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Here in Boston there is a story in the news that’s as bizarre as it is tragic. The mutilated body of a young man was found on a dead-end street in a relatively upscale neighborhood of a town bordering the city.

With a rough section of Boston being less than ten miles away, and the victim being black, combined with the recent spate of gang-related homicides, law enforcement started pursuing a murder case. But the victim turned out to be a high school student from North Carolina, with no known connection to Boston, let alone the street where his body was found. Why would a gang dump a body there? And why was the body so badly mangled, with parts of it found elsewhere? In a classic bit of Sherlock Holmes deduction, with the theory being made to fit the facts, the most logical explanation is that the boy had fallen from an airplane.

If the body had been found on a roof, or in a tree, there would be no doubt of what happened. I’m surprised that the theory is still being called an “unlikely and remote possibility,” because it’s the only thing that makes sense. Further, if correct, it’s timely proof that the new body scans and pat-downs at airports are a joke that erode our right to privacy, without providing any real security.

If a sixteen-year-old kid can get into the wheel well of a large aircraft, apparently unnoticed, a terrorist could do the same. The stowaway didn’t survive the flight, but survival isn’t part of a suicide bomber’s plan.

This CNN Alert came in today…

— Nancy Pelosi elected House minority leader by Democrats in a 150 to 43 vote.

… followed only a minute later by this one.

— Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, was unanimously selected as the Republican House leader for the incoming Congress.

I’m a Democrat, and I’m not a big fan of Nancy Pelosi, but if I were a member of the House I’d vote for her. Can’t Democrats ever be unanimous? Say what you will about the GOP, they know how to get their constituents to toe the party line.