" The Waters of Mars."

Channels cut in the Martian surface as shot by NASA’s
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2011. 

When the News story that (1)>> NASA was supposed to make a big announcement this week , I had a skeptical "ah ha" . I have heard this before . It's OLD NEWS for me , way out late . So is it exciting ?   NASA drummed up the idea that "life" was found on Mars. Leaving us guessing . It was close Yes,  (2)>>MARS HAS WATER on it's surface  ! It's a bit "briny" . How about having  a mixture of Chlorine , and acid . Sorry for my ridicule ,but NASA has known that Mars has water since the 1960's . Whatever what we might call "water" , it's not safe water for human consumption . As for "life" the implications of it might be astounding. That represents a shift in tone for NASA, where officials have repeatedly played down the notion that the dusty and desolate landscape of Mars could be inhabited today.But now, John M. Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science, talked of sending a spacecraft in the 2020s to one of these regions, perhaps with experiments to directly look for life.  .FINDING  liquid water anywhere in the solar system is a huge deal, because the evidence for it has been so limited, and life as we know it depends on liquid water. "Follow the water" has been an astrobiological mantra. This may seem slightly narrow-minded, in that one could imagine alien life of a completely different chemical nature, but even the most imaginative thinkers, such as Carl Sagan, were water chauvinists and carbon chauvinists. Of course, this isn’t the first time water has been discovered on Mars. We know that water is laced within Mars regolith; we know there’s water locked in Mars’ ice caps and below the surface; we know that Mars once possessed rivers, lakes and even seas. The last few years of discoveries by our Mars orbiter, lander and rover armada have revolutionized our understanding of Earth’s smaller neighbor. But this time NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has made comprehensive measurements of what appear to be seasonal flows of liquid water on a global scale on modern Mars.Scientists have long known that large amounts of water remain — but frozen solid in the polar ice caps. There have been fleeting hints of recent liquid water, like fresh-looking gullies, but none have proved convincing.

What kind of "water" on Mars Today?
(1)>> I didn't watch the full press conference, but I did the read the paper, and I skipped to the part you said was relevant and was able to see the relevant frame from the video (my connection seems to be shitting out right now).They report absorption lines in Figure 1 at 1.4 microns and 1.9 microns, consistent with the presence of liquid water, but I think they have better spectroscopic evidence of perchlorate salts. These were taken from fourrecurring slope linnae (which were also photographed in the visible spectrum). RSLs are streaks that form on downhill slopes during the Martian summer.Water being found on Mars does not mean that you can just drink the stuff . First of all the Planet Mars has a  (4)>>vary low atmospheric pressure . As an example our Earth mean surface pressure based on barometric readings  as about 1036 MB ( Millibars) , the lowest is on Mt . Everest which has been measure at 29,000 FT as 300 MB . Even at 300 MB water is stable , but boils , since Mt. Everest is at 29,000 FT it's often a vapor or ice . So Lets go to Mars , all most all the scientific probes have  measured  the surface Mars pressures between 6 to 11 MB . It depends on location ,  surface depth . The lowest Martian pressure is on  (3)>> MONS OLYMPUS at 78 ,000 FT and its scarcely 1 MB . So what does this translate to ? First is that 11 MB on Mars is equivalence to being at 100,000 FT on Earth . A human being would need a Oxygen and pressure suit just to survive .  So anything that's a liquid , like human blood and water boil . So what we know today about Mars is that most of the water that exists is mostly frozen , or in a vapor state . We have seen water ice clouds on Mars on a balmy day , Mars has many kinds of clouds . Although Mars is smaller, at 11% of Earth's mass, and 50% farther from the Sun than the Earth, its climate has important similarities, such as the polar ice

This intriguing image was taken by orbital probe HiRISE .Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are narrow (0.5-5 m), relatively dark markings on steep (25°-40°) slopes; repeat MRO/HiRISE images show them to appear and incrementally grow during warm seasons and fade in cold seasons.

