US: Outcry after Muslim teen is detained over homemade clock

[Ghostnigel]

Had he not been a muslim would there have been an outcry? I doubt it

True. Also, had this occurred in Thailand, would there have been more of an outcry? I think so.

True, but if he wasn't a muslim, he wouldn't have got an invitation to the White House, and MIT

[FritsSikkink]

A.jpg

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/heres-bomb-clock-got-ahmed-mohamed-arrested/

That picture sure looks like a homemade something and its PERFECTLY SANE to be suspicious of a Muslim with a contraption like that on them, ESPECIALLY if you dont know what you are looking at.

Better safe than sorry and all this hoopla is the Politically Correct Brigade spouting off and in this day and age its times to throw that crap out the window.

you have really lost the plot if you are that scared of a kid only based on his religion

Every major atrocity has muslims attached to it

what a load of biased BS

[balo]

Maybe he will end up being a radical muslim when he grows up, you never know , it happened before. But TIA (this is America) anything can happen. But I hope he'll end up in NASA.

Edited September 17, 2015 by balo

[Chicog]

What amazes me is that anyone that dares to question the utter stupidity and overreaction by both school staff and the cops could be accused of being "politically correct".

Instead of just calling an idiot an idiot.

[ThaiKneeTim]

well it is not a homemade clock it is a normal digital electric clock with the frame removed and is not something that would be safe to handle since it is plugged into main power with the innards exposed, touch the wrong thing and you are toast, not really something that should be brought into a classroom, as for looking like a bomb - well I guess to the uneducated anything could look like a bomb in that part of the country if it has wires connected to it

If it is indeed powered by the mains and not batteries , all the exposed "innards" would be behind the transformer & rectifier , and be a low DC voltage , completely harmless.

The US is completely out of control paranoid : a teen kisses another teen in school on a dare , and he's a sexual deviant , another brings a selfmade digital clock and considdered a terrorist bombmaker.

the transformer is sitting there fully exposed mate with 240vac ready for anyone to poke a finger on, I didn't go into that much detail becacse most here wouldn't quite understand it, this thing is still dangerous to anyone touching it that doesn't understand it

Yes you can see the transformer, but there appear to be no exposed terminals, not even on the output side, and the supply would be 110 to 120 volts, from a centre supply with a centre tapped earth (or split phase as it is known in some countries), as is the norm in American electrical supplies, the significance of which I'm sure I don't need to explain.

Still wearing your ignorance (and bigotry) on your sleeve.

[Ghostnigel]

A.jpg

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/heres-bomb-clock-got-ahmed-mohamed-arrested/

That picture sure looks like a homemade something and its PERFECTLY SANE to be suspicious of a Muslim with a contraption like that on them, ESPECIALLY if you dont know what you are looking at.

Better safe than sorry and all this hoopla is the Politically Correct Brigade spouting off and in this day and age its times to throw that crap out the window.

you have really lost the plot if you are that scared of a kid only based on his religion

Every major atrocity has muslims attached to it

what a load of biased BS

You are welcome to your view, I will stick with mine. Don't even bother to try and change my view, I have seen shit you couldnt even dream about.

Nice of you to just pick one line out to try and make it seem worse! Well done.

[FritsSikkink]

A.jpg

http://www.wired.com/2015/09/heres-bomb-clock-got-ahmed-mohamed-arrested/

That picture sure looks like a homemade something and its PERFECTLY SANE to be suspicious of a Muslim with a contraption like that on them, ESPECIALLY if you dont know what you are looking at.

Better safe than sorry and all this hoopla is the Politically Correct Brigade spouting off and in this day and age its times to throw that crap out the window.

you have really lost the plot if you are that scared of a kid only based on his religion

Every major atrocity has muslims attached to it

what a load of biased BS

You are welcome to your view, I will stick with mine. Don't even bother to try and change my view, I have seen shit you couldnt even dream about.

Nice of you to just pick one line out to try and make it seem worse! Well done.

next time read what you write before posting instead of blaming me for it

[klikster]

maybe just me but are you all making an assumption that the teacher who made the complaint is not a muslim ? I would have thought in that part of the country the teacher is very likely to infact be a muslim

In Irving, Texas?????????

what I meant was muslim attending muslim school - not unusual

"MacArthur High School is a public high school in Irving, Texas. It is named for the American General of the Army Douglas MacArthur."

