Post removed

[mike_c]

1. interesting-- the article makes a good case for the old Micronta clock...

...but it also veers into paranoia about the kid being devious and such. But the evidence that the clock was a disassembled Micronta alarm clock from the 1970s is plausible, even compelling.

But setting the paranoia aside, I'd point out that the kid is 14 years old. When I was only a little younger than that I tried to "build" a radio transmitter out of some random components held together with electrical tape and plugged directly into the mains outlet in my bedroom. Needless to say, when I hit the on button the wires all melted and the breaker threw. It SEEMED pretty solid at the time though. That's how smart kids often learn about things-- they try to take them apart and attempt to modify them. Mounting the guts of an old electronic alarm clock into a pencil box strikes me as just exactly the sort of thing I might have done, simply because it looked cool and was fun to work on.

No paranoia necessary.

[MohRokTah]

2. Thanks for posting this.

I needed to add somebody to my ignore list.

[kcr]

3. Then there's knee-jerk acceptance of anything one happens to come across

on the internet. I don't know why I should just jerk my knee and accept that this guy's opinion is the true and correct one. I've never even heard of Artvoice.

[cheapdate]

4. Yeah, well I'm an engineer as well.

But it doesn't take an engineer to write something like this.

It's a very particular, and very familiar, type of "questioning" prose. Lots of questions, one after another, that build something from nothing. The form is this : 'Isn't it possible that...? And if that's possible, then isn't it possible that...? But if not, then why did....? And if it was really this....then why was.....?

This "blog" is junk.

A nerdy kid likes to mess around with printed circuit boards, electronics, and electrical components. No one claimed he "invented" an electronic clock. He assembled a device using commercially available parts. Even if what he did was nothing more than mounting pushbuttons and wiring them to operate inputs on a commercial circuit board, or remote wiring an LCD display, it's still an accomplishment that very few 9th graders, or adults for that matter, are capable of. He put it in a case because he was proud of it.

This awful blog is pure bullshit.

[PoliticAverse]

29. He doesn't actually appear to have wired anything, he seems to have taken a commercial clock

out of its original case and put it into another case.

[cheapdate]

35. So what?

So maybe he disassembled an alarm clock and remounted it in a case? What is the point of a grown man writing a long blog to bust the bubble of a 9th grade kid? How friggin petty and low is that? What is the (anonymous) writer's point in attacking a 14 year old kid? Holy crap. What a low life.

[mimi85]

37. Well said. I totally agree!

[fbc]

38. Oh yeah, because nobody but a guy who posts on DU is going to notice this

This thread is what's going to bust his bubble? I think you forgot about something commonly referred to as "the right wing."

It's too late to turn back the clock now (lol), and maybe pretending that this story is something it is not for a few more days isn't going to hurt anything. But frankly I don't see how it helps.

Sorry you had to hear it here first I guess? Maybe it would have come better from Fox News or Rush Limbaugh?

[cheapdate]

45. This isn't a "story".

It's a blog by a small, petty, anonymous, nobody.

[fbc]

48. There's an entire electronics hobbyist movement out there

This isn't going to be one blog post.

There were tons of sites out there that would have been ready for a full analysis of the design, with instructions on how you can do it too. Sparkfun probably would have sold Ahmed Clock kits.

People have been noticing for days that it just kinda looked like he just took a clock and put it in a different case.

This is going to be noticed by more than one blog.

[cheapdate]

50. The collective "electronic hobbyist" movement

will not be united by the shockingly inappropriate criticism of this 14-year old kid that this anonymous jerk felt compelled to share on his or her blog.

[yardwork]

77. Petty is the only word that describes this entire line of thinking.

[Gothmog]

87. Pam Geller and company are pushing the claim that this is a hoax

[pinboy3niner]

5. Somebody seems to be reaching hard to blame the victim

Buying this isn't rushing to judgment?

[nomorenomore08]

26. +1

[fbc]

41. No, the victim is the child. I am blaming all of us.

A kid faked a suitcase bomb like from the movies. He probably thought it was cool. I think it was pretty cool.

But, it's also something that, in this day and age, can get you suspended and even arrested. And we all jumped the gun with our outrage and cried racism and made it a huge media event.

The funny thing? I, and several other people, mocked the police saying he couldn't explain what it was. "It was a friggin clock you morons," we cried! Now it's kind of obvious why he couldn't describe it as a hobbyist electronic project: because it wasn't.