caps, seasonal changes and the observable presence of weather patterns. It has attracted sustained study from planetologists and climatologists. While Mars's climate has similarities to Earth's, including seasons and periodic ice ages, there are also important differences, such as much lower thermal inertia. Mars' atmosphere has a scale height of approximately 11 km (36,000 ft), 60% greater than that on Earth. Mars' dust storms can kick up fine particles in the atmosphere around which clouds can form. These clouds can form very high up, up to 100 km (62 mi) above the planet.^[14] The clouds are very faint and can only be seen reflecting sunlight against the darkness of the night sky. In that respect, they look similar to the mesospheric clouds, also known as noctilucent clouds on Earth, which occur about 80 km (50 mi) above our planet. Of course, we’re all excited about finding liquid salty water on the surface of Mars. But any prospects of sending a rover or even humans to study these mini "rivers" might have to be dampened (sorry), owing to issues of contamination.The dark streaks known as recurring slope lineae (RSL) all but confirmed liquid water is present on the surface. Such regions, though, are likely to be designated "Special Regions" by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). These are places where only a sterile lander would be allowed to visit as per planetary protection rules, keeping them safe from Earth microbes, and potentially ruling out manned missions or a rover like Curiosity. In April, scientists reported in the same journal that (5)>> perchlorate salts, like the ones in the new study, were "widespread" on the surface of our planetary neighbour and humidity and temperature conditions just right for salty

(6)>>brines to exist Martian weather and soil conditions that NASA's Curiosity rover has measured, together with a type of salt found in Martian soil, could put liquid brine in the soil at night .Perchlorate identified in Martian soil by the Curiosity mission, and previously by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission, has properties of absorbing water vapor from the atmosphere and lowering the freezing temperature of water. This has been proposed for years as a mechanism for possible existence of transient liquid brines at higher latitudes on modern Mars, despite the Red Planet's cold and dry conditions.New calculations were based on more than a full Mars year of temperature and humidity measurements by Curiosity. They indicate that conditions at the rover's near-equatorial location were favorable for small quantities of brine to form during some nights throughout the year, drying out again after sunrise. Conditions should be even more favorable at higher latitudes, where colder temperatures and more water vapor can result in higher relative humidity more often..Finding life in hidden reservoirs beneath the crimson sands of Mars would be revelatory. If the biochemistry of these microbes was the same as ours, we would suspect that rocks from long ago carried their ancestors to Earth. And that would mean .But if not, if we find life that’s unrelated to ours, then we’ll know of two worlds that have spawned biology – and will confront the unavoidable fact that the universe is teeming with living things.  I hope we're able to find some kind of life there. thatd be amazing and completely change the course of human history. of course there is life out there somewhere but to find it so close to home would be pretty cool

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>>  NASA’s press statement makes it seem that scientists have certain evidence of flowing water. They do not. What they have is chemical evidence that gives a strong suggestion of liquid water mixed with salts. More importantly, however, even if NASA was 100% certain that there is liquid water on Mars, it could not do anything about it. (2)>> In a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists identified waterlogged molecules — salts of a type known as perchlorates — on the surface in readings from orbit. Although Mars had rivers, lakes and maybe even an ocean a few billion years ago, the modern moisture is modest — small patches of damp soil, not pools of

