London Calling — Bette On the Road
But first, some words to keep on truckin’ as we fight Information World War
***Please take out a membership to support the light of truth.***
bury me in the future,
when the inelegance
of these times,
a bitter memory fades.
(“the activist”, a poem by me, inspired by “the soldier” by rupert brooke, tweeted 11:10 pm, September 22, 2019)
Despondent on a September night in 2019, when it seemed like the vast criminality of the Trump regime would never end, I tweeted out that poem. I was at a late-night eatery, and I had been watching the days turn into nights as an activist for three straight years, working 24/7 to expose Trump Russia. As a cinephile, I had just watched the World War I film, All the King’s Men (1999), and was deeply moved by Rupert Brooke’s poem, “The Soldier.” I’d already considered myself a war veteran by then — a veteran of the Invisible War, or the Great Information War — which I have now been fighting for eight years.
A year after I wrote that poem, America did something beautiful — we voted out a dictator in the middle of autocratic capture.
We did that.
We didn’t obey in advance, and we didn’t languish in fear. We didn’t panic, even when the radicalized arrived in Washington at the bidding of monsters.
I work in teams and have met the greatest people from sea to sea, who fight hard and long into the night in defense of democratic governance. Today, RadPod interviewed a brilliant disinformation researcher from Vienna. Each time we build our network, I am fortified. He gave us the gift of these words — we are in an Information World War. I plan to defend all that is good and decent with the best words I can detonate.
We have been given many gifts in recent days — the gift of David Pepper today, who reminded us we’ve been in worse spots, and we overcame it all. Brent Allpress gifted us the words that we vote so we can vote again. And the brilliant Gal Suburban gave us this stunner — we have to do a better job of telling how we’re winning.
We are winning, it just doesn’t feel like it, because we are in an information war, and our SCOTUS has been captured. We can impeach those criminals if we defend democratic governance this November.
Today, while I was interviewed on Byline Radio with my friend Tom Carter, and later interviewed by Mark Thompson, my former colleague from Fox 11, I celebrated reality. Rudy Giuliani was disbarred today, and Steve Bannon is in prison. No amount of Stalinist lies can deny us that.
I will share the interviews when I have the links. I will also post the interviews with our recent guests for Bette members so you too can experience the euphoria I feel each time we are given the gifts of action steps to take in narrative warfare.
As subscribers know, I have removed the paywall on a year’s worth of investigations, but if you would like to join our community events, please subscribe. It helps me.
And as I leave for London to join the Byline Festival as a panelist, just a quick note to thank supporters for your upgrades to Founding Member and each and every donation of support.
I expose the billionaires who are trying to destroy our world for their gain, and as I told Mark Thompson today, corporate and hedge fund media is not only incapable of doing the work independent investigative reporters are doing, they are actively sabotaging democracy. They think fascism will be good for them, and they are incorrect — just look at Hungary.
As we discussed with our guest from Vienna, this work is destiny.
Today, a despondent member reached out to me, concerned the GOTV work he is doing may not be enough to stave off the greed of men trying to capture the US.
So I gifted him these words, from Ruth Ben-Ghiat:
We are in a dangerous situation, but we must face it head on, and knowing what could happen lets us organize to defend ourselves and educate others. It is important to understand how strongmen and their enablers think, because this can sometimes let you predict how they will behave in the future, or at least have insight into the range of options they will pursue.
Each of us can stand our ground in our own way, but the lessons that come to us from a century of authoritarian rule around the world – and the civil rights movement in America – meet up in one phrase: Do not lose hope. Do not hide away. Be visible and be heard, on the street and in phone calls to your elected officials.—Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Lucid and Strongmen
And then I shared some words of my own:
Despair is the enemy of action. These billionaires are criminals and if the law doesn’t get them karma will — the evil people always devour each other, and therefore, we must keep at it until such a day…
Gandhi reminds us that all dictators fall, and we have an opportunity to prevent the worst but not if we obey in advance — we must all do just a little bit more. Keep on trucking dear friend and I will too.—hsc
As Rupert Brooke wrote during the other Great War, of that place for which I depart — England, which is about to kick some gaddam Tory arse this week after 14 brutal years of conservative rule:
If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.
And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.
Do not despair, this is just the passing of greed.
We’ve made it this far. Let’s get organized, so the promise of America continues to the light the way into the future.
****
****
Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you to everyone helping subsidize my excellent summer “workation” by doing the following:
Share my reporting with allies
Buying my ebooks — here’s a promo code: Birthday-Special
A private link to an annual membership discount for older adults, those on fixed incomes or drawing disability, as well as activists and members of the media is available upon request at bettedangerous/gmail. 🥹
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.
🤍
Begin each day with a grateful heart.
🤍
Yo’ girl… ✈️ 🇬🇧
Looks like you'll be in great company in London! Heidi, your authentic stories of lived experience and your sharing here of others' writings that inspire you really hit home, especially after our brainstorming/heartstorming with David Pepper during today's Bette's Happy Hour about "How do we do this?"
Happy Travels!!