See what I miss when I am forced to go outside and watch the world go by……

The big news story of the day yesterday was the one about the kid that got busted for making homemade digital clock…..and since his name sounded Muslim it must be a bomb, right?

Xenophobia…..Islamophobia……ain’t America great?

The original report went something like this……

Ahmed Mohamed says it took him only 20 minutes to build the homemade clock: he wired a circuit board and power supply to a digital display and stuffed the device into a pencil case before bed on Sunday. The next day, the 14-year-old freshman at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas—a member of his middle school robotics club who makes radios and repairs his own go-kart—showed his creation to his engineering teacher, hoping to impress him, per the Dallas Morning News. “He was like, ‘That’s really nice,'” but said not to show the clock to other teachers, Ahmed says. When it beeped during another lesson, however, Ahmed revealed his invention to a teacher, who told him it looked like a bomb. Soon, Ahmed tells NBC Dallas police officers arrived, questioned him, then cuffed him and led him to police headquarters for fingerprints, mugshots, and an interrogation.

Officers, who took the clock and Ahmed’s tablet, tell USA Today Ahmed was being “passive aggressive” during questioning, and though he maintained the device was a clock, couldn’t provide a “reasonable answer” for why he had it. “I brought something to school that wasn’t a threat to anyone. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Ahmed says, adding he was denied a phone call to his father and his surname was repeatedly mentioned by officers. “I think this wouldn’t even be a question if his name wasn’t Ahmed Mohamed,” says a rep for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is investigating, per the BBC. “He just wants to invent good things for mankind,” Ahmed’s father adds. “But because his name is Mohamed and because of Sept. 11, I think my son got mistreated.” Ahmed was released to his parents and suspended from school for three days. Police say they may still press charges of making a hoax bomb.

You heard it right sports fans…..he could be charged for making a hoax bomb!

This is just the icing on the cake these days……but there are a few good things that came out of this situation for young Ahmed and his home-made time piece….

Ahmed Mohamed was getting interrogated at a police station because he brought a homemade clock to school and it was mistaken for a bomb. But soon, the Texas 14-year-old might be hanging out in some much, much better locations. Three of the high-profile responses after his story went viral:

• “Cool clock, Ahmed,” President Obama tweeted. “Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”

• “Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest. The future belongs to people like Ahmed,” Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. “Ahmed, if you ever want to come by Facebook, I’d love to meet you. Keep building.”
• As Business Insider reports, astronauts have also been reaching out to the teen (Ahmed was wearing a NASA T-shirt when he was arrested). “Hi @IStandWithAhmed,” tweeted ISS Commander Chris Hadfield. “I’d love you to join us for our science show Generator in Toronto on 28 Oct. There’s a ticket waiting for you.”

Here is the problem…..NO one at the school knew what a bomb actually looks like and that includes the police…..and apparently they are not sure what the internal workings of a digital clock looks like either……

Would this young man had been put through this crap if his name was Billy Bubba Smith?  Or if had blonde hair and blue eyes?

Source: 7 Kids Not Named Mohamed Who Brought Homemade Clocks to School And Didn’t Get Arrested

“Fear is the mind killer”…….Paul Atradies from Caladan……(my moment of geek)