Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 392 | America’s in Trouble & So Is Cinnamon Toast Crunch

Episode Date: March 25, 2021

We start today by taking stock of what’s going on in America under Biden. Seems like nothing is going well and progressive Christians aren’t getting anything they wanted from the new administration, especially when it comes to the southern border and abortion policy. But it’s not all bad news today! Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church, who was jailed for holding services at his church in violation of Canada’s COVID-19 lockdown regulations, has recently been released. And, in weirder news, a man found pieces of shrimp in his cereal. --- Today's Sponsors: Annie's Kit Clubs: March is National Crafting Month & Annie's Kit Club is celebrating with a special 50% offer, off a creative, fun, and hands on way to help take your mind off life's stress and aggravation. Visit AnniesKitClubs.com/ALLIE & save on your first kit today! Bambee can change HR from your biggest liability to your biggest strength. Go to Bambee.com/ALLIE to schedule your free HR audit today! --- Show Links: CBC: "After 35 Days in Custody, Controversial Edmonton Pastor Is Released From Jail" https://bit.ly/3ciWeOG The New York Times: "The Curious Case of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Box" https://nyti.ms/3w2S1X5 --- Buy Allie's book, You're Not Enough (& That's Okay): Escaping the Toxic Culture of Self-Love: https://alliebethstuckey.com/book Relatable merchandise: https://shop.blazemedia.com/collections/allie-stuckey

Hey guys, welcome to relatable. Happy Thursday, almost done with this week today. We are going to talk about some good slash lighthearted news. It's been a heavy week. There are some good things that have happened, though, some hilarious things that have happened on the Twitter that I'm going to talk about. So we're going to talk about one good thing, Pastor James Coates being released from jail, how awesome that is. Praise God. And then a guy finding shrimp tails. Yes, shrimp tails in his cereal. And I'm going to tie it all together in some way. So it's going to be a fun episode, maybe a little breather from everything that we've been talking about this week. I am going to give you some not as fun stuff first, because I have a lot to get off my chest. I'm going to give you just a sober reminder,

a breakdown of the state that we are in as a country politically and culturally, just a quick monologue based on what we're seeing from this presidential administration and our institutional powers that be. And then we'll get into the good stuff. But I have some things that I just need to say. It's a recap of what we've talked about for the past two weeks. So if you need specific examples of some of the things that I'm pointing out, some citations, please go back and listen to the previous episodes over the past couple of weeks covering these subjects. Plus, I will be noting a few other things that are going on that we need to be concerned about. Most of you probably know we are in a tough place as a country. Things are not looking good.

I'm going to be honest, they're just not looking good. Right now, we've got more migrants than we ever have had cramped into holding facilities that were never meant to hold that many people without food, without water in some cases, and all the resources that they need to survive. These were facilities that were built by the Obama DHS, and this is a state that has been caused and exacerbated by Biden's reversal of Trump's policy to keep migrants in Mexico as their asylum request is being processed. Instead, hundreds of thousands of migrants, minors and adults, are being transferred into cities across the country, especially in the state of Texas, given hotel rooms on the taxpayer dime, some of them separated from their parents, by the way,

most of them not tested for COVID, even as there are still Americans who are not allowed to congregate and churches who can't operate at full capacity in schools that won't open, despite their students committing suicide due to loneliness and falling behind academically. And there are small businesses that have been forced to close down forever due to the lockdowns. And while all of this is happening at the border, the Biden administration, won't allow the media to see what's actually going on in these facilities to talk to the agents. If this were happening under Trump, the entire media would be shrieking about fascism. AOC would be decrying the concentration camps at the border.

