HoosLeft Podcast

Scott Aaron Rogers
  • 5.0 (8)
  • News Commentary
  • Updated Weekly

Indiana politics, history, and culture from and unapologetically perspective. Host Scott Aaron Rogers interviews candidates, elected officials, activists, and academics in long-form interviews. And every Sunday morning, Scott welcomes a panel of guests from around the state to HoosLeft This Week - where they dissect the week's top news stories from across Indiana and look at US & international news from a Hoosier perspective. www.progressiveindiana.net

  1. 2d ago

    HoosLeft Podcast #137 - LIVE w/ Sean Steele for HD65

    Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us Sean Steele Campaign Site: https://www.steele4indiana.com/ SUMMARY: Closing out an extended Independence Month of coverage on breaking free from the two-party system, Scott sits down with Sean Steele — art teacher, 30-year classroom veteran, and independent candidate for Indiana House District 65 in the Bedford area. Steele comes from a prominent Republican political family (his father Brent Steele served in the state legislature for over two decades, his grandfather Ruel Steele was a state highway commissioner with a highway named after him), but took the long way to politics himself, spending three decades teaching social studies and art before running against an unopposed incumbent this year. The conversation covers his family history, his break with a Republican Party he says his father and grandfather wouldn’t recognize, his frustration with a Democratic Party he feels has abandoned rural and working-class voters, and a detailed rundown of his platform: fully funding public education, standing against data centers without real environmental and financial accountability, protecting rural hospital access, and using Indiana’s $4 billion surplus to actually help people who are struggling. HoosLeft and PIN rely on your support. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. WHAT’S INSIDE: 00:00:23 Introduction: Closing Out Independence Month - Scott recaps six weeks of programming on breaking free from the two-party system: Metin Pekin’s no-party-system book, independent candidates Ben Davis and Joshua Brant, former Republican Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard the prior night, and now Sean Steele closing out the run. - Steele is introduced as coming from a prominent political family in the Bedford area who took the long way to politics — 30 years in the classroom first. 00:01:55 Support the Show - HoosLeft and Progressive Indiana Network don’t paywall content or charge candidates — support at progressiveindiana.net ($5/month or $50/year) sustains the project. - Social handles: @hoosleft.us on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads; @HoosLeft on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube; PIN is @PINIndiana on Bluesky and TikTok. 00:02:58 Meet Sean Steele - Steele has two kids (22 and 19), a wife of 27 years who spent 28 years as an ER nurse and now works at IU Health Bloomington. Born and raised in Bedford, he graduated from BNL and played Division III football at DePauw, then went to law school and practiced with his father and uncle for a year before a string of difficult cases convinced him it wasn’t the right path. - He went back to school, student taught at Mitchell Junior High, and started teaching at Orleans Junior Senior High in 1997. At a small school he wore many hats: eighth grade history, government, econ, sociology, and psychology — plus coaching girls basketball, sponsoring student council and the senior class, and directing the school play. He taught most of the social studies department there for 22 years. 00:08:14 The Restless Artist and a Job That Never Feels Like Work - A lifelong self-taught artist, Steele took workshops during his teaching years and added an art license with just a few more classes. No opening existed until 2018, when he moved to Oolitic Middle School, then Bedford Middle School, where he’s now the art teacher — a job he calls his dream job. - He reflects on the contrast between high schoolers (who need waking up for econ) and middle schoolers (who need peeling off the ceiling) — a wide maturity range that makes middle school uniquely challenging and rewarding. He calls teaching a genuinely rewarding profession he’s grateful for. 00:12:35 Sally and Brent Steele: A Family Rooted in Bedford Politics - Steele’s mother is Sally Steele; his father Brent Steele served as a state representative and then state senator from 1994 to 2016. His uncle Byron practices law with Brent in Bedford; his late aunt Darlene McSully also practiced at the family firm. 00:13:40 Grandfather Ruel Steele: County Clerk to State Highway Commissioner - The family firm was started by Steele’s grandfather, Ruel W. Steele, who came up through Republican politics as a county clerk and state senator, became an assistant to the governor, and went to law school as an older man under an alternate entrance path available at the time. - Ruel Steele was later appointed Indiana State Highway Commissioner, overseeing the four-laning of what’s now I-69/Highway 37 from Indianapolis to Bedford — previously known as “the killer highway.” The route is still marked the Ruel W. Steele Highway. Sean’s son is named Ruel after him. (Steele confirms no relation to the painter TC Steele, despite the shared name and shared artistic interest.) 00:17:42 Why Independent: An Unopposed Incumbent and a Party His Father Wouldn’t Recognize - Steele decided to run because incumbent Chris May ran unopposed last cycle, and because he’s frustrated with both parties nationally and in Indiana. He says the Republican Party of his father and grandfather no longer exists — it’s now just MAGA — citing the party’s comfort with January 6th, Senators Young and Banks confirming unqualified nominees along party lines, and Liz Cheney’s expulsion as evidence any middle ground gets primaried out. - He balances this with frustration at Chuck Schumer’s comments about not needing to cater to rural voters and instead courting the suburbs — leaving working-class and rural people without a home in either party. His core belief: people have more in common with their neighbors than what divides them, and running independent means neither side automatically shuts the door on his message. 00:22:22 A Father’s Race, a Cruel Ad, and Why Sean Wants to Run Positive - Steele recounts his father Brent’s early legislative race, where — after taking a case representing someone accused of child molestation on the condition the client plead guilty, take responsibility, and pay for the victim’s counseling — the opposing party ran an attack ad implying he defended child molesters. - The experience, compounded by discomfort even with negative ads Republicans ran on his father’s behalf, shaped Steele’s approach: run independent, point to the record, but avoid going negative the way traditional party campaigns often do. 00:25:39 The 50-50 Country and 9-0 Redistricting - Scott relays Greg Ballard’s framing from the previous night’s interview: the real 50-50 split isn’t Democrat vs. Republican, it’s party-affiliated vs. independent. Steele says he’s hearing genuine excitement from voters for a true independent alternative, and often opens conversations by telling a room he’s likely more conservative than some in it and more liberal than others. - Steele points to Indiana’s mid-census redistricting push — moving from a 7-2 to a potential 9-0 congressional delegation despite a competitive 2024 governor’s race — as a moment that fired him up. He believes elected officials underestimate how angry voters currently are. 00:29:41 The National Guard Police Force and Senate Bill 76 - Steele lists grievances voters raise unprompted: criminalizing homelessness, favorable treatment for data centers, and a new law giving the governor discretionary authority over a National Guard police force with arrest and search powers — a reversal, he notes, of traditional Republican wariness of an armed, empowered executive. - As a civil libertarian and attorney, he’s specifically alarmed by Senate Bill 76, which he says opens school doors to immigration enforcement without search warrants. 00:31:03 Vouchers and the Eyes on Education Portal - Steele walks through Indiana’s shift from local property tax school funding to state funding that’s since been diverted through vouchers to private and charter schools — schools that don’t face the same accountability, admissions, testing, or transportation standards public schools must meet. - As a former social studies teacher, he connects this to Senate Bill 202 and the Attorney General’s Eyes on Education portal, which he says makes teaching honest history — including the country’s flaws alongside its ideals — a professional risk. 00:35:33 IU’s Board of Trustees and a State Legislature Operating in the Dark - Steele criticizes Governor Braun’s move to install his own IU board of trustees after a 9-0 law change, pointing to arts and humanities degree programs being cut because students in those fields don’t earn enough — a policy he says contradicts traditional Republican support for individual choice and freedom. - Scott connects the throughline: these policies aren’t small government or local control despite the rhetoric, and they thrive because state political coverage is thin, especially in “no man’s land” areas like Bedford between Indianapolis and Louisville. Most voters, regardless of party, don’t line up neatly with either party on a given issue — which sets up the question of what Steele will actually advocate for at the statehouse. 00:40:04 Fully Funding Public Education and the Data Center Environmental Case - Steele’s top priority is fully funding public education. His district stands to lose $3 million over the next couple of years because of Senate Bill 1, forcing schools statewide to ask taxpayers for referendums just to maintain class sizes, band, and arts programs — effectively shifting the tax burden rather than reducing it. - He’s also concerned about data centers’ unsustainable electricity and water use, citing a 2025 U.S. News and World Report ranking placing Indiana 48th overall in environmental quality and 50th in air and water pollution. 00:42:29 Rural Hospitals, Medicaid Cuts, and a $4 Billion Surplus - Steele wants to protect rural hospital access — the area has already lost one hospital

