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On August 16, 2012, decorated US Marine combat veteran Brandon Raub of Virginia was detained and incarcerated in a mental hospital by the FBI, Secret Service, and local law enforcement of Chesterfield County acting on Federal government requests. The Rutherford Institute obtained his release after about a week of incarceration because the government had nothing to charge him with and could not show there was anything wrong with him.

Federal government agents, with police backup, showed up at Raub’s home to “interview” him. Below is a video of the cops hauling Raub away. Chesterfield police claim this was not an arrest, but the video shows what looks to any ordinary honest person to be an arrest. The video was reportedly filmed on the cell phone of a relative of Raub’s:

Raub was treated to what amounts to unwarranted arrest and incarceration because he posted controversial song lyrics and political views on his Facebook pages. In particular, the government claims he should be detained for psychiatric evaluation because he wrote “ominous” posts on Facebook on August 13 and 14, 2012.

Quoted from Outcry after military veteran detained for anti-government Facebook posts:

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.

That Facebook message is a paraphrase of the lyrics of the song Bring Me Down by the Canadian hip hop band Swollen Members who sang:

Sharpen up my axe and I am back, I’m here to sever heads.

On one of his multiple Facebook pages, Raub lists that he works for the “Ron Paul Revolution”, clearly referring to US Congressional Representative Ron Paul and his Libertarian political views. But the government interprets Raub’s Facebook post “The Revolution is about to start” as a sign that he is mentally ill.

Raub also questions how the government even learned about some of his posts because some of them were made on a private Facebook page he used to communicate with his relatives that was not visible to the general public.
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Readers of our website know we’re concerned about the erosion of Constitutional rights in the United States. It’s commonplace for American governments to violate Constitutional and federal law protections for due process, equal protection under the law, unreasonable search and seizure, and innocent until proven guilty in cases involving alleged child abuse and divorces with contested child custody. But the erosion of civil liberties is spreading far beyond family law.

While researching another article I’m writing, I ran across an article from the Washington Post which really disturbed me. Whether you’re an architecture student or common citizen, you now have reason to be fearful of government oppression if you snap a picture of a building while taking a walk on a public sidewalk or a drive on public streets. Taking such pictures is in no way unlawful. First Amendment rights and court cases have established that taking photographs from public areas, especially outdoors, is lawful. But that doesn’t stop law enforcement and especially security guards who sometimes illegally impersonate police officers for intimidating and even assaulting photographers who are not breaking any laws.
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