HoosLeft Podcast

Scott Aaron Rogers
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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 #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

  2. 4d ago

    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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. Jul 5

    HoosLeft This Week - July 5, 2026

    SUMMARY: On this Independence Day weekend edition of HoosLeft This Week, Scott is joined by Democratic State House District 31 nominee Katie Robins and Equality Indiana Executive Director G. David Caudill for a two-hour look at a country at 250 that seems to be relitigating its own founding questions in real time. The show opens on the week’s record-breaking heat waves in Europe and the US, connecting climate denial, fossil fuel doubling-down, and the energy demands of unchecked data center expansion — including Indianapolis’s Metropolitan Development Commission overriding community opposition. From there the panel digs into Governor Braun’s consolidation of power across the IURC, the IU Board of Trustees, and his own office — where a Capital Chronicle investigation found nearly 60% of his staff’s salaries are being paid by other state agencies. The Iran conflict, immigration enforcement, the warden’s resignation at the Miami Correctional detention facility, and Indiana’s preparation of firing-squad execution infrastructure round out the first half. The back half is dominated by a dense run of Supreme Court decisions: birthright citizenship narrowly upheld, a geofence warrant ruling offering partial privacy protections, Humphrey’s Executor overturned giving the president sweeping control over independent agencies, a unanimous transgender sports ban, and coordinated campaign spending limits struck down. The show closes with Colorado’s progressive primary victories, Greg Ballard securing a ballot line for the Secretary of State race, a catalogue of Trump administration corruption tied to the Freedom 250 birthday celebration and $2 billion in new presidential wealth, and a Fourth of July reflection on America’s founding ideals — how far the country has and hasn’t come, and whose struggle has always done the work of perfecting our union. Guest Info Katie Robins: https://www.katierobinsforindiana.com/ G. David Caudill: https://equalityindiana.org/ 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 00:04:04 — Climate Crisis: European Heat Wave, U.S. Heat Dome, and the Data Center Energy Spiral 00:21:22 — Governor Braun: IURC Stacking, IU Board Takeover, Gas Tax Holiday, and Payroll Roulette 00:31:49 — Iran: Assassination Plot, Strait Tolls, and the Keystone Cops of Diplomacy 00:41:21 — Immigration: TPS Revocations, Rokita vs. Merrillville, Monroe County Sheriff’s Injunction, and Miami Correctional 00:51:30 — Indiana Incarceration: Firing Squad Infrastructure at Westville and the Death Penalty Debate 00:57:24 — Supreme Court: Birthright Citizenship Upheld — Barely 01:05:41 — [Crossroads Commons PSA] 01:06:55 — Supreme Court: Geofence Warrant Ruling, Humphrey’s Executor Overturned, and the Fed Carve-Out 01:11:32 — Supreme Court: Transgender Athletes Banned from Women’s Sports 01:20:05 — Supreme Court: Coordinated Campaign Spending Limits Struck Down 01:23:44 — Elections: FBI’s 2020 Georgia Investigation, Colorado Progressive Wins, and Ballard on the Indiana Ballot 01:33:01 — Trump Corruption: Qatar Jet, Diamond Ring, Freedom 250 Donors, and $2 Billion in New Wealth 01:41:58 — America at 250: Founding Ideals, the Declaration’s Grievances, and the Long Arc of Struggle 01:56:12 — Outro: Guest Plugs, Queer the Vote Indiana, and Sign-Off IN DEPTH: Climate * France records around 1,000 additional deaths as extreme heat breaks European records (AP) * France recorded roughly 1,000 additional deaths during just three days at the peak of last week’s heat wave, with daily deaths spiking from a baseline of 900-1,000 to over 1,400 — 85% of victims were 65 or older. The WHO says over 1,300 excess deaths have been recorded across Europe since June 21. * The WHO director-general warned that Europe is now the fastest-warming continent, heating at twice the global average, and that “once-in-a-generation” heat events are now occurring nearly every year. * A new World Weather Attribution study found the heat would have been virtually impossible five decades ago and is 200 times more likely today than 20 years ago — directly attributing the event to climate change. * Germany hit 41.7°C (107°F), Poland 40.5°C (104.9°F), and the Czech Republic a new all-time record of 41.9°C (107.4°F). Wildfires broke out in forests still contaminated with WWII unexploded ordnance, complicating firefighting in both eastern and southwestern Germany. * Infrastructure buckled across the continent: highway concrete broke up, Leipzig trams shut down due to heat-damaged tracks, 600 train passengers were stranded without power or air conditioning, and Berlin police deployed water cannons — normally used on protesters — to cool crowds at the Brandenburg