Of course Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old Texan who outsmarted his very stupid English teacher, his complicitly stupid police department and the hopeless town mayor, was arrested, led away in handcuffs and suspended three days not because he built an ingenious clock out of a pencil box, but because he is Muslim. With a double-barreled name like Ahmed Mohamed, that give-away darkie skin that automatically kicks in a presumption of guilt, and the unfortunate fact that his father is a Sudanese as opposed to a Mayflower-type immigrant, there was no choice but to humiliate, arrest and suspend.
We are talking about Texas after all, which, “among other tendencies to be noted,” John Steinbeck once wrote, “is a military nation.” But the Texan exception in the 1960s is more of a rule in post-9/11 Fortress America.
The mayor of Irving, where all this took place, has been on an anti-Muslim crusade all year, so she unsurprisingly said she did not “fault the school or the police for looking into what they saw as a potential threat.” But that’s not what the school and police did. Looking into the threat would have meant at most confiscating Ahmed’s little pencil box for a while, calling in Irving’s equivalent of the St. Johns County bomb squad if you’re inclined to waste time and money, and making that determination in a matter of hours, all the while presuming the boy to be what he has always been: a geeky 14 year old well known in school for his inventiveness.
If anyone in school had ever cared to look into his Muslim background, they might have learned that he is a Sufi Muslim, which is—to put it crudely—Islam’s version of Franciscans: they wouldn’t hurt a fly. Sufis have been at the forefront of Islam’s most progressive movements, denouncing violence and sounding like flower children of the 60s. Ahmed’s father’s only fanaticism is for human rights. He’s twice run for Sudan’s presidency. And he has had his run-in with Florida’s brand of fanatics: when Terry Jones, the pastor of the late Dove World Outreach center in Gainesville, decided to put the Koran on trial and burn it publicly five years ago, it was Ahmed’s father, Sheikh Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, who volunteered to defend the book in Jones’s laird.
Naturally Jones is now running for president, though his bigotry looks unremarkable next to that of The Donald and many of the other crazies on the GOP jalopy, while Sheikh Mohamed is trying to figure out the latest absurdity of the American paradox.
But this is what happens when zero tolerance is wedded to the kind anti-Islamic hysteria that’s nowhere near abating in this country. Thursday night in New Hampshire, well after the Irving Police Department had been shaming itself and the nation with Ahmed’s arrest, a commonplace bigot stood up during a town hall meeting with Trump. After noting that President Obama is not an American but a Muslim, reminding us all how the two are mutually exclusive, he went on to claim that “we have training camps growing where they want to kill us. That’s my question: when can we get rid of ’em?”
When can we get rid of ’em.
Islamophobia meets zero-tolerance mania.
That a question like that can still be asked in a political setting for a supposedly serious candidate, live on CNN by the way, is indicative enough of the extent of anti-Muslim hysteria in the country. But the problem wasn’t the question. You can’t control imbecility at large. The problem was Trump’s enabling answer.
He didn’t challenge the guy on Obama’s nationality of course, since Trump birthed the whole Obama-is-from-Neptune’s-Islamic-rings mythology. He didn’t even muster a John McCain-type blip of fake lucidity on the routine slur. You may remember one of McCain’s weird moments when he responded to a woman claiming Obama was “an Arab” at a town hall meeting in 2012. Speaking the word “Arab” made the woman stop dead, as if she’d just mentioned that Obama was from a race of subhuman child rapists who worship Satan’s assistant crack whore while chewing on hind hooves and signed first editions of “Das Kapital.”
McCain told her no, Obama is “a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with.” He was actually praised for that revolting response, as if his corrective hadn’t made the woman’s point–that being accused of being a Arab is an affront. That it bears correcting.
Trump outdid McCain. Just days ago at the second nationally televised GOP bacchanal he was part of the chorus of presidential hopefuls swooning over pledges to deport 11 million “illegals” (the kind of mass expulsions only three men have pulled off in history: Hitler, Stalin and Mao). So he’d been warmed up to apply the same kind of thinking to Muslims. “We’re gonna be looking at a lot of different things,” he told his fellow-bigot. “And you know that a lot of people are saying that, and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there. We’re going to be looking at that and plenty of other things.”
That’s our America of E pluribus unum, though that unum might need amending to rabidus. It flows better anyway.
In Irving, Texas, school and cops looked at that and took Ahmed down. After learning their mistake there was no apology. Instead, the police chief said there’d be no charges, and both school and police shielded their stupidity and prejudice behind the big fat claim of school safety, the default excuse for all imaginable abuses of power, while still suggesting in a letter to parents that Ahmed somehow violated the school code of conduct.
So even after Ahmed was cleared, he was still guilty. Naturally, the president of the United States ridiculed the whole thing and invited Ahmed and his “cool clock” to the White House. Just as you’d expect: one Muslim covering for another.
