I'm retired from the IT world, stuck in the middle of nowhere, and pretty much flabbergasted at the state of the world today (hence the username). I've become fascinated lately by the phenomenon of Trump, Trump cultists, the GOP, and the failure of our political system to deal with the current crisis.

Yes, I'm a redditor as well, but I'm not a teenage nazi edgelord, troll, or Red Pill member (reddit is OK if you know which neighborhoods to avoid).

Looking forward to joining some discussions on various topics. Anything new that promises to create positive change for the world interests me, including technology.

I'm seeing some dodgy statistics in the comments. The actual number of homeless in a given area is difficult to even estimate, those who compile and track such stats usually include a codicils about that. Like unemployment stats, which really only track the number of people who have applied for unemployment, the methodology is known to be imperfect.

I believe homeless counts follow the number of people staying the night at shelters. Thing is, it's estimated that at least 50 percent of homeless folk never, ever, use a shelter. In homeless circles, shelters are perceived as more dangerous than sleeping in the streets. Lots of predators can be found at shelters, the shelter management simply lack the resources to keep them safe.

So doubling the "official" count is a more accurate estimate. I was quite surprised to learn of the number of homeless where I previously lived. It's a growing problem here in the US.