Late to the party, but listening now. Sarah just pointed out that she wouldn’t discredit the criticisms about the overreach of the Biden administration to control Covid disinformation…
And it struck me how it’s just one more example of the hypocrisy of the MAGA crowd. They don’t like how the government “controlled” the narrative around Covid… and then elected Trump, who has always shut down and attempted to discredit anyone who doesn’t agree with him about anything. The administration that just yesterday pushed NPR, NBC, NYT, and Politico out of the pentagon press offices. The administration that announced and is following through with a witch hunt to remove anyone who might be an obstacle to their will.
I’m late to the party but I need yall to know about two games if you don’t already. The first is Pinochle, four person card game, so super fun!! Second, one of the best games to come out recently is Hues and Cues. It is so uncomplicated, pretty, and fun. Easy to play with any grouping of people, however varied or random.
I'm curious about how Trump will explain an increase in the unemployment rate when all these federal workers and others relying on federal funds for their jobs get laid off.
The amount of times I tell my husband “you need to listen to Pantsuit Politics” is already high, but after listening to yesterday’s episode I texted him to tell him I’m forcing him to listen on our drive to Chicago this weekend because everything yall said is exactly what we’ve been telling each other the past few days
Games!!! My husband is a board game nerd!!! If you want a fun family game that will have you all laughing get Camel Up! It is a camel race with chaos and so fun! We also got Flip7 and Panda Royal for Christmas this year. The best!!!
Something I'm realizing about conservatives is that budget issues are rarely seen as income problems; they are mostly assumed to be spending problems. This is why we can't get a federal minimum wage increase. You see this with most Christian-based financial systems. Increasing income is usually dead last in the suggestions for dealing with money problems, and often the "side gig" is just a temporary solution to a pesky problem that will go away once spending is cut. So the fact that this administration thinks that it can just cut all the costs and probably decrease income at the same time; kinda tracks.
I have discovered that my favorite games are ones you play with a group, but your working on your own goals. A couple years ago we tried Wingspan and it just clicked. Love it! Similar games I enjoy is Wyrmspan (same company as Wingspan), Dune Imperium, Harmonies, the Trekking games, Ecosystem.
MMMK can I just start the game thread - I'll let the rest of you do the heavy lifting on this episode. I am officially delving into trying to get my series 7 and 66 license (which means nothing to 99% of you) so my brain really can't process everything right now. I'm in that category of people are still getting divorces, life is still happening, in the Bratcher house the most important thing (short of a life event) is this Bratcher getting a license. Obviously people getting deported is bigger than me getting a license, just saying, microscale to my life, that's where we are.
Games my family loves and I love to hear you family too because we are trying to add to our stack without just blowing money (when did games get so expensive???? I know... I'm getting old.)
Azul - love and it's so pretty.
Ticket to Ride - I have played several versions of this, we play the original at home I have a 7 & 10 year old. It's lengthy but both enjoy it but easily a 60-90 game.
Q-bitz - this is a fun kids want to play a game but it's close to bedtime type thing. Fun for all ages.
Qwirkel - I will be so sad when my kids age out of this.
Cover Your Assets - this a fun/easy kid or adult game.
Sequence Stacks - fun if you like cards. Easy concept. But can get a little boring if you don't swap it up.
Shut the Box - seriously never heard of this until my kids hit kindergarten. Get the 4 sided one - great to build math skills and fun (yeah we're a nerd family I have no shame).
Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza - it can get loud but fun.
Five Crowns - older kids for sure but so fun if you like card games/rummy/etc. I LOVE cards.
I like to add one a year and purge 1 that didn't live up to the hype. Anyone have personal reviews on "the Uzzle" ............I'm not spending that on a board game until someone other than a paid amazon review tells me it's worth $90. BUT we pledged more fam time and less screams so ya know... I'll do it under the clause of, "it's for the kids."
Also I'd love to hear what you guys play! Are there any quality 2 player games? My husband and I love games and about all we come up to play on our own once kiddos go to bed is Battleship or Mario Cart. And he won't play Battleship because he swears I tap into the Dark Arts to win lol... he's somehow really bad.
Our favorite two player games are: Far Away, Splendor Duel, Star Wars, Patch Work, Space Base. Some of those are 2+. As family games we LOVE Camel Up, Stone Age, Living Forest, Flip7, Panda Royal. We are a board game family and still haven’t unpacked all our boxes of games from the garage after our move last year! Oh! Dominion is also a favorite.