Pierre Tristam is FlaglerLive’s editor. Reach him by email here or follow him on Twitter @PierreTristam. A version of this piece aired on WNZF.
Thea Mathen says
They never thought it was a bomb by how they reacted…..no lockdown or evacuation of building for starters….smh
James O'Malley says
nice article
Bob says
Trump for president!
Layla says
I have “heard” this clock was designed to look like a suitcase bomb and I am wondering why you did not include a photo of it.
Is this true?
NortonSmitty says
Well, my curious Lil’ Genius Darling, it was in a pencil box if that gives you a clue.
Esther Hillner Wagner says
Puleeze…..his parents and he should have known better than to bring anything into school that remotely resembled something out of the ordinary. I applaude the authorities and the school for taking immediate action.
NortonSmitty says
And I applaud whatever it is you’ve been drinking.
Layla says
http://nypost.com/2015/09/19/how-ahmeds-clock-became-a-false-convenient-tale-of-racism/
If he had put it inside a pressure cooker, do you think the reaction would have been any less sever? None of us ever dreamed of a time we’d see our children arrested in school.
But then none of us ever imagined seeing children killing children either.
This is a tragic world, but if we are to make it any better, then we must get past the almost constant charges of racism.
NortonSmitty says
Well, if it’s any consolation the pressure cooker story was bullshit too.
layla says
Tell that to those with their arms, legs blown off at the Boston marathon.
Anonymous says
Sorry, those were actors. Google “Crises actors Boston” for dozens of photos of them preparing. But the live feed that I watched of the Boston cop at the finish line holding his hands up and saying “Don’t panic, it’s just a drill.”? That’s been scrunned clean.
NortonSmitty says
Sorry, those were actors. Google “Crises actors Boston” for dozens of photos of them preparing. But the live feed that I watched of the Boston cop at the finish line holding his hands up and saying “Don’t panic, it’s just a drill.”? That’s been scrunned clean.. https://www.google.com/search?q=Boston+bombing+photo+crisis+actors&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCoQ7AlqFQoTCNaUqd31hcgCFcInHgod4KUONg
Dianne Strachan says
He was just trying to see what he could get away with. The next Muslim kid that brings a “clock” to school, we will be talking about a body count. Wise up! Nothing innocent about this.
Nancy N. says
And you know this how? Have you examined the device? Interviewed any of the people involved?
No, the only investigating you’ve done was looking at this kid’s picture and seeing brown skin and hearing a Muslim name attached to him. And you know, of course, that all Muslims are violent anti-American bombers so of course the kid is a terrorist just waiting to blow things up.
Well, you know what I know? Every single school shooter in this country has been a white male. So I guess we better start strip searching them every day before we let them in our schools because those white males, there’s nothing innocent about them. They kill people!
Maureen Vidal says
If they had actually thought it was a bomb they would have called a bomb squad…
Outsider says
I would agree that on the surface the story is ludicrous. But what’s more ludicrous is that you didn’t mention the white American kid who was suspended from school some months ago for chewing a pop tart into the shape of a gun. If that is the baseline then this kid should have been thrown right into Alcatraz without a trial. Here is a link to the so-called “alarm clock.’ I’m sorry, but if I ever wake up to something like that ticking in my hotel room I’m not searching for the snooze button; I’m running for the fire escape.
http://america.aljazeera.com/content/ajam/articles/2015/9/16/muslim-student-arrested-for-building-a-clock-mistaken-for-a-bomb/_jcr_content/mainpar/textimage_1/image.adapt.480.low.ahmed_mohamed_clock.jpg
Sylvia Kladko says
The kid is obviously very bright and may go one to do great things. Who cares if he’s Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jewish, atheist. Not me.
Usual Suspect says
Blonde haired 18 year-old white kids fixes a gun to a drone and videotapes himself firing it and the authorities say “Gee we can do anything, we’re not sure any laws were broken, we have to check with the FAA”.
This kid was being pigeon holed into admitting to a crime he hadn’t committed and people don’t see a double standard bias?
Esther Hillner Wagner says
Sylvia I could care less about his race or religion. What he did was just plain wrong and I can’t imagine his parents allowing this to happen without first giving the school a head’s up.
Terry Atkison says
The authorities have already said they knew from the beginning that this wasn’t a bomb. They took the opportunity to humiliate this kid in a purely racially motivated way, and they didn’t get away with it.
Nice Real Nice says
Everybody is living in FEAR. We have reason to believe that there are people in our Country scheming to kill us as Americans. We have the right to proceed with caution. If somebody gets offended then so be it. Better to be safe than sorry.
Marlee says
Do you mean that the “people” are Americans scheming to kill Americans?
I have reason to believe that may be the only threat these days.
P Kevin Dykes says
I say Arrest them all before its to late!
