#Philadelphia Convention Center

[prattlinpeach]

Saturday...Hmmm...A new coffee shop, tattoo expo, and some yummy pho!

Moss does not grow on a rolling stone! And who doesn’t love the Rolling Stones?! ha ha! We started the morning with a dog walk, well, first it was a snuggle with the dogs, I let them sleep with me last night, I couldn’t resist, they’re so cute and cuddly! After we got out of bed, it was a walk around the blocks, Bee decided she wasn’t going, so I left her at the house and Ruby and I walked…

[angelamoroso]

My 49th Birthday was full of fun in downtown Philadelphia at The Convention Center for the Flower Show, after party at The Marriott to top off the evening was perfect thanks to my daughter Christina 🖤🌹🌹🌹🌹💛⭐💛⭐💛⭐💛⭐💛

[cleolinda]

"We are here on a very important day, before a very important election and we are here, more than anything, to speak about protection of an election, making sure that the election that occur tomorrow will be free, will be fair and it will be final," [Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner] said.

He said that the task force, which, Krasner, a Democrat, noted was operating on a non-partisan basis -- "We do not care who gets your vote. We care that you get to vote," he promised -- would be on the lookout for any election concerns throughout the day.

Though they don't believe there will be issues, Krasner said the task force will be looking out for "people working in polls or close to polls who will bring frivolous challenges to voters."

"Anybody who thinks they are going to play those games in Philadelphia, you're going to do it in bad faith -- I got no problem with doing it in good faith -- but, if you're going to do it in bad faith, there is an election court, there are judges, they have orders and, those orders are going to say, in essence, 'get out of the polling places,'" he said. "Anybody who doesn't get out, you're going to be arrested."

And, he warned that anyone who think it's will be fun as they plan to interfere in Tuesday's elections, they might find out otherwise.

"You can have your fun in a jail cell, cause that's what's coming," he said.

In fact, Krasner took a moment to superficially warn anyone who has any plans to interfere with the city's electoral process -- like the two men who came to the city and were arrested after being found with weapons outside the Pennsylvania Convention Center when votes were being tallied there in 2020 -- would simply 'F around and find out."

"Anybody who thinks it's time to play militia, F around and find out. Anybody who thinks it's time to insult, to deride, to mistreat, to threaten people, F around and find out," said Krasner. "We do have the cuffs, we do have the jail cells, we do have the Philly juries and we have the state prisons. So, if you're going to turn the election into some form of coercion, if you're going to try to bully people, bully votes or voters, if you're going to try to erase votes, if you're going to try any of that nonsense, F around and find out."

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

* * * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 10, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 11, 2024

Former president Trump has always approached debates as professional wrestling events in which the key is not to explain policies or answer questions, but rather to demonstrate dominance over your opponent. In 2016 the Democratic nominee, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, had a hard time countering this strategy effectively because of the many expectations of what was appropriate behavior for a female presidential candidate. In 2020 and then again in the June 2024 “debate,” Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s stutter made it difficult to counter Trump’s scattershot attacks.

The question for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris in tonight’s presidential debate was not how to answer policy questions, but how to counter Trump’s dominance displays while also appealing to the American people.  

She and her team figured it out, and today they played the former president brilliantly. He took the bait, and tonight he self-destructed. In a live debate, on national television. 

The Harris campaign began the day trolling Trump with a new campaign ad featuring the pieces of former president Barack Obama’s speech at the August Democratic National Convention that concerned Trump. “Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire”—the ad cuts to a photo of Trump in a golf cart—“who has not stopped whining about his problems.” Then a clip of Trump shows him complaining about Harris’s crowds, before Obama notes Trump’s “weird obsession with crowd sizes,” complete with Obama’s hand motion suggesting Trump’s sizes were small. “It just goes on, and on, and on,” Obama says, before the ad shows empty seats and people yawning at Trump’s rallies.

“America’s ready for a new chapter,” Obama says to the overflow crowd cheering at Chicago’s United Center during the Democratic National Convention. “We are ready for a President Kamala Harris!” At the end, even Harris’s standard statement, “I’m Kamala Harris and I approved this message,” sounds like a challenge.

This morning, the Harris campaign began running the ad on the Fox News Channel. 

At the same time, they began running Philadelphia-themed ads across the city on billboards, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and on food trucks and taxi cabs, sidewalk art, and digital projections making fun of Trump’s fascination with crowd sizes. They showed, for example, a full-sized Philadelphia pretzel labeled “Harris” alongside a piece of one that looked like an upside down U labeled “Trump.”

The taunting might have been behind Trump’s demand for loyalty from Republican lawmakers this afternoon, telling them to shut down the government if he doesn’t get his way on the inclusion of a voter suppression measure in the bill to fund the government. The right has often relied on threats of government shutdowns to try to get their way, but such shutdowns are never popular, and even moderate Republicans are leery of launching one just before an election.

Nonetheless, Trump tried to lock them into such a shutdown, reiterating in a post this afternoon the lie that undocumented immigrants are voting in presidential elections. “If Republicans in the House, and Senate, don’t get absolute assurances on Election Security, THEY SHOULD, IN NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM, GO FORWARD WITH A CONTINUING RESOLUTION ON THE BUDGET. THE DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO ‘STUFF’ VOTER REGISTRATIONS WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN—CLOSE IT DOWN.” 

Throughout the day, the Harris campaign placed posts on social media showing Harris looking crisp and presidential and Trump looking old and unkempt. And then, for ten minutes in the hour before the debate, the Harris campaign held a drone show over the Philadelphia Museum of Art showing campaign slogans and then turning the words “MADAM VICE PRESIDENT” into “MADAM PRESIDENT.” 

Hugo Lowell of The Guardian reported today that Trump’s advisors were concerned ahead of the debate about whether they would get “happy Trump” or “angry Trump,” worrying that a frustrated Trump would engage in the vicious personal attacks that turn voters off. They expressed relief that having the microphones muted when it was not a candidate’s turn to speak would prevent Harris from irritating him with fact checks and snark of her own. Conservative lawyer George Conway noted that it was “[i]nteresting how one campaign is extremely concerned about the emotional stability of its candidate, and how the other is not.”

