We're sure it comes as no surprise that this world is filled with people who want to manipulate you - to shape your thoughts and feelings so they can influence your behaviors. This episode is all about how humans construct our realities with our five senses and the information we gather beyond our senses. And this is a garbage-in garbage-out process - when we consume bogus information, we tend to make decisions that aren't aligned with the interests of ourselves, our families, and our nation. Joining us in this episode is Zach Fryer-Biggs (1:33), the managing editor of Military.com - one of the military and veteran community's "hometown newspapers." Zach talks about why our system of self government requires a free, fair, independent, and inquisitive press. Next, we speak with Sasha Havilcek (18:05), the CEO of ISD Global who is an expert on extremism, polarization, and disinformation to help us uncover who is trying to influence you during our elections and why. Lastly, Joe brings former USMC intelligence officer Andrew Borene (1:00:54) aboard to talk about the dirty tricks propagandists use to fool us and how we can detect their attempts and thwart them. Nobody messes with M'erica! Andrew now serves as an open source intelligence expert, and we urge veterans and their family members to treat their news and social media consumption in the same way we'd gather intelligence - confirm the source, verify the information, cross check with other sources, and analyze for motive before deciding. It's up to us to seek good information upon which to make decisions about the future of this country. Now you're armed to do just that.

Support the show

For more, check us out at www.wetheveterans.us and at https://linktr.ee/vettedconversations