[JakeSully]

An opportunity like this was too much for the Potus to miss.

Perhaps so. However, I think what he is doing is fine. Americans do need reminders to avoid Islamophobia especially towards American Muslims who are so much better integrated in the USA than European Muslims. Some bad apples shouldn't unfairly impact on the majority of American Muslims.

The POTUS in most cases has gotten things right rather than wrong for the good of the nation over opposition. A few examples from history would be:

1. Lincoln issuing Emancipation Proclamation

2. Eisenhower enforcing Brown v. Board of Ed

3. LBJ creating the civil rights bill

4. Nixon going to China

[smedly]

well it is not a homemade clock it is a normal digital electric clock with the frame removed and is not something that would be safe to handle since it is plugged into main power with the innards exposed, touch the wrong thing and you are toast, not really something that should be brought into a classroom, as for looking like a bomb - well I guess to the uneducated anything could look like a bomb in that part of the country if it has wires connected to it

If it is indeed powered by the mains and not batteries , all the exposed "innards" would be behind the transformer & rectifier , and be a low DC voltage , completely harmless.

The US is completely out of control paranoid : a teen kisses another teen in school on a dare , and he's a sexual deviant , another brings a selfmade digital clock and considdered a terrorist bombmaker.

the transformer is sitting there fully exposed mate with 240vac ready for anyone to poke a finger on, I didn't go into that much detail becacse most here wouldn't quite understand it, this thing is still dangerous to anyone touching it that doesn't understand it

Yes you can see the transformer, but there appear to be no exposed terminals, not even on the output side, and the supply would be 110 to 120 volts, from a centre supply with a centre tapped earth (or split phase as it is known in some countries), as is the norm in American electrical supplies, the significance of which I'm sure I don't need to explain.

Still wearing your ignorance (and bigotry) on your sleeve.

what on earth are you going on about - seriously

take a chill pill the larger the better

[JakeSully]

The funny sad but true thing is most of those other students and teachers in his school will be flipping burgers while he'll be flipping space Satellites. He is a great American making real Americans very proud of supporting immigrants like him and his family.

Don't stop! Don't get bullied for your religion! Show the world what immigrants can do in the USA like Albert Einstein, Satya Nadella and Salma Hayek. Take them for examples! Make us proud of the only place on earth where immigrants are welcome!

[manarak]

well it is not a homemade clock it is a normal digital electric clock with the frame removed and is not something that would be safe to handle since it is plugged into main power with the innards exposed, touch the wrong thing and you are toast, not really something that should be brought into a classroom, as for looking like a bomb - well I guess to the uneducated anything could look like a bomb in that part of the country if it has wires connected to it

If it is indeed powered by the mains and not batteries , all the exposed "innards" would be behind the transformer & rectifier , and be a low DC voltage , completely harmless.

The US is completely out of control paranoid : a teen kisses another teen in school on a dare , and he's a sexual deviant , another brings a selfmade digital clock and considdered a terrorist bombmaker.

the transformer is sitting there fully exposed mate with 240vac ready for anyone to poke a finger on, I didn't go into that much detail becacse most here wouldn't quite understand it, this thing is still dangerous to anyone touching it that doesn't understand it

therefore: don't touch things which belong to someone else.

[katana]

Saw this on another forum. You can kinda see why it might arouse suspicion:

[NeverSure]

Now there's a display of ignorance if ever I saw one!

The display is a standard LED dot matrix display, the circuitry that drives the display is home made, and the mains supply feeds a transformer and rectifying circuit to produce a low voltage DC supply, probably no more than 6V DC.

Yes you can see the transformer, but there appear to be no exposed terminals, not even on the output side, and the supply would be 110 to 120 volts, from a centre supply with a centre tapped earth (or split phase as it is known in some countries), as is the norm in American electrical supplies, the significance of which I'm sure I don't need to explain.

Still wearing your ignorance (and bigotry) on your sleeve.

You are mistaken completely.