Harris’s attacks on Trump, including her campaign’s subtle digs at his masculinity, appeared to have accomplished what they set out to. When the two came out on stage, he went straight to his podium, while she strode across the stage, moved into his space, held out her hand, introduced herself and wished him well: “Kamala Harris. Have a good debate.” He muttered in response, “Nice to see you.” Then she took her own spot at the podium. When the debate opened, it was clear that Harris was the dominant figure and that her opponent was “angry Trump.” He would not look at her during the debate.

In her first answer, Harris tried to set out both her own story as a child of the middle class and how she intended to build an opportunity economy for others, lowering food and housing costs and opening the way for more small businesses. It was a lot, quickly, and she looked a little nervous.

Then Trump spoke and it was clear he was going off the rails. His first comment was to suggest Harris was lying, and then to insist that his proposed tariffs will solve everything, although he has the way tariffs work entirely backward: they are paid by the consumer, not by foreign countries. As he followed with a long list of his rally lies, Harris started to smile.  

From then on, he continued to produce rally stories full of wild exaggerations and attack Harris with lies in what CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale called “a staggeringly dishonest debate performance from former president Trump.” "No major presidential candidate before Donald Trump has ever lied with this kind of frequency,” Dale said. “A remarkably large chunk of what he said tonight was just not true. This wasn't little exaggerations, political spin. A lot of his false claims were untethered to reality." As Harris spoke directly to the American people, growing stronger and stronger, Trump got wilder and angrier and told more and more crazy stories. 

And then, about ten minutes into the debate, Harris baited him. She invited the American people to go to one of his rallies, where “he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter, he will talk about ‘windmills cause cancer.’ And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.” 

Trump lost it. He defended his rallies, said Harris couldn’t get anyone to attend hers and has to bus in attendees (in reality, her rallies are packed and he is the one who reportedly hires attendees), and then, in his fury, repeated the lie about immigrants eating pets. When a moderator fact-checked that story, he fought back, saying he heard it on television.

And from then on, Harris kept baiting him while explaining her own policies directly to the camera, and he took the bait every single time. He ran down every rabbit hole and appeared unable to finish a thought. Notably, he refused to say he would not sign a national abortion ban and admitted that after nine years of promising one, he had no health care plan (he has, he said, “concepts of a plan,” and if they pan out, he’ll let us know in the “not too distant future”). 

He threatened World War III and repeated that the U.S. is “a failing nation.” He told a long story about threatening “Abdul,” the leader of the Taliban; in fact, the leader of the Taliban since 2016 is Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. In response to Harris’s statement that foreign leaders thought he was a disgrace, Trump answered that Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, who destroyed his country’s democracy and replaced it with a dictatorship, says he’s a good leader. New York Times columnist David French wrote: “It's like she's debating MAGA Twitter come to life.”

The debate moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis of ABC, asked solid questions and corrected the most egregious of Trump’s lies. But as he continued to interrupt and yell at Harris, they increasingly gave him leeway to do so. This meant he spoke more often and for more time than Harris; MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle reported that he spoke 39 times for a total of 41.9 minutes, to her 23 times for a total of 37.1 minutes. But the extra time did him no favors.

By the end of the evening, Harris had delivered a clear message about her hopes to move the country forward beyond years of using race to divide people who have far more in common than they have differences. She promised to develop an economy that will build small businesses and support a growing middle class, while protecting rights, including the right to make reproductive decisions without the intrusion of the state. And she showed the nation that Trump can be baited, that he lies freely and incoherently, and—perhaps crucially—that he is no longer the dominant politician in America.  

Immediately after the debate, the Harris campaign continued their demonstration of dominance. Harris-Walz campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon released a statement recapping Harris’s strength and Trump’s angry incoherence. She concluded: “Vice President Harris is ready for a second debate. Is Donald Trump?”

Then things got even worse for Trump. 

Music phenomenon Taylor Swift endorsed Harris, telling her 283 million Instagram followers that she felt she had to because of Trump’s earlier reposting of an AI image of her seeming to endorse him. That, she said, “brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth. I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election.”

After explaining why she was supporting Harris and Walz and urging her fans to do their own research, Swift signed off: “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady.”

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[thislovintime]

Onstage in Philadelphia, 1967. Photo courtesy of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Out front [of the Civic Center Convention Hall in Philadelphia], thousands of fervent young bodies pushed avidly against each other, police and any passing black limousine hoping for a glimpse of the four men. Why? ‘Because I LOVE them,’ moaned 15-year-old Dee Darey, of 9220 Horatio Rd. ‘They’re so great. They’re my favorites. The Beatles? Oh, they’re so out, very below. They make a different impression.’ ‘Yeah!’ bellowed another girl behind her, ‘they turned into a bunch of nuts.’ […] ‘[The Monkees are] beautiful, they’re talented and they’re cute,’ said Pat Bookford, 14, of 7649 Elmwood Ave., tossing her long brown hair decisively. ‘And,’ said Janet O’Neill, also 14, of 7651 Elmwood Ave., ‘they don’t scream like some other dumb groups.’ ‘Yeah,’ said Pat, ‘the Beatles — they grew beards and mustaches and got creepy.’ ‘I still like them, though,’ said Janet. ‘I think the psychedelic bit is boss.’ The crowd grew and grew. Now and then one scream would rise above the others. ‘[Davy] Jones is gorgeous!’ ‘Peter Tork has a dimple!’” - article by Judy Oppenheimer, Philadelphia Daily News, July 24, 1967

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from fringe figure to the prospective head of U.S. health policy was fueled by skepticism and distrust of the medical establishment—views that went viral in the Covid-19 pandemic.