[yardwork]

78. He said it was a clock. He did explain.

[Gothmog]

89. I refused to participate in Pam Geller's attacks on this young man

[Logical]

6. Wow, just admit you think he is a terrorist and get over with it. nt

[moondust]

7. When I was that age

I was screwing around with crystal radios and transistor radios. (No computers back then.) Never really got anything to work but passed some time messing around with components. I seriously doubt that Ahmed had bad intentions.

Also, I'm sure there are schematics and blueprints for all sorts of simple electronic gadgets on the Internet that a curious kid might try to piece together. I know I would.

A Dallas Morning News reporter on Chris Hayes tonight confirmed that the Mayor Of City Where Muslim Teen Was Wrongly Arrested Is Anti-Sharia Crusader. It probably follows that she and maybe some teachers and others in the community may have identified and stigmatized members of Irving's Muslim community and that stigma led to the police overreaction.

[Fred Sanders]

8. Utter nonsense. Attributing deep logical thunking skills to a 14 year old..and reverse engineering

Last edited Sat Sep 19, 2015, 10:35 AM - Edit history (1)

is still engineering. And using clipped quotes....does anyone doubt the sincerity of Ahmed after seeing the press conferences? Really??

Sorry, I read all the way through and consider this mere opinion and speculation without evidence and it is indeed utter nonsense; semi-clever victim blaming as Muskim-bashing and inexplicable fear runs rampant, double in Texas.....the unknown blogger forgot to mention that.

Imaginative speculation is just that.

[artislife]

27. Fred, you and I agree!

This OP is utter nonsense.

Good to share the same humanity about...well humanity!

I know we duel it out in another area, but we both are decent humans!

[cheapdate]

33. Yes, but...isn't it possible that...?

And if that's possible, then isn't it possible that...? But if not, then why did....? And if it was really this....then why was.....?

Complete nonsense.

The kid assembled a device of some kind using a commercial circuit board and various components, which he wired and mounted himself, and put into a case to take to school to show his teachers. Good for him and shame on the idiot adults in that town.

[fbc]

40. No, this is wrong.

He wired nothing. He did not use a commercial circuit board and various components.

He took the innards from a clock and put them in another box.

[cheapdate]

42. So what?

He disassembled a clock and remounted the parts in a case. Why does this bother a grown man enough to write a long blog attacking a 9th grade kid? Holy crap. What a low life.

[fbc]

44. So, you suggest that we should all join in on the lie?

Is that going to make it better?

We are all going to pretend that the story we thought was true actually is true because we don't like to be wrong?

[zappaman]

47. Is this your blog?

Are you the author?

[fbc]

49. nope

[cheapdate]

53. No, I suggest that as fully grown adults

we not make it our personal mission to crusade against a 14-year kid who we don't know, who was handcuffed and taken to the police station for trying to show off his hobby to his teachers at school. This is getting more repulsive to me the longer it continues.

What's your end game? You want to lead public pressure to force this kid to admit that his use of the word "invented" was a "lie"? Is that what you're after? Would that bring you satisfaction?

[uppityperson]

58. Why was he handcuffed, taken for questioning and unable to call his parents?

[Lancero]

9. If he made it out intentionally as a hoax bomb...

Then why wasn't the school evacuated when it was called in? Evacuating the school is a standard response to a bomb threat, so why - if the clock was intentionally made to look like a hoax bomb - didn't the school administrators or police call for the school to be evacuated?

This is the main question - If the school adminstators and police thought it was a bomb, why were they so willing to put every single child at the school at risk by not evacuating the building?

You know why they didn't call for a evacuation as is standard for bomb threats? Because they knew it wasn't. The administrators knew it wasn't a bomb. The police knew it wasn't a bomb. Both knew it wasn't a threat, which is why they didn't evacuate the school as is standard.

[Fred Sanders]

10. Not to mention the clock was carried to the police station along with the illegally detained child!?

[yardwork]

14. This is what I'm thinking, too.

The authorities can't have it both ways. Either they thought there was a threat, in which case they were derelict in not protecting anybody, or they knew there was no threat, in which case why did they handcuff and arrest a child?

[sarisataka]

11. Oh it's an internet blog?

Well then it must be true.

[Adrahil]

12. Ya know what an essential component of a fake bomb is?

Fake explosives. Where were the fake explosives?

There were none. Even if he just disassebled a clock and remounted the components, how in the world does that constitute a fake bomb?

And yeah, I'm an engineer.

