by: Cheryl K. Chumley
The attorney for the former Marine who was forced into a psychiatric ward for anti-government Facebook postings filed a petition Wednesday claiming law enforcement did not uphold Virginia laws for involuntary detentions.
“The law requires that within four hours of detaining someone, you have to have a magistrate write a petition for a temporary restraining order,” said John Whitehead, an attorney with the Rutherford Institute, the Virginia-based civil rights firm that is defending the ex-Marine. “They didn’t do that. That didn’t happen.”
Brandon Raub, 26, was taken into custody at his Richmond, Va., home Thursday, Aug. 16, by FBI and Secret Service agents and Chesterfield County Police. He has yet to be charged with a crime; he was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police vehicle and transported to the police department. From there, he was admitted to the John Randolph Medical Facility in Hopewell for a psychiatric evaluation.
His crime?
Officially, nothing.
“They did not charge him with anything,” Mr. Whitehead said in an interview Wednesday with Times247.com. “He was in his underwear, in his living room, he sees a group of police, FBI agents walking up, he talks with them, he’s asked about some Facebook postings, they handcuff him.”
The Facebook postings — the biggest clue so far to the reasons for his detention — were part of a private chat, inaccessible without an invitation, and included anti-government sentiments and warnings of revolution.
“This was a closed group, not public, not a posting on a wall,” said Cathleen Thomas, Mr. Raub’s mother, in a Wednesday morning interview. “They had to hack in to it to see it, then they took the comments out of context. But agree with him or not, agree with his comments or not, the bigger question is, why is the government checking on postings in the first place? The point is, he has a right to free speech.”
Mr. Whitehead said the postings were part of an Internet game and stemmed from song lyrics. Regardless, Mr. Raub has still not been charged with any crime — or even officially arrested, Mr. Whitehead said. He has been transferred to a facility four hours from the family, however, for up to 30 more days of psychiatric evaluation.
“I got a call saying he arrived last night about 10 o’clock at the VA hospital in Salem,” Mrs. Thomas said. “They’re doing intake on him now.”
The intake evaluation will decide whether Mr. Raub will be placed in the psychiatric ward, and for how long, Mrs. Thomas added.
“We’re going to file to get him out. That’s the ultimate goal,” she said. “Driving four hours to see him, that’s going to be completely inconvenient. But that’s what we’ll do.”
Mr. Raub is a decorated Marine who served as a combat engineer for six years in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mrs. Thomas said. His second tour in Afghanistan ended in March 2011, and he left the military with a sergeant’s rank and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, she said. Mrs.Thomas said her son received an honorable discharge and was not taking any medication either during or after service.
He lives with his brother and two roommates two miles from Mrs. Thomas’ home.
“I spoke to him almost every day. I had day-to-day contact with him,” she said, noting nothing in his demeanor or behavior that would suggest law enforcement’s treatment of him was justified.
“We’re just a very politically active family," Mrs. Thomas said. "We keep our pulse on that, on the Constitution, we’re commanded to do that, actually, by the Founding Fathers.”
Mrs. Thomas suggested it was this outspoken political activism that drew the attention of the government. Mr. Whitehead suggested the same thing.
“The biggest thing [about Mr. Raub] in his profile is he’s a 9-11 truther,” Mr. Whitehead said. “He’s a Ron Paul libertarian. But so what? Thomas Paine would have been put into an institution" by that standard.
"I find this to be very dangerous and bizarre," Mr. Whitehead said. "If you can be taken away without being charged with a crime … this is a scary scenario.”
The hearing to contest Mr. Raub’s detention — which is still not backed by the required magistrate’s order, Mr. Whitehead said — will take place Thursday at District Court in Hopewell.
“We will appeal” if the hearing does not lead to release of Mr. Raub, or to a written order explaining his detention, Mr. Whitehead said.
Mr. Whitehead is also challenging the transfer of his client to a remote facility and fighting to bring him back to the Richmond area, he said.
Facebook: 'The Department of Pre-crime'
Remember the movie with Tom Cruise "The Minority Report" where a computer and some Pre-Cogs floating in a pool of mesmeriser predicted who would commit a crime before it actually happened???
WE ARE THERE!!! NOW!!!
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by: Paul Rosenberg
Monday, August 20, 2012
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News has just broken about a freedom activist and former Marine named Brandon Raub, who was arrested (apparently without a warrant or being read his rights) on the evening of August 16th. Details are still coming in, but it appears that his "crime" was posting things that the overseers didn't like on Facebook. ...
