(VERTICAL) HoosLeft This Week - October 11, 2026

HoosLeft This Week is THE unapologetically progressive Sunday morning political news show for the Hoosier State. Host Scott Aaron Rogers welcomes a pair of guests to discuss the week's top stories from across Indiana with a look at US and international news through a Hoosier lens. This week, Scott is joined by Sharon Wight and Reece Axel-Adams for a show that tracks a steady slide toward authoritarianism at home and abroad. They open with climate chaos on both coasts and a Supreme Court case testing whether fossil fuel companies can be held liable for climate damage, then turn to the staggering cost of the Iran war, layered against Trump’s own threats to let Iran “take out” Los Angeles and San Diego, a new diesel supply agreement with Putin, and a separate Russian asset deal that stands to enrich Trump-linked oligarchs. A public-health segment covers a plague scare in Russia and a worsening measles crisis at home, both made scarier by a federal government actively undermining trust in vaccines and global health cooperation. The show then digs into a wave of state propaganda — taxpayer-funded political ads, a politicized FBI, and a plan to livestream a military execution — before covering ICE’s escalating violence, including a shooting of an immigrant with a child in the car, and Trump’s incitement against Somali communities in Minnesota, which the hosts frame as deliberate race-baiting ahead of the midterms. Voting and polling news suggests a strong Democratic environment nationally, even as the hosts worry about interference and legitimacy. Locally, the conversation covers anti-trans attack ads in the Spartz-Ford congressional race, a chaotic Indiana Secretary of State contest, a shoplifting scandal engulfing a longtime state senator, and two statewide ballot questions on bail and judicial residency. They close by connecting youth-led protest movements in France, Spain, and India to the Cornell case back home, asking whether Americans are ready to take their own anger to the streets. Guest info: Sharon Wight: https://www.electsharonwight.com/ Reece Axel-Adams: https://reecespeace.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 at progressiveindiana.net. TABLE OF CONTENTS: 00:00:33 - Opening: Panelist Welcomes and Housekeeping 00:04:36 - Climate: Hurricane Isaias, Tropical Storm Rachel, and the Supreme Court Climate Suit 00:12:24 - Iran War: Aircraft Losses and the Fairford Bomber Pullout 00:19:24 - The USS Lincoln’s Homecoming and “Let Them Hit LA, SD” 00:25:39 - Russia: The Diesel Deal, Lukoil, and Trump’s Oligarch Envy 00:32:17 - Public Health: Russia’s Plague Scare, the Measles Surge, and RFK Jr.’s Antivax Push 00:42:04 - Propaganda: Taxpayer-Funded Ads, Kash Patel’s FBI, and the Fort Hood Firing Squad 00:51:38 - ICE-Immigration: The Stelson Smear and the Marble Hill Shooting 00:57:59 - Trump’s Minnesota “Race War” and the Insurrection Act 01:06:11 - Voting: Maricopa’s Ballot Error and Hegseth’s Election “Defense” and Midterm Polling 01:15:45 - Indiana Campaigns: Spartz-Ford and the Anti-Trans Ad Wars 01:25:53 - Secretary of State: Beau Bayh’s “More Jesus” Moment and the SoS Debate 01:34:13 - State Legislature: Ron Alting’s Shoplifting Scandal 01:44:06 - Indiana Ballot Questions: Bail and Judicial Residency 01:54:01 - Youth Protests: France, Spain, India, and Cornell 01:56:27 - Wrap-Up: Can America Take to the Streets? 02:04:40 - Sign-Off