ICYMI - RadPod’s ‘Vatnik Soup’, ‘A Requiem for a Frenemy’, Rudy’s Yucks, and Ducks On a Pond
ICYMI - RadPod’s ‘Vatnik Soup’, ‘A Requiem for a Frenemy’, Rudy’s Yucks, and Ducks On a Pond
Crushing Vatniks and Nazis is my sweet spot
Omg I am looking so forward to seeing members of this community today at Bette’s Weekly Happy Hour. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so here. If you’re not yet a member, what are you waiting for? You’ll get a lot of useful news for your buck while also navigating life during wartime with allies.
As I mentioned in Bette’s Weekly Roundup, I have been bizzy! I have been tapped to write memoirs about Hollywood nightlife - I was the nightclub columnist for the Los Angeles Times for 15 years - and my how the days go by. If you want to get emo with me, I recommend listening to the Offspring’s song of the same name, Days Go By.
‘Memories In the Wind’
I can’t even. I just love this song so much. It’s not lost on me that I’m becoming friends with the Offspring’s guitarist on Twitter - united by punk and a love of our imperfect democracy - because despite how intentionally that Vatnik Elon Musk is smashing it up, we still find our allies. We still share beautiful moments.
So speaking of Vatniks - those who spread Russia’s lies - today, in Byline Supplement, is part two of my investigation into Elon Musk’s takeover of the Twitter operation.
Here is part one:
Here is part two:
‘Requiem for a Frenemy’ is paywalled, and if you can afford to support a small vital team of investigative journos, please take out a subscription. If you’re nickels down at the moment, the good people at Byline Supplement allow me to share the article upon request with my community here. So if you can’t afford a subscription to Byline Supplement but are a paid member of the Bette community, please reach out to me at bettedangerous@gmail.com, and I will send you the report.
Here is a brief excerpt from the report:
‘Digital Wacos’
“Musk is actively working against America,” technologist Joshua Fidel told Byline Supplement. “He obfuscates his actions, but he’s like the Vaudeville magicians whose tricks always fail spectacularly but the zombified audience keeps hoping the next one will work. How many chances do we have to give him before people realize he’s a fraud?”
Fidel, who is a co-host of RADICALIZED Truth Survives podcast with me, cautioned that “Twitter Spaces are nothing more than digital Wacos.”
“I don’t know any democracy that has survived a hostile authoritarian state taking over their communication networks,” said Wes Clark Jr.
“Musk’s project SpaceX with its Starlink communications system would not exist without money spent by the US government,” said Canadian academic Michael MacKay. “The late, great Canadian politician David Lewis would have described Elon Musk as a ‘corporate welfare bum’. He presents himself as an entrepreneur but Musk is dependent on the state like a welfare recipient.”
The Pandora’s box unleashed by Musk makes me squint when opening Twitter — the trauma is real — but tonight, as I took a writing break to walk to a local market, I tweeted about how they were playing the Damned and the Violent Femmes, how it was the place to be for lonely hearts on a Friday night.
I got so many beautiful responses.
Musk’s malevolence may be adding to the dystopian discourse, but he can’t kill the human spirit.
And that’s how I feel about that.
To those who already subscribe to Byline Supplement, please share the report widely and please quote tweet from my brilliant sources.
In addition, while you are there, please read Stephen Douglas’ ‘Disinfolklore’ report. It’s a game changer in framing Russia’s culture of lying within a folklore framework. It makes it very easy to explain to people who may be unaware of our invisible war and it’s profound impacts on everyone. In cogntive warfare, there are no rear areas.
‘Lying On Purpose’
I know many of y’all already fancy me, but my dudes, I am bringing you the most important 53 minutes of your life right now! I have been writing often about becoming ungaslightable, and I will make it even easier for you to join me by introducing you to Pekka Kallioniemi, the creator of ‘Vatnik Soup’.
Please watch RadPod’s interview with him nowish. Would be great if you watched before our Happy Hour so we can discuss. I’m not trying to give you homework, but I’m trying to give you homework. Lol.
Pekka wanted to try to do something helpful for the Ukrainian people from his home country of Finland, and as a postdoctoral researcher at Tampere University of Applied Sciences, he began identifying Russian propagandists. When you crack open his website, you will find many Americans who wrap themselves in our flag as they do the work of the Kremlin.
As they lie on purpose.
Having a repository with many of the people who harass me and my various team members on that list is like manna from heaven.
I ask each of you to watch, absorb, share, and please consider supporting the work we do at RadPod by joining our monthly patreon.
