Via the Tampa Tribune and AIR:
Two Saudi men were arrested Friday after they boarded a school bus and rode to Wharton High School in New Tampa.
Students on the bus became alarmed, as did the bus driver, who called ahead. Hillsborough County sheriff’s deputies met the bus at the school and detained the men. No one was injured and nothing out of line occurred on the bus, deputies said.
Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, who lives in Apt. 302 in The Point apartments, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20 Monticello Gardens, Apt. 304-A, each were charged with trespassing on school property. Both remained in Orient Road Jail on Friday evening. Bail for each was set at $250.
“Both defendants gave several versions of the reason they took a school bus to a high school,” said Hillsborough County sheriff’s spokesman J.D. Callaway.
“They said they wanted to go to Wharton to look around, and then they said they wanted to go there to have some fun, and then they said they wanted to enroll in the English classes there,” Callaway said.
“We’re not sure if this was a situation of them just being new to this country, or if they were confused or what it was,” Callaway said. “We were unsure as to exactly what the final reason was, but it did cause great concern for the students on the bus and for us. One of the guys was wearing shorts with a black trench coat.”
While on the bus, the men laughed and spoke in Arabic, Callaway said.
Ahmed Bedier, Tampa director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the men likely meant no harm and that because “they were from Saudi Arabia, that escalated the situation.”
He blamed the incident on cultural differences.
“They didn’t differentiate between a school bus and public transportation,” he said.
See? Nothing to be alarmed about.
Well, except for the RACISM and XENOPHOBIA that prompted the bus driver to call ahead and —and which caused those crackers on the bus to be unnecessarily distrustful of these two innocently confused Saudi gentlemen, who were under the mistaken impression that public transportation in the US is free.
But that’s okay: a week in sensitivity training class and the students will know better than to trust their instincts next time, and the bus driver…well, I’m sure he can get a job delivering milk or appliances.
GOOD TIMES!
(h/t Tom Pechinski)
****
update: Dave Johnson of Seeing The Forest pokes us bedwetters with a stick for being less certain about the intentions of two Saudis who climbed on board a school bus (then lying about why they got on the bus and where they were from) than he is. Fortunately, the judge who revoked bail is no Dave Johnson.
But then, that judge is probably just another xenophobic redneck—which is why the first thing notorious racial empath President Dean is going to do is to take accreditation away from all southern law schools.
In the meantime, though, David is just going to have stroke himself with the knowledge that he is so much more culturally understanding than the horrific jingoists he is forced to live among, a goodly number of whom are already on the march to Florida with torches and pitchforks and some heavy lynchin’ rope.
But who knows? Perhaps President Dean can do something about them, as well.
So conservatives pretend like they support brown people by killing them and installing Iranian theocracy in Iraq, and then oppressing brown people in America.
Hey, you wingnuts might not like it but this country was founded on racial equality and racial profiling goes against everything we stand for as a nation, unless you are a white supremacist who hates gays, the WNBA, and undocumented workers, but I repeat myself.
So there.
So if a “white” adult guy gets on a school bus and goes to a high school wearing shorts and a black trench coat and can’t account for why, no problem, right? We all do that, right? Any old time! Besides, since when were Saudis not “white”?
Vercingetorix is a software based blog comment generator that I’m developing. As you can see, it still needs a few tweaks but it’s getting very close to a realistic marxoid dialogic simulation.
THIS.SCARES.ME.
I am dead serious.
Hmmmm.
Beslan.
Allah’s reporting that one of the guys attended a bus driver training course at the big school over by Osceola.
The lead trainer at the school said that the man was an okay drvier but that he wasn’t interested in learning how to operate the bus’s stop sign and flashers or knowing that he had to stop at all railroad crossings.
He just wanted to be able to get a license to get a big school bus.
. connect . the . dots . people .
especially you, vercengtorix.
.
I made that Allah stuff, btw.
More precisely, I was ahead of the news cycle.
.
Or extremely, very precisely, I was present at the birth of that news item, having delivered it.
.
Messr Neumann, you must upgrade my revolutionary rhetoric database. For instance, I made no reference to the evils of Capitalism. I did mention the WNBA and I could have seguewayed into how the white superclass exploits the brown folk for its gladiatorial games.
Plus the PATRIARCHY!!!
