9 December—Hearty congratulations to Fifth District Congresswoman Jahana Hayes for showing greater scrotal content than her four (customarily and predictably) wimpy male Connecticut colleagues could muster. Yesterday, Jahana was one of three House Democrats who had the integrity and courage to join all the House Republicans (virtually all of whom are wimps, by the way) to censure notoriously progressive, pro-Palestinian New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman for setting off a false fire alarm in the Cannon House Office Building while the House was in session.

The vote was 211 Republicans and 3 Democrats for, 191 Democrats against; 1 Republican present, 4 Democrats present.

Bowman had pleaded guilty in October to a misdemeanor count for the false alarm. He agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and serve three months of probation, after which the false alarm charge will likely be dismissed from his record under an agreement with prosecutors. One wonders what punishment and penalty would be exacted from a non-pol.

Bowman’s alarm caused a building-wide evacuation that lasted until the Capitol police determined it was false about an hour later. Word was that Bowman did the dirty to delay a vote on a continuing resolution. But he maintained that he was merely trying to get through a door that was usually open but was closed that day because it was the weekend. Yeah, right.

Obnoxious progressive Democrats who spoke vainly (just to go on the record, as usual) in Bowman’s defense accused Republicans of weaponizing the censure process against Democrats over and over again simply for political gain. Just like the Democrats do when they have a majority.

Bowman himself called the Republican effort to censure him “deeply unserious,” and added, “Their censure resolution against me . . . continues to demonstrate their inability to govern and serve the American people.” Jamaal isn’t wrong, to be sure, but that’s the 118^th Congress and several—perhaps many—before it and most likely many after it, regardless of the majority party. In other words, it works both ways with self-serving whores. (Apologies to whores.)

A censure in the House really is deeply unserious because it’s merely a reproach from colleagues and carries no practical effect. It’s rather like putting a dunce cap on a naughty child or sentencing the little bugger to sit in the corner. In fact, the censured congresspeople stand in the well of the House as the censure resolution against them is read. Oh, the ignominy!

Jamaal Bowman is the 27th member to be censured by the House, the third just this year. Republicans voted last month to censure progressive Democrat Rashida Tlaib because of her intemperate and asinine rhetoric about the Hamas invasion of Israel; and in June moderate Democrat Adam Schiff was censured by Republicans for comments he had made a few years ago about President (never again!) Donald Trump’s ties to Russia.

The last Republican representative to be censured was Paul Gosar in 2021, for posting a disgraceful video on social media depicting himself committing violence against Congressbrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and poor old Joe Biden. Democrats held the House majority, of course.

Unfortunately, it’s a contest between Democrats and Republicans in both houses to prove which party can best demonstrate its inability to govern and serve the American people.

Incidentally, while censure may indeed be deeply unserious, the next step is expulsion, and that’s deeply serious. Republican Congressman George Santos was expelled on 1 December on an enthusiastically bipartisan vote of 311 to 114. Even though George, unlike Jamaal Bowman, hadn’t been convicted of, nor admitted to, any crime. Rather, George was obviously expelled because his hypocritical colleagues prefer to keep what they do under the table . . .