Brandon Raub: Why is this Marine in Jail?

[American Patriot]

Well... I think we all feel the same way. None of us wants to start a revolution, or "take down" the government. We want them out of office, by all legal means. So yes.

But sometimes people say things that MIGHT sounds "scary" but they don't mean it the way they say it.

This guy sounds like one of those types.

What's interesting is he said it, got arrested.

I'm wondering about all those people who said the same crap when Bush was in office who never got arrested, never got looked at twice, didn't wind up in a mental institution... why is it good for a Marine to wind up arrested and in a mental institution for making a crude, off-color remark about an axe when people who said "Bush needed to be killed" and crap like that DID NOT even get looked at twice?

That's my gripe about this whole thing.

And like you said, now he can NEVER own guns thanks to this idiotic law they have.

OPSEC is something I'm sure he understands too, just like I do and you do. The difference being... none. I think I have a right to say what I want - within reason and so did he. He went to war and came back and got arrested because he's fed up with the way the government is acting.

That he somehow thinks they were culpable in 9-11 is sad - but at the same time it doesn't make him insane either.

[Ryan Ruck]

I'm a little conflicted on this. On one hand, being a Truther is a pretty good sign there's something mentally wrong with you. On the other, just being crazy in and of itself isn't actually a crime.

[vector7]

Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Brandon Raub's Attorney's Speak Out Against His Indefinite Detainment

Thanks to Billy Long and a bunch of his Republican buddies in Congress, we are now seeing the American police state unfold before our eyes. Congressmen like Billy voted to give Obama the power to indefinitely detain Americans. A former Marine is the first to be indefinitely detained after posting complaints about the federal government on social media sources like Facebook.

Raub's attorneys recently issued a statement about Raub's indefinite detainment:

The Rutherford Institute has come to the defense of a former Marine, 26-year-old Brandon Raub, who was arrested, detained indefinitely in a psych ward and forced to undergo psychological evaluations based solely on the controversial nature of lines from song lyrics, political messages and virtual card games which he posted to his private Facebook page.

Although the FBI and Chesterfield County police have not charged Brandon Raub, a resident of Chesterfield County, Va., with committing any crime, they arrested Raub on Thursday, August 16, 2012, and transported him to John Randolph Medical Center, where he was held against his will due to alleged concerns that his Facebook (FB) posts were controversial and “terrorist in nature.”

In a hearing held at the hospital, government officials disregarded Raub’s explanation that the Facebook posts were being interpreted out of context, sentencing him up to 30 days’ further confinement in a VA psych ward.

In coming to Raub’s defense, Rutherford Institute attorneys are challenging Raub’s arrest and forcible detention, as well as the government’s overt Facebook surveillance and violation of Raub’s First Amendment rights.

“For government officials to not only arrest Brandon Raub for doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment rights but to actually force him to undergo psychological evaluations and detain him against his will goes against every constitutional principle this country was founded upon. This should be a wake-up call to Americans that the police state is here,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “Brandon Raub is no different from the majority of Americans who use their private Facebook pages to post a variety of content, ranging from song lyrics and political hyperbole to trash talking their neighbors, friends and government leaders.”

Brandon Raub, a former Marine who has served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was detained by FBI agents and police officers at his home in Chesterfield County based upon the nature of content posted to his Facebook page in recent months.

Like many Facebook users, Raub uses his FB page to post songs lyrics and air his political opinions, as well as engage in virtual online games with other users.

On Thursday, August 16, police and FBI agents arrived at Raub’s home, asking to speak with him about his Facebook posts. They did not provide Raub with a search warrant. Raub was cooperative and agreed to speak with them. Without providing any explanation, levying any charges against Raub or reading him his rights, law enforcement officials then handcuffed Raub and transported him first to the police headquarters, then to John Randolph Medical Center, where he was held against his will.

Outraged onlookers filmed the arrest and posted the footage to YouTube. Law enforcement officials have stated in press reports that Raub was not arrested. However, as attorney John Whitehead points out, if the police have put handcuffs on you and you’re being held against your will, that qualifies as an arrest.

In a hearing before a judge on August 20, government officials again pointed to Raub’s Facebook posts as the sole reason for their concern and for his continued incarceration.

