Oh, that poor "deprived" and "abused" Walmart corporation!

[Audie]

Sorry, but that's just foolishness. Your money is absolutely worthless unless everyone else agrees to honor it as having value. What you think you "own" is just a mutual fantasy agreed to by the humans you share this planet with. You have NOTHING without their inter-dependent participation. And yet you imagine that you are some sort of materialistic autonomous island. That's just complete nonsense. And t's just a foolish excuse to dismiss your human-to-human responsibility to everyone else around you.

This is the kind of toxic insanity that our current "greed is a virtue" culture promotes and endorses.

SOMEONE here sure is spewing toxic insanity.

 

[PureX]

You just make things up.

Watch the videos, then.

 

[SugarOcean]

I once knew a poor man who took some wholesome food, not candy bars, from a Walmart in a Red state that had a total retail value of $97 and some change. He got caught by loss-prevention personnel and the police came and cited him for petty theft. This was in the spring of 2017. In this Red state it may as well had been in 1817 given their backward mentality.

He subsequently made a plea deal with his public defender. His lawyer told him that in the eyes of the judge that he (a poor person) had DEPRIVED Walmart (only the richest business entity in the world).

Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprivation.

Good Lord!

No, deprivation is stealing a poor old woman's social security check out of the mail.
Deprivation is stealing some man's car or horse while leaving him to die in the desert,
for goodness sake.

How dare the legal system use terms like deprivation against the poor in regards to taking a crumb
from a "rich man's floor", so to speak!

Taking unpaid groceries might be against man's penal code law or even the Ten
Commandments, but it is hardy a heinous crime.

Stealing from the poor whatever little they posses materially is indeed evil and heinous!

My poor aching heart just totally bleeds for Walmart...

...like a TURNIP!!

How many Americans has Walmart made poor to date due to job loss?

This poor man had to do five days in a weekend jail which served the most ungodly "food". He also had to pay close to $600 in combined court costs, fines and for "rent" in that weekend jail in spite of his limited VA pension income. The man was disabled and could not bag sand for five days as a jail alternative. Idaho is not California. They have no compassion for the disabled as well. If you have medical issues in California, the jail alternatives there might be office work or filing papers. The man wasn't offered house arrest (the ANKLE BRACELET) as an alternative either in this medieval state. The older Ada County sheriff deputy also spoke some unkind words to this pitiful man, age 53, when he was released. "Get out of here and don't ever come back again!" Not a simple goodbye. Or, farewell and have better luck in life. Verbal insult (just like the word DEPRIVED) on top of financial injury and being tormented a few days by jail cuisine.

This Red state is the state of Idaho, of course. I know full well that those in authority and those with means in the state of Idaho have no mercy or compunction for the poor. But they are generous, still, as generous as a turnip (or should I say Idaho potato or sugar beet?) you are trying to squeeze blood from.

The Idaho judge must have thought he was being
"charitable" and "kind hearted" for reducing this man's fine from "the standard $500" to $250 and suspending 85 days of 90 days jail in the sentence.

The moral of the story: don't you poor dare get caught taking so much as a crumb from the rich in any Red state. Their cuisine is not as nice as the cuisine in many California jails.

The man was a thief! You're making excuses for a thief.
Who could have sought public assistance to sustain himself. Food stamps, like that. Or food banks, are available. Public libraries here collect for food banks. And if someone is hungry and desperate the library contacts help.
He could stand out in public with a sign. HUNGRY! PLEASE HELP!
He could do anything but think to go to a store where there are clearly security camera's all over the place and STEAL!

Instead, you or this person you're imagining is our business just so you could slam Republicans thought to steal from a store. Walmart or otherwise, he was a thief!

It isn't the politics that made that person a thief. It was that person who thought they weren't any better than to steal from a company. Oh, they stole wholesome food. Yeah, that makes a difference.
That's like excusing a car thief with the rubbish, he stole a top of the line 2019 Jaguar. Not a used Hyundai.
The "Red State" nonsense is a red herring. You or your friend, whomever you're actually referring to is a thief. That's it. No excuses. And guess what? Walmart's are in Blue states too. And they arrest people who steal there regardless because , and this is news to you I realize, taking what you don't pay for is illegal!

