When I originally read about this story I was imagining that what he built actually looked something like a “clock” and was thinking how ridiculous things are getting in our society. But that doesn’t really seem to be the case at all. The below post came across my FB feed and although I do not personally know the poster, he does give permission to share. This shed some light on the matter to me and “I smell a rat” too at this point. The picture does not link and I think it is prohibited by TOS anyway.
50N40W
I have read about the dad… he is a little off to put it nicely. he claims to be the leader of some group in sudan , egypt as well as texas. with many followers.(as best any can tell including the local mosque his followers are a party of 1…him) this storyand the faux victimhood is weird to me and if you look at the facts about the dad you may want to question what you think happened.and the school 100% acted correctly. that was not a clock like from a nursery rhyme. and if somebody showed up with that contraption at your school, job, a restaurant you were eating in you would hope/demand the police show up and you be evacuated. the spin on this story has taken in liberals because it fits a narrative they so badly want to believe. sorry, this story will fade very soon. but this is not black and white! I promise you that!
Yeah the school district kept fighting against that little pop tart kid’s family and no outrage from Obama, Clinton, Zuckerberg… Most stations did not even cover it. It should have sent up a red flag about the absurdity of schools but it was barely covered. This story on the other hand the school absolutely should have been concerned! It became a national story. the pop tart kid was a white male so, no concern or outrage. Sorry that is the truth.
The fact that it turned out not to be a bomb isn’t relevant. We don’t say it’s ok for kids to bring realistic-looking toy guns or knives to school. As a matter of fact, kids get expelled for doing that.
And, upthread, someone was right for pointing out that not every teacher would know what he/she was truly looking at (and neither would every TSA agent).
There was a student who got into trouble for sharing a PICTURE of his Active-Duty dad serving overseas…and of course, the pic shows dad with his military gun.
Wow! How many students could possibly be hurt by a picture??? Did the school evacuate? No.
What cute label was that given? None. I’ll give it one: #InsaneWhileTeaching
Some have suggested that “oh, this is Texas,” as if the NE and West Coast schools are never ridiculous.
Do we now want some nut with malicious intent to now think, "hey, I can bring in a bomb that looks like a clock, and no one will bother me after the “muslim while inventing” hoopla?
The school and police did things that make no sense (not evacuating, not getting the heck AWAY from the object, arresting this kid before any facts were known), but we don’t want to ever let crazies out there think that we’ll have our guards down after this fiasco.
Two years ago there was plenty of outrage to spare over “pop tart gun kid”. But the ridiculousness then was over a snack and the ridiculousness here is over inventiveness. So you think that “clock kid” was actually building a prototype bomb. I get it. Many of us don’t think he was. But does that make us “atsroturf/faux liberals”?
(Curious, but what is an “atsroturf/faux liberal”? )
Really, the attention this kid is getting for this fiasco just might encourage others to do something similar. Zuckerberg, MIT and the President. Nice.
While the handcuffs were a bit over the top, why are we rewarding behavior that is clearly provocative? It is not ok under any circumstances to bring a briefcase to school with a countdown clock embedded in it.
I think it is a disgrace that we are celebrating this in view of the global issue with bomb related violence. This family is playing with us and winning. And yes, I believe his family knew what he was doing.
To me the fact that other poor decisions have been made does not rescue this one. In this discussion there are a lot of “what ifs” being posed. Interesting to me that the conversation keeps swaying from what “actually was” . It was a clock, there was a teacher who knew what it was and I am sure he told the police that and the police believe there was no intent to make a hoax and he did keep it hidden as the first teacher told him. That is what actually happened. Still do not know why he is still suspended.
the same people defending this student with faux outrage…blindly line up for the tsa , take off their shoes and belt, walk into a radioactive naked body scanner, toss their apple juice because it is more than 2 ounces…all in the name of safety.(security theater and sheep some call it) but they are outraged at “clock” story.
I challenge anyone to try and carry that same object threw any airport, into a federal building, court house etc…watch how fast you wind up hog tied and hauled off to an FBI building.and whatever building you are in will be evacuated! and what are you going to say …I am not a muslim and they will say ok cool it is just a clock! not a chance in heck. the school actually under reacted as did the police.
I thought the pop tart situation was ridiculous and badly handled. What the Obamas or the Clintins thought about it is not in my control. Nor don’t think it’s terribly relevant. If you object to people having problems with this situation based on how certain politicians reacted or failed to react to a completely different situation that’s your prerogative I suppose.
But if you refer to something that was a fairly big new story and claim that “nobody” had an issye with it, well that’s just incorrect.
The kid is getting all this attention because this entire incident pushes so many buttons: Islamophobia, overstepping police, ridiculous school administrators, anti-intellectualism, regionalism, and the power of social media. There’s plenty to be embarrassed about here no matter what your politics are.
You see this 14 year old kid as a “clueless brat”? On what is that based? To be honest, I see no reason to call him names.
I can see both sides of this issue, and am enjoying the thoughtful postings from both sides. Because I live under a rock, the first I was aware of this event was when Ahmed was interviewed on GMA. They began that segment with some background, and then went directly into the interview. Granted I was emptying the dishwasher at the time, so not fully focused on the TV, but I felt something seemed “off” with Ahmed’s reaction to his ordeal. I’m not sure what it was that threw me. It did seem like he was happy about the way events were unfolding, but that could be due to his maturity level. I know that his answers to one or more of the questions posed to him were not what I expected to hear.
Clearly the school did not handle the situation well.
Why are people referring to this device as a “clock?” It does not fit the common description of a “clock” as we know one to be. It is a countdown device built into a briefcase with the LED visible on the outside counting down time. Does anyone here own a “clock” that looks like that?
Continually referring to this as an “alarm clock” is really laughable. People often put incorrect labels on things in an attempt to alter perceptions. Sorry, this attempt is very transparent.
1or2musicians it is very relevant and just further points to a faux outrage when it fit an agenda! The pop tart kid got no invitation to space camp, the white house, to visit Mark Zuckerberg…or tons of coverage in the media. And the school district dug in it’s heals. they even sent in counselors to deal with any kids traumatized by the pop tart. That was so embarrassing to the teaching profession and the bureaucrats who run schools. but this kid did something stupid… malicious or not and he is not a victim. Plus read about his dad and you will second guess what you think happened.
^^^^Because Ahmed refers to it as a clock?
Hard to admit this but Donald Trump is beginning to make a little sense to me lately. 
by the way here is the “clock” that was “built”… it actually was moved from it’s original housing to a case. not some work of a young genius building from scratch.
http://blogs.artvoice.com/techvoice/2015/09/17/reverse-engineering-ahmed-mohameds-clock-and-ourselves/
OK. We can call it what it is: a deconstructed clock in a suitcase with an LED countdown. So what? It’s still… a form of a clock. The teacher knew it was a form of a clock. The police knew it was a form of a clock. No one thought it was a bomb. So why the hoopla with the interrogation, the handcuffs? The kid did a dumb thing, but he’s a kid. OTOH, the adults here did lots of dumb things, and they should know better.
@Harvestmoon1, your “expert” repeatedly refers to the container as a “briefcase” or “suitcase.”
It was neither. It was a pencil case designed to look like a little briefcase/suitcase. Please look at the picture where the THUMB of the person holding it has NOT been cropped out. The scale becomes clear. For those who do not have an agenda, anyway.
katliamom next time a situation like that happens will send you to handle it.
cops/teachers did the right thing!