Ignoring Raub’s explanations about the fact that the FB posts were being read out of context and his attorney’s First Amendment defense, the judge agreed that Raub should be incarcerated at a VA hospital for up to 30 more days.
Rutherford Institute attorneys are working to challenge Raub’s detention and the highly unconstitutional nature of the government’s actions.

Posted by Bungalow Bill

[American Patriot]

I'm a little conflicted on this. On one hand, being a Truther is a pretty good sign there's something mentally wrong with you. On the other, just being crazy in and of itself isn't actually a crime.

That's kind of my issue too. If you're a "Truther" you're a Kook. But that doesn't mean the guy should be put in a mental institution. I think that is because he is a MARINE too.

[American Patriot]

And I think that article Vector just posted might hit the nail on the head.

ReGARDLESS of the guy's "Truther" status, he is still an American and they are using Obama's EO to detain "terrorists" indefinitely.

Whether this has been stated or not, it's fact.

An American citizen who is outspoken gets arrested and put in a nuthouse because they said his ramblings were "terrorist threats".

This is about as outrageous as it gets until they start executing people for talking out of turn.

[American Patriot]

OH HO!!!!!!!!!!!! So "Sharpen my axe" is from a SONG? One of the articles mentioned "Brandon like most uses his FB account to post SONG LYRICS and POLITICS". Could it BE? Tell us it isn't SO, he was posting the words from a bloody SONG and he's in the nut house for that?

You know, if they arrested him and said "He thinks 9-11 was an inside job" I might have cheered. But they didn't.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...tml?ctab=all_&

PC1985

8/20/2012 6:20 PM MDT
What the article irresponsibly fails to mention is that the 'Sharpen my axe' post is a popular line from the song 'Bring Me Down' by the major rap group Swollen Members. Raub had other songs by the same group posted on his wall as well as a large number of other hip-hop related posts. Posting of violent rap lyrics on facebook walls is commonplace and not cause for concern.

[American Patriot]

Military Vet Detained For Psych Evaluation Over Anti-Government Facebook Posts

August 21, 2012 7:48 AM

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A former Marine involuntarily detained for psychiatric evaluation for posting strident anti-government messages on Facebook has received an outpouring of support from people who say authorities are trampling on his First Amendment rights.


Brandon J. Raub, 26, has been in custody since FBI and Secret Service agents and Chesterfield County police questioned him Thursday evening about what they considered ominous posts talking of a coming revolution. In one message earlier this month, Raub wrote: “Sharpen my axe; I’m here to sever heads.”


Police — acting under a state law that allows emergency, temporary psychiatric commitments upon the recommendation of a mental health professional — took Raub to the John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell. He was not charged with any crime.


The Rutherford Institute, a Charlottesville-based civil liberties group, sent one of its attorneys to the hospital to represent Raub at a hearing Monday. A judge ordered Raub detained for another month, Rutherford executive director John Whitehead said.


“For government officials to not only arrest Brandon Raub for doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment rights but to actually force him to undergo psychological evaluations and detain him against his will goes against every constitutional principle this country was founded upon,” Whitehead said. “This should be a wake-up call to Americans that the police state is here.”


Raub’s mother, Cathleen Thomas, said she was not surprised by her son’s plight.


“We’re seeing our government overstepping its bounds again and again on the Constitution,” she said in a telephone interview. “The bottom line is his freedom of speech has been violated. It was his patriotic right and duty to make those grievances known.”


Thomas said her son, who served tours as a combat engineer in Iraq and Afghanistan, is “concerned about all the wars we’ve experienced” and believes the U.S. government was complicit in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. One of his Facebook posts, she said, pictured the gaping hole in the Pentagon and asked “where’s the plane?”


“I want the country to know who he is — that he’s not crazy, he’s a staunch patriot,” Thomas said.



Whitehead said he found nothing alarming on in Raub’s social media commentaries.


“The posts I read that supposedly were of concern were libertarian-type posts I see all the time, so I don’t know what supposedly triggered this,” he said. “I see worse stuff.”


The big concern, Whitehead said, is that government officials are apparently monitoring citizens’ private Facebook pages and arresting people with whom they disagree.


Dee Rybiski, an FBI spokeswoman in Richmond, said there was no Facebook snooping by her agency.


