US: Outcry after Muslim teen is detained over homemade clock

[Jingthing]

If it really true that as reported he refused to answer questions when concern was raised about his electronic project, then that points to this not really being a black and white issue as it seemed to first appear. Sure, Islamophobia is a likely component in raised suspicion in this case ... but by not cooperating, there is the chance he was playing a political stunt game. (And won big time!) Yes, this is a lot of speculation but going further, if this was a stunt, it would be interesting to know if it was premeditated or just done on the fly when the opportunity presented itself when the project was questioned. The latter is much more innocent and I find it kind of funny and in some ways a justified reaction to perceived Islamophobia.

If premeditated, well, he probably would never been caught out on that, but that would harm his personal gains from this if he ever was. I think it's obvious the people advising him now are aware of the PR risks in his unusual instant fame situation.

Almost definitely this can really change his life in a positive way ... but there is a small risk it may all BLOW UP in his face.

Americans love to reward celebrities but they also like to destroy them. For better or worse clock/bomb boy has become an instant celebrity, but likely only a FIVE MINUTE one.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Jingthing

[MaxYakov]

This kid was on al jazeera and the interviewer asked him why the teacher hassled him…he said "because Im muslim"…jeez the poor li'l bleeding heart….I really think he's now reading from a script that he has been coached with.

so you tell us why he was hassled

Probably because he's a smarta$$ little twit and the teacher wasn't swift enough (and everyone else as well, apparently) to see what was going down and to simply say something like:

"Oh, that's nice. Why don't you take it back home and start work on building something a little more advanced, like a computer or a smart phone?"

Edited September 20, 2015 by MaxYakov

[attrayant]

Chuck, why would you go to the New York Post for commentary of racial and social issues?

[FritsSikkink]

This kid was on al jazeera and the interviewer asked him why the teacher hassled him…he said "because Im muslim"…jeez the poor li'l bleeding heart….I really think he's now reading from a script that he has been coached with.

so you tell us why he was hassled

If I was there, I certainly would.

Right now it looks like some woman thought he was taking the piss (even though it was not a bomb) and decided to call the cops to give him a scare.

not some woman, his teacher calling the police to give him a scare? are you for real?

[FritsSikkink]

This kid was on al jazeera and the interviewer asked him why the teacher hassled him…he said "because Im muslim"…jeez the poor li'l bleeding heart….I really think he's now reading from a script that he has been coached with.

so you tell us why he was hassled

Probably because he's a smarta$$ little twit and the teacher wasn't swift enough (and everyone else as well, apparently) to see what was going down and to simply say something like:

"Oh, that's nice. Why don't you take it back home and start work on building something a little more advanced, like a computer or a smart phone?"

you would be a great teacher

[FritsSikkink]

what a bunch of lame excuses here

[55Jay]

Only recognizing that social programming and messaging can even reach Bill Maher.

Muslim isn't a nationality or ethnicity. Had one of his guests reminded, Bill would of most likely corrected himself.

Often used with religious identity as well. I think you're fabricating an issue that doesn't exist.

I know what Bill meant. You also get my point, but decided to fabricate a bigoted context so you could rally against it?

I have no idea what you're talking about now, except now I suspect you're just trying to stir it up for sport.

Again, it is TOTALLY ACCEPTABLE to refer Muslim Americans, Catholic Americans, or whatever, and I guarantee you Bill Maher would have no problem with religious identity descripters as well.

Bill is an Ex-Catholic Atheist/Agnostic American.

So there!

No, JT, I don't find this sporting at all.

I was being intentionally pedantic, thinking about how many people consider Muslim an ethnicity, therefore would consider Muslim American an acceptable description as, say, Italian American.

Bill Maher would agree on this distinction. In fact, I guarantee he would.

[Jingthing]

Again, I think you're theory is whack and makes ridiculous assumptions that most people think Muslim is an ethnicity. Again, DUH, hyphenated RELIGIOUS based descriptors are used all the time. There is a difference with Jews (and other ETHNORELIGIOUS groups) because Jewish is both a religion AND an ethnicity (which it is true not everyone knows). But Muslim is not an ethnicity and if people are too ignorant to realize that when they hear Muslim American, that's their problem, not any fault of the person using the term.