Fredrick says
Just think what would have happened if this “dark skinned geeky kid” (to use your description) would have shaped a pop tart into the shape of a gun. When a white pasty skinned kid did that, he got in some major trouble. Those darn racist Texas police probably would have shot him even if he raised his hands up because we all know Texas and this particular town led by a racist mayor are just that. A bunch of racists. Don’t you think you are simply race bating this entire incident?
NortonSmitty says
No. Because if the white kid brought a clock he assembled out of scrap electronic components to school, the faculty would have said :This kid is going places”, not “This kid is going to Leavenworth”.
layla says
I think the point was that he was treated just like anybody else.
Apparently, there is more to the story:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/09/18/if-it-walks-like-an-influence-operation/
Nancy N. says
Breitbart is nothing but far right conservative propaganda. Try providing a source with some credibility and we can talk.
NortonSmitty says
You mean BreitFart.
Anonymous says
The school and the police win no praise from me in the heavy-handed way they conducted themselves with this young man, who should have been quickly evaluated as being no threat. However, I have a feeling that there is more to this story than meets the eye at first glance. This boy’s father has a heavy political past. The boy’s news conference was notable for the adults who were hovering at his side and who appeared to have agendas of their own. Ahmed Mohamed himself admitted to a reporter that he has been labeled as a “terrorist” and “bomb-maker” by backward-minded imbeciles in his immediate environment for years. So, why would a 14 year old with a history of such bullying and scapegoating bring in a clock to school that looks so much like an incendiary device? How could a responsible parent or guardian let him walk out the door with it, if, as they say, they have been victims of such bias and targeting by the community before? Now, it appears that this boy and his family are actually profiting handsomely from this very disturbing incident–an incident, may I point out, that has yet to be fully investigated. As usual, we all seem to be jumping the gun and making judgements before all the facts are in.
proud yankee says
they never thought it was a bomb. they didnt evacuate the shool and it sat in the same room with for 2 hours while they questioned him. It was harassment plain and simple. Texas is full of stupid people. We should give it back to mexico and then build trumps wall around Lousiana, arkansa, OK and new mexico.
Outsider says
And I’m certain the school officials knew that the pop tart wasn’t a real gun, and the finger of the kid who pointed it in a gun-like manner at another kid wasn’t a real gun either, but they were suspended nonetheless.
Jennifer Pellegrino says
The clock looked very bomb like, they knew it wasnt a bomb but still questioned him to rule out bomb hoax. U cant bring in fake bombs or fake weapons to school, they didnt arrest him after questioning, they determined he wasnt trying to make it look like a bomb. But he did bring it to school and to every class, it would have been wise on the parents part to say, hey son, dont bring that to school since it does kind of resemble a bomb, or informed the teachers first if he really wanted to show it to everyone……
Dawn says
First- He was detained not arrested Big difference. Second- If he had cooperated with his teachers there would have been no problem he showed it to every teacher and they told him to put it away because it looked suspicious. It was his sixth period teacher the called police. He was intentionally trying to draw attention to it. Third- It did look like a bomb. The school is just a few miles away from the area where death threats were made for drawing their prophet. Plenty of pale skinned children were detained and in trouble for as much as chewing their sandwich into the shape of a gun. You have no business reporting unless you have all the facts. Many of your articles are slanted and dishonest. Shame on you!
Anonymous says
There are now reports that allege that Ahmed’s clock was actually a Micronta model 1970’s clock (a subsidiary of Radio Shack) which is available for purchase on sites like Ebay and Amazon, which he may have ripped the innards out of and stuffed into a locking pencil case. Wouldn’t that be special?!!
NortonSmitty says
Sorry, those were actors. Google “Crises actors Boston” for dozens of photos of them preparing. But the live feed that I watched of the Boston cop at the finish line holding his hands up and saying “Don’t panic, it’s just a drill.”? That’s been scrunned clean..
NortonSmitty says
https://www.google.com/search?q=Boston+bombing+photo+crisis+actors&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CCoQ7AlqFQoTCNaUqd31hcgCFcInHgod4KUONg
Havana Woody says
Seriously, FlagLive you need to read the popular opinion change from the prior supporters on current social media since the revolution that this was not even a DIY electronics project but a dismantled commercial product that Ahmed never put a soldering iron too and has since made statements that he was aware that it would be construed as suspicious
NortonSmitty says
It’s Texas. Of course they’re stupid!
gmath55 says
Yes Fredrick Pierre Tristam is race bating the incident. And, calling the English teacher and police department stupid! The teacher and police department did the right thing by not taking any chances and it was for the safety of everybody. GO Trump.
