Commenter fortenforge interrupted catblogging today for remarks on the real world, which is a major violation of blog etiquette. Still, his comment is reasonable: "I think it's high-time for a Jamaal Bowman update now that the video was released like you asked for. Honestly it leaves me more confused than ever."
The video was released yesterday and it's only a few seconds long, so go ahead and watch it for yourself:
New Video: Jamaal Bowman Pulling The Fire Alarm and Walking Awayhttps://t.co/OKjqdl9OGb
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) October 26, 2023
Bowman walks up to the doors, removes both the emergency exit signs, and then quickly pulls the fire alarm and walks away.
The whole thing is still a little inexplicable, but it's pretty obvious he wasn't trying to exit the building and got confused. He never even tries to exit. He just takes down the signs, triggers the alarm, and immediately walks off.
I dunno. Was he thinking he could delay a budget vote by triggering the alarm, as Republicans say? That still doesn't make any sense—it's a different building and Bowman voted for the budget measure—but Bowman's story obviously doesn't hold water either. It's all very strange.
This feels like the blue/gold dress thing. I think he clearly presses the bar on the door first, then grabs one sign and knocks over the other. It seems consistent with a guy in a rush who is used to that door being open, being stupid.
The counter story that he was trying to delay the vote doesn't make sense regardless of the video and nothing in the video seems to support it.
"...he clearly presses the bar on the door first, then grabs one sign and knocks over the other..."
And then he pulls the fire alarm and doesn't even pretend to check for any effect on the "normally unlocked" exit door. Further explanation needed.
Pull handle, fire alarm goes off. That tells you everything you need to know about the effect of pulling that handle. A few seconds thought would suggest that when the fire alarm is triggered, all doors that the "system" is able to unlock will be unlocked, but that would require stopping to think, which Bowman obviously didn't.
Well, also, the alarm doesn't stop, so maybe he thought he'd made a mistake at that point?
Does the video have sound?
Could be when the alarm sounded, he kind of panicked? To the point where he decided to evacuate the building through a different door?? (Not very bright, I admit; it would have been some panick.)
He pleaded guilty to pulling a false fire alarm charge, $1000 fine.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/10/new-details-revealed-about-jamaal-bowman-and-the-fire-alarm.html
He’s just a jackass. He should apologize and move on. Or resign. He’s not my rep.
How about you move on and stop being a jackass. He did apologize.
Resign over a fire alarm? Good lord that's stupid.
If he were my rep I wouldn’t vote for him in a party primary. I have no use for jackasses like him. He’s similar in temperament to some of the right wing jackasses.
Maybe, but it works for THEM.
Story from the democrats is McCarthy wouldn't give them even a few hours to look at the bill, and they didn't trust him not to pull a fast one.
So they had reason to delay especially if they were going to vote yes.
Not that any of this explains the video.
This is what I've heard. But my understanding was they were using the "Magic Minute" to give Democrats time to read through the bill because McCarthy refused to give them 90 minutes to look it over.
I've never pulled a fire alarm in my life, but when I was a teenager, I sure fantasized about doing it. Why? For the best of all teenage reasons: for the hell of it. If I were still a part of such a pubescent organization as the US Congress, who knows?
Yes, yes, Yes, but what about our tribe member who cut in on cat blogging? Poor taste at a minimum. A fine perhaps?
FWIW, one thing you notice when someone has Dementia is that they do things they shouldn't do, then come up with excuses that don't square with reality. It's my belief that they do this because they have gaps in their memory and so to fill it in, they make assumptions that fit their actions.
Maybe he thought, "Fuck this House Republican shit, I'm gonna set off the fire alarm." Think of it as a desperate ploy to regain a sense of control over events.
That is very probably what he thought.
So he obstructed an official proceeding.
He should be prosecuted like other people who tried to obstruct official proceedings... say on Jan 6, 2021.
Please don't feed this troll.
Body language seemed annoyed.
I do like how we’re likely going to crucify this guy for committing what seems to be a $1000 fineable offense, but if he had merely tried to overthrow an election or beckon a mob to break into the building, he’d be free and clear.
+1
Look the Supreme Court has come down clearly where the Law stands on yelling fire in a crowded public place. But not on public places being crowded by mobs.
(｡•̀ᴗ-)
I dunno, how about the ol' classic brain fart?
Do we have a non-right-winger site with the video that doesn't load it up with most ads than the length of the video, and the ads are not all misleading hateful tripe?
+1
Pointing to such "random" sites for information about contested issues is nonsensical.
Here's a direct link to the video: https://hugh.cdn.rumble.cloud/video/s8/2/6/8/K/M/68KMn.caa.mp4
It's on the rumble site, but it's just the video in question, so you can view it without wading through a bunch of ads first. To establish that this is same video as the one that was allegedly “released,” you would need to find a copy on house.gov.
I'd be pleased if he did it on purpose, or was responding to a "Will someone rid me of this turbulent priest" uttering from Jeffries. It seems like a good shot over the bows of the other tribe, saying Democrats can play dirty too. If his goal was to set the alarm off, and it was set off by pressing the door lever, then also pulling the fire alarm on the wall would have been "making sure". Still, the fine and guilty plea were both appropriate.
Wasn't aware of the rules surrounding cat-blogging; I do apologize.
I still think we should step back one or two more steps from this whole analysis of Bowman's seemingly boneheaded actions and ask ourselves why an emergency exit of a congressional office building was even locked on a day when the House was holding a special session and a building such as this would likely have a fairly high amount of traffic from representatives and their staff. I hate to imagine what would happen if the building ever experiences a real emergency and several dozen occupants of the building run toward that door thinking its their surest path to safety.
When the story first broke, I attributed it all to muddled thinking about instructions involving the fire alarm and the emergency exits - but it's not. That was an attempt to activate the alarm that was successful. The why is the muddled thinking.