Beyond the Bird
Maybe this is the 10th time maybe the 12th, either way, it is about time I flew the coop one last time. So what if I was kicked out, here I am flying on my own, no likes, no retweets, no new followers. No more rah-rah for the president and no more disdain for anyone on the left who disagrees with me or my ideology. Enough is enough. But in reality, this is how I deal with a breakup, if Twitter sends me an email later today saying there was a mistake and I should not have been suspended, dollars to donuts I’d take her back in a heartbeat. I just don’t see that happening.
My wings are already feeling stretched out because I feel no pressure to get at thought out while worrying if I have enough characters left. Nope, you won’t get weird abbreviations and I don’t like contractions if the thought still sounds ok if I do not use them. That last one is questionable.
I must be a horrible person if I get kicked off Twitter so many times, maybe to some I am, but what you think of me is none of my business. I do have an uncanny way of making others want to punch me in my face, it’s a talent I relish. Nuts huh? I got it from my brother who is two years my elder. It’s not an attack or onslaught of harsh words, I do this subtly, a wise-ass, a snarky quip, I can get under your skin. I’m also pretty smart and no one likes a smart ass. On Twitter, it was usually verified hotshots like Michael Avenatti, Charlie Gasparino or Rosie. Getting blocked by these people isn’t a difficult goal to accomplish and nothing to be proud of, but how I did it was something I was, in fact, quite proud of. For Avenatti it was that I was one of the first to shed light on hid Tully’s Coffee tax liens, for Rosie it was a DM where I simply asked her to go away forever. (she said to me: “Why would you say this to a complete stranger?”). Twitter is a horrible platform. It will make some good people less desirable and make bad people much worse. I like to think I am a good person who was seduced by the bird.
Feeling wanted and accepted is a natural human need, we all achieve this through different means. On Twitter and specifically about politics, it’s quite simple. My team is good, your team is bad. Sign up and pick a side to belong to. For me, this archaic dodge ball approach wasn’t my bag. Sure just by reading my feed for 20 seconds, you can tell that I am a huge Trump supporter, but I refused to be defined by it. My bio said “Common Sense Party” and thats about it as far as politics go. For others its a full-on contact sport with full colorful uniforms and all. MAGA this MAGA that, you have your Qanon group and the Christian coalition. Just hover over their username and thy team shall be revealed. This, by the way, is the easiest way to get ammo to attack the enemy. (I also put down that I am disabled in hopes I could catch a dummy who would choose to use that against me). It’s easy to find a home on Twitter, and if you really want to feel part of the army, just follow anyone with MGA n their bio and they should follow back. If you can’t find a way to fit in on Twitter, you can’t find lint in your belly-button. Way too easy.
So why am I here on the outside of the birdhouse looking in? I’m really not sure. As I said at the beginning I have been kicked off before but since I’m not famous I find my way back in. From what I can gather Twitter relies heavily on IP addresses to weed out the trouble. When I first started I was a hot-head and got suspended for bad behavior. I own that and learned to change my ways. But if you get booted a few times, they eventually give up on you and say goodbye forever. This final goodbye (I thought) was earlier this year. Sure you can get around this by buying a VPN and using a pseudonym but what is the fun in that? I want people to know it's me, Michael.
What I thought was the final time back in September 2018 was because I called a group of dolts “retards”. And when enough people complain about a tweet like that, you get suspended. And if this is the 4th or 5th time, they say goodbye for good. Your IP is registered off-limits. So anytime you try to log-in from that IP another boot is waiting. So the last time was the last time. So I thought. Back in April President Trump asked for people to tell the White House if you feel if you have been targetted for being a conservative. I did and I wrote. Then one day in May I tried to sign up yet again. My life was fine without Twitter, I didn’t long to be included in the fun and games, I just signed up. Then to my surprise, they let me back! No VPN, my real phone number and real name. For sure the Twitter Warden must have known it was me. I’m a regular troublemaker, what gives? Until today I thought maybe Trump got me in and my name was added to a list of “cool cats”. But seriously who am I kidding?