Time Bandit says
The “dark skinned geeky kid” was told by his teachers NOT to show the clock to anyone else in the school. He did not heed that warning. Bombs are made with clocks, cell phones, timers, peepers, etc. There are thousands of other children in that school. The authority could NOT take a chance of that being something other then a home made clock…..Pierre, knock off the RACE BAITING !!!!!
pelican says
Pelican, assuming that’s YOUR real name, the issue of the name change was already addressed for dippy readers who thought it was great sport to make an issue of an Arab taking on a new last name, as if Pierre was the only one ever in the history of the world to change his name. For your reading pleasure: https://flaglerlive.com/69989/tristam-name-pt/
This seems like a fine young man from a good family……….of course in these times, one never knows…….they are proud of thier family name and have not changed it……..why do you not use your “real” name Pierre ? Would it perhaps change the readers peception of you? Tell us please……..what is your given name…………….
NortonSmitty says
“A peculiar bird is the Pelican. It’s beak can hold more than it’s belly can.” And evidently it’s brain too. (Thurber)
Usual Suspect says
For you to base your intellect or bias off of someones name show’s you’ve lost whatever battle you were waging already. In other words you are a victim of your own closed mind.
anne says
If they really thought it was a bomb, why didn’t they clear the school?
ken says
Imagine if the officials did not investigate the device and it turned out to be a bomb.
Marlee says
Be afraid, Americans
Fear and profile young white males who shoot up churches, schools, theaters…and, oh yea, blow up a Federal building.
Americans have soooooo much to fear.
m&m says
A news article by Neil Stevens said he examined the clock and said it was purchased at Radio Shack. Some tags and other IDs were still attached. The headline discription and findings reminds me of the person in the White House. Muslum, cheat, liar, decietful etc.
NortonSmitty says
OK DITTOHEADS! He assembled the clock from old components. More than your stupid gravy-sweating fools could do. You redneck bastards would be strutting around bragging if your fat-assed kid could even tell time!
I/M/O says
Duh. The full instructions along with a video are on line as to how to assemble a digital clock from components are on line. If you can use a soldering iron anyone can do this.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-A-Digital-Clock-From-Scratch/
Pierre Tristam says
Ah yes, what could possibly lead anyone to think that race has anything to do with this in a town where the mayor channels Joan Baez and a state where wetbacks are worshipped in Sunday hymnals. My mistake. And I bow to popular opinion, always the measure of right-thinking America, as Joe McCarthy’s distinguished reign and layla’s guilt-by-association links reminds us. Still, I should note that I nowhere said that the school shouldn’t have checked into the clock. Precautions are always a good thing. Hell, my son’s chess case looks just like a mini-nuke device and I keep wondering when the leather boots at Disney will descend on us as he ambles around with it to his room (see below). But there’s a difference between precautions and hysteria. This was not a case of precautions. To follow ken’s logic, suicide bombers favor backpacks, too. In that case maybe every backpack left in a corner in the gym or at the cafeteria should require the bomb squad and a controlled explosion. Rather, the school didn’t so much as evacuate a moth, which is generally what schools do when they suspect a bomb (well, moths and inmates). And the only difference between being arrested and being detained is the sort of East German legalism that doesn’t translate very well when you’re in handcuffs and being humiliated publicly. I prefer my English to stick to 4th Amendment prose, though I concede our cops and courts these days have a hard time understanding its clarity.
Havana Woody says
He should not have been arrested, however it has become apparent that he may have been playing on the racism to invoke this reaction and does not deserve the praise he is getting for taking a disassembled clock to school and trying to pass it off as an accomplishment.
Open Eyes says
Mr. Tristam,
I have reviewed your article and am compelled to address the false narrative of discrimination created by the misrepresentations found in your phraseology. As you read this, know that I approach you from my assumption of your liberal sensibilities; I assume your belief in equality for all, and personal duty to protect civil liberties as your means to encourage the advancement of society. I find these pursuits to be noble, but will remind you that equality also means a fair trial; this requires equal measure of reflection upon our own transgressions, as well as making appraisals of injuries done unto us, so that we may base our judgments for future events accordingly.
From the stand point of all things being equal, let us look at the item that started the commotion: the clock. Of the many clocks I have owned, or have seen in homes, or stores, or places of government, I have never seen one that was designed to be on the inside of a briefcase, with exposed wires connecting to a circuit board and an external power supply. However, professionals who work in the field of explosive ordinance disposal (EOD), such as the St. Johns County Bomb Squad you mentioned, would immediately recognize the device created by the 14 year old Ahmed Mohamed as a time bomb trigger. A view of the widely circulated photo of Ahmed’s “clock”, reveals the only missing component of a bomb device are the explosives. Assuming you to be a person of basic common sense, I would ask you to exercise your good judgement in questioning why would a “Muslim, dark-skinned, geeky” 14 year old want to build a time display device in such a configuration, inside the hidden confines of a briefcase? I would further encourage you to question the purpose of bringing such a device to school when it does not appear capable of storing the school supplies a student would normally require. Innocent mistake? I think not.