I ask that you also consider a coffee donation to support Pekka’s vital work. What we all have in common is we are parents who do not want our children growing up in a fascist hellscape, as Jim Stewartson so eloquently puts it.
Join me in reciting that phrase from Pekka, often - ‘lying on purpose’ - a most pernicious thing to do to people, which as our Ukraine soldier friend, Volodymr Demchenko said puts liars in the lowest rung of hell because they force people to live in a false reality.
Couple items before I sign off:
I was listening to an old punk rocker yesterday, who reminded me of a core tenet of my being:
If you like what I do, great. If you don’t, that’s okay. The main this is, I like what I do. And along the way, I have learned to like me. Anonymous accounts are continuously trying to discredit me by finding work I wrote when I was a financial and economic reporter from a decade ago. I even like that girl, too. I am a sum of all my parts and experiences, and all the things that make me, me - that make me durable in fighting this war.
Each night, I go to bed grateful I am not a traitor taking money from the Russians.
‘The Swamptopus’
Today, I am grateful that I have spent years exposing Rudy Giuliani - please do enjoy this video. It was unsurprising to me that a woman who said she was the victim of domestic abuse also said she was abused by Rudy Giuliani, as revealed in court documents yesterday. These are patterns I have reported on for decades, and I have often said, what we are witnessing is massive cover for the transnational human trafficking industry. Elon Musk getting a subpoena for documents from the US Virgin Islands regarding their Jeffrey Epstein investigation is well, rather curious, I dare say.
If you missed my exclusive interview with Elon Musk in Bette’s Weekly Roundup, please read. 💩
So let’s give Marty the second to the last word.
Martin Sheil, a retired IRS criminal investigator, who worked with Rudy in the ‘80s, has often recalled a man who was once very sharp.
Here is what Marty had to say about Rudy’s troubles, upon reading the court docs:
This reads like a parody or another Borat episode.
What has become of America’s mayor?
I must admit I like the short shorts but with the American flag on them, but sheesh Rudy you are done.
Big question: How long before some of these tapes are leaked?
America could use some yuks to say nothing of yucks.
If you have not read the court documents yet, light some sage and make sure you have a support group - or better yet, join us at Bette’s Happy Hour tonight.
‘Ducks On a Pond’
Last note: when I was a producer at Fox 11 I created a series called Foxx Roxx, which brought our viewers into the hottest clubs in Hollywood. There was a time when the queens owned the night, and I shot a two-part series on Club Make-Up, a legendary drag spectacular that I wrote about in my recent Byline Supplement article titled, Reversing History - The US Authoritarian Right’s War on LGBTQ+ People’.
I was so proud of the series I filmed that I showed it to my mother. It was wild and dazzling and a lot for her to absorb.
Upon reviewing it, my mother said: “Can’t you just do ducks on a pond?”
So on my Mother’s Day hike to my happy place, a hidden pond in the heart of my angel city, I filmed ducks on a pond. Behold.
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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 an annual membership discount for activists and members of the media is available upon request.
Two big thank yous: thank you to all my friends who have supported Bette community member Jason Van Tatenhove’s gofundme. Jason - who testified to the January 6 Committee about violent extremism - lost his wife a few days ago, and all your kind donations are helping to offset funeral costs. In addition, thank you to the Bette community members who have been donating to Jim Stewartson’s donorbox to help with legal fees to fight the lawsuit that Mike Flynn brought against Jim. We are extremely grateful.
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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.
The next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, May 21, 4 pm PT, featuring geopolitical analyst Monique Camarra, cohost of Kremlin File and WTF podcast, as well as the daily EuroFile Report. Monique will update us on Italy’s ‘Soft Fascism’ and the Ukraine war, which she documents daily.
Paid members will also receive invites to our new weekly Bette’s Happy Hour, a wellness checkin. Today’s checkin is at 5 pm, PT, and a registration invite was sent to members on this morning.
Thank you to everyone - you have no idea how grateful I am for all your montly and annual memberships and all your additional support. You know who you are💘🥹.
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“I say a silent prayer of thanksgiving as I walk upon the earth.”-Audrey Peterman.
“May the viral hope for truth and humanity wash away the chaos of these years.”-S.C., Bette community member
“Something Sacred never dies in almost all of us, that can hear the invitation of Truth…”-words from a Bette Dangerous community member
“Nothing but blue skies from now on…”-Irving Berlin
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(Please enjoy this image from Randy Rainbow’s latest video dissent featuring Mickey giving the ‘chin flick’ to Ron DeSantis)