People once dismissed for their disbelief in conventional medicine are now celebrating a new champion in Washington. Scientists, meanwhile, are trying to figure how they could have managed the pandemic without setting off a populist movement they say threatens longstanding public-health measures.

Lingering resentment over pandemic restrictions helped Kennedy and his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign draw people from the left and the right, voters who worried about the contamination of food, water and medicine. Many of them shared doubts about vaccines and felt their concerns were ignored by experts or regarded as ignorant.

Kennedy merged a crowd of Covid-era skeptics with people who long distrusted mainstream medicine and food conglomerates. Together, they helped return Donald Trump to the White House. With the president-elect’s selection of Kennedy to head the Department of Health and Human Services, the medical establishment is bracing for an overhaul of U.S. health policy.

Health authorities who beat the pandemic worry about losing more trust from the people they worked to save. Doctors, scientists and public-health officials are asking themselves how they can win it back. Among their postelection revelations: Don’t underestimate or talk down to those without a medical degree.

Officials fear that Kennedy will promote unproven remedies, appoint vaccine skeptics to immunization-advisory committees and hamper the government’s infectious-disease detectives in a future pandemic.

Kennedy has said he opposes food coloring and additives, the widely used pesticide glyphosate, seed oils and foods with added sugars, among many other issues. Medical authorities say some of his views, such as suspicion of ultra-processed foods, have scientific merit, while others are unfounded. The food and pharmaceutical industries are planning to win him over where they can and do battle where they can’t.

Much of Kennedy’s popularity reflects residual pandemic anger—over being told to stay at home or to wear masks; the extended closure of schools and businesses; and vaccine requirements to attend classes, board a plane or eat at a restaurant.

“We weren’t really considering the consequences in communities that were not New York City,” the places where the virus wasn’t hitting as hard, former National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins said at event last year.

Authorities focused on ways to stop the disease and failed to consider “this actually, totally disrupts peoples’ lives, ruins the economy and has many kids kept out of school,” Collins said. The U.S. overall took the right approach, he said, but overlooking long-term consequences was “really unfortunate. That’s another mistake we made.”

Public-health officials wonder if they have sufficient clout for the next national emergency. “Science is losing its place as a source of truth,” said Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious-disease physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It’s becoming just another voice in the room.”

Pandemic restrictions wore on Joel Grey, a 62-year-old retired car salesman in Belfair, Wash., who voted for Trump. He got vaccinated only because diabetes put him at higher risk of complications from Covid-19. He said he watched acquaintances lose jobs because they wouldn’t get the shot and blamed his mother’s death at 87 partly on the isolation of lockdowns.

Grey became frustrated with scientists telling Americans how to live, he said: “I just don’t think they have a place in our lives.” His view resonated broadly.

In October 2023, 27% of Americans who responded to a Pew Research Center poll said they had little to no trust in scientists to act in the public’s best interests, up from 13% in January 2019.

‘Latest Nonsense’ Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit group founded by Kennedy, got a boost during the lockdown era, a time of surging interest in alternative medical and nutrition information and advice. The nonprofit raised more than $46 million from 2020 to 2022, nearly 10 times more than it collected in the three years before the pandemic, tax filings show.

The group published articles saying Covid-19 vaccines sabotaged the immune system and enriched shareholders of drugmakers. “Ignore the Latest Nonsense About ‘Variants.’ Stay Focused on Dangers of COVID Shots,” read the headline of one 2021 article. Others took aim at Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the federal government’s infectious-disease research center, and groups that supported vaccines, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

To counter such views, Jessica Malaty Rivera, an epidemiologist with hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers, shared information on the importance of vaccines and face masks. She dismissed unsupported claims as misinformation and described some of their purveyors as grifters.

Looking back, Rivera said her sometimes scolding messages weren’t helpful. “Everybody has been tempted by the slam dunk,” he said. “It’s not an effective way to communicate science. It’s just not.” She and others say they are dialing back the use of the word misinformation, saying it makes people feel they are being called liars or dumb.

During the pandemic, Palmira Gerlach had questions about the Covid-19 vaccines, but doctors “were very dismissive,” the 44-year-old recalled.

Gerlach, a stay-at-home mother outside Pittsburgh, said she falsely told her child’s pediatrician that she got the shot, seeking to avoid judgment. The doctor told her, “Good girl.” Gerlach turned to podcasts featuring Kennedy, drawn to his willingness to question pandemic measures.

One challenge for health authorities was learning how to combat Covid-19 while hundreds of people died each day. Researchers needed months just to clarify how the virus spread. That meant answers to common questions kept shifting: Was it OK to gather outside? When was it safe to visit grandparents? Do I have to wear a face mask everywhere?

Health authorities sometimes got it wrong. At first, officials said Covid-19 vaccines would prevent transmission or infection. Later, they learned that the shots instead cut the risk for hospitalization or death.

Shelli Hopsecger, a small-business owner in Olympia, Wash., who described herself as an independent, said she listened closely to health officials when the pandemic hit. But as school closures and lockdowns dragged on, she began questioning what they said.

Hopsecger, 56, said the pandemic made her realize how powerful a role federal health agencies played in her life. “We all are aware now that there are these agencies that look at these things on our behalf,” she said. “As citizens, it’s time for us to start telling them what we want them to look at.”

Last year, Hopsecger said she started listening to Kennedy’s podcast interviews on the recommendation of her 26-year-old son. She recalled Kennedy pointing out how millions of Americans suffer from chronic diseases, despite vast sums spent on healthcare.

“Mr. Kennedy is definitely on to something,” Hopsecger said. “Our current policies and systems are not doing the job of preventing or even reversing chronic diseases.”

Us and them Kennedy’s polling as an independent presidential candidate had fallen to the single digits when he threw his support to Trump in August and embraced the slogan “Make America Healthy Again.”

The career of Kennedy—an environmental lawyer, former heroin addict and the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy—took a turn in 2005 when he began questioning the use of vaccines. He says he exercises, meditates and attends 12-step meetings every day.