    HoosLeft Podcast #137 - LIVE w/ Sean Steele for HD65

  2. 3d ago

    HoosLeft Podcast #136 - Live w/ Greg Ballard for Secretary of State

    Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us Greg Ballard for Indiana: https://gregballard.com/ SUMMARY: In this conversation, Scott — a self-described progressive Democrat and socialist — sits down with former two-term Republican Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, now running for Secretary of State as the founder of the new Lincoln Party. It’s a deliberately odd pairing that Scott addresses head-on: with roughly 41% of Indiana voters and 46% of Americans nationally identifying as independent, and with both major parties polling underwater, Scott wants to know whether Ballard represents a genuine off-ramp from a broken two-party system — or just a different flavor of the same problem. The conversation covers Ballard’s biography from Indianapolis’s near northeast side through 23 years in the Marine Corps and two terms as mayor; his diagnosis of Indiana’s closed primary system, where roughly 10% of voters decide 95% of the legislature in low-turnout May primaries; his Voter’s Bill of Rights and voter guide proposals; his refusal to hand Indiana’s voter rolls to the Trump administration; hard questions about privatization deals and campaign transparency from his mayoral record; and a candid account of what the Lincoln Party actually is and isn’t. HoosLeft and PIN rely on your support. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. WHAT’S INSIDE: 00:00:24 Introduction: Greg Ballard Joins the Show - Scott introduces a special Monday morning edition, a conversation originally scheduled weeks earlier and rescheduled: former Republican Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard. 00:01:17 Support the Show - HoosLeft and Progressive Indiana Network don’t paywall content or charge candidates — support at progressiveindiana.net sustains the project. - Social handles: @hoosleft.us on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads; @HoosLeft on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube; PIN is @PINIndiana on Bluesky and TikTok. 00:02:19 Welcome: Mayor Greg Ballard - Ballard grew up on Indianapolis’s near northeast side (30th and Emerson, Martindale-Brightwood), attending Catholic schools his father worked multiple jobs to afford after being disabled by severe rheumatoid arthritis in his 30s while working at Eli Lilly. - After a self-described unstructured but trouble-free run at IU, Ballard joined the Marine Corps at 23, serving 23 years on active duty including service in Desert Storm, and met his wife Winnie — a naturalized citizen from the Philippines — in California. They’ve been married 43 years. - His final duty station was Stuttgart, Germany, working on plans for U.S. European Command. He retired in 2001, was elected Indianapolis mayor six years later, served two terms as a Republican in a Democratic city with approval ratings in the 70s when he left office, and has since worked in nonprofits and written three books. 00:07:35 Individual Liberty, Less Government, and Why Both Parties Have Lost Their Way - Ballard says he still holds traditional Republican values — individual liberty, limited government, free markets — but believes neither party actually practices what its platform claims anymore. - His military service and time as mayor exposed him directly to tragedy, poverty, and how people actually live, which he says informs his politics more than party doctrine. - His core objection to both parties: purity tests and extreme ideology have pushed out the average person. He cites polling showing 41% of Indiana voters and roughly 46% of voters nationally identify as independent — meaning the real 50-50 split in the country isn’t Democrat vs. Republican, it’s party-affiliated vs. independent, and both parties have worked to close off access to protect their power. 00:12:22 The Two-Party System’s Unpopularity and the Case for More Options - Scott notes Trump’s approval ratings are in the 30s, but Democrats poll even lower — around 28% — and connects this to a conversation with British author Metin Pekin about alternatives to the party system. - Scott’s read: the vast majority of Americans, regardless of where they land on individual issues, want more options than two parties can offer, and multi-party democracies elsewhere seem to handle this better on balance. 00:14:08 The Final Straw: Leaving the Republican Party - Scott asks what pushed Ballard to leave the GOP. Ballard references an IndyStar piece by James Briggs calling him the most progressive mayor Indianapolis ever had, and reframes the question: for him, the “team” was never Republican or Democrat — it’s America, it’s Indiana. - His pointed observation: Republicans control Indiana with low approval ratings, which raises the question of why Democrats aren’t winning — the answer, he argues, is that whoever holds power sets the rules, and the rules are rigged to keep it that way. He cites the roughly $700,000 he had to spend to gather signatures for ballot access, compared to nominal thresholds of 5,000-10,000 signatures in neighboring Kentucky and Ohio. 00:17:04 One in Five: How Closed Primaries Lock Out 90% of Voters - Ballard connects this to the Republican Secretary of State nominee’s call to close Indiana’s primaries further, which he says would mean only about 10% of voters choose candidates in their respective party “clubs” while the other 90% pay for the process. - His headline statistic: only about one in five registered Indiana voters can actually run for office under the current system. Because roughly 10% of voters — those who show up to May primaries — effectively elect 95% of the legislature, Ballard argues November elections have become largely inconsequential, and that’s precisely why neither party wants outsiders like him disrupting the primary system. 00:18:47 How to Fix It: The Voter’s Bill of Rights and a Statewide Voter Guide - Ballard’s centerpiece proposal is a Voter’s Bill of Rights, framed from the voter’s perspective, some elements of which would require legislative action. - Within existing budget authority, he wants to launch a statewide voter guide — something many other states already do — sent to registered voters ahead of elections so they know who’s actually on their ballot, building on work already done by the League of Women Voters rather than starting from scratch. - Scott notes his own preferred candidate in the Democratic primary championed the same voter guide idea and is pushing the eventual Democratic nominee to adopt it — a rare point of cross-partisan agreement. 00:23:08 Voter ID, the SAVE Act, and Actual Voter Fraud Numbers - Ballard cites the actual scale of the “problem” voter ID laws claim to solve: roughly 21 non-citizens out of 2.9 million voters, a fraction of a percent, and notes Indiana’s voting machines are offline and can’t be hacked. - Ballard says he supports photo ID to vote — he draws a clear line between that and the SAVE Act, which he calls “way, way, way beyond the pale.” Scott raises the practical burden of obtaining ID for people of color, rural residents, and lower-income voters; Ballard is open to considering free voter ID but maintains that basic ID requirements are reasonable. 00:26:01 Diego Morales, the Voter Rolls, and Why He’s Off the Ballot - Scott raises Diego Morales’s removal from the Republican ballot; Ballard offers a pointed alternative explanation — Morales wasn’t going to lose in a two-person race, but internal Republican polling showed he’d lose in a three-person race with Ballard included, which is why the swap happened at the last minute. Ballard says he’s certain Morales would otherwise have been the nominee. 00:27:36 Who’s Taking Votes From Whom? The Three-Way Race Math - Scott raises his own read of early polling (from March, before Morales was swapped for Max Engling) showing Ballard competitive in a three-way race. - Ballard says both parties pressured him to drop out — Bayh’s team directly, multiple times — and claims quiet support from Republicans and Democrats alike who won’t say so publicly. He cites his 70s-range approval ratings as mayor as the reason both parties feared he’d pull centrist votes from them in Central Indiana. He frames himself as running to win, not to spoil, drawing a parallel to his underdog 2007 mayoral run where he trailed by 30-40 points and was outspent 20-30 to one. 00:30:01 Would Ballard Have Handed Over Indiana’s Voter Rolls to Trump? - Scott raises Diego Morales’s decision to hand over Indiana’s unredacted voter rolls when the Trump administration demanded them, while many other secretaries of state — Democrat and Republican alike — refused. Ballard is unequivocal: he would not have done it, calling it a violation of federalism and privacy principles Republicans used to actually hold. Elections belong to the states, not the federal government, and he sees no legitimate reason the federal government needed that data. 00:31:49 Business Registry, Farm Loans, and a Website Stuck in 1997 - Scott shifts to the Secretary of State’s non-election functions: business registration, which supports things like farmers’ seasonal loans. Ballard, who has personally registered businesses through the office, says the actual registration process is simple but the website and backend systems are badly outdated — a problem he attributes to the legislature’s budget cycles rather than any single administration’s priorities, and one he intends to make a priority. - Scott notes his own experience with the campaign finance database, joking it looks like it was built for Netscape. 00:34:51 The Privatization Question: Are Ballard’s Donors Cashing In? - Scott raises his core concern as a socialist and public-goods advocate: whether Ballard’s mayoral privatization deals (parking meters, and broader questions about outsourcing) enriched his own donors, the same critiqu