standing water. (3)>>Olympus Mons. is a very large shield volcano on the planet Mars. By one measure, it has a height of nearly 25 km (16 mi).^[3] Olympus Mons stands almost three times as tall as Mount Everest's height above sea level. It is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars, having formed during Mars's Amazonian Period. It is currently the largest volcano discovered in the Solar System and had been known to astronomerssince the late 19th century as the albedo feature Nix Olympica (Latin for "Olympic Snow"). Its mountainous nature was suspected well before space probesconfirmed its identity as a mountain. The typical atmospheric pressure at the top of Olympus Mons is 72 pascal, about 12% of the average Martian surface pressure of 600 pascals. Even so, high-altitude orographic clouds frequently drift over the Olympus Mons summit, and airborne Martian dust is still present.^[17] Although the average Martian surface atmospheric pressure is less than one percent of Earth's, the much lower gravity on Mars increases the atmosphere's scale height; in other words, Mars's atmosphere is expansive and does not drop off in density with height as sharply as Earth's.(4)>> The Martian atmosphere is composed mainly of carbon dioxide and has a mean surface pressure of about 600 pascals (Pa), much lower than the Earth's 101,000 Pa. One effect of this is that Mars' atmosphere can react much more quickly to a given energy input than that of Earth's atmosphere.^[38] As a consequence, Mars is subject to strong thermal tides produced by solar heating rather than a gravitational influence. These tides can be significant, being up to 10% of the total atmospheric pressure (typically about 50 Pa). Earth's atmosphere experiences similar diurnal and semidiurnal tides but their effect is less noticeable because of Earth's much greater atmospheric mass.Although the temperature on Mars can reach above freezing (0 °C (273 K; 32 °F)), liquid water is unstable over much of the planet, as the atmospheric pressure is below water's triple point and water ice sublimes into water vapor. Exceptions to this are the low-lying areas of the planet, most notably in the Hellas Planitia impact basin, the largest such crater on Mars. It is so deep that the atmospheric pressure at the bottom reaches 1155 Pa, which is above the triple point, so if the temperature exceeded 0 °C liquid water could exist there. (5)>> perchlorate. Perchlorate is, among other things, dangerous to the human body, capable of disrupting the basic functioning of the metabolic system. Mars also appeals because of the evidence of water we’ve found there, especially in the soil. The trouble is that water isn’t the only substance we’ve discovered in the dirt of Mars. In 2009, scientists responsible for the Phoenix lander reported that they had discovered a statistically significant sample of perchlorate within the soil of the “polygon-patterned northern plains of the Vastitas Borealis.” If you’re left wondering what on Earth this might mean, you’re not alone. One of the investigators would later claim that his team had to look up the substance to find out what, exactly, they’d discovered. (6)>>brines. Brine is a solution of salt (usually sodium chloride) in water. In different contexts, brinemay refer to salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawater, or the lower end of solutions used for brining foods) up to about 26% (a typical saturated solution, depending on temperature).Salt deposits over much of Mars indicate that brine was abundant in Mars's past.^[11][17] Salinity lowers the freezing point of water to sustain a liquid flow. Less saline water would freeze at the observed temperatures.^[11] Thermal infrared data from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on board the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, have allowed the temperature conditions under which RSL form to be constrained. Liquid brine flows near the surface might explain this activity, but the exact source of the water and the mechanism behind its motion are not understood.^[23][24] A hypothesis proposes that the needed water could originate in the seasonal oscillations of near-surface adsorbed water provided by the atmosphere; perchlorates and other salts known to be present on the surface, are able to attract and hold water molecules from the surrounding environment (hygroscopic salts)

Goodbye Mr. Boehner!

In MY Life time  . There were (1)>> 3 Speakers of the House that have had some not so minimal impact in American politics  . First as a young boy growing up in the Reagan era . I remember  it was  liberal Democrat and influential Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. who used to have great temper tantrums in Congress . Arguing, name-calling and throwing heated rhetoric around. Mr. O'Neill may seeded many generations ahead through six government shutdowns under Ronald Reagan  . That "curse" of Tip O'Neill may have incarnated into of then-Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) as Speaker of the House.Who cased to much government dysfunction as a  (2)>>Tea Party favorite , that later the Tea Party movement its'self  gave Boehner the boot. Mr.  Boehner for the most of his hard rhetoric was too tight lipped , and every time he spoke at a press conference he sounded like someone who read from a scripted dialog . " We will repeal Obamacare ............". Just hearing him speak was bad enough , but he was so hard line, that even though  he may have had some points against President Obama , he actually made Mr. Obama look good . I remember when Mr.

