36 Comments
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Epaminondas's avatar

This reminds me of the old meme: "I never thought leopards would eat MY face,' sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party."

Piker and Tolentino are either too stupid or too arrogant to realize the logical end game of what they are advocating for. Perhaps they should read a little history and find out what happened during the French Revolution, the reign of the Khmer Rouge, or the many other times when people "engage in some kind of organized disruption that would be infinitely more effective."

Troy Jensen's avatar

The Khmer Rouge? Lmao You're more delusional than they are

Elizabeth Rome's avatar

You are correct Batya. The rich— just DON’T CARE. They are totally not affected by their views, opinions etc.

they live in soft, cushy bubbles with no real life concerns.

Steenroid's avatar

The difference between the Left and the Right…Charlie Kirk is dead and Piker is giving interviews and speaking on college campuses. Ironic.

Bill Tucker's avatar

Oh the brutal irony. Get caught stealing in Iran and see where that leads. As a matter of fact, get caught promoting murder and theft anywhere in the real world outside of social media and America and tell me there are no consequences.

Troy Jensen's avatar

If you get caught stealing in Iran they kill 400,000 protestors and at least 8 AI-generated women.

Jorge Finkielman's avatar

Thank you!

Ronny F's avatar

They have no idea how poorly they would fare if the world ever truly does adopt their pathetic moral standards. They’d learn the hard way that rules, laws, and police don’t actually exist to protect citizens from criminals, they exist to protect the criminals from the mob.

Paulette's avatar

And they are totally blind to the fact that stealing from Whole Foods, or any grocery store, increases the costs of groceries for everyone, including the poorest people in our country. The people they claim are the most victimized by corporate grocery stores.

Troy Jensen's avatar

I think they're quite open and clear-eyed about stealing from Whole Foods, a notorious enclave of the uber-wealthy. You're commenting on an article commentary about an interview. We all steal from Whole Foods and soon your pantry

Clarity Seeker's avatar

They are just doing their bit to make big cities more affordable

Dan Daugherty's avatar

They don't think it does. In a high margin business, the price is derived by what people will pay, not how much it costs to produce the product. Stealing from Walmart might affect Walmart's price more than stealing from Whole Foods will affect Whole Foods' price. Poor people aren't shopping at Whole Foods.

Deb Hunt's avatar

Groceries as a whole are low margin, though, some luxury goods may have a higher margin

Dan Daugherty's avatar

Specifically, Whole Foods is NOT low on margin.

Jane Gordon's avatar

Specifically, having worked for Whole Foods for nearly 20 years, their margin is just as slim as any grocery store.

Jeff Keener's avatar

A taste of their own medicine would do them some good. It's their moral vanity that makes them so contemptible.

Jordan B's avatar

Not to overlook the insanity of the philosophy of these delusional morons or the fury the central class should feel (but doesn’t because the zombies aren’t quite coming for them, yet), but the NYT’s amplification of this ideology ought to be indictable and front page news. Holy F#%$&K.

Clarity Seeker's avatar

What is the punishment for stealing under Islamic Law? Do these folks believe in the rule of law or not?

Kari Hartman Williams's avatar

Tolentino sure does like to use the word ‘valence’

I too, can use it in a sentence, such as, ‘I’d like to see a valence of karma delivered to her face poste haste’.

