Today Is a Good Day for the Rule of Law
On the heels of the FBI arrest of a former FBI officer for his role in the Insurrection, violent Jan 6 friends of Mike Flynn and Roger Stone were convicted for seditious conspiracy. Woo hoo
(Letter from a Bette Dangerous subscriber)
Dear Heidi,
I have a situation where I happen to work for a sheriffs department with well over a hundred officers and I have watched many overcome with a mind virus. It not only took hold of their personalities but it actually started to shape department policy. I won’t bore you with atrocities. Just wanted to say I respect the hell out of what you do and who you are.
Name withheld
This is an example of the letters I receive from Bette Dangerous members, who have watched their colleagues, superiors, and family members go down the QAnon rabbit hole.
I just learned that another friend of mine - that makes two in recent weeks - has gone full QAnon. He was suffering from a bad breakup, turned to online chat rooms for comfort, and was vulnerable and lured in. As I write often on these pages, they are picking brains off one at a time and at scale.
‘Propaganda Is Never Just Words’
“Propaganda is never just words, and it goes beyond lying. It is a system of organizing belief so people come to see the world in ways that benefit the leader and his party.”-Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Ruth demystifies the intent. Propaganda is never just words, and anyone who is dismissive or down-playing the severity of the radicalization problem in America is of no use to me.
I seek the sages.
In studying Timothy Snyder’s “Making of Modern Ukraine” lecture series, I am understanding in greater depth that fascist leaders decide their goals, and then create narratives to sell them to the masses. I belief we spend too much time trying to make sense of cruelty, madness, greed, and psychopathy, and not enough time focusing on containing criminality in early stages.
I’m in a stormy weather mood, because as I listened to Snyder’s lecture No. 17, rain was pounding brutally against my windowpanes. The bitter ugliness of the souls of criminal leaders and their disregard for human life, combined with a global unwillingness to nip their unhumanity in the bud is something I am grappling with as an inveterate humanist.
In lecture No. 17, Snyder read words from Stalin - a ‘famous toast to the great Russian nation’, spoken on 24 May 1945:
Comrades! Permit me to propose one more, last toast.
I should like to propose a toast to the health of our Soviet people, and in the first place the Russian people.
I drink in the first place to the health of the Russian people because it is the most outstanding nation of all the nations forming the Soviet Union.
I propose a toast to the health of the Russian people because it has won in this war universal recognition as the leading force of the Soviet Union among all the peoples of our country.
I propose a toast to the health of the Russian people not only because it is the leading people, but also because it possesses a clear mind, a staunch character and patience.
Our Government made not a few errors, we experienced at moments a desperate situation in 1941-1942, when our 'Army was retreating, abandoning our own villages and towns of the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia, the Leningrad region, the Baltic area and the Karelo-Finnish Republic, abandoning them because there was no other way out. A different people could have said to the Government, "You have failed to justify our expectations. Go away. We shall install another Government which will conclude peace with Germany and assure us a quiet life." The Russian people, however, did not take this path because it trusted the correctness of the policy of its Government, and it made sacrifices to ensure the rout of Germany. This confidence of the Russian people in the Soviet Government proved to be that decisive force which ensured the historic victory over the enemy of humanity – over fascism.
Thanks to it, the Russian people, for this confidence!
So the first thing I notice is the repetition of words - which is key to propaganda.
Snyder notices the greater irony:
“There’s something ironic about a toast to fascism, where you talk about how your nation is better than everyone else’s,” said Snyder.
‘A Flat Out Totalitarian Lie’
He goes on to explain that the power to decide - post-WWII - which nation is greater than other nations is built on what he called “a flat out totalitarian lie.”
“The man who after Hitler is most responsible for beginning the Second World War - indeed the man who with Hitler began the Second World War as an ally in 1939 - now has the authority to define who are the real collaborators,” said Snyder. “And no one is supposed to think about that, and in Russia today there is a law which forbids you from mentioning anything along those lines in any kind of media.”
This very critical point is valuable to understanding that Russia’s current “Nazi” rhetoric against Ukraine is projection.
Another very critical lesson from Snyder that I will be drilling home every day on this substack until we defeat the fascist creep:
“When there’s a far right threat, the left should not be divided.”
This matters in America. When the far right is on the rise, the left must unite.
I have written many investigations on the exploitation of the left by Kremlin cutouts, with the goal to divide people against each other - including the arrests two weeks ago of four Americans working for the Russians - but it’s very encouraging to see major backlash and protests against authoritarian capture in Ohio, Montana, Kansas, and Wisconsin.
We need to see the same in Texas and Florida. People cannot be scared to demand democracy.
It’s now or never.
