Alex Avetoom is peddling bullshit. On purpose.

According to this dude, fake news isn't fake news if it's fake news that works for you. That's why he's gathering dung, placing it in a blender, adding some ice and serving it cold.

As sucky as this sounds, and as sucky as this is, liberals in Orange County probably need to create a phony news website. Or two. Or three.

As a lifelong journalist, I hate having written that. Hate, hate, hate. To me, there’s a beauty in reporting and writing; in seeking out truth, then placing it onto paper and screen and sharing it with our fellow truth seekers. There’s a beauty in having your own byline; an identifying signature that decrees, “I wrote what you’re about to read. These are my words.”

I don’t care whether it’s left-wing or right-wing or no wing—there is nothing more important, journalistically, than honesty.

And yet …

Here I sit, endorsing the potential idea of a phony website. Why? Because this is the (still somewhat) new and diabolical tactic of the right—and it f-ing works.

Allow me to explain how this goes down …

A. Someone creates the name of a local publication—one that sounds like it’s an established news source. The Orange County Bulletin. Or the South County Gazette. Or the OC Sentinel. Then that same someone purchases the URL.

B. The Orange County Bulletin becomes a website, and starts pumping out right-wing propaganda. It can be about lefty groomers. It can be about librarians seeking evil. It can be about Trump doing amazing work with the budget; about Pete Hegseth turning manure into gold nuggets. Whatever the case—the website overflows with conservatives-can-do-no-wrong bullshit bulletins, mixed in with a smattering of articles that sound unbiased and since. And there are either no bylines (usually the case) or invented names in order to conceal an identity (BY JANET SMITH).

C. The website exists as a “news source”—but the motive has nothing to do with actually gaining subscribers or earning a cent. No, it’s 100-percent about targeted advertising via social media. So right-wing groups will pay for Facebook and Instagram ads, zeroing in on (usually) susceptible-to-Facebook/Instagram-propaganda seniors. The ads will feature a headline from the news source, along with a link. The headline will always include the name of the publication—because it sounds real and legitimate.

D. Targeted populations believe what they see, and then both share with their friends (also members of the targeted population) and use the information to vote accordingly.

E. Democracy suffers, and Republicans (unironically) whine about “the fake news media.”

The fake news media they (cough) create.

•••

As we speak, the king of this highly specialized genre of bullshit is Alex Avetoom, a Napa-based/Tustin-raised owl pellet/former Orange Coast College water polo player who has damned the universe with something called the (wait for it …) SoCal Daily Pulse. And even though it may well lead your blood pressure to rise and your wrinkles to expand and your heart to explode, I strongly recommend taking a moment to click on the Daily Pulse link and notice …

• Save for a generic e-mail address, a nameless Facebook page and a nameless X link, there are no ways to contact (or identify) anyone associated with the Daily Pulse. The name Alex Avetoom appears nowhere. Literally nowhere.

• None of the stories (nary a single one) feature the name of the author(s).

• Almost all the pieces parrot hard-right nonsense talking points with the goal of destroying the opposition—truth and integrity be damned.

• The writing is Gopher-from-Love Boat in quality.¹

And the thing is … none of that matters. Literally none of it. Because, for example, when it comes to this preposterously one-sided, uninformed and inaccurate article concerning the Capo Unified School Board, the true value will arrive down the road a bit, when Krista Castellanos is up for re-election, and her opponents send out thousands of mailers featuring “CATELLANOS NEEDS TO RESIGN!” — SOCAL DAILY POST. Hell, this isn’t rocket science. One can literally visit Meta and look up the Facebook and Instagram ad buys made by SoCal Daily Pulse.

It’s some Lex Luthor-level shit …

For what it’s worth, Alex Avetoom is no one-trick pony. A lifelong partisan hack who somehow looks his three children in the eye each night, ol’ Alex runs something called Para Bellum Public Affairs, which serves as a P.R. and consulting firm for hard-right dillweeds who don’t mind selling their souls to win elections. And while Para Bellum (which, to dive deep in the evil grass, is Latin for “If you want peace, prepare for war.”) features a website designed by the 14-year-old intern, and while (once again) the cowardly Avetoom lists his name (literally) nowhere, the goal is overtly stated …

In short, Alex will go to war for his clients and slice off some heads if need be.

And part of warfare involves news websites that aren’t news websites.

Is Alex good at his job? Hard to say. A nutty Republican named Matt Gunderson paid Avetoom $121,128 between July 12, 2023 and Sept. 16, 2024—then got his ass kicked in the general election. Back in 2022, Avetoom’s company birthed another online newspaper—this one titled Huntington Beach Beat—in order to help Tony Strickland land a spot on the city council. Much like the SoCal Daily Pulse, the Huntington Beach Beat included no bylines and no contact information. Just a lot of garbage. However, Strickland won and has since moved on to the California state senate. So … hey. Maybe. On his social feeds, Avetoom brags about his other company, Hive Strike AI. Which seems to be, um, eh, ah, um—a website. That does, cough, nothing?

But, then again, Mike Johnson’s guy seems to like him. And Johnson is speaker of the house …

•••

I’m gonna throw a curveball. Don’t be mad at me.

As much as I wanna hate Alex Avetoom (and as much as, from afar, I do hate Alex Avetoom), I sorta admire him, too. Like, he didn’t create the political ecosystem we’re all forced to occupy—he’s just a byproduct of it, as well as someone who seems to have it pretty well figured out.

And if we liberals/Democrats are being honest with ourselves, it oftentimes feels as if the Avetooms of the world are playing 3D chess while we’re stumbling around with a stack of Go Fish cards. I’ve now attended, oh, a dozen meetings where attendees excitedly plan out postcard- and letter-writing campaigns as if we’re still living in 1988. Well, we’re not—and Avetoom gets it. One THE LIBS WANT MEN IN THE LOCKER ROOM WITH YOUR PRECIOUS GRANDDAUGHTER! targeted Facebook/Instagram buy is worth 10,000 postcards (maybe 100,000), but takes a sliver of the time commitment and far less money.

These guys don’t play by conventional rules. Truth doesn’t matter. Integrity certainly doesn’t matter. If calling a librarian a groomer snags votes—they do it. If tarring a single teenaged trans athlete as America’s greatest enemy rallies the right—hey, LFG. I honestly doubt Alex Avetoom actally likes Donald Trump. But … who cares?

To him, it is about winning.

Only about winning.

Entirely about winning.

So what to do? First, call out the bullshit. To your friends, your relatives. Second, fire back whenever possible.

And third …

(Sigh)

Start our own news sites.

Beat them at their own game.

Their own sad game.

PS: Strangely, Alex Avetoom once slipped up. Last year, probably by accident, he bylined an article for Milwaukee Mainstay, yet another garbage publication invented to stir anti-lib sentiment. Might wanna fix that, Alex.

PPS: A reminder—we’re all only human …

PPPS: That said, this was a bad look for Alex. Really bad. Like, the worst.

1. Not high.