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Notes -
I'm starting to think you're trolling me, but in the interest of assuming good faith, I'll say for the third and final time: the question isn't whether he had the intent to set off the fire alarm but whether he set off the fire alarm with the intent to stop the vote.
It only speaks to an intent to set off the fire alarm, not an intent to disrupt an official proceeding. The question is: why did he set off the fire alarm? Three options:
You can say the obviousness of the fire alarm makes option 1 unlikely (and I mostly agree) but it does not prove option 3 over 2.
Yes, that's a problem, but that doesn't prove the intent of Bowman.
Maybe it makes sense for the Republicans to assume the worst because when it came to the January 6th protesters the Democrats assumed the worst, but here on this forum we are not active participants in the culture war, we're only discussing it. I think the Jan 6 protesters were judged much too harshly, but I'm also willing to entertain the notion that Bowman is just a dumbass who was in a rush (option 2), rather than a man intent on undermining American democracy (option 3).
Is there any evidence that Bowman was facing time pressure? The relevant questions are:
Did Bowman try the door prior to pulling the alarm?
How quickly did Bowman need to get to the house?
Were there other routes that would’ve taken the same time (eg the tunnels) without causing the obvious disruption?
Seems like those should be answered prior to granting Bowman charity. I don’t think Bowman is a high character guy given him almost assaulting Massie so I am biased against Bowman but it still — without more evidence really strains credulity that someone thought “I need to get to the house so let me pull this fire alarm to get out of here faster.” the thought process is just so foreign to me.
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Just to push back on the idea that this action doesn’t point to three over two, I’ll point out that I’ve never seen a situation in which one would pull a fire alarm for the purpose of gaining access to a building. There are cases where security requires that you push a button so that they can buzz you through security, but even then, it’s never a fire alarm. It’s a security call button of some sort.
Thus it seems really odd that anyone would rationally decide that one should open a door by pulling a fire alarm. It makes sense to pull the alarm to empty a building or prevent people from speaking or otherwise disrupt.
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I agree with you. I’m sorry it sounds like I’m trolling. gattsuru has worded the point better than I can, though he can laugh at the double standard while I find it profoundly black-pilling. There’s nothing more depressing than a one-sided “justice system”. This fire alarm situation will soon be memory-holed and Bowman will face zero consequences. Meanwhile there are peaceful protestors facing 20 years in prison and the only difference is their politics. I’d like to be principled and treat Bowman as an idiot that made an accident, but that’s suicidal at this point.
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