While campaigning for Trump, Kennedy talked about how more Americans were obese and more young people were getting diagnosed with cancer. He decried the quality of foods and warned that water and medicines were polluted by toxins and chemicals. He criticized the medical establishment for pushing pills and shots, rather than addressing the root causes of disease.

“We were all told in Covid: ‘Trust the experts.’ But that’s not a thing,” Kennedy said in an episode of the “What is Money?” podcast in April. “Trusting the experts is not a feature of science. It’s the opposite of science. It’s not a feature of democracy.”

Many doctors, scientists and health officials with traditional credentials share Kennedy’s view that ultraprocessed foods contribute to obesity, yet they also say more study is needed. Likewise, many establishment health figures agree that scientists need to do more to understand the role of microplastics and so-called forever chemicals in food and water.

Yet many scientists and food-industry officials say some of the food colorings and chemicals Kennedy pinpoints as dangerous don’t affect human health in such small quantities. Nearly all are alarmed by Kennedy’s unproven or disproved claims—that vaccines cause autism, AIDS might not be caused by HIV and antidepressant drugs might be linked to mass shootings.

Ashley Taylor, a 33-year-old entrepreneur in New York City, sides with Kennedy’s views on food safety and the role of experts. She became critical of traditional medicine after scoliosis surgery as a teenager left her reeling in pain and reliant on Tylenol. She said she rejected her doctors’ recommendations and found relief from her back problems with acupuncture, a nutritious diet, yoga and positive thinking.

Taylor said that health authorities during the pandemic ignored studies on natural immunity and didn’t acknowledge that people who had been infected with Covid-19 might not need to be vaccinated. “What I just don’t approve of is purposefully presenting information in a way that is not allowing the American public to arrive at their own opinion,” she said.

Taylor listened to part of Kennedy’s book, “The Real Anthony Fauci; Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health.” She was attracted to his ideas even more after watching a September roundtable on nutrition featuring Kennedy and his allies, hosted by Sen. Ron Johnson (R, Wisc.) in the Senate.

After previously voting for Democrats, Taylor said she cast her ballot for Trump.

Mainstream doctors, researchers and health officials are bracing for a Kennedy-led federal health department. They are considering how best to communicate with the public if they need to counter decisions that stray from established public-health measures.

Some Food and Drug Administration staffers have already stopped saying that vaccines are safe and effective, instead advising that the benefits outweigh the risks, a person familiar with the matter said. The change is intended to make clear that all medical interventions have risks, the person said, and to spike the argument that rare side effects mean vaccines aren’t safe.

Virologist Dr. Greg Poland said he advises scientists to communicate with humility and empathy, to speak as a compassionate physician would with a patient. “We’re not dogmatic. We’re not about forcing people,” he said. “We’re about imparting information.”

To build trust in vaccines, Poland, who is also a Presbyterian minister, speaks to conservative churches and civic groups. He tells them he will be truthful and transparent and then explains how vaccines work and how scientists arrive at a consensus.

Poland said he stays until he has answered every last question.

[dadupbuck]

Buddie AUs over 20k

To catch up on recommending fics in my bookmarks, I'll also try to make some lists instead of posting one fic per post. Though some fics might also still get their own posts even while added in a list.

To start, here are some finished Buddie AUs with more than 20k words

(I made this list in March so it doesn't have any newer fics. Soon I want to spend a day dedicated to catching up to new fics and adding posts to my queue here)

what if you're someone I just want around by ReallySmartLadyMarieCurie

20k, Rated T

"Eddie pauses in his typing, glancing at Buck and trying to figure him out. He seems so eager to help and to please, so willing to take some of the burden in order to make others happy. It’s the sort of presence that Eddie’s been craving in his life. One that he’s missed since Shannon’s fatal accident. And he’s incredibly handsome. He’s got conventional good looks and a beautiful smile, but that pink little splotch above his eye, which Eddie guesses is a birthmark, is really what brings it home."

Or, Eddie Diaz is a successful boxer who's been making a big name for himself in recent years. Buck is a fan, but he certainly never expected to end up at Eddie's house after the man calls 9-1-1 when his son gets sick.

I love the way you spoil me, baby by rosebuddiekin

33,8K, rated E

“I, uh, I was actually at that coffee shop to meet with someone else. You see, for the past few years, I’ve been a sugar daddy on a site that connects people looking for similar things. I was supposed to meet with a prospective baby that day, but then I saw you. And I felt drawn to you, so I messaged the guy I was supposed to be seeing and told him I had to cancel. I just, I thought you should know. That I should be upfront about it from the start.”

Eddie’s fork drops to his plate, making a small clatter. He can feel that his mouth is agape. He’s very glad he hadn’t taken another bite or sip of anything while Buck spoke. Because what the actual fuck? Buck… is a sugar daddy.

OR: Buck is a sugar daddy who wants to spoil Eddie rotten and take care of everything for him. Eddie has never had that sort of relationship but is willing to give it a try. There is plenty of adventure along the way.

Sunny skies & summer high by prettyboybuckley

Sequel to a one shot, 43,8K, rated E


"Well, I kind of want to kiss you right now but that's usually something that happens at the end of a first date, right?" Buck asks, doing a weird movement with his eyebrows in an attempt to be funny.

Eddie chuckles, wrinkling his nose a little.

"I guess, yeah," he mutters. "Think we're doing this a little backward already anyway, so are there any rules to follow?"

He's got a point there, and even then Buck has never really been the kind of guy who follows rules, so he ends up leaning over the center console as he uses one hand to pull Eddie's face towards him. It's a short kiss, a simple peck hello that Eddie chases after when Buck pulls away again.

OR: Buck and Eddie sneak around behind Eddie’s family’s back, spend the summer together, smoke a lot of weed, and fall in love along the way

Kiss me before It's over (if only for a minute) by Bob_loblaws_lawblog

54,2K, Rated E

Evan Buckley is living out his childhood dream as the star hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s climbing the ranks, improving his stats with every single game – he’s unstoppable.

