what's the Patriot Act all about?

in my last post i gave an example of how the state "exploit[s] fear to increase the power of the state at the expense of personal liberty, and then immediately use[s] that increased power in ways other than how it was originally justified." for another especially vivid example see this graph.

police proud of their illegal tactics

Here is the state's playbook. Exploit fear to increase the power of the state at the expense of personal liberty, and then immediately use that increased power in ways other than how it was originally justified. Today's local new provides one tiny example.

As I understand it "RIDE programs" allow police to detain motorists in the absence of reasonable suspicion. Presumably citizens don't like being detained by men with weapons, but accept loss of liberty associated with these programs in the hopes of reducing impaired driving and making roads safer. If such programs failed to make roads safer (an empirical question), or if such programs were used for other purposes, it would violate the terms under which the liberty was surrendered.

Well, here in my hometown, police openly - and rather proudly - acknowledge that they can and do use these programs for other purposes.