Registration for David Pepper ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom

Looking forward to seeing paid members Sunday, 4 pm PT, for an hour with David Pepper, author of ‘Laboratories of Autocracy’. Plus, postcards from the edge

****Registration for our ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom with David Pepper for paid members is at the bottom of this missive. It’s not too late to join us and become a paid member.****

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I spoke with a dear friend yesterday, who was the first in line to get the COVID vaccine when it became available. He proudly got the booster as soon as he qualified. Admittedly, I have been busy on the frontlines of the battle for democracy, so it’s been a minute since I called to check in.

Midway through a polite convo he said, “I’m never getting another jab.”

Oh no. Heart sank. He just said, “Jab,” I thought to myself.

I said, “What do you mean?”

He said, “Well I’ve been watching Rumble and … “

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuug.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I started to explain that Rumble is a Kremlin propaganda tool owned by Peter Thiel and JD Vance, and it’s banned in France and when America banned RT, it was picked up by Rumble and and and and … and he started telling me about “Died Suddenly” and as I am typing this my fingers are weeping because they picked off another one. A perfectly kind and decent soul who somehow made his way to Rumble after the “wellness” experts he followed got banned from YouTube.

I sent him my recent investigation on the origins of anti-vaxx, anti-science propaganda, but I already knew he wouldn’t read it. I could hear it in his voice. He was addicted to their propaganda, and as we know from Ruth, propaganda is never just words. I sent him the link anyway.

How Russia Joined With Anti-Vaxxers to Wage Biological Warfare by Proxy Against the West

I know my friends here do not underestimate the severity of our problem. I am following Dr. Hassan’s best practices, and keeping him close. We immediately switched to the subject we have in common: film noir. He promised to watch Ida Lupino in ‘Road House’, which I had just finished studying for the second time (Richard Widmark is in his Tommy Udo psycho phase; Lupino the goddess-waif whispering torch songs).

As each Substack post I tweet with a URL obfuscating its origins is now met with a Twitter Gestapo warning, I am encouraging you to tell friends to click “continue” when the threatening pop up pops up.

We are in a world of hurt, but we knew it was coming, and we have to support each other more intensely than ever.

A loving shoutout to Bette members who bought gift subscriptions for new members - we now have a retired Cambridge professor among our latest lottery winners, a gentleman suffering from Parkinson’s who is going in for surgery this week (pray for him please), and an ex-pat living in New Zealand - a country I dream of visiting because I am told it’s like California in the ‘70s, which if I could just go back to for just one day…

Thank you thank you thank you for your generosity! If anyone else wishes to gift a subscription, here are ways to do so:

Gifting Bette

Okay! Are we downhearted? A thousand times no!

Author and politico David Pepper is going to give each of us inspiration on what we can do to save our democracy. We have the power in numbers to crush the authoritarian right, and he will teach us how we go on offense in our statehouses and in our communities.

As most of you know, I served as a campaign manager last year in community politics and helped get a city councilwoman elected who is working with our woman mayor to ensure a brighter future for Los Angeles. We each in our own way with our own tenacity and skills can be the difference.

Paid members please register for the ‘Speakeasy’ below. Do not forward the link, and as always, these are not recorded. They are like a good party - you either made it, or you heard about it.

It’s not too late to join the Bette community with an annual membership at 20% off. You will receive access to the archives - all my content is paywalled after two weeks - private author-member chats, and invites to our ‘Speakeasy’ zooms, which feature the greatest minds of our times in the battle for the soul of our country.

In addition, due to personal security issues, I am purging the free list of any accounts that do not have a profile or support any other Substacks, so please do consider joining and if you’re nickels down, send a letter to bettedangerous@gmail.com, with verification that you are a real person, and we will enter you in the lottery to win a free membership. I also offer activist rates, so please inquire about that as well.

Looking forward to seeing many of you tomorrow. Onward and upward!

xo

Heidi 💘🇺🇸🐰