The Kidnapping Of The 1st & 4th Amendments – Raub’s Rights

Brandon J. Raub – Arrested Or Kidnapped?

“Amendment I – Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”   – First Amendment To The Constitution Of The United States Of America

On Thursday, August 16, 2012 Brandon J. Raub was taken from his Richmond, Virginia home and was placed in the John Randolph Psychiatric Hospital in Hopewell, Virginia.  According to “authorities”, he wasn’t “arrested”, thus no warrant for his arrest.  So, the action taken by “authorities” (and there is some confusion as to whether the action taken was by the Chesterfield PD, Secret Service or FBI) does beg one question.  If Brandon J. Raub wasn’t arrested, but taken against his will, was he kidnapped?  One definition of kidnapping is, “the crime of unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force or fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time.”  A more simple definition is that kidnapping occurs when someone is taken away without their consent.  What we know is that Brandon J. Raub was removed from his home, without being arrested, without a warrant and without his consent.  So, what happened to his 1st and 4th Amendment rights?  Doesn’t Raub have rights?

“Amendment IV – The right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches, seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probably cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” – Fourth Amendment To The Constitution Of The United States Of America

His abduction and detainment, against his will, should send a bone chilling message to the rest of the 300 million or so legal American citizens living in the land we call “the home of the brave and the land of the free”.  If the Raub case is any indication, any indication whatsoever, your 1st and 4th Amendment rights have been hijacked and you are already a prisoner.   As such, you’ve become an unwitting and unwilling ward of the state. . . you just haven’t been physically abducted.  At least not yet.

So what got Raub a quick ticket to a mental hospital?  Did someone “see something, say something” about him?  Did Raub go skinny dipping in the Sea of Galilee?  Or did Raub demean women with his personal, or public views about rape?  Did he make threats, or say Janet Napolitano was an idiot or yell about her? Should Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) be taken to a mental hospital for yelling at Janet Napolitano?  After all, how mentally stable is yelling, in a public forum, at the Director of Homeland Security?  Not even Ted Nugent was hauled off to a mental hospital, for his comments about Obama (although he got a Secret Service visit) and he’s known as the “Motor City Madman.”

No.  Brandon J. Raub did none of those things.

What Brandon J. Raub did, was post his personal views on his private Facebook page.  That means his views could only be seen by his 400 + Facebook friends, (422 by a recent count).  At least that doesn’t sound like a “loner” mentality; the shadowy stereotype of the faceless person no one ever claims to know.  The next question is what transpired between the time Raub posted his Facebook comments and the authorities were given a green light to go to his home and take him away.  Who contacted authorities and who made the decision to send in the cavalry?  Didn’t this type of thing happen in Germany prior to World War II, or more recently in places like Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, and China?  Or is this action against Raub a precursor to the concept of “pre-crime” as depicted in the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report?  (That’s the movie where people got arrested before they actually committed a murder.)

Below is a video taken of Raub’s arrest in the front yard of his home:

The case of Brandon J. Raub isn’t the first time someone has been a hauled off to a mental facility for highly questionable and unconstitutional reasons.  NYPD officer, Adrian Schoolcraft was sent to a psych ward for his reporting corruption in the NYPD.  Schoolcraft was taken from his apartment, against his will, and placed in the Jamaica Hospital psychiatric ward for six days.  ”For more than two years, Adrian Schoolcraft secretly recorded every roll call at the 81st Precinct in Brooklyn and captured his superiors urging police officers to do two things in order to manipulate the ‘stats’ that the department is under pressure to produce:  Officers were told to arrest people who were doing little more than standing on the street, but they were also encouraged to disregard actual victims of serious crimes who wanted to file reports.”  In the Schoolcraft case, the NYPD officer was held for six days, but Raub has been given a detainment for up to 30 days and apparently will be coerced to undergo psychological evaluations.

