by Tiffany Madison
Brandon J. Raub, a 26-year-old pro-liberty activist, former U.S. Marine, and Virginia resident, was arrested after authorities deemed his Facebook posts threatening. Citing an obscure statute allowing the involuntary detainment of a citizen for psychiatric evaluation, the FBI, Secret Service, and local authorities swarmed Raub’s property to question and then seize him.
Without a warrant or recitation of his Miranda rights, Raub was handcuffed and taken into custody. After a quick hearing, government officials confirmed that Raub’s Facebook posts necessitated his detention, refusing to acknowledge legal objections that the words were wrongly interpreted. The former Marine will undergo 30 days of evaluation at Salem VA Medical Center.
Since the incident, Raub has become an online hero as the arrest video and Facebook pages teeter on the verge of going viral. Citizens from all political persuasions, veterans, civil liberties advocates and the generally curious are discussing the political manifesto and detainment of Brandon Raub.
So what did he post? A Facebook note titled “The Truth” lists grievances against the American ruling establishment. Raub expresses his belief that the American principles of limited government and personal liberty are expiring and that corporations and international bankers run the state, not the people. Raub has directly called for the arrest of bankers and politicians who consistently defy their oath to the United States Constitution.
According to his supporters, Raub also believes the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were sold to the American people under false pretenses to benefit the powerful at the expense of military families, American treasure, and domestic security. Raub served in Iraq and Afghanistan with the Marine Corps from 2005 to 2011.
Many of Raub’s statements are typical among the politically active, but while many fellow rebels support Raub’s statements, others stress that he did not stop with simple dissent. Reciting popular conspiracy theories from the U.S. government’s complicity in the 9/11 attacks to a scheme to consolidate the world’s power into the hands of the few, it is clear Raub was frustrated, angry and disappointed in his country’s trajectory.
Related articles
- Former Marine Detained After Anti-Government Facebook Posts (huffingtonpost.com)
- Facebook posts land Marine vet in mental ward? (rt.com)
- Outcry after vet detained for anti-government posts (foxnews.com)
- Iraq War veteran being held at Salem VA Medical Center over Facebook posts (wsls.com)
- No rights, no charge: US extends ex-marine’s Facebook psych-ward term (rt.com)
