April 2025 - Ramblin' with Roger

The first MLK assassination attempt

“He was just a sneeze away from death”

The first MLK assassination attempt I knew of came up in a discussion at the Albany Public Library in January 2025 about Salman Rushbie’s book Knife. As you may know, Rushdie was stabbed in 2022 at Chautauqua Institution in western New York State. It’s a place my wife and I visited two years later, with greater security measures. Rushdie dreamed of something untoward happening to him the night before.

Someone in the book talk audience recalled that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been stabbed. The person thought it took place between the time of March on Washington on August 28, 1963, and when MLK was shot, presumably by James Earl Ray, on April 4, 1968. But I was sure that was not accurate. I suggested it had to have been earlier because, after 1963, he was an internationally known entity. Sure enough, it was in 1958.

I was recounting this to someone else, adding, “It was noted at the time that if he had sneezed, he would have died.” He thought I was BSing him. Nope.

“On 20 September 1958, Izola Ware Curry, a 42-year-old mentally disturbed woman, stabbed Martin Luther King, Jr., while he signed copies of his book, Stride Toward Freedom, at Blumstein’s Department Store in Harlem, New York. Curry approached King with a seven-inch steel letter opener and drove the blade into the upper left side of his chest. King was rushed to Harlem Hospital, where he underwent more than two hours of surgery to repair the wound. Doctors operating on the 29-year-old civil rights leader said: “Had Dr. King sneezed or coughed, the weapon would have penetrated the aorta.… He was just a sneeze away from death” (Papers 4:499n).”

Moreover

Not only did I recall this, but I wrote about it in 2013. The day before he died in 1968, MLK gave the Mountaintop speech. I had forgotten that he mentioned the 1958 assassination attempt as a part of that talk.

“It came out in the New York Times the next morning that if I had merely sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, they allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and I’ll never forget it. It said simply, Dear Dr. King, I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School. She said, while it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I’m simply writing you to say that I’m so happy that you didn’t sneeze.”

In 1970, I was with a school group that drove past the Lorraine Hotel, where MLK was killed two years earlier. “In 1991, the Lorraine Motel was converted into the National Civil Rights Museum.”

One of the extremely few things I agree about 47’s actions: He signed an executive order to release more JFK, RFK, and MLK assassination files.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said

In his Substack for this week, Kareem quotes MLK: “Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle- the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”

He notes: “Man, Dr. King could be a real downer. I mean, he’s not wrong, but that quote challenges people to rise above obsessing over their daily lives of pursuing personal goals in careers and relationships to take on the additional burden of seeking justice. Who’s got the time for sacrifice? I’m okay with people who choose not to sacrifice; it’s people who brag about sacrifices that aren’t really sacrifices who bug me. It diminishes those who really do sacrifice for the greater good.”

He complains that athletes and reality show contestants misuse the word sacrifice, even his former self: He had said, “’I think that the good and the great are only separated by the willingness to sacrifice.’ I would modify that today to say, ‘The good and the great are only separated by the intensity of their dedication…’

“True sacrifice is when one chooses to give up something precious in order to do something that doesn’t directly benefit them but does directly benefit others. Sacrifice for the greater good has many levels: from sacrificing one’s life—like Dr. King, Gandhi, Malcolm X, and Jesus—to sacrificing free time to help those in need within their community. Parents sacrifice constantly for their children because they love them. If we can learn to extend that feeling of love to a larger ‘family’ of neighbors, towns, country, and the world, then we are sacrificing in service of a just humanity. …”

Back porch and new insurance

As I mentioned last year, we wanted to replace our back porch, which was beyond repair. We tried contracting with someone two years ago to work on a more ambitious project, but it didn’t pan out.

In July 2024, we learned that the insurance company covering our home and auto would be going out of business. Suddenly, we needed to get new coverage. We also knew that, because of the condition of the back porch, we needed it replaced ASAP. Otherwise, we would never get an insurance policy approved.

