Afghan Girls Robotics Team Allowed To Enter U.S. For Competition (reuters.com) 50
An anonymous reader writes: A team of Afghan girls are on their way to compete in an academic robotics competition in the United States after American officials agreed to allow them to enter the country despite initially denying them visas. The reversal reportedly came at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump, Reuters reported.
Perfect (Score:1)
Deemed not a threat... exception granted... not a big deal.
Special Exceptions (Score:3, Insightful)
Deemed not a threat... exception granted... not a big deal.
So all you need is the personal intervention of the President of the United States?
Our officials were crying in government offices when the immigration ban went through. Because they had to leave people in abject misery who had done everything right. Political posturing is the stupidest way to make immigration decisions.
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Get the fuck out the country you fucking terrorist. You have your own country,
Until here you had me confused whether you're an American talking to an Afghan or an Afghan talking to an American.
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That's nice except it has nothing to do with Afghanistan, which is not one of the 6 countries in Trump's ban.
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This is what a little bad publicity will do in the face of a typical government bureaucratic snafu. It's the same thing with other giant corporations. Nothing happens to resolve your issue until your issue becomes an embarrassment to them [youtube.com], and someone high enough up the food chain takes action.
Anyhow, best of luck to those young women. I hope their experience visiting the US is a positive one, despite the initial circumstances, and that they can make a positive impact on the future of their country.
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Deemed not a threat... exception granted... not a big deal.
The only reason they got through was because it became world news.
A lot of people aren't that lucky and are wrongfully rejected.
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Any reason why? (Score:5, Interesting)
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I have nothing to base this on, but if I were a betting man, I'd say it goes something like this: To build a robot and travel to the US from Afghanistan means these girls come from some means. Having money in Afghanistan by purely savory means cannot be easy, given the recent turmoil. My guess is that one or more of their daddy's has either done some unsavory things, or has dealt with some pretty sketchy characters. That doesn't necessarily make them "bad" or dangerous, but it is probably what happened... b
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Ah yes, the "all Americans are gangsters" thing shifted to another place and time.
You probably don't even know you are doing it.
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I'm fully aware how politically incorrect that statement is, and I even was very upfront with how I have no information at all to support my bias.
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Anyone know why they got rejected in the first place?
No, but I think it is possible to make a reasonable guess: When a populist leader has been making these kinds of radical statements - in Trump's case promising to ban all Muslims from entering the US - then there will be a large number of his followers who are more than willing to implement his words, even if the actual travel ban doesn't cover it. The fact of the matter is that nobody has a right to enter any country - it is up to the discretion of the staff at the embassies, the border agents etc., and th
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When I see that one of my posts has been downgraded like this one, with no follow-up comments, it seems clear to me that I have hit a nerve with some individual, who is unable to explain why he/she disagrees with my comments. I know some will try to claim that I'm just suffering from hurt pride, but not really - if anything, it shows that my comments provoked a response, and seeing that the 'score' is now "1, Troll", it means that there must have been at least 1 other person who felt I should be bumped up.
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No, the original story stated there was no cause given.. Of course here at Slashdot the prevailing excuse from Trump apologists was the risk that they might do "something", which somehow made sense to these people. Do we now form policy around your-out-of-your=ass fantasies?
Interesting times
Thank you Donald! (Score:1)
One benefit of having a President who watches the news is that he becomes aware of issues that his white house staff filters out as not important. He did the right thing by stepping in to help these young engineers out.
Thank you President Trump!
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Re:Thank you Donald! (Score:5, Insightful)
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Odds are they would never have had a problem getting into the country before Trump.
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The president has the constitutional power of clemency, and you think this minor intervention in an entirely internal bureaucratic affair (in a department which his office administers) heralds the breakdown of the rule of law? That's a hell of a stretch.
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If he actually watches the news. Often he's watching some conspiracy outlet disguised as news.
Magnanimous Emperor grants favors (Score:2)
His whim, his rule
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I guess maybe in hindsight it wasn't such a great idea to let Obama go wild with his "pen and phone" and expand the power of the Executive Branch/POTUS like we all tried to warn you about at the time, those warnings that you helped shout-down instead of heed because it suited your agenda at the moment, eh?
Arguably Obama was the USA President who in recent time made the least use of executive orders(*). It's piquant that the President making least use of executive orders since 1945 is a Obama, a Democrat; that the President making most use of them is Truman, also a Democrat; and that the President currently with the second most frequent use of executive orders is Trump: but is he a Republican?
Executive Orders 9538-10431 number 894; 2.2 per week in 7.78 years Truman [wikipedia.org]
Executive Orders 13765-13803 number 39; 1.5
How times change (Score:4, Insightful)
In old /., we'd have gotten a story about the robots they made and what the competition had to offer, what the challenge is and maybe an interview with them on their strategy, with a tacked on foot note that they may finally enter the country.
In new /., we get a story about them being now allowed to enter the country. No, nothing about the actual robots, why are you asking?
Robots? (Score:1)
Why are people now calling remote control devices robots? THEY ARE NOT ROBOTS.
cant wait for the group photo (Score:1)