I have been thinking about Beth’s question about if immigration raids and deportations are really going up or if they are just talking about and I feel confused about how to talk about what is happening. Is it better to make a big deal of it and try to get people riled up or to not have a big reaction because those people clearly want the publicity and to make communities fearful. Like so many things surrounding Trump, is it better or worse to give him the publicity he craves?
I don't know where to put it, but I actually am finding a lot of Facebook friends annoying right now. I'm not commenting that of course, but these are people I like lol But we are only 9 days in and they are just firing off FB post after FB post about all the awful things happening and I just think, "Why?" Of course it's awful, he's awful, it's all awful. But 1. we've been doing that for almost a decade and all it got was another Trump term soooo maybe we try something else? I'm not saying normalize any of this or try to say it isn't as bad as it is...honestly I don't know what. And another part of me feels like we are doing exactly what they want. We are fanning the flames to their fire. They want to burn it down and the more we scream the faster it goes. I don't know. Once again I'm frustrated with leaders who seem just as lost as I do, which is fair, except they are literally elected to figure this out. Or at least have a game plan and they seem to be just scrambling.
The spending freeze sent a shockwave through academia. Real people count on federal dollars for their real livelihoods. And I think this was entirely deliberate. The Trump people know that academia is almost entirely comprised of liberals who hate them, and they targeted it to cause pain.
Democrats need to fight back when they have power. For example, car dealership owners are a well known (and well-monied) Republican constituency. Democrats should move to repeal laws that protect those businesses. They should do that even if those laws weren't really stupid (although they are), for the mere reason that they financially support their enemies.
And Sarah, FIRST Robotics "cooperitition" is all about helping out and being kind even when competing. How it plays out is multiple competitor teams pitching in to help fix a broken robot so it can be back in the competition. It's a really beautiful thing to witness and the world needs so much more of this.
I have so many game suggestions but I'll keep it small for now. Great Western Trail is FANTASTIC for feeling like a different game every time, having lots of different strategy options in a way that's not too complex, and it meets Beth's requirement to move stuff around.
Late to the party, but listening now. Sarah just pointed out that she wouldn’t discredit the criticisms about the overreach of the Biden administration to control Covid disinformation…
And it struck me how it’s just one more example of the hypocrisy of the MAGA crowd. They don’t like how the government “controlled” the narrative around Covid… and then elected Trump, who has always shut down and attempted to discredit anyone who doesn’t agree with him about anything. The administration that just yesterday pushed NPR, NBC, NYT, and Politico out of the pentagon press offices. The administration that announced and is following through with a witch hunt to remove anyone who might be an obstacle to their will.
The brazen hypocrisy is unfathomable at times.
I’m late to the party but I need yall to know about two games if you don’t already. The first is Pinochle, four person card game, so super fun!! Second, one of the best games to come out recently is Hues and Cues. It is so uncomplicated, pretty, and fun. Easy to play with any grouping of people, however varied or random.
I'm curious about how Trump will explain an increase in the unemployment rate when all these federal workers and others relying on federal funds for their jobs get laid off.
OMG I didn't even think about that!
The amount of times I tell my husband “you need to listen to Pantsuit Politics” is already high, but after listening to yesterday’s episode I texted him to tell him I’m forcing him to listen on our drive to Chicago this weekend because everything yall said is exactly what we’ve been telling each other the past few days
Games!!! My husband is a board game nerd!!! If you want a fun family game that will have you all laughing get Camel Up! It is a camel race with chaos and so fun! We also got Flip7 and Panda Royal for Christmas this year. The best!!!
How are y’all mitigating the absolute rage you feel when you hear their agenda laid out so plainly? I need some help y’all.
Something I'm realizing about conservatives is that budget issues are rarely seen as income problems; they are mostly assumed to be spending problems. This is why we can't get a federal minimum wage increase. You see this with most Christian-based financial systems. Increasing income is usually dead last in the suggestions for dealing with money problems, and often the "side gig" is just a temporary solution to a pesky problem that will go away once spending is cut. So the fact that this administration thinks that it can just cut all the costs and probably decrease income at the same time; kinda tracks.
Such an interesting observation that I’d never thought about! I’ll be thinking about that for awhile.
oooooo good point that I need to sit with
I have discovered that my favorite games are ones you play with a group, but your working on your own goals. A couple years ago we tried Wingspan and it just clicked. Love it! Similar games I enjoy is Wyrmspan (same company as Wingspan), Dune Imperium, Harmonies, the Trekking games, Ecosystem.