Gate. * Europe’s extreme heat would be impossible without climate change, scientists say (AP) * 45% of the 850 European cities analyzed have broken or are expected to break records for heat stress — a measure combining temperature and humidity that directly reflects the human body’s ability to cool itself. * The heat would have been 3.5°C cooler during the day and 2.4°C cooler at night in the climate of 1976 — the scientists say this event would have been essentially impossible then, and still very rare as recently as 2003. * One outside climate scientist not involved in the study says even these findings likely underestimate climate change’s role: “All similar assessments are actually underestimating the role that climate change is playing here.” * Europe has been warming at twice the global average since the 1980s — and this heat arrived in late June, weeks before the continent’s typically warmest period in July and August. * Heat wave: European countries report 3,700 excess deaths (DW) * At least 3,700 excess deaths have been recorded in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands alone from the June 20-28 European heat wave — France reporting 2,025 (up 29% above normal), Belgium 1,222 (up 39%, described as “unprecedented”), and the Netherlands 480. * Deaths at home in France rose over 90% during the peak week — a stark indicator of how many people died without access to cooling or medical care. Authorities warn the final figures will be higher. * The heat wave broke all-time temperature records in Germany, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, with more than two-thirds of Europe’s 410 million people experiencing temperatures above 35°C. * Only 24% of French households have air conditioning — up from 18% in 2023 but still starkly low. During the peak of the heat wave, Carrefour sold 30,000 AC units in a single day — “a thousand times more than on a normal day.” * French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces a no-confidence vote over the government’s handling of the crisis — a political consequence that underscores how deadly heat waves are now being treated as governance failures, not just natural disasters. * Brutal heatwave scorches eastern US ahead of Fourth of July weekend (Guardian) * A dangerous heat wave is gripping the central and eastern US through the Fourth of July weekend, with heat index values forecast to reach 115°F across the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and East Coast — the NWS calls prolonged extreme heat “among the deadliest weather hazards” because impacts build over time. * New York City hit 100°F in Central Park Thursday — its first triple-digit day since July 2012 — with heat index values forecast to reach 115°F Friday. Mayor Mamdani deployed cooling vans with medical personnel; Gov. Hochul warned the state’s electric grid is under “heavy strain.” * Philadelphia hit 102°F; organizers of the city’s Semiquincentennial parade have already shortened the route due to the heat. Washington DC, Baltimore, and parts of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana face heat index values up to 110°F. * The US heat wave follows last week’s record-breaking European heat wave directly — two continental-scale extreme heat events in consecutive weeks, both tied by scientists to climate change. * Alberta pitches southern route for West Coast pipeline, with a price tag of $35B or more (CBC) * Alberta formally proposed a $35-43 billion oil pipeline running roughly 1,200 kilometers to BC’s West Coast, designed to move more than 1 million barrels per day to Asian markets — part of Alberta’s goal to double oil production to 8 million barrels per day over the next 10-15 years. * The project is almost entirely taxpayer-funded: private partner Pembina Pipeline takes only a 10% stake and won’t risk capital before a final investment decision — critics note this makes it “another almost 100-percent-funded-by-taxpayer pipeline.” * BC Premier Eby acknowledged his province cannot legally stop it and won’t fight it in court, but secured the North Coast tanker ban, environmental safeguards, spill protection commitments, and a potential royalty payment in exchange. * No oil producers have yet committed to using the pipeline — a significant unresolved question that has one former TransCanada pipeline executive openly skeptical the project is financeable. * Ottawa linked its support to the Pathways carbon capture project, claiming 16 million tonnes of annual emissions reductions — critics say this greenwashing math doesn’t add up when you’re simultaneously planning to double oil production. * Largest US power grid PJM orders emergency curbs as electricity use nears record peak (Reuters via Investing.com) * PJM — the largest US power grid, serving 67 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to DC — activated emergency electricity reduction orders Friday, calling on industrial and commercial customers under mandatory curtailment contracts to cut usage as generator outages, overloaded transmiss

