M.D. Poole's Blog, page 3
August 22, 2020
REVISITING MY PREDICTIONS
For the moment, we are still here, moving toward an election.
4 years ago, 2 days after that election, I wrote a list of predictions about Donald.
Predictions for 2017 – 2020
Posted on November 10, 2016 by M.D. Poole
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Napoleon, who fought to protect and empower the populace, proceeded to crown himself emperor and take the spoils of his own country. This happened with 2 different Napoleons. I predict Trump will follow in their footsteps.
I predict Trump’s friend Putin will manage Trump as if the President is a 2-bit hustler. Trump will destroy Russia’s enemies without the Russians having to foot the bill. Trump will arrange for Snowden to be extradited, prosecuted as a traitor and executed.
I predict Trump will appoint 2 or 3 Supreme Court justices who are right of right, who will destroy abortion rights, the separation of church and state, voting protections, civil liberties and privacy protection for the individual, and who will make wholesale changes to constitutional limits of presidential powers for the sake of eliminating threats to Trump and his regime.
I predict sexual predators will receive societal acceptance and endorsement from the media, entertainment, Trump, and his followers. But homosexuals will be branded as deviant, and their marriage will be disallowed, especially for tax reasons.
I predict the US government will go bankrupt.
I predict the US military will flourish. There will be popular uprisings, which will be stopped quickly, and the best of the rebels will be enlisted into the national military.
I predict corporations will shrink in number and grow in strength, enjoying extraordinary tax incentives. The Congress will back this.
I predict lynchings will be ignored. The police will grow more confident. Riots will erupt and be silenced. News blackouts will occur. The KKK will continue to grow, with off-shoots under new names.
I predict congress will consider bills to make the US a Christian nation.
I predict more news blackouts will occur, replaced by “announcements.”
I predict Trump will get mad and push the nuclear button. If he can time the event properly, he will cancel the 2020 election. I will be in the wrong ½ of the world when the explosions happen and will be maimed or dead, but the fallout will eventually kill the rest of the population too.
I used to be such an optimist.
Maybe 4 years will not be enough time for Trump to achieve this list of predictions.
We will see.
April 18, 2020
Collateral Beauty during the current devastation
Silence
Clearer air
Fewer cars
Fewer people visible
No drunks screaming on the sidewalk at 2 a.m. as if they are happy
Decreased consumption
Time
Relaxation
Pleasure
Reading, catching up on old TV series, crossword puzzles and scrabble, hobbies
Private Reflection
Naps
Re-connection with old friends
Renewed respect for existence
Families playing together, running together, learning together, reorganizing time together
Less garbage on the streets
No arguments about controlling what women of various religions may wear
Yearning for nature, appreciation of nature
Community spirit and support — volunteers, service, helping each other, singing together, neighborliness, cheering together, asking about each other, checking in, taking time to notice others.
Time to care for oneself and to find ways to make oneself happy.
A world less human, more real.
January 15, 2020
My novel TRANSATLANTIC tells a different story than the movie 1917.
Seven years later, Stalin takes power, and Serge Guryev begins a similar escape by leaving his wife who finds her place in the Soviet world with Peter Ivanov, the facility manager of the Soviet Proton Accelerator. Their brilliant daughter Izabella assists in the development of the Russian doomsday bomb.
The Tishin, Guryev, and Ivanov families confront modern economics and power, and with lies, seduction, and finesse, they thrive in the nuclear era of the 1960’s.
Find TRANSATLANTIC on Amazon: amazon.com/author/m.d.poole
November 2, 2019
Bravo WASHINGTON NATIONALS!!
Are you at loose ends now that the World Series is finished? Luckily, my new novel has just been released to fill up the emptiness.
LUCKY LARSEN — it’s waiting for you to turn the pages.
Here’s the book’s teaser:
In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” in the MLB by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In 2019, Lucky Larsen tries to crash through the “gender barrier” with the NY Yankees.
Katie Larsen has played baseball with the boys in New York City since she was 10 years old. Now, she wants to be scouted for Major League Baseball’s draft.
Katie has connections. Her father is a lawyer for the Yankees, her neighbor works in the Yankees statistical analysis department, and an ex-Yankee coaches her team.
But still, she is a girl, with all the problems that come along with that, including a flirtation with a man who leases vintage cars to New York movie stars.
The scouts buzz around this tall lefty, but her phone never rings. It looks like Katie Larsen is destined to be a ball girl for the big leagues.
