As a Marine veteran wounded in combat in a foreign country, I have some things to say about chicken-shit Trump sending active-duty battle Marines to an American city. First the mission of the Marine Corps, and they are very good at it, is to obliterate the enemy, to kill without mercy. We swear to do this. “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.” Gen. James Mattis. When surrounded by the enemy, Chesty Puller said this, “Great. Now we can shoot at those bastards in every direction.” This is the mission of the Marine Corps. It is not fucking crowd control. And, most importantly, there is the law. If you are still a Trump supporter, hide your head in cowardly shame. You are a traitor to the America you claim to feel patriotic about.
Every single person on this planet is unique in many ways and yet, most people consider themselves normal (i.e. conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected). This dichotomy is how good writing works. It contains uniqueness in the characters or narrator and a normal progression of ideas in themes. Thus, a story will be appealing if it has unique specificity in a normalized world of some kind and that creates a universal connection between writer and reader. This symbiotic connection as an oxymoron, normal uniqueness, has always fascinated me, not only on the page but more importantly, in life. Over the past twenty years I have written a dozen books. None have made me famous or rich, but I am proud of the work. It has been published by respectable literary and university presses. My editors have been talented and conscientious and brought the best of what I do to the page. But publishing is not all of my writing life. I have long wanted a private space where I could more fully express this exploration between individuality and society normalcy without regard to the business of writing, the correction of images, the political implication of phrases, and while considering there might be an audience to some of what is written, not worrying about whether it would sell. Therefore, I give you my very first and likely last, public blog. It will explore whatever I feel like exploring at a given time in whatever form I choose—maybe a poem, maybe an essay, maybe a story, or possibly a simple “fuck you” to the world. Read at your own peril and comment whenever you want. I encourage dialogue as a learning tool for writer and reader alike. I do not expect agreement with all my ideas. That would eliminate the entire uniqueness side of my inquiry. This is a free space for us all.
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One thought on “June 10, 2025”
The labyrinth of logic – our armed forces members swear to uphold & defend the Constitution. So let’s send the USMC to tamp down people exercising their 1st amendment rights in protest of people losing their 4-6th amendment rights – makes no sense. But look at who I’m expecting to make sense, right? Joke’s on me.
Jim McGarrah, Author 
The labyrinth of logic – our armed forces members swear to uphold & defend the Constitution. So let’s send the USMC to tamp down people exercising their 1st amendment rights in protest of people losing their 4-6th amendment rights – makes no sense. But look at who I’m expecting to make sense, right? Joke’s on me.
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