Clock Boy Wants $10 Million, Invitation to White House Rescinded
I . . . might have made up that last bit — but surely the boy wants to be put back to the status quo ante, no?
Ahmed “Clock Boy” Mohammed wants $10 million* from the City of Irving because of the whole clock thing that got him fame and an invitation to the White House. Here’s how his lawyers describe what the young would-be millionaire did:
Ahmed used some spare parts and scrap pieces he had around the house to assemble a digital clock. He routed the circuitry to run through a motherboard and enclosed his creative contraption in a little locking pencil case with the dimensions of approximately 8.5 x 5.75 x 2.5 inches.
Not long after the controversy broke, an electronics enthusiast with an engineering degree wrote a blog post that purported to debunk the notion that the kid’s clock was an original invention:
Ahmed Mohamed did not invent, nor build a clock. He took apart an existing clock, and transplanted the guts into a pencil box, and claimed it was his own creation. It all seems really fishy to me.
If we accept the story about “inventing” an alarm clock is made up, as I think I’ve made a pretty good case for, it’s fair to wonder what other parts of the story might be made up, not reported factually by the media, or at least, exaggerated.
I have never seen this blog post debunked.
If he was truly wronged, give him a few hundred dollars. Think of all the Radio Shack clocks he could buy! But $10 million? Puh-leeze. If anything, this further suggests that this was all a trumped-up hoax.
If that makes me a Clock Boy Truther, so be it.
*I see a bunch of stories online saying he has asked for $15 million but the linked demand letter says $10MM. If they sent a second letter upping the demand by another $5MM, I have not seen it yet.
Sheesh.
Patterico (86c8ed) — 11/24/2015 @ 1:24 pmWhat I saw was 10 mil from the city itself and 5 mil from the city’s ISD. And no, I wouldn’t give him anything, except a tri-nitro-toluene-powered enema for his problems.
John Hitchcock (d1e7bb) — 11/24/2015 @ 1:37 pmIs this the child whose father is perennially running for the office of President of Sudan?
I apologise if that is incorrect. It’s difficult to keep track of US non-scandals.
In less important news, the Turkish air force shot down a Russian fighter jet. Whether this was over Syrian or Turkish air space remains unclear. But no clock, so there you go.
JP (a11fdb) — 11/24/2015 @ 1:42 pmThis is the kind of crap that makes us Americans look like total douchebags to the rest of the world. In a saner time the kid and his idiot father would both be looking at 30 days in county and a hefty fine for causing problems at school.
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 11/24/2015 @ 2:02 pmDid the ransom note include Polaroids of the World Trade Center in flames and the words “or else?”
CrustyB (69f730) — 11/24/2015 @ 2:25 pmIt’s $10 million from the city and $5 million from the school district.
Sammy Finkelman (4d9cfa) — 11/24/2015 @ 2:32 pmThis is also the boy whose sister was involve in a false bomb hoax three years before.
Mike (88372b) — 11/24/2015 @ 2:49 pmPractice makes perfect if you’re going to be rewarded for your “victim” status.
I think there may be a second demand letter to the School District but I haven’t seen it. The reports that it exists are probably true. Why would the plaintiffs and their attorneys give the School District a break?
DRJ (15874d) — 11/24/2015 @ 2:58 pmSo in Islam it is immoral to loan money, but it’s okay to swindle? Sheesh indeed.
Dejectedhead (bc0b33) — 11/24/2015 @ 3:05 pmThe kid’s lawyer said that the boy and family went to Qatar–and then came back “because Qatar’s not Texas”. Well give them a big hand for being smart enough to figure that out. The way I see it, this little kid is going to get his clock punched by some good ol boys from Texas–at some point in the future. Maybe not now, maybe three or four years from now. Because whatever the kid is, he “ain’t no Texan”.