“We received quite a few complaints about what were perceived as threatening posts,” she said. “Given the circumstances with the things that have gone on in the country with some of these mass shootings, it would be horrible for law enforcement not to pay attention to complaints.”


Whitehead said some of the posts in question were made on a closed Facebook page that Raub had just created and that had only three members, so he questioned whether anyone from the public would have complained about them.


“Support Brandon Raub” Facebook pages were drawing significant interest and — along with other Internet sites — had numerous comments from people outraged by the veteran’s detention.


Raub’s supporters are characterizing the detention as an arrest, complaining that he was handcuffed and whisked away in a police cruiser without being served a warrant or read his Miranda rights. But county and federal authorities say it was not an arrest because Raub doesn’t face criminal charges.


Col. Thierry Dupuis, the county police chief, said Raub was taken into custody upon the recommendation of mental health crisis intervention workers. He said the action was taken in accordance with the state’s emergency custody statute, which allows a magistrate to order the civil detention and psychiatric evaluation of a person deemed to be potentially dangerous. He said Raub was handcuffed because he resisted officers’ attempts to take him into custody.


Whitehead said Raub’s only act of resistance was refusing to allow authorities into his home without a warrant. A video of the incident shot by onlookers and posted on You Tube provides no insight because Raub was already in cuffs when the cameras started rolling.

[American Patriot]

Facebook Terrorism? Ex-Marine arrested, 9-11 conspiracy posts ruled 'terrorist in nature'

The FBI, Secret Service and the Chesterfield Police 'swarmed' Brandon Raub, a former U.S. Marine and decorated veteran, before Raub was allegedly arrested and taken to a psychiatric hospital. Raub believes 9/11 was an inside job and wrote about the coming 'Revolution.' An FBI agent reportedly claimed, 'The threats that he was making were terrorist in nature.'

By Ms. Smith on Sun, 08/19/12 - 2:18pm.


There are conspiracy theorists who believe 9/11 was an inside job. I don't really follow that news, but can people be arrested after saying so online, exercising their First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech? On August 16, the FBI, Secret Service and the Chesterfield Police arrested a decorated former U.S. Marine for "airing his critical views of the U.S. government on Facebook." Is there such a thing as Facebook terrorism?


(See Raub's posts on Facebook or click here to see larger.) According to Salem-News, an FBI agent claimed, "The threats that he was making were terrorist in nature."


The Jeenyus Corner noted, "Brandon Raub is a former U.S. Marine, decorated combat veteran, and he founded the Richmond Liberty Movement, based in Virginia. Brandon was arrested by government officials last night over some 'terroristic' posts he made on Facebook. To be clear, he was arrested for speaking his mind about his opinions, which is supposed to be a constitutional right in our country. He is currently being 'held' at John Randolph Psychiatric hospital in Hopewell VA." The site republished Raub's 'The Truth' article from November 2011 which began with "America has lost itself. We have lost who we truly are. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave."


On Facebook, Raub talked about the Illuminati, a shadow organization in which "some of the leaders were involved with the bombing of the twin towers" and the "great amount of evil perpetrated by the American Government." He said people may think he was going crazy, but a "civil war," the "Revolution" is coming. "I'm starting the Revolution.
I'm done waiting." On July 24, he said he was at a "great crossroads. As if a storm of destiny is about to pick me up and take me to fight a great battle." On August 9 he talked about severing heads and told the generals he was coming for them. On August 13, he wrote, "Sharpen up my axe; I'm here to sever heads." On August 14, Raub wrote, "The Revolution will come for me. Men will be at my door soon to pick me up to lead it." On August 15, Raub wrote, "And they will say he said it to the NSA first." To know all that was said, please read it for yourself here or on Facebook.


In this video, Raub's mother says the authorities showed up "in a swarm" to arrest him before taking him to John Randolph Psychiatric Hospital. She said her son does not suffer from PTSD. Raub allegedly was arrested by Chesterfield Police after he "assaulted an officer and resisted arrest," but "Chesterfield PD said Raub has not been charged with resisting arrest and assaulting an officer." Here are links to many more videos regarding Raub. There are five articles written by Raub that were published on Don't Tread on Me. Here, DeathRattleSports asked whether Raub was the NDAA's first victim.