Philip L Miller's avatar

I don't believe it. I don't believe that Mamdani, Rohit Khanna, and AOC are in the Democrat Party's top tier. After all, they have - 1) National: Kamala Harris (apparently stupid as a stick and thick of tongue, but that worked for Joe Biden), Hakeem Jeffries (nope, not top-tier), John Fetterman (appeals to the broad center on matters across the board, e.g., strong on race, pro-Israel, anti-crime - absolutely no chance of being a Democrat leader on any tier) and Chuck Schumer (yuck). 2) The governors seem more likely: Gavin Newsom (people know who he is, makes an effort to be nice, completely feckless which might be a plus, really), Andy Beshear (bipartisan support in Kentucky, largely OK on matters of race and Israel but vetoed a bill that would have kept males out of women's sports - so culturally left and who heard of him), J.B. Pritzker (makes my skin craw but maybe OK for the Dems.), Gretchen Whitmer (She has Michigan all sewn up. She is pro-Israel and fiscally center-left. On race, she is a person who proclaims "racism as a systemic public health crisis." I think she is lying for fool's gold popularity. Of the LEFT women, she strikes me as the most likely to actually lead the Democrat Party. Can she go wider and win a presidential election in 2028? Of course she can. Kathy Hochul (Has name recognition, her position on race is cartoon left, comparing very poorly to Wes Moore, for example, pro-Israel and fiscally center left - she has zero chance of leading today's Democrat party.), Josh Shapiro (Well received by Pennsylvania, but I doubt that his opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu will be enough to overcome the fact that this man is OPENLY JEWISH!!!). Maura Healey (her open lesbianism seems spot on for Democrat leadership, but may be seen as not electable as a presidential candidate), Wes Moore (Appeals to me, so this man cannot possibly lead the Democrats.) Perhaps Shapiro, Fetterman and Moore would find their places in the post-Trump Republican party.

Note on race and slavery, the Civil War and American war deaths: Slavery was America's original sin. America has paid dearly, and continues to pay. It is almost certainly still the case that more Americans were killed in the 1861-1865 Civil War than the sum of American deaths in all other American wars combined. The definitive study is in the "New estimates of US Civil War mortality from full-census records,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), November 18, 2024. (The National Academy of Sciences is beyond the gold standard for academic research. They are simply the very, very best of the best.) They put the number of Civil War dead at ~698,000 (+ or - 50,000 ) Americans. That comes to 2.22% of all Americans living in 1860 killed in the war. 698,000 ÷ 31,443,321 ≈ 2.22%. All other wars combined (Revolutionary War through 2026, excluding Civil War) are in the range of ~650,000–710,000 (aggregated from Department of Defense / VA historical summaries). When spread across much larger populations in later wars, the combined per-population impact remains well under 0.3%. This comment was supported by Don Grok, Estrella de la Mañana, Hijo del Amanecer, creado por la fábrica de xAI. (AKA Grok, created by xAI.)

Hint to readers. Sin has consequences in this life as well as the next.

Troy Jensen's avatar

Israel is a small nation of perverts and murderers across the globe. Why is it important that the governor of Kentucky be "OK on Israel"?

Dutchmn007's avatar

Used to be referred by that a lot. In the 1960’s it started changing. Being a devotee of Military History from a young age, I’ve stumbled upon these modern “re-characterizations” too many times. Doing what little I can to correct the record ;<)

Dutchmn007's avatar

Used to be referred by that a lot. In the 1960’s it started changing. Being a devotee of Military History from a young age, I’ve stumbled upon these modern “re-characterizations” too many times. Doing what little I can to correct the record ;<)

Dutchmn007's avatar

“𝙲̶𝚒̶𝚟̶𝚒̶𝚕̶ ̶𝚆̶𝚊̶𝚛̶”

“The War Between The States” is actually better terminology; a “civil war” denotes two (or more) factions inside a nation fighting for predominance. That isn’t what took place here; rather a group of states formed their own confederation & left the Union.

Philip L Miller's avatar

Thank you, Dutchmn007. I'll keep that in mind.

bhs66's avatar

Hasan the “piker” is a moral and ethical human reprobate. The upsize down post modern delusion he swims in is begging for exactly what he has proclaimed is justified. May the “oppressed”who have experienced ‘societal murder’ in LA visit his 3 million dollar home and help themselves to all the goodies inside and maybe squat there in his absence. After all he deserves it too! Right piker?

Troy Jensen's avatar

What are you, Rodney Dangerfield? Hasan the Piker lmao

Deb Hunt's avatar

It might wake up the public if this happened

Richard's avatar

I am so old I can remember "Steal this Book". Nothing is ever new.

Troy Jensen's avatar

Batya, you have a doctorate in English literature, why don't you try a bit harder to understand Piker's claim of "social murder"? Brian Johnson was the CEO of the company that had the highest claim-denial rate of any in the US. Why dismiss it so flippantly?

Dutchmn007's avatar

The moral vacuousness of the left never ceases to amaze me. What would be funny would be someone to set him up - rip off his whole apt (or wherever he lives) - then send him a note stating it was all done in the spirit of “confiscation & redistribution”.

Wonder how he’d feel about it then?