We had contracted with someone to work on this, and he said he’d get to it in August, but he didn’t get started until October, which made us very anxious. It’s very hard for people to work on our back porch because we have no driveway. So he had to try to park his vehicle on our front lawn before the school traffic made it impossible. One of his workers had injured himself in the weeks before he started working on our project, so it was a one-person job.

Phase 2

Then, we had to get the city to say it looked OK. Finally, we could contact an insurance company to ask them to look at the house. “Please insure our house and our car.”

It was tedious because the new insurance company seemed to need bits and pieces of information. What is my non-driver’s ID number? What is my daughter’s driver’s permit number? When were they issued, and when did they expire? Then, the expected questions, such as our bank account number, so we could get the money pulled out.

Finally, on December 26th, five days before the old policy expired, the new documents arrived at our house. They are full of words that make my eyes glaze over. The new policy costs about 30% more than the previous one, and the deductible is greater, but I guess this is what you need to own a house in America. Because I had never owned a house until I married, and it had been hers before that, this is an area I know surprisingly little about.

Phase 3

The new insurance was supposed to be paid automatically through our bank, but for some reason, it didn’t work out. They threatened to cancel the new policy, but paying the money was swift.

They seemed more annoyed that they wanted all these photos of our dwelling, something my wife worked on before we applied for the policy. Somehow, they didn’t get the info from the intake person to the person writing up the policies, so we seemed to be out of compliance with their process.

As a result, my wife spent four hours taking photos of under our bathroom sinks, under the kitchen sink, the pipes downstairs, and whatnot. Finally, we got our insurance reinstated as long as we signed an agreement to get rid of some moss on our roof—not the primary roof but the roof over our porch, which we couldn’t do in February. They insisted that we get a contractor to agree to remediate this problem whether the weather improves. What a royal pain.

Come From Away; Shucked

Proctors

My wife and I saw two musicals in six days at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady: Come From Away and Shucked. We have been waiting to see Come From Away for half a decade. Our subscription had us attending the show in September 2020, which obviously did not happen.

Then, the show was rescheduled for January 2022. I don’t remember whether we didn’t go because we had a conflict or COVID was still lingering. Albany County was in code red at some point in that month because our church choir wasn’t singing.

At some point, we were offered the opportunity to see the live performance of Come From Away, filmed at “the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City, where the Broadway production is staged, for an audience that included 9/11 survivors and frontline workers.” But I wanted to see people on stage.

Finally, on Sunday, March 16, we got to go right after church. It’s a remarkable story: “7,000 people are stranded in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland after all flights into the US are grounded on September 11, 2001. As the people of Newfoundland graciously welcome the ‘come from aways’ into their community in the aftermath, the passengers and locals alike process what’s happened.” Know that Gander only has about 9000 people.

The cast of about a dozen and half people played several roles, first the people in the town living their lives, the mayor’s negotiating with the bus drivers over a contract, etcetera. Then, they were the passengers on a plane who didn’t know what was going on and why they were landing in an obscure part of Canada until well after they landed.

It’s a very inspiring story in one act. Catch it on tour if you can. Afterward, I couldn’t help but wonder why the US’s current attitude toward Canada is so hostile.

Hee Haw

SHUCKED is corny, so your enjoyment may depend on your taste. From the New York Times article, I learned that Shane McAnally and [Brandy] Clark, “who composed the show’s music and wrote the lyrics, are two of Nashville’s most successful musicians. He’s co-written or produced 39 songs that reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart, and she has 11 Grammy nominations.”

Meanwhile, book writer Robert Horn had been working on a storyline since 2011, commissioned to write essentially a musical of the syndicated television hit Hee Haw. The three developed “Moonshine: That Hee Haw Musical” in 2015. It didn’t work, but it evolved with the addition of another team member, director Jack O’Brien, and was helped by the pandemic, which gave them more time to hone the story and music.

“The leading lady is named Maizy,” who, of course, is named after “her grandmother.” “She hails from Cob County, and that’s just the start. The show is both about corn, and corny in an audacious way.” The structure involves narration from two leading Storytellers.

“The good songs and jokes in ‘Shucked’ are so plentiful that secondary characters all have a spotlight or two… Beau’s brother Peanut’s punch lines are nearly Dada-esque.”