    HoosLeft This Week - July 5, 2026

  7. Jul 1

    HoosLeft Podcast #132: Independents Day

    Progressive Indiana Network: https://progressiveindiana.net HoosLeft: https://hoosleft.us Ben Davis: https://www.bendavisforindiana.com/ Joshua Brant: https://electjoshuabrant.org/ Harrison Jacobo: https://socialistpartyin.com/ SUMMARY: For the week ending in Independence Day, the same week in which independent candidates must submit signatures to qualify for November’s ballot, Scott sits down with three Indiana candidates running entirely outside the two-party system: Ben Davis, democratic socialist running for Statehouse District 13 under the Socialist Party of Indiana banner; Joshua Brant, independent candidate for State Senate District 23; and Harrison Jacobo, Secretary of State candidate for the Socialist Party of Indiana who is not making the ballot this cycle. The conversation is grounded in the concrete experience of doing something the system is designed to make nearly impossible: getting on the ballot as an independent in Indiana. From signature thresholds and verification rates to county party cold shoulders and constitutional barriers, the guests document the structural gauntlet that filters out working-class and insurgent candidates before a single vote is cast. Framed against Scott’s opening on the Zohran Mamdani-endorsed sweep in New York’s congressional primaries and Jaime Harrison’s backlash quote, the episode argues that the left is told it can’t win inside the two-party system and can’t run outside it either — and that the only way forward is to elect independents who will dismantle the rules that protect the duopoly. 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: 00:00:21 Introduction: Mamdani, Jaime Harrison, AOC, and the Case for Independents - Scott opens with Zohran Mamdani’s endorsed Democratic Socialist sweep in New York congressional primaries, which triggered backlash from Hakeem Jeffries, James Carville, and former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison -- the last of whom told progressives not to use the party’s resources if they hate the party. - Scott’s counter: when progressives go outside and draw votes, they get accused of playing spoiler. You can’t have it both ways. - AOC’s 2020 observation frames the structural argument: the U.S. two-party umbrella compresses an entire spectrum into two labels. Last week’s guest Metin Pekin proposed a no-party system; another path is electing independents who will revoke the two parties’ special legal privileges. 00:02:44 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. 00:04:00 Welcome and Framing: Ballard’s 74,000 Signatures and the Ballot Access Challenge - Scott introduces the three guests -- Ben Davis (HD-13, SPI), Joshua Brant (SD-23, independent), Harrison Jacobo (Secretary of State, SPI) -- and uses Greg Ballard’s 74,000-signature haul as a benchmark. - Ballard turned in double the required statewide threshold because a large share will be thrown out during verification -- standard practice, but easier when you have the resources to do so. - Scott notes the disparity in resources: Ballard had financial backing including support from former Governor Mitch Daniels. Tonight’s guests did not. 00:06:15 Ben Davis: 384 Signatures, 650 Gathered, 63% Verification Rate - Ben’s threshold for HD-13 was 384 verified signatures. His team of over 30 volunteers -- including Harrison Jacobo -- knocked roughly 2,500 doors over six months and collected 650 raw signatures, coming in at 428 verified. - The 63% verification rate reflects two main failure modes: people who weren’t registered to vote at all, and people registered at a different address than where Ben knocked in District 13. - Ben was aiming for a modest buffer above the threshold in case the state office “decided to do anything funny.” 00:08:34 Joshua Brant: Going It Alone, Coming Up Short in May - Joshua had no volunteer network to draw on as a first-time independent candidate -- he knocked doors primarily alone, walking miles over months. - He had planned on a 30% buffer but discovered at the end of May he was still about 200 signatures short of his target, requiring an intensive push in June to reach his number with any cushion. - His county put his threshold at 628; his own initial calculation was partially inaudible but in that range. 00:10:07 Harrison Jacobo: 37,000 Needed and Why He Won’t Make It - A group came from Seattle, excited about the Socialist Party of Indiana forming, and collected around 400-500 signatures over four or five days -- but those came from across 20 different counties, creating logistical problems for county-by-county submission without funding or infrastructure. - Today -- June 30th -- is the final submission day. Harrison is not making the threshold. Scott asked if signatures needed to come from all parts of the state -- Harrison isn’t certain it’s a constitutional mandate, and Joshua confirms the signatures themselves don’t need to come from a varied geography. 