Bette’s Weekly Roundup - Life During Wartime

A roundup of the week in news + a registration reminder for our ‘Speakeasy’ with filmmaker Jen Senko of “The Brainwashing of My Dad”

So I sent Marty the Bloomberg report on the declining fortunes of Russian oligarchs - because war - and here is what he said:

“Some of those oligarchs e.g. Timchenko & Rotenberg are fronting for Putin. So when they lose money, so does their friend and wanna be novo Russe emperor Putin. I would also note that this past year has been a bad one for Swiss banks - notably Credit Suisse - who have lost 10 figures with no credible explanations for their financial setbacks.

Can you think of any?

Fridman - Casablanca - fill in the blank!”-Martin Sheil, retired IRS criminal investigator and RadPod’s financial correspondent

How’s that for a sassy news breaker…

Okay, let’s get down to beeswax. For our new members, this roundup email is a Best of Bette for the week, so if you only have time to read one of my missives, this is it. If you are not yet a paid member, I included audio links to key reports available for free to all subscribers atm.

Dispatches from Ukraine - A Year In Reporting

It’s an important part of Bette Dangerous’ mission and RadPod’s mission to keep the Ukraine war front of mind. Americans have a short attention span, but as my Dispatches notes, we are a target nation of the same war and the Ukrainians are on the frontlines. It’s our duty to care and to support the people of this brave country. I collected the best reporting from the last 12 months and included it all in Dispatches.

Please read, listen, and share with friends.

As I wrote, war is hell, but people are wonderful. I believe that. People wherever you go are generally decent - some more so than others.

If you only retain two passages from Dispatches, please make them these:

“When Putin talks about de-Nazification, he means it is a threat,” said Michael MacKay, a Canadian academic/Ukraine scholar I interviewed on the eve of war. “What he is really saying is, ‘I’m going to do to you, Ukraine, what we did to Germany. I am going to rock your capital city like the Soviet Red Army did to Berlin until it is rubble.’ I will enslave your people… I will go on a rampage of mass killing, mass rape, and deportation, exactly as the Soviet Union. That is what de-Nazification means to them… This is not about an ideological reorientation, it means a war of annihilation that we have not seen since the Red Army or since ancient times.

“We have to convince ourselves that it’s never too late. At any stage, you can stand up and fight and do something. We can still stand with the Ukrainian people. You can always save what can still be saved. Where there’s life, there’s hope.”

Audio version here.

The Forever War - ‘Ukrainians Will Always Resist’

As I wrote this report on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine the skies in Los Angeles were weeping - a storm raged full of sound and fury, nature acting in solidarity with the Ukrainian people.

As I noted in Dispatches, I spent the eve of the war writing Putin’s War of Annihilation - A Decrepit Empire’s Last Stand - an interview with Canadian academic Michael MacKay who taught in Ukraine and has been closely documenting the war for nine years.

MacKay offered his thoughts with our community on the war’s anniversary. Here are excerpts:

Russians are waging war to commit genocide – to annihilate the Ukrainian and also the Crimean Tatar peoples. Russians will always escalate aggression and will never stop until they are stopped.

Ukrainians will always resist. They will fight to defend their home and native length with the indomitable spirit that is their national character.

Audio version here.

Once Upon a Time in the West - Brexit and Trump Were Russian Attacks

It has something to do with our belief that we are in control of our destiny - that the West is somehow immune to foreign influence at our highest levels, but that is simply not so.

As I evidenced in my Byline Supplement report, The Rolling Insurrection: How Putin is Waging a Covert War Against the West, Russia is always at war. The West took its guard down after the Cold War.

I brought an arsenal of receipts as I wrote about Brexit and Trump as Russian active measures. The first step for both of our countries is to admit we were attacked, prove we are still capable of ferocious accountability, and narrow our attack surface moving forward. Sending some inglorious treasony bastards to prison would be nice.

Audio version here.

Unhappy Rabbits - Putin, Prigozhin, Murdoch

Each time I see Putin, Prigozhin, and Murdoch, I see unhappy rabbits - attempting to remake the world in their miserable visages.

For a time, it may seem like they are winning. But I often reflect on these words from my friend Ruth May:

“Don’t worry. The story will end well. Evil people eventually turn inward and devour each other.”-Dr. Ruth C. May, author of How Putin’s Oligarchs Funneled Millions Into GOP Campaigns

Audio version here.

Thank You for Not Smoking Fox and Fox Is a Shithole Country

I think we will be viewing TV news harms the way we viewed smoking harms and fossil fuel harms - as a soul pollutant that caused mass psychosis. Combined with the digital poison fed into people’s minds via various tech platforms who mined our data, I think I am not overstating the problem.

Fox is a shithole country and if our leaders have any moxy, they will kick it out of America like they did RT. Why allow the continuation of something that has harmed millions of people - addicting them to outrage and othering as the world burns.

Both of these reports were in response to the Dominion Voting Systems court documents, revealing Fox and its anchors lied to the American people about the truth of the 2020 election. RadPod’s media correspondent, Milo, gave us an in-depth interview here.

Audio for Thank You for Not Smoking Fox here.

Audio for Fox Is a Shithole Country here.

Haunted Cities, Dark Shadows, and Sunbeams

Since embarking on this journey to root out the truth about the 2016 election, I have not looked at the beautiful cities of the world the same. I feel as if I’m peering down dark allies in a global film noir - New York, London, Beverly Hills, San Francisco - among the cities infected with the malignancy of dark money.

As war correspondent John Sweeney said in his Ukraine War Diary 351 about Londongrad, the city inside a city where dark Russian money hides:

“I have a simple ambition, and it is this - I want to burn down Londongrad - because Russian dark money is ruining my country and endangering the democratic world and helping to kill my Ukrainian friends.”

Same, John. I want to see our cities rise again without the infection of dark mob money. I used to dreamed of a day that Americans were forced to return all the oligarch cash laundered in the West back to the Russian people - return to sender.

As I wrote, I am grateful that Joe Biden is standing up to all of it - standing beside the people of Ukraine - standing in the breach as we fight against the darkening of our world.

Three additional stories to peruse:

• Bloomcore - a photo display of some amazing succulents

• A Loving Message to President Carter - the first former president to flat out state Trump was illegitimately elected because Russia.

• Ghost Stories - Un-Normalizing Mass Shootings - cognitive warfare and mass shootings are the same war. Audio version here.

• The Kindness of Strangers - Ep7 podcast is a bittersweet resistance memoir from my Maewestside archives

Lastly, if you haven’t already registered for Sunday’s Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ please do. All subscribers received an email invite and paid members can access the registration link at the bottom of that email. There’s still time to upgrade to a paid membership - unlocking all the print and podcast archives, and invites to our Zoom events, featuring special guests. Our special guest for the upcoming ‘Speakeasy’ is Jen Senko, filmmaker of “The Brainwashing of My Dad.”

Look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow, 2/26, at 4 pm PT.

Have a beautiful weekend, and as always stay kind, stay focused, and stay loud.

🤍

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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine and Substack bestseller. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you, as well, to those who support my work with coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. My reflection, Confessions of a ‘Fox Blonde’ was recently published in Byline Supplement. In a review of my latest ebook, the erotic novella Fox Undercover, I’ve been called “The punk rock Anaïs Nin” and author Greg Olear called it “The Big Sleep 2.0” except with “not so much sleep happening.”

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.