Offside Chat Archives (2014-2021)

Noah Perez2 said:It is possible you are right regarding the operating hours of local convenience stores; I know for a fact that the small neighborhood markets back then rarely operated on Sundays, and major shopping malls didn't even exist, so nobody was complaining about it. Regardless, there is still no explanation for how such a massive pivot occurred among you leftists—how you suddenly decided to defend big capital and corporate chains like Walmart overnight, rather than fighting for the interests of workers and their right to rest?
Is that supposed to be the priority according to your worldview?

Do not attempt to lecture me with this nonsense about protecting the "little guy." It is perfectly obvious that the corporation reaps all the profits from retail, while the worker is merely a tool used to achieve them.

What I want to know is how you changed your mind so drastically and so quickly; you still haven't answered that.

I am writing about it because it was the subject of our discussion, and I have already provided my conclusion. To be clear: I am not advocating for work bans, but if stores are banned from Sunday operations, frankly, I could not care less. It would have zero impact on my lifestyle, nor would it bother me personally. Understood?

And what exactly would you try to retroactively ban based on my conclusion? If my writing bothers you, you have the option to use the ignore button or simply log out.

It seems you have lost the thread of a rational discussion. Forcing someone to the store? Who, whom, when, or how?
The Church exploited it? When exactly did the Church officially pass a law banning retail on Sundays?

Am I allowed to be annoyed by discussions where the interlocutor foams at the mouth with ideological projections and hatred, rendering them incapable of composing a single articulated sentence?

☕

I read that right here on this forum.
Look, I’m no leftist, so your little outbursts are essentially meaningless; they're built entirely on a false premise.

Matthew Young35 said:I read that right here on this forum.
Look, I’m no leftist, so your little outbursts are essentially meaningless; they're built entirely on a false premise.

Ah, so I have mistaken you for someone else.

In that case, accept my apologies.

brightpilot6 said:You’ve just earned an automatic spot in my personal hall of fame.

I didn't touch a single word by Hemingway until I was thirty, and then suddenly, I stumbled upon his work.

Good grief.

That level of artistry, that profound window into the human psyche through a depiction of old-world Americana... it all flows through these stunning sentences, with a rhythm and vocabulary so vivid it feels like you're looking at a moving painting.

I’ve devoured his entire body of prose since then, likely more than once.

Perhaps I'm being a bit dramatic, but to me, Hemingway is the ultimate master of the craft.

If you're looking for more, I’d highly suggest checking out Steinbeck’s East of Eden, or sticking with Hemingway’s own The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms. I could talk about this for days.

We read The Bridge on the Drina back in high school as required reading.
🤷

Noah Perez2 said:Ah, so I have mistaken you for someone else.

In that case, accept my apologies.

We read The Bridge on the Drina back in high school as required reading.
🤷

Back in my day, when I was just a kid helping out at church, we weren't exactly sitting around reading those occultist books! 😂

Matthew Young35 said:I read that right here on this forum.
Look, I’m no leftist, so your little outbursts are essentially meaningless; they're built entirely on a false premise.

A nationalist?

Everyone knows how we roll. You head to Mass, hit up the sportsbook, grab a coffee, then go to your mom's for lunch. Then you throw on some boxers—mandatory if you were out late the night before—grab some nails from Home Depot, take a stroll through Central Park, grab another coffee, and spend the evening hanging with your girl, assuming she actually feels like seeing you.☕ Who's wasting their damn time at malls or shopping centers?

Amanda Evans2 said:This entire discussion has spiraled completely off course.
The mandate regarding Sunday closures was handed down by the task force tasked with fighting the coronavirus.
A supposedly sacred and infallible task force.
A group that was ostensibly here to properly combat and manage this pandemic.
But the very moment they decided to throttle the economy while simultaneously permitting religious processions, any semblance of logic or trust in this committee vanished. Honestly, I don't think anyone with half a brain can take them seriously anymore.
Implementing these Sunday restrictions as an epidemiological measure only reinforces my long-standing belief: this isn't about public health experts managing a virus; it’s about much more dangerous agendas at play.
I have been saying this since day one of this task force's existence, and it becomes more glaringly obvious with every passing day.

We aren't just talking about the usual seasonal debate over Sunday business hours that pops up whenever the Church makes its presence felt.
This is a conversation about unilateral decisions made without any dialogue—decisions that bear almost no actual relationship to the "fight" they keep preaching to us about.
This supposed fight against the pandemic.

How exactly is working on a Sunday more epidemiologically hazardous than working on a Saturday under the CDC's guidelines?
It's infuriating. Someone please explain the logic...

The idea that they should be the ones deciding whether businesses operate on Sundays or not feels completely nonsensical. From the very beginning, it has been apparent that what our leaders are performing is little more than a grand charade—a mere smokescreen for repressive and authoritarian tactics. And it seems the mainstream media has quite willingly assisted them by helping to instill fear within the public.

