Partisan nonsense in Pasquotank County NC

I'm sure this is going to piss off lots of people, but I really don't care.

Take a look at these two articles, one from a conservative "policy group", and the other from a progressive website:

Conservative "policy group":
https://www.nccivitas.org/2013/cases-show-how-easy-vote-fraud-is-in-nc

Progressive website:
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2013/04/19/student-voter-purge-in-elizabeth-city/

The first thing I'd like to point out is how the conservative site doesn't even mention the fact that the school targeted is a historically black college. They also keep mentioning a registered person who "isn't a citizen of the United States".

Because this has becomes such a partisan shit storm, I'm going to do a FOIA request to the county Board of Elections and ask them for all information regarding this voter challenge.

I'll make another post when I get the information. Hopefully it will be something useful for investigative purposes.

Why do poor people have so many children?

Why do poor people have children they can't afford? It's a reasonable question. One has to ask the question: which came first, the poverty or the children?

According to BLS data from 2011, families receiving some form of federal assistance have an average size of 3.7 people (including the parents). The nationwide average family size is 3.14 people (including parents). The same data shows that nearly half of families receiving assistance are single-parent households. Let that sink in. The number of families receiving assistance, according to the data, is 6.6 million. Of those, 3.2 million are single-parent households, and 3.4 million are two-parent households.

The average size of two-parent families receiving assistance is 4.4 people. That means, they have 2.4 children, on average. The average size of single-parent families receiving assistance is 3.7 people. That means single-parents on assistance have, on average, 2.7 children.

Let's take that and run the numbers based on the number of assistance-receiving households.

• Single-Parent households receiving assistance is 3.2 million
• Average number of children per single-parent household is 2.7
• Two-Parent households receiving assistance is 3.4 million
• Average number of children per two-parent household is 2.4

The number of children in 2011 who's parent(s) received assistance is:

Single-Parent Families: 3,200,000 x 2.7 = 8,640,000

Two-Parent Families: 3,400,000 x 2.4 = 8,160,000

Total: 16,800,000 children

To put that in context, the average family-size is 3.14 people. Let's take the numbers above, and lower the number of children in each household to bring it in line with the average family.

Single-Parent Families: 3,200,000 x 2.14 = 6,848,000

Two-Parent Families: 3,400,000 x 1.14 = 3,876,000

Total: 10,724,000 children

As you can see, the difference is 6,076,000. That's the number of "extra" children in households that receive assistance. That's a lot of mouths to feed.

Now let's talk about the political problem. One party talks about "abstinence only", rails against birth control and abortion, and generally couldn't care less about the kids once they are born. The other party supports contraception and abortion rights, and cares about the kids to the point of encouraging more of them to be born on the public dole.

I'm not sure what is the right solution. I really don't want to interfere with the reproduction choices of other people. On the other hand, I really don't like to encourage the production of more children who will have a hard time escaping the poverty trap they were born into.

Since our broken political system can't seem to come up with useful solutions, perhaps the non-profit sector should fill in the gaps.

References:
Spending patterns of families receiving means-tested government assistance
The Majority of Children Live With Two Parents, Census Bureau Reports

Do liberals really want to go back to the tax rates of 1950

Do Liberals Really Want to Go Back to the Tax Rates of 1950?

I'm sure you've heard liberals trot out this meme in the past:

To a "tax the rich" liberal, this sounds like music to the ear. There's just one problem: the poor also had higher taxes.

1950:
The lowest rate in 1950 was 17.4%, covering income from zero to $4000.00. The average income was $3210.00, meaning their tax bill was about $558.54.
The top rate was 84.357% on income above $400,000.00. There were no refundable tax credits, so no one had a negative tax rate via EITC or CTC.

1950 conversion to 2017 dollars:
The average income of $3210.00 converts to $32,569.38 in 2017 dollars. The tax bill of $558.54 converts to $5,667.07 in 2017 dollars.

1950 dollars on the 2017 tax brackets:
If we put $32,569.38 on the 2017 tax brackets, the total tax bill comes to $4,419.16. That's a savings of $1247.91 in taxes using the 2017 tax brackets. That means, by reducing taxes on the average person, they get over $100.00 more per month NOT seized by the government.