Comanche Voter (1d5c8b) — 11/24/2015 @ 3:19 pm“Pay him in 50% off Radio Shack coupons”
scrutineer (b7d257) — 11/24/2015 @ 3:27 pm– Iowahawk
I’m inclined to accept as possible that what he did with the clock is what he says. The reason is that, when I was a bit younger than him, I “made” several clocks by taking the guts out of digital watches and encasing them in polished solid hardwood cases I’d made.
I find the idea of just putting an old clock in a box for no apparent reason to be strange, but possible.
So, I’m willing to give the kid the benefit of the doubt. He was wronged, and got a trip to the white house and fame out of it. I think $15 (note, there are no zeros) is a fair sum (maximum) for the city and school to be liable for. And perhaps an apology might be in order.
Asking for anything more than 3/4 of a sawbuck, IMHO, heavily indicates that this whole thing was a setup from day 1.
Arizona CJ (331a26) — 11/24/2015 @ 3:35 pmclock boy pwns teh Prez
Colonel Haiku (fb7ea4) — 11/24/2015 @ 3:51 pmboom shocka locka locka
head’s in sand or worse
Everybody’s speechless and they can’t believe it’s true
What Obama’s trying to sell them
Someone should throw their shoe
So their anger and resentment flow
But don’t it make you want to vomit
All night long
Mohammed’s Clock Radio
I saw somebody point out the obvious
’bout that clock radio, Mohammed’s ClockRadio
You know, the Prez has got his problems too
He will surely take them out on you
In walked our village idiot and his face was all aglow
He’s been up all night admirin’ Mohammed’s ClockRadio
But don’t it make you want to vomit
Colonel Haiku (fb7ea4) — 11/24/2015 @ 4:11 pmAll night long
Mohammed’s ClockRadio
I heard somebody say that thing don’t give no time
’bout that clockradio, Mohammed’s ClockRadio
And perhaps an apology might be in order.
As in, “Hey, I’m sorry that I disregarded my engineering teacher’s advice that I keep the clock in my backpack and I’m sorry that I scared my high-strung English teacher by showing it to her even though it was obvious to anyone who knows her that she would think it was a bomb.” I think that would be an acceptable apology.
JVW (d60453) — 11/24/2015 @ 4:18 pmI hope the city cleans his clock.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 11/24/2015 @ 4:19 pmHe and his dad did the look-a-like bomb / clock on purpose.
What they deserve is to be blown to bits by some muzzy terrorist on the real.
Rodney Ling's Spirit (ab8c0d) — 11/24/2015 @ 7:21 pm#17 And add the sister too and mother for good measure. Whole family is wacko and a just god would take them to heaven on the wings of Gabriel. Quickly.
Rodney Ling's Spirit (ab8c0d) — 11/24/2015 @ 7:23 pmthe letter references both state claims and federal claims
If state court, the jury pool is from dallas county, Even with the minority population in south dallas, the jury pool is not favorable to the claim.
If in federal court – it will be the northern district of texas. with that venue, you can kiss that claim goodbye.
joe-dallas (93323e) — 11/24/2015 @ 7:40 pmThe first thing that jury pool will be asking is whether they can award attoryney fees to the irving ISD and the city of irving
This story at Legal Insurrection has both demand letters embedded.
Sue (e57aaa) — 11/24/2015 @ 7:42 pmhttp://legalinsurrection.com/2015/11/of-course-clock-kid-is-suing-for-15-million-in-damages/
Is there a rule in Texas that you have to send a demand letter before filing suit? Because my demand letter was always a complaint and summons. You either sue or you don’t. And this one was made public. I question the syriasness.
nacht knebel (dbc370) — 11/24/2015 @ 8:02 pmCookies.
nk (dbc370) — 11/24/2015 @ 8:03 pmIf a young boy can’t put a Radio Shack clock in a box, take it to school, get questioned by administrators and police, visit the President and cash in with a few million, well, that’s not the America I want to live in.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 11/24/2015 @ 8:15 pmFeel free to blog about the Turks blowing a Russian jet out of the sky all you like on your own dime. I might even be interested if you have something new to add to the cacophony of news I’ve been hearing about it all day long.