That is, until the Los Angeles Angels get a new pitcher seemingly out of nowhere. Known for his strong arm and tricky curve balls, Eddie Diaz is one of the few pitchers in the nation who consistently makes Buck strike out, and its infuriating. Even from the sixty feet that separate them between the batter’s box and the pitcher’s mound, the weight of Diaz’s gaze is enough to make Buck’s blood boil.

Because Buck doesn’t get nervous on game day, he never feels calmer than when he steps up to the plate with the bat in his hand – it’s where he belongs. But when he sees Eddie Diaz standing on that mound, his stomach flips and nerves spark across his skin.

Because if there is one thing Buck knows for sure, it is that he hates Eddie Diaz.

… Until he doesn’t.

Traded by princessfbi

23,7K, rated M

Really, it was Lena’s fault. She’d been the one to demand a video when Eddie had finally caved and sent an SOS to the group chat asking if anyone was willing to trade.

“Is anyone interested in trading jerseys with me? Preferably for a smaller size,” Eddie had said because knowing his coworkers, one of them would’ve been a smart ass and gave him an even bigger size. “I ordered an XL because I’m usually a XL but… the way it fits makes me look like I’m fucking one of the players.”

Eddie wasn't trying to go viral. He just wanted to trade his jersey. But then something called Booktok got involved.

Bartender!Eddie Diaz x Hockey Player!Evan Buckley

Snowed Inn by brewrosemilk

31,1K, rated M

Rivaling for a promotion, journalists Evan Buckley and Eddie Diaz get sent to a small town where they are each to write a piece on a once illustrious inn and its rich history. For two talented and overconfident authors, it sounds like an easy assignment - but in between a violent snowstorm, blocked roads, heated stares, and a struggling inn, Buck and Eddie may just have to abandon their rivalry and accept each other as partners.

Don't play games (come my way) by letmetellyouaboutmyfeels

43,1K, Rated E

Buck hates Eddie Diaz.

Ever since his publishing company and Eddie's merged, the man has been nothing but a pain in Buck's ass. The way he nitpicks all of Buck's company emails, the way he spends half his day bickering with Buck, the way he makes Buck's stomach flip and the way he's started haunting Buck's dreams... yeah, it's one hundred percent hate. Definitely. Buck's sure of it.

Because what the hell else could it be?

Falling slowly; sing your melody (I'll sing it loud) by princessfbi

55,3K, Rated E

Buck didn’t like him at first.

Eddie Diaz was all hard lines and strict rules with a bone structure that could cut through glass and scared away his fans. Which... if you asked Bobby, was the point but still!

He also yelled at Buck which was fine. It’s not like it hurt his feelings.

It didn’t.

It didn’t, Maddie!

It also definitely didn’t turn Buck on either. Nope.

Stop it, Maddie!

After a traumatizing home invasion, Bobby Nash decides to hire a bodyguard for his lead singer.

Musician!Buck Bodyguard!Eddie

More fics to be recommended soon!

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

CLASSIC COLLABORATIONS IN AMERICAN MUSIC -- FORGING AHEAD TOGETHER IN MID '60s STYLE.

PIC(S) INFO: Spotlight on American folk music artists, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, rehearsing backstage at the Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA, before a show on March 5, 1965, during Dylan's "Bringing it All Back Home" era. 📸: Daniel Kramer.

EXTRA INFO: The rehearsal photograph was later used on the back cover sleeve art to Dylan's "Bringing it All Back Home" LP, initially released on CBS Records, and later on Columbia.

Sources: https://escritorasunidas.blogspot.com/2012/02/judas-priest-diamonds-and-rust-de-joan.html, X, various, etc...

[zinepavilion]

Table at the 2025 Zine Pavilion in Philadelphia! #ALAAC25

💫

The #ZinePavilion is a space on the exhibit floor at the American Library Association’s annual conference to display zines, meet zine library workers, and talk about how zines and libraries are a great pair. It’s like a mini zine fair at the largest gathering of librarians in the world, with over 14,000 attendees, including librarians, archivists, writers, publishers and guest speakers. This year's conference will be held June 27 to June 30 in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

We’re looking for zine makers, distros, and zine libraries who would like to table at the Zine Pavilion. The exhibit hall is open Friday, June 27th (5:30 pm – 7:00 pm), Saturday, June 28th (9:00 am – 5:00 pm), Sunday, June 29th (9:00 am – 5:00 pm), and Monday, June 30th (9:00 am – 2:00 pm). Tablers can table for one day or up to all four. Tables are free, but space is limited. Priority will be given to local zinesters. We hope to let everyone know if they’ve been accepted to table the first week of May. Contact zinepavilion@gmail.com with any questions.

If you’re interested in tabling, please fill out the form below. (You can also access the link through QR code in the post.) We will take applications through the end of April and will start responding to applicants the first week of May.

Sign up at link below:

https://forms.gle/XKDdU1nJrNYrL3za6

For more information check out zinepavilion.tumblr.com or instagram.com/zinepavilion. Contact zinepavilion@gmail.com with any questions.

[eretzyisrael]

by Ira Stoll

Pressure is mounting on a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization that has usurped the name of a Jewish lawyer and anti-genocide activist to pursue a campaign of strident anti-Israel activism.

Earlier this month, The Algemeiner exposed the extreme anti-Israel activities of the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, reporting that family members of Raphael Lemkin are outraged that the name of Lemkin, who died in 1959, is being used without their permission to groundlessly vilify the world’s lone Jewish state.

Jewish organizations and Israeli government representatives voiced alarm at the situation disclosed in the article. Lemkin was an ardent Zionist who coined the term genocide and spearheaded the effort to win passage of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, while the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, founded in 2021, has repeatedly and — despite all evidence to the contrary — accused Israel of planning and perpetrating a genocide in Gaza.