TW: Justice. Working on social justice for all and the Reichwing gulag of Christobanian Capital-terrorists.
Hehehehehehe. I don’t know why, but I found this to be quite amusing.
I was surprised that their stories didn’t match up, though.
If this,
…prompted this,
…then I can certainly see why. The end of the Republic. I’m also dead serious.
That’s a chilling parody on the disease of leftism, Jeff. A couple sentences and it hits home like a ton of bricks.
Just this morning my 15 yr old daughter and I were discussing the pronounced absence of civility and the equally pronounced evidence of a rather abject new selfishness in American culture. She’s fifteen and sees it clear as day.
I suggested that a people not prepared to think and do what it takes to remain free simply won’t.
Ditto. They’ve now ascertained that they can get onto a school bus. What happens afterward is of little consequence if what they have in mind is anything like what we saw 15 Saudi men accomplish with jetliners a little over four and a half years ago.
The sights may be set lower (no pun intended) but that would be scant consolation to the victims.
oops, looks like Vercingetorix was operating in irony mode, which I sometimes mistake for Clooney mode. We’ve been having this problem ever since we’d integrated the screenplay to Syriana.
I’d assumed that WNBA meant Whitey Needs Brown Antagonists
So conservatives pretend like they support brown people by killing them and installing Iranian theocracy in Iraq, and then oppressing brown people in America
Hopefully this was parody.
In a stunning flash of judicial competency, bail has been revoked for these 2:
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBMTMWRGNE.html
What a freaking idiot bus driver!
Reason #2184 to home-school your children: Bus drivers allow strange men in trenchcoats to ride the bus – for free!
This is “skydiving without a parachute” stupid. This is “trying to get a Great White Shark to pluck a minnow from between your toes” stupid. This is “You Are SO Fired” stupid.
heh, verc is good that way.
anyhoo, i keep vacillating between “this is scary” and “these guys are just realllly stupid” why make a trial run on a school bus? or is this some sort of signal for others? or, “hey they’re college students, and who didn’t do stupid crap in college?” but then, why keep changing their stories? though, if this was planned, wouldn’t their stories be better rehearsed? I guess i’ll just have to wait for more info. though it’s also interesting to note they were at the same university that Sami Al-Arian was a professor.
Hmmm.
1. American schoolbuses are almost universally yellow and easily recognized.
2. American schoolbuses have been on television and movies for decades, all over the world.
3. I think it’s physically impossible for anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the past 40 years to not immediately recognize an American schoolbus for what it is.
That was my first thought as well, why the hell did the bus driver let them on in the first place?
Note to would-be terrorists:
Cities without large Caribbean and Central American refugee populationsâ€â€discernable in their voting patternsâ€â€never print such suspect-identifying information in their newspapers, because, for some reason, their establishments are more fearful of proletarian vigilantism.
Just sayin’.
How in the hell did that happen? Something went horribly right. We’d better get to the bottom of it, but quick.
On the one hand, we have millions of illegal Mexicans, most of whom work hard, some of whom are drug-gang criminals or welfare leeches, a very few of whom are committed racists or Socialists and none of whom have committed a 9-11 or suicide bombings against our country and for their god.
On the other, you have some Saudis, most of whom hate America, Christians and Jews, many of whom are “students”, some of whom are committed Islamists, and a few of whom committed 9-11 to take down America and honor Allah.
Racism and zenophobia are situational.
Yet another argument for homeschooling!
Keep in mind that these gentlemen attended a school for which these textbooks were an improvement.
And, really, WTF were they doing in the US if they didn’t speak English already? This isn’t the 19th century; it’s not like English tutors and self-learning guides aren’t available world-wide.
Hmmm.
It does seem kinda wierd that the newspaper printed their home address.
Even the guy from CAIR thinks the bus driver is an idiot!
Bedier called the court’s decision to revoke bond an overreaction and tied to the men being Arabic and Muslim.
…
He questioned why the driver didn’t tell them not to board if their appearance was suspicious.
Likely that the bus driver did tell them. They just didn’t understand or refused to obey him.
And, yeah, CAIR, they are under extra suspicion because they’re Muslim and Arab. Beslan and exploding buses in Israel make up quite a pattern.