 

[Audie]

Watch the videos, then.

So the figures I quoted are declared by you to be
false? Your claim about billionaire / pennies is what is false.

I could buy everything you own and donate it to Goodwill.
What that convince you?

 

[Stanyon]

Did you read that its done in some places? And the food at the food bank here, its loaded with HFCS, sodium, simple carbs, and is overall foods that will wreck health if thats all that is consumed. Fruit is good, but canned fruit in heavy syrups arent really even healthy anymore at that point.

Glad it worked out in some places, some may not be able to do it. Whenever I buy canned fruit it is always in natural juices, no need for the syrup.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Glad it worked out in some places, some may not be able to do it. Whenever I buy canned fruit it is always in natural juices, no need for the syrup.

Were not talking about buying food, but food given to people too poor to buy their own. A diabetic basically cant eat from the food pantry Ive been referencing. Nor can someone with heart problems. And its definitely not what you need to eat if you need to lose weight (but it will prime people for obesity).

 

[Stevicus]

I might surmise that in your world, theft is fine & dandy.
It would go unpunished.
Consider the consequences if it were legal.

It's a question of priorities. Technically, if you drop a penny on the ground and someone picks it up the next day, they're guilty of theft. Should they put out an APB and do a house-to-house search to find the culprit so that your money can be returned?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I once knew a poor man who took some wholesome food, not candy bars, from a Walmart in a Red state that had a total retail value of $97 and some change. He got caught by loss-prevention personnel and the police came and cited him for petty theft. This was in the spring of 2017. In this Red state it may as well had been in 1817 given their backward mentality.

He subsequently made a plea deal with his public defender. His lawyer told him that in the eyes of the judge that he (a poor person) had DEPRIVED Walmart (only the richest business entity in the world).

Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprivation.

Good Lord!

No, deprivation is stealing a poor old woman's social security check out of the mail.
Deprivation is stealing some man's car or horse while leaving him to die in the desert,
for goodness sake.

How dare the legal system use terms like deprivation against the poor in regards to taking a crumb
from a "rich man's floor", so to speak!

Taking unpaid groceries might be against man's penal code law or even the Ten
Commandments, but it is hardy a heinous crime.

Stealing from the poor whatever little they posses materially is indeed evil and heinous!

My poor aching heart just totally bleeds for Walmart...

...like a TURNIP!!

How many Americans has Walmart made poor to date due to job loss?

This poor man had to do five days in a weekend jail which served the most ungodly "food". He also had to pay close to $600 in combined court costs, fines and for "rent" in that weekend jail in spite of his limited VA pension income. The man was disabled and could not bag sand for five days as a jail alternative. Idaho is not California. They have no compassion for the disabled as well. If you have medical issues in California, the jail alternatives there might be office work or filing papers. The man wasn't offered house arrest (the ANKLE BRACELET) as an alternative either in this medieval state. The older Ada County sheriff deputy also spoke some unkind words to this pitiful man, age 53, when he was released. "Get out of here and don't ever come back again!" Not a simple goodbye. Or, farewell and have better luck in life. Verbal insult (just like the word DEPRIVED) on top of financial injury and being tormented a few days by jail cuisine.

This Red state is the state of Idaho, of course. I know full well that those in authority and those with means in the state of Idaho have no mercy or compunction for the poor. But they are generous, still, as generous as a turnip (or should I say Idaho potato or sugar beet?) you are trying to squeeze blood from.

The Idaho judge must have thought he was being
"charitable" and "kind hearted" for reducing this man's fine from "the standard $500" to $250 and suspending 85 days of 90 days jail in the sentence.

The moral of the story: don't you poor dare get caught taking so much as a crumb from the rich in any Red state. Their cuisine is not as nice as the cuisine in many California jails.