But like Yogi Berra would say, you never know until you know.
And hey, isn’t Charles Bremer’s cover art fabulous?
You can find LUCKY LARSEN at amazon.com/author/m.d.poole
Enjoy baseball forever.
November 1, 2019
Bravo WASHINGTON NATIONALS!!
Are you at loose ends now that the World Series is finished? Luckily, my new novel has just been released to fill up the emptiness.
LUCKY LARSEN — it’s waiting for you to turn the pages.
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Here’s the book’s teaser:
In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the “color barrier” in the MLB by joining the Brooklyn Dodgers.
In 2019, Lucky Larsen tries to crash through the “gender barrier” with the NY Yankees.
Katie Larsen has played baseball with the boys in New York City since she was 10 years old. Now, she wants to be scouted for Major League Baseball’s draft.
Katie has connections. Her father is a lawyer for the Yankees, her neighbor works in the Yankees statistical analysis department, and an ex-Yankee coaches her team.
But still, she is a girl, with all the problems that come along with that, including a flirtation with a man who leases vintage cars to New York movie stars.
The scouts buzz around this tall lefty, but her phone never rings. It looks like Katie Larsen is destined to be a ball girl for the big leagues.
But like Yogi Berra would say, you never know until you know.
And hey, isn’t Charles Bremer’s cover art fabulous?
You can find LUCKY LARSEN at amazon.com/author/m.d.poole
Enjoy baseball forever.
September 3, 2019
The Cherry Tree
I grew up with the George Washington fable, the one where he cuts down the cherry tree, then admits he did it even though he knows he will be punished when he tells the truth. In the story, the boy George Washington demonstrates that self-respect from telling the truth is more important than consequences.
Adults used to say, “You could grow up to be President one day, if you _____.” They filled in the blank with phrases like “Persevere,” “Be kind,” “Earn good grades at school,” “Help those less fortunate.”
Admittedly, as a girl, I wasn’t told I could grow up to be President, but I commandeered the ideas for myself, feeling pushed to do my best, to succeed, and to act from an ethical base.
After years of hearing fables, I learned the basic ethic of my culture, “Truth is good,” along with other ideas:
Equality under the law is good.
Tolerance of differences is good.
Intelligence and education are good.
Hard work and humility are good.
Self-reliance and independence are good.
Killing is bad.
Cheating, stealing, and amassing power are bad.
When I chose actions outside this ethical system, I knew I was doing wrong. This is still true for me.
Cultures recede, as with the Greeks, the Vikings, the Egyptians, and the Aztecs. And the old American culture is on its way out.
Now, when a child is told, “You too could grow up to be President one day, if you_____,” the child understands that he or she is being urged to lie.
The lies must be told with aplomb and self-confidence for they must be accepted, even if they contradict reality. The lies must create profit at the expense of others, without regard to laws or promises. The lies must inflate the teller and demean everyone else. The lies need not be consistent because no one will be listening except those who blindly want to believe.
I have four grandchildren who are hearing new fables, and they will navigate life without the George Washington ethic.
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August 23, 2019
Ms. President
Yes, I agree.
White men are the primary terrorists in the USA. White men seem to enjoy making money from agression. White men! White men, especially old white men and Protestant white men like controlling, punishing, and belittling others.
And yet, I know women who hate, who spit at immigrants and people of color, who want to cut public education and arts spending, who hunt wild animals in Africa, who lie and cheat, who molest younsters, and who are crazy, along with having many other dispicable traits.
Despite the face of the world at this moment, I still try to look at the individual rather than the class, even though I would love to see a woman in the White House…but only if it is a woman who is full of humanity rather than greed, rich with education rather than a manipulative network of selfish con artists, and who has positive plans about the health of the world and its people instead of ideas about spreading hatred and fear. Oh, by the way, I’d happily accept a man of that sort as well.
June 20, 2019
Poole’s new novel TRANSATLANTIC
Find the book at
amazon.com/author/m.d.poole
and have fun reading!
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June 5, 2019
I am pleased to announce that my new novel TRANSATLANTIC ...
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I will present the book in Nice on June 15 at the annual author’s event.
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I hope you can be there.
You can also find the book at amazon.com/author/m.d.poole
January 30, 2019
RENOVATION
Jealousy and greed, with the right spark, ignite life-changing ideas in RENOVATION, the new short story by M.D. Poole.
Read RENOVATION and all of my short stories in SUNDOG STORIES: https://www.amazon.com/author/m.d.poole