Telling someone you’re from Morocco when you’re from Saudi is not a sign of confusion. Presumably you know where you’re from. It’s purposeful deception. Most of the Islamic world, and especially young Saudi men, idolize the 9/11 terrorists and want to be just like them. These guys were, somewhat amateurishly, trying it on.
Of course, in their country, women don’t have full rights to drive a schoolbus.
Okay; so maybe the Saudis are right not to let women drive schoolbusses.
Maybe lying to the police had something to do with having their bail revoked. That and that whole 9-11 thing. It was in all the papers a while back.
Cos’ if there’s one thing America needs, it’s more young Saudi Arabian men who can’t even speak English.
And they keep changing their stories?
They thought it was an airliner? The Magic School Bus? The bus that we send around for all the other cool college kids? They were hoping to meet Ray Nagin?
Which is either Morocco or Saudi Arabia. Depending.
Yep. Simply must be the BIGOTRY!!!!!
It is kind of curious that they got on board.
I question the timing of his questioning.
Me too… he usually doesn’t need that much time to miss the point.
Well, yes. And…?
If we needed any further reason to think these guys were hinky, the fact that CAIR defends them seals it.
These assholes must have thought they were in London or Paris.
Ha!
Reminds me of the time my friends rented a boat for a party. We were cruising around when Mike noticed one shy invitee, an elderly Japanese man, standing alone in the corner clutching his camera. Mike is a friendly guy, so he asked the man how he knew our hosts. The Japanese man replied, “Is this the Star Ferry?”
Except that was adults and a party boat and funny. And this is school children and lying grown men and not very funny at all.
USF had a history professor that was just deported on suspicion of terrorism.
I suspect the driver didn’t “let” them on the bus, they just climbed in when the kids were getting on. How old is the driver? How large or small is she? I she supposed to give two men the bums rush out the door by brute force?
She called her supervisors and asked what the heck do I do – they called the cop at the school.
Remember, these guys are ESL too. She might very well have said something and they just ignored her, didn’t understand or pretended not to understand.
Let’s not get too harsh on the substitute driver, OK? Let us get all the facts first. Then we can crap all over who needs it…besides CAIR, I mean.
Great idea!
In many districts parents are allowed to ride the bus back and forth to school. I don’t know if that would be true in this district. In the last two districts we’ve been in, the school has had paid bus monitors. We ask too much of bus drivers, I think, to monitor the passengers (often ill-behaved) AND drive that big old honkin’ vehicle.
Anyway, had they not been allowed on they would have just disappeared quietly, no? At least this way they were easily found and questioned.
Hmmmm.
The only problem is that just about every single movie about America includes a yellow American school bus. And American school buses are pretty distinctive since they are offered in two basic shapes. But the color is pretty much always the same and the pattern of lights is exactly the same.
Plus if they really thought they were on a transit bus, then why did they think it was going to a school? They mentioned that they wanted to visit the highschool, so they *knew* it was a schoolbus.
And again. In just about every single movie about America there is a yellow American schoolbus.
I find it more than difficult to believe that anybody in Saudi Arabia would get that wrong let alone someone who’d been in Florida for 6 months!
There is also the great big letters “SKOOL” written on it, as in George Washington High Skool.
And the fact that there were a bunch of kids on the bus ought to be the clincher. But whatever…I think middle aged men should be allowed to hang out with frisky high skool chicks, man. I’m so on the next bus come tomorrow.
After all, what’s the harm?
If they are terrorists, then they are high on the list o’ dumbest terrorists evah…
Yeah, don’t fault the driver. It was probably pretty evident that they weren’t school age, weren’t carrying books, were a little tall for students, etc., but that certainly isn’t a reason for not letting them on a school bus.
Why, that would be profiling. People have lost their jobs for that.
Regards,
Ric
Thank God for self-professed visionaries like the magnificent Dave Johnson, who’s Seeing The Forest where others see only the trees. Having an IQ of 101 and a blog gives one insight.
Folks, the problem isn’t two clowns on a school bus. It’s reactions like swinging Johnson’s—prancing around a gasoline-soaked parking lot with a lit match—that’ll invariably lead to eventual further disasters:
Simple, stereotyping Dave resides within the first intellectual level up from animal consciousness, where the air is thin and the universe resonates with mystic, nuanced truisms. Such a remarkable POV requires merely seeing all around him as intolerant red state Neanderthals. From that lofty perch on the first step of society’s Everest, apparently you can see forever.
