
Irving 9th-grader arrested after taking homemade clock to school - msmithstubbs
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/northwest-dallas-county/headlines/20150915-irving-ninth-grader-arrested-after-taking-homemade-clock-to-school.ece
======
dstyrb
I was impressed with some of the developments apparently taking place in
American school systems:

[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-14/public-school-
stude...](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-14/public-school-students-are-
new-inmates-american-police-state)

"In their zeal to crack down on guns and lock down the schools, these
cheerleaders for police state tactics in the schools might also fail to
mention the lucrative, multi-million dollar deals being cut with military
contractors such as Taser International to equip these school cops with
tasers, tanks, rifles and $100,000 shooting detection systems."

"Indeed, the transformation of hometown police departments into extensions of
the military has been mirrored in the public schools, where school police have
been gifted with high-powered M16 rifles, MRAP armored vehicles, grenade
launchers, and other military gear. One Texas school district even boasts its
own 12-member SWAT team."

"One SRO is accused of punching a 13-year-old student in the face for cutting
the cafeteria line. That same cop put another student in a chokehold a week
later, allegedly knocking the student unconscious and causing a brain injury.
In Pennsylvania, a student was tased after ignoring an order to put his cell
phone away."

~~~
anigbrowl
That's a considerably better article than the usual ZeroHedge standard. The
mentioned law review article is worthwhile as well.

------
memracom
You should be worried that even the police are so darn stupid that they do not
understand that bombs are things made out of EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL, and not boxes
with wires like you see in the movies. EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS are dangerous. So
are the triggers that set them off because they are small containers of
explosive that can be set off by an electric current.

Switches, on the other hand, are not dangerous unless they are attached to a
blasting cap and other EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL. Neither are mobile phones (even
though ALL MOBILE PHONE BATTERIES ARE MADE OF EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL) and neither
are timing devices such as clocks. A clock is not even dangerous when it is
attached to a switch, unless of course, a blasting cap and EXPLOSIVE MATERIAL
is already attached.

Police and other personnel responsible for public safety, like teachers,
cannot be allowed to wallow in ignorance living in a fantasy world. They must
have some awareness of REAL THINGS so that they can recognize dangers. Why are
these people not trained how to recognize EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS, triggers,
blasting caps, etc.?

There are enough crazies out there know, also living in a fantasy world, that
the people charged with public safety need to know how to distinguish REAL
THREATS from Hollywood fantasy. I blame the incompetence and corruption of
management, i.e. school boards, police commissioners, mayors, etc.

~~~
dankohn1
I appreciate the need in this case to state the obvious about the device, but
let's also state the obvious about why the teacher, principal, and police did
this: because he was a brown-skinned boy named Ahmed. Everyone involved should
lose their jobs, but they won't.

~~~
Kalium
Do you have access to a great deal more evidence on the subject than I do?
Nothing I've seen makes a compelling case that the particular people involved
were motivated by racial animus. At most, I've seen data showing that police
as a group across the US act in detectably racist ways, but that's not the
same thing...

~~~
dankohn1
Racism is nearly impossible to prove for any given incident, but it's
important to look at the context in which Ahmed's arrest occurred:
[http://www.vox.com/2015/9/16/9336967/ahmed-mohamed-
islamopho...](http://www.vox.com/2015/9/16/9336967/ahmed-mohamed-islamophobia)

~~~
Kalium
I'm aware of the context. I'm also aware that it's difficult to prove.

I agree there's ample reason for suspicion, but suspicion is not the same as
the certainty I see so many people leveling.

I've recently had a reminder of that. Not long ago, in Oakland, a black man
was in a car crash on a highway. He was being pursued by police. Something
happened, and police shot him. OPD does not have a great reputation, so when
they claimed he had been attempting to hijack a car and advanced on police
with a gun, they weren't really believed. Protests formed, claiming the man
had been unarmed and fleeing police. OPD had killed another black man because
they're racist!

It wasn't long before video and more information was released. The man had
hijacked a car, crashed it, and was trying to hijack another when police
caught up to him. He was armed, and had advanced on the police with a gun. The
whole obviously false story was true.

Moral of the story: just because an event seems to fit a narrative doesn't
make it so.

------
thwarted
If anyone in the Irving area has a electronics company, offer this kid an
after-school job.

It doesn't sound like his love for science/engineering/electronics has been
significantly harmed, but we, as a society, need to keep encouraging kids in
these areas, and not shitting all over their passion, no matter what their
name, nationality, or race is. It is thoroughly disgusting that the
authorities, both the teachers/school and the police, are ignorant enough to
make this a story at all.

~~~
OWaz
It's important that makers reach out to kids in this community to let them
know it’s okay to be creative. It’s not right at all for kids to feel that
they have to hide their engineering talent and keep it a secret.

------
interpol_p
The saddest thing from this article:

> He’s vowed never to take an invention to school again.

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freewizard
Apparently the dad should find his kid some new teachers who are smart enough
to tell a clock from a bomb.

~~~
anseljh
No, the school board should find them.

~~~
surge
The school board is made up of the same teachers who aren't smart enough to
tell the difference either, just with more seniority. They wouldn't hire
anyone smarter then them, they might feel challenged, so how does that fix the
problem?

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akhilcacharya
As unjustified and horrible is this is, this is going to make a great college
essay in for him in four years.

------
djanogo
This might have to do with his dad more than the kid, the dad [1] might have
been under radar for being involved in Sudan elections.

1.[http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/why-mohamed-elhassan-
the-...](http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/why-mohamed-elhassan-the-dallas-
imam-who-played-defense-attorney-in-quran-torching-church-says-he-admires-
terry-jones-7130292)
2.[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0vegPu2iaI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0vegPu2iaI)

~~~
detaro
And that justifies (or even explains) what exactly, outside maybe that the
police officer heard the name before? If anything, his father seems to be a
man of peaceful methods.

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nobleach
If only the police department had access to say, a bomb squad. I'm sure the
folks from the bomb squad could take a 5 minute look at this thing and say,
"wow, no triggers or anything! Looks like we got a clock here!" But now,
almost as if they know it's coming, the police have changed their story to,
"well, it looks like it _could_ be a bomb, and uh, that's illegal too - so
we're saving America here."

------
chatman
This kid should sue the police for trying to malign him in front of his
schoolmates and for the "mental agony".

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yousifa
Top universities should be trying to win him from now

