BY JOHN SHIFFMAN OF THE INQUIRER A 40-year-old summer intern smuggled 165 Civil War-era documents from National Archives offices in Philadelphia and sold them on eBay, officials said yesterday. The intern, Denning McTague, used a backpack to sneak letters, telegrams and military orders — including one announcing the death of President Lincoln — from the archives’ Market Street office. McTague, a Philadelphia resident who has a master’s degree in history and operates a rare-manuscripts business, has helped FBI agents and archives officials retrieve 161 of the 165 documents, said Sitarchuk and prosecutors. As an intern last summer, McTague had been […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
This week was easy. We were gonna make CP’s Big Battel-esque Re-Formers cover the winner. But then CP’s blog thingee gave Phawker talk-to-the-hand in their March Madness pool. Just to show that we can be just as petty and small as the rest of the pricks in the blog pond, this week CP snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. Besides, we really, really like the sangria at Amada. WINNER: PW
TODAY I SAW…
BY JEFF DEENEY “Today I saw…” is a series of nonfiction shorts based on my experiences as a caseworker serving formerly homeless families now living in North and West Philadelphia. I decided not long after starting the job that I was seeing so many fascinating and disturbing things in the city’s poorest neighborhoods that I needed to start cataloging them. I hope this bi-weekly column serves as a record of a side of the city that many Philadelphians don’t come in contact with on a daily basis. I want to capture moments not frequently covered by the local media, which […]
FORECAST: Shit Sandwich
[Click map for latest update]
PANIC IN WASHINGTON AFTER MAN JUMPS WHITE HOUSE FENCE, TOSSES UNKNOWN OBJECT
Oddly, there is still NOTHING about this on the new wires an hour after we broke this story…you go MSM! Here’s what we know: Philadelphian Laurel Katz, aka The Voice Of Phawker, was supposed to have lunch today at the White House. (Hey, on any given day, somebody from the Phawker masthead is probably having lunch at the White House — that’s just how we roll.) However, when Katz arrived today she was told by the Secret Service that there had been a security breach of the White House perimeter. Reportedly a man climbed over the White House fence and […]
REPEAT AFTER ME: I must not fear. Fear is the mindkiller. Fear is the little death that leads to total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over and through me. When the fear has gone past, I will turn my inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.*
Sorry, but this for your own good. *From Dune by Frank Herbert
‘God’s MC’ Stones Russian To Death On NJ Turnpike
Brian White, 26, of Humble, Texas, was charged with murder Thursday, after he approached a 75-year-old Russian immigrant and asked him to buy a religious CD. When he was rebuffed, White savagely beat him on the head with a large rock, state police said. He then fled from the scene and led state police on a 70-mile chase before he was captured. State police said the incident began about 12:45 a.m. White, a DJ, was traveling to New York City when he stopped at the James Fenimore Cooper rest stop about 12:45 a.m. Thursday just north of Exit 4 in […]
GUNCRAZY: G-Man Puts Cap In Thug’s Ass, Allegedly
An undercover drug-and-weapons sting turned deadly in Port Richmond yesterday afternoon when an FBI agent shot a suspected dealer to death. Police Chief Inspector Joseph Fox told reporters after the shooting that the FBI agent who fired the shot feared for his life. As the agent was running after the suspect, he yelled, “Stop, freeze!” and told the man to show his hands, Fox said. Instead, the man “made a furtive move toward his waist,” Fox said. Then the agent took one shot – killing the suspect, who was pronounced dead at the scene. Fox said the drama unfolded about […]
BREAKING: People Really Like The Shins
BY JONATHAN VALANIA FOR THE INQUIRER The Shins are the consolation prize for people like you and me. We may not get to be Ken or Barbie, the quarterback or the homecoming queen, or for that matter CEO or Anna Nicole, but we do get some damn pretty music to help us lick our wounds and accept our status as the runner-up in our own lives.
GAMBLOR: City Council Does The Right Thing
ASSOCIATED PRESS — PHILADELPHIA City Council voted unanimously Thursday to place a referendum on the primary ballot that, if passed, could stop construction of two casinos along Philadelphia’s waterfront. Members voted 17-0 in favor of asking voters in the May 15 primary whether the city charter should be amended to ban the building of casinos within 1,500 feet of homes, churches and schools. The decision brought simultaneous cheers and boos from hundreds of casino opponents and supporters who were part of a standing-room-only crowd in council chambers. SugarHouse and Foxwoods plan to build slots casinos along the riverfront. SugarHouse plans […]
NOW PLAYING: RJD2/The Third Hand
PREVIOUSLY ON PHAWKER: “In a way, I don’t know if [caring about other people’s opinions] is my business or not,” RJ told me, “I just try to stay focused on doing music from a perspective that is sincere and exciting from my point of view.” With the sort of capital he has to his credit, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to switch gears and release something he finds to be more “sincere” — because he can. Fuck what you think. It’s not a crime to like Morrissey and The Monroe Brothers and Das EFX.