If its racism to be suspicious of two arab men getting on a school bus full of children, then color me a proud racist.
American children’s lives > hurt Arab feelings
Wouldn’t one be suspicious of any grown men that get on a school bus and are strangers to the kids? Maybe the point is that its racism to also take some meaning from the point that they’re arab/saudi.
When it comes to Saudis, a little caution is always called for.
A little precautionary head-cracking is helpful too.
Carl, meet acthole.
Maybe you can get through to him.
rls,
We can only hope…
*Maybe the point is that its racism to also take some meaning from the point that they’re arab/saudi.*
Ah, I see the problem here. You’re confusing racism for common sense. Considering the sheehr amount of innocents killed by jihadists in markets, in school buses, in clubs elsewhere in the world, it is certainly not racism to be concerned when two arab men get on a school bus. There is no reason for them to be there under any circumstances (bad enough) but throw in their appearence and/or nationality (and then compare said nationality to those indviduals “innocently” training to fly planes in Florida- no problem their right?), I’m damn glad someone was engaging in what you allege is “racism”.
The irony is, the left will blame us for “racism” and fail to grasp that the fault lies far less with the American public and more on the jihadists who use race and religion as an excuse to murder, steal and extort.
Dirty Harry, ‘nuff said….
Good to get all the facts!
To me its common sense to call the cops when grown men get on school buses and are strangers to the kids. Not so common snse to get to precautionary head-cracking because they’re brown and arab.
I doubt the bus driver knew they were saudi. Probably foreign, definately brown and arab. But as specific as saudi? I doubt it.
Still, strange grown men getting on a school bus? call the cops.
Exactly. Because when we see brown people, we are to compare with the people training to fly planes. Not the people forming iraqi unity governments.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at this particular line of non-logic and blindered, cookie-cutter multiculturalism, acthole, but really. Just when I think you can’t possibly get any stupider, you come up with crap like this.
Did the doctor drop you on your head when you were hatched? Oh, that’s right, he held you up, then turned you upside-down and said, “Look, twins!”
Wouldn’t you think Norman Mineta has better things to do than posting here under the name actus?
Its really not that multicultural. We have arabs forming iraqi unity governments with purple fingered love. And we have some training to fly planes. Which ones are we to compare to? Why even compare, when they’re acting suspicious enough on their own? White black brown or whatever, you get on that bus the cops should get called.
Racist?
I’d wanna know whatinthehell 2 mid-20s WHITE guys are doing getting on my kids bus!!!!!!!!!
Craig, Smoke, rls, et. al.,
Lay off. Actus is right this time. Strange men getting on the school bus is a real reason for concern. The fact that they’re brown/black/white/purple (with or without orange polka-dots) is almost completely irrelevant at that point.
Once the cops have them in custody a little further investigation is indicated, whether it leads to pederasts, jihadis, or just confused strangers. Until that investigation is done and the results are made public, assuming that they’re major bad guys because of their nationality or skin color is, in point of fact, racist in the original, genuine sense (rather than the modern definition of “disagrees with a Democrat” that many of us would embrace).
Regards,
Ric
*Not so common snse to get to precautionary head-cracking because they’re brown and arab. *
Not sure what “precautionary head cracking” means.
Actus, I consider it prejudice rather than racism. I am admittedly pre-supposed to judge suspicious looking arab/middle eastern men (why does the left insist on calling them “brown”) getting on school buses. Bad enough grown men of any nationality are getting on school buses- when they’re of middle eastern descent, no one in their right minds would not shift their minds from “child abuse” to “murder of children”. I am clearly becoming increasingly prejudiced against muslims – where I would rarely think twice before 9-11 if I passed arab men, now I’m much more inclined to notice if an arab man appears to be somewhere he should not be. The jihadists have set this precedent- to me, its common sense.
Not to mention, what is your point about the police ? The bus driver called the police, the police took these men into custody. If they are here legally, they’ll be charged and released or simply released. Either way, they should not have been on the schoolbus. If I was in Saudi Arabia and wandered into a mosque bearing a Bible, I suspect being detained would be the least of my problems.
