Whether or not you support racial profiling in the fight against terrorist attacks, there is a line between legitimate suspicion and gross overreaction.
The Washington Post reports that Ahmed “Clock Kid” Mohamed, the student whose “cool clock” resembled a detonator (well, it did) and whose arrest led to an invitation to the White House and a flood of gifts and internship offers from Microsoft, NASA, Facebook, and others, has a successor.
Ivy League economist ethnically profiled, interrogated for doing math on American Airlines flight https://t.co/EDZLb87zjK by @crampell
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 7, 2016
The Washington Post reports that a scare on an American Airlines flight this week was caused by an Italian Ivy League economist whose scribblings on a notebook were mistaken for Arabic, but were actually a differential equation.
Italian Ivy League economist doing math on a plane causes woman to fear for her life https://t.co/hAeVlmmSN2
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016
that's my most charitable headline.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016
It's a good thing that passenger spoke up. These math terrorists know how to multiply quickly. https://t.co/fcXH6c9fnQ
— Joe Ruiz (@joeruiz) May 7, 2016
That report sent CNN anchor Jake Tapper off on a tangent, to which his followers added.
Plane turned around, passenger interrogated because… he was doing differential equations while olive-skinned. https://t.co/NmhhUBclOC
— zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) May 7, 2016
cosine https://t.co/t1QtB9YLkX
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016
@zeynep @crampell did he have weapons of math instruction???
— Pastor Pending (@RecentPastor) May 7, 2016
My first reaction to that story: Euclidding me.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016
https://twitter.com/Taiwanosaurus/status/728979795560665088
If you see someone on a plane doing math and you're wondering what his true intentions are, go ahead and axiom.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016
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@jaketapper But would that be a trig question?
— Ed Morrissey (@EdMorrissey) May 7, 2016
i know these math puns make me seem even more square than usual
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016
i don't even know how one figures out the true intentions of a mathemetician without truth theorum
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016
@jaketapper don't be obtuse
— Andy Locker ⭐️ (@aslocker) May 7, 2016
@jaketapper just wondering, what's your angle here?
— alexis kroupa (@AlexisKroupa) May 7, 2016
https://twitter.com/justkarl/status/728979904226824192
Enough … the cleverness is decaying exponentially.
i mean, i could, if i wanted, exhaust every single historical reference to the creation of mathematics, but I don't want to Babylon.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) May 7, 2016