[DefenseLawyer]

13. Fail. n/t

[OilemFirchen]

15. It's awful that so few "writers" know anything about adverbs these days.

Awfully sad.

[spanone]

16. bull & shit.

[randome]

17. Normally I admire someone taking a position that flies in the face of public opinion.

Not this time. This article is too full of suppositions. The writer has an agenda. And as others have pointed out, there is no explanation for why the 'hoax bomb' was treated more kindly than Ahmed.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]“If you're not committed to anything, you're just taking up space.”
Gregory Peck, Mirage (1965)[/center][/font][hr]

[csziggy]

18. At 14 my Dad disassembled a clock, repaired it and put it back together

Of course in 1937 it was all gears and springs, but the process of disassembling it and re-assembing still did not diminish what my Dad did. And it didn't make it any less of a clock that he assembled.

The story is much less about what Ahmed did than about the reaction his innocuous device brought out. The entire sequence of the alarm going off to hauling a kid off in handcuffs without allowing him to contact his parents is indicative of where our country is going. Whether the overreaction was because Ahmed is from a Muslim family isn't as important as the complete disregard for his rights is.

Maybe some are willing to blame the sequence wholly on the fact that Ahmed is one of the "brown" skin people that have been the target of hate and abuse. I'm disturbed that the school personnel and the police are so casual about disregarding a student's rights no matter who the child is. The corruption of individual rights began with minorities but it is working it's way into every segment of our society.

You know, the whole "When they came for" meme. Well, we are getting there. That is why I am pleased to see so much attention brought to these abuses these days Maybe we can stop this now.

[IDemo]

20. "a bunch of loose wires"?

The only thing fitting that description might be the battery clip with no battery attached. There were wires connected, not loose, running from the input transformer to the PCB (Printed Circuit Board), and a ribbon cable connecting (not loosely) the PCB and the LED display. And a mysterious lack of something, anything, which might have been mistaken for an explosive.

I'm going to suggest the author pursue a non-technical field.

Electronics engineering tech, 20+ years.

[Downwinder]

21. If I accept this then i must suppose that Ahmed

successfully set up the School and the PD and knocked them both down. Quite an accomplishment for a 14 year old. Much more impressive than cobbling together a digital clock.

[fbc]

24. Now there could be much more simple explanation

How about he made something that looked like a movie bomb because it was cool?

[Downwinder]

25. The fact remains that nobody thought it

looked like a bomb or even a suspicious device. If they had, safety procedures would have been implemented.

[JI7]

28. why did you ignore all the other replies ?

[fbc]

30. I was out for a few hours

[JI7]

32. that still doesn't explain why you ignored the many earlier responses and just responded to this one

[yardwork]

75. It doesn't look like a movie bomb.

[alcibiades_mystery]

22. The sad part is that you view the negative responses here as prima facie evidence that

you're a critical thinker while everybody else is a sheep.

"Of course they're all against me!"

Sad sad sad.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

23. How would we even know? This was a straight up hit and run. nt

[underthematrix]

31. I understand his point but apparently at NO

point did anyone think Ahmed had actually made a bomb. We know this because the school was not evacuated; the clock remained with the student while being interviewed by administrators and police. The bomb was notified of a potential bomb. His parents knew he was taking the clock to his school to show off his work to his teacher in his ENGINEERING class.

So here's the part where white people become delusional. HOW MANY WHITE students have shot up a school. Right pretty much all school shootings were done by WHITE STUDENTS.

[JI7]

36. why are you doing this ? you ignored all the replies which dispute the OP

and you are acting like the thing you posted is all facts.

[fbc]

39. which post would you like me to reply to?

I'll do it next

[Tommy_Carcetti]

93. Poor guy just got locked out of his own thread.

A pity.

[alcibiades_mystery]

43. Something's ugly here, alright

[zappaman]

46. OP fail.

Bring back the UNREC button.

[hatrack]

52. What a STEAMING FUCKING PILE this post is

Welcome to ignore.

[cheapdate]

54. Got that right. n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

55. Yes, it is.

[Rex]

56. I see the bigots have found a way to rationalize white privilege.

Funny thing, people like the dumbass school admins and cops never find themselves wrong and are always the butt of jokes for being stupid in the first place.

But you go on with this bullshit rwing stuff, I really don't care - it was a digital clock.

Whaaa....

Pathetic thread on DU.

[MannyGoldstein]

57. Speaking as a former 14-year-old nerd,

he looks to be guilty of being a 14-year-old nerd. Not an arrestable offense.