IN the 5 years Speaker of the House ,
John Boehner had a lot to cry
about.

Boehner said this about Obama,  (4)>> “No, because I believe that if the president continues to act on his own he is going to poison the well. When you play with matches, you take the risk of burning yourself, and he is going to burn himself if he continues to go down this path. The American people made it clear Election Day. They want to get things done, and they don’t want the president acting on a unilateral basis.”. Two years ago he wanted to impeach Mr. Obama . He failed . With the announced retirement of Boehner, we turn the page on five years of wasted conservative opportunity in the United States Congress.  For five years, Speaker Boehner has heard loudly and clearly from the people who gave him a Republican majority that they wanted conservative leadership. For five years, he has practiced surrender, capitulation, and compromise of conservative principles. He has repeatedly refused to use the “power of the purse” which gives the House the authority to defund so much that runs counter to conservative principles.  With a staggering majority in the House, he has behaved like the cowering leader of a minority party. BESIDES the CRYING . Of course, there's a history of Boehner crying. According to Politico, he's done it "during a tribute to golf legend Arnold Palmer, while listening to Irish music on St. Patrick's Day (Boehner is of German ancestry) and while singing "America the Beautiful," among other occasions." Of course he cried when he became Speaker of the House. NBC Philadelphia says Boehner's choked up at an unveiling of a Rosa Parks statue, during an event honoring the painter Constantino Brumidi. Boehner was kinda creepy , there were TMZ like reports that he is a alcoholic . The  purported alcoholism, (there’s even a blog called DrunkBoehner dedicated to chronicling his meltdowns)  Somewhere in between, Politico reported that Boehner had turned on the old barroom charm, jabbing a finger at Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and said, “Go fuck yourself.” A longtime confidante of Hillary Clinton dismissed House Speaker John Boehner as "louche, alcoholic, and lazy" in an email to Clinton's personal account that was released by the State Department.  If that was enough , now I could see why Mr. Boehner resigned the Office of the Speaker of the house. This is of course an old story about John’s alleged affair, but I just love the title of the article: “John Boehner Sex Probe”. Capitol Hill insiders and political bloggers have been buzzing about an upcoming New York Times probe - detailing an alleged affair that the 61-year-old married father of two had with pretty Washington lobbyist (3)>> LISBETH LYONS. As Boehner exits , there could be a ray of hope for Congress. Boehner, known for habitually smoking in his speaker office, announced last week he will resign at the end of October from his post and seat in Congress. Asked about his impending departure, Reid recalled his first meeting with Boehner. "I'm going to miss the cigarette smoke," Reid told reporters on Tuesday. "To remind everyone: The first meeting I had with John Boehner, I could tell he was nervous, so I said, 'Go ahead and light up,' and he did and he’s been lit every meeting I’ve gone to."

NOTES AND COMMENTS:
(1)>> The three Speakers of the House , namely Tip O'Neill. Nancy Pelosi who may not be all there , some have accused of being senile . Yes, of coarse Mr. Boehner.(2)>>This isn’t the first time Boehner’s friends Tea Party friends have expressed their frustration with his antics.  Back in late 2010, the Ohio Liberty Council blasted Boehner for his secret bid to do away with the Congressional Ethics Office. (3)>> DailyKos published a diary titled "Maybe it's time for the media to say what they know about Boehner", in which he told us of the alleged affair between John Boehner and Lisbeth Lyons, who is the Vice President for Government Affairs for the American Printers Association, as reported by The National Enquirer months ago.So where is the media follow up stories to the allegations of John Boehner's reported affairs? I know we can hardly expect John Boehner to launch a ethics inquiry against himself, but it sure would be nice to have an independent investigative media in this country that could do that kind of thing, wouldn't it? Is there a compelling tweet, or a blue stained dress, or even a wide stance that could act as proof of the claims against House Speaker John Boehner? (4)>> Mr. Boehner's ethics have long been questioned , Boehner has a history of unethical, behavior as a congressman, so it is curious why there was no investigation, or at least probing questions, into why in less than a year a project few knew existed was suddenly paramount to Boehner; or why within a year he suddenly was heavily invested in Canada’s tar sand. According to Boehner’s 2010 financial disclosure, he invested in seven different Canadian tar sand companies to the tune of between $15,001 to $50,000 in each of the foreign entities. All of the companies are in the tar sand oil industry that Boehner stands to profit handsomely from if KeystoneXL is built.