The Irving, Texas Mayor Beth Van Duyne who you described as conducting an “anti-Islamic crusade,” is an elected official who is responsible to her constituents, and the rule of law. What you failed to mention in your article was the subversive actions taken by the Islamic community in Irving, Texas to establish their own legal proceedings under the precepts of Sharia, a legal system based on the three books of Islam: Koran, Hadith, and Sunna. It is the responsibility of all elected officials (and should be the responsibility of all Americans) to ensure equal justice under law, as prescribed in the Constitution of the United States. For all the struggles this country has convulsed through to separate church from state (liberal cannon), I find it strange you would be so defensive, if not accommodating to the seditious establishment of a religious court. I also find it curious Mr. Tristam, that you would omit from your vehement writing the fact young Ahmed and his father, Sheikh Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, are members of this same congregation in Irving, Texas. Strange coincidence, no?
Furthermore, take care in your use of virulent rhetoric as a means of postulating your perceptions. Your description of “Mayflower-type immigrants,” identifies you as harboring the same bigotry you decry in others. Your ridicule of Americans wary of societies who subscribe to Islam, an ideology that is attributed to the destruction of cultures who do not subscribe to it, indicates your microscopic awareness of the ideology itself, as well as current events across the Islamic sphere. You made reference to “anti-Islamic hysteria” as if it were unwarranted; it may be necessary to remind you of events you might have missed in the news: whether it be a Muslim psychiatrist at Ft. Hood who guns down thirteen unarmed soldiers while screaming praises to Allah, or two Muslim brothers who detonate bombs packed with ball bearings at the Boston Marathon, or a Muslim man who targets and beheads two Christian Coptic immigrants in NJ, or a Jewish moviegoer who is shot to death by a Muslim medical student in an unprovoked attack in Maryland, or the many prolicide or matricide “honor killings” of daughters or wives who have become “Westernized”, the list of Islam-centric killing goes on.
Of course, these are only limited to the United States; across the planet, in the cradle of Islam, we find the origins of endless video streams and Twitter posts of beheadings, crucifixions, and immolations of Christians, homosexuals, apostates, Muslims of opposing denominations, the stoning deaths of women, etc. It stands to reason then that your dismissive use of the term “Islamophobia” describes a healthy fear of those willing to murder for their interpretations of Islam. Just because the threat of those zealots appears distant to you now, the danger is not diminished.
Earlier in this letter I addressed the admirable liberal qualities I believe you possess, and will close this letter on that point. It is imperative for you to comprehend the vast differences between the liberal perspectives of equity and liberty, against the dogma of Islam, and its’ enforcement of Sharia. In the lands where Sharia is enforced, you may interchange any region or nation you like: Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Islamic State, Afghanistan, etc., and you will find severe discrimination and execution of lives who seek liberty, whether they be women, homosexuals, or secular thinkers. In terms of what that means in the United States, I would advise you to look into the events taking place in Europe.
In countries where Muslims have aggregated into sufficient number, their demand for concessions begin, and the imposition of an intolerant culture is forced onto those like myself (and you, I assume) who want to live and let live. You have doubts? Look into the rioting and murders that have taken place in France; the subversive “Sharia Police” in Germany, the gang-rapes in Sweden, the enclaves that were allowed to establish Sharia in Britain, where rallies are held with signs professing “to Hell with democracy,” among others. Each of these examples came about by adherents of Islam using democracy to destroy democracy. Rather than trivialize the anathema for these behaviors as “Islamophobia,” I would suggest an appreciation for liberal democracy, which the precepts of Islam seek to abolish.
Outsider says
Bravo, sir! I would like to nominate this post for “comment of the day.” Good luck with that! Sr. Tristan can no longer dismiss those of us suffering from “Islamaphobia” ( root word “phobia” indicating an ‘irrational ‘ fear of something, and as you correctly point out the fear certainly has legitimacy based upon current world events,) as a bunch of backward, ignorant rednecks. True, I did not elect to make a career in front of a typewriter trying to convince others of my intellectual superiority, but I do make a pretty fair living analyzing and dealing with FACTS. The FACTS are that Islam aims to dominate the world via violence and the womb. We know this because the Koran and some Muslims tell us so, and it is backed up by the fact that Muslims are in the process of, well, taking over the world. Muslims lie in the interest of advancing Islam. We know this because the Koran and some Muslims tell us so. The incident with the alarm clock is another lie in furtherance of Islam designed to gain empathy for Muslims and attempt to dissuade others from investigating suspicious activities which will give them more freedom to carry out suspicious activities. They did this post 9-11 on airliners by boarding large groups of Muslims and making outwardly suspicious moves to try to evoke a response for which they could sue. Devout Muslims wage a true war on women, as you have stated via honor killings, rapes, denial of rights, and considering them less of a person than a man. In spite of this, the left fights for Muslim rights at every opportunity, and wishes to allow them to migrate in mass without any vetting process whatsoever, and yet we are labelled bigots by the leftist elites, who remain in complete denial and we are the idiots.