As my readers and viewers of RadPod know, I have been saying for a year that 2023 is the year we find out if we are still a rule of law country.
‘Hopeful Signs’
I am pleased to report the hopeful signs of the last 24 hours.
As you also know, the FBI in my district are probing death threats I have received, and the ongoing harassment campaign against me, and how it ties to threats I received directly from Joe Flynn, the brother of Mike Flynn. Mike Flynn’s lawyers sent a threatening letter to my podcast partner Jim Stewartson last week, threatening to sue him and our podcast. In addition, Joe Flynn has been tormenting Jim for more than a year.
I bring this up because I hesitated calling the FBI about my death threats, because as we know members of the FBI are Trumpists and after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, “a top FBI official warned that many within the bureau were ‘sympathetic’ to the mob.”
Because of the encouragement of Fred Guttenberg, who I have become friends with on Twitter and who successfully prosecuted an online hate terrorist, I took a leap of faith and called the FBI in my district, and they have been responsive. I received an immediate call back from the supervisor - a woman - and I update my file as the threats come in.
So I was both relieved and reinvigorated by two breaking stories.
‘Another FBI Officer Arrested’
The first - that a former FBI officer who called Capitol police officers ‘Nazis’ and encouraged the mob to kill police officers on January 6 - was arrested.
His name is Jared L. Wise, he worked with the FBI for 13 years, and he worked as a supervisor in the same bureau of the recently arrested FBI officer Charles McGonigal, who was indicted for working for the Russians, among other charges. (I will link to my Spy v. Spy McGonigal series at the end of this report.)
There are many profoundly disturbing aspects about Jared Wise’s indictment. Among them, the words federal authorities alleged he used while storming the Capitol:
"I’m former—I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it. ... Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!
“Yeah, f--- them! Yeah, kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em! Kill ’em!”
Those are the words of a radicalized man. How else can you explain a bloodlust for police officers, whose job it is to protect democracy, from a former member of law enforcement.
The other disturbing aspect of Jared Wise’s backstory is that the New York Times reported Wise trained with Project Veritas, “under the supervision of a former British spy, Richard Seddon, who had been recruited by the security contractor Erik Prince to train operatives to infiltrate trade unions, Democratic congressional campaigns and other targets.”
A chill ran through my bones as I read those words, because what I was doing in 2018 was working as director of media relations for a Congressional campaign, with a Muslim-American candidate challenging Dana Rohrabacher. The moment I made the announcement on Twitter, I was brutally attacked both online and offline in a coordinated manner, and my own investigation led to a likely Project Veritas hit job.
To say I have skin in the game to see boss level arrests is an understatement.
Which brings me to my second bit of good news.
‘Seditious Conspiracy Convictions’
Friends of Mike Flynn and Roger Stone were convicted today of seditious conspiracy. As my podcast partner Jim wrote:
OK it’s a good day for justice, and a solid step towards accountability for the real planners of January 6th and the insurgency currently endangering democracy.
Among the four convicted of the most serious charge — seditious conspiracy — were Enrique Tarrio and Joe Biggs who has been a friend of the Flynns for a long time.
Jim asked this very important question:
“The question (Special Counsel) Jack Smith has to ask is, who were the Proud Boys conspiring with? Well, I believe the answer is straightforward. As Sarah Kendzior said a long time ago, this is a transnational criminal conspiracy to overthrow liberal democracy. They are doing it mostly in public…
I hope Jack Smith is the man we all hope he is. Today will certainly help him.
I have a major sense of relief right now, and it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate that there is still hope for us. But we must keep the pressure on. The rot goes deep and this just scratches the surface.
I too am encouraged by this news.
I am also encouraged to learn that Jack Smith was present when Mike Pence - after kicking and screaming to get out of it - testified for five and half hours last week to a federal grand jury.
These examples of my 2023 challenge - evidence that we are still a rule of law country — will likely propel the propagandist traitors in America to try to crank unreality up to 11 on their various Kremlin-sponsored platforms.
I believe this crowd right here will see right through it.
As Attorney General Merrick Garland said today, “The Justice Department will never stop working to defend democracy to which all Americans are entitled.”
Today was a good day. I am glad you are here.
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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.
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, May 7, 4 pm PT, featuring ‘Canaries in the Net’ podcast team Alex Alvarova and Josef Holy, who can offer insights into disinformation campaigns targeting the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe, the overlap in America and the West, and how we inoculate ourselves against disinformation. Paid members will also receive invites to our new weekly Bette’s Happy Hour, a wellness checkin.
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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
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Post below contains all links to my Spy v. Spy series:
(Below, images from the Wise court documents, and Garland at today’s presser.)