[mackerel]

59. I'm guessing this is the jealous teachers blog.

[Iggo]

60. Dude.

[Jappleseed]

61. How the clock was wired was the least important part of this story.

Not the most important.

Bigotry isn't pretty and the need of some bigot to put the boot to some young person who shows initiative says more about the poster than the boy.

[TubbersUK]

62. Ye gods

[hobbit709]

65. you're an expert on what a bomb looks like?

http://www.amazon.com/Generic-Four-Digital-Clock-Electronic/dp/B011RZ5J66%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q%26tag%3Dduckduckgo-d-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB011RZ5J66

[hobbit709]

67. It usually helps if you know something about the subject if you make pronouncements

like you did.
NONE of the pictures of the clock remotely resembled a bomb. Where was there room for any explosives in that little case for starters?
I built breadboard circuits of all kinds as a kid and even brought some of them to school-nobody ever pulled a major panic act.

[hobbit709]

69. You would probably panic at this.

http://www.orientaltrading.com/the-bomb-wind-ups-a2-12_4244.fltr\

[hobbit709]

71. Well, you're half right about being a wit.

I've got 50 years experience in electronics, I've worked on everything from 100 KW tropo scatter systems to the latest computers.

And never wasted my time with trash like Hustler.

[hobbit709]

73. Aren't we special.

[treestar]

81. But then it would be easier for you

to see immediately it was not a bomb. The average person might think it could be. A non-science teacher might worry. I sort of defend the teachers here. The cops, not so much.

If a bomb did go off in a school, it would be the teachers who would get blamed first. When you don't know what something is, in the atmosphere in this country today, you're going to be cautious in that profession.

[hobbit709]

86. Then why didn't they evacuate the school among other things?

If they really thought it was a bomb that should have been the first thing done.

[treestar]

88. I agree that was what they should have done first nt.

[Adrahil]

83. Can you point to the explosives... ya know, the bomb part?

Ignorance on parade....

[Tommy_Carcetti]

92. Yes, a bomb with a power chord. Exactly.

Because bombs typically have power chords.

And no actual explosives.

You make perfect sense. If you're Frank Drebin, that is.

Oh, and news flash. The police did "act stupidly" when it came to Dr. Henry Gates. President Obama was 100% spot on.

[Dr. Strange]

74. Soooo...it's about ethics in electronics journalism?

[Adrahil]

85. LOL! Subtle... I LIKE IT! nt

[Tommy_Carcetti]

94. That's the alluring power of the Strange.

The man is damn near Canadian.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

76. Blaming the victim

Victim blaming occurs when the victim of a crime or any wrongful act is held entirely or partially responsible for the harm that befell them. The study of victimology seeks to mitigate the perception of victims as responsible.
Victim blaming - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_blamingWikipedia

[Depaysement]

79. Meh

To me, it demonstrates the inability of most Americans to understand elementary electronics or explosives devices.

He assembled a main board, display, 9v battery connector, transformer and a switch.

No trigger, no detonator, no explosive means no bomb.

[treestar]

80. I don't agree with you but did have the thought

that a bomb could explode somewhere and the first thing would be blaming the teachers for not preventing it. So at a point where they were not sure, then it makes sense for them to react. Though I would have thought it would be to clear the building and for the police to call the bomb squad. Then realizing it was a clock, thus not arresting the kid. The teachers here are not quite as evil as portrayed sometimes. The cops here were pretty stupid.

[Paladin]

82. I'm betting Bill Maher picks up on this bullshit article.

Maher tried his standard anti-Muslim thing on last night's show, with regard to Ahmed Mohamed. Wasn't very successful.

[ellie]

84. Wow.

[jberryhill]

90. This fails to understand the statute in question, at best

TEX PE. CODE ANN. § 46.08 : Texas Statutes - Section 46.08: HOAX BOMBS

(a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly manufactures, sells, purchases, transports, or possesses a hoax bomb with intent to use the hoax bomb to:

(1) make another believe that the hoax bomb is an explosive or incendiary device; or

(2) cause alarm or reaction of any type by an official of a public safety agency or volunteer agency organized to deal with emergencies.

(b) An offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.

------

I have highlighted the specific words of particular interest - even if we take much of what you say as given.

This requires me to go on something of a digression about "intent". In law, we have a wide spectrum of "intent". Criminal law requires "specific intent".

Now, on that spectrum there are a wide variety of things from premeditation, to recklessness, to gross negligence and down to simple negligence and beyond.