Yeah, that was definitely overkill and outrageous. I believe criminal penalties should only be proportionate to the crime committed. No more, no less.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

I once knew a poor man who took some wholesome food, not candy bars, from a Walmart in a Red state that had a total retail value of $97 and some change. He got caught by loss-prevention personnel and the police came and cited him for petty theft. This was in the spring of 2017. In this Red state it may as well had been in 1817 given their backward mentality.

He subsequently made a plea deal with his public defender. His lawyer told him that in the eyes of the judge that he (a poor person) had DEPRIVED Walmart (only the richest business entity in the world).

Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprived.
Deprivation.

Good Lord!

No, deprivation is stealing a poor old woman's social security check out of the mail.
Deprivation is stealing some man's car or horse while leaving him to die in the desert,
for goodness sake.

How dare the legal system use terms like deprivation against the poor in regards to taking a crumb
from a "rich man's floor", so to speak!

Taking unpaid groceries might be against man's penal code law or even the Ten
Commandments, but it is hardy a heinous crime.

Stealing from the poor whatever little they posses materially is indeed evil and heinous!

My poor aching heart just totally bleeds for Walmart...

...like a TURNIP!!

How many Americans has Walmart made poor to date due to job loss?

This poor man had to do five days in a weekend jail which served the most ungodly "food". He also had to pay close to $600 in combined court costs, fines and for "rent" in that weekend jail in spite of his limited VA pension income. The man was disabled and could not bag sand for five days as a jail alternative. Idaho is not California. They have no compassion for the disabled as well. If you have medical issues in California, the jail alternatives there might be office work or filing papers. The man wasn't offered house arrest (the ANKLE BRACELET) as an alternative either in this medieval state. The older Ada County sheriff deputy also spoke some unkind words to this pitiful man, age 53, when he was released. "Get out of here and don't ever come back again!" Not a simple goodbye. Or, farewell and have better luck in life. Verbal insult (just like the word DEPRIVED) on top of financial injury and being tormented a few days by jail cuisine.

This Red state is the state of Idaho, of course. I know full well that those in authority and those with means in the state of Idaho have no mercy or compunction for the poor. But they are generous, still, as generous as a turnip (or should I say Idaho potato or sugar beet?) you are trying to squeeze blood from.

The Idaho judge must have thought he was being
"charitable" and "kind hearted" for reducing this man's fine from "the standard $500" to $250 and suspending 85 days of 90 days jail in the sentence.

The moral of the story: don't you poor dare get caught taking so much as a crumb from the rich in any Red state. Their cuisine is not as nice as the cuisine in many California jails.

The moral of the story seems to be that it is OK to steal from someone that has more than you do. I was raised that stealing is stealing. If a person is making $40,000 a year and supporting a family of four on that income and is robbed by someone making $20,000 dollars a year selling stolen property, then it must be OK?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

The moral of the story seems to be that it is OK to steal from someone that has more than you do. I was raised that stealing is stealing. If a person is making $40,000 a year and supporting a family of four on that income and is robbed by someone making $20,000 dollars a year selling stolen property, then it must be OK?

That analogy is not equal to the case at hand. Try a poor person stealing from Jeff Bezos' fridge.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

That analogy is not equal to the case at hand. Try a poor person stealing from Jeff Bezos.

It is still theft. How does it make any difference if the thief only makes half as much as the victim, if the thief makes most of his or her money by crime. Let's extend this further. A poor person should also be able to kill Jeff Bezos if Jeff happens to be home and tries to stop the crime? Jeff is after all, a horrendous monster of a human being because he came up with a really good way to make a lot of cash. The poor person is poor because of all the horrendous humans like Jeff that are keeping him down. Where does it all end? If a large disparity in income and wealth is good enough to ignore the law, then why is a 50% disparity not enough. Isn't that guy making 20,000 grand in illicit income deserving of equal treatment and freedom from responsibility and the law?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

It is still theft. How does it make any difference if the thief only makes half as much as the victim, if the thief makes most of his or her money by crime. Let's extend this further. A poor person should also be able to kill Jeff Bezos if Jeff happens to be home and tries to stop the crime? Jeff is after all, a horrendous monster of a human being because he came up with a really good way to make a lot of cash. The poor person is poor because of all the horrendous humans like Jeff that are keeping him down. Where does it all end? If a large disparity in income and wealth is good enough to ignore the law, then why is a 50% disparity not enough. Isn't that guy making 20,000 grand in illicit income deserving of equal treatment and freedom from responsibility and the law?