00:13:29 The Lincoln Party, the SPI, and What Ballot Lines Actually Mean - Greg Ballard is running not just as an independent but under the Lincoln Party banner. If he earns enough votes in November, the Lincoln Party gains official ballot access for four years. - Ben explains the petition form mechanics: candidates check either “independent, no party” or “independent with party.” His ballot will say Socialist Party of Indiana; Ballard’s will say Lincoln Party -- but neither party currently has official minor party status. - The SPI’s path to recognition requires 2% of the prior election in signatures to get on the ballot, then 2% of the general election vote to secure the ballot line for four years. With Harrison not on the ballot, that clock resets. The SPI will continue running candidates as independents until another statewide shot. 00:17:38 Joshua Brant’s Origin Story: Why He’s Running as an Independent - Joshua traces a political evolution: proudly liberal in his 20s, more centrist in his 30s, and then -- as a veteran with kids -- arriving at the conclusion that centrism is also sometimes wrong. There are clear rights and wrongs, and staying in the middle isn’t always a virtue. - His motivation: he doesn’t want his kids or anyone else’s kids to inherit the political mess being created if nobody does something about it. - His ballot line will simply say “independent.” 00:20:17 Harrison’s Plans Without a Ballot Line: Building the SPI - Harrison is not a fan of Beau Bayh or Greg Ballard; Scott adds that he’s presumably not a fan of Republican Max Engling either. Harrison confirms. - His focus now shifts entirely to building SPI party infrastructure -- applying what was learned from this cycle to develop a stronger organizational base for future candidates. - The goal is to gain a genuine foothold for the longer-term project of breaking the two-party system. 00:21:53 What Voters Said at the Door: Blythe Potter, Bargersville, and Bipartisan Excitement - Harrison’s canvassing experience was more mixed than expected in terms of immediate excitement for the SPI specifically -- but he was surprised by how many Democrats responded positively to the competition argument. - Some voters said they were holding out for Blythe Potter; Harrison’s message was that signing his petition doesn’t affect their November vote. - Harrison had already spoken with Potter directly -- she lives down the road from him in Bargersville. Democrats who signed his petition, including some previously elected ones, said simply: competition is good. 00:23:30 Ben Davis: The Three-Way Race in HD-13 and the Spoiler Question - Since Scott and Ben last spoke in January, a Democrat has entered the HD-13 race, making it a three-way contest. Ben has not faced significant spoiler pressure -- most local Democrats disagree with the Tippecanoe County Democratic chair’s decision to deny him a party endorsement because he’s a democratic socialist. - The chair’s reasoning: “we don’t want a Democratic Socialist on our ticket.” - Ben is running a full campaign, not a paper candidacy. The 2024 paper candidate got 26% just by existing. Ben is planning win numbers as if it were a two-way race and wants to demonstrate that an independent democratic socialist can win in the heartland. 00:27:11 Joshua Brant: SD-23, Spencer Deery, and the Copenhaver Dilemma - Scott notes that Dr. David Sanders -- a previous guest -- is the Democrat in Joshua’s SD-23 race, and that the Republican barely survived his primary by only three votes: incumbent Spencer Deery over far-right challenger Paula Copenhaver. - Joshua admits he was genuinely torn -- Copenhaver might have been easier to beat, but maybe not better for Indiana. He settled on wanting Spencer to win the primary, but now that he has, it’s time for someone else to take over. - Scott draws the broader lesson: boosting the opponent you think is easier to beat can backfire -- he cites Hillary Clinton and Trump in 2016 as the cautionary tale. 00:30:12 Harrison Jacobo: The Indiana Constitution and Why It Has to Be Amended - Harrison identifies the core structural problem: Indiana’s constitution explicitly enshrines a two-major-party system, defining support as going to the parties with the most and second-most votes. Minor parties receive no state resources. - Fixing this requires amending the constitution to eliminate the “two major parties” distinction -- making all parties simply “parties.” Statutory workarounds are possible but legally vulnerable. - He notes the constitution isn’t always followed anyway -- public education is constitu

