TSA Forces Child to Remove Braces. — This is all over the world press in an effort to show what a-holes Americans are. Good work Homeland Security!
SECURITY officers at a US airport have come under fire for forcing a disabled boy to remove his leg braces and walk through a checkpoint.
Four-year-old Ryan Thomas was flying from Philadelphia to Disney World in Orlando with his parents Bob and Leona when the incident occurred.
At the time Ryan, born 16 weeks prematurely with malformed ankles and low muscle tone in his legs, had only just begun to walk. His parents wheeled his stroller to the security checkpoint then broke it down and put it on the conveyor belt. They then walked Ryan through the metal detector. The alarm went off and the screener told them to take off the boy’s braces.
“I told them he can’t walk without them on his own,” Bob Thomas told the Philadelphia News.
“I said this is overkill. He’s 4 years old. I don’t think he’s a terrorist.”
Security also demanded Ryan walk through on his own.
Found by Steven Pelsmaekers.
i HAVE TO LAUGH…I really do..
dear lord help this nation from idiots and nincompoops..
Run Forrest!
No more room for commonsense, it seems. Just follow the rules. Hope the kid had fun in Disney World.
Thank god it’s not that crazy in here, yet. Greetings from Finland.
Per the liberty handbook, I think the terrorists have won.
Why can’t we do something about this? How is it we let the TSA/Homeland Security get away with this kind of thing?
# 5 Pedro
I’m from norway! Please enlighten me.
What idiot created and organized this crap?….oh, yeah, BUSH. What a shock.
“This is all over the world press in an effort to show what a-holes Americans are.”
The world already knows what a-holes Americans are (at least the ones given any sort of power over the populace).
#6, they get away with it because unfortunately, the average american seems to be more susceptible to political doublespeak than the folks of most other countries, and have been well and truly brainwashed that giving up the freedoms and liberties that generations fought and died for it the best way to remain a ‘free’ society.
Its really rather sad, and I’m not sure how it’s ever going to be reversed because most people are just too apathetic to make a fuss about it (or scared that they’ll be ‘disappeared’ and rendered to Egypt for some free waterboarding for daring to question their overlords).
Home of the brave? Really? Scared of a crippled 4 year old? Dick Cheney wins again!
No one in Washington has the spine to back off these worthless and silly security procedures. If there was an attempted attack after relaxed security their political goose would be cooked. We also do this crap to avoid the appearance of racial profiling.
People just don’t want to bother with anything unless it directly impacts them. That’s how Big Brother comes into being. There is no distinction between Democrats and Republicans anymore. Both are for big centralized government filled with agencies that make problems worse. Hand the power back to states and communities, for better or worse. With the current diversity in the population Libertarianism makes more sense than ever.
He lives!
Repeat after me: Sieg Heil! Seig Heil!
If bombers are getting on planes and the TSA is letting them through yet they pull stuff like this can someone please explain what the TSA is good for? Surely there is a better way to handle plane security.
Man if someone could get ahold of that tape!
This happened last March. Since January, 2009, there hasn’t been a Director for Homeland Security. The Republicans put a hold on his nomination because they didn’t want the TSA to ever be unionized.
Aren’t the right wing nuts good for America. 🙂
#16, So, not only are you a hypocritical racist, but you are also a liar?
Janet Napolitano is Homeland Security Director.
http://tinyurl.com/yey5x32
Tell us, conFusion, why would you sacrifice others to save your wife?
TSA is run by the same idiots that Libs want to run our health care. Yeah, Issuance companies suck but at least I can choose the idiot I want and not go to jail if I question them.
#16 Mr. Fusion it’s the TSA director
“Erroll Southers had faced fierce opposition from Republicans ever since news surfaced that he may have misled Congress about an incident in the late 1980s involving a background check of the boyfriend of his ex-wife.”
Let see if a Republican was trying to get someone like this nominated you would be crying foul.
Unfortunately, this is the job of the checkpoints. If the checkpoints only used profiling, the terrorist could hack the profile. I am not saying the terrorist are smart but if they are determined, they will change their profiles in order to get a bomb on a plane.
