AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Let's review the facts:
They didn't evacuate the school and surrounding area
Only the police were called
They just stayed there in the same room with the "bomb" the whole time
They put the kid and the "bomb" in a police car with one or two active-duty police officers and casually drove to the station
They put the "bomb" somewhere random while they questioned him

From the picture, it wouldn't have mattered what the kid's ethnicity or religion or whatever is.

Does anyone remember that pointing your finger and saying "bang" is grounds for expulsion now? Kinda has been since Columbine. Children aren't even allowed to play tag at recess anymore (at certain schools, away) because they might run into each other. Which wouldn't hurt them nearly as much as two adults running into each other.

Stupid things, if you ask me, but considering the story so far, this is a very mild reaction.

I don't think calling the cops on a kid and trying to intimidate him into confessing to something he didn't do is very mild at all.

The way I see it, it was either A) a case of straight-up racial profiling with bigoted teachers/admins just wanting to see a kid get in trouble for the heck of it (which I have totally seen before, I've had some teachers that were the same way about gay and atheist kids and would write them up for no reason), B) teachers/admins being really inept and not knowing the first thing about handling a bomb threat, or C) a bit of both.

What's most likely happening is they knew it wasn't a real bomb, but they figured he brought it to school as a joke in order to scare people. Which is a flimsy excuse for how they reacted.

Though I do want to say, the kid's family has been really classy about this whole thing. And he'll be transferring to another school where hopefully he can continue pursuing science and engineering.

To be fair, I hadn't heard of the story until I saw the posts, and I almost never search for it on my own because of time constraints.

I'm comparing it more to that one incident where a school called in the swat team and searched everyone for drugs AT GUNPOINT because there might have been drugs. It wasn't that someone said "hey, he might be selling drugs" but more of the principal thinking a random student could be selling drugs. No one told him there were any drugs, he just thought on his own someone would have had some. Turns out, NOBODY had any drugs.

Granted, racially profiling a student and calling in a bomb threat is pretty shitty, but considering that he wasn't beaten, or shot, or anything like that, and it was just the one student and not the entire student body being treated like criminals, yeah, this is a mild reaction. Still overboard, though.

No, there's no "to be fair" here, a brief Google search will turn up all kinds of crap about both the school and the town it took place in.

True, but the only details I'd have remembered on a first reading (and I wouldn't have bothered with a second) were already posted here. Unless you misunderstood my use of the phrase "to be fair," and thought I was saying to be fair to the school and the town, which I wasn't.

Now, when it comes to the police who were doing the questioning, I'd be surprised if anyone thought they'd have been anything other than intimidating to the student. Hell, if one of the tail lights on your car is broken, you're lucky if they even ask you if you knew about it instead of just giving you a ticket on the spot (which won't be small, probably about $200).

When you consider that Fox News acts like every Muslim wants to kill everyone else, and then consider that Texas is largely conservative, meaning they also probably watch Fox News, it wouldn't have surprised me if they shot the kid outright. Though, if they thought about the media shit storm that would have inevitably followed, they might also have decided they didn't want to put up with that, and then (probably) decided to just dial it back a little.

Don't go generalizing Texas as this bastion of southern hate or you'll end up in the same ilk as the people who think all muslims are terrorists.

The Dallas area including Irving is probably the worst for this kind of attitude in the state (though I will digress that Dallas isn't made up of only terrible people) because the people in the area are stuck in a 90's mentality who still think it's novel/frightening that hispanics are moving into their cozy suburbs. This would not have happened anywhere near this degree in Central Texas or Houston. They would have confronted the kid and asked what it was if it made them nervous, maybe confiscated it for police to look over, or at the very least, if they made a bad call, they would have owned up to it. The school this boy went to wouldn't even reverse his suspension after everything was said and done because it would make them look soft on "criminals".

THAT is fucking bullshit and would have had people's heads rolling if it happened in Travis or Williamson county.

Oh yeah, it would have been so horrible the way the cops wouldnt have been punished at all and all the conservatives would just shrug and give thinly veiled comments about how the kid would probably grow up to be a terrorist anyway. That seems to be the general consequence whenever an innocent minority suspect is murdered by police.

Actually, the fact that things like this make the news, and that it causes a big controversy each time is proof that things aren't the way you just described. Remember that cop in South Carolina that shot that black dude multiple times? If memory serves correctly, that cop was convicted, and it'll be a while before he gets out, IF he can.

I can bet you, even though it IS Texas, they wouldn't have gotten away with harming that student.

So apparently House Republicans are threatening to shut down the government again unless Planned Parenthood is defunded.

Can someone please tell them that throwing a tantrum when you don't get your way and going for a drastic ultimatum is a shitty way to do politics?

I don't think they've been interested in providing an actual political counterpoint to the democrats in a while, they seem to just want to foster FUD and blame Obama.

How do you figure? They get everything they want, they never get voted out because their voters are selfish, racist assholes and they can loot and steal with impunity. Sounds like theyre doing exactly what people let them.

Only two reasons I can think why they still want to defund planned parenthood
1. Their constituents (or maybe the senators themselves) don't realize that no funding goes to abortion, which is #1 on their hitlist, so they just shit on it for votes and candy.
2. Planned Parenthood DOES provide funding for contraception, which is an arguable point of contention, and shutting down the government is just a way to keep the political conversation from sliding to the next topic.
So one corrupt theory and one non-corrupt theory on their actions. This is all without reading up anything for this current shutdown but I probably nailed it.

Don't forget the whole "selling unborn body parts" scandal, which is enough emotional appeal to send the public into a tantrum by itself.

Repubs are in a position where they feel powerless, after having Dems being in power for so long and losing major battles like over Obama care and the gay marriage ruling, so now they'll cling to anything that makes them look like they're actually accomplishing something. See also the whole Kim Davis thing.