TSA apologizes for forcing 4-year-old to remove leg braces at airport screening

Further reinforcing mine and others' contention that the TSA is nothing but a make-work program for the otherwise unemployable, here's a heartwarming story of a 4 year old boy who only just learned to walk last March, and yet only with the aid of leg braces, who was made to remove his braces and walk through the metal detector on his own. Am I saying that the TSA screeners forced this disabled child to perform this ritual out of sadistic cruelty? Why yes, I am. What other motive can you ascribe to it?

Meanwhile, the TSA says that, indeed, the boy should not have been subjected to this public humiliation, he should've been taken back in private and humiliated. Hey, this is the age of terror. You're all suspects. Bow down the lick their boot, and thank then for protecting you. You're not even worthy anyway.

USA Today -

The Transportation Security Administration concedes that a 4-year-old boy heading to Walt Disney World for a birthday celebration should not have been forced to remove his leg braces during an airport-security screening in Philadelphia, a Philly columnist writes.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Daniel Rubin writes that the incident occurred last March when Ryan Thomas was flying to Orlando with his parents, Bob and Leona, but that the TSA apologized last week only after the columnist got wind of it.

Read Rubin's full column here.

Rubin says Ryan was born 16 weeks prematurely and started to walk only last March because his ankles are malformed and his legs have low muscle tone.

TSA screeners insisted that Ryan take off his braces and walk through the detector unaccompanied.

Rubin writes that the TSA, in its apology, said Ryan should have been taken into a private area and swabbed for traces of explosive materials.