I'm saying that people screw up and explaining a simple way to avoid the same mistake.

Here on Lemmy saying that you have bags just for carrying ammunition will get you labeled as a baby-killing MAGA extremist because you're so into guns you accessorize with custom luggage for your murder-toys.

I'm explaining that those ammo bags and cases are there specifically to avoid accidents just like this - not as a tacticool fashion statement.

That's exactly what I'm fucking saying.

It's almost like they have a financial incentive to pull this shit.

In 2000/2001 this same shit was being done in California, leading to rolling blackouts and record-high energy prices. One company was buying all the plants and shutting them down for "maintenance" specifically to increase energy prices.

There were going to be congressional hearings over it in early 2022, but that company was Enron, and at the end of 2001 they collapsed due to other bullshit they were pulling.

Somebody goes on a hunting trip. Among other things they pack ammunition. The cardboard box of ammo breaks open and 100 rounds spill all over the inside of their bag. A year later they go on a different trip and bring the same bag with them, and there's a loose round in the folds of the bag they don't know about, but the dog sniffs it out.

That's why I have separate bags and cases specifically for traveling with ammunition.

Loose ammo can creep into all kinds of nooks when a box spills open. I've found rounds tucked into the fold of a range bag years after the spill.

It's exactly why my range bags and my travel bags nexer mix.

Most judicial positions don't have a degree requirement - including all federal judges.

There are over 2,000 judicial positions without law license requirements in Texas alone (JOP, Municipal Judges, County Judges, and Probationary Court Judges).

1st day availability on Gamepass for all AAA games simply isn't a sustainable strategy. They can't give away multiple games with a 9-figure budget along with everything else for the price of the sub.

I broke down in tears when the changes passed. Just a few years ago we were positive we'd have to leave the denomination to get change, but then the bad actors left instead, so the thousands of congregations "in the middle" that didn't want to leave their historic denomination didn't have to, so in the end way more churches are officially accepting of homosexuality.

The new rule for marriage is 2 consenting adults, where it used to be a man and a woman. So we also managed to officially prohibit child marriage in the church. On the US side that was mostly from high school kids getting married because the girlfriend got pregnant. The church will no longer recognize or participate in those marriages.

It also clarifies that clergy are free to perform or refuse to perform any marriage ceremony of 2 consenting adults, so homophobic clergy aren't required to perform the ceremony. I'm fine with that, because a preacher performing a wedding should support the marriage, and a gay couple should know that the person performing the ceremony is supportive of the union.

First off: Bush was President in 2008. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (the bank bailout that started the Troubled Assets Relief Program) was signed into law on October 3rd, 2008 - 2 months before Obama was elected into office and 4 months before he took office.

Second: Obama reduced the bailout by over 30% after taking office and the money was spent a little more wisely on reinvestment instead of simply giving the banks free money, which lead us to...

Third: in the end the government actually profited over 120 billion dollars.

So, yeah. Democrats handled the economy better. Just like they have since (checks notes) all of modern history.

I'm a United Methodist and former clergy, and the last 5 years have been whiplash.

We've spent 50 years trying to make the denomination more inclusive and accepting towards homosexuals, but for some organizational reasons (primarily a heavy-African vote in the worldwide governing body of the church) it's been difficult, and the more "traditional" wing of the church has been dragging us backwards.

We have our global conference (basically the legislative session of the church) every 4 years. In 2012 it got very heated. In 2016 the debate got downright nasty to the point where they had to calm a special session just to debate homosexuality in 2019 simply so the church could move on with the rest of the conference.

2019 was really, really bad. The traditionalists got their way on every issue.

The biggest blow was changing how church trials worked. As it was, "practicing" homosexuals were barred from the clergy, and officiating over a gay marriage was a de-frockable offense under church law. But that wasn't that bad in reality, because Methodist Clergy are very educated and overwhelmingly disagreed with the rules, so when it came to a church trial the jury (made up of other clergy) refused to punish. In 2019, they changed the rule to remove clergy's option to not punish.

The only ray of hope was the recommendation of a path to allow individual churches to leave the church but keep their land. It was basically the admission that the church was going to go through a schism. It looked for all the world that those who wanted to be more inclusive would have to start a new denomination.

But then the weirdest thing happened.

The ultra-conservatives were still mad even though they'd won. They were so mad, in fact, that they wanted to get rid of those who had opposed them. But there was no way to kick out churches who weren't controlled by Fox News. So they huffed and puffed and got so angry they decided to start their own super-bigoted Republican church anyway. They called it the Global Methodist Church since they figured the rest of the world would follow them and they left the denomination starting in 2021 when the path for disaffiliation opened up. In all, they got about a quarter of the US churches - mostly small rural churches that depended heavily on funding from the larger organization they were leaving...

A few weeks ago the 2024 conference was held. Due to Vivid it was the first real conference we'd had since 2016.

Gay marriage, gay clergy, and accepting homosexuality as being a-OK all passed with over 90% support. Everyone who had voted against it before had either left the denomination or been so repulsed by the fringe actors who had that they changed their position.

It's been a ride.

I'm Christian, but have given them money.

Separating church and state makes better government AND better churches.

My high school janitor said he loved them because he didn't have to sweep the halls as often.