A Florida man has pleaded guilty in connection with threatening to kill a Supreme Court justice.
The guilty plea from 43-year-old Neal Brij Sidhwaney of Fernandina Beach stemmed from a call he made to a Supreme Court justice in July, the Justice Department said in a news release Monday.
He faces up to five years in federal prison on one count of transmitting an interstate threat. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
Prosecutors said that Sidhwaney identified himself by name in an expletive-infused voicemail and repeatedly threatened to kill the Supreme Court justice, who is not named in court documents.
Sidhwaney warned that if the justice alerted deputy U.S. Marshals, he would talk to them and “come kill you anyway,” according to court documents, which did not indicate what prompted Sidhwaney to make the threat.
Definitely this. Republicans love to blame “mental health issues” whenever a mass shooting happens or one of their base does something crazy. It’s much easier to just deflect to “mental health issue” than it is to talk about gun control measures.
And yet they also don’t want to boost mental health coverage.
So if we’re not going to get sensible gun control legislation, can we at least get some decent mental health care coverage?
It’s similar to their abortion bans and social safety net cuts.
Some of the most effective psychiatric treatments are currently illegal due to Nixon era drug policies. Thankfully, several of them are in phase three trials after decades of research and navigating DEA policies. And may reach patients as soon as next year.
My point is, mental health care reform is drug policy reform. Another thing the right refuses to talk about because the drug war serves their political ends by taking the right to vote away from people who use drugs.
And of course it goes deeper than this. The right actively promotes many systemic issues that contribute directly to poor mental health in a country’s citizens. Even if we ended the drug war and made mental health care free for everyone, millions of us would still wake up in despair as we watch the right sell our future to oil and gas lobbies, for example.
Mental health is pure deflection on their part. As I’m sure you’re aware. But I still wanted to get up on my soap box and explain how the drug war serves the GOP and obstructs mental health care in the U.S.
Oh, these things are definitely interconnected. The War On Drugs was started mainly for racist/political reasons. Nixon couldn’t say “let’s arrest all the black Civil Rights leaders,” but if he could find a drug that black people tended to use (either for real or stereotypically used), he could arrest them for drug possession/use and disrupt those troublesome groups.
And many mental health issues can have their root in money issues. To give myself as an example, I’ve recently been feeling a ton of anxiety over my job. I know I’m talented, but I’m plagued by self doubt and worry about being let go and needing to find a new job. At 48 years old and with a family to support, this can be a lot of pressure. The pressure increases my anxiety and which stresses me out in a feedback loop. Perhaps I could benefit from therapy, but that costs money which then gets added to my financial woes. So I’m stuck with “dealing with it” as best I can. Yay capitalism?
Sorry to hear about your financial stress. I struggle with that as well.