[Brad’s Gramma]

Correct.

However, go back and watch. After the agent put the shirt back on in a “kind, loving manner”, he, a complete stranger patted the boy around the waist and on his head as if to say, imply, whatEVER, “good boy”.

Something I’d have done as a mother. At home. Alone.

And the other agents all stopped what they were doing to watch.

Why? Why not keep the cattle, I mean, the line of people moving?

WHY was the child pulled out of line in the first place????

[Gondring]

However, go back and watch. After the agent put the shirt back on in a “kind, loving manner”, he, a complete stranger patted the boy around the waist and on his head as if to say, imply, whatEVER, “good boy”.

And we can't see the father's face. (Note, we are assuming it's the boy's father...a likely case, but I point out that we are already making many assumptions before even getting started.)

And if he'd not been that way with the child, you would be reading the comments complaining that he didn't act friendly toward the kid.

Why? Why not keep the cattle, I mean, the line of people moving?

Because they want to move people through as fast as possible... you could find a good book or local engineering school to learn about how seemingly faster interruptions in flow can slow down an overall process, plus we don't know what else those people are doing. Some folks here want the "Israeli model" without realizing that elements of it are being included in what you're seeing.

WHY was the child pulled out of line in the first place????

1. The father didn't get all the metal out of the kids clothes, so he set off a trigger?
2. The TSA is implementing a random program to help screen against atypical attack vectors?
3. The kid's demeanor set off suspicion?
4. The screeners were watching to observe the reaction of another passenger, one they suspected?
5. The father refused to allow the scanner use on his son?
6. Etc.

IOW, who knows? Not us, from the camera's perspective.

Consider this...

What if, hypothetically, we obtain credible intelligence that al-Qaeda is training operatives to use innocent mules to transport components either knowlingly or unknowlingly.
How can the government respond? By telling everyone? FReepers would rightly go nuts about revealing intelligence.

I'm not saying they have any direct intelligence of that, but we do know that technique has been used before (which is why you hear the repeated "don't let your bags out of sight" messages, and why you should be careful nobody slips something into your pocket/hood/etc.)

Is this the ideal method? Heck no...but it's the natural result of the pushes from Law and Order "Conservatives." Imagine the ridicule Ron Paul would have gotten if he'd proactively tried to push a law that prevented more intense screening at airports!