Technically it would be considered a gel. A gel is defined as a solid, jelly-like material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. It’s the equivalent of toothpaste in that regard. This happened in 2013 not 2003 like Mark posted and she tried to take her jar through two different TSA lines, which would make it look like she was trying to circumvent security as wrong as that notion is.
I hope she wins this, but really, what’s the surprise? I would’ve been more surprised if she got through with it.
On a more positive note, last May I was flying and saw a kid with a cake he baked for his mom. Apparently quarter sheet cakes can go through security just fine.
It happened in 2013 before those failures happened.
Food pedant, and you can safely ignore this comment if you so choose.
I don’t know what kind of apple butter you have had, but it is decidedly not a gel. It contains the same amount of pectin and less water than an apple. It is a fiber enriched puree. (Who is the life of the party?? 
)
11 Likes
Guessing she didn’t want it to break in the stowed luggage and make a mess.
1 Like
Just wait for the first terrorist attack on the rail or subway system in this country. It’s the Transportation Security Administration. Not the "Airline* Security Administration. I have yet to see the TSA outside an airport. Yet.
1 Like
They have a special branch of jackbooted thugs for hassling train-goers, and people trying to get into work at the ports:
3 Likes
Alrighty! This must be who a friend ran into when going to Philly to see the pope.
1 Like
Silly conspiracizing civilian.
Jackboots go up to the knee.
3 Likes
Do you live within 100 miles of a national border? (Aka the “Constitution-Free Zone”?) We have a batch of Nazis here who try to play the security theater game at the train station in San Diego. They haven’t brought in the Rapescanners yet but they will demand your papers and search your bags.
[Edit] Yeah, what @LDoBe said. I need to learn to type faster.
5 Likes
It probably says “don’t try to circumvent security.” I’m not sure why it needs to be more specific than that. Trying to cherry-pick checkpoints to get an item through is clearly “attempted circumvention,” by any reasonable definition; the issue is that the rules are stupid and the enforcement is psychopathically zealous, not that the lady didn’t in fact try to work around them.
1 Like
I’m not sure you know what “totalitarianism” means.
2 Likes
As the crow files, within 20 miles or so. But I haven’t seen them.
The rule is posted at the security line: 3 oz or less.
As far as circumventing security, it has always been illegal to evade the law.
And as far as getting a letter, federal prosecutors have wide latitude in deciding how to handle a situation.
I think the rules are as stupid as the next guy, but let’s not get on TSA workers’ butts for doing the job that was handed to them.
They get up ours, so it’s only fair.
6 Likes
Just because they were “handed a job” that’s basically unconstitutional, that doesn’t mean we have to make their unconstitutional jobs easy or pleasant. If we’re lucky, eventually the TSA won’t have any competent people to hire. Then their goon’s abuses will get so bad the org will collapse.
3 Likes
I will Godwin this thread right here for everyone.
Last night heard a comedian’s set on the TSA farce. He made some typical jokes, and said “my father was a holocaust survivor - told me ‘It’s my job’ is never an acceptable excuse.” Audience groaned a bit, but he said something like “Too soon?”
10 Likes
Thank goodness we’re not talking about an actual bill of rights “right” because hey… security theater works, right? Gun owners have never stopped a mass shooting (because then a mass shooting wouldn’t have happened, Ipso facto) so taking your shoes off MUST work to prevent shoe bombings too, right? Why do you advocate for more butter bombs?
Common sense restrictions like this have to work because the smart people told me it was the right thing to do. No more shoe bombings, see? I mean why don’t they make airports “gun free zones” and “limited liquid” zones? With a simple sign, then no one needs to check. That seems to work great! The lines will be faster and much less CO2 from the three deep TSA pat down squad.
But wait, if they limit your precious shampoo then who knows what will be next!
It’s fascism! And it’s the big picture!
If it works for aviation then it will work for guns and speech!
Oh noes!
