Tick Tock Sheptock

In this post I'll attempt to show patterns and draw parallels between several major events of the past 100 years on either side of the Atlantic. I hope to provoke thoughts about lessons that the world should have learned by now. I'll also make some political predictions – things that I hope for as well as unfavorable things that I foresee happening: It's a madder, madder, madder, madder world . That truth is especially evident when one looks at the last 100 years – from World War I right up to Brexit and the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign season. The logic of the world's most learned political elites has been turned on its head time and time again – leaving any reasonable person to wonder if there's any hope of us voting for and/or appointing a set of leaders who can display a sufficient level of geopolitical sanity and if it's possible for those who don't come from privileged backgrounds to do any better . After all, numerous entertainers have brou...

I apologize if the title gave you any false hope. I have no Earthly reason to believe that Donald J. Trump will die in the foreseeable future. [Sob!!!] I surely am not taking any steps to bring about his death. Though it would make many Americans ecstatic, it would also ensure that the (not-so-) Secret Service pays me a visit -- guns drawn. That said, this blog post is purely hypothetical and intended to give Americans and the world a ray of hope amidst all of the political and socioeconomic turmoil of our day. [Just to be clear, I foresee a Clinton/Sanders presidency beginning in 2017 (which I predicted at least six months before the mass media ) and Bernie spending his last two years on Earth formulating Wall Street regulations and social service reforms . Let's hope.....and VOTE . After all, a Sanders vice-presidency might have a positive trickle-down effect that makes it easier for DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and other mayors to end homelessness in their respective cities.]...

I would like to congratulate all homeless advocates, non-profits, council members and administration officials who had anything to do with the city committing at least $22.16M to housing at least 2,431 homeless DC residents in Fiscal Year 2017. If the calculations that I list below are correct AND if we were to maintain the same level of funding through the end of Fiscal Year 2020 (adjusting the baseline budget for inflation) , then the city could conceivably house 9,724 homeless people in the next four fiscal years (FY 17 thru 20). That's 1,374 more than the 8,350 homeless people that DC had as of January 2016. THAT'S PROGRESS!!!!! I calculated that as many as 1,122 of the 2,431 people that the city could house in FY 17 are able-bodied adults. Most or all of these adults would need to use the services of the Dept. Of Employment Services ' Project Empowerment program. However, Project Empowerment served 585 people in FY 15 and not all of them were homeless. This re...