I will testify to that. I had a run-in at the same airport in late July, 2009 over something in my bag that was within the rules and had made it through security no problem during my outbound flight from California 2 weeks prior.
As will probably surprise no one following my antics here the last couple of days, I spoke up and asked questions. It took a while, and I had a while because I was at lest 4 hours early for my flight. It ended probably with me one sneeze away from getting arrested over questioning my rights and trying to ascertain what the actual rules were.
I left without the actual item in question, which like the flashcards, was of nominal value.
I don’t know if this happened at the same entrance or not, but I was definitely surrounded by guys up to 3 levels higher than the folks who normally screen you and including some plain clothes guys hanging around too. All of it was civil in the sense that no one was rude or impertinent.
For a while, the officers were polite to a fault, but in the end they couldn’t or wouldn’t produce the actual rule they were claiming to invoke, and which everyone claimed the next guy higher up had. That is how I got so many levels up - playing on their politeness and insisting politely that they follow through when they said their superior has it or would know who has it.
Eventually they realized I would call their bluff all the way up - I had four hours - and they got menacing. It was interesting to see and observe. I recommend you watch around the terminal area sometime, if only for a minute after you pass through. Once I decided I had had enough menacing, I thanked them politely for their time, gave them the item as a parting gift, which they promptly trashed without ever explaining why it was a problem, and was on my way.
So good for them that only a few weeks later they went overboard. Had I been carrying the wrong book off my bookshelf, that could’ve been me. I hope they all are brought to bear for the preposterous security theater they perform every single day.
PS - for those of you who have been my “fans” the last couple of days, you might enjoy, as Paul Harvey said, “the rest of the story”:
After spending a boring 4 hours in the terminal, finally my flight loaded and pushed away. Ours was the last plane to push away before a large thunderstorm rolled in, and we sat on the tarmac for > 2 hours. We didn’t even take off until after I had already missed my connection in Ohio. That set off a mad scramble that took me for an overnight (4 hours in the hotel) layover in Chicago, then Phoenix, Burbank, and San Jose followed by a four hour drive home. It was miserable. Thought I’d share so my “fans” can laugh 