“The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention (@LemkinInstitute) is desecrating the name of Raphael Lemkin and the word ‘genocide’ by falsely labeling the Gaza war as ‘genocide,'” the Simon Weisenthal Center said in a social media post linking to The Algemeiner story. “Lemkin was a Jewish lawyer who coined the term ‘genocide’ and dedicated his life to exposing the horrors of the Holocaust. While the Lemkin Institute is entitled to its political agenda, it has no right to besmirch Lemkin’s legacy.”

An Israeli diplomat, Tammy Rahaminoff-Honig, posted about the article from her official government account: “An important story by @IraStoll in the @Algemeiner reveals infuriating abuse by @LemkinInstitute of Raphael Lemkin’s name and legacy, as well as the terms Holocaust and Genocide, for political bashing of Israel.”

The Azerbaijani Jewish Assembly of America wrote in response to the article, “Finally, @LemkinInstitute has been exposed. It has been a platform for not only antisemitic rhetoric but also blatant Azerbaijanophobia. Backed by funding from the Armenian lobby, it has relentlessly targeted Azerbaijan, promoting the dehumanization of the Azerbaijani people.”

The Lemkin Institute, which didn’t answer The Algemeiner‘s inquiries before the article was published, issued “a note on recent criticism of the Lemkin Institute.”

“We are proud of our record and of our unfailingly frank assessments,” the statement said. “It is almost never popular to call out genocide as it is happening or to point to red flags as the process is getting started.”

In a social media post, Michel Elgort characterized the Lemkin Institute’s note as “a very long, vague, and empty statement that didn’t answer the most basic question that was asked by The Algemeiner: Did you or did you not co-opted the name of Raphael Lemkin to appropriate the good will associated with his name and works, without his family and successors approval?”

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Victoria A. Brownworth (VABVOX) at Philadelphia Gay News:

Half my family is Jewish. My late wife was Jewish. I have friends of decades who live in Israel, as well as family. Oct. 7 hit me and my family hard. I only knew one person personally who was murdered in that horrific event — Vivian Silver, a woman whose work as a peace activist I had reported on. Such a brutal irony that Silver, who for 30 years headed an organization dedicated to Israeli-Palestinian solidarity, who drove Palestinian cancer patients to treatment in Israel, who dedicated her life to peace, who worked every day with Palestinian women, was murdered Oct. 7 by terrorists. It was no surprise that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a swift reprisal in response to what he called the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust. President Joe Biden offered his support, as did myriad governments worldwide. In the wake of such a horror, with videos of women and children being abducted surfacing on social media and in the news, it was apparent this was a coordinated attack meant to terrorize Israelis and send a message to Netanyahu’s government.

Collective punishment

Netanyahu’s response was swift: he ordered all food, water and electricity to Gaza stopped as the country prepared for war. Yet these actions were different from a declaration of war against an enemy — Hamas. They were a declaration of collective punishment against the Palestinian people of Gaza. Such actions contravene the Geneva Conventions — the humanitarian rules of war. This announcement from Netanyahu also raised questions: if Gaza was an autonomous state, how did Israel have so much control over the region? The answer leads directly to the protest movement that sprang up on college campuses last year and globally in advance of that. The fact is, Gaza has no central government. Its titular leadership is Hamas, which the majority of the world, including some Arab nations, views as a terrorist organization. [...]

Campus protests

In spring 2024, many encampments against the war sprang up at college campuses, including the University of Pennsylvania. The largest such encampment was at Columbia University in New York City. In 2024, Mahmoud Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University, completing his degree in December. He lived in campus housing with his wife, an American citizen. Khalil himself is a permanent U.S. resident with a green card. Khalil was a leader in that encampment, known for negotiating with the university during the protests, which included many Jewish students. On March 11, Jewish students at Columbia staged a protest in support of Khalil, while others posted on social media that he was supportive of Jewish students and not a supporter of Hamas. On the evening of March 8, ICE agents arrested Khalil and said he was being deported. For several days prior to what was an illegal incursion onto Columbia University grounds by ICE agents, Khalil had complained to the university about being doxxed and receiving threatening messages on social media. ICE originally told Khalil his student visa was being revoked. When his wife presented his green card, they apparently were confused, but detained him anyway. Khalil was being deported by President Donald Trump for being a supporter of terrorism.

Authoritarianism v. the First Amendment

Mahmoud Khalil was not taken to a deportation center in New Jersey, but in Louisiana. His wife, an American citizen, is eight months pregnant, and cannot fly. Khalil is isolated from his wife and all support as he awaits a hearing. Protests in support of Khalil have flooded the streets from New York to London. Khalil has not committed a crime. He is a permanent resident of the U.S. who protested in support of Palestinians in what many globally view as a genocidal conflict in Gaza — a claim that has also been made to international courts. The First Amendment is the foundation of America’s constitutional protections. It is for unpopular as well as popular speech. Trump hasn’t deported any Americans marching in support of neo-Nazis, even though many Americans find these groups both threatening and antisemitic. [...]

Slippery slope

The facts of Mahmoud Khalil’s case seem incontrovertible. He engaged in protests in support of Palestinians and against the war on Gaza. He was a negotiator with Columbia who had strong support from Jewish students. He is not a supporter of Hamas nor is he a terrorist. This case highlights how capricious the Trump administration is with ICE arrests, detentions and deportations. It also raises the specter of concern for members of other vulnerable groups, like LGBTQ+ people, with whom Trump is also at war on a near-daily basis. If a permanent resident of the U.S. who has not committed any crime can be arrested and detained, how broadly could those capabilities be expanded and how many people could be captured in Trump’s authoritarian net?

Victoria Brownworth (VABVOX) wrote an excellent column in the Philadelphia Gay News about a very disturbing example of authoritarianism and erosion of free speech taking place in America right now: the unlawful detention of Mahmoud Khalil for simply leading protests against Israel’s genocide of Gaza under the baseless auspices of “being a supporter of terrorism.”

[darkmaga-returns]

Luther Martin warned that the Constitution would create a centralized national government with few real restraints – one that would steadily erode state sovereignty, override local control, and impose its will under the guise of law.