Let's take much of what you say as given, along the lines of:

1. He should have known that someone might have seen it that way.

That is below another notch of intent:

2. He knew that it was possible that someone might see it that way, or

3. He knew there was a reasonable possibility of someone seeing it that way

None of those rises to the level of "an intent to make someone see it that way."

And, you also have to figure in just what it is that makes it "possible" or "reasonably possible" for it to be perceived as a bomb. Yes, one might know that carrying an unusual thing might cause someone to think it is a bomb.

For example, I once had a neighbor who I had heard (through the wall of my condo) trying to hang some pictures. I ran into her the next day and she said, in broken English and with my poor Spanish, that she was having a hard time hanging pictures "because I don't know where the wood is". I figured, "Oh, she needs a stud finder". I didn't have mine handy right then, but I did find it later that evening. When I left early for work in the morning, I just left it on the sill of her car door, so she'd pick it up later that morning.

What I did not realize is that she was not acquainted with drywall walls at all, and didn't even know there was a tool for that. Apparently, she was completely flummoxed by seeing some strange device on her car having a suspended magnet inside of it and reading "Super Sensitive" on the clear plastic case.

She called the police and reported a bomb trigger on her car.

I had no idea any of this happened. When I got home from work, she came outside and asked "You leave tool on my car?" And I was like, "Yeah, you said you were having a hard time hanging pictures."

She damn near fainted, and said "Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Apparently, the police came, along with the bomb squad, picked it off her car and explained to her what it was. And she remained puzzled all day as to how it showed up on her car.

Now, that kind of thing can happen. Did I foresee a reasonable likelihood of it happening? Nope. Who would've thought, right?

But, and this is the thing here, what factors into any calculation of "he should have known" is the additional circumstance of "he should have known, ESPECIALLY because he is a Muslim". It is one of the unspoken factors that goes into WHY he should have known.

Furthermore, as I explained to you previously, the custodial arrest and booking was not warranted on the grounds of reasonable suspicion of his intent, which can be investigated without having him in custody, as they did not have probable cause.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=1210027

You also miss - completely - what in my mind is the most important thing going on here.

Let's accept all you say as given. Let's say that was his intent.

I would like you, or anyone else of your ilk, to explain to me the circumstances of his custodial interrogation in the school. He is a minor. Not only is EVERY person entitled to an attorney when requested, but there are additional safeguards in relation to minors. There is NO EXCUSE - NONE - NONE AT ALL, from the moment he requested to speak with his parents, for that request to have been denied, and for interrogation to continue.


DUE PROCESS was denied here. And that is true even if you believe he intended to make others think he had a bomb. DUE PROCESS applies to every suspect - not just the innocent ones - it applies to all suspects. It is what makes this country what it is. And if you can't see that here, then I simply cannot understand why those who seem to have the most concern about this being a nation of laws, also seem to be the ones who are willing to let the most important ones go by the wayside because... we fear something.

And we know damned well why due process was denied here, don't we.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

91. Um, yeah he did.

Reconstructing a clock from parts of a clock to make a new clock is making a clock. Unless you insist that the only way to make a clock is to hand weld all parts from scratch.

Ever put together a jigsaw puzzle? Typically you don't have to draw and cut the pieces first. It's still a puzzle.

And given that he never said he had a bomb and that he only said a clock and what he had was actually a clock, how exactly is that a "hoax bomb"? Given that police didn't panic and evacuate the school or call the bomb squad, I'm pretty sure that's what they knew it was, too.

Of course, this is Irving, Texas, a town run by a woman who thinks that voluntary, non-biding arbitration panels are going to usher in Sharia Law in America.

This is just idiotic. So, so idiotic.

[alarimer]

95. The real story is the overreaction by the bigoted assholes at the school

I don't really care if the kid is Albert Einstein.

I CARE that these idiots in Texas decided to punish a kid because he is Muslim and dark-skinned. THAT is the story and what we need to focus on. There was no bomb, no intent to make even a fake one. This kid just wanted to impress his teacher. Whether he lived up to the expectations of a bunch of right-wing libertarian engineering assclowns is not important to me.

In any case, the blog reads like a conspiracy theorist. Worthy of dismissal for that alone. And Pam Geller is the worst of the worst. A bigot, a right-wing nut job and not worthy of listening to.

Shame on you for posting this nonsense.

[Capt. Obvious]

96. 3 people recommended this piece

That is wildly popular on RW sites.