    HoosLeft Podcast #132: Independents Day

  8. Jun 28

    HoosLeft This Week - June 28, 2026

    SUMMARY: On this week’s edition of HoosLeft This Week — broadcast despite a cascade of opening technical difficulties — Scott is joined by writer and Hoosier Lemon Substack creator Sierra Martin and Democratic House District 47 nominee Michael Potter for a two-hour blitz through a double-stuffed week in the news. First, a block of stories framed as “the death of neoliberalism in three acts”: the passing of Alan Greenspan, the collapse of Keir Starmer’s government in the UK, and a progressive sweep in New York Democratic primaries that sent the party establishment into a panic. The show then covers the Iran memorandum of understanding already buckling under renewed hostilities, Trump holding the bipartisan housing bill hostage to his voter suppression agenda, favorable federal court rulings on voting and courthouse arrests, and devastating Supreme Court decisions on Temporary Protected Status and asylum rights. The back half opens with the extreme terrorism sentences handed to Prairieland ICE protest defendants and Trump’s lawfare against ABC News, before turning to a dense Indiana block: the DOJ memo gutting disability integration rights, Indiana’s selective approach to Medicaid fraud, the Holcomb-Raimondo AI retraining nonprofit, the latest installment of the “Mr. Clean” corruption investigation into Mayor Joe Hogsett, school funding referendums in Indianapolis and Carmel, the Indiana Republican platform’s push to eliminate property taxes and close primaries, Braun’s firing of his own IURC chair over a utility rate hike, and a rundown of consequential new Indiana laws taking effect July 1st. 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: 00:00:03 — Intro: Welcome & Guest Introductions 00:03:31 — Death of Neoliberalism, Act 1: Alan Greenspan Dies at 100 00:08:50 — Death of Neoliberalism, Act 2: Starmer Falls, Burnham Rises 00:15:43 — Death of Neoliberalism, Act 3: New York Progressives Rout the Establishment 00:27:37 — Iran MOU: A Ceasefire Already Unraveling 00:34:20 — Trump Holds the Housing Bill Hostage for the SAVE Act 00:43:43 — The War on Voting: Courts Push Back on Trump’s Election Orders 00:44:53 — Supreme Court Drops: TPS Ended for Haitians and Syrians, Asylum Rights Gutted 00:53:08 — Prairieland Sentences and the Weaponization of Domestic Terror Law 01:01:44 — The Reflecting Pool Debacle, ABC, and the Lawfare Playbook 01:07:19 — [Crossroads Commons PSA] 01:08:18 — The Crossroads: DOJ Guts Olmstead, Indiana Targets Small Medicaid Providers While $724M Case Sits Idle 01:16:47 — Holcomb, Raimondo, and the RAISE US AI Retraining Grift 01:21:36 — Mr. Clean, Part 3: Hogsett’s Donor Wish Lists and the Ghost Employment Problem 01:25:55 — IPS and Carmel Clay: The School Funding Referendum Divide 01:32:20 — Indiana GOP Platform: Property Tax Elimination and Closed Primaries 01:41:37 — Braun Fires His Own IURC Chair, Coal Plant Orders Renewed 01:47:07 — New Laws July 1: Camping Ban, SEA 76, Phone Ban, and the National Guard Military Police 01:55:32 — Outro: Guest Plugs, Tuesday Podcast Preview, and Sign-Off IN DEPTH: US/World News Death of Neoliberalism * Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan dies at 100 (AP) * Alan Greenspan, Federal Reserve chairman from 1987 to 2006, died Monday at 100 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. His wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, announced his death. * Greenspan was celebrated as “Maestro” for presiding over the longest economic expansion in US history at the time, holding unemployment below 4% and keeping inflation dormant — but his reputation collapsed after the 2008 financial crisis, which investigators tied directly to the deregulation and easy-money policies he championed. * His own postmortem was candid: “I made a mistake in assuming that banks could essentially regulate themselves.” The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission concluded his 30-year push for deregulation “stripped away key safeguards, which could have helped avoid catastrophe.” * A Juilliard dropout who played clarinet and saxophone alongside Stan Getz, Greenspan became an Ayn Rand disciple in the 1950s — Rand stood beside him when he was sworn in as Ford’s chief economic adviser in 1974, a detail that contextualizes his lifelong faith in self-regulating markets. * As recently as January 2026, at 99, Greenspan co-signed a statement with former Fed chairs and Treasury secretaries condemning Trump’s investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell as “an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine” the Fed’s independence. * Alan Greenspan Was a Faithful Servant of the Ruling Class (Jacobin) * Where the AP obit portrays Greenspan as a well-meaning ideologue who made a mistake about self-regulating markets, Jacobin argues he wasn’t a dogmatist at all — he was ideologically flexible whenever flexibility served the wealthy, consistently abandoning principles when they inconvenienced the powerful. * The