Ex-Marine Detained For Facebook Posts Deemed "Terrorist in Nature"

colinneagle writes with news of a marine turned conspiracy theorist who was detained for psychological evaluation after posting rants on Facebook. He has since been ordered to remain in a mental facility for at least 30 days. From the article: "There are conspiracy theorists who believe 9/11 was an inside job. I don't really follow that news, but can people be arrested after saying so online, exercising their First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech? On August 16, the FBI, Secret Service and the Chesterfield Police arrested a decorated former U.S. Marine for 'airing his critical views of the U.S. government on Facebook.' On Facebook, Raub talked about the Illuminati, a shadow organization in which 'some of the leaders were involved with the bombing of the twin towers' and the 'great amount of evil perpetrated by the American Government.' He said people may think he was going crazy, but a 'civil war,' the 'Revolution' is coming. 'I'm starting the Revolution. I'm done waiting.' On July 24, he said he was at a 'great crossroads. As if a storm of destiny is about to pick me up and take me to fight a great battle.' On August 9 he talked about severing heads and told the generals he was coming for them. On August 13, he wrote, 'Sharpen up my axe; I'm here to sever heads.' On August 14, Raub wrote, 'The Revolution will come for me. Men will be at my door soon to pick me up to lead it.'" I suspect being a former marine and threatening to decapitate military officials might have had something to do with this (communicating specific threats?). But then again, his Facebook page was reportedly private, and according to the AP newswire: "The big concern, Whitehead said, is whether government officials are monitoring citizens' private Facebook pages and detaining people with whom they disagree."

Crazy Talk

[mark_elf]

"Sharpen my axe; I'm here to sever heads."

Don't want an extended psych evaluation? Don't threaten people on the internet.

The real crime

[frovingslosh]

They didn't just get him for exercising free speech, they got him for revealing government secrets.

Re:Cue the 1st amendment nuts

[oakgrove]

You can run around saying "nigger" all you want and the cops legally can't do anything about it. However, that doesn't mean that a little "social pressure" won't be applied if you say it in front of the wrong people.

Re:Cue the 1st amendment nuts

[flaming error]

Not so unusual - as earlier posters mentioned, axe-fighting is part of Army Basic Training.

Please refer to Army Operations manual FM-17, section 2.3.9 - Providing Fair Notice of Initiation of New American Revolution, and section 5.70.7 - Decapitating Superior Officers with Lumberjack Implements.

Re:One of his buddies probably told.

[Areyoukiddingme]

So.. how are you feeling?

Re:Cue the 1st amendment nuts

[amiga3D]

There was a butt bomber about 3 stalls down from me in the shit house last week. He ran in and rendered the entire shit house uninhabitable for several hours. I'm sure it was a weapon of mass destruction he used. Not sure what was with the screaming though....perhaps trying to intimidate.

Re:Cue the 1st amendment nuts

[Beardydog]

Can I credit you with The Count of Monte Cristo?

Re:Wanna read more about Illuminati ?

[geminidomino]

I miss the old slashdot of years gone by. Yeah, we still had loonies back then -- and they were the real, frothing, batshit insane type, too. The kind that were fun to read -- but at least back then, most of them had been driven over the edge by trying to read sendmail.cf (If you haven't done it, I wouldn't recommend it. It's a lot like Lovecraft's Necronomicon, with line-noise icing) .