Liberal media is all over this as well as liberals on social media today:
Irving’s police chief announced Wednesday that charges won’t be filed against Ahmed Mohamed, the MacArthur High School freshman arrested Monday after he brought what school officials and police described as a “hoax bomb” on campus.
At a joint press conference with Irving ISD, Chief Larry Boyd said the device — confiscated by an English teacher despite the teen’s insistence that it was a clock — was “certainly suspicious in nature.”
“The student showed the device to a teacher, who was concerned that it was possibly the infrastructure for a bomb,” Boyd said.
School officers questioned Ahmed about the device and why Ahmed had brought it to school. Boyd said Ahmed was then handcuffed “for his safety and for the safety of the officers” and taken to a juvenile detention center. He was later released to his parents, Boyd said.
“The follow-up investigation revealed the device apparently was a homemade experiment, and there’s no evidence to support the perception he intended to create alarm,” Boyd said, describing the incident as a “naive accident.”
During the news conference, Boyd touted the “outstanding relationship” he’s had with the Muslim community in Irving. He said he talked to members of the Muslim community this morning and plans to meet with Ahmed’s father later today.
Asked if the teen’s religious beliefs factored into his arrest, Boyd said the reaction “would have been the same” under any circumstances.
Hmmm....Without investigating the details of those similar circumstances, I’m kinda with the KosKiddies and not really buying that. Of course, I’m also of the opinion that religious belief should play a factor.
“We live in an age where you can’t take things like that to school,” he said. “Of course we’ve seen across our country horrific things happen, so we have to err on the side of caution.”
Irving ISD spokeswoman Lesley Weaver also addressed the media, saying that information “made public to this point has been very unbalanced.”
Ahmed Mohamed’s ethnicity/religious beliefs most likely did factor into the alarm over his home-made clock. Was it fair or unfair? I really haven’t followed very closely all the media reportage on this. I do believe that behavior profiling is a necessity; and am not completely against racial/ethnic/national/religious profiling.
It’s just an unfortunate reality of life that there are those who do share his religion that do mean the world harm.
Should he have been handcuffed and sent to a juvenile detention center? In my ignorance of the specifics, I’m just going to assume that no, unless he’s someone known to spout-off anti-American rhetoric or Islamist religious and political propaganda, was behaving in a very suspicious manner over his clock, he should not have been inconvenienced to such an extent. I’d assume it should not have been that difficult to determine the clock was harmless and is as he said it was.
Unfortunately though, this story is being driven now by demagogues and political showboating. Already President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and doofuses like Mark Zuckerberg have tweeted out how they stand with Ahmed and against bigotry, of course. It’s political opportunism. Should GOP presidential candidates be asked about this at tonight’s debate?
When America found itself at war with Japan, it over-reacted with the internment of Japanese-Americans. I believe it was a mistake; and the vast majority were loyal citizens. However, it is revisionist history to say there weren’t legitimate concerns that were not based upon wrongful prejudice and racial bigotry. It is only logical to question a first generation immigrant and Japanese nationals on where their loyalties may lie. And despite the narrative that’s been painted for the past several decades, there were indeed some Japanese-Americans who were loyal or sympathetic toward the old motherland.
And I say this as someone whose family has ties to the Japanese-American community (my adoptive mom being Japanese). Yes, it is inconvenient to be scrutinized more closely based upon your skin color, religious beliefs, nationality, etc. But is it really bigoted? Or is it based upon rationale and logic?
Thoughts regarding hashtag stand with Ahmed? Feelings regarding the whole sordid business of profiling?
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/dallas-county/2015/09/15/irving-isd-student-detained-for-device-resembling-bomb/72339246/
POLICE SAY THEY COULDN’T GET A STRAIGHT ANSWER OUT OF LITTLE AHMED MOHAMMED:
Police said the student had the briefcase in his English class, where he plugged it into an electrical outlet and it started to make noise. Ahmed told WFAA that his English teacher confiscated his case.
…
“If the family is willing to give us written permission, we would be happy to share with the public the other side of the story so they can understand the actions we took,” Irving Independent School District spokeswoman Lesley Weaver said.
http://a57.foxnews.com/global.fncstatic.com/static/managed/img/880/558/Texas%20Muslim%20Student%20_DeMa.jpg?ve=1&tl=1
photo of said clock
School’s in.
We should expect young children to be arrested for sexual assault simply for asking a girl out.
We should expect to see children expelled over a piece of bread that ”looks like” a gun after two bites.
We should expect children to be in trouble if they bring an aspirin to school.
Meanwhile 1,175 teachers and staff are assaulted by their own students EVERY DAY (2010-2011 school year numbers) but THOSE students must be allowed free rein.
They are the ”right” color.
White House locked down over coffee cup
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3237407/White-House-briefly-lock-scare-unattended-package.html
The kid’s story was that he was bringing the device in to show it to an engineering teacher, but he plugged it in during an English class and it started making noise.
Nothing suspicious about that at all! /sarc
The genius put the electronic components of a clock in a suitcase. What an original idea; everyone carries a plug-in clock that looks like a cheap aluminum briefcase/bomb.