The plug that shows in the picture is not a grounded three prong plug. It is a two prong plug with a two wire cord. It would not have any benefit of the ground you have mentioned because there is no ground wire connected to the plug or the work piece. In fact I see no green (ground) wire in the mix at all. There's no ground available there.

A two prong plug is used where something like an appliance is engineered to be self insulating and can't pass a short to the user. That case isn't self insulating and the kid wouldn't have a clue as to whether he was setting someone up for a bad shock. From the looks of it I'd say he was.

120 VAC can kill people. It is amperage that kills, not volts and we don't know but what he plugged into a 30 amp 120 VAC outlet. Many people have been killed by 120 VAC.

I don't expect teachers or school officials to have a clue what is in that case and I don't blame them for reacting. These people aren't supposed to be electrical engineers.

Cheers.

[Carmine6]

The real test is have him hand carry this through TSA (without them knowing who he is) while flying to DC, and see if he makes the flight.

This is only an international story because of his name and religion. What many people don't realize is schools in the US are under an extreme zero tolerance policy. Doesn't take any actual real weapon to be suspended or face criminal charges. Several students, including one just last week, have sent pictures on social media with captions that have been taken as threats. Some are facing jail time. Some are in jail for social media posts.

Here's a student expelled and facing jail time for a chemicals in a water bottle explosion (which are all over youtube)

http://news.yahoo.com/teen-girl-expelled-charged-felony-science-experiment-goes-050006336.html

http://archive.wtsp.com/news/reporter/article/312878/79/Teen-girl-arrested-for-science-project-gone-bad

Here's an 8 year old suspended student who ate part of a pop tart, and said he made a gun

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/examiner-recommends-school-board-uphold-pop-tart-suspension/

Here's a suspension for a drill team style wood and duct tape facsimile rifle

http://archives.aurorasentinel.com/news/metro_aurora/article_2cfedc58-469a-525d-b2f8-464b1e881c9e.html

Here's a student suspended for pointing a finger like a gun

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/04/student-points-finger-like-gun_n_4895507.html

Student suspended for twirling a pencil which another student said was like a gun motion

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/07/ethan-chaplin-student-suspended-twirling-pencil_n_5106069.html

http://news.yahoo.com/video/student-suspended-twirling-pencil-222006007.html

Student suspended for having butter knife in school lunch

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/student-suspended-butter-knife-lunch_n_2979808.html

As for arrests, how about burping in class:

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/student-arrested-for-burping-lawsuit-claims/

These instances go on and on. Nothing unique about how it was handled in this case, just in who the student was and what he carried resembled.

[up-country_sinclair]

I have sympathy for the teachers and school administrators because determining whether or not something is an explosive device is not in their job description. The police should have known better, and the boy's parents should have been called immediately. I hope he doesn't sue, but he's got a hell of a case (no pun intended ).

[dave_boo]

The more that comes out of this story the funnier it smells.

This student removed the workings from an electronic clock. He didn't build one from scratch or even a kit. He then purchased a briefcase looking container to put the clock into. He then made it a point to show off his "creation" to a presumably non-shop class teacher. CAIR, which as an organisation is an un-indicted co-conspirator to the terrorist group Hamas, is involved almost immediately. The interview with the child has him struggling to remember his obviously coached lines that are designed to elicit sympathy.

Does fit with other contrived instances heavily publicised to garner sympathy and project an aura of victim hood.

[Bellacissa]

Having lived my entire life in Dallas, TX (about 30 minutes from this school) I can guarantee that if they thought it was a bomb, they would have evacuated the school and the surrounding area. They would have brought in the bomb squad and dogs to sweep the school and likely cancelled classes for the remainder of the day for the investigation. I've seen it time and again. And most of the evacuations are for just the mention of something seen in a kid's locker that might have resembled a gun or a bomb. They evacuate without any visual verification at all.

There is absolutely no way that they thought this was a bomb. The zero tolerance policies in schools are ridiculous. Kids that are doing nothing more than playing cops and robbers on the playground get suspended. They went WAY overboard with this kid for no reason.

[Scott]

Off-topic, inflammatory posts and replies removed.

[Tep2]

Fritsstink, if you could kindly read post #76 from Wolfe, it clearly shows that I am right in what i say, and you must be deluded, and you say i speak biased BS...?

