Our friends at Lowering The Bar report:

This is an update on a story I mentioned in 2010 (“TSA Detains Possible Terrorist Armed With Flashcards“), and today’s update shows that the government has, if possible, lost IQ points and concern for civil rights over the last two years.

Nicholas George was detained in Philadelphia and interrogated for four hours after sharp-eyed but pinheaded TSA employees decided he was a threat because: (1) his passport shows he’s been to the Middle East sometime in his life and (2) he was carrying flashcards with Arabic words on them (including “bomb”). There are two possible explanations for these facts, of course: (1) he is a student who is studying the Middle East and the language most people speak there, or (2) he is a English-speaking terrorist who is for some reason planning to say “bomb” in Arabic on a plane in the United States.

Now the TSA is claiming it wasn’t his flashcards but the determination by a Behavior Detection Officer that raised suspicion on him!

Let’s hope justice prevails, but I won’t hold my breath.