Yesterday was the fifth week since I began making TikToks about my attempt to get constituent services from Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District. Her office here in Grand Junction, Colorado–my hometown–has not been open once since Lauren was elected. This means that constituent services have not been available to anyone living in her district who needs, say, a Letter of Recommendation to attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. They haven’t been available for anything, actually.
Now, my weekly TikToks highlighting this absence of representation and service for the people of my district, have grown to be one of my most popular series on that platform. They helped to propel my first account to over 10k followers, a huge milestone. Then came the death threats from Republicans:
That’s just one example. The threats were many. Reporting them to TikTok resulted in a 7-day suspension of my account, which I appealed. Apparently, the appeal struck a nerve at TikTok HQ, because without any warning, my entire account (@realMadSquid) was “permanently banned.” Never mind my 10k followers. Never mind my content. Never mind the money I had on the account (for tipping live streamers). Never mind the threats to my life. Never mind that I’m a veteran. Just: DELETED.
So I started a new account (@MadSquidProductions) and started over, beginning with content that exposed irishsc23 for making threats against me. That content was taken down by TikTok for “harassment or bullying.” I couldn’t figure out why TikTok would want to silence a veteran whose life had been threatened by another user on their platform, and allow that person to continue using TT in spite of their blatant violations of “Community Guidelines.”
So, being the incorrigible person that I am, I re-uploaded that video, with huge lettering over the top stating that TikTok had taken it down, while allowing violent right wing users to threaten a veteran’s life. In the description I added the following:
“Take this one down TikTok and you’ll be speaking to the #FBI next. Protecting the guy who THREATENED a veteran instead of the VETERAN? 🖕🏼”
It stayed up, and eventually they put the original version back up. For this reason, one or two of my early videos on this new account appear twice. One, however, remains unavailable, though it’s 2nd iteration is still available. But I digress…
The new account is already back to 5k followers, and growing, thanks in large part to this weekly series of visits to Boebert’s office. People are really not happy with Lauren’s performance in office. From the milage fraud scheme that paid off a lien on her failing restaurant in Rifle, Colorado to the fact that she illegally carried a firearm into Congress on her first few days at work, an act that served as the impetus for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take the controversial move of installing metal detectors.
Who can blame Speaker Pelosi, though? Lauren tweeted out “Today is 1776” on the morning of the terrorist insurrection in Washington DC earlier this year. In fact, this is the subject of one of my three sets of Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) requests and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, which Lauren and her staff have illegally ignored since January 20th.
Colorado law provides 3 days for a response, with a maximum of ten days with the allowed 7-day extension, which they must request of the CORA’s author. But they have simply ignored me. Somewhere around week 4 I did receive a form letter, with rubber stamped signature, which also completely ignored my requests:
So, long story short, I am still making TikToks about this situation and publishing them to my new account. Yesterday I made a trip down to Lauren’s office, again, and once again found the door locked, no signs on the door, and no answer to my knock, even though–as I commented in this video–I could hear voices inside. LOL.
If you watched the full, 11-minute video at the top of this post (you probably did, or at least skimmed it, because it’s most likely what brought you here in the first place), you will see first hand what unfolded afterward. First, I made a failed attempt to contact the building’s leasing office, to inquire about the payments for Lauren’s empty office. But they were closed.
So, I stopped in the lobby of the beautiful Horizon Park Plaza to film some “b-roll” to used in future TikToks. Once finished there, I decided to keep filming as I walked back past Suite 112, Boebert’s office, toward my car in the rear parking lot. If you haven’t watched the full 11-minute video at the top of this post, this would be a good time to do so, because what happened as I walked by their door on my way out, was PRICELESS!
Stand by to stand by! –Mad Squid