Layla says
http://nypost.com/2015/09/19/how-ahmeds-clock-became-a-false-convenient-tale-of-racism/
You distinctly IGNORE my comment that all of these children have been treated the same. This is not about race, Pierre!
NortonSmitty says
Oh, OK. Except for the fact that it is.
Just sayingpublic records says
Florida has a statute just for hoax devices
karma says
Before bashing Donald Trump for not defending Obama’s religion, maybe you should research how this all got started on 2008. Queen bee herself Hillary started the whole Muslim shit.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/25/barackobama.hillaryclinton
rob says
@Norton
Your are partially correct.
Yes a white kid would have been treated like a genius
A Middle Eastern kid was treated like a terrorist.
Black kid would have been accused of stealing the device.
NortonSmitty says
Exactly! Haaa!
Florida Native says
Yes because no muslims dark skinned or not have ever harmed Americans. Nothing to see here people continue to let the women in the burqa’s do what they want and shake down the old Americans at the airports and security check points. Let the muslims do what they want out of fear of being called a racist or intolerant. Yes I am intolerant. Intolerant of people attacking Americans, black, white, whatever and everyone being so wussified to say anything about the truth behind the attacks that muslim doctrine is convert or die or become their slave. Bite me. There is but one God Yahweh and he came to earth as human and died for us, not ask us to kill for him and to let his Holy spirit call people not force them to believe because he want people to love Him of their own free will not by force.
NortonSmitty says
Yes I am intolerant. Intolerant of people attacking Americans, Boy, you mus really hate Israelis.
Geezer says
“There is but one God Yahweh and he came to earth as human and died for us”
Q: why did he ask his heavenly father – “why has thou forsaken me?”
Was that another god, or was he talking to himself?
??????????
Geezer says
Pierre:
Today, I comment on the negative commenters, many who are just trolls.
Per Wikipedia:
“In Internet slang, a troll (/ˈtroʊl/, /ˈtrɒl/) is a person who sows discord on the Internet by starting arguments or upsetting people, by posting inflammatory,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the deliberate intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[2] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion,[3] often for their own amusement.”
Also look up “The Online Disinhibition Effect” by JOHN SULER, Ph.D.
The author explores this toxic disinhibition in detail.
There’s a website that tries to charge for reading the article – avoid that one.
YOU ARE THE ONLY ENTITY WITH A FACE HERE.
You have the courage of your convictions.
Faceless commenters can never claim this rare quality.
BRAVO!
Thanks always for thoughtful articles.
–Geezer
Geezer says
“Thanks always for all the thoughtful articles.”
Sorry….
Gia says
The Police Dpt did exactly what it should do, Bravo. Zero tolerance should be respected. I hope I’m wrong but with all the muslim & arab bullshit someday one of these guys will use a drone to drop a bomb somewhere the list expected. It’s a matter of time.
I/M/O says
So what Flager Live is advising here is that every American can now build a similar digitital clock to be kept in a briefcase and take it with them into airports, schools, colleges, government buildings, political campaign rallies, hospitals, malls, sports stadiums and even when taking a White House tour and if the authorities attempt to question them or remove the clock from their possession that they will be violating our rights under Equal Protection Under the Law and we will be able to sue the authorities for violating our Civil Rights.
As per the U.S. constitution “What is good for Ahmed Mohamed has to be good for the rest of the 347 million people in this nation.
Maybe we should all build our digital clocks and wear them as vests as we walk around. After all it is “Just A Clock?”
NortonSmitty says
I/M/O, you genius. We have as long as I can remember. We call them wristwatches.
I/M/O says
NortonSmity…you try walking into a white House tour carrying a briefcase with a home made digitial clock inside. Let me know the reaction of the U.S. Secret Service when you tell them “It’s just a clock”
Let us know if they let you keep while on the tour.
I don’t wear a watch. Never have.
NortonSmitty says
It was a kid vringing something he made that he was proud of to school. Not into the White House. Hell, I refinished the stock of my dads M-1 Gerand in shop class. Nobody batted an eye.
