'This is Overkill. He's 4 Years Old. I Don't Think He's a Terrorist'

Is there the slightest bit of competence with the TSA? Here in the New York area we've got people slipping past security and sleeping on the job. But in Philadelphia the crack security team is forcing disabled little boys to shed leg braces in order to prove he's not a terrorist.

Insane.

Just when I thought I was out of the Transportation Security Administration business for a few columns, they pull me back in.

Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?

Unfortunately, it's no joke. This happened to Bob Thomas, a 53-year-old officer in Camden's emergency crime suppression team, who was flying to Orlando in March with his wife, Leona, and their son, Ryan.

Ryan was taking his first flight, to Walt Disney World, for his fourth birthday.

The boy is developmentally delayed, one of the effects of being born 16 weeks prematurely. His ankles are malformed and his legs have low muscle tone. In March he was just starting to walk.

Mid-morning on March 19, his parents wheeled his stroller to the TSA security point, a couple of hours before their Southwest Airlines flight was to depart.

The boy's father broke down the stroller and put it on the conveyor belt as Leona Thomas walked Ryan through the metal detector.

The alarm went off.

The screener told them to take off the boy's braces.

The Thomases were dumbfounded. "I told them he can't walk without them on his own," Bob Thomas said.

"He said, 'He'll need to take them off.' "

Ryan's mother offered to walk him through the detector after they removed the braces, which are custom-made of metal and hardened plastic.

No, the screener replied. The boy had to walk on his own.

Leona Thomas said she was calm. Bob Thomas said he was starting to burn.

They complied, and Leona went first, followed by Ryan, followed by Bob, so the boy wouldn't be hurt if he fell. Ryan made it through.

By then, Bob Thomas was furious. He demanded to see a supervisor. The supervisor asked what was wrong.

"I told him, 'This is overkill. He's 4 years old. I don't think he's a terrorist.'"

The supervisor replied, "You know why we're doing this," Thomas said.

If they did this to a 4-year-old Middle Eastern child they'd probably be sent to sensitivity training, assuming they got to keep their jobs.

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Tax Cuts in ... Hong Kong?

Looks like the Reagan Revolution has made it to Hong Kong.

Hong Kong tax cut to boost growth

Hong Kong has said it will cut taxes, in a move to promote further growth and lure foreign investment.

Leader Donald Tsang said taxes would be cut by 1 percentage point, to 16.5% for firms and 15% for individuals, in the first policy speech of his new term.

You just know the left, which detests tax cuts and deny their ability to encourage economic growth, cannot be happy about this.

So what is the expected result of the projects that will be promoted by this?

Such projects are tipped to create 250,000 jobs and, Mr Tsang said, could boost the economy by some HK$100bn yearly.

So, let me get this straight. Zimbabwe, which has embraced Marxism, is imploding, while Hong Kong, which is embracing capitalism, is growing by leaps and bounds.

Looks like the rest of the world of figuring out what the left has long denied.

Karl Marx has to be spinning in his grave.