Congressman ‘Caught on Camera’ Pulling Fire Alarm to in Apparent Attempt to Delay Vote to Avoid Shutdown
Congressman ‘Caught on Camera’ Pulling Fire Alarm to in Apparent Attempt to Delay Vote to Avoid Shutdown
That explanation that he didn’t think it would set off an alarm has to be the dumbest thing I’ve heard in a while. At least as dumb as the fact that the government is going to shut down because of a few moronic house members.
Charges should be pressed, IMO. Whatever the law says about pulling a fire alarm when there’s no fire. No idea what the code is but he shouldn’t be above the law.
Obstructing an official proceeding. Federal felony, what many of the January 6th defendants were charged with. Potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Of course, in practice the results will be much less severe.
Pretty much. He was trying to bide a bit of time in a moronic way in order to give democrats more than 5 minutes to look at the 45 day budget bill the Republicans were trying to immediately force a vote on before it could be read at all. Surprise surprise, one of the first crooked things found in it was a raise to give themselves.
The proof of the case for January 6 defendants involves the fact that they were overrunning police barricades and very obviously intending to disrupt the proceeding.
I wonder if the prosecution think there's enough proof as to the distinguished gentleman's case, where his intent is muted by the desire not to disrupt but to ensure compliance with the duly enacted house rules.
Shit show.
Depending on what wmthw Republican cunts tried to sneak into it, the gentleman may be morally justified, or even morally obliged.
Yeah, what an absolute dumbass. And no one in office should get special treatment.
"No one in this country is above the law – including former President Trump." - Rep. Bowman
STOP GIVING THE RIGHT AMMO YOU FUCKING DUMBASS!
In any case, isn't this basically the whole "yelling fire in a crowded theater" example of speech that isn't protected and is explicitly criminal? Charge his ass.
The story I'm hearing elsewhere is he pulled the alarm to delay the vote, as Republicans are violating their "72 hours to read the bill" rule they agreed to at the start of this Congressional term.
While I don't condone the actions, the result was a delay, long enough for representatives to read a bill they are voting on, which is something that should always be allowed.
I just find it hilarious that it's a former school principal that pulled this shit. He's probably expelled kids for doing the same.
That certainly adds interesting context.
I previously read that the 72 page bill was given to House members initially with only about an hour before the vote to read and review it so that helps me make more sense of it than my own face value first conclusion.
If only people got this riled up whenever the other side broke the rules...
The fucking rage of people doing minor dumbshit stuff for kind of good reasons. Won't someone think of the precious norms.
I'll own it: I over reacted.
The older I get, the more critical I realize politics is - when we fuck up, people lose their rights and push our planet closer and closer to non-life-supporting, so seeing dumb shit from the left is especially aggravating cuz that's where our hope is. Dig through my recent posts and you'll find several chewing out Feinstein, and it's for the same reason. We cannot afford that shit in today's political environment - the stakes are just too high.
Reading a bill is part of a normal procedure and the outcome is more important. So, while I don't condone the action, at the end of the day, if the outcome benefits people other than himself, then I can understand his action. The thing is they weren't given enough time to read as Republicans violated their own 72 hours to read the bill rule.
Yelling fire in a crowded theater has been protected speech for decades now.
...when there's an actual fire, right? Otherwise your just endangering people by causing a crowd to panic.
Edit - looked it up, goes back to Schenck v. United States, which basically states that the context of otherwise protected speech can render it criminal. The case wasn't about shouting fire in a theater, but it produced that example to illustrate their reasoning.
"Free speech is yelling theater in a crowded fire."
You would have to prove intent, which is almost impossible. I accidentally set off a fire alarm once. The relevant signage was totally ambiguous and not even remotely clear.
That actually is protected speech. Brandenburg v. Ohio
Many people are saying he pulled the alarm because McCarthy's pants were on fire
oooooh that's a good one
But were his plants for hire?
You would know, liar!
Dude, this is what your Congressional aids are for...
seems like most people owe this guy an apology. the signage was genuinely confusing / missing according to the images and recordings. he legit was trying to get out.
Following reports of Bowman pulling the fire alarm, his spokesperson released a statement claiming he “did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote. The Congressman regrets any confusion.”
I don’t even understand how this non-answer even makes any logical sense.
It looked too similar to the "Vote" button. Better documentation is definitely needed.
he “did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote. The Congressman regrets any confusion.”
huh?
Between this idiot and Menendez refusing to resign after his second corruption investigation, the Dems are having a bad week, not even sure what Bowman was thinking, but punishment must be swift and severe, because the Right wing clout chasers are already chirping about it.
I thought it was Menendez's THIRD investigation?
Aha, third INVESTIGATION, second INDICTMENT.
2006 - Investigation
2015 - Investigation + Indictment
2023
What an idiot
I can't say it was a great move, but on the other hand he fucking did something
He did worse than nothing, this was just boneheaded.
I'm with you on this. This was a real dumb thing to do. Like, sitcom protagonist thinking.
But when you look at the stakes - extremely minor risk of injury, disruption to operations, and risk of a minor punishment... the stakes on the action don't compare to the stakes of the vote on the table. Effectively, maybe he just took one for the team.
If it sounds dumb but it works...
Very shameful thing to do.
Lol you're nuts. I'm most definitely not a Republican. This guy is an idiot
I hope not .... If democrats have to do the same things to win ... then I don't want to vote democrat anymore ....
And they're already only SLIGHTLY less bad then the reps ....
This country is fucked
Way wrong, this is unacceptable behavior.
Jeffries needs to kick his ass off his committees at minimum. What an embarrassment.
I thought it said “pulling fire arm” and was very confused.
I don't understand why a democrat would do this. I would have expected one of the extreme right Republicans to have tried to stop the vote, not a Dem. The bill was strongly supported by the Dems.
No it wasn't. After all the GOP's bullshit, the vote came down to "These Socialists chose funding Ukraine over paying hard working govt employees" and were forced to sign off on a budget that removed all support to Ukraine.
So you think that this Democratic guy pulled the fire alarm because he supported Ukraine funding? That doesn't seem super plausible. Don't get me wrong. I really support Ukraine funding. But I didn't think it was a deal killer for the democrats.
What a shitcunt.
He’s honestly probably going to get half a year in prison. The law says it’s 6 months in prison. The GOP is definitely going to make an example out of him…even though they were assholes and didn’t give democrats the time to look it over
“did not realize he would trigger a building alarm as he was rushing to make an urgent vote. The Congressman regrets any confusion.”
Fuck him. He does not even have the backbone to own up to it. Coward.
None of the motherfuckers care about you, if that hasn’t become apparent.
What does this have to do with the article...?
yeah, you people who vote Republican can stop sending grade schoolers to Congress, you fucking morons
Thanks a lot, dude. Gonna be hearing about this from the right for forever
Yep. Shitty, stupid move. Should be censured for it.
No, minor issue. Don't let it distract from the fact that Republicans can't even pass their own budget, or even a stopgap measure.
Republicans can't govern because they have no policies besides tax cuts for the rich.
It's the thing Republicans can't understand though: he's "our team" but we don't care and the appropriate charges should be pressed.
I mean technically he didn't actually do much.
Paid off.