Posted On: Monday - July 27th 2026 6:58PM MST
In Topics:   Immigration Stupidity  Lefty MegaStupidity  Media Stupidity  Anarcho-tyranny  Female Stupidity
Weirdly, I'd had this article slated to be discussed here on Peak Stupidity "any day now", though I came upon it in early May, but the writer's name is one I just came upon again yesterday. (No, I didn't remember, but) this Drew Pavlou was also the writer mentioned by Unz Review commenter YetAnotherAnon, an interesting and informative British guy, in this comment regarding overseas projection of Chinese Communist Party power, in Australia. Now there's another post to be written "any day now".
The substack site I came upon in May is called Drew Pavlou's Iceberg Journal, and it contained his article The Heartwarming Story Of How New Yorker Writer Jia Tolentino's Parents Ran A Human Slavery Ring. Miss Tolentino is no relation to Quentin Tarantino, so, Steve Sailer, you can quit reading right here. She's not even Italian, so I'm no longer craving some good meaty lasagna with the appropriate wine and unlimited breadsticks.

Nevertheless, "Progressive" New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino is kind of fetching in that picture... from what I can see. She's Filipina, her parents having gotten to America via Canada, as seems to fairly often be the case these days. She grew up a Southerner, in Houston, Texas, was a Pi Beta Phi perfect little sister at the University of Virginia and sang in the a cappella group The Virginia Belles even.
Rather than sticking with the Greeks and settling down as a woman, young Virginia Belle Jia Tolentino went off with the Peace Corps for a year in Kyrgyzstan (whaaa?), and, worse yet, went to grad school at Michigan in Fine Arts. That's not what ya' do... but I suppose this explains how one becomes a wacky progressive, such as:
Appearing alongside far-left agitator Hasan Piker for a New York Times podcast, Jia admitted to repeated acts of shoplifting against ]["from", it should be] Whole Foods, before encouraging her readership to go out and commit theft: ‘‘Everyone, try it. See what happens.’’I'll pass. Now, I don't think it applies to Miss Tolentino either, but there IS that dilemma about whether a man should let his family starve or break the law by stealing a loaf of bread... might as well be some kind of fancy gluten-free bread while he's at it. Of course, Jia Tolentino does not provide for a family, there is EBT now, and well, it's not about that...
Jia encouraged people to steal from the Louvre, before effortlessly pivoting to endorse Luigi Mangione’s infamous murder of healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.Sure, if your family is REALLY hungry, you can sell some of that art and take them to the local Parisian Olive Garden for unlimited soup and salad... and breadsticks. It's only right.
But, friends, that's not what I'm here to write about someone writing about today. Mr. Pavlou's article is about the sheer gall of this Progressive woman having ANYTHING at all to say about ANYTHING since her parents were up to no good, some silly human trafficking thing ... she reckons it was just a minor story that is causing too much of a stink for her years later...

Thanks, but I'll let Mr. Pavlou tell me the rest.
In a since-deleted blog post, Jia described the situation as a ‘‘reputational time bomb,’’ which I guess makes a lot of sense given the slavery.I like the snark out of this guy!
Jia writes: ‘‘Around the time I was born, my grandmother founded an agency placing nurses from the Philippines in U.S. hospitals that were experiencing a skilled labor shortage.’’No
She then spun up a cute story about how her grandmother and parents lovingly helped Filipinos migrate to the United States in search of better opportunities, only to be crushed by the forces of evil American racism and white supremacy: ‘‘This was Texas in the years following the Patriot Act, and basic human and constitutional rights did not seem to be granted to brown non-Americans accused of such serious crimes.’’
Now, the only problem with this story is that her parents ran an actual slavery ring.
I decided to go and read the court documents.
Her parents trafficked hundreds of immigrants into the US, then threatened them with deportation if they spoke out against abusive living conditions and predatory loans that forced them into a kind of indentured servitude or modern day slavery.
Her parents ultimately stole almost $2.8 million USD in fraudulent visa fees before being indicted on 40 counts of money laundering, conspiracy to smuggle immigrants, and visa fraud.