And we would be hearing that any Christian who voted for Trump should be second-guessing not just their vote, but their salvation. Meanwhile, some of the same Christians right now who voted for Biden expressly because of this, quote, kids in cages issue have nothing to say, apparently, about the people stuffed like sardines in these holding facilities. This week, also, Biden's nominee Xavier Bacera was confirmed by the Senate as the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Bacera is infamous for his relentless attacks on pro-life clinics pushing to force them to advertise for free or cheap abortions and suing Catholic organizations like Little Sisters of the Poor to force them to provide. birth control services for their employees as the Attorney General of California and as a

congressman for voting against a ban on partial birth abortion. And just as a reminder, and I'm just warning you, this is graphic. A partial birth or dilation and extraction abortion is performed by partially delivering a baby, puncturing the back of her skull, emptying the skull of the brain, and then delivering the dead baby the rest of the way. Xavier Bacera, now the head. of the HHS failed to vote on a ban on that kind of abortion. This nomination by the Biden administration shouldn't surprise us, though. He assured us a long time ago that he was going to be a firm supporter of abortion. He proved that not just through his pick, but also by fulfilling his campaign promise of

doing away with a Hyde amendment, which he used to want support, an amendment that protects our federal tax dollars from funding the killing of unbors. babies. Now our federal tax dollars will do just that, just as he promised. And speaking of our tax dollars, Biden also signed an executive order to ensure that military members can undergo so-called gender reassignment surgery and receive hormone treatment, again, funded by our money. Another Biden nominee who goes by the name of Rachel Levine was confirmed as the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services. Levine is a man who identifies as a woman. who as Pennsylvania Health Secretary was responsible for the infections and the deaths of the elderly

population because of a policy, much like Governor Cuomo's directing nursing homes and care facilities to accept recovering COVID patients at the same time that he and his family removed their mother from her nursing home. During his hearing, his nomination hearing, Senator Rampal asked Levine multiple times if he supported gender transition, including mastectomies and castration for minors without parental consent. And he refused to answer. He said it's complex. But don't worry, the real danger to our children right now are children's books that have been around for 80 years that we as a society can apparently no longer tolerate. There were also, tragically, two mass shootings

in the past two weeks. The first we were told had to do with pervasive white supremacy in the country because the shooter was white and six of the eight victims were Asian, even though there was no indication whatsoever that race was a factor. And the data clearly shows us that the primary perpetrators of violence against Asian people in America are not white. We were told that we can no longer name where the coronavirus came from and was covered up by Joe Biden because that also causes these kinds of crimes. I guess disregarding that there is not a country. in the entire world that's murdered and oppressed more Asians than China. But Joe Biden doesn't care about that because he has assured us that the growth of the most

brutal and racist and dictatorial regime on the planet is a good thing and that it's actually nothing to worry about. We were also told that the Atlanta shooting by the media had to do with his being a member at one point of a Baptist Church, who's a part of a ministry, who has released some podcast episodes criticizing critical race theory, and that may have taught about sexual purity in a way that apparently encourages murdering prostitutes. We took the time on this podcast to remember those victims, the victims of both of the shootings in the past couple of weeks, but a lot of people were so quick to fit all their pet issues into the list of motives that must have pushed the murderer

to do what he did, that they forgot that the main reason we care about these tragedies is because there are people who died. Victims were also forgotten during that Boulder shooting when activists and journalists on Twitter were giddy with the excitement to announce that the shooter was an angry white male. The only problem is he was actually a Muslim immigrant who, according to his family, was mentally unstable and believed that Islamophobes were tapping his phone and stalking him. And then once we found that out, it was no longer about white supremacy. It was no longer about race at all. even though every person he murdered was white, it apparently had absolutely nothing to do with racism and everything to do with guns. No measures proposed actually do anything to stop these kinds of horrific shootings since criminals don't care about the law and we'll always find a way to get guns and to commit the crimes they want to commit.

But every measure proposed does make it more difficult for law-abiding citizens to purchase guns to defend themselves. Even as we've seen a surge in violent crime over the past year, even as our borders are virtually open. to anyone without any regard to the backgrounds of the people are coming in. They're saying that in order to be safe, we need fewer law-abiding citizens to be able to purchase guns and defend themselves how they see fit. So all this is happening. And virtually every institution in the country is in lockstep. The major corporations, bank tech, public education, academia, the medical field, what passes as the so-called scientific community today, most of our federal government, even parts of our intelligence community and the military are all steeped in the same kind of progressivism that we're seeing from the Biden administration.