Now, let's look at the top tiers in 1950. In order to get the top tier tax bill, you had to make over $400,000.00 per year in 1950. Putting that into 2017 dollars, that's $4,058,489.63.

Our current top tax tier is 39.6%. Using the 1950 tax tiers, one could make up to $28,000.00 to get up to 39%. That's $284,094.27 in 2017 dollars to get to a 39% tax rate.

We don't have an average 2017 income yet. The most recent I could find was 2015, which was $48,098.63. Despite the liberal hand-waving over "falling income", the average income has actually grown since 1950 when adjusted for inflation. The 1950 average, adjusted to 2015 dollars is $31,569.48.

Even if we look at the median income, wages have gone up even more! In 1950, the median household income was $3319.00, which is $32,641.47 in 2015 dollars. The 2015 median household income was $55,775.00, an increase of $23,134.00.

Conclusion:
As we did in 1950, we currently have a mountain of public debt. The debt owed in 1950 was left over from World War II. The debt we owe now is because each political party keeps putting their interests ahead of what's best for the country. Democrats fund negative tax rates for the poor and massive / wasteful social programs, while Republicans cut taxes and insist on massive military expenditures.

This looks suspiciously like the institutional rot that brought down the Roman Empire. If we're going to have a future, independent of foreign domination, we need to get our financial house in order. We absolutely MUST raise taxes on EVERYONE, balance the budget, and pay down the debt.

If you want my taxes to go up, you'd damn well be prepared for your taxes to go up too. If my taxes go up to 40% or 50%, everyone had better pay at least 25%.

Coping with Homeless Family Members

This is so depressing. My sister, biological mother, and nephew are all homeless. I've tried to help them avoid being homeless, but their loser decisions have made it impossible to help. My nephew is innocent in all this. He's a good kid, and it beaks my heart that he's homeless.

Here are the loser decisions that led them to homelessness:

1. My sister married an ex-con who is a sex offender. She makes all kinds of excuses for "why" he's a sex offender. For example: the 12 year old girl wasn't a virgin, he was high when it happened, etc. The fact is, he's bad news.
2. My sister has lost more jobs than I can count because she has sticky fingers. I even tried hiring her through odesk to do product research, but the snapshots clearly showed she was on facebook and watching netflix while "on the clock".
3. My biological mother lost the room she was renting through a shelter-diversion program because she let my sister, nephew, and the sex-offender husband stay with her when they were evicted, in violation of her lease.
4. My sister has a dog, and so does my biological mother. I love dogs, but they complicate homelessness.
5. They lie. ALL. THE. TIME. It's impossible to know when they are telling the truth.
6. They emotionally manipulate people.

Right now, my sister says she needs food and a place to sleep while she cleans out a hoarder's house. She says the landlord is willing to waive the deposit and first month's rent in exchange for cleaning the place up. Is this true? I have no way of knowing. A few days ago, they allegedly had a place to stay if I gave the lady $50. The next day, the lady was allegedly in the hospital and they didn't have the keys to access the place. These are just the two most recent lies. Or maybe one is true.

The problem is, I don't know when they are telling the truth and when they are just scheming for money. They know I am vulnerable to emotional blackmail because I lost a sister already. They know I'm scared to death of losing another sister, and they use that to their advantage. They also know that, having been homeless, I have a soft spot in my heart for the homeless.

I really don't know what to do. I'm scared for my nephew, and I'm scared that my sister will be killed or exploited. I can't talk to my partner about these things. He doesn't understand at all. I feel guilty for thinking that, in many ways, my sister and biological mother deserve to be on the street. I feel guilty that I can't just buy them a house to live in. I feel guilty that I haven't called DFS to have my nephew put into foster care. My biological mother is a product of the foster system. I really don't want that for my wonderful nephew. I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I can't have him come live with us because I'm worried his stepfather (the sex offender) would make accusations of abuse and blackmail us.

