There is some merit here on both sides. At no point did I swear at, threaten, or obstruct anyone in their duties. It was a bit of a case of "keystone cops," no doubt about it.

I shouldn't have to be the "level-headed" one in all this, but I could have refrained from telling the TSA guy to "quit running at the mouth."

We've distilled the bottom line in all this and that bottom line is: the TSA can pretty much do whatever they want. You can fight about it later, but you will get it sooner. Imagine if this happened when you were on your way to a funeral, or to a wedding, or the birth of a child, or something. That's when it goes from just unpleasant to awful.

The lesson to be learned here is: When you are packing for your trip, whether you are a first time traveler or Platinum Elite, pretend that you are a TSA supervisor and then ponder over what you have packed for 10 seconds. Remove anything that is in any way out of the ordinary.

Should you have to do this? No. But if I had it all to do over, I would have mailed my rubber band ball to myself, and avoided jail and my rubber band ball wouldn't be all cut up...