A ‘Cat-us’ Report and Sharing Is Caring
A ‘Cat-us’ Report and Sharing Is Caring
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Yesterday, at Bette’s Happy Hour with disinformation analyst Dietmar Pichler and geopolitical analyst Monique Camarra, I had the opportunity to share with the group an experience I had over the weekend. I was recruited to take care of four cats — three house cats and one stoop cat. From the moment I walked into their domain, a spell was cast upon me. I succumbed to exhaustion, and spent two days napping on and off — in between, catching beach sunsets.
I understand there is science behind this, and that the purring of cats has a therapeutic effect, causing vibrations that aid in physical healing. All I know is any plans I had of powering through the weekend with work were sleepily squashed. So I surrendered to a kind of catnapping stupor.
By Saturday at 7:30 pm, fully refreshed, I sat down to write what I believe is the most important report I have produced in the past decade: my highlighted excerpts from Bella Fromm’s Berlin diary, Blood & Banquets.
I pressed send at 11:58 pm, satisfied that I had given you an important summary and then crawled into bed. That’s when the largest and most aloof member of the cat quartet decided I would make a fine futon, and slept under my chin.
There was some kind of magic.
Sunday arrived, and I was back interviewing guests for RadPod — our interview with Greg Palast is a banger — and then I took the train to Union Station to gawk at a 1927 train, while dipping into Philippe’s for a famous original french dip sandwich and pickled beets.
By Monday morning, two of my reports had gone viral, thanks to some powerful historians and activists, who understand that what we are experiencing is not politics but actual war against democracy.
So to those of you who support me here, I want to say thank you, not only for your support but also your belief in me.
I am nearing 5,000 subscribers, surpassed 750 paid and gifted memberships, and this month, people in 80 countries and 50 states viewed Bette Dangerous 150,000 times. My renewal rate continues to hold strong at 75% and that means so much to me. I know how hard it is to help support Democratic candidates in an election year, while also spending your hard earned cash on supporting independent writers. Each time I see a renewal succeed, I am so grateful.
Paid memberships have allowed me to remove the paywall on a year’s worth of investigations. I have made a commitment on my personal substack to release each new investigation for free. And now that it’s been confirmed that the people I investigate receive millions of dollars from Russian agents, I feel better about passing the hat and asking for upgrades. To the Founding Members, we have some amazing Founder’s Day guests coming up — my way of thanking my premium supporters.
Today, I am asking all subscribers to please share my reports with your networks. That helps me spread the word so much.
As I was watching the US Helsinki Commission hearing on Russia’s ‘Shadow War’ on NATO, I thought to myself, there is nothing shadow about this war. War is war. The entire United States has been blanketed by information warfare, and I am glad to see we are finally talking about it, and it is my hope, this will lead to serious action.
“Russian covert influence activities are not journalism.”—US State Department
Yesterday, a famous historian ask me what I thought we should do in this moment.
I said, arrest and detain Donald Trump, JD Vance, and Elon Musk — learn from history. Let the world know that we see their fascist games and their fascist alliances — it’s what Germany should have done when they had the chance. We need to do something about it, ruthlessly.
“Even now, there are those who say it cannot happen here in America. But it can. It can happen here! It can happen anywhere, unless you do something about it ruthlessly. The secret of these so-called supermen is bluff; their potent formula is to weaken through fear. Call their bluff… they are only men, cruel men, power-greedy men; and they can be disposed of the way any band of criminals is disposed of.
“We who have lived through this in Germany perhaps feel it more keenly than you do. Yet there was a time when we were as you, when the gangsters had not yet made us prisoners, when the bullies had not yet cowed us. That would have been the time to stop them there. And now is the time to stop them here.”—Bella Fromm, New York City, 1943
In the meantime, I look forward to committing to the labor of democracy with all of you, and crushing this extremist insurgency at the polls.
Our vote is important, and that is why it is under attack.
We can learn from history what not to do, starting with treating the attacks on our country with anything less than the urgency it deserves.
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More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter/producer, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
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Begin each day with a grateful heart.
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Saturday’s sunset. I try not to miss the beauty.