Brandon was NOT taken to a jail – he was taken to a mental hospital. That is also a big deal. Forced committal is a very nasty tactic that was used regularly in the USSR and the other communist slave states. By declaring someone who opposes the state insane, you can disappear them, while assuring the want-to-believe public that you are benevolent and just. ...
What Brandon did do, was to type certain words into the Bureau of PreCrime's servers, aka, Facebook. For this, he was promptly picked up by a swarm of law enforcers, including the FBI, Secret Service, and county police.
Facebook is the Department of PreCrime, and the rest of the Internet is following.
As I recount the facts of this horrifying case (as best I am able), please remember that the violation of this man's natural rights is not the issue I wish to point out, as ultra-valid as that may be.
WHAT HE DID
From the above link, you can find five articles from Brandon on a pro-liberty website. Perhaps we might quibble with these posts on a few points (I'm for abandoning politics rather than trying to use it, for example), but it is clear that the young man is thinking along some good lines.
He also promoted a small freedom march in Richmond, Virginia last November. It was peaceful and I've seen no problems reported. So, aside from a picture of him holding an old rifle, the only thing the overseers had on him were a few recent Facebook posts:
- I feel like I am standing at a great crossroads. As if a storm of destiny is about to pick me up and take me to fight a great battle. A battle I could have never imagined existed. 7/24/12
- We MUST rise up and take our country back. 7/30/12
- I am standing against a great evil. I will do it all by myself if I have to. 8/4/12
- This is the part where I tell the Federal Government to go fuck itself. This is the part where I tell Generals, training our young men to fight Americans, I am coming for you. The Veterans will be with me. 8/9/12
- I’m starting the Revolution. I’m done waiting. 8/10/12
- Sharpen up my axe; I’m here to sever heads. 8/13/12
- The Revolution will come for me. Men will be at my door soon to pick me up to lead it. 8/14/12
- The Revolution is here. And I will lead it. 8/14/12
#6, by the way, seems to be a lyric from a song called Bring Me Down by a band called Swollen Members. Several of these sound like rants a lot of us have had in moments of frustration.
THE POINT
I expect further facts to emerge about Brandon and what has been done to him, and I expect to see some creative statist media spin. Regardless of whatever facts emerge, I suspect that high law enforcers will get the talking heads to reassure the public that this was done to keep them safe. The obedient onlookers will be given a reason to ignore the story.
The point I want you to get is that Facebook is the Department of PreCrime. Everything you do there (or your friends, family or co-workers do there) is monitored and may be taken as a valid reason for armed men to grab you and lock you up.
In order to respond within in a day or two of a post, an entire infrastructure, including both computing power and manpower, had to be in place. The overseers are not going to abandon this infrastructure.
Some of us have warned about this previously, but this is the first time the results have been seen in public.
There is one fact that I left out above: Brandon was NOT taken to a jail – he was taken to a mental hospital. That is also a big deal. Forced committal is a very nasty tactic that was used regularly in the USSR and the other communist slave states. By declaring someone who opposes the state insane, you can disappear them, while assuring the want-to-believe public that you are benevolent and just.
The bottom line is that Brandon didn't actually DO anything. A friend of Brandon's explained this well:
I served alongside Brandon both in Iraq and in Afghanistan. He was in my combat engineer platoon in Iraq in 2006 and in Afghanistan 2011
Brandon was the man who opened my eyes to the slow hemorrhaging of civil rights in America and the extreme and purposeful devaluation of the dollar.
Whether you agree with his method or mode of expressing himself is erroneous. He has broken no laws and hurt no one.
What Brandon did do, was to type certain words into the Bureau of PreCrime's servers, aka, Facebook. For this, he was promptly picked up by a swarm of law enforcers, including the FBI, Secret Service, and county police.
Facebook is the Department of PreCrime, and the rest of the Internet is following. You had better start taking that seriously.
And please don't expect this situation to be reformed. Since 9-11, law enforcement on all levels has been publicly worshipped beyond measure. Aside from reality shows and sports, television has effectively become Cop Worship Theater. Their arrogance and their power will not go away for a long time.
Face this or don't. It's your life.
August 20, 2012
Paul Rosenberg [send him mail] is the CEO of Cryptohippie USA, a leading provider of Internet privacy technologies.
Copyright © 2012 by LewRockwell.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
UPDATE: 'Outraged' judge frees veteran Raub from Virginia psych ward
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