Looking for News? You're going to have to use more than Google.

Recently I read a book that I wish I'd read years ago. Red White & Blind by Tony Brasunas showed me, with undeniable evidence, that our media has not been entirely honest with us. Or, at the very least, was spinning stories to fit a very particular narrative.

Learning about Operation Mockingbird and how the CIA not only planted operatives in major news outlets across the country, but also around the world, was eye-opening. Hearing the tales of how operatives would feed stories to journalists in South Africa so that the stories would spread until eventually reaching the United Kingdom and finally the United States had me speechless.

I've known for a while - or at least I had a very strong suspicion - that we weren't being told the entire story. I'd been noticing that every news story - no matter which side of the aisle it catered to - was designed in a way to ensure that one group of people would remain angry at the other side. And I was seeing it happen daily.

Anyone who's been listening to me ramble for the past eight years or so knows that I am a firm believer that the two-party system in the United States is a joke. I have voted third-party in the past two presidential elections, and in a number if mid-terms and primaries. To me, the system has been designed to keep the general population fighting amongst each other rather than paying attention to the greed, corruption, and disinformation happening behind the curtain.

It's easy for me to tell you stories that other people have told. To share articles and posts that others have shared. But until you see it for yourself, it's just another post in a sea of posts.

When Trump won the election in November, news agencies around the world were reporting on it. Some of their headlines made it into our feeds. But others, the more critical ones, didn't. I'll give you my own example.

I'd heard that Russia congratulated Trump in the days after the election on their nightly news broadcast by showing nude photos of Melania Trump. (To be fair, she was a model in her younger years, and she has never denied posing nude. Also to be fair, I am NEVER one to shame any woman for posing for nude photos. The same way I'll never sex-shame or call anyone out for things of that nature. That isn't what this is.)

In the same days following the election, a daily newspaper in Russia (Kommersant) reported that Russian presidential aide, Nikolay Petrushev, noted that while the U.S. election may be over, Trump is still beholden to "certain forces." He goes on to say, "To achieve success in the election, Donald Trump relied on certain forces to which he has corresponding obligations," when he was asked whether the outcome of the presidential election would bode well for Russia. He also said, "as a responsible person, he will be obliged to fulfill them."

Because those stories didn't make our headlines, I immediately opened my Tor browser and began to do a cursory search. Sure enough, the rest of the world was certainly reporting on these topics. But they weren't anywhere on our news sites.

So I copied a link and sent it to a few people.

When they tried the links, they were brought to website home pages, not to the articles themselves.

For a country that has literally been screaming about how free we are and how The Constitution grants us these freedoms, we sure are being kept in chains when it comes to what we're allowed to see, be told, or even speak for ourselves.

But don't take my word for it. See for yourself.

1. Download a Tor Browser (Android users can get one here and iPhone users can get one here). Here's a quick guide I found to help explain what a Tor Browser is and how to use one.

2. Connect to a VPN (I use ProtonVPN, but NordVPN is a good one, too.)

And start searching for yourself.