Veteran of the Afghan and Iraq wars, ex-Marine Brandon Raub was interviewed yesterday about his 30-day commitment to a psych ward because of his anti-federal government Facebook postings:
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, Secret Service agents and police in Virginia’s Chesterfield County questioned him Thursday evening about what they said were ominous posts talking about a coming revolution. In one message earlier this month according to authorities, 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.
A Virginia-based civil liberties group, The Rutherford Institute, dispatched 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.
Read more from this story HERE.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported today that Brandon Raub, the Marine veteran whose mother claims was arrested because of his patriotic Facebook postings, was not actually arrested but was instead placed in a psychiatric ward “in a local hospital after being picked up by federal and local law enforcement officials concerned about threatening Internet postings.”
In a telephone interview with the Times-Dispatch, Raub stated that, “I’m currently in John Randolph in the psychiatric ward being held against my will.”
Raub, a marine sergeant in the combat engineers with service time in both Afghanistan and Iraq, said that the FBI and local law enforcement were “concerned about me calling for the arrest of government officials.”
In the Times-Dispatch interview, Raub affirmed that during his 20 or 30 minute interview with the Secret Service, he was “very cooperative and answered everything honestly. I really love America, and I think that idea that you can be detained and sent somewhere without due process and a lawyer … is crazy.”
A spokeswoman for the Richmond FBI office affirmed that the FBI had received reports about Raub’s Facebook posts and suggest that that was the reason that the FBI interviewed Raub in the presence of the local police officers. The agency also denied arresting Raub. Beyond that, the FBI refused to comment.
Although the Secret Service was allegedly present during the arrest, the Washington, D.C. office stated that it had not arrested or charged Raub.
Since his discharge, Raub had been running a silver coin business out of his home.
See Mr. Raub being taken into custody HERE, his mother’s interview HERE, and the Facebook postings HERE.
Just two days before his rest, Mr. Raub states that men will be at his house to pick him up to “lead” the Revolution. He gives his address:
The day before his arrest Mr. Raub cryptically states that “they will say he said it to the NSA first.”
His final post appears to be the trailer from The Last Samurai.
Scattered throughout Mr. Raub’s Facebook postings are a number of conspiracy theory postings involving Truther theories, the Bohemian Grove, contrail poisoning, the Illuminati, etc. He also criticizes Facebook and its founder, Mark Zuckerberg, suggesting that he knew his postings were being monitored.
There was a single overt reference to violence in the stand-alone “sharpening the axe to ‘sever heads'” comment. No Facebook threats were made toward the President or the Vice President.
My review of Mr. Raub’s Facebook page suggests a narcissistic self-delusion that he was going to be the leader of some sort of nationwide civil war. Either that, or the whole thing was a bad joke gone too far.
Nevertheless, as a former United States Magistrate Judge who has heard dozens of Glass warrant applications, my assessment is that the federal government likely had secured wiretaps on Mr. Raub’s telephone communications. It probably could have justified a warrant on the basis of what was posted on Facebook. Given the character of Mr. Raub’s Facebook postings, his telephone communications may have been even wilder.
The unveiling of the federal government’s likely indictment next week should be interesting. We’ll be sure to report it here.
He becomes much, much more aggressive in his postings a little over a week ago, practically begging someone to take notice:
Mr. Raub also began to encourage veterans to join him in his revolution and sounds increasingly more desperate in these posts from August 10 and 12:
Last week, Mr. Raub claims “the cavalry are coming” to rescue us from our “evil” government, and references the impending civil war:
And then, he overtly references violence in this post from August 13:
Mr. Raub repeatedly attacks the New World Order:
Between December 2011 and July 2012, other than sporadic friend activity, there is only one post in April:
Clicking on the YouTube link in the April posting brings you to a DMX music video.
Fast forward to less than a month ago, July 24. In the below post, Mr. Raub says he wants “to get the revolution started” but needs “someone to pick me up”:
Starting three weeks ago, Mr. Raub became more vocal about the need for revolution:
And then, just two weeks ago, this:
Several of these Richmond Liberty Movement posts are replicated on the Mr. Raub’s personal Facebook page. On the personal page, Mr. Raub increasingly uses the word “Revolution” in his postings:
Mr. Raub even expressly states that he is “starting a revolution” because “the government has gone to [sic] far.”
He also challenges the nation’s leadership, claiming a conspiracy to enslave the American people:
Mr. Raub’s Facebook apparently became active in the fall of 2011, about the time his mother said he left the Marines. His initial posting dealt with fairly conventional topics like the national debt:
He was also apparently supportive of Ron Paul and made a number of postings throughout 2011 and 2012 like the following:
Mr. Raub apparently started something called the Richmond Liberty Movement that advocated for “Personal Freedoms, Respect for the Rule of Law and the Constitution, and Sound Money” and noted, “Let the Revolution begin”:
The most recent posting on the Facebook page for Richmond Liberty Movement was November 11, 2011, and the content on it is not too different than what might be found on other Liberty-oriented pages:
On Thursday, Marine veteran Brandon Raub was apparently taken into custody by local law enforcement in conjunction with several federal agencies. Mr. Raub’s mother maintains that her son was arrested because of his “patriotic Facebook postings.”
As of the writing of this column, the agencies responsible for his arrest have still not publicized a charging document explaining why Mr. Raub was arrested. Consequently, much of what we know about this case is from a radio interview with Mr. Raub’s mother as well as an apparent video taken of the actual arrest itself.
So what exactly happened with Mr. Raub? Because the FBI and Secret Service were allegedly involved in his arrest, it’s my guess that the feds will allege that he (1) threatened the President and/or Vice-President, and/or (2) advocated the overthrow of the U.S. government.
The two federal laws at issue include 18 United States Code Section 871 and 18 United States Code Section 2385. The first, 18 USC 871, criminalizes “any threat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon the President of the United States, the President-elect, the Vice President or other officer next in the order of succession to the office of President of the United States, or the Vice President-elect.” So, in layman’s terms, if you threaten to hurt the President or his successor, you may get to spend some time in the federal pen.
The second, 18 USC 2385, makes a federal felon out of anyone who advocates the “propriety of overthrowing or destroying the government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government.” In other words, never threaten to overthrow the government through any violent act. Using a ballot box revolution, however, is perfectly acceptable.
Did the Marine vet cross the line with respect to these laws? Let’s take a look at the only information currently available outside of his mother’s interview and video, Brandon Raub’s Facebook page. Continue to Part II, Raub Facebook posts HERE.Written by Joe Miller
According to his mother, Marine Veteran Brandon J Raub, discharged just this past year, was arrested yesterday by local law enforcement, apparently with the FBI and Secret Service standing by. His mother also notes that he was taken into custody simply because of his patriotic Facebook postings. Listen to this compelling interview with the Marine’s mother. Additionally, for an apparent video of the actual arrest, follow this link HERE.