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[onthefringe]

This

Rudy Giuliani heckled, slapped on back while campaigning with son on Staten Island

is probably behind a paywall, so here's the article.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-rudy-giuliani-slapped-staten-island-20220626-d5452ntmbrbohp6xfo73mixu4u-story.html

Rudy Giuliani was heckled and slapped on the back in a Staten Island grocery store Sunday while campaigning with his son ahead of Tuesday's gubernatorial primaries, police sources said.

The former mayor — who has been traveling across the state to help promote his son to voters ahead of the GOP primary — accompanied Andrew Giuliani, 36, through the five boroughs Sunday, the sources said.

At a stop at a ShopRite location in the Charleston section of Staten Island, sources said a 39-year-old employee approached Giuliani from behind, slapped him on the back and said, "What's up, scumbag?"

Guiliani was not injured and the employee was taken into custody at the store, cops said.

While acknowledging that legal definitions of assault may apply, describing this as as a slap or attack seems a mite excessive. One assumes that when Giuliani said "I got hit as if a boulder hit me," he was unaware the exchange was on video?

[Langue_doc]

Trust Giuliani to exaggerate what clearly looks like a slap. The "What's up scumbag?" line is a classic.

Charges have been downgraded https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-giuliani-assault-arraignment-charged-downgraded-supermarket-worker-20220627-sieb7c6nqjhuje76zzug5yleky-story.html

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani says the slap he received from a pro-choice supermarket worker shows New York City has turned into the "Wild, Wild West" — but the charges against his assailant have been downgraded, with the suspect's lawyer describing the 'assault' as more like a tap.

"He hit me to knock me down," the 78-year-old Giuliani said Monday of suspect James Gill. "If that doesn't merit jail time in New York, we're in the Wild, Wild West."

Giuliani stressed that he could have fallen and died, adding that an elderly uncle died from a fall.

"I got hit on the back as if a boulder hit me,"Giuliani claimed. "It hurt tremendously. I did not know what it was. I had no idea what it was. And all of a sudden I heard someone yell something at me, dirty curse words and some more dirty curse words as he retreated, ran away. Then he turned around and said I was a woman-killer."

But Daniel Gill's lawyer Susan Platis told a judge in Staten Island Criminal Court the slap "appears to be a tap on the back" and that the only threat came afterwards when someone with Giuliani followed Gill, poked him in the chest and threatened him.

Gill, who at 39 is half Giuliani's age, was initially charged by police with felony assault because the victim is older than 65.

But the Staten Island District Attorney's office decided instead on misdemeanor assault plus two other misdemeanors, for menacing and harassment.

The former mayor was campaigning with his son Andrew, a Republican candidate for governor, when he used the bathroom in a ShopRite in the Charleston section of Staten Island Sunday. That's when Gill struck the elder Giuliani across the back and allegedly said "What's up, scumbag?"

Gill told Giuliani his pro-life stance kills women, an apparent reference to the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade.

"He kept cursing, he wouldn't stop," Giuliani said. "He kept menacing and threatening me. So I said let's get him arrested, let's make an example out of him because this is going on too much all around the country."

[photo here]

Assistant District Attorney Darren Albanese said Giuliani complained of "substantial pain" in his back, "took a step forward losing his balance" and might need to see a doctor.

Albanese questioned, given he accosted the former mayor in front of many witnesses, if Gill "would use the good judgement required to return to court when told to do so by the court."

But Gill's lawyer noted Gill has no prior arrests and argued he should not be subject even to supervised released.

Plus, she said, video of the encounter "is actually not helpful to the prosecution."

"I think it actually shows a tap on the back, which is not criminal conduct," Platis said in court. "There's no intent here to harm anyone. [Giuliani] may have been surprised and stunned being touched in the back...but he's a public figure, your honor. Being spoken to and things being said to him should be of no surprise and should be anticipated."

Judge Gerianne Abriano released Gill without bail but issued an order of protection prohibiting Gill from going near the former federal prosecutor.

[Juvenal]

This

Rudy Giuliani heckled, slapped on back while campaigning with son on Staten Island

is probably behind a paywall, so here's the article.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-rudy-giuliani-slapped-staten-island-20220626-d5452ntmbrbohp6xfo73mixu4u-story.html

Rudy Giuliani was heckled and slapped on the back in a Staten Island grocery store Sunday while campaigning with his son ahead of Tuesday's gubernatorial primaries, police sources said.

The former mayor — who has been traveling across the state to help promote his son to voters ahead of the GOP primary — accompanied Andrew Giuliani, 36, through the five boroughs Sunday, the sources said.

At a stop at a ShopRite location in the Charleston section of Staten Island, sources said a 39-year-old employee approached Giuliani from behind, slapped him on the back and said, "What's up, scumbag?"

Guiliani was not injured and the employee was taken into custody at the store, cops said.

While acknowledging that legal definitions of assault may apply, describing this as as a slap or attack seems a mite excessive. One assumes that when Giuliani said "I got hit as if a boulder hit me," he was unaware the exchange was on video?

Rock on!

[ergative]

I absently clicked 'like' on some pictures of beautiful home libraries on instagram, and now the algorithm has decided to sprinkle my feed--hitherto ruthlessly trained to show me only calligraphy and Islamic geometric art---with lots and lots of pictures of beautiful home-libraries and other book-adjacent pictures. I can't say I'm upset at this adjustment.

