Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

In after Baud. Damn.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

“Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on.”

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Everybody saw this coming.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Second rate reporter says what?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Afghan Girls’ Robotics Team Conquers Everything But the ‘Security’ Theatricalists

Open Thread: Afghan Girls’ Robotics Team Conquers Everything But the ‘Security’ Theatricalists

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Their robot may have permission to travel, but six teenage Afghan inventors are staying put this summer.

They’ve been rejected for a one-week travel visa to escort their robot to the inaugural FIRST Global Challenge – an international robotics competition happening in Washington DC in mid-July.

The all-girl team representing Afghanistan hails from Herat, a city of half a million people in the western part of the country. To interview for their visas, the girls risked a 500 mile trek cross-country to the American embassy in Kabul – the site of several recent suicide attacks and one deadly truck bomb in early June that killed at least 90 people. Despite the recent violence, the teenagers braved the trip to the country’s capital not once, but twice, hoping a second round of interviews might help secure their 7-day visas after the team was rejected on its first try. But no luck…

While the State Department won’t comment on the visa denials (those records are confidential), recent numbers suggest it’s pretty tricky to get a travel visa from Afghanistan to the U.S. According to State Department records, in April 2017, the country gave out just 32 of the B1/B2 brand of business travel visas the girls were trying for. Compare that to Baghdad’s 138 B1/B2s issued that same month, or the 1,492 issued at the same time in neighboring Pakistan, and the records suggest the girls’ try was a long shot. Still, they persisted.

Back home in Herat, Team Afghanistan is racing against the clock, putting the final touches on their ball-sorting robot that will travel to the U.S. to compete against 163 other machines from around the globe. The students are screwing together joints, programming the machine’s sensors, and still trying to find one chain. The six haven’t had much time to put this contraption together: their raw materials were held up in customs for months this spring, amid fears over ISIS’ use of robots on the battlefield. But instead of giving up, the girls took matters into their own hands, and designed their own homemade motorized robotic machines while they waited for customs to clear their parts. Just three weeks ago, those supplies cleared customs, and the team finally started working on their official FIRST robot, with remote programming help from a few robotics grad students at Carnegie Mellon…

FIRST Global President and former Congressman Joe Sestak says he’s disappointed that the “extraordinarily brave young women” from Afghanistan won’t be joining the other students in DC this summer. On competition day, they’ll be across the globe, home in Herat, cheering on their brand new creation from more than 7,000 miles away (though the girls will be video conferencing in briefly to see their machine, no visa required.)…

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Reader Interactions

52Comments

  2. 2.

    Major Major Major Major

    their raw materials were held up in customs for months this spring, amid fears over ISIS’ use of robots on the battlefield. But instead of giving up, the girls took matters into their own hands, and designed their own homemade motorized robotic machines while they waited for customs to clear their parts.

    ISIS, of course, would have never figured out how to do that, no siree.

  3. 3.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Absolutely despicable – more racist xenophobia in our name. USA is better than this!

  5. 5.

    Boussinesque

    I saw this over the weekend, and it just broke my heart. These kids are the future of their countries, and they’re being denied the opportunity of a lifetime (one won at no small risk to themselves) because of small-minded bigotry and security theatre. Also doesn’t do a whole lot to engender friendly feelings about the US in people around the world. Hopefully their advocates, partners, and collaborators inside the US are making it clear that we aren’t ALL assholes as they try to get their remote participation dialed in.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    Maybe they can get in if they play brain dead and the Afghanis threaten to take them off life support.

  7. 7.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    Seriously, how is this winning hearts and minds? If there’s a he’ll, I hope Trump, Sessions, Bannon, and all of the assholes in the State Department and Border and Customs go there;their punishment should be getting blown up repeatedly in a suicide attack in Afghanistan

  8. 8.

    JanieM

    In all that has happened in the past seven months, this is the first thing that has literally made me cry.

    What the fucking fuck.

  12. 12.

    Citizen Scientist

    This sucks; they’re just kids looking to compete.

    Maybe kind of OT: I came into the following security email from the weekend about the goings on in Gettysburg NMP:

    ‘Counter ANTIFA “Burn A Confederate Flag” Rally’: On 2 JUL at
    12:00 at the Gettysburg National Military Park on 1195 Baltimore Pike in Gettysburg, local activists are planning to host the ‘Counter ANTIFA “Burn A Confederate Flag” Rally’. Activists are gathering to form a counter-protest to a planned ANTIFA (Anti-Fascist) flag-burning rally. Counter-protestors intend to use the demonstration as a show of solidarity in the face of ANTIFA activists who group leaders allege are disrespecting the memory of soldiers who fought for both sides during the Battle of Gettysburg by degrading history through the burning of Confederate Flags. Organizers have asked participants to bring signs and confederate flags as they mount their counter-protest. Group leaders have also encouraged protesters to arrive early in order to set up a “Control Post” which will allow them to form security, suggesting the anticipation for potential confrontation and violence. Given the precedence for violent confrontations between nationalist and counter-protesters in several other cities across the US over the last month, we assess that there is a heightened potential for violence in this instance. While the protest and counter-protest will be taking place inside the confines of the Gettysburg National Military Park, retailers in close proximity to the park are advised to take precautionary measures and liaise with local police to mitigate against potential violence spilling into the surrounding area.
    Unverified tips specifically said these groups/individuals planned to deface, damage, and/or destroy any Confederate grave markers or anything similar.

