Apparently, Donald Trump posted Barack Obama’s Washington, DC address – didn’t know he still had one – on his Truth Social platform and one of Trump’s MAGA foot soldiers took it upon himself to visit the location…armed with weapons. State protection immediately kicked into high gear.
Taylor Taranto was arrested last week and is waiting to hear whether he will be detained until his trial for charges related to January 6, which prosecutors have urged federal magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui to do, but the judge noted that since he is not concerned Taranto is a flight risk, he may not be able to on those grounds. However, the judge did say that he is concerned that Taranto is a danger to the community, and a hearing to determine detention will be conducted today.
Oh yes, you heard me correctly – Taranto had an open warrant for his arrest related to riot charges connected to January 6. But before he was arrested last week, earlier in June, Taranto and several others entered an elementary school near Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin’s home, with Taranto live-streaming the group “walking around the school, entering the gymnasium, and using a projector to display a film related to January 6,” according to the prosecutor’s court filing.
Taranto stated that he specifically chose the elementary school due to its proximity to Raskin’s home and that he is targeting Raskin because “he’s one of the guys that hates January 6 people, or more like Trump supporters.” “Taranto further said, ‘I didn’t tell anyone where he lives ‘cause I want him all to myself,’ and ‘That was Piney Branch Elementary School in Maryland…right next to where Rep. Raskin and his wife live,’” the memo said.
Then on June 28, according to prosecutors, Taranto made “ominous comments” on video referencing McCarthy, saying: “Coming at you McCarthy. Can’t stop what’s coming. Nothing can stop what’s coming.” After seeing those “threatening comments,” law enforcement tried to locate Taranto but weren’t successful, prosecutors said. Gee I don’t know why it was so hard for law enforcement to find him…
Then the following day, on June 29, “former President Donald Trump posted what he claimed was the address of Former President Barack Obama on the social media platform Truth Social,” prosecutors wrote in their memo and “Shortly thereafter, Taranto again began live-streaming from his van on his YouTube channel. This time, Taranto was driving through the Kalorama neighborhood of Washington D.C.,” and that’s when the Secret Service in the neighborhood began monitoring him. When they began following him, he ran from them, and was arrested, and that’s when the weapons, including a machete, were found in his van along with hundreds of rounds of 9mm ammunition.
I don’t get how law enforcement couldn’t find Taranto before now, since he was identified by online sleuths Sedition Hunters in August 2021 as one of the two Jan 6 rioters who battled DC cop Officer Jeffrey Smith, who later died by suicide. Taranto showed up at the sentencing of David Walls-Kaufman, the other rioter identified and his co-defendant in a lawsuit from the widow of Smith. And, in recent weeks, Taranto has been living in a van near the DC jail, which he pointed out in his own social media accounts, and he has repeatedly wondered in online posts why he had not yet been arrested over his actions on Jan. 6. But yeah law enforcement just could not find him…until he showed up threatening violence against a former president.
Contrast that to the fate of Philando Castille on this day in 2016, who threatened no one, did not cause the death of anyone, was not a party to a lawsuit for anything. Castille was a beloved nutritional specialist at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School in Falcon Heights, MN whg was pulled over by Officer Jeronimo Yanez under the pretext that Castille’s brake lights had gone out. Yanez had falsely suspected that Castile was the perpetrator in an armed robbery that had happened the previous week. During the stop, Castile told Yanez that he had a registered firearm in his pocket, which he was not legally required to do, Castille was just being cautious. But despite repeatedly telling Yanez that he was not reaching for his legally registered firearm, when Castille reached for his wallet as Yanez told him to do, Yanez shot Castille multiple times at point-blank range. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, streamed the aftermath of the shooting on her Facebook page with Reynolds and her four-year-old daughter terrified, tearful and traumatized witnesses to Philando Castille’s murder.
Inexplicably, the video of Castile’s final moments filmed by Reynolds, a key piece of evidence, was not shown in court by the prosecution. The jury of ten white individuals and two people of color acquitted Yanez on all charges.
All Black people want is to live full lives with equal protection and equal rights under the law.