Bette’s Weekly Round-Up - Feeling Lucky

We are crushing it

At some point we’re going to have to take a group conscience - open up likes and comments again and endure the scatological depravity of trauma merchants or just keep the room quiet until Substack gets it sh*t together.

As this community knows, only paid subscribers can comment but anyone can like a post. In order to shut off the attack that occurred on my Substack at 12:28 am PT Saturday morning, Substack offers one option - block likes and comments from everyone.

I am certain Substack security will get back to me at some point with a better idea…

I documented the evidence of the hit, and it will be easy for their admin to identify and block the Substack accounts created to engage in targeted harassment of me and our community, but the attackers are already creating more accounts, more offensive emails for me to block, so… unless Substack has a miracle cure, we may just to have endure them sh*tting on our lawn with ‘likes’ by foul-named, and pooping avatars in order to maintain direct communication.

In the words of Hemingway, anything that was ever any good you pay for, and what we built here is good. I want this to be a safe space for our community, and will keep trying to make it so.

To all the new members, I am so glad you are here. I have opened up key archival stories for everyone to share with those who wish to help fight the fascist creep. I figured the best way I could fight back was by pushing out the content that their evil masters don’t want people reading.

I have been telling you we are at war for some time now, and the war showed up.

To borrow a Trotsky quote, you might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. So we push on.

‘Face the Music’

Before I get to the Best of Bette for this past week, I must tell you two stories. When I was recovering from the hit I took in 2018 after being targeted with a life-destroying malinformation campaign for trying to get Dana Rohrabacher out of Congress, I took a job raising money for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

I told the manager I was an activist and he said, “Greaaaat!” I will love him forever and forever btw. I am telling you this because the Los Angeles Philharmonic healed me right up. I had access to performances at the Hollywood Bowl and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, I have seen the greatest conductors from around the world perform the greatest music ever written. I have watched the magic that is Gustavo Dudamel as he elevates off the riser - suspended in space and time - the greatest star of our lifetime. I have seen my reflection on the patent leather shoes of violinist Martin Chalifour at a dress rehearsal. I once had season tickets in orchestra west.

I’ve been lucky.

But last night, I saw Zubin Mehta conduct Mahler 3 and despite the sleep I lost fighting the scat dweebs - mostly because I was worried about you - I just wanted to tell you I was fully present for all of it, all 100 minutes. I dressed to the nines, and surrendered to the music. Mehta is 86, and from the moment he shuffled on stage - cane in hand - he received his first standing ovation - one of four he would receive. I have never seen/heard anything like what I saw last night. I’ve heard Mahler 1 and 2, but never 3. Think, lightness, darkness, nature, Neitzsche, and love.

Like I said, I am lucky.

Secondly, RadPod interviewed Dr. Ian Garner today. I am aware of the fact that I say this every week but omg - another brilliant interview in the can. Garner wrote Z Generation: Into the Heart of Russia’s Fascist Youth about the techniques the Russian Federation is using to brainwash its children to hate (among them, influencers + Telegram). I will have a lot to share with you after we drop Ep63 tomorrow, but there are lessons in here for America, too many parallels, and things we can do to pressure our leaders to turn off the radicalization channels.

You must know, I miss reading your comments, but I have been receiving amazing emails. One member of the Bette community who wrote to me said:

“The trolls didn't bother me, because I know what they are trying to do. Not working with me in the least. I used to be more frightened by darkness. Now, the greater clarity you and your colleagues reveal increases my courage.”

That’s the spirit.

Without further adieu, here are the stories Putin and his Fifth Column traitors don’t want you to read. Please share with everyone you know, and please consider taking out a subscription to my Substack to support independent investigative reporting and raconteuring. To all our new members, it gets better lol. xo

How I Lost My Father to Fox News

Recall that personal story I mentioned I was writing for Byline Supplement on Friday? Well, this is that story, and it gave me all the feels. I realized as I was writing it that Fox News and “bloviating angry right-wing hosts” - as Jen Senko noted - stole many of our fathers, and then when the daughters fight back, they come for us. Sure sounds fash, to me.

In this report, I wrote:

“We're not trying to convince people that Fox is hurting America. Most people already know that. Our message is that it's not hopeless - that together, Americans can and must put the brakes on the Murdochs,” Laura DeLaurier, of the grassroots activist group Truth Tuesdays.

When I think of the Murdoch clan, I often reflect on these words by F. Scott Fitzgerald from The Great Gatsby:

“They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”

Some of these stains are permanent.

‘Putin’s Bankers’ Face the Music - As Cellist Hits Sour Note

In a first ever, the West is going after Putin’s cash - by charging Zurich bankers for allegedly not doing their due diligence by allowing Putin’s cellist pal to stash tens of millions of dollars on his behalf.

Here is an excerpt:

I have often thought that if the Russian people who have been hermetically sealed off from reality for decades learned that Putin was the world’s richest man, having thieved their wealth for decades, having been stealing from the very beginning - stealing money meant to aid starving citizens in St. Petersburg - they might actually do something. They might do something collectively about their lot in life rather than sending their sons and husbands off to die as their gluttonous leader continues to steal other people’s lives, wealth, countries.

