This episode is made possible in part by the new Nullification Movie. Now available for order at tenthamendmentcenter.com/movie

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By now, you have likely heard about Brandon Raub, the Marine veteran in Chesterfield, Va. involuntarily committed to a mental hospital for evaluation due to posts he made on Facebook.

FBI and Secret Service agents, along with Chesterfield police, reportedly questioned Raub. Local police then took him into custody and transported him to Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell. Police, the FBI and the Secret Service all said Raub was not arrested. Chesterfield police issued a statement Monday saying Chesterfield mental health crisis intervention workers recommended that officers take Raub into emergency custody and bring him in for a mental evaluation.

Last Monday, Special Justice Walter Douglas Stokes ordered Raub detained for up to 30 days for further psychological evaluation “for statements that are controversial and terrorist in nature,” according to his Rutherford Institute attorney. He was released days later.

There are a number of people who are claiming that this was the first public arrest under indefinite detention powers of the NDAA. These claims are wrong. Raub was detained under Virginia’s civil involuntary commitment law. The fact that the state can involuntarily commit a person to a mental institution based on Facebook posts warrants a great deal of concern and scrutiny. But those of us who oppose civil liberty violations must frame our arguments in a factual manner. The incident certainly illustrates the danger of granting the federal government power to detain people through vaguely worded language in the NDAA. But we must refrain from directly linking the action taken against Raub to the NDAA. Creating false narrative hurts our cause and shatters our credibility.

On the other hand, a report by Tangerine Bolen gives us an update on the lawsuit in federal court on the NDAA. When government lawyers were asked directly if the federal government was detaining people under the act – even after injunction against it by Judge Forest – the government attorneys refused to confirm.

In Maine, Chris Dixon reports that last Monday night, the Androscoggin County Republican Party overwhelmingly passed a pro-nullification resolution.

Durham Town Republican Secretary and Maine Tenth Amendment Center Androscoggin County coordinator Jason Greene took the microphone in New Business to introduce a resolution calling upon Governor Paul LePage to recall the Legislature to a special session to nullify Obamacare. Greene was solid with his introduction, getting the crowd pumped up with cheers in opposition to Obamacare. He then included a brief history, both early American and then recent, by discussing the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions and then connecting it to Maine’s leadership on the REAL ID Act. “Because of this, the law is basically gone and is not being enforced” he told the crowd. “We can do the same with Obamacare!”

Following the reading of the resolution, he officially made the motion. With over one hundred people present, both citizens and legislators, the resolution was only opposed by two people.

Inside reports in Maine tell us to expect a number of other counties to take the same kind of action in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to maine.tenthamendmentcenter.com for all the updates.

From Mike Maharrey – An Ohio organization pushing for energy independence embraces the powers of the state under the Tenth Amendment as an important part of its plan.

The Coalition of Freedom, based in Delaware, Ohio, advocates for adoption of an energy source known as Thorium. But Coalition president Jim Flaugher said.says development of Thorium energy technology faces a huge hurdle. Federal regulations make Thorium based energy solutions difficult to develop.

He said, “Energy policy and initiatives that originate from the federal government, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have had a near disastrous effect on our country’s energy future. The seemingly endless unconstitutional federal mandates have severely restricted our country’s ability to produce and provide our own energy needs.”

Since the Constitution does not delegate the federal government authority to regulate energy development within a state, it should remain a role of state government under the Tenth Amendment. Flaugher says energy independence will depend on states asserting their sovereign authority and taking control of their own energy policies.

“With state sovereignty, the states will no longer need to comply with unconstitutional federal laws and mandates, or burdensome and overreaching restrictions of the EPA or NRC. The states will be able to explore and develop their own natural resources without unlawful federal interference. The states will once again control their own destiny,” he said.

As part of its plan, COF will push for a ballot initiative to amend the Ohio Constitution to affirm the state’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment and create a mechanism for nullification of unconstitutional acts. Visit their website for more information -coalitionoffreedom.com/

And finally, David Welsh reports that a recent development in Arkansas must be giving the feds conniptions. A grassroots coalition has qualified a medical marijuana law for the November ballot in that state.

One of the referendum’s detractors, Jerry Cox, the head of the conservative Arkansas Family Council, asks a truly ignorant question in reference to this measure. “Why would we want to pass a law that blatantly violates federal law?”

In response, David Welsh asks, “Well, Mr. Cox, so you’re saying that you are OK with all of the federal laws, rules, and regulations as they currently exist? Think about it. You’re “conservative,” right? Do you like Roe v. Wade? Do you like Obamacare? This list could go on and on.”

The simple fact in all of this – there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says that the federal government can tell a state, or its residents, what it can allow or what they can consume within the state’s confines, respectively.

This limiting nature of the federal government is buttressed by the early states’ ratifying conventions, which made it clear that the federal government was created to serve the states in the areas where they could not effectively function as separate entities. In all other areas the fed was to back off, or else it would start to become the states’ overlord, which is exactly what the founders did not want.

So, whether you’re an advocate for medical marijuana or not, if you’re a true Republican–a disciple of the Republic as it was founded–you have to be rooting for Arkansas’ bold southern entrance into the increasingly popular realm of nullification efforts. If successful, this initiative will embolden other southern states to follow suit and become thorns in the side of a bloated federal government.

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