A POPE for all Religions and Politics ? .

President Obama , and Pope Francis ,
both share a common philosophy .
yet Pope Francis is a 
more successful politician .

Is it possible that the Roman Catholic Church has entered a new phase with Pope Francis ? Let us be honest . First , (#)>>  the Papacy has dominated the world political system for over a thousand years . Pope Francis may not be the first Pope to visit the United States . However Pope Francis is vary unique. Much of  Pope Francis’ unorthodox views on the church are making waves. We have for the first time a NEW AGE POPE ?. The Pope's visit sounds to me that he's hammering America , on a political level he's trying to dictate policy by melting the wall that separates church and state . The Roman Catholic church has beaten all the rival Christian denominations on this . Hypocritically every American  politician of whatever religious denomination addresses every pope as "holy father" , sure it's out of respect , but The stunning contrast between the Pope - a real, live ideological Christian - and the hundreds of fake, pretend Republican Christians in  (2)>> Congress will be glaringly apparent. Pope Francis, in the first-ever papal address to a Joint Meeting of Congress, delivered a simple but passionate plea for humanity -- urging lawmakers to protect "every human life" and calling for a united response of "hope and healing, of peace and justice" for a world racked by violence and unrest. Speaking at the center of American power Thursday morning, the pontiff tackled urgent topics spanning immigration, family, the death penalty, climate change, extremism, religious freedom and the refugee crisis. Specifically, he joined American bishops in urging the abolition of capital punishment, and said Congress has a "role to play" in addressing global warming.  My (3)>>  OPINION , Pope Francis message needed to be said in our congress , it's just a message to wake up our sleepy congress to any respectful form of humility in a divided nation . The Pope's message to serving the important people in our society; supporting greed and the accumulation of wealth are their calling. Listen as they redefine poverty programs as "handouts", and man caused global climate change as "only a theory". I am happy that the Pope is speaking to them, but I do not think that they will commit to his cause. First of all Pope Francis just is not right about this During his speech before Congress, Pope Francis implored U.S. politicians to embrace migrants seeking to come into America.“Our world is facing a refugee crisis of a magnitude not seen since the second World War,” the pope said, according to USA Today, including “thousands of persons (who) are led to travel north in search of a better life. The inequality of physical wealth needs to be addressed, but the those poor in spirit need compassion and healing perhaps even more. The pope is not here to just redistribute what is Caesar's, but to provide an opportunity to heal all hearts through attention to those who have "less" in our midst. The Pope made some obvious suggestions that I can't agree with , first he wants the American congress to welcome all the illegals . He wants our system to open up with all these people who are here illegally out of charity . Sure that's good , but America sadly can't even take care of it's Veterans  who served this country , yet pick up the tab for people who don't deserve it. Pope Francis often speaks about the dangers of unbridled capitalism, but at the same time he lectures the capitalistic countries of the world that it is their responsibility to accept the wretched refuse of other economic systems. Francis sets his new philosophy for the church in In his new encyclical, Laudato Si.  focuses mostly on environmental degradation and how it affects the poor. But over the course of more than 100 pages, he also covers a grab bag of other topics, including abortion, genetic manipulation, and the limits of technological progress. This segues into a surprisingly bitter critique of the failures of the media and the negative effects of online interactions, which he sees as fundamentally related: They both undermine human relationships, Opposition to “fundamentalism” and “ideology” has been a consistent Francis theme, both during his trip to the United States and before. “No religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism,” he said during his speech to the U.S. Congress on Thursday. “Nationalistic or falsely universalist ideologies … [are] capable of perpetrating tremendous atrocities,” he said during his speech to the United Nations on Friday. This is directed inwardly as much as outwardly; Francis has warned Christians against being “rigid” in their beliefs. But it’s also clearly a sentiment specific to our time, when religion is sometimes associated with beheadings and terrorist attacks and extreme violence. This kind of pluralism is relatively new to the Roman Catholic Church. Its first major venture into inter-religious dialogue was only 50 years ago, at the Second Vatican Council. As Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove noted at the 9/11 ceremony, the 1965 document Nostra Aetate marked the first time the Church had ever really made a statement on its relationship with other religions, and specifically Islam and Judaism. By no means have Catholic leaders been perfect partners in inter-religious dialogue in the decades following this document, but the contemporary Church is strikingly different from the Church past. The history is almost too infamous to have to recount: the Crusades, the Inquisition, Christian anti-Semitism during the Holocaust. Either case the Catholic Church has entered a new phase with Francis . 