And we were told that we had to worry about fascism under Trump. Twitter just took down videos from Project Veritas of what's going on at the border. They said it was a mistake. The mistakes always only go one direction. Google de-platformed a social media company a few months ago because it allowed for views that it didn't like. Amazon discontinued distribution of books that taught. about the dangers of gender reassignment and children. Military officers publicly attacked a conservative cable news host for his opinions a couple weeks ago, but it's really conservatives

that people with so little institutional power that we are being told by these same entities that are really the ones to worry about. Congress, with the full support of Joe Biden, is pushing legislation that would trample the conscience rights of doctors and the religious liberty of individuals and organizations through the Equality Act. They're pushing a bill to render freelancing nearly impossible and wrecking the economy consequently through the Pro Act. They're trying desperately to transform the voting process so that IDs are no longer required and ballot harvesting is acceptable so that it's impossible for Democrats to ever

lose again. They just proposed legislation called the Violence Against Women Act, which sounds really good, but actually says in the act that it seeks to protect people of, quote, all genders and, for example, allows men who identify as women into women's prisons, thereby not protecting women at all. Anything remotely positive that's come out of this party recently or this administration from a conservative or a moderate or a neutral perspective, something like vaccines or stimulus checks, were already well underway while Trump was president. So we can't even give them credit for that. Everything that we as conservative said would happen if Biden

became president and Democrats took over both the House and the Senate will continue to happen. If they manage to get rid of the filibuster, they find a way to pack the Supreme Court, it's game over. And it's not good. I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. I haven't even gotten into the huge cultural changes that were seen ravaged schools and colleges and churches. These changes are happening really quickly. And I just wonder how far we'll go down this road before the well-intentioned people who helped pave this path, realize that they've made a mistake. We're looking at a revolution that looks a lot like the ones that we've seen before in China, in Russia and Venezuela. Go back and read how well those turned out. Not well. Not for those who

oppose the revolution, nor for the revolutionaries themselves, by the way. We got to be real about what's going on here. You've got to wake up. We're in trouble. Your freedoms. and your safety truly are on the line. We can't stick our heads in the sand and pretend to be neutral anymore. Now, I'm not going to leave you there because is all hope lost? No, I don't think so. All hope is never lost. And maybe you can just call me a foolish optimist, but truly, I don't think that all hope is lost.

Now, primarily for the Christian, because of God's sovereignty, we know that hope isn't lost. We know that nothing happens outside of his will. Not even a sparrow falls from the sky apart from the Father's will the Bible says. So nothing that happens here, nothing that's happening right now can either. That doesn't mean that nothing happens outside of his moral will. Of course, people sin and he hates sin, but nothing happens outside of his sovereign will. The Bible is very clear about that. He's not wondering what's going to happen.

He's not worried about what's to come. Jesus promises that we will have trouble. Second Timothy 312 tells us that all followers of Christ will be persecuted. Countries go through cycles of really bad and really good. the world goes through these cycles too, the church goes through these cycles, we don't know what's going to happen. But God absolutely does. And while we have no guarantee of things getting better here, we do have a guarantee of enjoying God's perfect joy, his perfect justice and peace for all eternity. And therefore, we get to count it all joy whenever we face trials of many kinds. We trust God

that he will one day take care of evil and establish his goodness forevermore that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. But also, I do think in the here and the now, we have an opportunity to push back to, as I've said before, raise what I call a respectful ruckus. Don't like the curriculum that's being taught at your kid's school. Get like-minded parents and articulate your why and say something about it. Don't agree with your company policy. Say something. I know that's easier said than done, but I've gotten testimonies from you guys that have done it. It makes a difference. Don't like what your administration at your school or your professor is pushing. Speak up about it. Do you see your friends sharing misinformation? Tell them respectfully, kindly, why they're wrong,

and then point them toward what's true. Be on the offense in every sphere you occupy. Don't just be prepared to say what you don't believe or don't stand for. Be unashamed about what you do stand for. You are not radical. Let me just remind you of this. You are not radical for. for believing in God, for placing value on life in the womb, for believing the men and women are men and women respectively, for defending the right to protect yourself and your family, for knowing that capitalism is better than socialism, for choosing God's definition of justice in place of the phony, secular, social justice, performative activism that we see today. You're not a bigot for digging beyond the headlines when the tragedy happens to ensure what's