Its a shame but hte majority of terrorist attacks around the world since 9-11 have been carried out by muslims. It is the height of idiocy if we let our political correctness get in the way of the safety of our citizens.
*The fact that they’re brown/black/white/purple (with or without orange polka-dots) is almost completely irrelevant at that point. *
If you take it as a stand alone incident, the more important issue is, indeed, that two men were on the bus. Howevever, if you think about it from a “big picture” perspective, you wonder why Saudis are hitching a ride on school buses. Pedofiles the cops can catch- the cops are not going to catch a suicide bomber until its too late.
I do not buy, under any circumstances, that these men were confused and honestly, I think its just as important that they were apparently muslim.
actard’s shameless, contrarian, obtuse, trolling rep precedes it, Ric, as I’m sure you know. But your point is taken about heavy-handed reactionism.
As determined by further investigation, the immediate concern may or may not be these two perps. The deeper issue, as Jeff highlights, is the knee-jerk, reactionary “tolerance” turd immediately floated by the left as an extension of its warped anti-McChimpyBushcoHaliburtonWarForOil dysfunctional rage. Like actard.
It’s a shame the actards and Carlgossborgs won’t learn that lesson until its too late.
Me neither. I was mostly inviting carl goss to expand on it.
Probably because some times south asians get stereotyped along with ‘midlle eastern.’
This one can be interpreted several ways. You mean he’s somewhere no-one should be, or somewhere an ‘arab man’ should not be? What are those places?
Saudi arabia is an awful. I have no idea what that has to do with how we run our place.
Who has carried out the majority of attacks on schoolkids in america?
As is its custom, actard waits for the thread to expand around its bullshit baiting and then explains:
And on that note…
Statistically, their teachers, specifically their female teachers.
Oh, I’m sorry; this isn’t about sexual attacks? Well, get the marbles out of your mouth. Or do you intend to be misunderstood (6Gun asked, rhetorically.)
All I’m sayin’ 6gun, is beware of Saudis getting on any form of public transportation.
I’m not really advocating crackin’ heads in advance, just caution.
Caution first, head crackin’ later, if needed.
I’d be on the lookout for albino monks too….
*You mean he’s somewhere no-one should be, or somewhere an ‘arab man’ should not be? What are those places?*
Middle Eastern men, specifically. I find myself far more aware of them in airports, in shopping malls, when using mass transit, etc. Places they should not be ? Examples of places I’d be concerned, out on an airport tarmac, in a semi restricted area of an airport, in a restricted or semi secluded place at a shopping mall. These are off the cuff examples but I would admittedly be far more concerned if the person was middle eastern then if the person was white, black, asian, hispanic, etc. I’m to the point where I’m prepared to be called a “racist” for this attitude and I don’t much care anymore.
*Who has carried out the majority of attacks on schoolkids in america?*
Obviously, this is irrelevant to the issue of who is committing the vast majority of terrorist attacks around the world. Because it has not happened here does not mean it can’t or won’t- in fact, if I’m a jihadist and I want terror and publicity, I go after America’s children. Do you honestly think that by ignoring the issues inherent in two middle eastern men being on a schoolbus for no good reason, it will just go away ?
And my point about bibles and Saudi Arabia was probably not clear- I was trying to draw attention to the fact that the alleged cultural differences which could potential give these men a pass would not be given any weight in their home country, where they are suspicious of foreigners and any religion not Islam.
That’s so nice.
Obviously. But we made the leap to terrorism based on these guys being arabs. Why not leap to attacks on schoolkids based on them getting on a schoolbus?
Actually I said the issues inherent in these men getting on the bus should warrant the cops being called, and the cops finding out just what they were doing on the bus. And that this should happen to anyone creepy enough to get on that bus.
And I’m trying to point that this has nothing to do with how we run our country. If anything, that saudi arabia does something may be an argument for us not to do it, since it’s such an awful, hateful place.
I call shenanigans on the idea that all people getting on the bus would be considered equally creepy. Would two young women have been regarded with the same suspicion as two young men? How about two old people? How about an old Japanese couple with a camera?
We use our judgement and experiences to discern the level of perceived threat based on superficial evidence. Often it steers us wrong, but that isn’t the same as racism (or even sexism).
That’s why we’ll never put you in charge of checking people’s shoes at the airport…
That job would make me drunk with power.