IF, just if, it was a bomb, which you, me, and millions of others didn't know at the time), because we were not there, and he blew it up, if he was muslim, black, or white, you, and others would say "Why did they let a kid get in the school with a bomb? Where is security?"

But you only see it like you do, because you KNOW now it wasnt a bomb. But what IF it was a bomb? Get me?

Oh <deleted> it, can't be bothered to try and explain anymore.

And if it was an apple pie, then the student and teacher could have sat down to lunch together. Your fear is contagious. Be careful, other small minds will get infected with your hysteria. I see you have made subsequent posts spreading your fear and hate. So we now now you don't have the courage of your convictions to do what you say you are going to do and stop posting.

Fear and cowardice. Not a good combination.

Congratulations on all those right-minded people who are now compensating for ignorance and red-neckery by providing this 14 year old inquisitive, precocious, and perfectly normal (and I don't need to capitalise the work normal like a teenage girl texting her BFF) young man with access to activities that will stimulate his mind and curiosity like visiting MIT and the White House.

[Ghostnigel]

Fritsstink, if you could kindly read post #76 from Wolfe, it clearly shows that I am right in what i say, and you must be deluded, and you say i speak biased BS...?

IF, just if, it was a bomb, which you, me, and millions of others didn't know at the time), because we were not there, and he blew it up, if he was muslim, black, or white, you, and others would say "Why did they let a kid get in the school with a bomb? Where is security?"

But you only see it like you do, because you KNOW now it wasnt a bomb. But what IF it was a bomb? Get me?

Oh it, can't be bothered to try and explain anymore.

And if it was an apple pie, then the student and teacher could have sat down to lunch together. Your fear is contagious. Be careful, other small minds will get infected with your hysteria. I see you have made subsequent posts spreading your fear and hate. So we now now you don't have the courage of your convictions to do what you say you are going to do and stop posting.

Fear and cowardice. Not a good combination.

Congratulations on all those right-minded people who are now compensating for ignorance and red-neckery by providing this 14 year old inquisitive, precocious, and perfectly normal (and I don't need to capitalise the work normal like a teenage girl texting her BFF) young man with access to activities that will stimulate his mind and curiosity like visiting MIT and the White House.

Don't tell me, tell all the families of the dead at the Erawan Shrine bombing, if you are stupid enough to trust everything that could be a bomb, up to you....maybe one day it WILL be a bomb...how dare you call me small-minded, have you served in a muslim country? Been spat at, tricked into helping someone, and then chased by muslims with guns....??? You are right, i am security minded, but if i was small minded, i wouldnt be here today....you wouldnt last 2 minutes in a warzone, so keep your stupid remarks to yourself until you know what you are talking about...

[stevenl]

Fritsstink, if you could kindly read post #76 from Wolfe, it clearly shows that I am right in what i say, and you must be deluded, and you say i speak biased BS...?

IF, just if, it was a bomb, which you, me, and millions of others didn't know at the time), because we were not there, and he blew it up, if he was muslim, black, or white, you, and others would say "Why did they let a kid get in the school with a bomb? Where is security?"

But you only see it like you do, because you KNOW now it wasnt a bomb. But what IF it was a bomb? Get me?

Oh it, can't be bothered to try and explain anymore.

And if it was an apple pie, then the student and teacher could have sat down to lunch together. Your fear is contagious. Be careful, other small minds will get infected with your hysteria. I see you have made subsequent posts spreading your fear and hate. So we now now you don't have the courage of your convictions to do what you say you are going to do and stop posting.

Fear and cowardice. Not a good combination.

Congratulations on all those right-minded people who are now compensating for ignorance and red-neckery by providing this 14 year old inquisitive, precocious, and perfectly normal (and I don't need to capitalise the work normal like a teenage girl texting her BFF) young man with access to activities that will stimulate his mind and curiosity like visiting MIT and the White House.

Don't tell me, tell all the families of the dead at the Erawan Shrine bombing, if you are stupid enough to trust everything that could be a bomb, up to you....maybe one day it WILL be a bomb...how dare you call me small-minded, have you served in a muslim country? Been spat at, tricked into helping someone, and then chased by muslims with guns....??? You are right, i am security minded, but if i was small minded, i wouldnt be here today....you wouldnt last 2 minutes in a warzone, so keep your stupid remarks to yourself until you know what you are talking about...

