March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 40 F

The TSA Kidnapping Saga Comes To An End

Local Blogger Offers No Apologies, Just Delusionsbottlesuplogo

It appears that Nicole White’s 15 minutes of fame are coming to an end. She is the Annapolis mother, married to a Navy fighter pilot who was working at the US Naval Academy, who claimed that the TSA took her child from her while undergoing screening in Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson Airport.

Last night, she posted what she claimed was an “apology” but it was nothing of the sort, just more accusations against the TSA that they edited the film to take out the parts where they took her child and where she made two separate telephone calls.

When she first told of her story on Friday, the Internet went crazy. Most everyone sided with Nicole and lambasted the TSA for breaking their own rules.  But then the TSA fired back with video from Nicole’s journey through security in Atlanta which refuted 99% of her story.

Once again, the Internet came alive with detractors and supporters. Nicole went into hiding and despite several efforts to contact her by phone, email and Twitter, she did not return our calls. Via Twitter, she told her followers that she would have a statement shortly. When the statement did come, it was nothing more than additional allegations that the TSA had edited the video to prove her a liar.

At this point, we are inclined to believe the TSA. After all, what do they have against a “tattooed liberal” freelance writer from Annapolis married to a US Navy fighter pilot? Certainly some of her recent Twitter updates(screen shots below) shed some additional light onto the story. It seems that Nicole was decidedly more intent on bringing traffic (and perhaps advertising revenue) to her blog than anything else. And she was apparently more interested in  offering this tale of fiction to anyone that wanted to publish it; than the “trauma” experienced by her and her son in Atlanta.

And if the Twitter feed was not compelling enough, what about the tagline of her blog itself? Proudly rejecting one bottle & embracing another since 2008.

so what’s up with your title? “mybottlesup” came from my husband. brilliant in my mind since our son a) refused my boob and then his bottle, and b) drove me to a more intimate relationship with my wine bottle. “mybottlesup” also stands for how my time is up, i am fed up, and i’ve had it up (to here).

As mentioned, the Internet was abuzz with this story yesterday and likely it will continue for a few more days affording Nicole another shot at her 15 minutes of fame. There has been some great coverage and advice given over the past day and a half including advice from Christopher Elliott(columnist for MSNBC and the National Geographic Traveler Ombudmsman), Paul O’FlahertyAri Herzog (online media strategist for business and government), and Sara with her tome Why the @mybottlesup Story Really Chaps My Ass. Nicole woudl be wise to read these pieces as well as the accompanying comments.

Here at Eye On Annapolis, we too covered the story and offered Nicole many opportunities to speak with us. We initially broke the story Thursday afternoon where we were very sympathetic to her plight. Subsequent updates in the evening, with a response  from the TSA, began to cloud the picture.  By Saturday morning, the TSA had released the video of Nicole transiting security and we deemed her tale quite literally, incredible.  By late morning, Nicole had taken her site offline and gone into hiding. Many supporters claimed that the site “crashed” due to traffic, but that was not the case. Finally, yesterday evening, she offered her “apology” for not responding sooner complete with additional allegations the TSA doctored the video to incriminate her.

In Nicole’s “apology” she suggested that people just “move on” and that is what we will be doing. After perusing many entries of her blog, a much clearer picture of the blogger emerged. We will let you find them and judge for yourself.

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