Make no mistake, people know who I am. From Maria Bartiromo to Sharyl Attkisson I have made a name for myself, mostly for my quick-to-the-feed news breaking videos. I also did a good job of digging up information and videos that hurt the dark side. George Takei on Howard Stern, to Nadler on Charlie Rose, I found things others couldn’t. I unearthed Stefan Halper's DoD purchase order (He is the spy that was on our payroll). Oddly I accidentally tricked the world with the wrong picture of then-new CIA director Gina Haspel. I am not afraid to say I am good I what I do. Just like I was a good DJ knowing what the people liked to hear, applied to news, I knew what would be a hit. Not only that, I had to find the best 2:20 of any length video to share due to Twitter's limitations. I was a News DJ.
Of course, being a news DJ meant you would step on toes. I had proof Halper was a spy before most anyone. Even down to what department paid him. Names and organizations wouldn't like what I found, but my reach wasn’t big enough to really frighten anyone. But they knew who I was. It was only a matter of time until I turned over the wrong rock. That rock was turned over on September 25, 2019. Oddly it wasn’t the first time I kicked this rock over, I’ve been kicking it (him) since 2017. This rock's name is Shawn Henry. Former FBI Big Leaguer and current president of Crowdstrike.
In 2017 I decided to see if I could find out the very first time “Russia” was discussed in the media as far as the 2016 election was concerned. My search led me to an article by Ellen Nakashima of the Washington Post. She was given exclusive access to the DNC story that somehow Russia hacked the DNC server and pilfered it for emails. This was the genesis of all things Russia. First Putin went after the DNC, then they helped Trump. It didn’t take me long to be suspicious of a former FBI “cyber-guy” and the convenient story that Russia was involved. FBI cyber guy is the president of Crowdstrike
Fast forward to 2019 and the infamous Trump Ukraine phonecall where Trump mentions Crowdstrike, the company in charge of the DNC servers security. Now Crowdstrike is in the bloodstream of the mainstream media, now everyone was forced to look at something I discovered in 2017.
On September 25, with Crowdstrike new in the news, I amped up my “Shawn Henry Bad Mann” narrative. I can gloat that I have been onto this scheme that the president just brought up almost before anyone. This also came with some unexpected baggage. I found out by sending one single Tweet.
“Shawn Henry, we’re gunning for you!”. That was my Tweet. Hopefully, other digital soldiers in my group would see this and rally behind me. It’s public knowledge we can do this! Without me even noticing, my Tweet received no like, no retweets. I had forgotten all about it. How I was to be reminded of this Tweet, I never saw coming.
Just ten days later, while relaxing in my chair and popping of my usual flurry of Tweets, I get a strange pattern of knocks on my front door. About ten taps in a row. Not too loud but definitely noticeable to make me realize this is different. The camera outside my door these knockers had seen, for me, the camera was temporarily unplugged. I opened the door. Two 30-something-year-old men clean cut in jeans and Polo’s introduced themselves as FBI Agents. I wasn’t taken back a bit, this has nothing to do with me. Immediately I became skeptical. I said the usual TV show response “Let me see those badges again”. Yup, they were real. This can’t be about me.
Agent 1 opened up his Meade Organizer and revealed a mugshot page on one side (I think this must be the guy they want me to identify) and the other hand pulls out a legal-sized sheet with a blown-up picture of a Tweet. My Tweet! As they flip it around they say this is routine and do you know why we are here as they show me my Shawn Henry Tweet. You have to be kidding I say, this isn’t a threat. They concurred but insisted they had to “Follow-up” anyway. I said yeah sure as I internally scratch my head in disbelief. After the pleasantries and before they leave I had to ask, “Did Shawn Henry complain?” We don’t know sir but it bothered someone. Immediately I became excited, I have a new story to tell! I ask the agents can I tell my friends on Twitter about this? Sure they said, but we don’t recommend it. WTF? It sounds like intimidation to me. It was. This wasn’t official business, no one called the FBI about my Tweet “We’re gunning for you”. This was Shawn Henry tired of my Tweets I have been tagging him with for over 2 years.
Now here I am. Twitterless and bewildered. Somehow I have been silenced. No Twitter infraction, no mean Tweet, no reason given. Just shut down. Shut up Sheridan and deal with it.
After all the suspensions I have been through. After all of the lawyers that I have pissed off like Marc Elias, and celebrities like Rosie and Chelsea Handler. After being retweeted by Devin Nunes and Maria Bartiromo (I know Trump saw my Tweets), and after all the people that I disagreed with and called them IDIOT! I have no doubt that I will not be back on that social media platform. How do I know?
A little birdie told me so.