I really don't know what to do. I'm out of money to help them. They are literally sleeping on the street. Their storage unit is past due because they spent the money on hotel rooms. Their stuff will be sold at auction if the bill isn't paid. Last month I paid $250 to catch them up and avoid the auction. This month I can't do anything.

I'll make sure they have food, but I can't save them from their loser decisions. Perhaps being homeless will motivate my sister to ditch the pedophile ex-con loser who's been dragging her down.

How fucking depressing.

United States vs. China in Military Power

I hear liberals trot out the simplistic meme of "we spend more money on our military than the next 3 countries combined". I say this is simplistic because it doesn't take into account how much military power is purchased for each dollar.

The United States spends roughly $615 billion per year on our military. For that, we have 2,349,950 soldiers, 8,850 tanks, 10 aircraft carriers, 33 Amphibious Ships, 22 cruisers, 62 destroyers, 6 frigates, 72 nuclear submarines, 3,680 aircraft, 1,830 attack helicopters, 7,100 nuclear weapons, and 123 military satellites. We have 7.3 soldiers per 1000 people. Based on 2009 demographic data, the U.S. could mobilize up to 59,764,677 men and 59,437,663 women.

If we break the US numbers down, we find that we spend $261,707.70 per soldier per year. That number maintains a total of 21,665 fighting units and 123 military satellites.

What does China get for their $216.4 billion in military spending? 3,503,000 soldiers, 9,151 tanks, 1 aircraft carrier, 4 amphibious hips, 27 destroyers, 47 frigates, 27 corvettes, 9 nuclear submarines, 60 regular submarines, 2,571 military aircraft, 579 attack helicopters, 260 nuclear weapons, and 68 military satellites. China has 2.6 soldiers per 1000 people. Based on 2009 demographic data, China could mobilize 314,459,083 men and 296,763,134 women.

If we break down the Chinese military expenditure numbers, we find the they spend $61,775.62 per soldier per year. A budget that maintains 12,736 fighting units and 68 military satellites.

Let's say for a moment that China and the U.S. decided to engage in a struggle to the end. To that end, both countries fully mobilized every citizen under the age of 49 for the war effort. How much money would it cost to mobilize each country at the current funding levels for each country?

The U.S. could mobilize 119,202,000 people. If we spent the current rate of $261,707.70 per soldier, we'd end up spending $31,196,081,255,400.00 to mobilize and fight. That's 31 trillion dollars, or roughly 200% of our current GDP.

China could mobilize 611,222,217 people. If they spent their current rate of $61,775.62 per soldier, they'd end up spending $37,758,631,412,949.54. That's 37 trillion dollars, or roughly 400% of current GDP.

But look at those numbers. Even if China limited itself to 200% of GDP, they'd still be able to field almost 300% more soldiers and weapons. Even at the height of World War 2, the U.S. only spent 41 percent of GDP on the war and mobilized 16.1 million people for the war effort (roughly 12% of the population).

Let's use 12% of the population as a more rational number for mobilization.

The U.S. population is estimated to be roughly 319 million. 12 percent of 319 million is 38.28 million people. Mobilizing 38.23 million people at $261,707.70 per soldier would cost $10,018,170,756,000. That's a little over $10 trillion.

The population of China is estimated to be roughly 1.357 billion people. 12 percent of 1.357 billion is 162,840,000 people. Mobilizing 162,840,000 people would cost $10,059,541,960,800. That's a little over $10 trillion.

China could mobilize 163 million people, where the US could only mobilize around 38 million.

Keeping Safe Online - Avoid Scammers, Spammers, and other Scallywags

You've heard the horrifying tales, ranging from annoying ads to ransomware and cyper-peeping toms. You want to know how to minimize your risk. You've come to the right blog post.

First let me say this: I don't do Macs. Some of this advice is applicable to macs, but not all of it. I don't like to give lengthy, witty intros, so I'll just jump right in to the tips.

