Today is Thursday, April 14, 2022. With my absence from these pages yesterday, the lone suspect in the subway attack on a Brooklyn N train on Tuesday has been captured in a stunning seizure by the New York police after just 29 hours of him being on the lam, as reported in an article in today’s New York Times. The article is written by Michael Gold and is entitled “After Citywide Dragnet, Subway Attack suspect Is Charged as Terrorist.”

“The suspect, Frank R. James, was taken into custody without a struggle about 5 miles from the subway station where he is accused of committing one of the worst attacks on New York’s subway system.” Even the new New York mayor got into the act, as he gloated in self-isolation after coming down with COVID-19, “We got him!”

The gunman was charged with carrying out a terrorist attack on a mass transit system, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn. If convicted, James could face life in prison.

As for what accounted for the rapid seizure of James within about just 30 hours, there was an abundance of calls tipping the police as to where he was and there is the report that James himself might have called authorities with his whereabouts. Why he would have done this is the biggest mystery unless he wanted to be caught for some inexplicable reason. James has a long rap sheet, it seems, where he was arrested many times but never convicted of anything serious enough to prevent him from buying a handgun, which he did in Columbus, Ohio, in 2011.

Thus James was arrested at a McDonald’s on First Avenue and St. Marks Place around 1:40 p.m. on Wednesday. As for the innocent victims of his subway rampage, they ranged from a 15-year-old boy to men and women in their 40s. At least nine people remained hospitalized yesterday, but all of them were thankfully in stable condition with no life-threatening injuries. A number of those injured in the attack were teenagers or college students who were on a normal trek which was heading to school on the train. Who would have thought they would confront their own mortality head-on that early in the morning on Tuesday. What should have been a mundane ride on a subway train turned into a bloody horror instead.

In the wake of Tuesday’s rampage, riders have warily gone back to riding the system. On the day of the attack, Metropolitan Transportation Authority data noted that ridership was down by about 312,000 people from one week earlier, to about 3.05 million riders.

Surprisingly, a few commuters who were interviewed by the paper commented that their memories of the event had already receded since they have to use the subway system in order to make a living. When one rider, Louie Dacunha, was asked about the attack, he said, “Oh yeah, that happened. I wasn’t even thinking about that. I was just thinking, ‘I gotta go where I gotta go.'” This is the sentiment that others confessed to as they made their way to their early-morning trains in the shadow of James’ assault on the system.

A newer picture of the suspect is emerging as well. Police officials said that James was arrested nine times in New York between 1992 and 1998, on a number of charges including possession of burglary tools, a criminal sex act, and criminal tampering. He was arrested in New Jersey, the first in 1991, the most recent in 2007.

James had posted dozens of videos on YouTube in which he delivered bigoted rants connected to current events. “In some, he commented on New York’s subway, criticizing the mayor’s policies to address homelessness on public transit as ineffective and speculating that Adams could not possibly stop all crime in the city.” In others, he mused about violent acts and alluded vaguely to the possibility of committing them, which he eventually did do on April 12.

This shocking event could create a new paradigm with subway riders, where riders will now warily look at one another, in the hope of not spotting another underground terrorist like Frank James, whereas in the past, they would never do so, they would bury their eyes in their iPhones, books, or whatever. I wonder how long this scenario would play out, given that people’s memories are so ephemeral. They forget rather quickly when it comes to something as disturbing as an attack on the subway system.

Today in Trumpland, a U.S. Capitol rioter, Dustin Thompson, who publicly came out to declare that he was brainwashed and following the orders of his liar-in-chief, Donald J. Dumpf, was found guilty of all charges stemming from his participation in the January 6 insurrection. After the verdict, federal Judge Reggie Walton then blasted the Orange Menace for his conduct during the whole sorry affair. Maybe we’re finally getting pushback from credible sources as to the treasonous conduct of the former president in fomenting an insurrection against his own government to keep himself in power. Today was just a small example of that in the judge’s comments. His words were particularly condemning.

This is what he said, “The insurgency, and it was in effect that, is very troubling. I think our democracy is in trouble because, unfortunately, we have charlatans, like the former President, in my view, who don’t care about democracy and only care about power.”

The trial marked the first time a Capitol riot defendant tried to convince a jury that Dumpf was responsible for the violence on January 6, 2021, even though most of the nation already knows this, except for Dumpf’s brain-addled MAGA numbskulls. Even Thompson’s own lawyer branded Dumpf as an “evil and sinister man” who had incited the riot with his incendiary speech at the Ellipse, where he told his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.”

Thompson had testified that he believed he was acting at the behest of his Golden Idol and should have been exonerated. He told the jury that he was “caught up in the moment.” He also said, “If the President is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that.”