being reported aligned with what is actually true. You're not racist because you believe in simply treating everyone equally. And you don't need to do better or do the work if you're already doing what Jesus tells you to do, pursuing holiness, loving God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength in loving your neighbor as yourself, according to God's definition of love, not the world's definition. When you see someone being bullied for their views, stand up for them, even if you're scared to, have absolutely no tolerance for the people who docks and harass and abuse and slander those whose political and religious views they don't like, stand up to those people and refuse to back down and refuse most of all to tolerate lies. Don't believe them,

don't accept them, don't tell them. Not if they come from your pastor, not if they come from me, not if they come from your friends, your parents, your favorite influencer, author, podcaster, the person you think can do no wrong, weigh everything the children that you can do you, you hear, including everything that's said on this podcast against what is true. And where you find discrepancies, go to that person and talk to them about it. Let us be dogged in our pursuit of the truth in all things. From biblical moral truth to scientific truth, to economic truth, to political truth, let us do everything we can to stay tethered to reality and to encourage other people to do so

as well. I don't know if America will actually go over the cliff that is sprinting towards right now. I pray that it doesn't, of course, for the sake of our kids, future generations as well. And I think it's our obligation, though, to pull us back as much as we can. I don't believe in giving up. I care too much about this country. Every time I think about moving somewhere, I can't think about anywhere I would even want to move. And I just, I'm not ready to jump ship.

I care about this country, all the people in it, even those that I adamantly disagree with. I care too much to just turn my back on this. That doesn't mean that I believe in creating heaven on earth or that I think America is the promised land or God's kingdom. I don't. It just means that I want us to seek the welfare of the nation in which God has placed us with the time that he's given us, with the resources and the freedoms that we still have. That means loving him, loving other people, wetting ourselves overtly and relentlessly

to the truth. Easier said than done, I know, but totally possible. And I think that history tells us can be culture changing. Speaking of changing the culture, speaking of our voices actually mattering and doing something, I want to talk about an example of this. I want to talk about James Coates, the pastor that was jailed in Alberta, Canada, for refusing to abide by their edicts to keep their congregation at 15% capacity. He wanted to be able to preach the gospel in person to as many people as wanted to hear it. And he was put in jail for that. We had his wife, Aaron Coates, on this podcast. We've talked about this story a few times and we didn't know how things were

going to go if he was going to be released from jail at the same time in the same city, in the same area, in Edmonton, there were at least two child sex predators who were released from jail without any conditions while the pastor was kept in jail, but he has been recently released from jail, and it's really good news, and I want to talk about, I want to talk about that and rejoice over that and talk about how speaking up about these things actually can make a difference. Okay, so according to the Canadian Broadcasting Company, after 35 days in custody, controversial Edmonton pastor is released from jail. The article says, an Alberta judge has ruled that jailed Edmonton area Pastor James Coates

can be released immediately from custody but must pay a $1,500 fine. He must pay the fine within 12 days, according to a ruling by Judge Jeffrey Champion on Monday. Coates have been in jail for 35 days since February 16th for not following a condition of his original bail release that he not hold church services because he was violating public health measures, measures designed to combat the spread of COVID-19. So he originally was arrested because, like I said, he wouldn't follow that 15% capacity rule. that they had in place for churches, but didn't have in place, by the way, for other kinds of

businesses, because he believes that people should have the choice to come to church in person or not. They would take whatever precautions they felt like were wise to take and people could not come. They had a virtual stream that people could watch if they wanted to, but for everyone who wanted to show up to worship in person and hear the gospel, he wanted to be able to do that. He didn't want to put any inhibitions or any obstacles in the way of people hearing the gospel and coming to church in person. And for that, he was placed in jail. And as we talked about, there were a lot of Christians who were clamoring to try to say,