So, to prevent terrorist from hacking the profile, do random inspections. Old ladies, children and disabled people must be checked. It seems looney but does cause terrorist to think a bit.
If you want absolutely no bombs on the planes then ground all planes. If you are willing to accept a certain amount of risks, then search everyone that steps on a plane. If you want security theater, do random and profile searches.
#8 The hysteria after 9/11 forced Congress to form the TSA and fire private security because they let people bring their legally allowed box cutters.
#12 5 buckets. By answering correctly, I prove I am over qualified to be a TSA agent.
#16 Yeah, unionize these nitwits and we’ll never be able to get rid of them.
My idea: run people through the metal detectors like they used to. Also pull the five biggest non-Muslim guys from each flight out of the line and deputize them as security captains for the duration of the flight. Spread them about about the cabin, but within site of each other. Give them aisle seats.
The shoe bomber, the Christmas bomber, and the underwear bomber were all tackled by civilians, not by TSA or law enforcement. Involve everyday people in security instead of hiring knuckle-dragging, uneducated, glorified mall cops with a Napoleon complex.
#20, Yeah, unionize these nitwits and we’ll never be able to get rid of them.
I have never been a fan of unionized government workers — they are supposed to work for us yet they are able to hold the labor market over our heads and force tax increases to pay for their extortion.
Combine that with nationwide government unions and you have government run monopolies on labor, a resource just as valuable as any material resource like software or ball bearings.
The shoe bomber, the Christmas bomber, and the underwear bomber were all tackled by civilians
After 9/11, I and few others were “recruited” on a SWA flight from Dallas to Houston. We were all reseated on the front rows, just in front of the cockpit door. We weren’t told why we were there but we all knew.
#19 nobody is debating the need for checking passengers. The issue is that the TSA should have the common sense to check the boy via special screening like they do with any disabled or elderly persons.
#16 Agree the GOP has made it clear their strategy for regrouping is shutting down the legislative branch of government. Effectively group treason.
pssst
the terrorists can walk in overland, nearly un-checked about 8 miles from here with minimal effort
US boarder with Mexico
Time for the TSA to go.
Install a booth in a reinforced room into which all passengers and crew members must step one at a time; the booth would house no x-ray apparatus,ultra-sound or “sniffers” it would simply detonate any and all explosive substances one might have on or in one’s body.
A win-win for everyone, there would be none of this crap about racial profiling and the necessity for a long and expensive trial would be eliminated . Justice, swift and final.
#11, The folks in washinton DO have the spine, the spine to impose these fascist checkpoints on us.
#16,
the article is from this month, and can you imagine if this fascist was protected with a union contract? I know it won’t happen, but that fascist boob COULD get fired for his overzealous actions.
#22,
Yes we are questioning the need for the TSA.
Freedom isn’t free. It is very costly, and it’s price is blood.
Hey #25, I like the way you think! 🙂
I’m with #6. Time somebody said NO and maybe missed a flight to prove a point. If somebody had called the press while this absurdity was going on … oh, what the hell.
“The family have received an apology.” BFD. The kid is scarred. I’m sure a halfway decent lawyer could find some violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
#12 – “What’s a bucket?” I think you were being generous in suggesting TSA screener job requirements include an IQ.
#16 – The man Obama wanted in the position was proven to be a liar and an abuser of confidentiality. We’re better off without him. Besides, no director does not mean no leader. The position is filled by an acting director under the supervision of Homeland Security.
He can walk! He can walk!
RBG
Fear, it does a body good! What’s worst then you or I having fear?
Answer: Fcking scared, moronic politicians that will do anything to make themselves feel better.
#26 …questioning the need for the TSA.
You propose to get rid of the TSA? What system do you propose towards securing air travelers and preventing jumbo get class guided missiles?
The honor system? I’m not being facetious because the Israeli’s in large part rely on heavy profiling and interrogation quite successfully via plain clothes security. I actually think this is needed here as well.
Maybe Congress can propose this. Oh wait, I forgot the Republican legislators are not legislating anymore.
I’ll never fly again.
Never.