You're missing the point in your bluster. The point is that the punishment was disproportionate to the crime by far. That's all.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

It's a question of priorities. Technically, if you drop a penny on the ground and someone picks it up the next day, they're guilty of theft. Should they put out an APB and do a house-to-house search to find the culprit so that your money can be returned?

Is that true? Is recovering a trivial amount of lost change a crime?

 

[Stevicus]

Is that true? Is recovering a trivial amount of lost change a crime?

Well, if you find money that doesn't belong to you, then I think one has a legal and moral obligation to turn it in to the authorities. Granted, I don't think very many people would make a big deal over a penny or some equally trivial amount. If it's a trivial amount, then it's a trivial amount. Why bother making an issue of it?

 

[Dan From Smithville]

You're missing the point in your bluster. The point is that the punishment was disproportionate to the crime by far. That's all.

I never mentioned punishment or whether it was appropriate or not. I am talking about crime and justifying it based on income and wealth disparity. It is not bluster. What reason do you have for calling it that? I will do my best not to emulate similar tactics.

The story of the OP is the story of a criminal committing a crime. If you read the story carefully, the moral is that it is OK to steal if you are poorer than the person or entity you are stealing from.

Is theft a crime? Yes.

Do most people that steal earn more than the victims of their crimes? Probably not if they are stealing.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

Well, if you find money that doesn't belong to you, then I think one has a legal and moral obligation to turn it in to the authorities. Granted, I don't think very many people would make a big deal over a penny or some equally trivial amount. If it's a trivial amount, then it's a trivial amount. Why bother making an issue of it?

I am just asking. I would not make a big deal about it. I found a $10 bill in a store the other day. I turned it in to the store service counter. I suppose they kept it.

 

[Dan From Smithville]

That analogy is not equal to the case at hand. Try a poor person stealing from Jeff Bezos' fridge.

So stealing Jeff's sandwich is OK. So theft is based on income and need. If you have a low income and you need to eat, stealing is OK and not a crime.

I am not defending the wealthy here or Walmart. The law either applies to all or to none. This has nothing to do with punishment and the extent of that may depend on mitigating circumstances like what was stolen, by whom, for what reason, and whether there was violence involved.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

So stealing Jeff's sandwich is OK. So theft is based on income and need. If you have a low income and you need to eat, stealing is OK and not a crime.

I am not defending the wealthy here or Walmart. The law either applies to all or to none. This has nothing to do with punishment and the extent of that may depend on mitigating circumstances like what was stolen, by whom, for what reason, and whether there was violence involved.

The law is the law. But if you're asking me to have the same sympathy for a giant corporation or a mega-billionaire that I would have for a poor or working class person or a middle class family being stolen from, you're gonna come up short. That people even feel the need to steal groceries from the store says much about our failings as a society. I'm more interested in finding out why that happens and how to prevent it in the first place by solving the causes of it than getting mad about an episode of it happening.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

That analogy is not equal to the case at hand. Try a poor person stealing from Jeff Bezos' fridge.

Two wrongs dont make a right. Hes in a desperate situation, but without consequences for his theft all that will happen is more people will be encouraged to do it. And, that doesnt just hurt Walmart, it hurts Walmart employees who now have an additional loss deducting from end year profit bonuses.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Were not talking about buying food, but food given to people too poor to buy their own. A diabetic basically cant eat from the food pantry Ive been referencing. Nor can someone with heart problems. And its definitely not what you need to eat if you need to lose weight (but it will prime people for obesity).

Yeah, food pantry food is mostly garbage that others didn't want. Here, it's mainly bread and canned corn products along with some odds and ends. Maybe some green beans and a bit of meat. Not much and not very healthy. Lots of peanut butter, though.