1. Keep Your Operating System Updated

The vast majority of security risks come from not updating your operating system. If you update your operating system every few days, you'll be protected against most known security issues. I have my computer check for updates and install them every day. In most recent versions of Windows, you can check for updates and install them by going to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Windows Update. Click on "check for updates". When it is done "thinking", it will tell you which updates are available. Select all the "important" ones, and click "install". You'll want to save all your work because you may be required to restart your computer. After all the updates are installed, run windows update again to make sure there aren't any nested updates waiting.

2. Keep Your Browser and Plugins Updated

The second group of security risks come directly from your browser and plugins. First off, DO NOT USE MICROSOFT EXPLORER. I cannot stress this enough. Explorer is absolute garbage from a security standpoint. I recommend installing Firefox and Chrome. The vast majority of sites will run perfectly fine in either browser. Once you have Firefox installed, fire it up and navigate to:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/plugincheck/

Run the plugin updater, update the out of date plugins, and come back to run it again. Lather, rinse, repeat until everything is updated. Run this at least once per week. This won't update any of your Chrome plugins, but it will ensure your basics are covered: flash, java, silverlight, and adobe reader. That should patch most security issues.

3. Antivirus and Anti-Malware
You should always have good antivirus and anti-malware software running on your computer. Set them to update the virus and malware databases every night, and set them to scan after the update (again, every night). AVG is a decent free antivirus, but ESET is far superior. MalwareBytes is by far the best anti-malware software on the market.

4. No Script

I recommend that everyone download and run No Script (linked here) for Firefox. This plugin allows you to selectively allow or deny certain website's permission to run javascript. This will block another huge gateway to being infected. No Script takes some getting used to. For example: when I load CNN's website, none of the news content shows up (because it's all loaded via javascript). I have to "temporarily allow" cnn.com to execute javascript, then the content appears. One really nice benefit is, none of the ads show up because they are loaded by sites other than cnn.com. One slight pain is, none of the videos will play unless I also temporarily allow the "turner.com" domain. I recommend using "temporarily allow" because you don't want cnn to be able to execute javascript on another site. When I load CNN, 17 other domains try to execute javascript. Because you're blocking javascript, flash is usually not allowed to run unless you specifically allow a certain domain to execute the javascript. The only site I cannot use with No Script is Forbes. You can also take a look at Flashblock, Ghostery, and Lightbeam. You'll be surprised just how many websites are tracking you via cookies and cross-domain javascript.

5. Don't Click on Ads or Links in Emails

Tip 3 will save you from most website-based problems. Still, it's a good idea to not click on ads or links in emails / text messages unless you know the domain it is sending you to. Google does a pretty good job of stripping out websites that have harmful content. It's still a good idea to load a Google-referred website without javascript first. If you get an email out of the blue, even from someone you know, don't click on the link unless you're certain the sender intended to send you an email. Some malware and viruses will send emails to all contacts trying to spread itself. When it doubt, contact the person directly to make sure they intended to send the email / link.

6. Use a Firewall

A firewall is basically a thing that filters out traffic to and from your network. There are two types of firewalls: software and hardware. A software firewall is a program that filters out requests from the outside world, and can provide some protection if a virus or worm does happen to get through. A hardware firewall is basically a computer that sits between your network and the outside world to play gatekeeper. A good hardware firewall can block a virus from being spread outside your network, and a software firewall can block the spread of a virus inside the network. I recommend using both types of firewall. Most newer versions of Windows come with a software firewall, and it's a pretty good one (provided you keep your OS updated). You can get a wireless router that also has a firewall built in. To find the best router firewalls, use Google to find keywords like "best wireless routers firewall" (sans quotes). You can usually trust websites like cnet and pcmag to give unbiased reviews. I won't provide any links because they will be outdated. Using Google you will find the most updated information when you do your searching. Just make sure you check the dateline to ensure you aren't looking at an old article.

7. Use a Password Vault

It's virtually impossible to remember every password these days. Using the same password on multiple sites is a like putting a big red target on your life. Instead, use a password vault (Keepass, Keeper, LassPass, etc.). Generate a unique password for each site. I also recommend setting different (and random) security questions for each site. For example: instead of answering "spot" for your first pet, enter a random string of numbers and letters. Keep that information stored in your password vault (questions and answers) for each site. That way, if one site is hacked, the answers to the common security questions won't be compromised. After all, you don't have 5 different "first pets" withe 5 different names comprised of random strings of letters and numbers. If you use an offline password manager, make sure you keep a backup of the file just in case the original becomes corrupted (rare but it does happen). I'd keep the backup on a thumb drive and keep the thumb drive in a very secure place. If you use a browser plugin-based password vault, make sure you constantly update the plugin to the latest version.