    The above is from a security specialist and it appears that no one in the chain of command even took time to verify the authenticity of the reported antifa March (which it was publicly stated was not happening AND there are no confederate monuments in the park to my knowledge). And the way they whitewash the gun/CSA/KKK “Counter protest”. Enraging.
    That and my refrigerator died today!

  13. 13.

    Schlemazel

    COME ON KIDS! SING IT WITH ME!

    AHM PROUD TA BE A ‘MURICAN
    IN A PLACE I NO AHM FREEEEEEEE

  14. 14.

    Mike J

    It’s funny that Trump is going to push for the US to get the Olympics (because Chicago wasn’t picked after Obama lent his name) and at the same time he’s showing organizers world wide why it would be a stupid idea.

  16. 16.

    Schlemazel

    @Citizen Scientist:
    YEah, there are memorials to the treasonous bastards on the battlefield. Even given my deep and abiding hatred for their goals and methods I think it is wrong on many levels to harm them. But the antifa have always said they had no such plans and it turns out they didn’t.

  18. 18.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Citizen Scientist:

    Counter-protestors intend to use the demonstration as a show of solidarity in the face of ANTIFA activists who group leaders allege are disrespecting the memory of soldiers who fought for both sides during the Battle of Gettysburg by degrading history through the burning of Confederate Flags.

    Peak Both Sides!

    For God’s sake, the Confederates were anti-democratic, treasonous slavers. There’s nearly nothing to fucking admire about them. The confederate battle flag has become a symbol of white supremacy, full stop.

    I remember how the (white, of course) news bobblehead on my local news some months back got all hot and bothered about a protest against the flag, saying the protesters were using *gasp* swear words. She probably had a case of the vapors afterwards.

  19. 19.

    Geeno

    @Citizen Scientist: There aren’t any confederate graves there – Gettysberg is a Union-only cemetery as i recall. They didn’t bury traitors with heroes back then.

  20. 20.

    Patricia Kayden

    While the State Department won’t comment on the visa denials (those records are confidential), recent numbers suggest it’s pretty tricky to get a travel visa from Afghanistan to the U.S

    But then why ban the Gambian girls?

  22. 22.

    Old Broad in California

    I read about the Afghan girls’ robotics team and it just about broke my heart. Even in this country it’s hard for girls to be taken seriously for technology projects. I can’t even imagine what those girls went through to get to this point- only to be turned away by horrid racist idiots.

  23. 23.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JanieM:

    this is the first thing that has literally made me cry.

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    This makes me weep.

    For several years, the FIRST regional competitions were held in Atlanta, and as part of my job I would greet and cheer on any Canadian team(s) who had got that far, throw them a reception (because high schoolers are always ravenous!), and generally make a big, and well-deserved, fuss over them.

    They absolutely loved the whole experience, meeting and competing and socializing, making new friends from other parts of Canada and many places in the USA. Each team always had a little present for me — a badge or hat or ribbon or tshirt or something with their team logo — and they really grooved on every minute of FIRST.

    And smart? OMG, the kids who make it this far are jaw-droppingly smart. I was in awe of every one of them. But, you know? They’re just kids, they’re teenagers. These young women from Afghanistan and The Gambia do not deserve this kind of rejection, most especially by a country that once preened itself as the world’s “shining city on a hill.”

    So yes, when I first read about these girls, I wept for them, and I wept for us.

    And now I am weeping all over again.

  24. 24.

    Yarrow

    @Mike J: Can’t see why anyone would come here from any country unless they have to. Our travel rules are so uncertain.

  25. 25.

    Laura

    @rikyrah: smart teenagers who did everything right AND MOAR, and will have a lifetime to remember who told them no.
    Allegedly, they hate us for our freedoms.

  28. 28.

    Aleta

    Could someplace fund an additional location outside the US for a 2nd meet and exhibit, one where Afghani girls could attend and exchange ideas with some of the other participants?

    Could an MIT or Caltech etc robotics group extend a separate invitation to them to visit later? (ETA Maybe Canada would be better all around, less abusive and threatening.)

  29. 29.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Patricia Kayden:

    But then why ban the Gambian girls?

    Have you seen what colour they are?

    I’m only half snarking.

    (P.S. Hahaha, AutoCorrect, you are too cute by half. I typed “snarking,” AC tried to change it to “snacking.” I typed it again; AC wanted to make it “sparking.” Once again, typed “snarking,” changed to “snarling.” And yes, I know I could just disable it completely, but it affords me a great deal of cheap entertainment, so no.)