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>> NEW AGE POPE. In the book-length interview "El Jesuita", Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti asked Cardinal Bergoglio in 1999 whether he thought modern people tended toward "religion a la carte," a phenomenon which has been called "Cafeteria Catholicism". Bergoglio noted that this "is a very common trend that corresponds to the modern consumerism. Some choose a mass by how the priest preaches. But two months later they say that what doesn't work well is the choir and then change again. There is a reduction of the religious to the aesthetic... They treat religion as a consumer product, and this is very linked, in my opinion, to some vague theism carried out within the parameters of the "New Age", where personal satisfaction, 'relaxation', and 'feeling good' are mixed in. This is being seen especially in large cities, but is not just a phenomenon that occurs among the educated. In poor areas, in the slums, sometimes they seek an evangelical pastor, because 'He reaches me.' Pope: After recently referring to his "God," whom he believes is "the ultimate source of life," Pope Francis proclaimed that "the earth" is "a source of life for the entire human family." The UN's New Age people who are largely panentheists believe in and promote a new age, neo-pagan syncretism that honors Mother Earth "as a sourse of life."  (#)>> The Catholic Church and the papacy are by far the longest-lived institutions of Western civilization. Francis' predecessors have played a diplomatic role in the political life of the West since before the emergence of all the modern nation-states. Popes tangled with King Otto and Charlemagne. The Popes called the Crusades. The papacy has survived all manner of intrigue, even when Napoleon I had Pope Pius VII kidnapped and dragged over the Alps to Fontainebleau Castle. It's a longevity that any nation or throne would envy. To welcome the Roman pontiff into Congress is to be entered into this long chain of history. (2)>> Congress.  It is quite unfortunate that not only the Evangelicals members of Congress are popier than the pope, but far too many Catholic ones as well. If a pope's teachings fits into their world view, they applaud, but if a pope's teachings are science based, they cry foul and insist - all of a sudden - on the separation of Church and State. For them, the earth is still flat and the center of the universe, despite the Holy See having accepted Galileo into their midst - albeit quite late. Sure I am saying that . Some consider the Pope to be the Anti- Christ , some say that hes part of some Illuminati  some conspiracy . I can only say that the only conspiracy is in congress with it's Freemasons. I doubt the Pope will have much influence on the right wing ideologues of the Republican party. They attempt to cloak their ideology in Christianity, but their disregard for the poor, for immigrants, for the environment are the very antithesis of Christianity. Their hearts are hardened and even this great man will be unable to soften them.(3)>> OPINION . Francis called for the United Nations to promote a "worldwide ethical mobilization" of solidarity with the poor in a new spirit of generosity.He said a more equal form of economic progress can be had through "the legitimate redistribution of economic benefits by the state, as well as indispensable cooperation between the private sector and civil society."Francis had a similar message to the World Economic Forum in January and in h is apostolic exhortation "The Joy of the Gospel." That document, which denounced trickle-down economic theories as unproven and naive, provoked criticism in the U.S. that he was Marxist.Francis has denied he's Marxist, and spent years in Argentina battling Marxist excesses of liberation theology. But he has said from the outset that he wants a church that "is poor and for the poor" and ministers to the most marginal of society. (4)>> Francis . Francis, Bishop of Rome, should invite all the major religious leaders from around the world, to a meeting to discuss, and hopefully agree on, how to tackle the world's major problems. The root cause, I believe, is greed, whether it be for power, or just money.The result, gross inequity, poverty, slavery, climate change, and mass extinctions. We must all live within the sustainable limits of out planet.