I went into SHUCKED blind, aside from knowing about its Tony pedigree. It’s a musical comedy meets prototypical hero’s journey. Why is the corn dying?

The music was great, the story was serviceable. Ultimately, I laughed a LOT, more than my wife, I observed. It’s scheduled to be performed at least through mid-2026.

Call Your House Rep: no on SAVE Act, yes on USPS

NO on H.R. 22, YES on H.Res.70

voting.woman For the past few weeks, I have received these wonderful missives from Bethlehem Indivisible labeled Today’s Actions. As a citizen who’s lived long enough to know voter suppression when I see it, the first item is particularly meaningful to me.

Here’s a list of members of Congress.

Hi, I’m a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.

I am calling to urge the Congressmember to vote NO on H.R. 22, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act. The SAVE Act isn’t about safeguarding elections — it’s about silencing voters. That’s wrong, and I expect my representative to oppose it.

Also, I’m really concerned about Trump’s plans to privatize the United States Postal Service. I want the Congressmember to support H.Res.70, which directs Congress to take all appropriate measures to ensure that the USPS remains independent and is not subject to privatization. Thanks. [H/T Save the Post Office Coalition]

No good at April Fools

Executive Orders

It’s always helpful to know one’s strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is that I am no good at April Fools. Every April first, I think about writing something humorous. I’ve thrown up some groan-worthy jokes, but creating a fictitious narrative? I got nothing.

I thought about it again this year when I got a text:

E-Z Pass final reminder: You have an outstanding toll. Your toll account balance is outstanding. if you fail to pay by March 23rd, 2025 you will face penalty or legal action.

Now payment: weird URL

(Please reply Y, exit the SMS, and then open it again to activate the link, or copy the link to your Safari browser and open it.) Please settle your toll immediately after reading this message to avoid penalties for delaying the payment. Thank you for your cooperation.

I thought I would conjure up some silly story about giving them my credit card number, and they cleaned out my bank account or something, but it was lame. I got no April Fools’ game.

However, it made me want to explain why I knew it wasn’t an actual text. Besides the repeated grammar, I also have no driver’s license and haven’t driven on the New York State Thruway since the E-Z pass came into being. Also, the text number had a country code of 63, which is the Phillippines.

So tired

I realize that 2025 is exhausting because I read so many stories – FOMO for the dubiously constitutional track – that I must verify as true or false. One can’t merely dismiss specific sources. They may be accurate, even as they spin the meaning.

I go to the Federal Register page when I hear about various Executive Orders. You should know there’s a lag of a couple of days from the EO being issued and published. In this case, one can check with the White House Presidential Actions page.

Regarding DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posing in front of prisoners at that dire El Salvadorian facility:

Common Dreams – “‘This is some truly sick sh*t,’ wrote Fred Wellman, a political consultant and podcast host… John Pavlovitz, an author and pastor, wrote, ‘If hell exists, Kristi Noem is a shoo-in.’ Noem was also accused of making ‘content’ out of the imprisoned men at the facility.”

Blabber Buzz would AGREE that Noem was making “content”: “The audacity of Noem’s PSA, filmed in front of actual Tren de Aragua and MS-13 terrorists, is underscored by the fact that these are the very individuals that Democrats have fought vigorously to keep within American communities. This raises questions about the priorities of those who would rather see President Trump behind bars than these dangerous criminals.” Yeesh.

Even in accurate and non-controversial stories, one must be on the lookout for bad AI. In a story about CBS News anchor Rita Braver of CBS News retiring, the image of a law professor—which she was—was not her; it reeked of a ‘Female professor-type of a certain age.'”

To keep myself honest, I use fact-checkers such as PolitiFact and FactCheck. I recently signed up for GroundNews to “see all sides of every story on US Politics and more.” I heard about it from videos by the Randy Rainbow and the Liberal Redneck, defined as left of center, and the LegalEagle, which, Before FOTUS, looked at how movies, et al. portrayed the law. It’s useful for me.