The difference is that you seem to think we live our lives in a warzone.

I for one do not.

And I have lived in a muslin country, but have completely different experiences from yours.

[JUDAS]

Land of the terrified.

Sent from my GT-I8552 using Tapatalk

[FritsSikkink]

Fritsstink, if you could kindly read post #76 from Wolfe, it clearly shows that I am right in what i say, and you must be deluded, and you say i speak biased BS...?

IF, just if, it was a bomb, which you, me, and millions of others didn't know at the time), because we were not there, and he blew it up, if he was muslim, black, or white, you, and others would say "Why did they let a kid get in the school with a bomb? Where is security?"

But you only see it like you do, because you KNOW now it wasnt a bomb. But what IF it was a bomb? Get me?

Oh it, can't be bothered to try and explain anymore.

And if it was an apple pie, then the student and teacher could have sat down to lunch together. Your fear is contagious. Be careful, other small minds will get infected with your hysteria. I see you have made subsequent posts spreading your fear and hate. So we now now you don't have the courage of your convictions to do what you say you are going to do and stop posting.

Fear and cowardice. Not a good combination.

Congratulations on all those right-minded people who are now compensating for ignorance and red-neckery by providing this 14 year old inquisitive, precocious, and perfectly normal (and I don't need to capitalise the work normal like a teenage girl texting her BFF) young man with access to activities that will stimulate his mind and curiosity like visiting MIT and the White House.

Don't tell me, tell all the families of the dead at the Erawan Shrine bombing, if you are stupid enough to trust everything that could be a bomb, up to you....maybe one day it WILL be a bomb...how dare you call me small-minded, have you served in a muslim country? Been spat at, tricked into helping someone, and then chased by muslims with guns....??? You are right, i am security minded, but if i was small minded, i wouldnt be here today....you wouldnt last 2 minutes in a warzone, so keep your stupid remarks to yourself until you know what you are talking about...

not to strange you got spat at if one or more of their family members have been killed by someone in the same uniform as you.

[JHolmesJr]

I saw this kid in what is presumably his first press conference…..he had poise, was absolutely fearless, spoke well, made sense, didn't fumble and had a nice geeky element to him with his little tics….he also seemed to be shaking though not out of nervousness. He also had an alarming number of handlers around him…which i suppose is fair enough.

Social media is a very interesting thing as it creates these modern day heroes who otherwise would be pretty ordinary….what was even more notable is how many people jumped on this kid on twitter trying to elevate their own 'brand'…..they used him, he uses the system…everyone happy…..the only one who looks stupid and bigoted is the teacher and the school where this happened.

I think Obama's people are going to turn this kid into some sort of poster boy for liberal islam and how they support muslims…..much like they did with malala yusufzai.

Anyway, the is kid doesn't have to worry about his future…..he's got it made from now on.

[Jingthing]

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes a clock is just a clock.

...

Sometimes they're not.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Jingthing

[Tep2]

Fritsstink, if you could kindly read post #76 from Wolfe, it clearly shows that I am right in what i say, and you must be deluded, and you say i speak biased BS...?

IF, just if, it was a bomb, which you, me, and millions of others didn't know at the time), because we were not there, and he blew it up, if he was muslim, black, or white, you, and others would say "Why did they let a kid get in the school with a bomb? Where is security?"

But you only see it like you do, because you KNOW now it wasnt a bomb. But what IF it was a bomb? Get me?

Oh it, can't be bothered to try and explain anymore.

And if it was an apple pie, then the student and teacher could have sat down to lunch together. Your fear is contagious. Be careful, other small minds will get infected with your hysteria. I see you have made subsequent posts spreading your fear and hate. So we now now you don't have the courage of your convictions to do what you say you are going to do and stop posting.

Fear and cowardice. Not a good combination.

Congratulations on all those right-minded people who are now compensating for ignorance and red-neckery by providing this 14 year old inquisitive, precocious, and perfectly normal (and I don't need to capitalise the work normal like a teenage girl texting her BFF) young man with access to activities that will stimulate his mind and curiosity like visiting MIT and the White House.