  31. 31.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Mike J: Great point. He has made it very easy for the Olympic Committee to reject the U.S. Why would they pick a country with a Muslim ban which is headed by a bigot?

  32. 32.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mike J:

    It’s funny that Trump is going to push for the US to get the Olympics (because Chicago wasn’t picked after Obama lent his name) and at the same time he’s showing organizers world wide why it would be a stupid idea.

    Double win: no triumph for trump, and no grifters bleeding an American city

  34. 34.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Didn’t one of those patriots end up shooting himself in the foot?

    Yup. I think John front-paged it a couple of days ago (after he bought all that great tag-sale furniture in CT, but before he went all German on ABC and her kids).

  35. 35.

    Patricia Kayden

    @SiubhanDuinne: This is why I’ve told people who foolishly think that only Muslims from those 6 “bad” countries will be impacted by Trump’s Travel Ban that they are being very naive. It starts with 6 predominantly Muslim countries and quickly morphs into any country Trump and his bigoted yes men deem dangerous. Trump doesn’t only hate Muslims.

  36. 36.

    lamh36

    Don’t know how it happened, but my sister was able to get 6 tickets to the AAHM for October (sis’ birthday is Oct 1!!)

    Southwest has another sale ending tomorrow.

    Ya’ll know I BEEN trying to get to DC w/my nephew…so this was kismet!

    I got money, I got time…we got tickets!!!

    Me, my sister, my other sister and my nephew already booked our flights.

    Now just hotels, transportation, etc!

    So any suggestions? We will be staying Sat Sep 30 to Tues Oct 3. Looking for hotel close to public transit…so we won’t have to pay for rental…a hotel shuttle would be nice, but we’d Uber if it’s cheaper

    Oh, sis wants to try to get a WH tour, she’s never been. I’m like BLEH…I don’t want to go see no Trump WH…at least I was able to go in ’09!!!

  37. 37.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    This wouldn’t be quite so hideous if there was *any* chance the Trump administration would admit that they can’t find any reasonable ways to make “vetting” more “extreme” in ways that would actually be effect.

    “Okay, we made a mistake, it turns out that there’s already pretty good control over the process,” would be what moral or ethical grown-ups would say. But we have the Trump administration instead.

  40. 40.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @lamh36:

    I’m like BLEH…I don’t want to go see no Trump WH…at least I was able to go in ’09!!!

    Well, since you’ve been on the tour, you do know the President* doesn’t greet you at the door. My visits(on the tour) of the White House were during the Nixon and HW Bush years.

  41. 41.

    hovercraft

    Remember way back when the First Lady’s was promoting ‘Let Girls Learn’, when she was championing girls education to combat poverty and terrorism?
    Le Sigh :(

    Now she the First Lady’s major initiative is combating cyber bullying while married to the worlds foremost cyber bully. I hate these people.

  45. 45.

    lamh36

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:well…actually, the Obamas were known to come down when WH tours were going on. I don’t believe they were in residence when we visited in ’09.

    Of course Trump ain’t doing that I’m sure…they already discontinued the “exclusive” West Wing tours that the Obama WH allowed…besides he likely to get booed or snubbed by folks…I def wouldn’t want him touching my hand…bleh

  46. 46.

    lamh36

    @schrodingers_cat: well, I’ll be with my sisters and nephew…and it’s only a 3 3 night trip…my nephew and my sisters aren’t much for Art Galleries, so we’ll likely hit the “big name” ones

  48. 48.

    SgrAstar

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: They don’t *care* about winning hearts and minds. At all. The goal of bannonism is ‘to bring the whole thing down’, which includes seizing every opportunity to undermine the reputation of the USA. Stomping on the aspirations of Afghani and Gambian students is a WIN for these guys. As ef sez, fuckem.

  49. 49.

    schrodingers_cat

    Its nice to see that people on liberal blogs are finally waking up to this issue. Contrary to what the RWNJ would have you believe unless you live in Western Europe or Australia, NZ and Canada* it is not easy to enter the United States even on a short term visa, like a business or a tourist visa.This predates T and has been the case since forever. He is just making a bad situation worse.

    * And all other countries that have a visa waiver.

  51. 51.

    satby

    @SiubhanDuinne: I posted the story on FB, saying it was shameful that they were denied visas, and got in reply from one of the assholes I know a list of all the terrorist incidents worldwide perpetrated by Muslims… Mostly in other countries of course. Geared up for battle, got my counter arguments and sources lined up and posted… And then just thought “fuck it” and deleted her bigoted post. She’ll probably bleat about my close-minded censorship, but I just don’t care.
    I’m out of evens to can’t. She’s blocked and I am done.

  52. 52.

    Mike G

    Of course they were banned. They represent science, intelligence and empowered females, which are anathema to the bigoted nationalist ignorance of Trumpanzees.

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