Ahmed's TIMELY Lawsuit .

Did Ahmed Mohamed's homemade clock ,
create all the rage in the
name of a hoax?

There is a good way to make money in America . Ahmed's father may have planned it all.

With the whole media buzzing with this story : (1)>> Ahmed 's Clock . I could no help it but to say something .  This story for me is a good example of how to become a celebrity , and get lots of money sent to your bank account . How to do this ? , easy just perpetrate a hoax . As the media goes in this country . The "conspiracy" media needed a 'hero' , or needed to make a hero . So comes Ahmed is a lovable kid who was victimized by a bigoted " Islamo-phobic" American society. (2)>>The spectacle constructed around him has served both the liberal establishment, which wants us to (believe) cower before the White Guilt cudgel, and Muslims, who want us to let our guard down to facilitate their next major terror attack. The narrative of the put-upon 14-year-old Muslim who was so clever that he built a clock, but who was punished by bigoted Texans when he brought it to school, has been used exceedingly aggressively to advance these objectives. It's hard not to think that there is anything but "suspicious" about little Ahmed's clock .Was Ahmed, if he’s a victim at all, a victim of racism, Islamo -phobia, or of school’s anti-male zero-tolerance disciplinary policies? That the kid didn’t make a clock at all. He made something look as bomb-like as possible, on purpose, and brought it to school. All his teacher told him was, don’t walk around with it in case it worries people. But Ahmed did that anyhow. He took it to another class where the alarm went off, making that teacher suspicious, just like he knew it would. Then he was passive aggressive with the cops, who immediately pegged him as a hoaxer. What if, just like  (3)>> his dad, a crazy fake sheikh who ran for president of Sudan and who participates in incendiary stunts, he’s a media hound? Honestly There are many interwoven things in this story. First the school may have over-reacted , but on the one side there is something suspicious about the whole event , if you connect the dots it leads right to the boys father . What the media did not say is that Ahmed , is about when he took the device to his next class. He had NO battery backup on the alarm clock, just the AC power cord that was originally with the alarm clock. This means he physically plugged the device in the wall and set the timer to go off IN THE CLASS, purposely. "It obviously doesn't look like a bomb" line is absurd. If Ahmed (or anyone, for that matter) tried to take that clock into the White House on a tour, what do you think the Secret Service would do? If he tried to take that clock on an airplane, how do you think the TSA would handle it? Would those responses be justified? If so, they why isn't the security response at a school justified? Also, does a pressure cooker "look" like a bomb? Is the average person familiar with what actual (not movie prop) bombs look like? My guess is "No."