I suppose in some countries it could be that most Muslims are of the same ethnicity or national background, in which case it would be legit to see Muslim-whatever in more of an ethnicity way. But in the U.S. with such a diversity of ethnicities and national backgrounds, of course Muslim Americans are very ethnically diverse as well.

This American kid who is clearly both a Muslim and an American ... there is no problem whatsoever referring to him as a Muslim American or American Muslim and I would be shocked if he thought there was either.

Of course it can get silly and complicated. Like in the case of Black Muslims in the USA. Would you say Black Muslim Americans? Probably not. The American part would just be assumed.

Edited September 20, 2015 by Jingthing

[Skeptic7]

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.

Scenario 2). It turns out to be a bomb, and he explodes it....

Then the police are wrong for NOT doing anything, better safe, than sorry.

Remember a certain Erawan Shrine incident? A backpack left unattended, probably people (who are now DEAD) thought that it was just an innocent backpack, result, over 20 people dead.....wake up you pc brigade, its a different world now.

Everyone trying to get on a plane with liquids is 'suspicious'. But 99.9% of them are innocent, BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY......If you STILL don't understand it, then there is no hope for any of us.

Damn right! A few years ago I boarded the SkyTrain and noticed a backpack totally unattended in the corner of the car I entered. As the doors were closing, I jumped out and took the next train. Better safe than sorry...dead or maimed.

[chuckd]

Chuck, why would you go to the New York Post for commentary of racial and social issues?

confirmation bias.png

I looked for something in the Daily Kos and the Young Turks but could only find praises of his electronic genius, along with several recommendations that the principal, teacher and all involved police officers, including the Chief of Police, be fired and the school burned down.

[55Jay]

Again, I think you're theory is whack and makes ridiculous assumptions that most people think Muslim is an ethnicity. Again, DUH, hyphenated RELIGIOUS based descriptors are used all the time. There is a difference with Jews (and other ETHNORELIGIOUS groups) because Jewish is both a religion AND an ethnicity (which it is true not everyone knows). But Muslim is not an ethnicity and if people are too ignorant to realize that when they hear Muslim American, that's their problem, not any fault of the person using the term.

I suppose in some countries it could be that most Muslims are of the same ethnicity or national background, in which case it would be legit to see Muslim-whatever in more of an ethnicity way. But in the U.S. with such a diversity of ethnicities and national backgrounds, of course Muslim Americans are very ethnically diverse as well.

This American kid who is clearly both a Muslim and an American ... there is no problem whatsoever referring to him as a Muslim American or American Muslim and I would be shocked if he thought there was either.

Of course it can get silly and complicated. Like in the case of Black Muslims in the USA. Would you say Black Muslim Americans? Probably not. The American part would just be assumed.

bakery.jpg

Never said "most people" think Muslim is an ethnicity. I do think it's more than you are prepared to believe. Obviously.

Sorry, still unable to agree with your whack assertion that religious based descriptors (in front of American) are used "all the time".

I agree (and had considered previously) your noted exception about Jewish people. Indeed, there could be others.

That, however, does precisely bupkis to prop up the assertion that people of the Islamic faith are Muslim Americans. Doesn't work for Catholics, the Mormons, or British Muslims either.

It's not as difficult as you make it out to be WRT black skinned Americans who are Muslims, If they are Americans of African descent, they have asked to be called African Americans. If they are Muslims, and it's relevant, I'm sure they'll let us know.

To get another perspective, I Googled "Muslim British". All the results had it the other way round - British Muslim. Same when I keyed in Muslim Australian. Plenty of interesting reading out there about Muslim Americans as well as American Muslims. I would consider it rather Un-American if there wasn't.

Left me musing - are there any plain old Americans out there? I for one am an Expat American.

Or, is that American Expat?

[ThaiKneeTim]

I back the teacher 100%, best to be alive and take the flak later. Muslims have brought this mistrust onto themselves, and I know, "Not all muslims are terrorists".

