"...And, Suddenly, Portland Sees The Term 'Memorial Day' In A Cruelly Ironic Light..."

Enough nasty, bitter political back and forth for the moment.

Here's some instructive info to help make your Memorial Day memorable. Or, at least, factually correct.

First, a little something about knowing the difference.

In this case, between Memorial Day and its November cousin, Veterans Day.

Veterans Day is a Federal holiday held every November 11th to honor all military personnel who serve and/or have served in the armed forces of the United States.

Memorial Day, meanwhile, is a Federal holiday held on the last Monday in May each year that honors all those who have given their lives while serving in the armed forces of the United States.

So, simply put, on Veterans Day we honor all military personnel and on Memorial Day we honor military personnel that have died for their country.

Of course, on Memorial Day, there's also some minor fiddle faddle having to do with cookouts and beach parties and several days off from work and great deals on sheets and/or towels and/or mattresses, but few people pay much attention to those trivialities on such an important day.

The respective purposes of the holidays get juxtaposed frequently, with many somber, solemn tributes finding their way to social media and common conversation on Veterans Day, while more celebratory, Yankee Doodle Dandy moments, memories and memes are liberally sprinkled on what is, as we've already discussed here, the more solemn Memorial Day.

You might think that the word "Memorial" would be of some use in cluing people as to the difference but, golly gosh gee willikers, Mr. and Mrs. America, we do live in a beautiful land of amber waves of grain, spacious skies, purple mountain majesties and an attention span that can barely be measured with conventional time pieces, so, we should probably toast with the half full glass that most people observe either one, or the other, of the two days without stuffing a turkey or decorating a tree.

If that seems a smidge strident, it's only because little things really do mean a lot. Little things like the difference between things.

Memorial Day. Veterans Day.

Here's another one that nudges the line of being picky, picky but, still (allowing for the attention span thing) say it with me....little things really do mean a lot.

Daylight Savings Time. And Daylight Saving Time.

The former is incorrect. The latter is correct.

And, of course, there's the difference between former and latter, but there's a larger point to be made with this piece and so many cookouts and beach parties and several days off from work and great deals on sheets and/or towels and/or mattresses, so little time.

Here's an example of a more subtle difference but proof that, like little, subtle things mean a lot, too.

The difference between responsible. And accountable.

First, some stage setting is required.


Two men were fatally stabbed Friday on a crowded commuter train in Portland, Oregon, when they confronted a passenger who was "yelling a gamut of anti-Muslim and anti-everything slurs," a police spokesman said.

The suspect may have been targeting two girls who were described as Muslim. One of them was wearing a hijab, Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson reported. 

Police are considering the man's remarks as hate speech, the department said in a statement.

The stabbing occurred on a Metropolitan Area Express (MAX) light-rail train. 

One man suffered injuries and first responders attempted to save his life, but he died at the scene. A second victim, also stabbed, died at a hospital, police said. Witnesses said one of the victims was stabbed in the neck. 

A third passenger, who also tried to intervene with the shouting man, was injured but is expected to survive, police said.

The victims didn't know the suspect and were trying to protect other passengers in the train, police said. 

Police say it's unclear what might have led to the confrontation. 

"We do not know if the suspect was drunk, on medication, had mental issues or anything else," Simpson said.

The stabbings happened as the start of Ramadan, a Muslim holy month-long period of fasting, approached at sunset. 

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on President Donald Trump to denounce "against rising bigotry" and acts of violence against Muslims following the stabbings. 

"President Trump must speak out personally against the rising tide of Islamophobia and other forms of bigotry and racism in our nation that he has provoked through his numerous statements, policies and appointments that have negatively impacted minority communities," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. 

Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley took to Twitter to talk about the stabbings.

"Terrible tragedy on Portland's Max Train. Champions of justice risked and lost their lives. Hate is evil," he wrote.

 Lily Mercer is an accomplished screenwriter and Facebook friend whose post of this horrific news story first brought it to my attention. This is Lily's accompanying post caption to the news story.


This is beyond sad. We are entering into a phase of life we are not prepared for - where where truth, love, and understanding have been trumped by... Trump. Don't tell me he has nothing to do with it. He gave these people a voice. And then he gave them permission to act out.


Couple of quick thoughts.