Many times in the past, we've looked at ridiculous FBI or DHS you-might-be-a-domestic-terrorist-if lists which seem to indicate that otherwise innocent acts may flag you as potentially suspicious. Sadly, our nation's veterans are potentially suspicious, according to some of these lists. To me, a terrorist is someone or a group who inflicts terror and is actually out to hurt us, the USA's citizens or our critical infrastructure; terrorists who plot evil with intentions of killing people, blowing up or otherwise destroying things. However, I recently read about the Global Terrorism Database, which is "an open-source database with information on more than 98,000 terrorist attacks and terrorist events around the world from 1970 through 2010." START is "tasked by the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate" and defines terrorism as "the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious, or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation."


To better understand this, it's important to look at "Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism in the United States (PPT-US) Codebook" as well as "Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970 to 2008" [PDF] by START (Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism). The report lists the categories of ideological motivation in terrorism as:

Extreme Right-Wing: groups that believe that one's personal and/or national "way of life" is under attack and is either already lost or that the threat is imminent (for some the threat is from a specific ethnic, racial, or religious group), and believe in the need to be prepared for an attack either by participating in paramilitary preparations and training or survivalism. Groups may also be fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation), anti-global, suspicious of centralized federal authority, reverent of individual liberty, and believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty.


Extreme Left-Wing: groups that want to bring about change through violent revolution rather than through established political processes. This category also includes secular left-wing groups that rely heavily on terrorism to overthrow the capitalist system and either establish "a dictatorship of the proletariat" (Marxist-Leninists) or, much more rarely, a decentralized, non-hierarchical political system (anarchists).


Religious: groups that seek to smite the purported enemies of God and other evildoers, impose strict religious tenets or laws on society (fundamentalists), forcibly insert religion into the political sphere (e.g., those who seek to politicize religion, such as Christian Reconstructionists and Islamists), and/or bring about Armageddon (apocalyptic millenarian cults; 2010: 17). For example, Jewish Direct Action, Mormon extremist, Jamaat-al-Fuqra, and Covenant, Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) are included in this category.


Ethno-Nationalist/Separatist: regionally concentrated groups with a history of organized political autonomy with their own state, traditional ruler, or regional government, who are committed to gaining or regaining political independence through any means and who have supported political movements for autonomy at some time since 1945.


Single Issue: groups or individuals that obsessively focus on very specific or narrowly-defined causes (e.g., anti-abortion, anti-Catholic, anti-nuclear, anti-Castro). This category includes groups from all sides of the political spectrum.

However, please note that the latest START report [PDF] from July states, "To be clear, the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) does not classify individuals as terrorists or extremists based on ideological perspectives." And "at no point has any START study defined persons 'suspicious of centralized federal authority' and 'reverent of individual liberty' as terrorists. Instead, we assigned ideological classifications only to groups that have already carried out completed or attempted terrorist attacks."


If there were ever such a "revolution," such as Raub supported, that caused riots like were seen in London, Public Intelligence previously posted the U.S. military's plans for the "use of deadly force, detention and interrogation of U.S. Civilians" and alleged military plans to squash civil unrest in the USA. It might also be a good time to recall Social Media Monitoring on Gov't Steroids: Anything might come back to bite you or the list of hot keywords monitored by DHS. Things are still unfolding in regards to Raub, but it is alarming if his constitutional right to free speech, his right to talk conspiracy theory smack, is considered potential terrorism.

[American Patriot]

Op-Ed: Brandon Raub — victim of 9/11 'Truth'

By Alexander Baron
Aug 20, 2012 - 18 hours ago in Crime


Chesterfield - The recently arrested Brandon J. Raub is being portrayed as a victim of a government conspiracy. He is indeed a victim, but of an entirely different conspiracy.

This case was reported here yesterday, August 20, by which time it all over the alternative media. [This article was filed 1am on August 21, London time]. Raub's mother spoke to one outlet to which she claimed, undoubtedly truthfully, that an FBI agent had lied to her about her son's detention. There is obviously more to this story than meets the eye, but the giveaway is that he was not read his rights by the law enforcement officers who turned up en masse.

