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Comment by mikeash | Hacker News Reader

It's amazing how these assholes are incapable of admitting that they're wrong.

"Attached is a picture of the device that shows it was suspicious in nature."

I bet they don't even realize they just sound like idiots.

They knew it was not a bomb. They were bullying him. If the school or police had actually thought it was dangerous they would have:

1. Evacuated the school 2. Called the bomb squad

Their justification is in the linked PDF: "Under Texas law, a person is guilty of possessing a hoax bomb if he possesses a device that is intended to cause anyone to be alarmed or a reaction of any type by law enforcement officers."

This is another way that governments (those with the monopoly of the use of force) expand their reach.

By putting the precipice of wrongdoing not on what happened but on the reaction of state agents, it becomes extremely difficult to call out bullies like this.

I read that line as more along the lines of yelling "fire" in a movie theater. Clearly there was no intent of causing hysteria with Ahmed's suitcase clock, which I assume is why he was freed. But, clearly, this shouldn't have gone as far as it did.

But there was zero evidence of any such intent in this case.

So I found a five year old photo of mine on Flickr - I'm glad I wasn't a muslim schoolkid in Texas when I wrote that second paragraph in the Flickr description:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigiain/5162711688/

(Also now waiting for the first reports of a muslim being convicted of a "bomb hoax" for carrying a pepper grinder, on the grounds that it "cause a sneeze reaction in a law enforcement officer"...)

I'm not entirely sure what your photo has to do with anything.

It's a home built clock.

I think in Texas that'd make me suspicious - and I think that's _insane_.

But you even said if you had put it in a suitcase it would look like a bomb...

I think the point here is or ought to be that there are a lot of things that are completely normal that might be mistaken for a bomb by the ignorant or the uneducated. And no, that's not an excuse for the Irving ISD or Irving PD peoples' actions either since we expect them to be neither ignorant nor uneducated.

@fnordfnordfnord To my knowledge, no one has asserted this was ever a bomb. This is all about the zero-tolerance policy public schools appear to be applying to situations like this and others (see: gun shaped pop-tart). Hopefully situations like this give reason to begin discussions about rethinking the way we treat children in an environment where this kind of activity should be encouraged, not punished.

It was not intended to even be seen by police, let alone alarm them or cause a reaction.

Probably not the first time this joke will be made, but...

"I'm impressed - I didn't realise Ahmed had built a clock with a functional alarm."

I bet if you broke it down 80% of police activity would be saving face and putting on airs

"The Irving Police Department has always experienced an outstanding relationship with the Muslim community."

Wait, if this was an objective reaction having only to do with the nature of the device, then why is the student's religion even mentioned?

I don't fault them for this, though I have no idea if it's true. This was stated because of the huge media firestorm and the belief that this wouldn't have happened to a Bob Jones.

Had this happened to a Bob Jones, there would not have been people saying that this only happened because he was Christian, and the sentence above would not have been in the PD statement.

Note: it is not true. Irving government is one of the racist groups pushing "anti-Sharia" laws.

> I bet they don't even realize they just sound like idiots.

I think we're past that. We're in cover-your-ass territory at the moment.

https://i.imgur.com/Z1WbwdB.jpg

it looks like maybe they suspected he wanted it to look like a bomb. it does kind of look like a bomb.

of course the cops totally overrreacted.

he's either a brilliant troll (the NASA shirt is perfect), or a nerdy kid with little social awareness. either way, bravo.

The defining property of a bomb is that it contains an explosive. I don't see anything in this picture that suggests the presence of an explosive.

i don't think the cops suspected it was a bomb.

i think the cops figured, he made it to look like a bomb and was trying to use it for a bomb threat.

i think they overracted and probably violated the law by questioning him without his lawyer present - they should go to jail.

it's understandable why they did what they did, but they should be punished.

What kind of bomb gets plugged into an outlet?

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