Was it a naive attempt to build an electronic clock briefcase or an attempt to build a clumsy faux bomb?
Ot would take a very creative kid to build a briefcase/clock out of a pop tart, but such creativity would be met with expulsion, but if you build a clock brief/case based on a 110 system, it’s the mark of pure genius. Thank goodness his name is Mohammed and not Robert or John; otherwise he would be in deep manure.
@Skookum: #5
The school personnel had no way of knowing what was inside of that case.
Open it up and see what’s inside? Noooo… Leave that for the experts.
You can rest assured that the next muslim student who brings a metal case into a school won’t be stopped or questioned.
What could possibly go wrong?
Personally, I think that this could have been a trial run. Get the public used to seeing muslim students carrying things like this case into schools.
That case was far larger than needed to hold a clock.
Should his race or religion make a difference? Gee, I don’t know…. is it more racist for a white guy to fly the Confederate flag than for a black guy to fly it? Is it more racist for a white guy to drop the N-bomb than for a black guy to carpet bomb with it?
Kids are routinely expelled for gnawing some bit of food into the approximate shape of a pistol; while this situation has every bit of potential to be really, really stupidly over-reactionary, why is there an uproar or shock? Because he is Muslim?
When someone has a full set of game rules, please let us know.
Good Golla Miss Allah! Please don’t tell me there will be a movement of Muslim & multiculturalist victimhood buffoons carrying around clocks in solidarity with Ahmed:
This did make me LOL……a bit.
@Petercat: If I was a teacher or the principal, would I consider opening the briefcase to see if it is safe? No way in Hell!
Have the kid put it in the middle of the football field and let the bomb squad blow it to Hell. Tell the kid to find a new school and get back to educating kids who want to learn.
The kids who want to reinvent 110 volt clocks out of ready made components should go live with representative Ellison. He has a point to prove.
@Wordsmith: More likely he just doesn’t want to be late to the free all you can eat Congressional buffet.
@Wordsmith: #8
That’s almost as funny as would be Hillary carrying a mattress around in support of sexual abuse victims!
A blue mattress…
Stained.
I survived the Mooninite Bomb Scare (and lived to tell about it).
Considering the number of people that have been murdered by young muslim males (the primary terrorist killers in the world), this sure sounds like a dry run. Remember, their book tells them it is perfectly moral to lie to infidels as long as it is for the good of allah. I did electronics projects as a kid and using 110v for a simple clock that a couple of D cells could run? then starting it up in English class? Yeah sounds like normal behavior…
@Bookdoc:
Yeah, considering an electronics engineer reversed engineered the clock that Ahmed “built.”
http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/
I ask anyone who thinks the clock was a simple benign project to carry one with you the next time you board a flight. Oh oh it’s no longer a laughing matter. I know this stuff for a fact. I carried a lot of instruments on flights and was detained for every flight after 9/11. Of course our boys don’t profile and the fact that I was singled out every flight, say 10 a month was just blind luck. Of course I look like a potential terrorist. Six foot two, 250 pounds with arms and hands that can crush two men at the same time, yes it was really worth harassing me until I quit flying to Europe. F you airlines and politicians, you stopped a lot of terrorism and lost a lot of money by harassing me, but now we welcome at least one terrorist in a hundred count of ME men. Yea, it all makes a F’ing lot of sense. Dumbazz Priks
Another view:
http://madworldnews.com/muslim-bomb-clock-kids/
Pay careful attention to the second photograph, comparing a real briefcase bomb to the muslim kid’s briefcase clock.
Once again, Obama leaps without looking at the opportunity to over-pander a situation that could very well prove embarrassing. But, it is only embarrassing if anyone acknowledges the stupidity of it. Gates, Trayvon, Michael Brown, Bergdahl… all golden opportunities for Obama to pander to an ignorant demographic which turn out to be embarrassing mistakes, but no one in the media or the left makes notice or takes notice.
@Wordsmith: Ahmed—Texas–The kid is lucky they didn’t execute him..
@rich wheeler:
We only execute liberals.
Of course, the whole thing now seems to be raveling apart as you would know had you bothered to read my link. Ahmed didn’t build a clock. He took a pre-existing 70’s clock out of its housing and made a bomb looking devise by putting it into a metal pencil case. His science teacher told him to put it up, and instead he took it to English class, plugged in in (although the clock has a battery facility) and when it started making noises, his teacher (rightfully so) got alarmed.
And odd how, when interviewed, he is sitting alongside not his father, but a CAIR representative.
Had the kid drawn a gun on a piece of construction paper, you would be calling for him to be sent to reeducation camp.
We’ve seen similarly designed devices in Iraq and Afghanistan, both assembled into IED’s or waiting to become part of an IED. Here, the police would call it a bomb-making component.
This was a set-up
@DrJohn: And Obama is either a part of it or he stupidly fell for it.
Everyone with half a brain knows what that case with a timer and wires resembled. It looks like the b-word not a clock. The little jihadist and his father wanted attention and to push the envelope.