First, bet the beach blanket, that Trump will not be speaking out personally against any thing even remotely resembling a rising tide, let alone the "rising tide of Islamophobia" unless, of course, it is, in some manner or another, yet another opportunity to fan some flames in order to keep his "beloved base" all warm and toasty.

Second, that "beloved base" will be loud, proud and prodigious in both their defense of their boy and praise for his promise to "bomb the shit out of them", the them, of course, never really so much clearly defined as generally imagined. And, as has been the case thus far, a group that includes folks who don't know the difference between "to" and "too" will suddenly display stunning skill at articulating that this obscene murder of two decent human beings who simply tried to help other human beings in distress was the result of "psycho towelheads", "bat shit craziness", "failure to take his meds", "watching too much MSNBC" and some very creative faithful will totally find a way to blame the attack on either Obama (known affectionately in those Mensa member heavy social groups as Obummer), Hillary, a combination of the two or they'll just drop back in the pocket and fire off their go-to Hail Mary, "those damn libturd snowflakes".

In short, anything and everything under the sun that, for the moment, still shines down on all of us, everywhere, will be to blame for what happened in Portland.

With the exception, of course, of the guy who put the d to the e to the m.a.g. in demagogue last year.

We hear there's even some talk about Lee Harvey Oswald being involved at this point, but that's just speculation and we don't want to add fake news to an already formidable fire.

And then there's Lily.


Don't tell me he has nothing to do with it. He gave these people a voice. And then he gave them permission to act out.


Yeah. What she said.

Except we all know that those who agree have been agreeing all along and will continue to agree, today, tomorrow, forever and ever, amen. And those who disagree will be among those standing in Times Square approvingly watching Donald shoot that kid he mentioned in the not so distant, while they eagerly calculate that it's only three and half years, give or take, before they get the chance to vote for him again.

Which brings us back to differences.

Memorial Day. Veterans Day.

Daylight Savings Time. Daylight Saving Time.

Responsible. Accountable.

Cue a couple of dictionary definitions here:

Responsible... "being the primary cause of something and so able to be blamed or credited for it."
 
Accountable..."...required or expected to justify actions or decisions;..."

Here's a practical application of the difference between those two definitions as it applies to our little chit chat here.

Trump's demagogic politics of fear, complete with bigotry, prejudice, racial and religious slander, the stench of which was almost, but not completely, masked with heavy spritzes of the campaign slang equivalent of Febreeze, "populism", accomplished what it set out to do. Get him elected President of the United States. And because there's no such thing as "a little bit pregnant", once the cork was out of the bottle, fear, bigotry, prejudice, racial and religious slander spread then, and continue to spread, into every single crack, vent and air hole in the American breathing apparatus. It's not an attack or an accusation, it is, in fact, simply a dispassionate fact that the release, the freeing, of those toxins was the result of that method of campaigning. That was the method of campaigning that Trump freely chose. And, no matter how much DeVos mucks up the educational system before she goes back to rich white woman la la land, one plus one still equals two. The Trump methodology of campaigning was the primary cause of the nationwide release of the toxins, therefore, by dictionary definition, he is "responsible" for that toxic release.

And, just because it makes his defenders crazy when a point is stretched but not snapped, there's a case to be made that while he wasn't anywhere near that MAX train Friday, he is "responsible" for the
obscene murder of two decent human beings who simply tried to help other human beings in distress.

Legal precedent?

Not irrefutably sure, to be honest.

Pretty confident there's at least a dozen or so episodes of "Law and Order" where I can find some backup, though.

Accountable, meanwhile?

"Required or expected to justify actions or decisions?"

Well, satirically ironic as it might sound given the toxicity of the national atmosphere these days...

Don't. Hold. Your. Breath.

Trump is never, ever, ever, ever, ever (can I get an "ever"?) ever....going to feel a wispy hint of intention to justify a single, solitary, ding damn thing he has ever, or will ever, ever, ever say, do, think, want, expect, demand...

You get the idea.

And on this weekend of commemoration of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, it's one, probably, trivial thing to not know the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

Another trivial, even silly, thing to not know the difference between Daylight "Savings" and Daylight "Saving".

Not knowing the difference between "responsible" and "accountable", though?

Indefensible.

Don't take my word for it.

Ask the families of two decent human beings who simply tried to help other human beings in distress.

Oh...and that opening comment about "enough nasty, bitter political back and forth for the moment"?

Moment's over.