In his essay Genuine Information, he outlined the many ways he believed the proposed system would accelerate the consolidation of power. Among these dangers, he singled out three provisions as particularly alarming: an all-powerful federal judiciary, the ability to suspend habeas corpus, and the continuation of slavery.

Together, Martin saw these provisions as a dangerous trifecta – key pillars of a broader system of unchecked national power. He feared this system would reduce the states to mere administrative units, make justice unattainable, and embed moral contradiction into the very foundation of the new republic.

FEDERAL JUDICIARY: SUPREME AND UNCHECKED

Martin warned that a federal judiciary with far-reaching powers would lie at the core of this centralized national system.

With sweeping appellate jurisdiction, no external checks from state courts, and exclusive judicial authority over cases arising under the Constitution, Martin believed the federal judiciary would become a tool for consolidating federal power – allowing the general government to define the scope of its own power without any recourse for the states.

“These courts, and these only, will have a right to decide upon the laws of the United States, and all questions arising upon their construction, and in a judicial manner to carry those laws into execution; to which the courts, both superior and inferior, of the respective States, and their judges and other magistrates, are rendered incompetent.”

Martin argued that by centralizing judicial power in the federal courts, which would be “confined to [deciding] all cases arising under the proposed constitution,” the Constitution would effectively sideline state judiciaries, stripping them of their ability to safeguard local interests or resist federal encroachments.

He further warned that state courts would be explicitly stripped of jurisdiction over “all cases in law or equity, arising under the proposed constitution,” rendering state judiciaries “incompetent” and reducing them to mere administrative bodies, powerless to check federal power.

Martin argued that by empowering “judges who are appointed by Congress” with exclusive authority to determine whether “any laws or regulations of the Congress, or any acts of its President or other officers, are contrary to, or not warranted by the constitution,” the Constitution ensured that the general government would define the limits of its own power – leaving the states defenseless against its expansion.

Martin later clarified that his original proposal for the Supremacy Clause, introduced during the Philadelphia Convention, was designed to ensure that state courts – not federal courts – would serve as the first arbiters involving federal laws and treaties. His concern was not just the supremacy of federal law, but how and where it would be interpreted in judicial proceedings.

“When this clause was introduced, it was not established that inferior continental courts should be appointed for trial of all questions arising on treaties and on the laws of the general government, and it was my wish and hope that every question of that kind would have been determined, in the first instance, in the courts of the respective states.”

[theragsagainstthemachine]

2025 COMICCON SCHEDULE

May:

10th

PHILLIPSBURG NJ PhillipsburgHigh School

16-18th

FanExpo PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia convention center

August:

15-17th

DONALD E. STEPHENS CONVENTION CENTER 5555 N. River Road Rosemont, IL 60018

847-692-2220

Sept:

12-13th

MONROE COUNTY COMICCON

3775 S. Custer Rd. Monroe, MI

[madmadmilk]

OH MY GOD....

lmao having a full circle moment rn

so in the past year-ish-- my partner and I have started selling ~our artwork~ at comic and anime conventions, and it's been super fun to just draw and connect with people and all that mushy stuff lol. i always knew i wanted to make a humble career out of being a fangirl lol

-- and like yeah it's stressful cos we're also planning our wedding this year but ya know i'm just a disaster so it's fine --

i've been freakin' out cos we had an out of town show last weekend, and start another one tomorrow-- and i DIDN'T REALIZE we'll be at the same convention center where i took a pic with tom holland lmao

helpppp this is so funny and random and like, wow you can really just... do things, go places, and recontextualize your life lmaooooooo lowkey like should i just wear that damn red dress. like MAYBE!

anyway, just thought you guys would think that's funny lol

and if anyone is interested, we'll be an fanexpo philadelphia (our art account is @pjs-everyday) hahahaha

hope everyone is enjoying spring! love ya'll, stay safe

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

On this day in 1787, thirty-nine brave men signed the proposed U.S. Constitution, recognizing all who are born in the United States or by naturalization, have become citizens

+

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

September 17, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Sep 18, 2024

In 1761, 55-year-old Benjamin Franklin attended the coronation of King George III and later wrote that he expected the young monarch’s reign would “be happy and truly glorious.” Fifteen years later, in 1776, he helped to draft and then signed the Declaration of Independence. An 81-year-old man in 1787, he urged his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia to rally behind the new plan of government they had written. 

“I confess that there are several parts of this constitution which I do not at present approve, but I am not sure I shall never approve them,” he said, “For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinions even on important subjects, which I once thought right, but found to be otherwise.”

The framers of the new constitution hoped it would fix the problems of the first attempt to create a new nation. During the Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress had hammered out a plan for a confederation of states, but with fears of government tyranny still uppermost in lawmakers’ minds, they centered power in the states rather than in a national government. 

The result—the Articles of Confederation—was a “firm league of friendship” among the 13 new states, overseen by a congress of men chosen by the state legislatures and in which each state had one vote. The new pact gave the federal government few duties and even fewer ways to meet them. Indicating their inclinations, in the first substantive paragraph the authors of the agreement said: “Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.” 

Within a decade, the states were refusing to contribute money to the new government and were starting to contemplate their own trade agreements with other countries. An economic recession in 1786 threatened farmers in western Massachusetts with the loss of their farms when the state government in the eastern part of the state refused relief; in turn, when farmers led by Revolutionary War captain Daniel Shays marched on Boston, propertied men were so terrified their own property would be seized that they raised their own army for protection. 

The new system clearly could not protect property of either the poor or the rich and thus faced the threat of landless mobs. The nation seemed on the verge of tearing itself apart, and the new Americans were all too aware that both England and Spain were standing by, waiting to make the most of the opportunities such chaos would create.

And so, in 1786, leaders called for a reworking of the new government centered not on the states, but on the people of the nation represented by a national government. The document began, “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union….” 

