Ahmed Mohamed, the clock-building boy genius who was arrested when his invention drew looks of suspicion at school, woke up to find that #IStandWithAhmed was the No. 1 trending topic in the world. Within hours, Hillary Clinton had tweeted him and encouraged him to “stay curious.” President Obama personally invited him to bring his “cool” clock to the White House for a personal demonstration. NASA tweeted about him. CAIR stepped in. Company after company, including Twitter, offered him on-the-spot internships and job offers.
Not a bad day overall, it seems, for a kid who put together a digital clock. So we have to confess we’re a bit curious: why is there a prayer vigil being held outside Mohamed’s high school? And since when do public schools allow prayer vigils on school property?
NBC 5 of Dallas-Fort Worth was there.
Prayer vigil being held at MacArthur HS for #AhmedMohamed. @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/iCxTKGRKhT
— Johnny Archer (@JohnnyNBC6) September 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/Lobo68Loco/status/644684244892057600
@ArcherNBC5 @NBCDFW I stand with the vigilant teacher. If it was a bomb lots of kids would be dead now. Thank you teacher.
— Just Joe (@Stanleyj) September 18, 2015
@ArcherNBC5 @NBCDFW Thankful for a competent Police Dept. that thinks safety first with a suspicious device. Too bad someone got butt hurt.
— Harold Reed (@haroldreed) September 18, 2015
Young boy calls for prayer in Arabic at vigil for #AhmedMohamed @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/p5p7CZY3cE
— Johnny Archer (@JohnnyNBC6) September 18, 2015
#AhmedMohamed's father speaks at vigil @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/MDYSWyF4ed
— Johnny Archer (@JohnnyNBC6) September 18, 2015
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As Twitchy reported, Ahmed’s father is no stranger to media attention.
#IStandWithAhmed illuminates the night sky outside of MacArthur High where teen arrested for homemade clock @CBSDFW pic.twitter.com/yC8uFsKSi5
— Jeff Paul (@Jeff_Paul) September 18, 2015
"What happened to my son, doesn’t look like America.” Hear from dad of teen arrested for homemade clock @CBSDFW @ 10 pic.twitter.com/3auTgn4Mkb
— Jeff Paul (@Jeff_Paul) September 18, 2015
https://twitter.com/XandriaGallery/status/644679845692092416
Meanwhile, more and more people are risking being branded Islamophobes and wondering what kind of clock is built inside a briefcase.
My .@townhallcom piece on #IStandWithAhmed
Device is identical to a bomb trigger. School & Police acted properly.http://t.co/mWtg92KUkd
— Jim Hanson (@JimHansonDC) September 17, 2015
Writing at Townhall.com, Jim Hanson, executive vice president at the Center for Security Policy, says:
It’s nanny state, zero tolerance policies that take away the ability to apply common sense to complicated situations. In this case, whether or not to put cuffs on a 14 year old when he brings something to school that causes questions to be asked.
But as far as the other question, was the clock device he brought to school a legitimate cause for concern, the answer is an unequivocal yes. I have built and taught classes on improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and the clock he brought to school is a dead ringer for the trigger used on many of these homemade bombs.
Well, President Science thinks it’s a “cool clock” and says Ahmed can bring it by the White House any time.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional tweets.
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