    HoosLeft Podcast #136 - Live w/ Greg Ballard for Secretary of State

  3. 5d ago

    HoosLeft This Week - July 26, 2026

    SUMMARY: On this episode of HoosLeft This Week, Chelsea McDonnel and Dr. Rob Stone joined Scott to cover the Iran war’s expansion into civilian infrastructure and the Pentagon’s documented pattern of concealing casualties, alongside a fight in Congress over war funding that saw the House both pass new war spending and a resolution to end the war in the same week. The conversation moved through the U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal, oil prices and new Trump tariffs, and OpenAI’s models breaking out of a testing sandbox, before turning to Indiana: a reshaped Utility Regulatory Commission, a BlackRock bid for AES Indiana, a weakened Public Access Counselor’s office, and a dormant Indianapolis Ethics Commission. The show also covered primary results in Arizona and Maine, the death of an Epstein-linked modeling scout, growing charter-school influence over Indianapolis Public Schools, a free-speech controversy involving an IU adjunct professor, and a run of food-safety and public-health failures — cyclospora-tainted lettuce, a salmonella egg recall, and measles cases at a 35-year high. Guest Info Chelsea McDonnel: https://www.facebook.com/chelsea.mcdonnel Dr. Rob Stone: https://medicareforallindiana.substack.com/ It takes a lot of work to put together a show of this scope. Please support HoosLeft and PIN with a free or paid subscription. TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00:33 - Cold open and guest welcomes (Chelsea McDonnel, Dr. Rob Stone) 00:03:44 - Iran war: escalating U.S. strikes and Pentagon concealment of casualties 00:08:46 - Where is the domestic anti-war movement? 00:12:23 - War funding fight on Capitol Hill: NDAA, War Powers Resolution 00:19:42 - Saudi Arabia: Houthi tanker attacks and the U.S.-Saudi nuclear deal 00:24:50 - Economy: oil prices, new Trump tariffs, EU trade fight over Google fine 00:32:12 - Grassroots organizing and connecting the economic dots 00:38:45 - AI: Google’s AI spending, OpenAI’s rogue models, data center ratepayer pledge 00:44:06 - Data centers, moratoriums, and surveillance (Flock cameras) 00:51:04 - Indiana utilities: IURC shakeup, small modular nuclear reactors, BlackRock’s AES bid 00:59:41 - Government secrecy: Public Access Counselor and Indianapolis Ethics Commission 01:07:32 - Engling campaign returns dark money donation 01:12:47 - Primaries: Arizona (Biggs, Stanton, Shah) and Maine (Troy Jackson) 01:19:31 - Medicare for All momentum in Indiana Democratic politics 01:21:51 - Epstein: White House Correspondents’ Dinner and Daniel Siad’s death 01:28:48 - Education: charter school interests tighten grip on Indianapolis public schools 01:38:26 - Higher education free speech: IU professor’s Lindsey Graham cake video 01:41:30 - Ball State settlement and academic freedom 01:44:40 - Public health: cyclospora, salmonella, screwworm, and measles outbreaks 01:54:02 - Wrap-up, guest info, and announcements IN DEPTH: War in the Middle East * Iran war updates: US says new strikes under way; Trump threatens bridges (Al Jazeera) * The US launched its 12th consecutive night of strikes on Iran Wednesday, while Yemen’s Houthis claimed attacks on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea. Iranian air defenses activated across Tehran itself, as strikes edge closer to the capital. * Iran’s Health Ministry says at least 53 people have been killed in US strikes since June 27, including three children, with over 590 wounded. The US has lost at least 18 soldiers since the war began in February — remains of several were returned to Dover Air Force Base this week. * Analysts describe a genuine stalemate: Georgetown’s Mehran Kamrava says the US has “no strategy whatsoever,” just a series of escalating tactics without a clear path to ending the war. Iran’s military claims the US still hasn’t located its missile production sites, and the CIA estimated in May that Iran retains 70% of its pre-war missile stockpile despite months of bombing. * Trump is threatening to bomb Iranian bridges and power plants every time the IRGC fires on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz; Iran has vowed matching retaliatory strikes on regional civilian infrastructure, including bridges and energy sites. * Two side notes worth flagging: the UK withdrew its diplomatic staff from Iran over the deteriorating security situation, and Qatar praised new Belgian and Dutch bans on imports from Israeli settlements — a reminder the Gaza and Iran conflicts remain diplomatically intertwined even as we cover them separately. * Bridges and infrastructure hit as US struck deeper inside Iran (AP) * The renewed campaign has expanded from coastal strikes targeting Iran’s naval and defense capabilities to hitting bridges, infrastructure, and now sites deeper inside Iran’s interior — though it remains less intense than the war’s opening 100 hours in February, when the US and Israel killed top Iranian leadership including Khamenei. * Iran’s Health Ministry puts the total war death toll at 3,434, including 55 in the recent escalation. Notably, Israel has not participated in this latest round of strikes — it’s been a US-only campaign so far. * Infrastructure damage has hit civilians directly: a July 18 strike destroyed a desalination plant in Jask, cutting water to 10,000 residents; an agricultural water pumping station strike killed one person in Khuzestan; and strikes disrupted mainland-island communications for over a week before Iran restored them. * Trump has explicitly tied the escalation to Iran’s strait attacks, warning that a power plant or bridge will be hit for every Iranian strike on shipping — a stated tit-for-tat targeting logic distinct from the war’s initial phase. * Tehran itself has only been struck twice so far in this round (a missile factory and a nearby missile site), a sharp contrast to the capital being “pounded by hundreds of strikes” during the war’s opening days — suggesting the campaign, while broadening, is still calibrated to avoid full-scale renewal of the original assault. * Lies & Obfuscation * BREAKING U.S. Fighter Jet GOES DOWN Near Hormuz After Iran’s Big Attack? (Times of India) * Iran’s Tasnim News Agency (IRGC-affiliated) confirmed only that an incident is under investigation — it did not identify the aircraft, confirm casualties, or claim credit for a shootdown. Some unverified reports speculate it could be an MQ-9 Reaper drone. * Neither the US nor Iran has officially confirmed anything happened. Iranian state media and pro-Iran channels have repeatedly claimed drone/aircraft shootdowns near Hormuz over the past several months, some later disputed or unconfirmed by US officials. * Iran claims it destroyed 11 US warplanes, helicopters on ground during recent conflict (Anadolu) * Iran’s IRGC claims it destroyed 11 US aircraft on the ground during the 15-day conflict (July 8-22) — including an F-15, a P-8, a C-17, and 17 drones — plus dozens of radar systems, missile depots, and command centers. None of this is independently verified. * The IRGC spokesman also claimed over 200 US troops were killed, calling official US casualty figures “absolute lies,” and challenged Washington to let journalists visit strike sites — an offer that itself signals the claim is contested and unproven rather than established fact. * Iran issued new threats alongside the claims: warning the UK it would become a “legitimate target” if it continues supporting US B-1 bomber operations from British bases, and warning Israel of “severe consequences” if it resumes strikes — accusing Israel of feeding Trump false intelligence to keep the US engaged militarily. * Pentagon Withheld Dozens of U.S. Military Injuries in Iran War (NYT) * The Pentagon didn’t disclose three Iranian strikes on US forces in Jordan the week before a July 18 attack that killed two soldiers — those earlier strikes injured dozens of troops and damaged several helicopters, but only came to light after officials spoke to the Times anonymously. * CENTCOM’s public statements about retaliatory strikes never mentioned Iran’s attacks on US bases at all — only citing Iranian strikes on commercial shipping as the justification, while omitting the base attacks entirely from public reporting. * Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell denied any concealment, calling it “fabrications,” but the Pentagon’s own public casualty database doesn’t break out specific mass-casualty incidents — it only shows aggregate totals, meaning the public literally cannot verify individual attacks like the Jordan strikes without leaks to reporters. * CENTCOM has also stopped disclosing how many sites it strikes in Iran each day, and the last full Pentagon briefing on the war was in early May — meaning this is a documented pattern of reduced disclosure, not a one-off. * Broader context: the Trump administration has also not disclosed how much the war has drained US weapons stockpiles, and Hegseth’s own $37.5 billion cost estimate to Congress is separately disputed as understated (echoing the CNN/WaPo reporting from earlier this year). * Bombshell Report Reveals Trump Admin Removed US Troops’ Names From Iran Casualty List (Mediaite via Yahoo!) * The Pentagon’s public casualty count dropped from 18 to 14 killed overnight this week — three military officials told the Times the four excluded troops died after Trump’s April ceasefire declaration, meaning their deaths were apparently reclassified out of the official war total rather than added to it. * Pentagon spokesman Joel Valdez disputed the officials’ account, calling it “temporary data disruptions” and “anomalies” — but didn’t explain why the numbers changed in that specific direction, and dismissed the Times’ reporting as “a non-story” written by people who lack “knowledge in this area.” * Trump kept citing the higher 18 figure publicly even after the website was changed to 14 — creating a genuinely strange situation where the president