oh, this is terrible. I think it was Andy Stanley who actually said that he was embarrassed by Christians doing things like this. And we have just completely railed against that line of thinking on this podcast. Again, you can go back and listen to the couple episodes that we've already. done on this situation, but he and his family stood for the gospel. They stood for his responsibility as a shepherd of their church. And I understand there are some very well-meaning Christians, like that you've reached out to me. You disagreed with how he handled this situation. So I want to be fair too. Not everyone who disagreed with James Coates was the kind of, I think, very malicious

eye-rolling person who said that they were embarrassed by him taking a stand and who tried to minimize this as a form of persecution. Some people just really disagreed with how he went about it and thought maybe there were different ways to do it, whatever. There were people who did that in respectful ways and still continue to pray for him and his family. And I want to make sure that there are two different categories that we are talking about. I'm not just saying there were people who supported James Coates and were very nice and there were people who didn't support James Coates and were very mean. There are a lot of people who fell along different places on the spectrum when it comes to this. Ultimately, I think the right response for us is to say, yes, this pastor was treated

unfairly when we see that those two sex offenders were released and he was kept in jail. And all he wanted to do was to be able to operate at full capacity if the church wanted to come. And that's his responsibility as the shepherd of his church. And he just continued to preach the gospel. He was put in jail for that. I think we as Christian should be able to rightly say, that's injustice. And we should at the very least be praying for him and his family. So that's where we landed on this podcast. And we talked to his wife and we just didn't know at that point how it was going to go.

They tried to appeal his case. It didn't work. And so we thought that he was at least going to be in jail until May. But there were a lot of people talking about it. I think she did an interview, for example, with Tucker Carlson after she was on this podcast. And she had been, Aaron Coates had been talking about. this a lot. But I certainly think that you guys listening to this podcast, raising awareness about it, praying about it, I really believe it made a big difference in that these officials actually

did feel pressure because of their hypocrisy and because of these draconian restrictions to actually release him. Who knows what the final push was? Truly, his lawyers that were advocating for him were doing a lot of work and doing a really good job. But I really think that the outcry, that came from the United States also probably made a difference. Now, here are some more details about this. He is still charged under Alberta's Public Health Act for holding services that allegedly broke a restriction on the size of gatherings. A trial is scheduled to begin May 3rd.

So he still has to go to trial at the beginning of May. He's just not in jail. He's reunited with his family right now. His lawyer, James Kitchen, told Coates's bail hearing earlier this month that Coates can't follow a bail condition that forbids him from holding services because that would violate his conscience by disobeying God. That's what they tried to say that, hey, you can get out of jail whenever you want to. You can't hold church services. And he was like, no, not going to do that. That kind of defeats the whole purpose of this whole thing. And so Kitchen says, this is a matter

of deep-seated personal conscience and religious beliefs for Pastor Coates. He is unable to disobey the God he believes in. He is compelled to obey as are his congregants. The church has continued to hold services despite Coates being in custody. The Edmonton Journal tells it like this. Grace Life, Pastor James Coates handed $1,500 fine is released from Remand Center. Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church appeared virtually in Stony Plain, provincial court from the Remand Center, dressed in an orange and black jumpsuit to submit his plea Monday morning.

His defense team proposed a joint submission with the crown of $100 fine for breaching a court undertaking to follow health. regulations. The judge did not accept that submission. He instead imposed a $1,500 fine against codes and credited him that amount for the time that he served. Your decision could have been of danger to the health and safety of those in your community. So he goes along and says that, but he still released from jail. And so this is, we get to praise God for this. We get to rejoice over this. We get to see what I think is the result. of course, of God answering prayer and working powerfully, but also of people speaking up and raising

that respectful ruckus about the things that matter. Coates is not going to be under any court order conditions after he was released from custody, and so that is a great news. And this was in Liberal Canada. Canada is a lot more liberal right now than the United States. And so even though we as conservatives as Christians don't really have any institutional power backing us, Like our voices still for now have an impact. They can still influence things. And so the best way that we can make sure that we are shut down is if we start to self-censor and we start not to share controversial opinions and we start not to speak the truth

and to speak out about the things that matter because we fear the social consequences of being bullied on social media or of being canceled. We can't fear cancellation and then convince ourselves that we will actually stand ready when true persecution comes our way. So let us be bold now on behalf of other people and on behalf of the things that matter. Now, speaking of speaking up and making a difference, we got to talk about cinnamon toast crunch and shrimp tails. This is not a typical story that we talk about on this podcast because it's not serious.