Bill H (2a858c) — 11/24/2015 @ 11:43 pm**snort** Apparently that’s not the America his family wants to live in either.
Bill H (2a858c) — 11/24/2015 @ 11:46 pmIt is called a terrorist dry run.
slp (3cff6b) — 11/25/2015 @ 1:41 amFeel free to blog about the Turks blowing a Russian jet out of the sky all you like on your own dime.
JP (a11fdb) — 11/25/2015 @ 5:13 am–Now, now. No need to be ticked off.
The most intersting part of this are the is supplied missiles that the Turkmen rebels used to shoot down the rescue chopper that’s a whole bother bowl of porridge.
narciso (a1aef7) — 11/25/2015 @ 5:21 amTrue. Strap yourself in. I’m going to say some ugly things.
.
That’s from Obama’s execreble Cairo speech. First, a caveat. His defenders claim that Obama didn’t say Islam invented those things. But to h3ll with them.So what? He said they gave us those things. Which if you speak English as a first language means we have those things because of Islam.
Anybody ever been to Segovia in Spain?
http://www.stephenokin.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Aqueduct_of_Segovia_08.jpg
The Romans built that about six centuries before Muhammad. I ask you, did we need freakin’ Islam for the arch?
Like Achmed the Muslims didn’t actually invent much of anything.
In fact, if it hadn’t been for the Muslims we’d have 90% of what was in the library of Alexandria instead of the 10% we have now. What they did in India was even worse.
Their attitude was, if they needed to know it it was already in the Quran. And if it wasn’t in the Quran they didn’t need to know it.
If you’re ever tempted to suggest that the Islam added to the sum total of human knowledge repeat after me. “Buddhas of Bamiyan.”
Steve57 (4d7b6d) — 11/25/2015 @ 7:16 amOK, Islam did give us the suicide vest. I have to give ’em that one.
Steve57 (4d7b6d) — 11/25/2015 @ 7:33 amThe other 5 mil is the School District.
Give the kid a couple of bucks and send him home.
mojo (a3d457) — 11/25/2015 @ 8:36 amGive the kid the school cafeteria’s entire pizza and ice cream budget for the next 2 yrs, in dimes delivered by the entire student body in person
Angelo (8d0a60) — 11/25/2015 @ 10:14 amclock boy would just blow the money on porn and hot pockets
he’s of very low character
happyfeet (831175) — 11/25/2015 @ 3:05 pmNo need for the snotty dismissal of a post that didn’t suit you, either. Don’t start nothin’, won’t be nothin’.
Bill H (2a858c) — 11/25/2015 @ 6:03 pmNo need for the snotty dismissal of a post that didn’t suit you, either. Don’t start nothin’, won’t be nothin’.
–Dismissing the post? No. Rather, lamenting the sorry state of affairs that seems to be this family’s modus operandi.
Even the writer seemed embarrassed to note it.
JP (0149b2) — 11/26/2015 @ 2:54 amThe clock looked nothing like a bomb. If people who have no idea what a bomb looks like thought it looked like one, that’s their problem, not his. There’s no telling what random object such people might think looks like a bomb. It’s exactly the same as if they’d thought it looked like a martian, with no idea what a martian looks like.
He was unlawfully detained, questioned, denied access to his parents or a lawyer, arrested, handcuffed and arm barred, paraded that way in front of everyone, and then defamed all over the country as some sort of terrorist, to the extent that so many people, even here, still believe that he was engaged in some sort of “dry run”.
For this he deserves compensation, and more than $15, though nothing even remotely like $15M. If it were up to me, I’d require every person involved, from the stupid teacher all the way up to the mayor and police chief, to apologise to him both personally and in writing, specifying what they had done wrong, to give him $1 in damages, and to take a one-hour course in recognising a potential bomb. Failing that, I think $15,000 is probably about enough to compensate him for his damages.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/26/2015 @ 11:50 amTexas has a law about hoax bombs.
http://penalcode.austintexascriminaldefense.com/46.08.html
Now,I agree it shouldn’t have such a law. But the requirement isn’t that the “another” be an expert on bombs. Admittedly they didn’t know what they were looking at. But if it caused “another” to be alarmed the school personnel had a legal duty to call the cops.