    HoosLeft This Week - July 26, 2026

  4. Jul 22

    HoosLeft Podcast #135 - Live w/ The Steady State Executive Director Steven Cash

    Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us The Steady State: https://thesteadystate.org/ SUMMARY: In this conversation, Scott sits down with Steven Cash — former CIA officer, former senior advisor to the DHS Under Secretary for Intelligence, chief counsel to Senator Dianne Feinstein, and member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence — and current Executive Director of The Steady State, a nonpartisan group of more than 400 former senior national security professionals opposing authoritarianism. It’s an unlikely pairing for a democratic socialist podcast — Scott says as much up front — but the conversation is a wide-ranging, credentialed walk through what competitive authoritarianism is, how the current administration matches the indicators intelligence professionals have spent careers watching for in other countries, and what ordinary people can actually do about it. Cash traces his own path from a reluctant CIA recruit in 1994 through the founding of The Steady State in 2016, addresses foreign interference in American elections, and lays out concrete, non-partisan advice: get smart, organize, vote, and — for those with the most privilege and least personal risk — carry the burden for the people who don’t have that luxury. HoosLeft and PIN rely on your support. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. WHAT’S INSIDE: 00:00:23 Introduction: Small-L Liberal Democracy, Strange Bedfellows, and Tonight’s Guest - Scott frames the moment: for most of modern history, political debate happened within a shared small-l liberal democratic consensus — free elections, rule of law, separation of powers, protected civil liberties. Trump and MAGA have embraced illiberalism, pushing the U.S. toward what experts call competitive authoritarianism. - The result is a strange coalition of everyone who still values democracy — leftists and democratic socialists alongside traditional conservatives, imperialists, and national security hawks, all opposed to Trumpism, however uneasily. - Introducing tonight’s guest: Steven Cash, Executive Director of The Steady State, a group of 400-plus former senior national security professionals. Former CIA officer, senior advisor to the DHS Under Secretary for Intelligence, chief counsel to the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, and member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. 00:02:48 Support the Show - HoosLeft and Progressive Indiana Network don’t paywall content or charge candidates — support at progressiveindiana.net ($5/month or $50/year) sustains the project. - Social handles: @hoosleft.us on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads; @HoosLeft on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube; PIN is @pinindiana on Bluesky and TikTok. 00:04:09 Steven Cash’s Origin Story: From NYC Prosecutor to the CIA - Scott welcomes Cash, noting the surreal nature of hosting a former CIA officer on a leftist Indiana politics podcast — and Cash immediately embraces the moment. - Cash started as a prosecutor in the New York County District Attorney’s office — the real-life version of Law & Order, minus the glamour — before joining the CIA in 1994, first as a lawyer. - He was genuinely conflicted going in: the CIA wasn’t an organization his New York City family and friends viewed positively. He told his wife the night before he might have to resign. - Instead, he fell in love with the institution — describing it as fundamentally as an organization built on observing the world and reporting accurately, in secret, to the people who depend on it: the president, Congress, and senior policymakers. Telling truth to power. 00:09:04 The Case Officer’s Speech: “They Are Not Your Colleagues” - During his first week of training, an older case officer addressed the new class and pointed out that in an auditorium in Moscow, an equivalent class of new recruits was joining Russia’s SVR (the KGB’s successor) — same training, same tradecraft, different language. - His point: those recruits are not your colleagues. The new CIA class had just sworn an oath to the Constitution; the SVR recruits swear no such oath, and their job isn’t protecting their country — it’s protecting the autocrat. - Cash says that distinction held true throughout his career and shaped how he thinks about the current moment. 00:10:20 The Intelligence Community Doesn’t Talk Politics — Until They Had To - Cash notes that inside the agency, political affiliation is essentially invisible — colleagues don’t discuss it, much like avoiding religion and politics at a dinner party. - The Steady State formed in 2016 in response to the first Trump administration, bringing together former intelligence and State Department colleagues who had worked on Balkans issues and liked each other — only then did members learn who was a Republican and who was a Democrat, and it surprised people on both sides. - The founding conviction: intelligence professionals shouldn’t normally get involved in domestic politics, but this was assessed as an existential threat that warranted an exception. 00:11:41 From Endorsing Biden to Returning to DHS Under Ken Wainstein - The Steady State endorsed Joe Biden in 2020, including Republican members within the group, on the shared existential-threat rationale. - Cash returned to government under Biden as senior advisor to Ken Wainstein, the DHS Under Secretary for Intelligence — previously George W. Bush’s Homeland Security Advisor. Cash respected him as a patriot even while disagreeing with him on policy. - Cash’s title: Executive Director of the Intelligence Enterprise Program Office, coordinating intelligence functions across ICE, CBP, INA, Coast Guard, and TSA. 00:13:11 Civil Liberties Is Tradecraft — and Walking Out the Door on January 20th - Cash’s team used the phrase “civil liberties is tradecraft” — treating rights protection as a core professional skill, not an afterthought, especially for domestically focused intelligence work. - The day after the 2024 election, Cash told his boss he’d stay through January 20th and then leave — because everything the intelligence community had feared about a second Trump term, including a candidate who ran explicitly on using intelligence agencies against his enemies, was coming true. 00:15:37 The Russia Question: Manchurian Candidate or Useful Idiot? - Scott raises the Russia angle to Trump’s rise, noting skepticism on the left about overstating it into a literal “Manchurian candidate” narrative versus the simpler read that Russia benefits from an inept, chaotic U.S. president regardless of formal control. - Cash grounds his answer in the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report — signed by Marco Rubio among others — which concluded with near-unanimity that Russia sought to interfere in the election through multiple channels. - Cash’s honest caveat: he’s not privy to current classified intelligence and won’t overstate his certainty, but from general knowledge of Russian active-measures tradecraft, the pattern is familiar. 00:16:49 The Senate Intelligence Committee Report and the Hunter Biden Laptop Letter - Cash connects Russian influence operations to the effort to “dirty up” Joe Biden ahead of the 2020 election — including, potentially, elements of the Hunter Biden laptop story, which carries what Cash calls hallmarks of Russian influence. - He notes he didn’t sign the public letter questioning the laptop story’s provenance, not out of disagreement but because it wasn’t his area of expertise — though he respects many who did. - What’s genuinely novel and alarming to Cash isn’t that a foreign adversary would attempt this kind of operation — that’s expected — it’s that an American president would seem to embrace rather than resist it. 00:19:16 Assessing Trump: Almost Nothing Putin Could Want That He’s Not Doing - Cash resists the movie-style “unmasked spy” framing — real senior figures are complex, not simple assets, and he quotes Aretha Franklin’s “Who’s Zoomin’ Who” to make the point. - His actual assessment, offered carefully: there is almost nothing Putin could want Trump to do that Trump isn’t doing. Whether that’s coincidence, alignment of interest, or something else, Cash says is genuinely hard to know. - The Steady State has produced a leadership analysis-style profile of Trump; Cash describes him as mercurial, temperamental, and difficult to categorize as either brilliant or simply ignorant. 00:20:03 The Strait of Hormuz, Arrogance, and a President Uninterested in Truth - Cash cites a recent hearing exchange in which the president seemed not to know the Strait of Hormuz is a narrow body of water off Iran’s coast — material any ninth-grade geography student would know. - Scott’s read: being “born on third base” means never having to do the homework. Cash agrees, and connects it to a deeper problem: the intelligence community exists to speak truth to power, but this particular power isn’t interested in truth — it’s interested in people telling him he’s right. 00:22:39 State-Sanctioned Corruption: Hunter Biden vs. the Trump Family Business - Scott contrasts the outsized political controversy around Hunter Biden’s Ukrainian board seat — access-driven nepotism, but not remotely unusual by historical standards — with the current scale of Trump family profiteering off government contracts and insider information, absorbed into the daily news cycle without proportionate scrutiny. - Cash confirms it’s happening daily, enabled by what amounts to blanket immunity from criminal law extended to Trump’s allies, friends, and family — a pattern he recognizes directly from watching dictators and autocrats abroad, including Putin, Orban, and Slobodan Milosevic, going back to Italy and Germany in the 1930s. - The common threa