piece’s sharpest point: Greenspan’s celebrated “miracle economy” of the late 1990s was built on what he privately called the “traumatized worker” thesis — the Fed explicitly understood that low inflation and low unemployment coexisted because Volcker’s recession had so frightened American workers that they stopped demanding raises, and Greenspan’s policy was premised on keeping that fear intact. * Greenspan backed the Bush tax cuts after spending the Clinton years as a deficit hawk — the deficit apparently mattered less under a Republican president redistributing wealth upward. He later expressed regret; at the time, he was happy to lend his credibility to the effort. * The piece’s closing argument: Greenspan’s rehabilitation as an anti-Trump institutionalist is ironic, since his career was dedicated to the same upward concentration of wealth and power that created the conditions for Trump’s rise. “A young Greenspan imagined gold as the ultimate protector of the wealthy; the policies he enacted delivered us a gilded tyrant.” International Elections * Andy Burnham prepares for power as emotional Keir Starmer bows out (Guardian) * Keir Starmer resigned as UK prime minister Monday, less than two years after a historic Labour election victory, conceding he was “no longer the right man” to lead the party into the next general election amid mounting pressure from MPs and the threat from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. * Andy Burnham — former Greater Manchester mayor, just elected to Parliament that same day in a byelection — is all but certain to become the UK’s next prime minister, potentially as early as July 16-17, after Wes Streeting declined to challenge him and no other Labour MP appears likely to get the 81 nominations needed to force a contest. * Burnham is considering appointing former Labour leader Ed Miliband as chancellor to challenge “Treasury orthodoxy,” while keeping Shabana Mahmood at the Home Office; he’s also in talks with economist Jim O’Neill about becoming chief economic adviser. * Starmer’s resignation speech was notably emotional — voice cracking as he spoke about his wife and children — while insiders describe him as privately furious at Burnham’s ambitions, saying he’ll support his successor “through gritted teeth.” * Nigel Farage was the only opposition leader calling for an immediate general election; Burnham has signaled he won’t call one, and his allies say the next election will be “won or lost in the first 100 days.” * Colombian right-wing candidate De La Espriella wins tight presidential race (Reuters) * Trump-endorsed right-wing candidate Abelardo De La Espriella won Colombia’s presidential runoff by less than one percentage point — 49.66% to Ivan Cepeda’s 48.7% — ending leftist President Gustavo Petro’s four years in office. * De La Espriella, a lawyer with no prior political experience and US, Italian, and Colombian citizenship, has pledged to end peace talks with armed groups, boost oil and gas, cut the state by up to 40%, and crack down on crime — though his thin margin will force compromise with a Congress where Petro’s party holds the most seats. * His background carries baggage: local outlet La Silla Vacia found many of his businesses dissolved or unprofitable, and critics highlight his past legal representation of clients tied to right-wing paramilitaries and money laundering for Maduro’s Venezuela. * The result fits a clear regional pattern — Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Ecuador, and now Colombia have all swung right recently, with Peru’s Keiko Fujimori also poised to win. * Trump openly endorsed De La Espriella, called the race “very important to the future of Colombia and its relationship to the United States,” and is building a broader regional military alliance of right-wing governments called the Shield of the Americas. US Elections * New York * New York primary could forecast future for Democrats. Here’s what you need to know (NPR) * New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani endorsed three progressive challengers in competitive House primaries — and all three won, including two who unseated sitting Democrats. * The biggest upset: 32-year-old democratic socialist organizer Darializa Avila Chevalier narrowly defeated five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, in NY-13. Brad Lander decisively beat two-term Rep. Dan Goldman in NY-10. Claire Valdez won the open NY-7 seat, defeating the hand-picked successor of retiring Nydia Velasquez. * AIPAC money was a central issue in both upset races — Espaillat and Goldman both received AIPAC support, and the role of pro-Israel lobbying money has become an increasingly explicit litmus test in safe Democratic primaries. * AI companies spent tens of millions in NY-12, where super PAC

    HoosLeft This Week - June 28, 2026
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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
    217
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Progressive Indiana Network
  • Show Website
    HoosLeft Podcast