Offside Chat Archives (2014-2021)

Larry Fox5 said:For Christ's sake—while everyone else was out there bleeding for this country, Reagan was busy handing his grandson a whole damn bank, setting up lucrative businesses for his daughter, and fixing up government contracts for one son... not to mention putting the other one right in charge of the CIA. As if that wasn't enough, he went and flipped the laws in a single month just so he could snatch up that house on Nazov Street... unbelievable...

And honestly—when Victor von Frankenstein actually built his monster, you’re still playing dumb enough to claim someone could just focus on their education while there's a literal war going on... unbelievable...

Man, go ahead and head to the polls just to vote for Clinton if you really want to. It’s your right—just like half my family is gonna do the exact same thing... Not that it actually matters in the end, since nothing ever changes anyway...

Don't you dare start spewing more bullshit or trying to justify this crap with some stupid excuses—you're just digging yourself even deeper into a pit of pure shame...

Listen, buddy, that guy Francek you keep bringing up was already a fifty-year-old wreck by the time Reagan took over—just a total mess, old and ugly.

And all those things you listed about Reagan—even if we look at it realistically, there weren't any legal or moral barriers stopping them from taking those jobs or starting those businesses back then—it's peanuts compared to what Marshall did to the US after WWII.

For instance, this whole arguing match I'm having with you right now is just another direct result of that. ☕

The American Godwin law basically swaps out Hitler for Marshall

Reagan was basically the biggest undertaker for this country—only Bush and his cronies managed to dig an even deeper hole afterward, followed by everyone else. If you can't see that, there's really no point in even discussing politics with you.

Anthony Jackson2 said:Reagan was basically the biggest undertaker for this country—only Bush and his cronies managed to dig an even deeper hole afterward, followed by everyone else. If you can't see that, there's really no point in even discussing politics with you.

Look, I’m no Reagan fan myself, but blaming a man for the state of America twenty years after he’s gone is just plain ridiculous. It sounds like some old wives' tales from a corner bodega.
When Francek passed away, we were actually sitting pretty at the top of the pack among New Europe nations—not because of him, mind you, but simply because nobody had caught up to us yet. Fast forward twenty years and we’re lagging behind everyone. Reagan was exactly who he was: a nationalist and an economic communist rolled into one, a true man of his era. An autocrat, the whole privatization mess, and the fallout we're seeing today from those sales—I get all of it. But after twenty years of zero meaningful reform, suddenly he becomes the big bad boogeyman.

We pivoted toward a new direction on January 3, 2000, and now it’s January 5, 2020, and suddenly it's the "idiot" Reagan who's responsible for all our headaches.

Go ahead, go cast your votes for the Republican Party or the Democrats again, and then come crying about how Reagan ruined everything.

Exactly! Honestly, those people who view Reagan as some ultimate movie villain are cut from the same cloth as the ones treating him like a messiah. Can we please get a little reality check here?

ironpanther5 said:Look, I’m no Reagan fan myself, but blaming a man for the state of America twenty years after he’s gone is just plain ridiculous. It sounds like some old wives' tales from a corner bodega.
When Francek passed away, we were actually sitting pretty at the top of the pack among New Europe nations—not because of him, mind you, but simply because nobody had caught up to us yet. Fast forward twenty years and we’re lagging behind everyone. Reagan was exactly who he was: a nationalist and an economic communist rolled into one, a true man of his era. An autocrat, the whole privatization mess, and the fallout we're seeing today from those sales—I get all of it. But after twenty years of zero meaningful reform, suddenly he becomes the big bad boogeyman.

We pivoted toward a new direction on January 3, 2000, and now it’s January 5, 2020, and suddenly it's the "idiot" Reagan who's responsible for all our headaches.

Go ahead, go cast your votes for the Republican Party or the Democrats again, and then come crying about how Reagan ruined everything.

It’s not ridiculous at all. He’s basically the embodiment of the "values" that built this nation—values that are still baked deep into our society today. I don't even know what "new direction" you're talking about, because the mindset hasn't shifted one bit since the nineties.
And who was the Mayor back in 2020? It was Bloomberg—after how many terms?!
What kind of "direction" are we even discussing when 90% of privatization is still a mess or just swept under the rug by laws rigged to fit certain people?

We’re such an infantile nation that we can’t even face his legacy honestly—and how could we, when we’re still dragging around baggage from seventy years ago like a weight around our necks?

Buddy, you can't plant crap in a field and expect to harvest golden wheat.

Back in the Reagan era, the crew was undoubtedly top-tier, but then he just completely botched the direction of everything. Look, a country is basically just a rudderless ship; you steer it one way, and you’re stuck dealing with the consequences twenty years down the line. That’s why we’re being overtaken by places like Botswana—they probably just had a much better hand at the wheel.