    HoosLeft Podcast #135 - Live w/ The Steady State Executive Director Steven Cash

  5. Jul 19

    HoosLeft This Week - July 19, 2026

    SUMMARY: On this week’s edition of HoosLeft This Week, Scott is joined by Fort Wayne Democratic House District 81 candidate Sharon Wight and first-time guest Allen Miller, Democratic candidate for House District 73, for a two-hour survey of a week that felt like a rerun of every bad week before it. The show opens on a cascade of ICE violence — a fatal shootings in Maine, a man hit by a truck while running from them in Florida, another death in a detention facility, and a GEO Group employee shooting a protester in Colorado — before moving to Pete Hegseth’s testosterone-testing “High-T Department of War” and the full collapse of the Iran MOU, with the naval blockade reimposed, nightly strikes on Iranian infrastructure, and American service members killed in Jordan. Congress blocked the NDAA over the war, 103 House Democrats voted to cut Israel aid, and Rubio launched campaigns to both dismantle the ICC and convene 60 nations around a left-wing terrorism threat the data doesn’t support. Canadian wildfire smoke blanketing much of the US, Trump’s prime-time election fraud speech, Mullin’s threats to state election administrators, and the Jay Clayton and Todd Blanche confirmation hearings round out the national block. The Indiana portion of the show covers the Chuck Goodrich/Gaylor Electric conflict of interest, the end of diversity contracting, SNAP enrollment down nearly 14% while the state sits on a $4 billion surplus, free school meals at risk for 650,000 Hoosier children, a third consecutive SUN Bucks opt-out, the Indianapolis data center moratorium and DC Blox approval, and a closing conversation on daylight saving time and the case for putting Indiana on permanent Central Standard Time. Guest Info Allen Miller: https://millerfor73.com/ Sharon Wight: https://www.electsharonwight.com/ It takes a lot of work to put together a show of this scope. Please support HoosLeft and PIN with a free or paid subscription. TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00:33 — Intro: Welcome, Housekeeping & Guest Introductions 00:05:19 — ICE State Violence: Biddeford Maine Shooting, St. Augustine Death, Another Death in Custody, GEO Group Employee Shoots Protester, Merrillville Stands Its Ground 00:24:33 — Hegseth’s “High-T Department of War” Back in Open Conflict with Iran 00:33:17 — Israel: NDAA Blocked Over Iran War, Israel FUTURES Act, Settlement Expansion, and 103 House Democrats Vote to Cut Israel Aid 00:42:22 — ICC: Rubio’s Dismantlement Campaign, Human Rights Groups Sue, and the John Birch Society Parallel 00:47:07 — Rubio’s Left-Wing Terrorism Conference and the Numbers That Contradict It 00:50:19 — Canadian Wildfire Smoke: Indiana’s Worst Air Quality on Record, Banks and Moreno Blame Canada 00:58:20 — Trump’s Election Fraud Speech: Declassified Documents That Say the Opposite, Mullin’s Threats to States 01:10:05 — All-of-Government Election Interference: Jay Clayton Confirmation Hearing, Gabbard Georgia Raid, NYT Subpoenas 01:16:01 — Blanche Confirmation Hearing: Anti-Weaponization Fund, Abortion Pills, and Epstein Survivors 01:19:07 — Epstein: Ruemmler’s Testimony, Leon Black Reschedules, Dershowitz No-Shows 01:25:34 — AI and Data Centers: Anthropic’s State-by-State Safety Strategy; Indianapolis Moratorium Advances; DC Blox Irvington Approved 01:33:03 — Indiana Corruption: Chuck Goodrich Named Commerce Secretary While Remaining Gaylor Electric CEO; PAC Donations; End of Diversity Contracting 01:42:00 — Indiana SNAP Cuts, Free School Meals at Risk, and SUN Bucks Opt-Out — While the State Sits on $4 Billion 01:50:41 — Daylight Saving Time: Sunshine Protection Act Passes the House; The Case for Permanent Central Standard Time for Indiana 01:57:02 — Outro: Guest Plugs and Sign-Off IN DEPTH: State Violence * Feds turn over evidence in Renee Good and Alex Pretti killings to Minnesota after months of delay (Politico) * Federal prosecutors turned over long-withheld evidence — hard drives, body camera video, and Renee Good’s damaged SUV — to Minnesota investigators Monday, more than six months after the January killings of Good and Alex Pretti during immigration protests. * The breakthrough appears linked to leverage: state prosecutors had offered to share their evidence in a separate case against ICE agent Christian Castro in the nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis only if the federal government reciprocated with the Good and Pretti evidence. * AG Keith Ellison called the six-month delay “deeply troubling,” saying “it should never have taken this long” and expressing hope it signals “the beginning of a major course correction.” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said she isn’t yet dropping her lawsuit against the administration. * Pretti’s family’s lawyer noted federal officials still won’t publicly confirm any cooperation agreement exists: “No family should be required to beg federal authorities to do their job.” * Meanwhile, Houston prosecutors say they face the identical stonewalling in a separate case — the DA there doesn’t even know the names of the ICE officers involved in last week’s killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, saying “the federal government has not invited us in.” * 26-year-old Colombian man killed in Maine ICE shooting (Maine Public) * A 26-year-old Colombian man, Joan Sebastian Durán Guerrero, was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine, Monday morning — and Sen. Angus King’s office says DHS Secretary Mullin initially told King the man was the intended target of an arrest warrant, then reversed hours later, confirming the victim was not the person named in the warrant. * ICE’s official account: an “illegal alien” left a residence in a vehicle, agents attempted a stop, the vehicle tried to flee, and an officer “fearing for public safety” opened fire. No body cameras were present, according to King. * Advocacy groups say the victim was actually authorized to work in the US and had been issued a Social Security number — directly contradicting DHS’s framing of him as someone who had been ordered to leave the country. * Gov. Mills called the revelation that he wasn’t the intended target “even more disturbing and infuriating,” and roughly 200 people rallied in Biddeford within hours demanding ICE leave Maine. Vigils were planned in Biddeford and Portland that evening. * Both of Maine’s senators — independent King and Republican Collins — are calling for a full, transparent investigation; DHS says its inspector general’s office in Boston has taken over, working with the FBI. The officer involved has been placed on leave, standard protocol for police-involved shootings. * Biddeford protests erupt after ICE shooting (Maine Public) * Protests erupted at Mechanics Park in Biddeford within hours of the shooting, swelling from an impromptu gathering to over 100 people, then to hundreds more marching to Republican Sen. Susan Collins’s office chanting “ICE Out!” * Rep. Chellie Pingree told the crowd her constituents want ICE defunded and dismantled: “They’re basically out of control.” Attorney General Aaron Frey confirmed the ICE officer will be placed on leave, with Biddeford, Saco, and Maine State Police assisting the investigation. * One resident’s account captured the mood: “This happened a few hours ago, and there’s hundreds and hundreds of people who just sprang out of the frigging earth” — a city councilor calling the spontaneous turnout “the only thing that’s going to keep people safe right now.” * Vigils were scheduled for Monday evening in both Biddeford and Portland, while local officials, including the mayor, called for a full and transparent investigation. * ICE agent who killed man in Biddeford identified as former Maine law enforcement officer (Portland Press Herald) * The ICE agent who killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero has been identified as David Michael Brouillette, 37, of Manchester, Maine — confirmed by his ex-wife Ashley Brouillette, who says he called her admitting to the shooting and asking her to lie about his character. * Per Ashley Brouillette, Brouillette claimed the shooting was justified because Durán Guerrero “tried to hit him with his car” — but she says the videos she’s seen don’t show that: “Nowhere in there does it show that this man charged at you with a car.” She described him as “unusually calm” discussing it. * A separate AP report, citing Brouillette’s ex-wife, his 18-year-old daughter, and an estranged relative, found he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADD as a child, was initially rejected by military recruiters over those diagnoses, and was only admitted a year later after going off his medication. * Ashley Brouillette also provided a voicemail from fall 2025 in which Brouillette tells her “you should have your f***ing throats cut” — she says she’d previously reported concerns about his mental health to his military superiors and wanted to go public because of that history. * DHS has refused to confirm or deny his identity, with an ICE spokesperson calling any naming “doxxing” that puts officers “under constant threat from violent agitators” — even as multiple independent sources (a witness, coworkers at the Manchester Fire Department, and the crowdsourced ICE List database) converged on the same identification. * Brouillette’s work history is scattered: volunteer firefighter positions in Manchester that ended after “several spats with department leadership,” a resignation from a Maine DHHS enforcement role after eight months, and various stretches as a corrections officer, VA police officer, and truck driver — with no criminal convictions found in a Maine background check. * Man fleeing immigration officers in Florida is struck and killed by tractor trailer (AP) * A 28-year-old man fleeing ICE and Homeland Security Investigations agents near S

