Bette’s Weekly Roundup - The FAFO Edition

The only email that matters - but do read all the others please xo

Thanks to the kindness of this community, I was able to gift another subscription.

Kindness is contagious - the gifting program is going strong, and thank you to everyone for your support.

Along with the emotional trauma that goes along with watching a country we love under assault from foreign villains and domestic traitors, many members of our community are suffering from health issues.

I believe the mere fact that we are building community offers comfort in the struggle.

Bette member Martin Sheil once shared these words from Seamus Heaney with me, and I will share them with you:

History says, don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up,
And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea-change
On the far side of revenge.
Believe that further shore
Is reachable from here.
Believe in miracles
And cures and healing wells.

I believe in miracles and cures and healing wells - sending them to all who can use a boost.

For our new members, this is the one email I recommend you read each week, as I do my best to roundup my key reporting of the week. Bette Dangerous is a magazine, and I write as news breaks, and I also include long-form investigations, as well as showcasing the work I do for Byline Supplement, Byline Times, and RadPod, an investigative show I coproduce on disinformation.

I realize we have many busy community members, so I write this summary as a hack to information. Luckily, each post I send is read by about half our members, which is a pretty good batting average.

Alright, here is your week in news:

All Of Us Together

I am still kinda pinching myself that we got a 90-minute pep rally with David Pepper, the author of ‘Laboratories of Autocracy - A Wake Up Call from Behind the Lines’, who explained to our community how statehouses are weaponized and how “the statehouse is the national front line.”

He asked a very simple question about democracy: “Do we give enough of a shit to fight for it - because if we do - we need to fight back.”

We need to stop allowing ourselves to be distracted and bullied and realize the power lies within us to strengthen our democratic systems.

Pepper listed many ways we can participate in the labor of democracy, and for those who were unable to attend our Easter Sunday ‘Speakeasy’ zoom, Pepper will be coming back in May when he releases his next book, aptly called ‘Saving Democracy.’

In the few short months since I launched this magazine, our guests have been phenomenal - Craig Unger, Jen Senko, Wes Clark Jr. Jason Van Tatenhove, Dr. Ian Garner, and Martin Sheil. Next Sunday, April 23, we will be joined by Dr. Mia Bloom, author of Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon. The ‘Speakeasy’ zooms are for paid members, and there is still time to get 25% off an annual membership to receive an invite.

Read My Reports - Fight Fascism

We have so many new members that I was asked to put together a compilation of some of my key investigative reporting from the past two years. Please take the time to read through the material, because it explains the scope of what we are fighting. We are in an undeclared war, and the authoritarian right in America is working with foreign enemies to turn America into a fascist dystopia to hide their corruption in service to fossil fuel interests.

That they cloak themselves in the flag to obscure their villainy is classic fash.

As my podcast partner High Fidelity says, “We are facing a global plot by a group of billionaire super villains, corrupt megalomaniacal politicians, former military personnel and a whole shitload of trolls and psychopaths who are attempting to destabilize the world and overthrow liberal democracy.”

Our job is to stand in the breach.

I have produced an entire series on how we Fight Fascism and the links to the series are included in this Reports post.

Dissident Power - Beating Back Bullies

We saw a lot of people power in recent days - from Wisconsin to Tennessee to New York giving Trump a resounding unwelcome - we must never forget that the majority of people in this country do not want what the authoritarian right is pushing. Their policies are unpopular, and right now, as the Florida Fascist DeSantis tries to outflank Trump to the right by signing his dark-of-night six-week abortion ban - flip the script and say to yourself, “At least we know he will never be president.”

Two-thirds of this country do not want their hateful policies. DeSantis can never leave Florida, and I hope that Florida gives him the big white boot. Floridians do not want his hateful policies.

States that have been subjected to dirty maps end up with dirty leaders - as we are seeing in Tennessee - with the GOP getting unwanted sunlight.

I have a story running Monday in Byline Supplement that will bury Trump forever. Cue Taps. FAFO.

Please take the time to read Dissident Power - we still have a chance in America.

I am certain I am not the only one whose heart swelled with pride at the hero’s welcome Joe Biden received in Ireland today. Well done, Joe.

RadPod Breaker - An Interview with Sleaford Mods

I have often said on these pages that it will be the artists, musicians, filmmakers, poets, and historians that save us, and I tracked down Jason Williamson of the UK band, Sleaford Mods, while he was touring stateside to do an interview on RadPod. His new album, UK Grim, documents the political shitshow in his home country, as well as the impacts disinformation and radicalization are having on people.

Jason told us: “Our government is completely broken down, it’s like a headless snake, it doesn’t know what it’s doing, it’s completely out of control, it’s transparently corrupt. It’s really weighing heavy on the psychology of the English public and the country really.”

I am grateful to artists like Jason who are willing to join us in the fight.

And now, I’m going to sink into a French film - ‘Mort d’un pourri’ - another George Lautner film. I just finished studying his 1961 movie, ‘The Black Monocle’, which featured a bunch of fascists having a Nazi reunion post-World War II.

They were foiled by ‘spooks’ - French, Russian, and German spies - and all the bad guys died in the end.

Fascism never goes away on its own - it must be defeated.

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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. A private link to group activist discounts available upon request by contacting bettedangerous@gmail.com.

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, April 23, 4 pm PT, featuring ‘Pastels and Pedophiles - Inside the Mind of QAnon’ author Dr. Mia Bloom. If you join us before midnight tomorrow night with an annual membership, you will save 25% for the year.

(Below, a French spy is saved by a Russian spy, and together they defeat a cell of post-war fascists in 1961’s The Black Monocle)