I remember that one. It was our family's Christmas trip back to MN. We still travelled to the freezing cold for the holidays when my mother was alive.
Yes, due to my protests I was on the TSA's SSSS list (gotta love those initials) and so they would always deploy a special secondary screening team to any gate I was departing from (of course never stating any reason to anyone). A gentleman became visibly upset about being pulled out of the line for this, saying loudly something like 'oh not again'. When he re-entered the line I was trying to provide some perspective and re-assurance and noted that your odds of being killed in the US by a terrorist attack on an airliner are ridiculously very low.
Apparently this was overheard by someone else in line or by one of the line crew and the manager for Delta Airlines there became concerned. First they came on the plane and asked me to ring the overhead. Then came and wanted to speak to me. They said the TSA wanted to talk to me outside. At first I got up and started for the door, but then it occurred to me that the TSA actually has no authority on the aircraft itself and so I returned to my seat. The stewardess then said that I really did need to go to talk to the TSA outside. I explained my position and that I would of course be happy to speak with law enforcement if they wanted.
She then indicated that there was a law enforcement officer across the aisle. He told me that in fact I did need to get off the plane. I asked him if I was being detained and if so, for what cause? He could not answer that. Finally the Captain showed up, explained who he was, and asked me to leave the plane. I told him that of course I would comply as he was the PIC for the flight and it was his company's aircraft.
When I got off, I found there was no TSA present at all. That was just a lie by the flight crew. The only person there was their local manager. He wanted to rebook us on a later flight. When I asked him why we were taken off the flight he just had some vague statements about 'well you can't say things like that' and wondered if I understood what he meant. When I said that actually I would like to understand precisely what we were not allowed to utter in the boarding line per Delta Airlines policy, he simply stated that he was not going to rebook us. Turns out he actually added us to their no flight for the next 24 hours list.
Subsequently the TSA claimed they had no decision making in all this. After a complaint to the President of Delta Airlines, we were reimbursed the extra costs for the trip to the airport and all fees waived. After this I decided I would no longer be having a Delta Airlines rewards program credit card and would avoid them whenever possible, which is nearly all the time. Much happier now with Southwest when I must fly commercially, but I try these days mostly just to fly myself to destinations in my own plane.
So while perhaps not directly an example of the ridiculousness of the TSA, it was an example of the ridiculous fear based climate we live in. Of course it turns out this and the TSA were only a foreshadowing of things to come.
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