I agree it’s messed up. But unlike every time a kid gets expelled for chewing his pop tart wrong the teachers in this case were actually required to act.
Steve57 (a13395) — 11/26/2015 @ 12:37 pmMilhouse, though I don’t agree with what you wrote concerning the kiddo’s motives, I REALLY like your solution: folks who err write apologies letters publically, as well as the recognition program.
I think that the kid’s parents were playing a game. Good Lord, he did NOT build a clock! People keep writing that.
Anyway, making this into a personal responsibility issue instead of some inchoate blackmail for money scheme is a GREAT idea.
Simon Jester (9df838) — 11/26/2015 @ 12:45 pmYou know, it’s easy enough to figure out if Ahmed there build his pencil case clock by hand.
Have him do it again. Have him demonstrate the steps he took the first time. Where he got the materials, etc. Easy enough.
Steve B (c1c2db) — 11/27/2015 @ 12:58 amIncorrect. Read the law you cited again. The key words are with the intent to make another believe that it’s a bomb, or to cause alarm, etc. There is and was no indication whatsoever that the boy had any such intention. He could not have predicted what some idiot who doesn’t know what a bomb looks like will imagine looks like a bomb, any more than he could predict what someone would think looks like a martian. Therefore this law does not apply.
And no, I don’t agree with you that the law is messed up. It’s a straightforward application of the principle behind the common law of assault, or of making threats. If someone intentionally puts another in reasonable fear of imminent injury, he has committed assault. This law seems to extend that to intentionally putting someone in fear even if it’s objectively unreasonable; but I don’t think that’s an unreasonable extension. The key, though, is the intention to strike fear.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/27/2015 @ 2:39 amWho doubts that he did it?
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/27/2015 @ 2:40 amYes, he did.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/27/2015 @ 2:40 amA click should have a face, or a digital display, one also ignores this family’s history of provocations, going back to 2010,
narciso (a1aef7) — 11/27/2015 @ 5:31 amI see Milhouse’s point. Boys will be boys and adults should keep their heads.
nk (dbc370) — 11/27/2015 @ 5:40 amI see Milhouse is on the war path again. Engage at you own risk, I’ll have none of his nonsense.
The kid didn’t build a anything, he took the guts out of an old Radio Shack clock and spread them out in some sort of a briefcase. He’s a wannabe terrorist and his family is notorious for just such stunts designed to frighten people into reacting to phony provocations. He should be horse whipped and so should his old man.
ropelight (9234b9) — 11/27/2015 @ 6:24 amYou have to put this in the context of sadiq long, tsa protester, now in an Ankara prison.
narciso (a1aef7) — 11/27/2015 @ 6:27 amI hate when that happens.
https://pjmedia.com/homeland-security/2015/11/24/msnbcs-no-fly-list-is-islamophobia-poster-boy-arrested-in-turkey-as-part-of-isis-cell
narciso (732bc0) — 11/27/2015 @ 6:54 amThe clock looked nothing like a bomb. If people who have no idea what a bomb looks like thought it looked like one, that’s their problem, not his.
Image of boy and his clock
In this era of tiny components and terrorists’ need to camouflage explosive devices to look like something innocuous, what exactly should (or does) a bomb look like anyway?
Your take on this story may be perfectly correct, but I’ve seen you approach at least a few other subjects from a “leftie” standpoint, so I’m never quite sure if your judgment can be relied upon or not.
Mark (f713e4) — 11/27/2015 @ 8:37 am“You know, it’s easy enough to figure out if Ahmed there build his pencil case clock by hand.
Who doubts that he did it?”
I doubt it. In fact I know he didn’t. He disassembled an existing clock and laid out the components in a pencil case.
“Good Lord, he did NOT build a clock!
Yes, he did.”