    HoosLeft This Week - July 19, 2026

  6. Jul 15

    HoosLeft Podcast #134 - Disability Pride Month w/ Sharon Wight & Tabitha Zeigler

    Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us Sharon Wight: https://www.electsharonwight.com/ Tabitha Zeigler: https://tabithazeigler.com/ SUMMARY: In this Disability Pride Month conversation, Scott sits down with two longstanding friends of the show: Sharon Wight, statehouse candidate for HD-81, communication scholar, and disability advocate from Fort Wayne; and Tabitha Zeigler, former congressional candidate, autism advocate, and mother of three autistic children. What begins as a personal conversation about how each guest came to disability advocacy — Sharon through a deaf Girl Scout leader, a master’s degree in sensory processing, and her own invisible disabilities; Tabitha through COVID babies, three autism level 3 diagnoses, and a battery of tests that put herself on the spectrum — quickly becomes a reckoning with the Trump administration’s active dismantling of disability rights. From the June DOJ opinion reversing the Olmstead integration mandate to Indiana’s ABA therapy cuts to the Medicaid work requirements hitting disabled parents, the conversation traces a through-line from Indiana’s own eugenics history (mandatory sterilization laws on the books from 1907 to 1974) to the present-day push back toward institutionalization — and closes with a call for mutual aid, bolder Democratic candidates, and the recognition that building a society where no one is expendable is the most pro-life position available. HoosLeft and PIN rely on your support. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. WHAT’S INSIDE: 00:00:23 Introduction: Disability Pride Month, the ADA, and Tonight’s Guests - Scott opens with Disability Pride Month, which marks the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act signed July 26, 1990, and credits the Gang of 19 protest in Denver in July 1978 as foundational groundwork for the ADA. - He notes that while conservative attacks on Black civil rights and the Voting Rights Act have drawn attention, the Trump administration’s dismantling of disability protections has gotten less. - Guests: Sharon Wight (HD-81 candidate, Fort Wayne) and Tabitha Zeigler (former congressional candidate, autism advocate) — both with disability advocacy at the center of their political work. 00:02:20 Support the Show - HoosLeft and Progressive Indiana Network don’t paywall content or charge candidates — support at progressiveindiana.net ($5/month or $50/year) keeps it going. - Social handles: @hoosleft.us on Bluesky, Instagram, and Threads; @HoosLeft on Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube; PIN is @PINIndiana on Bluesky and TikTok. 00:03:38 Welcome and Scott’s Personal Connection to Disability Advocacy - Scott thanks both guests for stepping in on short notice after a scheduled interview with Greg Ballard fell through. - He shares that disability advocacy is personal to him: his son was born disabled, and the ADA allowed him to live a full life — go to school, graduate, do things with other kids. Scott gets briefly emotional. 00:05:18 Sharon Wight: From Girl Scouts to the Inclusion Institute - Sharon’s path started with a deaf Girl Scout leader in elementary school and continued when she took American Sign Language in college. - In 2020, with extra time at home, she began analyzing her own sensory issues — which led to pursuing a master’s degree focused on sensory processing disorder. - She got involved with Fort Wayne’s Inclusion Institute, a part of The League — Northeast Indiana’s Center for Independent Living — that trains people as disability advocates. She also lives by the motto that anyone can become disabled at any time — something she experienced personally after major surgeries in 2022 and a ruptured disc that had her using a cane through most of 2023 into 2024. 00:07:52 Sharon Wight: Invisible Disabilities, the Cane, and “You Don’t Look Disabled” - Sharon has two invisible disabilities: a blood clotting disorder and fibromyalgia. There are days she simply cannot get up and do what she wants to do. - She also developed aphasia after COVID in 2020 — a communication disorder that causes difficulty finding words, deeply distressing for someone who studies communication. - Managing her conditions requires monitoring stress, sleep, and triggers to avoid flare-ups during a political campaign. She’s heard “you look fine” even from friends in the disabled community — invisible disabilities require visual proof before many people believe them. 00:08:03 Tabitha Zeigler: COVID Babies, Autism Levels, and Getting Herself Tested - Tabitha had children during COVID and initially wondered if developmental delays were mask-related — kids weren’t seeing mouths and couldn’t develop speech normally. Turns out that wasn’t it. - Her first child was diagnosed with global developmental delay and then autism level 3. Once she knew one child had autism, she learned siblings are statistically more likely to have it as well; both twins also came back autism level 3. (The autism “levels of support”) - Watching her kids, she recognized behaviors from her own childhood. She got tested: on a 10-point scale where 5 and above indicated autism, she scored an 8. Her response: “So I’m super autistic then.” She leans into things with humor — though right now there’s a lot that isn’t funny. 00:11:13 Scott and Tabitha: Are We All on the Spectrum? Why That Framing Is Problematic - Scott admits he’s said “we’re all on it” and been told that’s problematic — he asks Tabitha to explain why. - Tabitha uses the gay analogy: saying you’re “a little autistic” is like saying you were “gay in college.” You either are or you aren’t — it’s not something you switch off. Autism has triggers and presentations, but you can’t be a little autistic. - Her advice: ask questions, lean in, have meaningful conversations with the disability community. Very few people will be offended; most will be flattered you care enough to ask. 00:13:40 Scott: Invisible Disabilities, MS, and the Disability Pride Flag - Scott describes the Disability Pride Flag that’s serving as his background: five stripes on black. The black represents mourning for those who’ve been victims of neglect, abuse, ableism, and misunderstanding. - The five stripes: red (physical disabilities — what most people picture); gold (neurodiversity — Tabitha’s territory); white (invisible and undiagnosed disabilities, including fibromyalgia); blue (emotional and psychiatric disabilities — mental illness, anxiety, depression); green (sensory disabilities — deafness, blindness, auditory processing disorder, like Sharon’s Girl Scout leader). - He notes that about 80% of all disability is invisible, per Tabitha’s figure — and that the things we build for the disability community (ramps, curb cuts, closed captions) benefit everyone. 00:15:08 Sharon Wight: Blood Clotting Disorder, Fibromyalgia, COVID Aphasia, and PIN as Accessibility - Sharon elaborates on her invisible disabilities and their day-to-day management, and notes that Progressive Indiana Network provides an accessibility service — even on days when she can’t canvass or be in public, she can talk, which is her strongest mode of engagement. - She connects the broader principle: whether it’s someone saying they’re gay, disabled, or anything else you can’t outwardly see — don’t question it. Lean into learning what’s important to them rather than arguing with their identity. 00:20:04 Tabitha Zeigler: Autism Is an Invisible Disability — and Why She Started Putting Her Kids Online - Tabitha adds that autism is itself an invisible disability — her children look “normal,” and kids without visible markers get far less grace from the public. Neurodivergent kids are called bad kids; Sharon notes they were called “emotional.” - Tabitha had resisted putting her children on social media, but recently decided the current political climate made it important to show what autism actually looks like — to give people better vocabulary to be allies. 00:21:57 Scott: The Community Is Larger Than People Think — and Under Sustained Attack - Scott frames the political stakes: the disability community is much larger than people realize, and the solidarity of that community and its allies is urgently needed right now. - Progress since the Gang of 19 and the ADA has been real — wheelchair ramps, bus ramps, bathroom handles, closed captioning, curb cuts — but the current administration is actively rolling it back. - Sharon adds the key point: becoming disabled is the only protected class anyone can join at any time. Everyone ages into it eventually. Attacking the disability community is attacking our future selves. 00:24:44 Scott: The DOJ Opinion, Olmstead, and the Push Back Toward Institutionalization - In June, the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel issued an opinion arguing that neither the ADA nor Section 504 requires states to provide community-based care instead of institutionalization. - Principal deputy attorney general Lanora Pettit’s opinion admits this reading is out of step with the common understanding of the Olmstead Supreme Court decision, which mandated home and community-based care. - States like Texas are arguing the integration mandate itself is unconstitutional. Scott: this administration is trying to send people back into institutional settings. 00:25:51 Tabitha Zeigler: Indiana’s Eugenics History, 1907 to 1974 - Tabitha reads from her notes: by the late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and poverty were hereditary. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved the nation’s first state eugenics law, making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. - Sterilizations halted in 1909 under Governor Thomas R. Marshall; the Indiana Supreme Court struck down the 190