The Constitution established a representative democracy, a republic, in which three branches of government would balance each other to prevent the rise of a tyrant. Congress would write all “necessary and proper” laws, levy taxes, borrow money, pay the nation’s debts, establish a postal service, establish courts, declare war, support an army and navy, organize and call forth “the militia to execute the Laws of the Union” and “provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States.” 

The president would execute the laws, but if Congress overstepped, the president could veto proposed legislation. In turn, Congress could override a presidential veto. Congress could declare war, but the president was the commander in chief of the army and had the power to make treaties with foreign powers. It was all quite an elegant system of paths and tripwires, really.

A judicial branch would settle disputes between inhabitants of the different states and guarantee every defendant a right to a jury trial.

In this system, the new national government was uppermost. The Constitution provided that “[t]he Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States,” and promised that “the United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion….”

Finally, it declared: “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

“I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such,” Franklin said after a weary four months spent hashing it out, “because I think a general Government necessary for us,” and, he said, it “astonishes me…to find this system approaching so near to perfection as it does; and I think it will astonish our enemies, who are waiting with confidence to hear that our…States are on the point of separation, only to meet hereafter for the purpose of cutting one another’s throats.” 

“On the whole,” he said to his colleagues, “I can not help expressing a wish that every member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility—and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.”

On September 17, 1787, they did. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[anglesideangle]

A Study in Sonder

a short story by livy taillon

please give me feedback and stuff id love to hear (read?) it

small warning for the tiniest mention of blood

ok here it is

Hal Avalos loves people-watching. He relishes going on drives around his city of Philadelphia, observing the intricacies of city life like he’s done for the past 48 years—ever since he could drive. He prefers to walk, but at his age, he is limited, which is a shame. It’s easier to hear conversations and see the details of a face while walking.

Hal finds something interesting in nearly every interaction he watches, which separates him from other people. Just last Saturday on a brunch outing with his friends from Bingo club, he shared a story that made his eyes well up with tears:

He was driving to the park when he stopped at an intersection. He saw a woman walking across the street accidentally drop her wallet, only noticing this once she was on the other side. A car stopped just before running it over and the driver got out, grabbed the wallet, and handed it to the woman. As the car drove away, the woman smiled and waved with genuine gratitude.

After he was finished telling his story, however, his friends sat in silence and stared at him. Jerry, a large man in his early 70s, gave a loud cough.

“So, what is everyone getting to eat? I can’t decide between the sausage and the hashbrowns myself,” said Jerry. Hal was confused at first. Why was no one acknowledging his story? Why were they all staring like he was some demented nutcase? The conversation started up again, and Hal realized they truly thought he was crazy. They thought the events he’d witnessed were ordinary and mundane. He thought this was incredibly dismissive and shallow of them. He also felt a small pang of pity for them that they can’t see others in the way he does; they ignore the interesting people and things all around them. Most people, Hal discovered, have never experienced sonder. Sonder is the realization that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, have lives as complex and intricate as one’s own. Hal himself never realized this; he’s always known it. He was born with intense fascination that extended all the way to passersby.

An extension of his people-watching, Hal enjoys filming people. He films interactions between lovers, friends, families, strangers, and even enemies. Occasionally, when he doesn’t feel like going out to people-watch, he watches his films instead. When he considers a film too good not to share, he creates a new Youtube account with a name that isn’t his and posts the video. He does this because he knows the conventional wisdom says filming strangers without their knowledge is weird and creepy, but documenting one wholesome moment isn’t. A few of his videos have gone viral, but on account of his commitment to staying anonymous, Hal never benefits from it. Despite the lack of profit he gains from it, Hal considers his photography and filmography a very fine art. He considers himself similar to a wildlife photographer filming and documenting animals’ daily lives. Wildlife photographers, however, never interact with their subjects. Whether it is to hurt or help them, those people only watch.

Hal has a different philosophy.

Anna Keens, a 32-year-old woman from Center City, appears in three different videos across the internet. In one of them, posted by William Myers (an account with no other posts and no profile picture) on Facebook, she is seen having a heated dispute with Dante Fox, her ex-boyfriend. In the video, he threatens her and reveals a handgun on his hip. The video ends before Anna’s reaction to this, which worries everyone who sees it. In fact, everyone is too worried about what happens next to wonder about the person behind the camera.

The video of Anna Keens was posted three days after she was reported missing by her sister. During those three days, Anna’s disappearance was beginning to gain traction on social media. The masses were suspicious of Dante Fox, and after the video was posted, they believed their suspicions were right. The police further confirmed speculations when they gained a warrant to search Fox’s apartment. There, they found three of Anna’s teeth, Anna’s blood on a shirt and pair of sneakers, a handgun (the one seen in the video), and a clump of Anna’s red hair along with a bit of scalp in Fox’s trash.

“Dante Fox is a sick man who kept trophies of his heinous crime,” said the chief of police to the press.

Fox pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. He received a life sentence with no possibility of parole.

Hal sighed in relief when he read the news. Normally, people like Anna went overlooked, but Hal supposed Anna was slightly different from the rest of them. She was young, pretty, and had her whole life ahead of her; which made her murder more enraging. Hal doesn’t really see things this way. To him, all of them are equal.

Hal has filmed many others. Sometimes, their faces show up on the Missing In Philly Facebook group he’s a member of. Others show up on the news, on telephone poles, or even (twice) on billboards. But all of them star in videos of Hal’s—some private, many public. Nobody ever considers it strange how many missing and murdered people can be seen on the internet, made famous by accounts that aren’t their own. To Hal, this shows the general public’s thoughtlessness and lack of critical thinking, but he is glad for their disregard. After all, Hal doesn’t want to be caught. He wants people to keep thinking he’s just an old man in retirement, sitting peacefully on a park bench in Philly, listening to the children playing, watching the birds, and engaging in a little harmless people-watching.

ok so that was my story. hoped you liked it and please leave a comment or something! i may or may not continue sharing my writing here depending on how this does

tags