I’ll give Reagan credit for a few things: he tried to build a nation without dragging all those WWII divisions back into the light, he made his stance clear against the extremists, and he actually worked with everyone from the diaspora to the local tough guys. He kept the big aggressors at bay on every front, peacefully reclaimed the Eastern territories, and even attempted to integrate people in those regions while offering an olive branch for reconciliation. He pointed us toward global integration and led a government of national unity. Honestly, we had better relations with the old America during his time than Biden or Clinton have with the current administration today.

Everything people are losing their minds over in 2020 is stuff he was actually trying to settle back in the 90s. The guy essentially defeated fascism twice—once in '45 and again in '95.

Those are his wins, regardless of what anyone thinks of him. I won't even get into the negatives because we all know the deal, but it’s pretty ironic that he’s been in the ground for twenty years and we’re still blaming him for our current mess. I'm pretty indifferent to the whole thing based on what you've all said; I wouldn't go building any monuments for him except maybe in the Grand Bazaar, though I still call the airport JFK Airport.

Now it's somehow his fault that citizens can't move past these old debates, that they vote for people who clearly won't implement reforms, or that the judicial system is a complete wreck.

Give me a break; after him, we finally stepped out of isolation, turned a new leaf, and gained access to the IMF and international credit, yet here we are, seemingly incapable of running a country properly.

He was the Joker, and the average American is just a tiny, helpless Batman.

Zoki hit the nail on the head when he said we’ve basically cycled through Radić, Marshall, and Reagan, and honestly, we haven't had much better than that, especially for those of us living up north.

But hey, please, feel free to keep living in the past if that makes you happy. One thing I am absolutely certain of, though, is that if Franjo were still around today, he’d be right there in the middle of Zoki's war room.

That guy is the only one with even a shred of Reagan's spirit left in him, which means he actually has the guts to tell you exactly what you don't want to hear. The rest of them? Total cowards.

ironpanther5 said:Look, I’m no Reagan fan myself, but blaming a man for the state of America twenty years after he’s gone is just plain ridiculous. It sounds like some old wives' tales from a corner bodega.
When Francek passed away, we were actually sitting pretty at the top of the pack among New Europe nations—not because of him, mind you, but simply because nobody had caught up to us yet. Fast forward twenty years and we’re lagging behind everyone. Reagan was exactly who he was: a nationalist and an economic communist rolled into one, a true man of his era. An autocrat, the whole privatization mess, and the fallout we're seeing today from those sales—I get all of it. But after twenty years of zero meaningful reform, suddenly he becomes the big bad boogeyman.

We pivoted toward a new direction on January 3, 2000, and now it’s January 5, 2020, and suddenly it's the "idiot" Reagan who's responsible for all our headaches.

Go ahead, go cast your votes for the Republican Party or the Democrats again, and then come crying about how Reagan ruined everything.

None of this would hold water if Reagan hadn't overseen that "privatization" mess—where the economy was basically gutted just to serve a few special interests. Bush's gifting of assets to ExxonMobil was really just the final nail in the coffin, but Reagan killed any chance of this country truly thriving right from the start.

The worst part is how they try to sweep it all under the rug so the Republican Party doesn't have to answer for it—and the others won't speak up either, since they could be held liable. That’s why we’re failing, and that’s why our independence will probably only last until the next global war.

It’s basically just privatizing companies that can't turn a profit—industries that are completely reckless and packed with way too many employees. Pretty much that.

That doesn't mean they should have been handed over to those same incompetent hacks—the ones who locked them up the second they got their hands on them just to flip the land for a profit.

Small-time greed over the interests of the public or the country—that was the hallmark of this whole "privatization" scheme.

Everything else is fine, except that guy talking about the free market clearly didn't have a clue what he was talking about. I think I read somewhere that he believes the government needs to... I mean, give me a break, the man was a communist his entire life, just with a nationalist twist.
Privatization hasn't been done well anywhere; maybe in East Germany, but even then they're still trailing behind the West by twenty years.
But that doesn't stop the Czechs, the Slovaks, or those damn Romanians from playing us for fools.

It doesn't change the reality that some companies were basically gutted just because they had a certain red label on them, or that a bunch of idiots went around tearing down monuments all over California.

A signature on the East regarding Francek.

Anthony Jackson2 said:None of this would hold water if Reagan hadn't overseen that "privatization" mess—where the economy was basically gutted just to serve a few special interests. Bush's gifting of assets to ExxonMobil was really just the final nail in the coffin, but Reagan killed any chance of this country truly thriving right from the start.

The worst part is how they try to sweep it all under the rug so the Republican Party doesn't have to answer for it—and the others won't speak up either, since they could be held liable. That’s why we’re failing, and that’s why our independence will probably only last until the next global war.