Anonymous says
Pierre–That 14 year old has been all over the news pumped up about his “genius clock” which may, in truth, be another person invention and an established company’s product/clock, which he fiddled around with and passed off as his own invention. Multiple teachers, fearing the reaction he might provoke from something that might look suspicious or dangerous to some (for whatever reason), pleaded with him not to keep showing the clock off. He ignored their counsel and did whatever it was that was in his head to do. Maybe Ahmed came into school that day expecting trouble–something he, himself, hinted at. If he ends up with monetary awards, kudos, invitations to the White House and scholarships–some of which may be denied to others whose achievements might be more worthy of such consideration–that would be a disgrace. Are we talking about Islamophobia or Muslim apologists gone wild here–or both? The fact that a 14 year old of any race can be taught that fraud is not only OK but a profitable business (and who knows who actually may have put him up to this) is sick and sad. The adults on BOTH sides of the coin in this story have a lot to answer for, in terms of their agendas and the true intents and overall morals behind them.
I/M/O says
The Father of Ahmed Mohamed believes he should be the President of the Sudan. He has run for the Presidency of the Sudan twice from Texas. I bet the Father cannot wait to get his photo taken at the white House with our President to put on his campaign flyers the 3rd time he runs for the Presidency of the sudan.
The Father also wants to build a Mosque in Texas with himself as the Iman that will call the Mystical Muslinm Mosque of Texas.
When CNN had Mark Cuban telephone the boy he advised the CNN panel the boy was very engaged with him as they discussed science but when he asked the boy to explain what happened at the school that day he could hear the Sister of the boy feeding him the answers to his questions before the boy answered.
But we are all supposed to sit out here and act stupid that we can’t see this well, planned scam by the Father who in his mental illness with it’s Delusions of Grandeur that he will someday be the President of the Sudan and a famous Iman of his own Mosque has used his son to perpetrate this scam.
Personally I believe that no child should be allowed to live with a Father who has delusions of grandeur that he should be the President of the Sudan even though he lives in Texas. That the Texas CPS agency should remove those children from that home immediately.
I/M/O says
The entire narrative of what occurred in that school that day has now been revised by the left wing media.
It was originally reported that the boy brought his clock to his science Teacher before classes started and showed it to him. That his Science Teacher advised the boy “You know that looks like a bomb” and advised the boy to keep it hidden in his backpack the rest of the school day.
That in either 4th or 5th period English class the clock started beeping and the English Teacher asked the boy why his backpack was emitting beeping sounds. That is when the clock was then once again discovered. The English teacher fearing it could be a bomb notified administrators who then notified the police.
The Police report the boy was totally uncooperative refusing to answer any questions. Although the device was determined to be a timing device the boy was then placed under arrest for possessing a Hoax bomb.
However even after the Police bomb Squad determined the clock was simply a digital timing device it and the boy is refusing to answer any questions it would be imperative for the Police to continue investigating to assure that this boy was not working with another student(s) who may have been smuggling bomb parts into the school to be assembled in the school to kill children.
The school did nothing wrong here. The Police did nothing wrong here.
Now the family is advising that the boy showed his “Clock” to very Teacher in every class and it was not until the 6th period English Teacher became alarmed that administrators were notified. Well that doesn’t make any sense. If this boy was so proud of his “Clock” and was showing to to every Teacher in every class why didn’t he show it to the English Teacher? Why did she not become aware of it until it started to beep in the backpack during class.
Why the new narrative as to what happened? Has the School Administration, the Police or the media asked any of the other Teachers if the boy is now telling the truth that he showed the clock to each and every one of them? Is thee a coverup going on in that school? Interview those Teachers and ask them if the boy showed each of them his clock. If they say no then we know this boy is a liar.
NortonSmitty says
Once again, how much of a nutless, paranoid, propaganda swilling bunch of chickenshit poltroons are we when we are afraid of any grade school kid across the entire Home of the Brave no matter what he does. We are at war since 9/11? So far, the score is US-1,000,000 Plus. Terrorists here, Zero. Yea, Zero.
Geezer says
“propaganda swilling bunch of chickenshit poltroons”
That’s a beauty!
Nancy N. says
See the funny thing about police reports is that they are written by police to CYA for their actions, and events can be “spun” to make their actions look justified. It’s the police’s word agains the kid. The police say that the kid was “refusing to answer any questions” in their report. The kid says that they were asking him questions with him being guilty of building a bomb as a premise, like “tell us about the bomb? Why did you build a bomb?” If he answered by saying “it’s a clock”, their confrontational attitude makes them treat that as “uncooperative and noncompliant at answering questions” because he didn’t give them the answers they wanted, even if he told the truth.
Police reports are not carved in stone truth. They are just one version of events written by a party to those events with an agenda. Take them with a grain of salt.
Anonymous says
Here’s a great message that might well come out of this: If you are a teacher who values their job and doesn’t want to possibly end up on the wrong side of the “political-correctness” publicity stick, don’t report a beeping ticking device packed inside a student’s backpack, especially if they happen to be Muslim. How reasonable, not to mention reassuring.
NortonSmitty says
And above all, don’t use common sense to see there isn’t any C-4 plastique in a goddamned tiny assed pencil box. Because we should be so afraid. Because, ya’ know.. Freedom.
