racism, white supremacy, and the factual history of this country. Because these Confederate monuments didn’t start showing up until the turn of the 20th century, in what is believed to be an attempt to “tidy up the legacy of the Civil War,” and you know Black people weren’t behind that one. BUY Connor’s book here: https://bookshop.org/books/down-along-with-that-devil-s-bones-a-reckoning-with-monuments-memory-and-the-legacy-of-white-supremacy/9781616209100 Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Confederate Statues are Coming Down

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 girls who survive abuse. And now that R. Kelly has been convicted at the federal level, what will unfold with his state-level charges? Jade explores what might be up ahead for the convicted sexual predator, and why he’s undeserving of a conversation on redemption. Jade also shares with us the news that Color of Change has created a style guide media outlets to assist in their speaking about sexual assault survivors with respect. Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Color of Change on R. Kelly's Conviction

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 here: vaccines.gov Executive Producer: Adell Coleman Producer: Brittany Temple Distributor: DCP Entertainment For additional content: makeitplain.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy

The Rev. Mark A. Thompson has spent most of his life as a political, civil rights & human rights activist and organizer. He not only has been a part of every major social justice movement & event over the past 35 years, he has also been a radio broadcaster for three decades, and he has spent over 10 years as a television commentator, as well.Mark, hosts Make It Plain, a political, human rights and non-mainstream news podcast. Mark’s lifelong social justice activism intersects with his years of experience broadcasting the news and issues of the day. Newsmakers, politicos, policy-makers, entertainers and athletes alike make MIP a frequent sojourn.

hubhopper

Make It Plain with Mark Thompson

hubhopper