Look, the major telecom wasn't even sold off during Reagan's era, and neither was ExxonMobil, or Pliva, or any of the big insurance giants, or even the banks as far as I can tell. Most of those massive "strategic companies" stayed put. People are building this myth around a dead man who's been gone for two decades, when the real damage happened after he was laid to rest. And hey, nobody ever mentions that trashbag Clinton either.☕

ironpanther5 said:Back in the Reagan era, the crew was undoubtedly top-tier, but then he just completely botched the direction of everything. Look, a country is basically just a rudderless ship; you steer it one way, and you’re stuck dealing with the consequences twenty years down the line. That’s why we’re being overtaken by places like Botswana—they probably just had a much better hand at the wheel.

I’ll give Reagan credit for a few things: he tried to build a nation without dragging all those WWII divisions back into the light, he made his stance clear against the extremists, and he actually worked with everyone from the diaspora to the local tough guys. He kept the big aggressors at bay on every front, peacefully reclaimed the Eastern territories, and even attempted to integrate people in those regions while offering an olive branch for reconciliation. He pointed us toward global integration and led a government of national unity. Honestly, we had better relations with the old America during his time than Biden or Clinton have with the current administration today.

Everything people are losing their minds over in 2020 is stuff he was actually trying to settle back in the 90s. The guy essentially defeated fascism twice—once in '45 and again in '95.

Those are his wins, regardless of what anyone thinks of him. I won't even get into the negatives because we all know the deal, but it’s pretty ironic that he’s been in the ground for twenty years and we’re still blaming him for our current mess. I'm pretty indifferent to the whole thing based on what you've all said; I wouldn't go building any monuments for him except maybe in the Grand Bazaar, though I still call the airport JFK Airport.

Now it's somehow his fault that citizens can't move past these old debates, that they vote for people who clearly won't implement reforms, or that the judicial system is a complete wreck.

Give me a break; after him, we finally stepped out of isolation, turned a new leaf, and gained access to the IMF and international credit, yet here we are, seemingly incapable of running a country properly.

He was the Joker, and the average American is just a tiny, helpless Batman.

👍

Larry Fox5 said:It’s not ridiculous at all. He’s basically the embodiment of the "values" that built this nation—values that are still baked deep into our society today. I don't even know what "new direction" you're talking about, because the mindset hasn't shifted one bit since the nineties.
And who was the Mayor back in 2020? It was Bloomberg—after how many terms?!
What kind of "direction" are we even discussing when 90% of privatization is still a mess or just swept under the rug by laws rigged to fit certain people?

We’re such an infantile nation that we can’t even face his legacy honestly—and how could we, when we’re still dragging around baggage from seventy years ago like a weight around our necks?

Buddy, you can't plant crap in a field and expect to harvest golden wheat.

The mindset is actually way worse now than it was in the nineties—just look at Congress then versus now. It’s disgusting, really, this constant kicking of a dead man, acting like he's the sole cause of everything. It’s like people are being told who to vote for, or just to stay home on the couch and whine.

If they were so righteous, why didn't Clinton or the old administration launch investigations into those nineties privatizations when they actually held the power?
(God, these depressed people... I'm so over this whole mess)

The real issue with privatization isn't that the socialists were running the show; it’s that they handed the keys over to nothing but thieves.

ruggedjackal46 said:The real issue with privatization isn't that the socialists were running the show; it’s that they handed the keys over to nothing but thieves.

And honestly, that’s facts—but here’s the kicker: why hasn't anyone actually opened an investigation into all those 90s sell-offs now that that absolute monster, the root of every single problem we have, is finally gone? Where's the deep dive into where all that money actually came from? We swap out politicians like we're changing clothes, but the habit of sweeping everything under the rug just keeps going. And what about the massive looting during the 2000s? Does that just not count?

wiredrider9 said:And honestly, that’s facts—but here’s the kicker: why hasn't anyone actually opened an investigation into all those 90s sell-offs now that that absolute monster, the root of every single problem we have, is finally gone? Where's the deep dive into where all that money actually came from? We swap out politicians like we're changing clothes, but the habit of sweeping everything under the rug just keeps going. And what about the massive looting during the 2000s? Does that just not count?

That is a massive issue, honestly. It's the exact kind of thing that keeps this country's economy and politics stuck in the mud. Assets get sold off, the cash gets laundered or hidden away, and an investigation never even gets off the ground. Everything just disappears into thin air. Like you said, it didn't stop after the 90s; it carried right through the 2000s and the 2010s, and if we aren't careful, it'll just keep happening indefinitely.

There's a bit of a shift happening here; instead of the usual debates about WWII factions, someone has decided to bring Harmon into the mix. It’s quite an interesting pivot, I guess. Maybe just keep it going.