Benghazi hero and former Army Ranger Kris “Tanto” Paronto has been banned from Twitter for seven days.
Twitter temporarily suspended Paronto over the weekend for several hours after he posted a tweet criticizing former President Barack Obama and a liberal account that claimed Obama “kinda killed” Osama bin Laden, former leader of al Qaeda.
And yesterday, Twitter issued Paronto a 7-day ban from the platform, he told American Military News on Tuesday.
In a tweet responding to an account that was engaging with the Navy SEAL who is credited with actually killing Osama bin Laden, Rob O’Neill, Paronto said, “OMG ??!! Did you just tell the guy who Shot Bin Laden that @BarackObama did it?? BWAHAHAHA. Thank you for verifying that BHusseinObama worship and TDS causes liberalists to skip retard and go straight to potato. #YouAreAnIdiot #NeverGoFullRetard”
He was suspended for a longer period due to “hateful speech,” Paronto explained Tuesday.
“I was mocking a leftist anti-Trump account that promotes ‘hate conservative’ voices. It’s hilarious they would ban me,” Paronto said. “I think the group that called Rob out was completely embarrassed that they did not know who actually killed bin Laden.”
While Paronto was initially reinstated on the platform 12 or 24 hours later, he then posted about what happened, including a screen shot of the tweet that got him temporarily suspended.
“When I got back on, I called them out. I called them out for being hypocrites. That’s mainly what I do, I call out the hypocrisy. I don’t go trolling,” Paronto pointed out. “People send me things. I have that smart-ass Ranger mentality, and I did it again. You know, you can put a picture of [President Donald] Trump’s severed head on Twitter, call for his killing, … but when you call out the left and the ignorance, it’s suppressed and you’re banned.”
Paronto is banned from Twitter until Sept. 17.
The next punishment for any kind of hateful speech is a lifetime ban, he said – but he’s not letting that stop him from calling out the hypocrisy so others can be made aware of what’s happening.
“They can do what they want, it’s a private company. They can censor,” Paronto said, pointing out that Chick-fil-A and the National Football League (NFL) also make and enforce rules. “If Chick-fil-A wants to be closed on Sunday, fine. If NFL owners want to fine players who kneel, fine. It’s their right. The difference is, the other groups are saying they’re doing it. Twitter is lying. And the CEO [Jack Dorsey] lied to Congress.”
“My cards are on the table; people know how I feel. I say how I feel,” Paronto contiued. “Now it’s coming to fruition that the left does censor conservative voices, anti-Obama voices and anti-deep state voices.”
According to Twitter’s “Hateful Conduct Policy,” the company says it does not “tolerate behavior that harasses, intimidates, or uses fear to silence another person’s voice.”
Twitter defines “hateful conduct” as the following: “You may not promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. We also do not allow accounts whose primary purpose is inciting harm towards others on the basis of these categories,” according to its policy.
Twitter cites the following as examples of what it does not tolerate:
- violent threats;
- wishes for the physical harm, death, or disease of individuals or groups;
- references to mass murder, violent events, or specific means of violence in which/with which such groups have been the primary targets or victims;
- behavior that incites fear about a protected group;
- repeated and/or non-consensual slurs, epithets, racist and sexist tropes, or other content that degrades someone.
The whole Twitter incident has been a “blessing in disguise,” Paronto added.
“If I have to be the martyr for it, that’s fine. If you want to go into unconventional warfare, let’s do it. This shows people, especially young people, that there is an establishment side that is trying to control what you see and put out propaganda,” Paronto said.
“If I get off Twitter, so what. I’m still going to be out there preaching it and calling out the hypocrisy,” he added. “Left propaganda is out of control. I didn’t want to get into it, but now you’ve got a Ranger pitbull that doesn’t let go.”
Paronto is one of the survivors and heroes of the 2012 terror attack on the U.S. government compound in Benghazi, Libya, where he was part of the CIA security team there. He fought off terrorists for more than 13 hours and saved more than 20 lives. His account of the attack is told in the book “13 Hours,” and he has also penned the book “The Ranger Way.” Paronto is a former U.S. Army Ranger from the 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.
After being forced to take down the tweet this past weekend, Paronto wrote, “After being in the @Twitter penalty box for a few and having to delete the below tweet for offending the leftist hate group @itmustend_ for their epic fail of telling Rob O’Neill that BHusseinObama killed UBL and not him I’m back up.. sooo Twitter doesn’t censor ehh @jack [Dorsey, CEO of Twitter]?”
O’Neill had tweeted a clip of Obama with the caption, “Nazis are bad. Now try saying ‘Radical Islam…'”
Then Twitter user Secret Society Alumnus responded and said, “He kinda killed Osama Bin Laden, so….”
Do you know who you’re talking to? https://t.co/EH2ewczzQv
— Robert J. O’Neill (@mchooyah) September 7, 2018
O’Neill responded to the account and wrote, “Do you know who you’re talking to?” That’s when Paronto joined the conversation.
Paronto later tweeted on Saturday, “So this is what happens when you call out a leftist group with TDS for being idiots and they cry to Twitter police who NEVER censors.”
So this is what happens when you call out a leftist group with TDS for being idiots and they cry to Twitter police who NEVER censors 🙄
— Kris Paronto (@KrisParonto) September 9, 2018
Paronto posted to Instgram on Sunday, as well.
“The look you make when you’re tired, sitting at the airport waiting for a flight and you see your @twitter account has been suspended for calling out a liberal hate group and their dumbass comments…. yes boys and girls…. and leftists, we have the right to free speech but only if it fits the leftists narrative, doesn’t show their stupidity and ignorance and most importantly doesn’t hurt their fragile little egos,” he wrote.
