I had a bunch of people over for patio drinks (from like 530-830)

So I am apparently still asleep because I thought meara had a few hundred people over on her patio and was wondering how that was even possible. Sounds fun! Now you have to have a 'come finish off the beer' gathering.

Just wanted to give an FYI, it may be unneeded, but. The woman who posted a nice comment on my FB ramble comment named Julie is my hairdresser and well, she a bit of a loon. She is very active in the sovereign citizen movement, she's a big supporter of the Bundy family and sees herself as a self-taught lawyer. I am considering stopping using her because of her beliefs, but she never talks with me about them so I haven't yet. Just FYI, I didn't want anyone over engaging with her.

Teppy, there's a whole page you can just send people like your FB friend to.

That's super useful! Thanks!

(Also, randomly, I had a dream last night that you and I were...detectives, maybe? We didn't have guns, that's for sure. But we drove around solving crimes. One involved a car overturned on the freeway with a dude standing on the car in a bear suit. No, really. I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS.)

He doesn't need your microwave! He's lying!

Rocket will be a bad influence on generations of raccoons to come, modified or not.

did he get in the house??

No, the glass door was never open; he had just slid the screen door a little aside.

en; he had just slid the screen door a little aside.

First the screen door. Then the glass door. Raccoons and their creepy tiny hands will bring the revolution...

I did not have hundreds of people over, no! But 17 was still quite a lot. I was amused, I'd gotten chips and dips and stuff, and told people to bring grills less if they wanted. Others brough more chips, but only one couple brought burgers. So I grabbed some sausages I had in the fridge and grilled them up, and sliced them into a few pieces each. Didn't have buns. Four Italian sausages, and I figured "well, maybe a couple people will eat a piece? Might as well do the whole pack" And I turned around and they'd all been eaten! So that was good :)

yikes, msbelle! The sovereign citizens frighten me, they're so completely loony. Ammon Bundy is apparently claiming adverse possession of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, which is utterly insane: that's a legal theory that can be used only against civil property, and requires seven years of occupation. I can't even.

In other news, I found this great comment on MetaFilter about people who have a hard time letting go of their distrust of Hillary. I'm going to post the whole thing because I think it's really valuable and helpful for explaining people's mindsets.

Ya know, I get it, the Hillary hate. I do. Back in '93-'94, when I was in the Navy and fairly conservative in the way new military kids usually (but not always) are, I heard constantly about the new Democratic President and how his wife, the First Lady of the United States, was going to try to push through a Health Care plan that was going to hose up everything. The story being pushed was that an unelected woman was attempting to wear her husband's rank (a story that gets traction pretty easily in the military) and break the healthcare system even as her husband attempted to break 'military cohesion' by allowing openly gay members to serve.

Now here's the thing: once you buy into that story, once you accept it and make it part of your belief system, it is so. fucking. HARD. to let it go, even in the face of contradictory evidence, even when you've accepted that the point of view that allowed you to buy into the story in the first place was flawed. Because it not only means accepting you were wrong, it means accepting you were hoodwinked, and that you helped the process along with your own biases.

Hillary Clinton is a lawyer, and a politician, and many other things, and she is among the best there has ever been of all of them, not in spite of being a woman, but in many cases because she is a woman, and it is a goddamn shame that while she visits with suddenly childless mothers and undocumented workers, the narrative against her has been so effective that most men think of Whitewater, Benghazi or (for chrissakes) a semen-stained dress when her name comes up.

I don't think you have to put Clinton on a pedestal, but it's instructive to try and remember where the story you've got on her comes from.

Timelies all!

Hanging out in the con suite, soaking up the free wi-fi.

hivemind, would a malarkey shirt be better

MALARKEY

or

MALARKEY!

??

I think all caps, no exclamation point.

Exclamation point. I may need a mug.