Raub, according to a Business Insider article, “was not arrested and faces no criminal charges in Chesterfield.”  However, a Virginia statute states that a magistrate:

“shall issue, upon the sworn petition of any responsible person, treating physician, or upon his own motion, an emergency custody order when he has probable cause to believe that any person (i) has a mental illness and that there exists a substantial likelihood that, as a result of mental illness, the person will in the near future, (a) cause serious harm to himself or others as evidenced by recent behavior causing, attempting, or threatening harm and other relevant information, if any, or (b) suffer serious harm due to his lack of capacity to protect himself from harm or to provide for his basic human needs, (ii) is in need of hospitalization or treatment, and (iii) is unwilling to volunteer or incapable of volunteering for hospitalization or treatment.”

The Chesterfield PD, who placed Raub in their vehicle. released the following statement:

“Chesterfield Police assisted federal authorities in their efforts to interview Brandon J. Raub on Thursday, Aug. 16.  After speaking to Raub, officers believed him to be in need of further evaluation.

Chesterfield officers at the scene contacted Chesterfield Mental Health Crisis Intervention.  Crisis workers recommended that police take Raub into custody and bring him in for evaluation.

Chesterfield police took Raub into custody for evaluation in accordance with Virginia State Code, §37.2-8088 Emergency custody.

Raub was placed in handcuffs after he resisted officers’ attempt to take him into custody.

Raub was evaluated by a Chesterfield mental health official, who determined that he should be held under a temporary [detention] order and transported to John Randolph Medical Center for additional evaluation.

Raub was not arrested and he faces no criminal charges in Chesterfield.”

According to lawyers from the Rutherford Institute, Raub has been sentenced for “up to 30 days’ further confinement in a VA psych ward” after “government officials again pointed to Raub’s Facebook posts as the sole reason for their concern and for his continued incarceration.” Interestingly, the Rutherford Institute is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia and also states their support of Raub on their website, in addition to coming to his defense, under a heading “On The Front Lines.”  John Whitehead is the President of the Rutherford Institute and his views on the United States as a police state are clearly stated in the video below:

According to a post on FundRazr, a defense fund has been established for Raub by his mother, Cathleen Thomas.  The fund has raised $3,451.63 toward a $10,000 goal.  She states, “Brandon is being detained for evaluation and will be standing before the judge on Monday, August 20th.  He is in need of legal defense funds.  Donations much appreciated.  Cathleen L. Thomas – Mother.”

If there was ever a story that should have mainstream media pursuit and investigative journalists falling all over themselves to get to the truth, this is it.  There’s a legal American citizen, a former Marine and veteran who is sitting in a Virginia psych ward because of stating his personal beliefs, those he deemed “The Truth”.  Thus far, according to what we know, he didn’t make any threats, intimidating remarks or conspire to do any harm to anyone.  Yet, against his will he is at the direction and mercy of the state.  And the attitude of law enforcement, as evidenced by the quotes on www.dailypaul.com have a Keystone cops, but eerie, ring to them:

• “No arrests were made.” – Said the Secret Service
• “The FBI did not arrest him.  We just went to interview him.” Said the FBI
• “We just aided transport to the hospital.” Said the Chesterfield County police.

If Naomi Wolf is correct in her book, The End of America, how far are we, as a nation, when wet teams go in to silence American citizens, on American soil, for exercising their Constitutional rights and speaking aloud their personal beliefs?  Will a new American reality consist of scenes like the one played out in the movie Michael Clayton?

Regardless of what may seem to be reasonable suspicions, in a free society suspicions aren’t enough.  Rumors aren’t enough.  Only facts may give pause to “probable cause” for taking action to secure an “Oath or affirmation.”  Lots of people “say something” and “see something” everyday.  Most of those “somethings” mean little.  However, the key for preserving “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” in a free society, is following the rule of law in defining how that sometimes questionable “something” is to be legally and morally addressed.

At the foundation of all that is the American way of life, is the Constitution of the United States of America and those first ten amendments known as the Bill of Rights, which were ratified on December 5, 1791.  Every succeeding generation has had the moral obligation and duty, if nothing else than by our heritage, to make every effort to preserve the Republic, for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.  That includes the Brandon J. Raub’s.  God bless America.

These are the times for our Constitution.