14-Year Old Arrested for Making a Clock

[EBounding]

Basically, brown kid in Texas makes a custom clock. The officer and principal thinks it looks like something out of "24", which is grounds for arrest.

He showed it to his engineering teacher first thing Monday morning and didn’t get quite the reaction he’d hoped for.

“He was like, ‘That’s really nice,’” Ahmed said. “‘I would advise you not to show any other teachers.’”

He kept the clock inside his school bag in English class, but the teacher complained when the alarm beeped in the middle of a lesson. Ahmed brought his invention up to show her afterward.

“She was like, it looks like a bomb,” he said.

“I told her, ‘It doesn’t look like a bomb to me.’”

The teacher kept the clock. When the principal and a police officer pulled Ahmed out of sixth period, he suspected he wouldn’t get it back.

They led Ahmed into a room where four other police officers waited. He said an officer he’d never seen before leaned back in his chair and remarked: “Yup. That’s who I thought it was.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/commu...-to-school.ece

[Acala]

There's an old song by The Police that describes this country now:

"Canary In A Coalmine"


First to fall over when the atmosphere is less than perfect
Your sensibilities are shaken by the slightest defect
You live you life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line

You say you want to spend the winter in Firenza
You're so afraid to catch a dose of influenza
You live your life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line

Canary in a coalmine
Canary in a coalmine
Canary in a coalmine

Now if I tell you that you suffer from delusions
You pay your analyst to reach the same conclusions
You live your life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line

Canary in a coalmine
Canary in a coalmine
Canary in a coalmine

First to fall over when the atmosphere is less than perfect
Your sensibilities are shaken by the slightest defect
You live your life like a canary in a coalmine
You get so dizzy even walking in a straight line

Canary in a coalmine...

[angelatc]

homeschool homeschool homeschool

[specsaregood]

The nasa shirt is a nice touch. how in the hell is this not an onion article....

[luctor-et-emergo]

The nasa shirt is a nice touch. how in the hell is this not an onion article....

Just shows you how far gone we are when nobody is there to say anything sane to stop it.

[DevilsAdvocate]

I have a lot of experience with teachers. All dumb as rocks. All the dummies go into teaching. They're all hyper liberal too.

Administrators are even worse. They aren't just dumb, they're bureaucrats.

[EBounding]

The principal's letter:

[luctor-et-emergo]

The principal's letter:

That's despicable. Looks like it's written by a lawyer. Well in any case, I don't see how the person who wrote this sleeps at night.

[willwash]

Still waiting for a picture of the offending clock.

[heavenlyboy34]

The principal's letter:

"See Something, Say Something". Thanks, Ministry Of Proper, Allowable Thought And Citizenship.

[tod evans]

Still waiting for a picture of the offending clock.

You got a picture of the offensive 'A'-Rab now go back to sleep........

[cajuncocoa]

Still waiting for a picture of the offending clock.

judging from the description, it would look like this:

[buck000]

I wonder if that Twitter pic is what radicalization looks like?

&deity;, we are one scared country.

[presence]

The officer and principal thinks it looks like something out of "24", which is grounds for arrest.

[wizardwatson]

Kid's a freshman in high school. It wasn't a class project. The teacher said it looked like a bomb and told him it isn't wise to show anyone. He leaves it activated and hides it in a paper sack and the English teacher gets spooked. I don't see anything wrong really. I don't think him being Muslim really factors into it. The engineering teacher didn't flip, because he's educated to know it isn't a bomb, but he warned him about showing others because he knew others might think that, so kid was warned.

Now him being Muslim is precisely why he's being invited to the White House however.

But if the teacher had noticed it, didn't say anything, then the kid went to locker and attached the explosive element and killed his classmates the parents would crucify the teacher.

Anyway, kids 14, he likely knew people would make the connection unless his nerdiness is so significant that he's socially retarded.

[EBounding]

Come on. The problem isn't even that the teacher and principal assumed it was a bomb. The problem is that he was arrested and fingerprinted by police who are supposedly "trained professionals".

[Acala]

Way back when I was in junior high, a friend of mine gave me a jar full of thermoplastic injection pellets used for injection molding. Why did he do that? Because we were nerds, okay? Anyway, I took a bag full of these little white cubes to school. I spent the day walking around school handing them to people and saying ominously "Injection pellets. Be careful how you use them" and then walking away. It wasn't long before I was called into the office and asked to explain exactly what I was handing out to my classmates. "Injection pellets." Nobody laughed. "For injection molding of plastic toys and stuff. See? They are just plastic." "Well, stop it." "Okay." End of story. I was not arrested nor was I shot and killed.

[wizardwatson]

Come on. The problem isn't even that the teacher and principal assumed it was a bomb. The problem is that he was arrested and fingerprinted by police who are supposedly "trained professionals".

I've been arrested, fingerprinted, and handcuffed for not paying a busted headlight ticket.

The TSA won't let you take pressure cookers onto a flight.

I agree, if a kid chews his hash brown into a pistol at lunchtime and gets suspended that's dumb. But in this age of constant fear, letting the cops take a look at what looks like a bomb component to a layman isn't really really shocking to me. Especially in a school. The cops were probably just accomodating to avoid backlash from parents/school.

