Irving 9th-grader arrested after taking homemade clock to school

[MohRokTah]

Irving 9th-grader arrested after taking homemade clock to school: 'So you tried to make a bomb?

IRVING — Ahmed Mohamed — who makes his own radios and repairs his own go-kart — hoped to impress his teachers when he brought a homemade clock to MacArthur High on Monday.

Instead, the school phoned police about Ahmed’s circuit-stuffed pencil case.

So the 14-year-old missed the student council meeting and took a trip in handcuffs to juvenile detention. His clock now sits in an evidence room. Police say they may yet charge him with making a hoax bomb — though they acknowledge he told everyone who would listen that it’s a clock.

In the meantime, Ahmed’s been suspended, his father is upset and the Council on American-Islamic Relations is once again eyeing claims of Islamophobia in Irving.

...

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150915-irving-ninth-grader-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school.ece

And Florida lets out a sigh of relief as Texas actually takes the STUPID award for the day.

[Faux pas]

1. ...

[snooper2]

2. I'm half ass tempted to drive over to that school and smack a motherfucker

[MohRokTah]

3. The cops are just as bad.

They say they may still charge the kid with making a "hoax bomb". The only "hoax bomb" bit in the entire incident was in the minds of stupid teachers, a stupid principal, and stupid cops.

Engineering while Muslim, the newest crime for minorities.

[KittyWampus]

4. Quote from article… Police say "it looks like a MOVIE bomb to me".

“They were like, ‘So you tried to make a bomb?’” Ahmed said.

“I told them no, I was trying to make a clock.”

“He said, ‘It looks like a movie bomb to me.’”

I sincerely hope this talented young engineer sues the school and gets enough to cover his higher education right up through graduate school.

[MohRokTah]

5. How's this for stupid.

Clocks count UP.

A bomb timer would count DOWN!

[KittyWampus]

7. This is such a colossal level of stupidity and racism it's jaw-dropping.

I wish someone at MIT would see this and invite this young engineer to come and visit them.

[oneshooter]

8. Not necessarily.

If a bomb is set to go off after a preset time ( seconds, minutes, hours) then it "counts down" If it is to detonate at a predetermined time, sometimes hours, or even days the clock counts "up".

[MohRokTah]

11. I'm talking in terms of a "movie bomb". eom

[Recursion]

13. You don't put a damn LED counter on your bomb

Hi! Iraq vet and electrical engineer here. Bombs don't have clocks. Ever. Never had. Some bombs have timers, but the last thing you ever want to do is give people an idea of when a terror device is going to explode. Takes the terror right out of it.

The cops knew this too (probably also Iraq vets), which is I assume why you have the hyper-specific phrase "a movie bomb". Because it's only in movies that bombs have clocks. Literally all bombs made today either explode on disturbance or by signal. Again, the cops know that (many of them had the same IED classes I did).

I'm sorry that Irving taxpayers are going to have to pay for this settlement.

[yeoman6987]

28. I can't believe this

The teacher must have other incidences that caused the teacher to go to full emergency on this. Or is the teacher just racist? Unbelievable!

[KittyWampus]

6. Jeez, Irving TX is home of some seriously racist Islamophobes-

‘Invent good things’

“He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” said Ahmed’s father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, who immigrated from Sudan and occasionally returns there to run for president. “But because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated.”

Mohamed is familiar with anti-Islamic politics. He once made national headlines for debating a Florida pastor who burned a Quran.

But he wasn’t paying much attention this summer when Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne became a national celebrity in anti-Islamic circles, fueling rumors in speeches that the religious minority was plotting to usurp American laws.

[Recursion]

9. #NerdingWhileMuslim

I feel confident that I speak for the entire Maker community when I scream in incoherent rage right now.

Keep Making, kid.

[MohRokTah]

10. The worst part is my first thought was...

"I'm glad the cops didn't just blow him away on the spot."

Because, they might have done so given today's police actions.

[Recursion]

16. My God I know

I keep coming back to: what's the loss to the US GDP if this kid stops inventing? My guess is that it would be huge.

[Brickbat]

12. The kid's face is heartbreaking.

[Recursion]

14. That's a NASA shirt.

I've contracted for NASA. I can say with certainty that NASA employees are absolutely furious right now. A kid who can do a digital clock at 14 is exactly who they want at NASA, particularly at JPL. I feel bad for Irving taxpayers.

[Brickbat]

15. Yep.

[Eleanors38]

45. NASA? TERizm!

[alcina]

20. Good thing they keep those kiddie-sized handcuffs around

WTF????!!!!

You can follow and show your support on twitter: https://twitter.com/IStandWithAhmed

[prayin4rain]

22. Ugh, poor kid :( n/t

[Brickbat]

17. Here's the letter the school sent home to families. Don't break the school code, kiddies!

https://www.scribd.com/doc/281348805/parentletter-suspiciouslookingitematmacarthur

[csziggy]

29. So are they going to ban all clocks and wristwatches?

How about all cell phones, tablets and computers since in movies all of those devices have been used to set off bombs or for other nefarious purposes? I can remember older movies where wind up alarm clocks were used to set off bombs! You don't need a circuit board and an LED display to blow shit up.

No wonder we are training too few engineers and technical people in this country. Too many of our supposed educators are afraid of technology or anything they don't understand!

If a white kid had brought the same device to school, I bet he would have been lauded for his ingenuity. But a non-white kid is dragged out of school in handcuffs. I'm glad his father is making a stink about this.