Prosecutors drilled holes in this argument, contending that Dumpf was not the one on trial – but many of us, including myself, really believe he should be at some point in the next few years.

The lead prosecutor, William Dreher, said today that “This is not President Trump’s criminal trial.” He added, “This sideshow about the defense attorney trying to make you mad” at Trump “is just that, a sideshow.”

The jury did not buy this defense, finding Thompson guilty on all charges. One juror mentioned that a lot of people were at the rally and left to go home, while many stayed like Thompson to sow chaos and terror. They considered Thompson a willing participant in the Capitol riot.

As Walton sent Thompson immediately to jail pending sentencing, the judge intoned this, “You make your bed, you lie in it,” apt words for a misguided supporter of the principal insurrectionist formerly ensconced at the White House. The most severe charge that Thompson was convicted of – obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony – carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in jail. He will be sentenced in July.

As of the present, nearly 800 people have been arrested in connection to January 6, and more than 250 people have pleaded guilty to federal charges. Many of us are still waiting for more higher-up officials in this attack against democracy to be indicted and sentenced along with the “foot soldiers” like Thompson who was only following their orders.

So on a more personal level, yesterday turned out to be a very fun day, where we drove to Harlem to have dinner at 5 at Red Rooster Harlem, on Lenox Avenue, and went to attend Amateur Night at the Apollo, at 7:30. We decided to drive in instead of taking the subway because of that terrible incident on the N train the day before. I admit that we got scared this one time.

We gave ourselves about ninety minutes to drive in, so we left at 3:30 and lucked out with traffic heading toward Manhattan. However, we weren’t so lucky with finding parking, as we were reduced to driving around twenty minutes or so in order to find a spot. We did get lucky around 121st Street, off Lenox, where I spotted an open spot by a school, which only allowed drivers with school permits up to 4. The time was 4:40 or so, making it now a good spot. Hallelujah! We thought we would have to place the car in a garage, but we couldn’t find any in all of that driving around. So this was very fortuitous.

The restaurant was very close by, so we walked right on Lenox Avenue, to 310 Lenox Avenue,. where the restaurant was located. We walked in right around 5 and were ushered to a table for two.

I have to say the meal we had was very delicious, starting with sweet potato coconut soup that had roasted mushrooms, ginger, and biscuit crumble, and proceeding to scrumptious pieces of chicken, with my asking for drumsticks, while Elliot ordering breasts, and then ending with dessert that consisted of salted caramel donuts. A DJ played funky music from the 70s as we ate.

Then it was time to walk to the historic Apollo, which was about two blocks away. We arrived early, around 6:30, but after showing our proof of vaccination and photo IDs to the security people outside, we were let in. I had to drop off my doggie bag of chicken at the coatcheck room downstairs since no food was permitted inside.

We took our seats upstairs in the Balcony section. The theater filled up with audience members very quickly. One complaint was that I didn’t find the seats very comfortable and I found the stairs very steep where we had to descend to our row, which was Row E. These were small quibbles, especially when the show began, a little before 7:30, when a DJ came out and talked a little about the history of Amateur Night, which he said was the longest-running amateur night of any venue in the country, marking its 88th year in operation. Eventually, the host came out, a comedian by the name of Capone (I think that was his name)who explained the process to those first-timers like ourselves. In fact, he did ask how many of us were at the theater for the first time, and many hands in our section went up. I was amazed over the ages of the people surrounding us; they were all young – like in their 20s or 30s. I didn’t see many old-timers like ourselves sitting in the seats ahead or back of us.

Before the show began, we were all handed fans that had “Yass!!” on on side and “Boo!!” on the other. Capone explained that we were supposed to use the signs to vote for the contestants who we either liked or disliked. As a starter, Capone introduced three future stars who, he said, would not incur our signs denouncing or approving them while they performed since they were not the actual contestants vying for our approbation. In fast succession, a tap-dancing duo came out, and then two teenage vocalists. They were all good, naturally.

Then the fun began with the actual contestants brought on stage. The first one was a Michael Jackson dancer who danced quite well. Generally, I felt real sorry for the two acts, one a rapper, the other, a comedian who were both hustled off the stage posthaste and received loud boos from the audience. There were two very good singers, one hailing from Mississippi, as I recall, and the other, I don’t recall where. The audience was very enthusiastic in voting for the acts they enjoyed or didn’t. I got into the raucous spirit as well. With one intermission, the show was about 2 hours.

All in all, the day was very enjoyable. We walked back to the car and drove home where we enjoyed a late-night beverage and dessert at Martha’s Country Bakery before parking the car in front of our building and calling it a night. I believe we might have gotten home close to 11, as I recall.

Tomorrow is Good Friday. Today was Holy Thursday. So for those who observe, have a blessed Good Friday.

Stay safe and be well.

This is the Apollo Theater after we left at 9:30.