Eager to avoid a government shutdown, House Republicans have offered up a “clean” stopgap to fund the government for another 45 days sans Ukraine aid. Desperate to delay the vote, Democrat Jamaal Bowman had a totally rational, legal, and ethical response: to pull the fire alarm, setting off chaos in Cannon.

The New York socialist likely committed at least three crimes in pulling the alarm.

The lesser offense, a false emergency report, is a misdemeanor under District of Columbia law and punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine. Falsely pulling a fire alarm probably also constitutes illegal obstruction of congressional proceedings, a felony under federal law, and could conceivably be tried as an obstruction of justice charge under D.C. law, which includes “corruptly, or by threats of force, any way obstructs or impedes or endeavors to obstruct or impede the due administration of justice in any official proceeding.”

[Jamaal Bowman is an #ExistentialThreatToDemocracy That’s how we play this game with the petulant children now, correct? Boot him out. It’s the least they can do. He really belongs wasting away in a D.C. gulag like, oh, grandmothers wandering in in the rotunda have. ~ Beege]