Patriot76 says
I find it ironic that radical “Republicans” come to this forum to spew hateful bigoted remarks out of pure ignorance about Muslims and terrorism as if they understand either.
The purpose of terrorism is not to inflict mass casualties – the purpose of terrorism and the infliction of mass casualties are to spread fear and terror in the same way a nation or state government may inflict fear or terror to achieve an ultimate end goal.
The purpose of terrorism is fear and those who come here, Republican or Democrat – who change their own behavior and substitute morality and education for willful ignorance serve only to perpetuate the fear that terrorists seek to invoke.
So congratulations in helping the terrorists to achieve their objective. Way to be a part of the solution – or not
Geezer says
If this was eBay – I’d give you positive feedback, A+++++
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
This is exactly the lesson we want here, guys. Treat inventiveness like it’s an act of terrorism, that’ll learn ’em. Next up: how to be brown and survive a police encounter (protip: you won’t).
Lancer says
Who gave us “Zero Tolerance” in schools???
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Every politician, since anything other makes them look like they aren’t tough on crime and makes their private prison lobbyist buddies sad.
Anonymous says
Had this been lily white kid we never would have heard of it. Some want to find racism in every part of life. I don’t buy the PC BS that this was only because of his name. It was because of what he had and how he acted. Also dislike the BS on the Boston bombing and those who think it did not happen.
Rich Mikola says
It appears to be a Radio Shack clock. Should always check the facts first. Kind of like saying Bergdahl served with honor and distinction in the White House rose garden.
Layla says
Let’s see him take his “Radio Shack” clock on an airplane.
Anonymous says
People who are saying that Ahmed was treated in a heavy-handed manner because he happened to be Muslim may be correct. It is almost assuredly at least as correct to surmise that Ahmed would not have gotten all the publicity, swag and over-the-top rewards and attention that he did if he didn’t happen to be Muslim. There have been reports of other kids of differing races, nationalities and religions who have been handled over-zealously because of zero-tolerance policies run amok. And most of them have not received invitations to the White House, scholarships, thousands of dollars in “donations” and photo-ops blasted all over the world.
Bill says
A clock? Could anyone tell time with that? He built it as 0bama said you didn’t build that. It was not a clock a clock tells what time it IS. This was a egg timer,stopwatch,counter DETONATOR. There was NO science fair at school this kid made it to gain attention but why?
Anonymous says
Would any other child NOT Muslim have gotten so much “swag” out of a “zero tolernace” blacklash incident? Because, there HAVE been others, involving White children, Black children, female AND male children, children of other religions…The “Pop Tart” kid was only seven years; he was not Msulim. And I am sure he was every bit as traumatized and upset (not to mention, confused) as Ahmed was. None of those other children were offered “consolation trips” to the White House, scholarships, exciting trips (Ahmed and his family are making a pilgrimage to Mecca with part of their “donation” money, I hear, after which he is invited on a personal tour to the White house, an internship at Twitter, a full ride–along with all the other progeny of his family, to any school of their choosing–Space camp and space dune buggy rides, courtesy of NASA–just a few examples of his booty, so far.) Islamophobia exists but this politically correct super-hype is not the way to appropriately or constructively address it. This kid manufactures something (probably for attention, but who really knows what kind of “help” he had from his politically histrionic father) that turns out to be a re-tread of a radio shack clock that he shoves into a pencil case, tajes to several classes wherein he is advised to keep it on the down-low, and proceeds to haul to English class and turn on to audibly beep. Ahmed, himself, admitted publicly that he had been taunted by classmates before this for being a “bomb-maker” and a “terrorist.” He’s a smart kid, like everyone says–So, he turns around and does something like this and he and his family (who have been quite vocal in their protestations about Islamophobia before) assume an attitude of outrage at being caught unaware? Contrary to the hysterical rants of Muslim apologists everywhere, Ahmed was not arrested or hauled down to the pokey. His “interrogation” lasted all of 1 1/2 hours–at school. I agree that the handcuffs were superfluous and stupid and his parents should have been immediately notified–even if Dad or the rest of the family was already known to be–difficult. The fools at that school couldn’t have done a better job at screwing things up. Ahmed was suspended for three days for completely disrupting the learning environment in his classrooms that day, not only for himself but for every other kid in his classes, as well as the teachers trying to teach them. Student upon student violence is an unfortunate reality in today’s schools. If a kid brings in a beeping device–or anything that looks suspicious–are teachers supposed to look the other way now? Or are they only supposed to look the other way if the kid happens to be appear to be Muslim or have a Muslim name or is known to be a member of a Muslim family? I wonder what lessons Ahmed will really walk away with from all of this. Let’s hope he is smarter and more balanced than the adults around him.