Don't tell me, tell all the families of the dead at the Erawan Shrine bombing, if you are stupid enough to trust everything that could be a bomb, up to you....maybe one day it WILL be a bomb...how dare you call me small-minded, have you served in a muslim country? Been spat at, tricked into helping someone, and then chased by muslims with guns....??? You are right, i am security minded, but if i was small minded, i wouldnt be here today....you wouldnt last 2 minutes in a warzone, so keep your stupid remarks to yourself until you know what you are talking about...

Your original, central thesis linking modern day security threats with the incident iin Texas with the 14 year old child get more tenuous with each subsequent extremity that you reach for. The families of those unfortunate people killed in the Erewan Shrine bombing are in now way related to this incident or this topic. In any case, you are clearly new to this country if you think you know what happened in that incident and are in any positon to reference it.

Living in the security state, as many do now in the US, UK and elsewhere is a consequence of a fearful mind like yours combined with technology and too much money in the hands of people who do not respect people or their rights. CCTV in the UK, American cops with armoured personnal carriers dispatched to serve summonses for traffic violations, the whole nasty airport experience. This is the type of society generated by your fears. To take a cliche - you can say that you have let the 'terrorist win' by living your lives in such fear.

I tried to count the number of muslim 'countries' in which I have worked in the past 25 years. Apart from all of the ones in Asia Pacific, I worked for an extended periof of time in Afghanistan and I am returning there on a project next month, intermittently for 18 months. This time there is no NATO. I have worked in many what are called FCS (fragile and conflict states) and am very security conscious. I am careful, not fearful. Your outrage that I would dare comment on your experience is another consequence of your fear. You made assumptions about me that are wroing. I don't care if you believe me or not. I have made reference to my experience in Afghanistan in previous posts. A small mind generates and passes on fear. Fare be it from me to teach you to suck eggs, particularly since you have 'seen stuff' (yeah, right) but why don't you save your juvenile outrage for teh big stuff. Wittering it away on a topic like this is insane.

I look forward to surviving more than 2 minutes after I disembark at Kabul Airport, which I am surprised to learn is now called Hamad Kazai International Airport. I certainly don't hink I would if I followed your example.

[JHolmesJr]

Land of the terrified.

Land of the safe....sez Jeb "my brother made us safer" Bush.

[sambum]

"Khalid Hamide, a spokesman for the mosque the family attends, appealed for politicians "to be careful with the words that they use when they refer to Muslims, because this event is not an isolated event."

And doesn't that just about say it all about the "threatening" attitude of Muslims worldwide?

No, but your post says it all about yours.

I would have made the same comment if you replaced the word "Muslims" in the statement by Khalid Hamide, with the word "Catholics" , "Protestants" or "Mormons"!

The point I was making was that Muslim spokesmen seem to have this "don't speak about us in an unfriendly manner or else" attitude in their comments to the media. (Sound familiar?)

Can you imagine the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury using the same terminology?

By the way, I am of no religious persuasion whatsoever, I just don't like what happens when religious fanatics try to enforce their will on everybody else.

[stevenl]

"Khalid Hamide, a spokesman for the mosque the family attends, appealed for politicians "to be careful with the words that they use when they refer to Muslims, because this event is not an isolated event."

And doesn't that just about say it all about the "threatening" attitude of Muslims worldwide?

No, but your post says it all about yours.

I would have made the same comment if you replaced the word "Muslims" in the statement by Khalid Hamide, with the word "Catholics" , "Protestants" or "Mormons"!

The point I was making was that Muslim spokesmen seem to have this "don't speak about us in an unfriendly manner or else" attitude in their comments to the media. (Sound familiar?)

Can you imagine the Pope or the Archbishop of Canterbury using the same terminology?

By the way, I am of no religious persuasion whatsoever, I just don't like what happens when religious fanatics try to enforce their will on everybody else.

He is telling people to be careful with their words, because words can sow and are sowing hatred at the moment.

You made up the 'or else', attitude and threatening parts. So yes, your post says all there is to be said about your attitude.

Edited September 18, 2015 by stevenl