Not in any meaningful definition of built. I have taken apart, and put back together, components of my Harley, but I have not built a Harley.
JD (34f761) — 11/27/2015 @ 10:03 amThis is now just an issue of narrative, JD. You and I both know that buying a clock from Radio Shack, taking it apart, and putting it in a different case…is not making a clock. There are lots and lots of folks who put things together from scratch, design ideas, and come up great products. Some of them are youngsters.
Not this kid.
But…the story serves several different narratives. So the facts don’t matter.
Best wishes, JD, truly.
Simon Jester (9df838) — 11/27/2015 @ 10:20 amAre you now an expert on bombs? Or clocks?
Rev. Barack Hussein Hoagie™ (f4eb27) — 11/27/2015 @ 12:47 pmThat is building something.
That is a lie. It was a normal pencil case.
That is a slander; you have absolutely no factual basis for such an accusation.
Another lie. No member of his family has ever been involved in any “such stunt”.
And now you’re advocating a violent crime.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:12 pmi second the horse-whipping motion
happyfeet (831175) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:14 pmExactly. If this is a bomb then anything could be a bomb. But there was no more reason to suspect this clock of being one than any other clock, or any other object. Do you suspect every object you see, throughout your day, of being a bomb? Of course you don’t, and nor does anyone else.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:15 pmi don’t drink but sometimes i need a stiff drink
happyfeet (831175) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:15 pmYes. And that’s all anyone claims he did.
If you took it apart and put it back exactly as it was, then you rebuilt it. If you put it back in a different configuration, then you built a motorcycle that is not a Harley™.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:18 pmAre you? There was nothing about this clock that gave anyone reason to suspect it of being a bomb, and that is all that matters.
He was charged with making a hoax bomb, but it neither looked like a bomb, nor did he say anything that would lead anyone to believe it was a bomb. On the contrary, he told everyone who asked that it was a clock. So anyone who thought it was a bomb was hoaxing themselves, and he can’t be blamed for it.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:21 pmSure it is. It’s the same as making anything from a kit.
Nobody is claiming that he’s some sort of scientific genius. That is not the issue at all. He’s just a kid who messes around with electronics. He didn’t deserve an invitation to the White House, nor any kind of scholarship or job offer or the other ridiculous things that were being piled on him when he became an instant celebrity. But he also didn’t deserve to be illegally detained, questioned, arrested, handcuffed and arm barred, humiliated in front of his whole school, and finally slandered across the whole world. He deserves some sort of compensation, though nothing even remotely like $15M.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:26 pmclock boy don’t drink but sometimes he needs a stiff drink
happyfeet (831175) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:33 pmSo have a drink already. It won’t kill you (unless you’re allergic, in which case don’t mind me.) And clock boy could probably use a stiff drink too; it might lead him to question what his parents have against the stuff. Alcohol is a wonderful gift God gave to mankind; it gladdens the heart and cures what ails you. It’s a miracle drug, good for the brain, the heart, the circulation, basically for everything, but as with any drug you shouldn’t overdose, and some individuals have problems with it and need to avoid it.
Milhouse (8489b1) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:44 pmyou are a most perspicacious gentleman come the odd saturday night Mr. Milhouse
happyfeet (831175) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:50 pmLike saadiq long, or the flying imams remember them, this is a clear provocation.
narciso (c338bc) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:51 pmAnybody want my rant? I typed it but then changed my mind about posting it.
nk (dbc370) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:53 pmoh my goodness yes yes rant like a gazelle on the plains of the serengeti Mr. nk
happyfeet (831175) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:54 pmto be honest though my discretions are often the better part of my valors
happyfeet (831175) — 11/28/2015 @ 5:55 pmYeah, how about a joke I stole from Achmed the Dead Terrorist?
— It’s not A-med, it’s ACH-med!
nk (dbc370) — 11/28/2015 @ 6:03 pm— How do you spell that?
— A-c-phlegm-m- ….
#58… You are quite the
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 11/28/2015 @ 7:05 pmtoolfooltool, Milhouse.