July 25, 2016

In spite of the fact that it's really hot here in Philadelphia, we took to the streets today to see what might be happening that you won't see on MSNBC or Fox News. Sunday's events were unofficial in advance of the official opening of the convention today, and what we found surprised us.

To begin with, all of the buzz around Debbie Wasserman Schultz was taking place online or on cable news. There was very little mention of her around town today at all. People were more interested in speaking their minds on a variety of topics, culminating in a very large march from city hall around the convention center.

The video above is just once scene of many. Marchers were protesting fracking, supporting Bernie Sanders, and as you'll see in the video, some were marching in support of descheduling cannabis, with one of the funnier and more visual protests we saw. There was also band playing along the way -- a sort of northeast Second Line band that made the heat a little less noticeable and the march a bit more pleasant.

Here are some of the anti-frackers:

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All of the marchers were peaceful and not at all nasty or angry. The police who were protecting their right to march were respectful and not at all threatening.

Philadephia proper is locked down tighter than Al Capone's vault. Once we crossed over the Ben Franklin bridge from New Jersey into Philadelphia, you couldn't go more than a half-mile without state police guarding offramps. It looked like every freeway transition was an Iraqi checkpoint. Security is tight and locked down. I think that is supposed to make folks feel better, but it mostly makes driving a nightmare.

The crazy forced-birthers with their hideous trucks covered in fake pictures have been conspicuously absent, though I expect them to show up sooner or later somewhere after the convention actually gavels in. For the most part, though, the town is happy and most of the controversy seems to be taking place outside of the actual venues, playing out on television and the Internet.

So. I am here with my daughter who is serving as our videographer for this convention. One of us will be in the hall and will definitely try and capture some moments there, but we will also be out and about, looking for events that may not be captured by cable news.

You can follow us on Snapchat at CrooksAndLiars, follow me on Twitter (@Karoli), and on Facebook, where I'll be uploading interesting videos in real time as they're available.

What do you want to see? Let me know in the comments, and let's hope I don't melt like the wicked witch of the west before the end of this thing!

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