MMMK can I just start the game thread - I'll let the rest of you do the heavy lifting on this episode. I am officially delving into trying to get my series 7 and 66 license (which means nothing to 99% of you) so my brain really can't process everything right now. I'm in that category of people are still getting divorces, life is still happening, in the Bratcher house the most important thing (short of a life event) is this Bratcher getting a license. Obviously people getting deported is bigger than me getting a license, just saying, microscale to my life, that's where we are.
Games my family loves and I love to hear you family too because we are trying to add to our stack without just blowing money (when did games get so expensive???? I know... I'm getting old.)
Azul - love and it's so pretty.
Ticket to Ride - I have played several versions of this, we play the original at home I have a 7 & 10 year old. It's lengthy but both enjoy it but easily a 60-90 game.
Q-bitz - this is a fun kids want to play a game but it's close to bedtime type thing. Fun for all ages.
Qwirkel - I will be so sad when my kids age out of this.
Cover Your Assets - this a fun/easy kid or adult game.
Sequence Stacks - fun if you like cards. Easy concept. But can get a little boring if you don't swap it up.
Shut the Box - seriously never heard of this until my kids hit kindergarten. Get the 4 sided one - great to build math skills and fun (yeah we're a nerd family I have no shame).
Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza - it can get loud but fun.
Five Crowns - older kids for sure but so fun if you like card games/rummy/etc. I LOVE cards.
I like to add one a year and purge 1 that didn't live up to the hype. Anyone have personal reviews on "the Uzzle" ............I'm not spending that on a board game until someone other than a paid amazon review tells me it's worth $90. BUT we pledged more fam time and less screams so ya know... I'll do it under the clause of, "it's for the kids."
Also I'd love to hear what you guys play! Are there any quality 2 player games? My husband and I love games and about all we come up to play on our own once kiddos go to bed is Battleship or Mario Cart. And he won't play Battleship because he swears I tap into the Dark Arts to win lol... he's somehow really bad.
Our favorite two player games are: Far Away, Splendor Duel, Star Wars, Patch Work, Space Base. Some of those are 2+. As family games we LOVE Camel Up, Stone Age, Living Forest, Flip7, Panda Royal. We are a board game family and still haven’t unpacked all our boxes of games from the garage after our move last year! Oh! Dominion is also a favorite.
Thank you I have never heard of any of these LOL
I have been thinking about Beth’s question about if immigration raids and deportations are really going up or if they are just talking about and I feel confused about how to talk about what is happening. Is it better to make a big deal of it and try to get people riled up or to not have a big reaction because those people clearly want the publicity and to make communities fearful. Like so many things surrounding Trump, is it better or worse to give him the publicity he craves?
I don't know where to put it, but I actually am finding a lot of Facebook friends annoying right now. I'm not commenting that of course, but these are people I like lol But we are only 9 days in and they are just firing off FB post after FB post about all the awful things happening and I just think, "Why?" Of course it's awful, he's awful, it's all awful. But 1. we've been doing that for almost a decade and all it got was another Trump term soooo maybe we try something else? I'm not saying normalize any of this or try to say it isn't as bad as it is...honestly I don't know what. And another part of me feels like we are doing exactly what they want. We are fanning the flames to their fire. They want to burn it down and the more we scream the faster it goes. I don't know. Once again I'm frustrated with leaders who seem just as lost as I do, which is fair, except they are literally elected to figure this out. Or at least have a game plan and they seem to be just scrambling.
The spending freeze sent a shockwave through academia. Real people count on federal dollars for their real livelihoods. And I think this was entirely deliberate. The Trump people know that academia is almost entirely comprised of liberals who hate them, and they targeted it to cause pain.
Democrats need to fight back when they have power. For example, car dealership owners are a well known (and well-monied) Republican constituency. Democrats should move to repeal laws that protect those businesses. They should do that even if those laws weren't really stupid (although they are), for the mere reason that they financially support their enemies.
And Sarah, FIRST Robotics "cooperitition" is all about helping out and being kind even when competing. How it plays out is multiple competitor teams pitching in to help fix a broken robot so it can be back in the competition. It's a really beautiful thing to witness and the world needs so much more of this.
I have so many game suggestions but I'll keep it small for now. Great Western Trail is FANTASTIC for feeling like a different game every time, having lots of different strategy options in a way that's not too complex, and it meets Beth's requirement to move stuff around.
Where is Congress‘ role in this? If Congress appropriates money, why can the President freeze it all? And what the hell is Congress doing about it?
All of this just strikes me that the country is now being run like the Mob by a wannabe king/mob boss/dictator. Ugh.
Just ordered a Mahjong for Begninners book and set. My Pour It Out Council of friends have commited to giving it a try! Can't wait.