Just like not all Americans are gun toting mass murderers eh!

Oh my god, there's an American in the mall, everybody run and hide!

Stereotyping isn't a great idea, it can backfire on you!

[katana]

Looks like the boy didn't 'invent' anything. He didn't even build a clock.
He just disassembled a clock and placed the innards in a pencil case.
http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/

[ThaiKneeTim]

Duplicate post, please ignore/delete

Edited September 21, 2015 by ThaiKneeTim

[ThaiKneeTim]

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.

An earth is not needed on the plug for split phase, and because it's split phase each conductor will be at a potential of 60 volts.

Having a metal case doesn't mean that the transformer isn't double insulated.

Amperage kills!!! Amps and volts go together like a horse and carriage, you can't have one without the other. High voltage and low current can kill, or restart a stopped heart. (Defibrillator)

But carry on with your show of ignorance.

[Jingthing]

I think soft spoken Carson is a very creepy man who happily has no chance of being president himself. But he's giving voice to something real. A Muslim who is really a religious Muslim would be problematic as a US president. The Muslim equivalent of a lox and bagel Jew much less so.

Speaking of which there has never been a Jewish president either and there won't be anytime soon either.

Edited September 21, 2015 by Jingthing

[55Jay]

Not sure how this relates to a muslim kid building a suitcase bomb, but I like listening to Ben "Low Energy" Carson talk

Would agree, however, he can come off a bit creepy in a Dr. Spock kind of way. (Original Star Trek Spock)

Odd bit of trivia, there was a guy named Dr. Benjamin Spock who was also a practicing pediatrician for some time.

[stevenl]

Not sure how this relates to a muslim kid building a suitcase bomb, but I like listening to Ben "Low Energy" Carson talk

Would agree, however, he can come off a bit creepy in a Dr. Spock kind of way. (Original Star Trek Spock)

Odd bit of trivia, there was a guy named Dr. Benjamin Spock who was also a practicing pediatrician for some time.

Star Trek featured Mr. Spock, not Dr. Spock. And Dr. Spock was quite famous worldwide.

[55Jay]

Not sure how this relates to a muslim kid building a suitcase bomb, but I like listening to Ben "Low Energy" Carson talk

Would agree, however, he can come off a bit creepy in a Dr. Spock kind of way. (Original Star Trek Spock)

Odd bit of trivia, there was a guy named Dr. Benjamin Spock who was also a practicing pediatrician for some time.

Star Trek featured Mr. Spock, not Dr. Spock. And Dr. Spock was quite famous worldwide.

Thank you!

[stevenl]

Not sure how this relates to a muslim kid building a suitcase bomb, but I like listening to Ben "Low Energy" Carson talk

Would agree, however, he can come off a bit creepy in a Dr. Spock kind of way. (Original Star Trek Spock)

Odd bit of trivia, there was a guy named Dr. Benjamin Spock who was also a practicing pediatrician for some time.

Star Trek featured Mr. Spock, not Dr. Spock. And Dr. Spock was quite famous worldwide.

Thank you!

You're welcome. This was a question in the edition of Trivial Pursuit that I bought many years ago.

[Steely Dan]

As facts emerge the progressives must be wishing they never ran with this. The boy's parents and their activities make this case likely a faux Islamophobia trap, which is so fitting for a politically concocted term.

http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/09/muslimbombsmatter/

Unfortunately, most people’s attention span started and ended with just the clock incident. As if it happened a vacuum. Poor Ahmed.

But there’s much more to this than meets the eye.

Turns out that Ahmed’s family and friends are activists and provocateurs.

Quelle surprise! Ahmed is a front man boy after all. His real schooling was/is what he was learning early at his father’s knee. The main text is the Koran, and the rules can be found in those papers from Switzerland on the Muslim Brotherhood’s schedule for taking over. They would appear to be right on schedule for their America Take Down project. As the worm turns it reveals that Ahmed’s daddy is… drum roll, please…Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed! [Mohammed Coefficient: 200%]

So the father, who has a history of stirring up claims of victimization by Islamophobes scores a home run. The lack of due diligence on the part of the Potus is staggering, unless of course he is in cahoots with the idea to begin with.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Steely Dan

[Jingthing]

Could be. Cheeky bugger!

