****ing Texas

[Elok]

I don't know what this kid's intentions were, or his father's. I don't know his character. I don't know how supportive, tolerant or otherwise his classmates are of him, his eccentricities, his race, or his faith. Nor do I know how much of the cops' reaction was driven by racism, an excess of zeal, or a belief that the child was deliberately inciting alarm. I don't believe any of you do, either; this is purely an exercise in projection AFAICT.

I do know, or at least am fairly certain, that he has taken no lasting harm from this.

[kentonio]

I don't know what this kid's intentions were, or his father's. I don't know his character. I don't know how supportive, tolerant or otherwise his classmates are of him, his eccentricities, his race, or his faith. Nor do I know how much of the cops' reaction was driven by racism, an excess of zeal, or a belief that the child was deliberately inciting alarm. I don't believe any of you do, either; this is purely an exercise in projection AFAICT.

I do know, or at least am fairly certain, that he has taken no lasting harm from this.

No lasting harm apart from having his name spread across the worlds media, and having a significant proportion of the population associating him with a desire to create a bomb hoax?

[kentonio]

Seriously, when did we reach a point where a 14 year old kid was fair game for political grandstanding? Sarah Palin jumped in earlier to have her smear, and I'm sure the rest of the GOP herd will follow suit in short order.

It makes me feel sick quite honestly, this is a goddamn child not a political football.

[Elok]

I meant from the actual event, not the imbecilic media orgy in the aftermath. God only knows what will come of that. But I don't believe you can make a cogent case that either the principal or the police wanted the incident to turn out this way.

And FFS, liberals are using this kid's case to score dumb political points just as much as conservatives. If he knows what he's doing he'll ride out the storm and find a way to make a bit of cash out of it. If he doesn't, somebody will likely use him to make a quick buck and drop him with nothing when it dies down. Either way, nobody's innocent.

[Bereta_Eder]

[QUOTE=kentonio;6433136]No lasting harm apart from having his name spread across the worlds media, [QUOTE]

Actually I read about it here
(so I'm probably the one who knows less)
the only news we get from america is when some black kid is sho from the police, when california is burning or when michelle wears something fancy

[Elok]

I mean, are you seriously arguing that Hilary and Obama and other prominent liberals who jump into the fight have entirely pure motives in all this, while conservatives are totally self-interested?

[Kidlicious]

Seriously, when did we reach a point where a 14 year old kid was fair game for political grandstanding? Sarah Palin jumped in earlier to have her smear, and I'm sure the rest of the GOP herd will follow suit in short order.

It makes me feel sick quite honestly, this is a goddamn child not a political football.

This wouldn't be news except a bunch of *******s like you like to falsely accuse people of racism etc.

If you had any decency you would be sick from your own actions and bull****

[kentonio]

I mean, are you seriously arguing that Hilary and Obama and other prominent liberals who jump into the fight have entirely pure motives in all this, while conservatives are totally self-interested?

I'm not raising any kind of defence for the morality of Clinton or Obama, but at least their use of this boy is in his defence not in his condemnation and support for the racist ideals that paint any Muslim regardless of age or inclination as something to be feared by the nation.

[kentonio]

This wouldn't be news except a bunch of *******s like you like to falsely accuse people of racism etc.

If you had any decency you would be sick from your own actions and bull****

Good to know you've moved on from smearing 50% of the population, to 50% plus children. ****.

[DinoDoc]

I will admit when I started digging into the details of this case, it just didnt add up. The trouble is, most of us want wrongs righted; we don't want to see bigotry and the ugly side of human nature. So when it has been discovered that the "bigotry" was a manufactured stunt (the Twitter photo of the familia Mohamed, all smiles and flashing "V" for victory--we're gonna be rich!--captioned on our way to our lawyers office) many of us recoil. The pater Mohamed is a Sudanese (and Muslim) political activist. His first phone call (by his own statements) was to CAIR. All the familiar political memes were hit (yea trip to White House! Hillary tweeted! Woo boo!)

And what is the fall out? Well, the taxpayers of Arlington Texas will no doubt be paying a settlement of some kind. Some police officers (who risk their lives daily) will have some sort of reprimand in the HR files for dealing with a little smart ass kid; the teachers involved in this case will be billed as racist/islamophobes for doing their jobs per a myriad of post 9/11 "if you see something, say something" training; some deserving TRUE genius type kid will get knocked of the que for the UNT STEM program to make way for Ahmed; and Mr Mohamed, Sr will probably get a talking head gig on cable TV as some kind of islamo-expert.

Many people who really were just living a routine day, now have their reputations besmirched by the Mohamed family scam. And as always, some legitimately harmed person will later suffer because public sympathies were betrayed by the Mohamed boy who cried "clock."

This seems a bit Machiavellian for a typical 14 year old. The way you describe him makes it appear that he's either going to be a political rock star or a crime lord.

[Kidlicious]

Good to know you've moved on from smearing 50% of the population, to 50% plus children. ****.

Good to see you still like to prove my point

[My Hubby Loves Civ]

Obviously, our school policies are different here in America after 9/11, Columbine, and Sandy Hook. Children are seen as suspicious terrorists of evil intent for playing with simple pencils, here.

Two Virginia second-graders were suspended after playing a game of Marine vs. bad guy at school, because one of the boys pretended his pencil was a gun.
Christopher Marshall was the child playing the Marine in the game, because his dad is a retired Marine. The other child was playing the "bad guy." Christopher pointed the pencil at his schoolmate and said, "boom boom."
Bethanne Bradshaw, a Suffolk Public Schools spokesperson, said the scenario could be seen as threatening. "A pencil is a weapon when it's pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made. Some children would consider it threatening..." she said.

Just sharing one story to show the extremes our schools have been forced to react regarding seemingly senseless matters.

Through the years, there have been many issues of schools being evacuated due to bomb scares too, even here in my own locale. The only reason this particular case is getting any attention is because HIS OWN family is making it to be a Muslim issue! No agenda?

[DinoDoc]

Is your argument that it wasn't racist just the result of public schools being staffed by unforgivably stupid people? I would totally agree with that.
Student punished for American flag shirt

[kentonio]

Through the years, there have been many issues of schools being evacuated due to bomb scares too, even here in my own locale. The only reason this particular case is getting any attention is because HIS OWN family is making it to be a Muslim issue! No agenda?

The reason its getting attention is because a 14 year old child got hauled off by the cops for no reason other than his name and skin colour. When the cops themselves say they didnt think it was a bomb, how exactly do you justify authorities trying to force a minor into a confession, suspending him from school, and taking him to the police station to be fingerprinted and interrogated?

Please I'm genuinely interested. You seem to be another human being, so I can only assume you have some form of human empathy and thought processes. Please explain your justification.

[kentonio]

Is your argument that it wasn't racist just the result of public schools being staffed by unforgivably stupid people? I would totally agree with that.
Student punished for American flag shirt

I think we could all buy that, if the cops hadn't taken it a whole step further.