A friend asked me, after I said I get some of my news from TikTok, “how I know what they’re saying is true?” I get the question. People have been intentionally conditioned to believe they can’t trust anything they see on TV, but I also get the impression that many of them think independent journalists have no credibility at all. More likely, they’re projecting their own insecurity about not knowing what to trust onto me. I don’t blame them.
We’ve fostered a culture of gaslighting, where people are trained to believe that any perspective can always be countered, neutralized, or dismissed. We’ve been lured into thinking we can’t trust what we see with our own eyes. Or worse, political correctness, that calling out something for what it is might offend the wrong people, and so we don’t say anything. We just go along. Or worse still, like the MAGA crowd, some only believe what they see on TV, so long as it aligns with the narrative pushed by state-aligned regime media.
In my first journal entry, I wrote about how to withstand misinformation. But when my friend asked how I know, all I could manage in the moment was, “because I’m smart….” After thinking about it, what I wish I had said, plainly and honestly, is that I was a Spanish linguist in the Air Force during the Bush administration, at a time when we were in Iraq and not finding weapons of mass destruction.
Simply put, I used to work in military intelligence. I was trained to recognize and withstand propaganda. I’ll be the first to admit that doesn’t make me immune to it, I just know more than your average Joe.
UPDATE: [13-JAN-2026]
To my credit, and to theirs, I believe I’ve curated a reliable list of independent journalists. If you take the time to listen to what they’re saying, and to who they’re interviewing, you’ll notice a consistent emphasis on primary sources and firsthand information. Understanding that requires attention and effort, and not everyone is willing, or able, to do that work.
“How do I know if what they’re saying is true?” Because it’s often as simple as opening your eyes. See what he has said and actually done, then apply that to what he’s saying he might do. Then, take it a step further and apply it to the allegations of victims in the Epstein files.
Federal agents are murdering people in the streets, and the government is lying to us about it. I watched the videos. I know what I saw. An innocent man doesn’t go into hiding.
UPDATE: [09-MAR-2026]
The Trump regime of pedophiles is lying to propagate a white Christian nationalist agenda and an illegal “holy war”. How very “Christian” of them.