I am watching the numbers tick up on investigative reporter Carole Cadwalladr ‘Democracy: The Fight Back’ gofundme, and it is heartwarming to see all the love and support she is receiving.
When Arron Banks, who appears on Pekka Kallioniemi’s VatnikSoup.com spreadsheet of pro-Russian actors and propagandists at No. 162, sued Carole for defamation for her brilliant Ted Talk, it was lawfare designed to silence independent investigative reporters into submission.
Banks, who as Pekka notes in his Vatnik Soup tweet thread is “best know for his business meetings with the Russians, and for funding the Brexit campaign through the Leave.EU political campaign group” didn’t sue the publication or the TED group. No, he targeted an award-winning journalist, Carole, best know for her brilliant reporting on Cambridge Analytica, the Brexit referendum, the role of social media in democracy, and for beating Banks’ in his defamation case against her — a victory for the free world.
Her work prompted multiple criminal investigations and a $5 billon dollar fine for Facebook. She also pushed the exposure of how Big Tech exploits are privacy and our personal lives by mining and selling our data.
But in an appeal, the High Court just ordered Cadwalladr to pay 60% of Banks’ costs, a chilling and dark day for press freedom in the UK and beyond.
To see the people rally around Carole, dropping anything they can afford into her gofundme is making me weep even as I type these words.
I see many of you who support me here supporting her and for that too I am grateful.
We have everything we need. Community is our greatest strength.
No greater example of that then my experience in 2022, the year I spent as a campaign manager in community politics. There was always someone to carry me — I had an army of volunteers ready to do anything that needed to be done — people with wings were everywhere. My now-council woman’s opponent had a troll army, committing online hate abuse every minute directed at both me and my candidate, and we rose above to victory because real people irl were doing the labor of democracy.
Many of our communities overlap in concentric circles — the community Ruth Ben-Ghiat built through Lucid; the community we have built through RadPod; the community of allies we have found on Twitter — which also made its way to Pekka’s Vatnik Soup list. For more on that, please read my latest in Byline Supplement, and reach out to me if you don’t yet have a subscription at bettedangerous@gmail.com, and I will send you the article.
As my podcast partner faces lawfare from Mike Flynn, No. 63 on Pekka’s Vatnik Soup list of pro-Russian actors, I see the pattern forming, another attempt to silence journalists and researchers. But I also see our allies — ready and willing to help should the time come.
These vatnik networks are connected — they are trying to destroy our freedoms, and our civil center, our community. Arron Banks made an appearance along with Nigel Farage — another Pekka vatnik thread subject — in an investigation I wrote about a Kremlin cutout indicted by the DOJ for paying now-indicted American operatives to promote Russian interests. Banks and Farage were working with Dana Rohrabacher to promote California separating from the United States. According to the DOJ, it was part of a Russian-financed operation.
The quote I always refer you to on this subject is from Todd Helmus, a RAND behavioral scientist who studies Russian disinformation. He told me these operations are designed to remove our center, designed to push people further to extremes, and designed to make us hate each other. Todd’s work is so good he just got banned from going to Russia. I told him I am certain it was due to his appearance on RadPod and he agreed.
Just a quick note of gratitude for this community you have helped me build. There is always someone I can call on a bad day. Or a bad hour on a good day, because as long as I am able to do this work, they are all good days.
It’s just been a long seven years.
On October 14, 2016, I wrote a post in my Maewestside blog, the historical archive to Bette Dangerous, in which I wrote a ‘Letter to My Country to Be Read on November 9’ — I envisioned congratulating my country for electing a President of the fairer sex.
On the day she is inaugurated, even her most vitriolic opponents might shed a tear, as one of history’s most enduring scrappers enters the arena. Maybe they’ll think of a particularly tenacious loved one.
The critics won’t matter much anymore, because she’ll be the one in the ring. Women like me will be writing the narrative:
“The Battle of 2016, led by a Reality TV Star who’s no longer good for ratings… a page in marketing chicanery forever to dwell below the fold.”
Trump and the MAGA gang are still trying to claw their way back above the fold. We now know we lost the propaganda war in 2014, and we lost again in 2016. Trump is a vatnik. We can see all this more clearly now. With each brilliant and courageous global expert I interview, I will bring you their insights as quickly as I can. If you have not yet read this Timothy Snyder recap, please do so now:
For the record: This woman is still writing the narrative, pushing on, fighting for truth, fighting for human rights and dignity and decency. I am able to do so because I have community. And because I have not yet been silenced.
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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. Some of you prefer to donate via venmo, and it’s always greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone who pitches in with a monthly membership, each time they come in, it always feels like pennies from heaven.
As noted, 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.com. 🥹
The next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is TODAY 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 what Ruth Ben-Ghiat refers to as Meloni’s ‘Soft Fascism’ , as well as updates on the Ukraine war, which Monique documents daily. Registration link here.
Paid members will also receive invites to our new weekly Bette’s Happy Hour, a wellness checkin every Tuesday. This Tuesday we will be checking in at noon PT, and links will be sent that morning.
Thank you to everyone - you have no idea how grateful I am for all your monthly and annual memberships and all your additional support. You know who you are💘🥹.
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.
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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 watch Carole’s brilliant TED Talk)