    HoosLeft Podcast #134 - Disability Pride Month w/ Sharon Wight & Tabitha Zeigler

  7. Jul 12

    HoosLeft This Week - July 12, 2026

    SUMMARY: On this edition of HoosLeft This Week, Scott is joined by Hamilton County Democratic State House candidate Lauren Cole and Bloomington DSA organizer Bryce Greene for a two-hour survey of a week in which the Iran ceasefire collapsed entirely — with renewed strikes, Strait of Hormuz escalation, Trump’s “Islamic Republic of Japan” gaffe, and the $533 million cost of the ongoing Indiana gas tax holiday put in sharp relief. The show moves through Hamas dissolving its government and Israel immediately striking the negotiators who announced it; Ro Khanna’s detention by West Bank settlers; a NATO summit where Trump reportedly authorized new Iran strikes from the dinner table and then fled home on his old Air Force One after assassination intelligence emerged, with the Times journalists who reported the switch subsequently subpoenaed; White House construction corruption; Trump’s FIFA intervention on Folarin Balogun’s suspension; and GOP lawmakers’ racially coded letter to the WNBA. Micah Beckwith’s Islam/Nazism remarks and the Fishers mass deportation rally headlined by former CBP Commander Greg Bovino bookend a stretch covering the ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston — with eyewitnesses pressured to self-deport — and two more federal law enforcement fatalities in Memphis. The back half covers Mallory McMorrow’s exit from the Michigan Senate primary, Graham Platner’s forced withdrawal from Maine and the replacement convention underway, and the dueling death watches for Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham. The show closes on Indiana Democrats fielding their largest candidate field in decades, before a final block on ACA enrollment losses, the Planned Parenthood Medicaid fight, an Indiana Supreme Court abortion records ruling, and a dense run of data center stories — from the OpenAI copyright trial to Meta’s bacteria contamination in Wyoming to the Marion County moratorium announced by Council President Maggie Lewis. Guest Info Lauren Cole: https://www.laurencoleforin.com/ Bryce Greene : https://x.com/TheGreeneBJ It takes a lot of work to put together a show of this scope. Please support HoosLeft and PIN with a free or paid subscription. TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00:34 — Intro: Welcome, Housekeeping & Guest Introductions 00:03:35 — Iran: MOU Collapse, Strait Escalation, “Islamic Republic of Japan,” and the $533M Indiana Gas Tax Bill 00:16:10 — Israel: Hamas Dissolves Its Government, Ro Khanna Detained by Settlers, Assassination Plot Intelligence 00:24:43 — NATO Summit Turkey: Ukraine Patriot License, F-35/Turkey, Strikes from the Dinner Table, Air Force One Security Swap, and NYT Journalists Subpoenaed 00:33:39 — White House Corruption: Lockheed Helipad, Reflecting Pool Re-Drained, North Portico Tarps, and a $1.2B Price Tag 00:40:49 — World Cup: Balogun Suspension, Trump-FIFA Intervention, and Belgium’s Rout 00:44:07 — WNBA/Caitlin Clark: Congressional Letter, Stutzman’s Dog Whistle, and the Fever’s Response 00:48:38 — Beckwith Bellows Bigotry: Islam/Nazism Remarks and Bovino’s Fishers Mass Deportation Rally 00:57:18 — ICE State Violence: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo Killed in Houston, Witnesses Pressured to Self-Deport, No Body Cams 01:02:52 — Memphis: National Guard Kills Tyrin Johnson; DEA’s Fourth Memphis Safe Task Force Death 01:08:21 — Elections: McMorrow Drops Out of Michigan Race (Stevens vs. El-Sayed); Graham Platner Drops Out of Maine Senate Race 01:22:28 — Mitch McConnell: Hospitalized Since June 14, Possibly Brain Dead, Beshear’s Limited Options 01:29:48 — Lindsey Graham Dies at 71; McMaster to Appoint Interim Successor 01:34:23 — Indiana: Democrats Field Candidates in 97/100 House Seats; Hamilton County Energy; Amy Oliver’s Race 01:43:32 — Healthcare: ACA Enrollment Down 2.6M; Indiana Lost 25%+; Planned Parenthood/7th Circuit; Indiana Supreme Court Abortion Report Confidentiality Ruling 01:52:05 — AI/Data Centers: OpenAI Copyright Suit; Meta Bacteria in Cheyenne Wastewater; Lebanon LEAP District Neighbor Nightmare; DC Blox Downsizes Irvington Project; Martindale-Brightwood City Planner Email Reversal; Maggie Lewis Announces Marion County Moratorium 01:58:39 — Outro: Guest Plugs, Bloomington DSA Info, and Sign-Off IN DEPTH: Iran * Tanker set ablaze after being struck by projectile in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran mourns Khamenei (AP) * Another tanker was struck by a projectile in the Strait of Hormuz early Tuesday, catching fire near Limah, Oman while traveling south out of the strait — the latest attack on a vessel using the Omani coastal route Iran has declared off-limits. * Talks between the US and Iran remain on hold until after Khamenei’s burial Thursday in Mashhad — his body was flown to Qom overnight, where tens of thousands gathered at Jamkaran Mosque for funeral services. * Mojtaba Khamenei, Iran’s new supreme leader, has still not appeared publicly at the funeral ceremonies and is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the strike that killed his father — Israel has previously threatened to kill him. * Transit numbers through the strait reached at least 108 ships over the weekend across various routes, showing slow recovery — but the ongoing attacks on vessels using the Omani route continue to undercut the MOU’s promise of safe passage. * US carries out another round of strikes on Iran after Trump says ceasefire is over (AP) * Trump declared the ceasefire “over” Wednesday after Iran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US launched a second consecutive day of strikes — hitting targets including Bushehr, Chabahar, Konarak, Bandar Abbas, and Sirik — while threatening to “just finish the job” and renewing threats against civilian infrastructure and Kharg Island. * The US also revoked the Iranian oil sales license that had been part of the interim deal, effectively unwinding one of the key economic concessions granted to Tehran under the MOU. * Iran retaliated by striking US military installations in Bahrain and Kuwait — Kuwait intercepted two ballistic missiles and 13 drones, with shrapnel knocking out power lines. * Trump added a contradictory hedge: “They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time” — suggesting negotiations could technically continue even as he declared the ceasefire dead, leaving the status of the deal genuinely unclear. * The internal Iranian divide appears to be driving the attacks: hard-liners want permanent control over the strait as strategic leverage; pragmatists want sanctions relief through a permanent deal. The ships targeted were using the Omani route Iran had declared off-limits — suggesting the IRGC is enforcing its position regardless of what Iran’s negotiators are saying in Doha. * US and Iran exchange intensifying fire across Mideast, threatening ceasefire deal (AP) * The US launched strikes hitting 90 targets across Iran Thursday — including what Iranian officials say was a strike near the Bushehr nuclear power plant, which Central Command neither confirmed nor denied — while Iran fired back at Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan, with all incoming missiles reportedly intercepted. * Khamenei was buried in Mashhad Thursday amid massive funeral processions, with US strikes hitting railway and road bridges on the route to the city during the mourning period — signs carrying “death to Trump and Netanyahu” visible in the crowds. * Trump renewed threats to hit Iran’s civilian infrastructure — electricity and desalination plants — and to seize Kharg Island, through which 90% of Iranian oil exports pass; Iran’s parliament speaker responded: “If you strike, you’ll get hit.” * Ship traffic through the strait reached 576 transits in June compared to 233 in May — but still far below the 3,100+ that transited in June 2025, and the renewed strikes are already chilling whatever recovery had occurred. * Negotiations toward a permanent deal were supposed to begin after Khamenei’s funeral — Iran’s foreign minister was on the phone with Saudi, Turkish, Omani, and Pakistani counterparts Thursday, suggesting back-channel efforts to create conditions for talks to proceed despite the exchange of fire. * Trump and Iran’s supreme leader trade threats as mediators try to save their crumbling deal (AP) * Trump threatened overnight that “ a thousand missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat,” on his website. — a response to banners at Khamenei’s funeral calling for his and Netanyahu’s deaths. * Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei — still not seen publicly since the war began — vowed in a statement that avenging his father’s death “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out.” * The core dispute remains the Strait of Hormuz: the US wants Iran to publicly declare it open with no attacks on shipping; Iran insists it alone controls the strait and intends to charge transit fees, a position the world has rejected for decades. Iran’s FM met his Omani counterpart Saturday to keep talking “at the technical and political levels.” * Iran accused the US of violating the interim deal by revoking oil sale waivers in response to the tanker attacks — FM Araghchi: “Reality check: There can only be mutual compliance.” * US officials attribute the resumption of strikes to “a rogue faction of Iranian hard-liners” trying to sabotage the ceasefire, though Iran insists its government is unified. The latest two days of US strikes killed at least 17 people and wounded 115, per Iran’s Health Ministry. * Trump says ‘Islamic Republic of Japan’ fired missiles at US ship (USA Today) * Trump claimed the “Islamic Republic of Japan” fired 111 missiles at the USS Abraham Lincoln — obviously meaning Iran, not Japan, which has been

