Weekly Wellness Checks and ‘Speakeasy’ Reminder

New weekly gathering and ‘Speakeasy’ zoom reminder - April 23 features the brilliant author of ‘Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon’

I realize how much better I feel after I join Ruth’s Lucid meetings and Jim Stewartson’s group chats. Being around smart, communicative people who are taking action lifts me up time and time again.

So in addition to the ‘Speakeasy’ zoom forums with global experts, I am adding a weekly wellness check in. This is just an opportunity to express how you’re feeling, what brings you joy, swap some recipes, and talk about what self-care practices makes you feel better. I will try to focus on gratitude. We who are aware of the fascist creep and confront it directly deal with some heavy stuff. I know community makes me feel better. It saved me from despair this week.

We are building vibrant communities and the numbers are growing exponentially. I will be sending a follow up email to paid members to get a sense of the best time/day to do this. Bette’s readership is global so I will try to find an hour that is good for the majority of members, which may be difficult but not impossible.

Speakeasy reminder! I will be sending out the registration link tomorow for our zoom forum with Dr. Mia Bloom, which is set for this Sunday at 4 pm PT.

Our ‘Speakeasy’ zooms offer a chance for us to have riveting conversations with bestselling authors, filmmakers, and experts in psychological warfare.

As you know, I believe writers are the salvation of our times.

I am so pleased that our next ‘Speakeasy’ guest is Dr. Bloom - who co-authored the pivotal book ‘Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon.’

She was featured in the documentary film, ‘Dis/Informed’, by RadPod guests Dr. Charles Kriel and Kat Gellen, who reveal how the wellness community is being infected with disinformation.

To watch RadPod’s interview with Dr. Bloom, please go here:

To learn more about Mia, have a look at her bio:

Mia Bloom is the International Security Fellow at New America and a professor at Georgia State University. Bloom has conducted research in Europe, the Middle East and South Asia and speaks eight languages. She has authored several books and articles on violent extremism including Dying to Kill: The Allure of Suicide Terror (Columbia 2005), Living Together After Ethnic Killing (Routledge 2007) Bombshell: Women and Terror (UPenn Press 2011) and Small Arms: Children and Terror (Cornell 2019) and Pastels and Pedophiles: Inside the Mind of QAnon with Sophia Moskalenko (Stanford 2021). She is publishing Veiled Threats: Women and Jihad (in 2023). Bloom is a former term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has held appointments at Princeton, Cornell, Harvard and McGill Universities. She serves on the Anti-Radicalization advisory board of the Anti Defamation League, and the UN Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (UNCTED) and a member of advisory board of women without borders. She has a PhD in political science from Columbia university, a masters in Arab studies from Georgetown university and a double honors degree in Russian history and Islamic studies from McGill university in Montreal.

With Pastels and Pedophiles, Mia Bloom and Sophia Moskalenko explain why the rise of QAnon should not surprise us: believers have been manipulated to follow the baseless conspiracy. The authors track QAnon's unexpected leap from the darkest corners of the Internet to the filtered glow of yogi-mama Instagram, a frenzy fed by the COVID-19 pandemic that supercharged conspiracy theories and spurred a fresh wave of Q-inspired violence.

“Pastels and Pedophiles” connects the dots for readers, showing how a conspiracy theory with its roots in centuries-old anti-Semitic hate has adapted to encompass local grievances and has metastasized around the globe―appealing to a wide range of alienated people who feel that something is not quite right in the world around them. While QAnon claims to hate Hollywood, the book demonstrates how much of Q's mythology is ripped from movie and television plot lines.

Finally, Pastels and Pedophiles lays out what can be done about QAnon's corrosive effect on society, to bring Q followers out of the rabbit hole and back into the light.

I am looking so forward to the Bette community having a chance to meet her and learn from her.

Looking forward to seeing paid members on Sunday, April 23, 4 pm PT.

As always, I am glad that you’re 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 group activist discounts available upon request by emailing bettedangerous@gmail.com.

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, April 23, 4 pm PT, featuring ‘Pastels and Pedophiles - Inside the Mind of QAnon’ author Dr. Mia Bloom. Please consider becoming a paid member to join us.