[Downwinder]

18. He should skip Irving and go to UNT TAMS.

https://tams.unt.edu/

[HuckleB]

19. Kick. How is it that DU is mostly ignoring this story?

[backscatter712]

21. I'm K&Ring this one... n/t

[csziggy]

30. There is at least one other thread on this story

Nerding while Muslim - http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027173405

[HuckleB]

32. Thanks! Good to know.

[kcr]

38. There are other pressing issues, of course

Like, the person who wants to ban sex robots. That is an outrage that simply cannot be ignored. Multiple threads going on about that one.

[Logical]

49. Many posts about it! nt

[HuckleB]

50. Yeah, it went through the roof after I made that post.

[jonno99]

23. The "zero-tolerance" fanatics strike again...

The above idiocy is in line with the stories about the school kids taking a few bites out of their food in such a way as to form the shape of a gun - and then getting suspended for pointing their "gun" in a threatening manner (and saying "bang" I guess...&quot .

[NuclearDem]

24. I just...I can't even...

The fuck?

[7wo7rees]

25. Press conference from Irving now.

No charges. Police chief meeting this afternoon with boy' father. Spokeswoman form school district offensive, no apologies. Very defensive. Both kept repeating "abundance of caution". They are considering case closed.

[MohRokTah]

26. I would hope they get their asses sued

But any jury is bound to have at least one idiot who won't see past the kid's name.

[Recursion]

31. They may consider it closed

I imagine several salivating Dallas litigators disagree.

[Eleanors38]

48. Which must explain the expre$$ion "abundance."

[Oneironaut]

27. Oh my gawd its ISIS!!!1one!!

This country is just plain dumb. How do these people live being afraid of their own shadows every day?

This is truly embarrassing.

[HuckleB]

33. Facebook links to the school and district.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/MacArthur-High-School/103794289659416?fref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/IrvingSchools?fref=ts

[uppityperson]

35. Those pages are getting hit

You have 9 minutes and 11 seconds to release Ahmed Mohamed, or else this handmade clock is totally going to create another overly sensationalized national tragedy that totally isn't warranting abhorrible amounts of bigotry and pathetic levels of fear. Don't worry, the FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation won't be able to stop me, either, muahahahah!
‪#?IStandWithAhmed‬

This has a really poorly done drawing of a wall clock after it. Can't get it to link.

[HuckleB]

34. Geek Dad: We Stand With Ahmed – An Open Letter to Ahmed Mohamed

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027174103

[Glassunion]

36. A fine example of white privilege

If your 14 and make a clock... and your skin is the wrong color... You get arrested.

If your 13 and make a fusion reactor... In school... And your the correct color... You get an award and a grant from the school.

[odd_duck]

37. I can just imagine........

the fox “news” headline tonight, as this story is going viral; “Young Jihadist in the making, tests schools security with fake bomb: Progressives/Liberal media defend him”…………………………

[bigbrother05]

39. This is why Radio Shack has gone belly up

If you actually try to make something useful, some knuckle head will overreact. Buying a kit online will bring the FBI/NSA/CIA knocking at your door (or worse).

[dumbcat]

40. I stand with Ahmed

As a long time former engineering mentor for our local high school's FIRST Robotics program, I'll tell you that this kid is exactly the type of young person I wanted to see enter our club.

I remember a young AA kid joining the Robotics Club as a shy freshman tech nerd. But he was really smart, quick, and had a photographic memory. Over the four years we watched him grow, gain confidence, and get even smarter. He could grasp advanced concepts faster than anyone I have ever known. As a senior he was kind of reluctantly the acknowledged leader of the club and the faculty advisor and I were relegated to cleaning up the shop. When we asked the other kids why they accepted Allen's leadership and direction they said, "Because he is always right." They called him Brainiac.

He graduated as valedictorian of his large high school class, went to Rice on a full NSA scholarship and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Computer Science specializing in Artificial Intelligence, spent a few years in the AmeriCorps VISTA program, and now does stuff I can't know about. But he still sponsors and mentors several FIRST Robotics high school teams. The kid is easily the most intelligent person I have ever known.

[hunter]

41. I was bringing Estes rockets, motors, and ignitors to school at that age.

You know, things that can actually catch fire.

And a pocket knife. We played with X-acto knives too.

Our school had a rocket club. Sadly all white, and all male.

Outside the supervision of adults, our favorite dangerous homemade toys, not approved by any authority, were rocket powered pinewood derby cars. They could actually fly like Evil Kenievel.

I notice people now make Youtube videos of stunts like that.

Bringing an electronic clock to school gets a kid handcuffed???

:WTF:

[Eleanors38]

51. Looks like "When Worlds Collide" (1951)

[Salviati]

42. Response from Obama:

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

https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/644193755814342656

I hope that forestalls any "Well we've got to charge him with _something_" bullshit from the local PD that fucked this up.

[Rex]

43. The mayor of Irving is a Trump fan.

Racist profiling 101.

[Eleanors38]

44. And once again: Zero-Tolerance, brought to you by the WOD©

[L. Coyote]

46. The police reported that Ahmed would not say what his clock was for.

Ahmed was probably thinking, "How am I going to explain time to these nitwits."

?1442428131

[cyberswede]

47. "An Arab-looking man of Syrian descent in a garage w/his accomplice..."

https://twitter.com/omarghabra/status/644210841580015616

Omar Ghabra ?@omarghabra 1h1 hour ago Seattle, WA

An Arab-looking man of Syrian descent in a garage w/his accomplice building what appears to be a bomb. Arrest them.

[Taitertots]

52. I don't do well in situations like that.

I'd just non-stop rip on the teacher/principal/police for being morons.

I just can't help being a smart ass when dealing with obvious dumbasses. The broader explanation would be just hilarious. The more upset people get, the worse I get.