Anyway, main point here is that if anything it's about overreaction to a benign electronics project, but once again the media and apparently the White House want to make it about oppressed minorities. If the same thing happened to a white engineering student I doubt he would be invited to the White House.

[Acala]

Come on. The problem isn't even that the teacher and principal assumed it was a bomb. The problem is that he was arrested and fingerprinted by police who are supposedly "trained professionals".

Every little thing has an official procedure now. There is no room for exercising common sense. There are rules, protocols, commands, and responses. The funny thing is that all of this police state crap utterly fails at blocking the real threat because the real threat never comes from the anticipated direction and never behaves in compliance with the training.

[Acala]

But in this age of constant fear, letting the cops take a look at what looks like a bomb component to a layman isn't really really shocking to me.

As if a cop would know the difference between a clock and a bomb.

They have a bomb squad event about once a month where I live. Some hobo leaves his backpack on a park bench, and the cops fly into action with all their expensive equipment, cordon off the block, and evacuate buildings, all to neutralize the threat of some guy's dirty underwear. Clowns.

[wizardwatson]

As if a cop would know the difference between a clock and a bomb.

They have a bomb squad event about once a month where I live. Some hobo leaves his backpack on a park bench, and the cops fly into action with all their expensive equipment, cordon off the block, and evacuate buildings, all to neutralize the threat of some guy's dirty underwear. Clowns.

Well, that's my point kind of. If another student had seen that in his locker, and then after Ahmed left the kid heard it beeping, then there might have been a bomb squad type of response.

The story actually sounds like the kid was trolling on purpose to me. And cops, who in my opinion assume guilt to begin with they probably thought the same thing. Not that he actually was making a bomb but that he knew full well that people would think that. Especially since he specifically recalls his engineering teacher telling him not to show anyone.

The fact that the alarm went off in another class seems to me like he was trolling. Did he build it but not know how to turn it off to stop disrupting the class? Anyway, if he was trolling, which I would wager some of the cops involved were thinking, even more reason to run him downtown so he sees where his joke leads.

[fisharmor]

This is the face of a young man who has very suddenly figured out an awful lot about the world he lives in, and is wondering how so many can be so evil or stupid to let it continue.

[Acala]

Well, that's my point kind of. If another student had seen that in his locker, and then after Ahmed left the kid heard it beeping, then there might have been a bomb squad type of response.

The story actually sounds like the kid was trolling on purpose to me. And cops, who in my opinion assume guilt to begin with they probably thought the same thing. Not that he actually was making a bomb but that he knew full well that people would think that. Especially since he specifically recalls his engineering teacher telling him not to show anyone.

The fact that the alarm went off in another class seems to me like he was trolling. Did he build it but not know how to turn it off to stop disrupting the class? Anyway, if he was trolling, which I would wager some of the cops involved were thinking, even more reason to run him downtown so he sees where his joke leads.

Here's what you seem to be missing: the threat of a kid bringing a real bomb to school is so remote as to be virtually non-existent. It is idiotic to treat it as a real threat. We have been conditioned to THINK it is a real threat. Once you have been conditioned to THINK it is a real threat, then you will condone this kind of stupidity.

[tod evans]

Here's what you seem to be missing: the threat of a kid bringing a real bomb to school is so remote as to be virtually non-existent. It is idiotic to treat it as a real threat. We have been conditioned to THINK it is a real threat. Once you have been conditioned to THINK it is a real threat, then you will condone this kind of stupidity.

But, but..........

The boogeyman!

[Anti Federalist]

The dangerous clock.

[CaptainAmerica]

Kids just aren't suppose to be smart now days....duh.

[Anti Federalist]

I wonder when the parents of Zach Hammond are going to get their White House invitation?


Student's creative clock draws police -- and White House invitation

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/n...bomb/72348060/

"Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House?," @POTUS tweeted. "We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great."

[Anti Federalist]

This is the face of a young man who has very suddenly figured out an awful lot about the world he lives in, and is wondering how so many can be so evil or stupid to let it continue.

Winning hearts and minds every day in the Soyuz.

[phill4paul]

There is absolutely no amount of stupidity that would actually shock me anymore.

[wizardwatson]

Here's what you seem to be missing: the threat of a kid bringing a real bomb to school is so remote as to be virtually non-existent. It is idiotic to treat it as a real threat. We have been conditioned to THINK it is a real threat. Once you have been conditioned to THINK it is a real threat, then you will condone this kind of stupidity.

I get that (but don't forget Columbine, they did have bombs they just weren't able to detonate them). And what I'm saying is that in that context this wasn't an extreme overreaction to the degree of chewing a piece of food into the shape of a gun and getting in trouble.

But half of you guys are speaking to this problem of "overreaction" when in fact the real problem that this story represents is the media and societal sensationalization of "He's targeted because he's a Muslim!" I don't think he was really judging by the facts. I AGREE that it's more related to systemic fear propaganda. But the reason the story is a story, and the reason he's being invited to the White House is a layer of Xenophobia which is layered on top of what you guys are pointing out.

As pointed out here:

But, but..........

The boogeyman!