Yesterday in the States, there were another 6,740 new cases reported, but I guess I’m just not seeing any news reports about bodies being hauled away in trucks, nor am I seeing any widespread hysteria.

🤷

brightpilot6 said:You’ve just earned an automatic spot in my personal hall of fame.

I didn't touch a single word by Hemingway until I was thirty, and then suddenly, I stumbled upon his work.

Good grief.

That level of artistry, that profound window into the human psyche through a depiction of old-world Americana... it all flows through these stunning sentences, with a rhythm and vocabulary so vivid it feels like you're looking at a moving painting.

I’ve devoured his entire body of prose since then, likely more than once.

Perhaps I'm being a bit dramatic, but to me, Hemingway is the ultimate master of the craft.

If you're looking for more, I’d highly suggest checking out Steinbeck’s East of Eden, or sticking with Hemingway’s own The Old Man and the Sea and A Farewell to Arms. I could talk about this for days.

As I approach my thirties, I find myself developing this immense appreciation for chess. There seems to be something about being in one's thirties.

Anthony Wright30 said:The idea that they should be the ones deciding whether businesses operate on Sundays or not feels completely nonsensical. From the very beginning, it has been apparent that what our leaders are performing is little more than a grand charade—a mere smokescreen for repressive and authoritarian tactics. And it seems the mainstream media has quite willingly assisted them by helping to instill fear within the public.

The media is helping them because the government promised them support.

That meeting between the President and the press is probably more dangerous for America than the pandemic was.

It’s all just clickbait media at this point, honestly. This whole level of hysteria wouldn't even be a thing ten years ago if you look at the big picture globally.

urbanhawk17 said:The media is helping them because the government promised them support.

That meeting between the President and the press is probably more dangerous for America than the pandemic was.

And there we have Eno and Zeljka Markic, looking absolutely thrilled about it all.

🤣

Elizabeth Mendoza said:Congrats to the Board! We’re just waiting on two more things:

1. implementing electronic and mail-in voting—you know, for the sake of public health and democracy.
2. banning the current President from speaking (for a while)
- mostly for the nation's mental health.

🤣

From everything I’ve heard through the grapevine, she’s actually a super sharp individual

and don't even get me started on her credentials or what she’s accomplished professionally

but honestly, that last comment? Total troll move, pure and simple🤣

Honestly, listening to Markicku was such a breath of fresh air, you know? I mean, look, I definitely don't vibe with those extreme takes he was throwing out there—not even a little bit—but man, wouldn't it be something if people actually started backing solid initiatives just because they're good, regardless of who’s behind them? Right now, though, that feels like a total pipe dream.

Paul Sanders5 said:Man, if they make another one of those documentaries about Nike vs. Under Armour, I’m totally out.

So, who ended up winning the whole thing?

Matthew Young35 said:I read that right here on this forum.
Look, I’m no leftist, so your little outbursts are essentially meaningless; they're built entirely on a false premise.

You're quite the pilot, aren't you?☕

Carol Lewis said:So, who ended up winning the whole thing?

At the end of the day—if you can even call it that—it’s just the US, all over again. As usual.

Nancy Sanchez31 said:You're quite the pilot, aren't you?☕

🤣

I suppose I might be wondering if anyone else here happens to be stuck in self-isolation at the moment?

Anthony Wright30 said:As I approach my thirties, I find myself developing this immense appreciation for chess. There seems to be something about being in one's thirties.

I’ve been playing my entire life, though I became absolutely obsessed once sites like Chess.com started popping up. It’s a blessing they exist, honestly, because most of my local players have pretty much hung it up. It’s such a beautiful game, even if it does trigger these intense bouts of addiction and total preoccupation.

If there’s any silver lining to this whole pandemic situation, perhaps it’s that I’ve finally managed to catch up with the new generation of players, since I didn't really know anyone outside of Magnus Carlsen before. They’re still out there competing, so there’s plenty of action to follow.

Our own American grandmaster has an excellent chess channel on YouTube (Agadmator)—it's actually one of the biggest in the world, so I highly recommend checking it out!

Noah Perez2 said:Ah, so I have mistaken you for someone else.

In that case, accept my apologies.

We read The Bridge on the Drina back in high school as required reading.
🤷

We didn't have it on the curriculum... perhaps because we were living too close to the fallout of war, the subject matter is sensitive, and frankly, the book itself wasn't exactly beyond reproach.

But in a way, I’m glad we missed it; I don't think I would have been able to process or truly feel its weight through the lens of a sixteen-year-old's mind and experience quite the same way.

Most of those books they force you to read for school assignments are honestly impossible to wrap your head around when you're that young, so you really ought to just go back and dive into them all again later in life once things click.

I played chess through pretty much my entire schooling years, though I was definitely more into it back in elementary school than high school, but eventually, I just had to quit because you need someone actually decent to play against, and I was basically crushing everyone at home way too easily, plus online chess just never really did anything for me.
Then I ended up finding that same kind of vibe in billiards, though unfortunately, I don't really play pool anymore, but man, both of those games are just top-tier.