    HoosLeft This Week - July 12, 2026

  8. Jul 8

    HoosLeft Podcast #133 - Live w/ Katie Robins

    Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us Katie Robins: https://www.katierobinsforindiana.com/ Donate to her campaign: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/katierobins4indiana SUMMARY: In this conversation, Scott sits down with Katie Robins -- critical care nurse, single mom, and Democratic candidate for Indiana House District 31 in Marion, Grant County -- for an extended examination of what it actually looks and feels like to work on the front lines of a broken American healthcare system. Robins started her nursing career in the ICU in January 2020, which put her directly in the path of COVID, and describes it as the radicalizing moment that drove her into politics. The conversation covers the gap between the people making healthcare policy and the people living with its consequences; the administrator-driven pressure that puts nurses in legal jeopardy for systemic failures; Indiana’s right-to-work environment and the wage gap with neighboring states; hospital consolidation and the blacklist threat; the Medicare for All argument Scott and Katie both make -- and the generational propaganda that has made it a harder sell than the math warrants. They close with Katie’s read on whether voters are starting to connect the dots. HoosLeft and PIN rely on your support. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. WHAT’S INSIDE: 00:00:22 Introduction: The Broken American Healthcare System - Scott sets the table: the American healthcare system is completely broken, and in Indiana -- home to Eli Lilly and Elevance Health — it’s even more broken than in neighboring states. - The people holding the system together with bubblegum and duct tape are nurses and other frontline workers doing their best inside a dysfunctional structure. - Katie Robins is introduced: critical care nurse, single mom, candidate for HD-31 in Marion. 00:03:36 Guest Introduction: Katie Robins, Critical Care Nurse and HD-31 Candidate - Scott welcomes Katie, noting she appeared on HoosLeft This Week the prior Sunday and this podcast is a chance to dig deeper. 00:04:09 Who Is Katie Robins? Marion, Grant County, and Why She’s Running - Katie lives in Marion, Grant County -- between Muncie and Fort Wayne — an old factory town with a GM plant and a few other manufacturers. - She’s been a nurse for six years (eight years in healthcare total), primarily in critical care, and is a single mom to a seven-year-old. - Her reason for running: she’s sick of feeling underrepresented. HD-31 has been uncontested for eight years, and her attitude was simply: why not? 00:06:51 Starting in the ICU in January 2020: A Radicalizing Moment - Katie started as a new grad nurse in the ICU in January 2020 -- and walked directly into COVID. They ran out of ventilators. People wore whatever they could find on their faces instead of proper masks. - Watching the people making the laws fail to understand or care about what was happening on the floor was her political radicalizing moment. - The pandemic was horrible -- and it was also where she made some of her closest friendships, because having each other was the only way through it. 00:08:26 The Pandemic Exposed the System: More Spending, Worse Outcomes - Scott notes the U.S. spends more per capita on healthcare than anywhere in the world, yet handled the pandemic worse than comparable wealthy nations -- over a million Americans died from COVID. - The country has never really reckoned with it; capitalism just sweeps things under the rug and keeps plowing ahead. 00:09:22 Trauma Bonding, PTSD, and the Emotional Toll of Nursing Through COVID - Katie describes nursing humor as a coping mechanism — “if we don’t laugh we cry” — and COVID as the moment that dynamic blossomed into something more intense. - She went to therapy afterward and her therapist confirmed how traumatic the period was; she was waking up with dreams of coding patients. - Some people still don’t believe COVID was real. Katie was there. She saw it. 00:11:00 From Heroes to Villains: How Disinformation Turned on Healthcare Workers - Scott recalls the early-pandemic hero parades for healthcare workers in New York, and how within months disinformation had turned segments of the public against the very professionals trying to save them. - Scott recounts being at a party and hearing someone tout ivermectin, and having to restrain himself. - Katie and Scott agree: the resentment toward healthcare is real, but it’s not directed at nurses and doctors — it’s the result of everything broken around them. 00:12:38 The System Is Broken at the Top, Not the Bedside - Katie is unequivocal: the broken healthcare system is a universal experience, regardless of political background, and the problem is not the nurses, doctors, CNAs, and support staff — it’s the people at the top making decisions from behind a desk. - Taking away mandatory safe staffing ratios, for example, is the kind of decision administrators make without understanding that being one nurse short can mean a patient falls and dies. - The people making the decisions can’t understand the front lines because they’re not there. 00:13:50 The Administrator Problem: Spreadsheets vs. the Floor - Scott draws a direct parallel to his wife’s experience as a nurse: administrators look at spreadsheets and bottom lines, while nurses have someone’s life in their hands. Those two things come into conflict constantly. - Katie adds a disclaimer — her opinions are her own and don’t reflect her employer —then connects the dynamic to her father’s experience at Delco/Delphi: the person at the bottom of the totem pole is always the first to go. - When a sentinel event happens because of understaffing, the liability falls on the nurse — who could lose their job and their license for something that was fundamentally out of their control. 00:16:57 Licensing, Liability, and Who Bears Responsiblity When Staffing Fails - Scott crystallizes the problem: the buck stops with nurses even when the people managing the bucks are making the staffing decisions that create the conditions for mistakes. - Small errors that are predictable consequences of systemic understaffing become career-ending events for individual nurses. 00:17:38 Right-to-Work Indiana: Nurses Without Collective Bargaining Power - Indiana is a right-to-work state — unions can’t automatically collect dues, can’t require membership, and can’t run closed shops. The practical result is weaker union presence and weaker bargaining power for nurses. - States with strong nurses unions — California, New York — have better health outcomes, better working conditions, and better pay. They’re mostly blue states, Scott notes. - Without collective bargaining, it’s one nurse versus an entire corporation. A mistake, or even a political disagreement with a supervisor, can get someone blacklisted from the entire regional health system. 00:19:07 Indiana Nurses Are Paid Less for the Same Job - Katie confirms what Scott mentioned before they started recording: Indiana has a lower median nurse salary than neighboring states — sometimes $10,000-$20,000 less per year for the same work. - Nursing is the same job regardless of state lines, and Indiana’s lower pay isn’t justified by any difference in the work itself. - Corporations view nurses as bodies, not people — that’s the bottom line. 00:20:39 The Double Whammy: Harder Work, Worse Pay - Scott makes the irony explicit: in states without strong union bargaining for nurse-to-patient ratios, nurses are doing more with less — and then being compensated less for it on top of that. - Katie’s experience: her dad told her she’d be making “crazy money” as a nurse. She got out and was expecting better. In one year she received a 1.8% raise while still under $40/hour — well below inflation. 00:22:13 Wages, Inflation, and a Pound of Ground Beef at Eight Dollars - At roughly 4% inflation — driven partly by Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war — a 1.8% raise is effectively a pay cut. - Katie’s wages haven’t kept up with daily living expenses: ground beef that cost $4 three years ago now costs $8. Gas, groceries, everything has outpaced her compensation. - Many nurses she knows work multiple jobs. So do many teachers. You are expected to do more with less, and paid less to do it. 00:24:35 The Nurse Hangover: 12-Hour Shifts, a Kid at Home, and a 45-Minute Commute - A 12-hour shift becomes a 14-hour day with commute. Katie drives 45-50 minutes each way because she didn’t want to work at the one hospital in Marion. - Getting home at 10 p.m. to a seven-year-old who needs a shower or wants to hang out leaves no recovery time. Two shifts in a row and she’s wiped for days afterward. - Picking up even an extra six or eight hours throws off her whole week. Working a second job in those recovery windows would be nearly impossible. 00:26:08 The Cruelest Irony: A Nurse Without Health Insurance - Katie’s current employer doesn’t provide health insurance. She, her mom, and her son are all uninsured. Her son was on Medicaid and got kicked off. - She’s in the gap: her wages are just enough to disqualify her from assistance but not enough to afford marketplace coverage, which runs at least $300/month for herself alone — without dental. - Her decision: pay out of pocket for doctor visits she can’t avoid and put everything else off. That’s the reality for vast numbers of Americans. 00:27:12 Hospital Consolidation and the Blacklist - Scott notes the consolidation wave accelerated partly as an unintended consequence of the ACA — a genuine improvement that created perverse incentives toward monopoly formation. - In many Indiana communities there’s one hospital, maybe two. If a nurse is blacklisted from a system that owns 70% of regional hospitals, their career options in that area can effec

    HoosLeft Podcast #133 - Live w/ Katie Robins
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About

Indiana politics, history, and culture from and unapologetically perspective. Host Scott Aaron Rogers interviews candidates, elected officials, activists, and academics in long-form interviews. And every Sunday morning, Scott welcomes a panel of guests from around the state to HoosLeft This Week - where they dissect the week's top news stories from across Indiana and look at US & international news from a Hoosier perspective. www.progressiveindiana.net

Information

  • Creator
    Scott Aaron Rogers
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    220
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Progressive Indiana Network
  • Show Website
    HoosLeft Podcast