[apl68]

Several years back, on the old Fora, a poster broached a sensitive subject that resulted in the poster being subjected to the ugliest pile-on I've ever personally witnessed on a message board.  I felt like I should say something at the time, but did not for fear of being piled-upon myself.  I've since regretted not having the courage of my convictions at that time.  In recent days the subject has been raised at the Fora again.  This time I've decided not to let myself be intimidated into silence.

I am unapologetically pro-life.  It is not because I have ambitions to police anybody's bodies, affirm tribal loyalties, usher in a theocracy, etc.  I am pro-life because I believe that ALL human lives are created in the image of God, and are therefore sacred.  Their right to live does not begin at birth.  There is no way that I can in good conscience support public policies that do not recognize this right to live.

I'm not much of a fan of the current Supreme Court, which seems in most recent rulings to be guided by a concern for big business interests.  I also know that overturning a longstanding court precedent is a grave matter.  But sometimes we have a precedent--Plessy v. Ferguson comes to mind--that never should have been made in the first place.

That a majority of our nation's citizens now seem in polls to have no regard for the lives of infants who have not had a chance to draw even a single breath seems to me in a league with terrorism, the Ukraine war, gun violence, etc. as evidence of the fundamental sinfulness and lostness of humanity.  ALL of us have clearly sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  All of us deserve God's punishment for making a society in which such things happen.  This is why Jesus had to come to serve as a sacrifice in our place.  This is why only following Jesus can save us, instead of us somehow saving ourselves.  Jesus died to give us ALL a chance at being redeemed from this world, if we will take it.

This is why I am pro-life.

[mamselle]

I do disagree with your conclusions but I respect your right to make them as you see fit and I understand and agree with the underlying tenets that have led you there.

You have respectfully and clearly articulated your determinations, and that in turn deserves respect.

M.

[apl68]

Awhile back we received a book donation that included an old high school literature textbook from the 1960s.  I've always liked leafing through reading anthologies like that, so I took it home for the weekend.  It was from far enough back that it had the names of students to whom it was issued each year in the front.

The last student had evidently felt free to write in it.  Some of the writing looked like study notes.  There were also a lot of names and notes that looked like the sort of thing you might find in a high school yearbook.  The student had written dozens of declarations of love for her boyfriend throughout the book.  There were names of fellow schoolgirls, and their boyfriends.  There was a date from early 1970, with the observation that graduation would be in only a few months.

Then I saw the name of a classmate who appeared several times with a note that she had died on a certain date in the spring of 1970.  Another note elsewhere said that she had died in a car crash.  Another time her name appeared with the words "I'm sorry."

Since I've only lived in this county since the 2000s, I don't have the deep local knowledge of somebody who grew up here and stayed here.  I did some checking with those who do.  It turns out the the deceased student did indeed die in a car accident in 1970.  It took place on the outskirts of town, a short way from where I now live.  I've bicycled by the spot countless times.  There's a hairpin turn there that would have had a gravel surface back then.  The student reportedly had a pretty fancy car.  Evidently she liked seeing what it could do.  And as so often happens, a young life ended before it could get fully under way.

I also learned that the owner of the textbook was still alive and living locally.  She has a different surname now, but the given name was pretty distinctive.  I asked the library staff to get in touch with her and see whether she wanted the book.  She did.  Evidently it used to be pretty common for local students to turn old textbooks that they knew they wouldn't have to turn back in into memory books.

It's amazing how many stories there are all around us.

[apl68]

Some months ago I mentioned a fellow church member with a seriously ill young daughter who became so overcome with emotion that she couldn't sing while singing in front of everybody on Sunday morning.  The congregation sang with her.  This weekend I saw her sing the same song in public at our local festival.  She also sang at church this Sunday.  Her daughter, after a lot more trouble, has been doing better recently.  It has all been good to see.

If I'd known she was to sing in church yesterday, I think I might have sat farther back than usual.  She is a pro-quality singer, with a fantastically powerful voice!

[Parasaurolophus]

I did not need to eat any of those cookies, but I did eat them all.

[mamselle]

Not even one to the hatchling?

(Or are they not yet at the cookie-snarfing stage?)

M.

[Parasaurolophus]

They are forbidden to him. Which is just as well, since now there are none.

[hmaria1609]

We had a small earthquake here late last night:
https://wtop.com/maryland/2022/10/small-earthquake-rumbles-parts-of-central-maryland/

Here's a historical perspective on earthquakes in Maryland:
https://wtop.com/maryland/2022/10/marylands-extensive-earthquake-history/
Posted on WTOP Radio 10/12/22

[hmaria1609]

A postcard came from the "Washington Post" informing home delivery subscribers that the print editions will be delivered by postal couriers. Sunday editions will be delivered on Monday. The new delivery change will start next Monday (10/24). Currently locally based contractors are doing the job.
At the library, we get the newspapers in the book drop in the morning. If the newspaper courier guy comes inside to hand the bundle of papers directly to us at the reference desk, we know he's running behind. However it's been awhile since we've seen him come.
*Sigh*

[AmLitHist]

Just got email and phone alerts:  one of our campuses (not mine) is on shelter-in-place lockdown.  (NOT a drill.) 

[marshwiggle]

Just got email and phone alerts:  one of our campuses (not mine) is on shelter-in-place lockdown.  (NOT a drill.)

In Canada, we don't have those drills. We just have fire drills.