Mr Raub is a former marine, and is said to have been taken to a medical facility where he is being assessed for post traumatic stress disorder. Clearly this man was not arrested simply for posting anti-government comments to Facebook, in fact he wasn't arrested at all.

The rhetoric emerging from the alternative media at the moment is how dare they? Watch out bubba, they'll be coming for you next. They would though be making entirely different noises if this time next week a former marine armed to the teeth had walked into a government office and begun shooting and killing people at random.

Okay, Uncle Sam has probably over-reacted this time, but it is quite likely that someone tipped off the authorities about Brandon Raub, and they decided to err on the side of caution.

The 9/11 Truth Movement portrays itself as a loose knit organisation of loyal, patriotic Americans (and non-Americans) dispassionately seeking the truth about the tragic events of the day the world changed. The reality is somewhat different.

Many of them have exhibited a disrespect for truth that puts the American or any government to shame. Having heard of Operation Northwoods and sundry false flags operations, real and imagined, and many of the anomalies of 9/11, they have set about building an alternative universe in which the atrocities of that fateful day were carried out not by 19 men armed with boxcutters but by a Machiavellian conspiracy which can include - but is not limited to - the Bush White House, the CIA, the FBI, the New York Fire Chief, the Mayor of the Big Apple, landlord Larry Silverstein, the US Airforce, the Mossad, and five dancing Israelis.

This would be bad enough, but anyone who challenges their nonsense can only be a government shill, and worse still, they have named many totally innocent individuals. The most extraordinary feature of the 9/11 Truth Movement is not that many of its proponents actually believe this fantasy, but that it has been allowed to proselytise these views unchallenged except by those who have torn the dogma to shred; their videos can likewise be found all over YouTube.

Of course, 9/11 Truthers are entitled to free speech, however ludicrous their ravings. Not everyone has that privilege. There are limits to free speech though, one is that no one has the right to shout fire in a crowded theatre. Earlier this month on this side of the Pond, Stuart Hazell was charged with the murder of 12 year old Tia Sharp, and appeared in court via a video link from a police station. The reason for that is not far to seek, this was a high profile murder case, and when the victim is a child, there is often a great show of public anger. Those of us who are old enough to remember the arrest of Moors Murderers will also remember how the crowds outside the court bayed for their blood.

Now imagine a named individual being accused of not one murder but complicity in thousands. Furthermore, that person is walking free, you see him now and again on TV, he smiles, laughs, at you personally it seems, or maybe he's gloating. How can he be so smug after what he has done? Somebody should teach him a lesson. Someone should make him pay. Someone should make them pay.

Although we don't yet know the full facts, it is clear that if Brandon Raub wasn't thinking like that, then someone thought he was thinking like that. Again, remember this guy was a marine, he had the training, access to weapons, and maybe he suffered psychological damage while serving his country, he is in short a man who is susceptible to pernicious lying propaganda, and who could be exploited by people who do not share his ideals. We have actually seen Al-Qaeda recruiting vulnerable people like this to carry out their evil work. Remember too that the horror in Aurora happened less than a month ago.

In practice there is no way in the age of the Internet to stop the sort of pernicious lying engaged in by the 9/11 Truth Movement and other conspiracy mongers, indeed if you are a public figure in even the broadest sense of the word you have probably already been accused of being a sexual deviant, a government agent, a serial killer or even worse. When spurious allegations are made against named individuals in the mainstream press, they can do something about it, if they have deep pockets and the determination to seek redress. When more serious allegations are made against named individuals, the state itself can do something about it, as Robert Green found out in Scotland.

It it unlikely George Bush would ever bring criminal libel charges against anyone from 9/11 Truth because he now has far more blood on his hands than Mohamed Atta. Likewise it is unlikely Barack Obama will ever sue Larry Sinclair for defamation, but the mere fact that Michelle hasn't divorced him explains why he needn't bother.

There are though innocent people who could be put in danger by salacious, scandalous and at times criminal gossip, including almost anyone who works for the Federal Government, and in this connection one has only to mention the name Timothy McVeigh.

The 9/11 Truth Movement should can it; they are not making martyrs, but fools. The truth about 9/11 is grotesque enough as the cranks who lurk on and comment on this site attest. If they persist, it may not be simply George Bush who has innocent blood on his hands.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/articl...#ixzz24CyYlM1g