UNDER FIRE: My Latest ‘Hot Type’ Column in Byline
My weekly Hot Type column in Byline Supplement is a personal reflection of the Greater Los Angeles fires and the weaponization of disasters by the incoming fascist regime in America + a Holy Sh*t gift
***Please take out a membership to support the light of truth.***
In today’s Hot Type column for Byline Supplement, I poured my heart out to pay tribute to the victims of LA’s fire.
Needless to say, it’s been a rough couple of weeks, but you guys here made it so beautiful in many ways. Your compassion to the victims of fire weather, your generous donations to those affected, and the constant incoming flood of kind words reaffirm all the reasons why I do this work. You are good, and goodness deserves to be cherished and celebrated.
My last words on RadPod & (Not So) Chill on Thursday night were to be gentle with each other. Once Americans realize we are so much stronger united, we will begin the end of the weakening and realize that Hillary Clinton, who is always right, was also right about us being stronger together.
Before I post an excerpt of my latest Hot Type column, here is a gift from a Bette member from Kentucky, which was once a blue state before Roger Ailes made ads for Mitch McConnell.
Holy sh*t, that video is good.
As always, thank you to everyone who supports my work here and at Byline. I believe the work of independent investigative reporters exposing the transnational crime wave has revealed the failing of corporate media in stark contrast.
If you are not yet a member of Byline, I urge you to become one or to take advantage of unlocking a free report. In the meantime, I am authorized to send a copy of my reports upon request to bettedangerous/gmail.
Below is an excerpt from today’s Hot Type:
Hot Type: Under Fire
In her exclusive column, Heidi Siegmund Cuda offers personal reflections on her fire-scarred community and the weaponization of disaster
“I’m wearing your shoes,” said my friend whose house burned down.
She now has two pairs of shoes.
The fires came the week I was in the process of deaquisitioning. US historian Dr. Nancy MacLean told me ever since the election she went on a cleaning frenzy, as if getting ready to deploy.
I followed her lead, purging possessions the same week my friends were losing everything. The staggering losses after a devastating election was too much to process.
I stopped looking at my text messages during the fires, it was too sad. I stopped counting the number of friends who lost everything. Trauma upon trauma. Although everyone I know lost power, I never did and kept working through the night collecting things to give away. It was hard to breathe most days.
The Greater Los Angeles fires that tore through pristine neighborhoods last week were the worst of times. According to Cal Fire, 40,000 acres burned; 27 people died, another 31 remain missing; 12,000 homes, businesses, and structures leveled or damaged; nearly 100,000 people are still under evacuation warnings, and more than 82,400 remain under evacuation orders. The Pacific Palisades, where for years I attended a weekly writer’s meeting and where I worked as a campaign manager in 2022, was annihilated. The church where writers once met was gone entirely.
Big Wind
The Tuesday the fires began, January 7, I had my usual meetings. My substack community came together in the morning to get global political updates from friends in Vienna, Italy, and the country of Georgia. After the meeting, I ran errands and observed the strength of the palm trees, as the wind pushed them to lean toward the ocean. I recall marveling at how resilient they are.
I had offered to bring dinner to my Tuesday night meeting, and by the time I left my home at 6 pm the wind was insane – the only time I had experienced anything like that was the Big Wind in Navajoland in Monument Valley not far from the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Southern Californians are so accustomed to natural disasters that most earthquakes are met with little more than a shrug. Palm frond weather is my nickname for the Santa Ana winds. After a good blow, the palm fronds — hard and spiky — litter the streets like tank traps.
Since long before people trod upon this land, the Santa Anas have always brought fire.
But global warming has turned a cleansing into an eradication. Because we’ve had no rain this season, the air was crackling, the wind rubbing against the hillsides.
Dry Lightning
On my way to the meeting driving on the 210 freeway in the San Gabriel Valley area, I could see the Eaton fire on my left, and dry lighting on my right. By the time I arrived, a brush fire had broken out near my home, so I dropped off the food and took surface streets immediately returning back to South Pasadena.
The devastation was surreal. Tree after tree after tree fallen like soldiers in battle. I drove on the extra wide street Huntington Boulevard looking for downed power lines and driving serpentine around dead trees…
I didn’t know what else to do so I fundraised for my friend – offering a chance to adopt a climate change refugee – and people came through. The goodness of people is apparent during times of great crisis.
One member of my substack community from Michigan sent me additional money to disperse to those in need.
I found an Altadena essential worker who had lost his home and asked where I could send the donation. He told me his church was taking care of him but gave me a lead on another fire victim whose family of seven had been displaced so I sent the donation to him.
There has been no shortage of kindness, which of course makes the weaponization of the disaster by MAGA Unpatriots so glaring in contrast.
In lockstep, Donald Trump and Elon Musk used their bully pulpits to go after California’s Democratic leaders. Rightwing extremists are trying to weaken California’s politicians and governance, because if I’m right, and America is about to become like Russia in the ‘90s, the thieves are gunning for California.
In more heinous behavior, the MAGA wing blamed DEI for California’s wildfires, cranking the cruelty up to 11. This was a direct aim at LA Mayor Karen Bass, the first Black woman to run the city.
The disgusting behavior by the incoming regime offered a preview of what’s to come – lies designed to erode reality to keep citizens paralyzed with fear while oligarchs attempt to remove any politician with empathy, who still attempts to serve the people.
On one of my nightly walks to survey the damage, I saw impromptu donation centers popping up – the generosity of people so overwhelming, some centers were forced to turn donors away because they were over capacity.
My friend from Altadena now wearing my shoes will be wearing my combat boots tomorrow, as she walks through the ashes of her home in the hopes of finding something, anything that remains.
I thought of the elegy I wrote for my country on November 6, a return to the dark ages, and I pray the winds remain calm tonight.
****
The above is an excerpt from my Hot Type column. As always, I ask those who can afford to support a small global team of investigative reporters to please take out a subscription to Byline Supplement.
I also understand that if you are not able to do so at this moment, the good chaps at Byline allow me to send the column to Bette members upon request, as I noted above. Just zip a request to bettedangerous/gmail. New members will also find they are invited to unlock one report at the Byline site.
To my Bette members who support both publications, please forward the column to your allies.
I am glad you are here.
****
****
Related:
****
Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members.
I expose the corruption of billionaire fascists, while relying on memberships to keep the light on.
Thank you in advance for considering the following:
Share my reporting with allies
Buying my ebooks
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.
🤍
Leave it to the descendants of Black Americans, enslaved for centuries, to offer a rousing, dance-inducing spiritual, for those of us now joining the ranks of the marginalized & socially abused!!