[attrayant]

The boy's parents and their activities make this case likely a faux Islamophobia trap, which is so fitting for a politically concocted term.

Translation: They did something that makes [JD Gordon, Executive Director of a right-wing super PAC] afraid of brown people. Couldn't you have found a more reputable source, like InfoWars? Here's the disclaimer from the home page of "Gate of Vienna":

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted as is. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each items title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

In other words, we have no idea if this is true, why don't YOU look it up?

Edited September 23, 2015 by attrayant

[Jingthing]

He created suspicion when he refused to describe his toy when confronted.

[chuckd]

I made the following post on the other bomb thread earlier today.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I found this information in an article a couple of days ago. US haters will not believe one word of it as it doesn't fit their agenda.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

1. There was no "school project" or science assignment.

2. Just three weeks into his freshman year, Mohamed was no "science whiz well-known by high school teachers for tinkering."

3. The "clock" wasn't made from scratch but just the guts of a mass-manufactured digital clock.

4. With its exposed wires and lack of a face, the gutted clock looked like a bomb. The alarm was set to go off during English class; the beeping startled the teacher who called police.

5. When police questioned Mohamed, he wasn't cooperative and was described as "disrespectful."

6. The police chief said the device was "...a hoax bomb."

7. Mohamed's Sudanese father reportedly asked the cops to re-handcuff his son — so his daughter could take the photo that went viral.

8. Mohamed tweeted: "Thank you fellow supporters. We can ban together to stop this racial inequality."

9. The family's spokesperson is the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

http://news.investor...m#ixzz3mY24aG5k

[attrayant]

US haters will not believe one word of it as it doesn't fit their agenda.

But you believe it hook, line and sinker because it does fit your agenda.

Your link goes to this very thread. Try again.

Most of those items get a big fat "so what?" from me - especially #8. What's wrong with that?

Even if he did plan this, it brought to light the incompetence and bigotry of the police force and several teachers at the school. Bravo.

[dave_boo]

Oldest time stamped picture I could find of the clock...perhaps someone else can find another and quiet the unease I feel of the POTUS commenting a full 2 hours before the picture of the clock was available?

**edit**

https://mobile.twitter.com/potus/status/644193755814342656

Edited September 23, 2015 by dave_boo

[Jingthing]

Well, if it is proven somehow that it was a well orchestrated hoax, I said IF, then I certainly hope all the special treats this boy has been offered will be withdrawn. No, he doesn't deserve for his life to be ruined, he's only a kid, but it's the totally WRONG message to reward that kind of stunt.

[attrayant]

perhaps someone else can find another and quiet the unease I feel of the POTUS commenting a full 2 hours before the picture of the clock was available?

Why do you feel uneasy? When I first read the story there was no picture attached and I thought it sounded cool, too. Actually I thought it was a lot less cool when I finally did see a picture of it. Are we not allowed to think something's cool unless we can see a picture of it?

[chuckd]

The Wikipedia page on young Ahmed's father. Perhaps the apple didn't fall too far from the tree in this case.

Background[edit]

He earned a degree in philosophy from Cairo University in Khartoum before moving from Sudan to the United States in the 1980s. In the states, he sold hot dogs inNew York City and then drove taxi cabs in Dallas, Texas. In Dallas, he founded a taxi company called Jet Taxi, which he later sold to Yellow Cab.^[1]

More recently he has been an entrepreneur and candidate for the Presidency of Sudan.^[1] He is a Sufi Muslim who leads a house of worship in Irving, Texas. In this capacity he defended the Qur'an in a mock jury trial against Christian fundamentalist Terry Jones.^[2]

He is the father of Ahmed Mohamed, who was arrested and suspended from attending his high school after bringing in a digital clock he had assembled.^[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Elhassan_Mohamed