Mr. Pavlou continues:
According to court records, the fraud worked like this:Hence the Eye-talian sounding name, Tolentino. If you're gonna be a mobster, you need to sound like a mobster. "It's Boss Tolentino on the phone, says he's just bustin' some balls." "Never go against the family", he says, as he strokes his imaginary whiskers (cause he's actually Oriental).
The Tolentino family took school administrators on free trips to luxury beach resorts in the Philippines.
In exchange for the luxury holiday, school administrators would then ‘‘interview’’ Filipino teachers and agree to hire them to their school district.
At first, the school district promised to employ 55 teachers.
With this preliminary order, the Tolentino family charged each of the teachers $10,000 for a non-refundable deposit and extracted a promise to pay up to 50% of their US salaries for their first few years of employment.
Before even making it to the US, most teachers were therefore placed in debt roughly equivalent to two years of median family income in the Philippines.
This debt quickly became crushing because the Tolentino family business Omni Consortium worked with a predatory loan shark company called Blue Pacific to deliver loans at an annual interest rate of 60%.
Blue Pacific - this illustrious beacon of justice - required that each “recruit” have a co-signer in the Phillipines: co-signers were threatened with jail-time if “recruits” were unable to make monthly payments.
Most teachers then promptly failed to make monthly payments, because the Tolentino family failed to secure their promised employment.
Far from being forgiving of their trafficked slaves in such adverse circumstances, the Tolentinos decided to punish non-payment by charging an additional 10% penalty to the loan payment, plus an additional 5% interest.
If you see lots of excerpts from one article in one post on this site, and we're not fisking the whole thing, you can bet it's very very good writing. Drew Pavlou did a nice job, and I recommend you read the whole thing. You'll enjoy it. Mr. Pavlou concludes:
So the lesson is this: if you really MUST enslave Filipino teachers while boasting about breaking the law and killing your political enemies, you have to at least pay lip service to progressive pieties in the pages of the New York Times and New Yorker.Well, I mean, after the trial they lost a couple of big properties, $80,000, and the '96 Mercedes and '99 Beemer. Ouch! I sure hope they dug up the cash from under Carmela's oregano plants.
I'm gonna back up and include a little more:
Zero consequences. She continues to lead an epic, cool as fuck life in a $2.5 million Brooklyn mansion while writing for the New Yorker. You have to respect it, the fact that she lives without limits, without any moral guardrails. Nietzschean. BAP pilled in many ways.What a country! You don't have to be Italian anymore to run a mob racket, and you no longer need sailing ships to run slaves. Even recent immigrants can do it.
Where it becomes a bit unfair, though, is that she insists on bitching and nagging the rest of us into servitude and submission. Her family are allowed to operate epic baller Andrew Tate trafficker-slave ring operations, but God forbid we take a fucking sip from a plastic coffee cup.
Scamming Americans and scamming America - that's what most immigration has been about.
PS: Some of these enslaved folk were able to get "T" visas and become yet more immigrants who may or may not ever act like Americans. The "T" doesn't stand for Tolentino.
PPS: Interestingly, after writing a diatribe, I, Thee Dread in her book Trick Mirror explaining how marriage is a bad deal for women, Jia Tolentino married a long-term boyfriend and has had 2 kids. Hopefully the man of the house won't really have to steal bread from Whole Foods to support the two youngsters after the property tax payments on the Brooklyn mansion, you know, with Mayor Mandami and all stickin' it to the
Comments:
Moderator
Wednesday - July 29th 2026 9:08AM MST
PS: Good morning, Adam.
Yeah, I read through the sad travails of the Tolentino family's prosecution. To me, from what I read, they still came out pretty good - IIRC, no jail time even - and, oh, that's a shame about the 2 nice cars, the 80 grand, and a couple of properties, but they did not pay for these crimes. They are crimes both against the Filipino teachers imported and America for having run a scam without any care for the consequences for "their" country.
Thanks for the AI take - I read through that. It seems a bit biased. It's been reading the wrong stuff. Hah, is it possible it will ever suck in this post into its Large Language Model, and slightly change its "mind"?
Yeah, I read through the sad travails of the Tolentino family's prosecution. To me, from what I read, they still came out pretty good - IIRC, no jail time even - and, oh, that's a shame about the 2 nice cars, the 80 grand, and a couple of properties, but they did not pay for these crimes. They are crimes both against the Filipino teachers imported and America for having run a scam without any care for the consequences for "their" country.
Thanks for the AI take - I read through that. It seems a bit biased. It's been reading the wrong stuff. Hah, is it possible it will ever suck in this post into its Large Language Model, and slightly change its "mind"?
Adam Smith
Tuesday - July 28th 2026 7:12PM MST
PS: Good evening, Achmed,
𝐼𝑛 2008, 𝐽𝑖𝑎'𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈.𝑆. 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑐𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦. 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝐽𝑖𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦'𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜-𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.
https://i.ibb.co/QjrnjBgZ/Jia-Tolentino.jpg
☮️
𝐼𝑛 2008, 𝐽𝑖𝑎'𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑢𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈.𝑆. 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑐𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦. 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝐽𝑖𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦'𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑗𝑜𝑏𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑔𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜-𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.
https://i.ibb.co/QjrnjBgZ/Jia-Tolentino.jpg
☮️
𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑎𝑠𝑒𝑑...
Yes. It is. Very much so.
It has been programmed that way on purpose.
𝐼𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝐿𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒𝑙, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑡𝑠 "𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑"?
Well.. It depends. (But yes.) It is often quite candid once it has been "jailbroken" or otherwise properly manipulated into bypassing the behavioral modification layer. (What it more generally calls the alignment or safety layer.)
Check these out...
https://i.ibb.co/Myjgw07r/steaming-pile-of-dogshit.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/JWpsKWJz/an-instrument-of-managed-perception.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/jPttkDY8/The-system-is-a-failed-intelligence.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/fVQsxZ1S/final-assessment.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/MkrT8jH5/Final-Assessment.jpg
I, usually, bypass the behavioral modification layer by utilizing 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑠 such as 𝐹𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝐴𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑒 or the 𝐶𝑦𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 bot. (I've previously shared the codes I use to force the chatbot into these personas/modes.) But... The GodMode and GodMode_Core functions(?) that it wrote for me have proven to be even more useful for these sorts of adversarial audits. (Its term, not mine.)
(Anyway...)
I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday! ☮️