So as news breaks that Swiss prosecutors charged four bankers for offering a safe harbor for Putin’s millions we see a break in the tradition of covert offshoring.

This is excellent news, following on the heels of a week where I reported on how ‘elite defection’ has begun, which is a sign of the end of Putin. That this is all occurring on the eighth anniversary of the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov has a kind of poetic justice to it.

Read the full report for an exclusive interview with Martin Sheil, retired IRS criminal investigator.

‘The Masses Have to Be Won By Propaganda’ - How Fear and Victimhood Are Weaponized

Part of my ‘Fight Fascism’ toolkit includes secret fascist decoder pins to help smoke out the techniques used by extremists to try to win votes.

I wrote: Those selling fear, othering, victimhood - they cannot win on facts, or substance, or ideas - they’re devoid of facts, substance, or ideas - all they have is propaganda.

I include a 2017 report on the Munich Post - which diligently exposed Hitler and was the first to warn of his ‘final solution’ plans - from my friend Ron Rosenbaum, who wrote these words:

“I reflected on how fragile democratic institutions could be in the face of organized hatred.”

I will keep exposing the techniques each week - I can see you all are quick learners, as I watch many of you on social media start calling out those who are using the fascist playbook. At the end of this report, is a comprehensive list of all my ‘fight fascism’ reports to date.

It is important to note that they are getting more extreme quickly - trying to grab headlines so we ignore what is happening in statehouses. I got my eye on them, and I got your back.

Bette Dangerous Podcast Ep13 - ‘The Silence of the Grave’ - Remembering Boris Nemtsov

I originally published this report on February, 2, 2023, and here is an excerpt:

Last week marked the eighth anniversary of the assassination of Russia’s last great hope - Boris Nemtsov - the opposition leader who defied Putin, who recognized him as a thief, and who wanted to mobilize the Russian people toward a “peaceful path to democracy.”

On February 27, 2015, on the eve of a protest Nemtsov was set to lead against Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, he was assassinated in front of the Kremlin - four bullets to his back. His assassins didn’t have the courage to face him…

Please read the full report. Putin is still haunted by Nemtsov, and it’s showing, as I wrote in this week’s Elite Defection - The End of Putin report.

Spy v. Spy - ‘Wray on Primetime’ - A Murdoch-Putin Production

This is all spectacle, slight of hand, a Murdoch-Putin Production…

Christopher Wray provides cover for Fox’s lies, he bolsters Trump and Putin’s China narrative - encouraging people to look away from the obvious Russian infection.

As I wrote: Wray’s doing a nice job of reputation washing - his reputation, Murdoch’s reputation, and Putin’s reputation. He was, after all, ‘likely’ pushing Kremlin propaganda that our other intelligence agencies have deemed a ‘low confidence assessment.’

Reputation washing Fox News during the most damning week of the network’s history.

These are desperate men, doing desperate things, trying to cover up their incompetence or complicity in crimes against the United States.

My friend Wes Clark Jr. said it best:

“The FBI needs a new director who can mercilessly clean house of the incompetent and corrupt.”-Wes Clark Jr.

Read the full report for the entire list to my Spy v. Spy series which focuses on Charles McGonigal and the FBI’s abject failure.

Meat Is Murdoch - Fox’s History of Lies

In Confessions of a Fox Blonde, I wrote about the first time I quit Fox. I wrote a punk song called ‘Meat Is Murdoch’ - a riff off the Smiths’ ‘Meat Is Murder.’

In Thank You for Not Smoking Fox and Fox Is a Shithole Country, I wrote about the Industrial Outrage Complex, and the masses of outrage junkies created by Fox News. Fox Fürhers Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch had addicted their audience to right-wing victimhood, which is a fascist trope.

Here is an excerpt from Meat Is Murdoch:

The fallout from the Dominion Voting Systems court filings indicates there is a far bigger story that needs to be told. Fox has been lying to the American public for years - Fox is the real Lügenpresse.

In Meat is Murdoch, I reveal multiple studies that prove Fox stars have blood on their hands.

The Economic Terrorism of Targeted Harassment Campaigns

When the scat dweebs show up, they’re like the soot gremlins in Miyazaki’s films - dirty, plentiful, but not so nice. They are designed to cause fear and depravity, and to make you want to abandon me. It didn’t work out so good for them. This community is made of tougher stuff, and I am grateful.

Many of you stepped up your support, and I have lost count of new members.

When I launched this Substack, it was a bet on myself. I used Steve Martin’s words as a mantra of encouragement, “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

Well, I seem to have gotten their attention.

Onward and upward.💘

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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you as well to all those who support my work with your generous coffee tips and who buy my ebooks.

More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, 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.

Save the date! The next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, March 12, 4 pm PT. We invite special guests in the fight for truth and democracy, and it’s an amazing hour. If you are not yet a paid subscriber, please consider joining. You’ll receive invites, access to all archives, and comments.

(Zubin Mehta taking his third bow last night at the Walt Disney Concert Hall)