But the government won’t come after your guns, that’s just in movies! No, they do come after your apple butter - and that’s never been in a movie (or fan-fiction). Just because you own gun(s) and smugly carry around apple butter without breaking any laws doesn’t mean that we can’t make lot’s of “important” laws against what you do for “reasons” like our children’s safety from your gun and safety from your butter (which is safe I’m sure; how can we trust you? You’re just a law abiding citizen with jars of semi solid goo and a gun in your night stand).
Who would have thought 16 years ago you couldn’t have a bottle of freakin’ water through security!!! Your “liquid”, which we (and only “we”; which is how some people say “them” and others wrongly say “us”) shall determine to be liquid - it is a threat; not because you’ve “done” anything or even because it will prevent “anything” - only because it makes someone, somewhere “feel” better… Besides, it’s not like anything involving air travel is a right, right? Dihydrogen monoxide is a poison!
Next thing you’ll hear is Apple Butter doesn’t kill people; people use Bic pens to stab stewardesses, taking over airplanes and groups of young men put passengers in choke holds in the line before security just to inhibit air travel thereby collapsing out economy and dispensing justice to the great Satan.
Or just Apple Butter doesn’t kill, people kill. Which is just a stupid fly-over country people argument (looking at you Palin, butter baby killer). You only have to see an Apple Butter jar with a flash suppressor to realize how scary deadly it is! If it’s painted black with a handle it’s obviously no use to anyone just “eating” it.
So something bad happens and … “Well , we DID something. Everything should be fine now. Oh, it’s not? Well let’s DO something else, even if it’s ridiculous.” Look at the scientific data, look at the charts! The US has by far the most liquid underwear shoe type bombing attacks (we prevent) in the WHOLE WORLD! Common sense liquid underwear control makes logical sense (for the children) and if you don’t agree you’re a mouth breather on Faux News (look for comments with graphics if you don’t believe me). Everyone put their butter bottle bombs in this large bottle bomb container right here next to all of you while you wait. Then put your shoes inside the one device that can simultaneously be put out of action and slow air travel down to a crawl with just a simple firecracker. Geez, I hope no one coordinates between 6 or 7 major airports some indoor drone flights. Six/seven “occupy” teenagers and $1000 in drones and you’ve shut down air-travel in the US for days.
I’m asking the media (Vox, WaPo etc) to make some charts showing how many acts of terrorism have been foiled by restrictions on liquids vs. deaths by stow away’s in landing gear compartments. Then I’ll call for “common sense hitch hiking reform” (using scenes from the Hitcher provided by my PAC inter-cut with scenes from Airplane!) which will make us all a lot (not at all) safer!
/sarc and edited for words
1 Like
I spent some of the weekend polymerizing the PVAc in elmer’s glitter glue to make “space slime” with my 4.5 year old. I can imagine bringing it though TSA security… “but, technically it’s a non-newtonian solid…”
and for those interested:
2 Likes
Apple butter is practically a solid. As solid as soft cheese.
TSA has “sniffer” devices they can use for detection of explosives. It was used once on some formula for my kid. The TSA guy was nice. He said, “Let me take the bottle for a second, I won’t dump it out.” and he did it right in front of me. He unscrewed the lid and put the tip of the machine near it not even touching it, let it get its reading, and then screwed the lid back on and handed it back to me.
Now, I had a run-in with TSA with my kids in Baltimore that I will never forget. They were so bad there. Just absolute shits. But the guy who tested their formula, I think it was in San Francisco? I don’t know, but I remember him because he was upstanding, doing his job like a normal human being.
The lady should have said, “This is apple butter for my mother who is 93 years old. It is not a liquid, it is like soft cheese, which is a solid. Can’t you get out the sniffer? You may even have a taste of it with me if you like.”
But there is no stopping assholes. True assholes find a way of making people’s lives hard, no matter now nice you might try to be to get through the situation. I’m talking about the TSA being assholes, not the lady.
5 Likes
