Just 85 Minutes in Jail

The headlines have been screaming about a man who came to the state Capitol with guns, not once but twice, demanding to talk to the Governor.

  • The left continues to claim the guy is a MAGA Republican
  • In reality, he’s a vegetarian/vegan chef and a Democrat donor
  • Dane County locked him up for 85 minutes
  • There is no evidence that the police arrested or charged him the second time

The narrative, as the mainstream media is reporting it, goes something like this:

A white guy who police say goes by the name Taco barges into the state capitol with a gun and a dog, demanding to see the Democratic governor talking about domestic abuse of men, and upon being denied, he threatens to come back with more guns from what he claims is a large weapons stash. He’s arrested but after getting out on bail, returns with an assault rifle. Democrat officials across the nation have been threatened with violence, Wisconsin’s capitol does not have metal detectors, and Republicans refuse to pass the tougher gun laws Evers wants.

The left is blaming Republicans and demanding tougher gun laws – laws that would impact law-abiding gun owners and have no impact on criminals who have been consistent in demonstrating they are happy to break gun laws already on the books.

Existing gun laws didn’t stop this man; indeed, he promised to keep breaking them until he got what he wanted.  And, aided and abetted by the Scold-and-Release criminal sympathizers in the Dane County justice system, he delivered on that promise.

 

FROTHING AT THE MOUTH

Lefty conspiracy theorist keyboard warriors online have been gleefully proclaiming the guy an insurrectionist right-wing psycho MAGA nazi, set up to do this by Scott Walker and Republicans 5 years ago, and is going to be appearing at GOP fundraisers. They call the incident “MAGA erotica,” saying he is a “machine gun toting nut job MAGA,” a domestic terrorist, vigilante, assassin, a violent and dangerous Republican.

They want him charged with attempted murder and to spend the rest of his life in prison – something the left doesn’t want for murderers and rapists.

They directly blame former President Trump and claim to be aware that “agencies” are monitoring “chatter” in “online spaces” encouraging “stupid rubes” to commit violence.

Here’s an amuse bouche, but you can scroll to the bottom for more derangement.

 

The left rarely lets facts get in the way.

 

LET’S MAKE THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA NARRATIVE A BIT MORE ACCURATE

A longtime Madison chef and Democrat donor going by the name Talko came into the capitol wearing a gun and demanding to talk to the governor (who was not in the building) about domestic abuse of men. He acknowledged he was breaking the law by having the gun there, claimed he needed to protect himself, and was eventually arrested.  He told police he had many guns and promised to come back later with more.

In spite of this threat, he was released on bail within minutes of booking, and showed up at the capitol again with a larger gun and another concealed weapon.  Police appear not to have arrested or charged him in this second gun crime of the day. The initial arrest has not been logged, the judge who let him out is a mystery, he is not in jail. He may or may not be in a hospital because the following day visitors and staff in the Capitol were warned to be on the lookout for him and consider him armed.

 

Democrat Donor, Vegan Chef

The subject, Joshua Pleasnick, is a long-time Madison-area chef who has been delighting the discriminating palates of liberal elites for more than a decade. His food artistry has been featured in many Madison publications; highlights include vegetarian Easter fare (hominy), and in a Thanksgiving story (also featuring fellow chef Representative Francesca Hong (D-Madison), a vegan sweet potato shepherd’s pie with fermented soybean curd.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a guy who serves fermented soybean curd on Thanksgiving is a repeat donor to ActBlue – most of it targeted to both of Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns – not a GOP activist.

 

Note to the mouth-breathing keyboard warriors of the left: he’s one of yours.

 

85 MINUTES IN JAIL

Democrat (perhaps Socialist) Pleasnick walked into the Capitol around 2 in the afternoon, shirtless and illegally carrying a holstered handgun.

Though there is still no record of an arrest online, police say Pleasnick was booked into Dane County Jail at 6:35 pm and with lightning speed, released back to the street at 8 pm on a $500 bond.

No surprise: gun crime is merely a talking point on the left; they won’t inconvenience criminals by or taking danger to the community into account when setting bail and hurrying to get the accused back on the street.

As promised, Pleasnick was back at the Capitol before 9 pm with a rifle and a police baton.

The Evers Department of Administration says Pleasnick was taken into custody after this second event. But the Dane County Sherrif’s office says they have no record of another arrest, and Pleasnick is not listed in the jail population. City of Madison police say he was taken into protective custody and to a hospital.

 

NO CHARGES LISTED ONLINE

Nearly two full days later, there are not yet any charges listed against Pleasnick in CCAP, the state’s online court database. He isn’t in jail. Warnings from the Capitol Police to visitors suggest he may be free or will be soon.

 

SPEEDY RELEASE IN DANE COUNTY

Dane County’s “justice” system hurried Pleasnick out the door.

That is by design.  The County Board has approved jail renovations that deliberately reduces the number of beds by 18% in order to force a reduction in the number of criminals incarcerated that they plan to achieve by moving people out faster.

The board believes that having fewer beds is one way to make sure that fewer people are being incarcerated. Their calculus isn’t making sure there are enough beds to keep the public safe, it’s to make sure there so few beds that criminals don’t have to spend as much time behind bars.

The bias is against the law-abiding public and for the law-breaking criminal class.

We’ve covered how the left’s approach to crime makes the public less safe, particularly in Milwaukee and Dane Counties.  In 2022, a man walked out of the Dane County Jail with a citation, even after threatening to kill police, and shot someone less than 24 hours later. And the leniency shown to an armed robber whose illegally-purchased gun was used to shoot a Chicago police officer.

While the left is frothing at the mouth over this case on social media, nobody is asking them to look at how Scold and Release justice is why Pleasnick was able to come back for round two.

 

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

The questions of how and why more gun laws will suddenly make criminals stop breaking the ones we have on the books, or why justice officials on the left keep throwing criminals back on the streets as soon as humanly possible are never answered by the left – because the mainstream media never asks.

There are plenty of questions still unasked and unanswered on this case alone:

  • Why was Pleasnick released so quickly on such low bail after his arrest and threat to commit another gun crime?
  • Why wasn’t Pleasnick arrested when he returned with another gun?
  • Why are there no charges of any kind listed in connection with this incident in the circuit court system?
  • Where is Pleasnick, will charges be filed, and if so, when?
  • Who is the judge that put Pleasnick back on the street after only 85 minutes when he had threatened to illegally bring more guns to the capitol? Did they consider the threats, the danger to public safety?
  • Was 85 minutes enough time in custody?
  • Why are police warning people in the capitol to be on the lookout for Pleasnick and consider him armed and dangerous if he is in custody?

 

The mainstream media are unlikely to ask them and focus on the gun control narrative instead helping the left push for laws that will deprive the law abiding public of their rights while doing nothing to improve public safety as criminals will keep breaking new laws just like they break the current ones.

We close with a small sampling of the left’s continuing misplaced blame of the right for this Sanders donor’s actions.