The truth it seems is that Ahmed was not arrested because his teacher thought he had a bomb. He was arrested for violating a Texas law making it illegal to bring a “hoax bomb” into school. But the arrest appears to have been orchestrated by Ahmed’s family who understood the law and knew how to troll for a reaction. Except most of the facts were wrong. He didn’t build the clock, and the school had reason to believe it looked like a bomb. Not to mention, his engineering teacher flat out instructed him not to show anyone else, and if you have to attempt to make something look LESS suspicious to take it to school - you just dont take it to school . In a big enough world, improbable events occur. Yes, it could be that the son of a multi-millionaire presidential candidate and attention whore happened to be wearing a NASA shirt on the same day he was arrested for showing his suitcase clock to several teachers, and that the arrest made him so sad that his family started taking joyful selfies.Or it could be a public relations coup by an attention-hungry father ?.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

(1)>> Ahmed 's Clock .  The kid didn't build a clock, Radio Shack built the clock. The kid just moved the internal workings of the store bought clock into a 8" briefcase looking pencil box.Anthony at Art Voice has taken down the situation thoroughly (link via Sean Davis). Anthony did his homework, studied the photos, and found that the clock Ahmed allegedly built, was originally sold at Radio Shack. Pictured is the clock Ahmed put into a case to bring to school: a Micronta 63 756, sold by Radio Shack. That’s right, Ahmed didn’t even bother to remove the silkscreened logo and part number Micronta printed onto the circuit board. Anthony also points out the other killer element: Why would you put a clock in a pencil case? It has a lid, that closes, meaning you’ll never actually be able to read the display. Anthony’s conclusion logically follows: 

Because, is it possible, that maybe, just maybe, this was actually a hoax bomb? A silly prank that was taken the wrong way? That the media then ran with, and everyone else got carried away? Maybe there wasn’t even any racial or religious bias on the parts of the teachers and police.

(2)>> The spectacle.    It's funny how people applaud for a kid that didn't do anything special (he's 14 y/o FFS, not 4) because he is Muslim. Any other 14 y/o white kid would be ignored, but this kid is hailed as the new Tesla. (3)>>  his dad, a crazy fake sheikh,  Ahmed’s experience perpetuated by his ‘hoax clock’ will have a lucrative ending. Shrug…perhaps that was the intention all along, not the nefarious scenario I outlined of above.Although, deception is deception, regardless of the motive behind it, and Muslim Islamic apologists including Ahmed’s father; Mohamed ElHassan Mohamed are deceptive to their core. It is also being reported that in addition to the prayer vigil and the presidential invitation, Mohamed has reportedly been offered internships and jobs by numerous companies, including Twitter and Facebook.Many are pointing out that the incident seems a trifle staged to fit the agenda of the groups pushing to publicize it, such as the Muslim lobbying group The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).A little digging has revealed that Mohamed’s father, Mohamed ElHassan Mohamed, is a known activist who has engaged in several stunts to call out what he has perceived to be anti-Islamic activity. The New York Daily News: One of the earliest instances of the standout citizen making national news was in 2011, when he sensationally stood up to an anti-Islamic pastor and defended the Koran as its defense attorney. That mock trial at a Florida church ended with the book’s burning, to ElHassan’s claimed shock. In an interview with the Washington Post at the time, the devoted Muslim said he’d take on Rev. Terry Jones’ challenge because the holy book teaches that Muslims should engage in peaceful dialogue with Christians. And now the plot thickens. In what has become one of the most egregious of the faked hate narratives, the bomb hoax clockster has a family with a history of supremacist stunts. Also in 2011, ElHassan debated Robert Spencer on “Does Islam Respect Human Rights?” Clearly, he was trying to score against a famous “Islamophobe” and thus win a name for himself.  ElHassan has been looking for publicity and chances to fight against “Islamophobia” for a considerable period. In 2010, and again this year, the busy dad was nominated and ran for president of his native North African country from his home in Texas.“Mr. ElHassan is no stranger to adversity and experienced hardship firsthand, and during his lifetime has cultivated a deep sense of humanitarianism, tolerance and patience,” his latest campaign’s website read.He further credited a Sufi spiritual leader and mentor in Africa for inspiring him with “wisdom and leadership.”Today, ElHassan serves as a mentor at Jack E. Singley Academy High School in Irving and also as the vice president of the National Reform Party in Sudan, the Gazette reported.