8. Use Common Sense

1. Don't open emails from unknown people. Don't click links you receive, even from friends, if the email is unexpected or unusual. Watch out for a missing salutation line. If your friend usually says "Hey Bob", but the email doesn't, it might not be from your friend. When in doubt, contact the person directly.
2. Don't give your password, security questions / answers, or verification codes to anyone over the phone, via email, or text.
3. Make sure the website you are looking at is actually the website you intend. Keep in mind, a lower case L and a 1 look very similar, and the letter O looks very much like a 0. When in doubt, copy the address in the address bar and paste it into notepad and look for the proper spelling and easily confused characters. Keep in mind, the scammers could have cleverly hidden the real name inside a fake domain or sub-domain. For example: microsoftinfo.com and microsoft.info.com are not microsoft. When in doubt, put the real / known domain name in the address bar, or call the real company to find out if they sent the email. If it looks suspicious, it probably is.
4. Always use SSL (secure socket layer) whenever you are sending or receiving something private over the internet. The way to do this is to look at the address bar and see if it says "https://". If the "s" is missing, that is a non-encrypted connection, and what you're doing could be watched by anybody with simple (and freely available) hacking software. If your email provider doesn't use SSL, ditch them immediately.

9. Don't Change Passwords Often

The traditional wisdom was to change passwords frequently. But knowing exactly how hacks work, changing your password probably won't protect you. Most hackers immediately use the data they steal. They don't wait for 3 months to use it. Unless you just happen to change your password immediately after the hack, you're going to get no benefit. It is still a good idea to change your password every few months just in case a hacker publishes a huge list of usernames and passwords. They usually do this well after they're done with the data, so the damage is already done. Because they often publish username and password lists on the dark web, it's VITAL to never use the same password on more than one site. This is why it is so important to use a password manager.

10. Secure Your Wifi

Your wifi router can encrypt everything between the router and your computer. If you run a wifi that doesn't require a password to connect, everything you do can be seen by someone sitting outside your house with some basic equipment. To secure your router, read this article. Make sure you set a really good password. Your password vault can generate a good one. I recommend writing it down and keeping it somewhere secure.

11. Encrypt Your Hard Drive

If your laptop gets stolen, or you forget to properly wipe a discarded hard drive, your files will be vulnerable. The best defense is to encrypt your hard drive with an encryption system like BitLocker. An encrypted drive is useless unless the thief cracks the encryption algorithm or has your password.

12. Securely Delete Files

When you want to delete a file, make sure it is fully erased. There are tools out there that will overwrite the deleted file with random junk, then deletes the junk. A few good ones are: Eraser, Freeraser, and CCleaner.

13. Delete Cookies Often

Cookies are used for good and nefarious purposes. Good purposes mean you bank recognizes your computer and doesn't require you to go through the two-step verification process each time. Nefarious purposes mean advertisers, spammers, hackers, and government agencies can track your online browsing. Regularly deleting cookies is a great idea. I use a Firefox plugin called Cookie Culler. It clears my cookies every time I close the browser, but it allows me to set certain cookies to be "protected" against the cookie culling.

14. Don't Undress in Front of Your Webcam

Seriously. It is a well-known fact that government actors can turn on webcams (without the warning light). Now that this ability is well known, it's only a matter of time before hackers figure it out (probably already have). Since a laptop has a battery, it's entirely possible the webcam or microphone could be turned on even if the computer is off or in standby mode. Seriously. Don't do anything in front of a camera unless you're comfortable with that being watched by strangers. A piece of electrical tape can fix the camera problem. There probably isn't a way to fix the microphone thing.

I'm sure I'll think of other tips, and I'll update this post at a later date. Good luck to you.