I mean, it's kind of serious, but it doesn't have to do with any political or social issues. I was just cracking up at how this whole saga has gone down. and so I've got to tell you about it. I just thought that this would be a fun way to end the week. And so that's what we're going to do. We're going to talk about shrimp, cinnamon toast, crunch gate. Now, before I get into that, I do want to tell you guys about my last sponsor, and that is BAMB.

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A lot of you aren't on Twitter, which God bless you. I don't blame you at all. It's a place where the silliest, most self-important people in the world gather to lose brain cells. And I unfortunately allow myself to be a part of that. But I really have tried to kind of like detach myself from it and not be on Twitter as much because it really is just mind-numbing. It can be so toxic. but sometimes there are these viral things that go on on Twitter that make it at least kind of worth it.

And one of them is cinnamon toast crunch shrimp tails gate. If that sounds disgusting, that's because it is. So if you're eating a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch right now, I would recommend not doing that because you're probably going to lose your appetite. Let me tell you. Let me tell you this. This is hilarious. A Jensen Karp, a comedian and writer in Los Angeles, he's married to Danielle. Fissel Karp, who, so just like, by the way, someone pointed this out.

Like, his name is Jensen Karp. Her name is Fischel Karp. And we're talking about shrimp tails. Just keep that in mind. She played Topanga on Boy Meets World. And so just to give you some context for what that is, he posted a picture on Twitter. And if you're watching on YouTube, which I recommend you doing because it adds to this whole story, he found what looks like shrimp tails in his cinnamon toast crunch.

He tweeted this. At CTC squares, which is Cinnamon Toast Crunch squares, why are there shrimp tails in my cereal in parentheses? This is not a bit. And if you see the picture, like you can pause it and look at this picture. I mean, this is not Cinnamon Toastro's Crunch. These look like crustacean tails. Then he tweets, guys, oh, let me see. So, okay, Cinnamon Toast Crunch replied to him and said, we're sorry to see what you found.

we would like to report this to our quality team and replace the box. Can you please send us a DM to collect more details? Thanks. Poor Cinnamon Toes Crunch has no idea what is heading for them. Jensen Karp replies, guys, I am not sure I'm ready for another box. Cinnamon Toes Crunch replies, we understand your concern. We promise you that our team will look into this and get to the bottom of it. But in the meantime, we want to do everything we can to make this right.

We'll need further details to research. He then posts this picture of like a... Shrimp man and says, okay, I have sent you a DM. Fair warning. I look different since eating your cereal today. And you really have to watch this to get the full effect. Then cinnamon toast crunch replies to him and says, after further investigation with our team that closely examined the image, it appears to be an accumulation of the cinnamon sugar that sometimes can occur when ingredients aren't thoroughly blended. We assure you, there's no possibility of cross-contamination with shrimp. he replies okay well after further investigation with my eyes these are cinnamon coated shrimp tails you

weirdos i wasn't all that mad until now you tried to gaslight me question mark and he posts another picture of the shrimp tails in his hand oh my gosh it's not so they tried to say dude you're crazy there's no possibility of this they're not shrimp tails and then he posts a picture of their DMs where they're going back and forth. And he says, I think we've all dated someone like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Because Cinnamon Toast Crunch reached out to him and said, thank you, Jensen. We would like to also send you some General Mills vouchers for this unpleasant experience. If that's okay with you, we'll send them right away.

He said, no. You just told me it wasn't shrimp tails. And then he tweets the rest of their conversation. He says, there's still time to save this, guys. They are shrimp tails. Cinnamon Toast Crunch says, thanks. As mentioned previously, we definitely want. to make this right for you. Our quality team would like to get it sent into us so we can take a

closer look. We'll be sending a prepaid address envelope so you can send the pieces to us. Can you please confirm that the address you entered in the email? So I guess the emailed back and forth is where we should send it. We have also created a report for your reference. Thank you. He says yes, but I'm also going to keep one of the two because your last response publicly was super weird and since you'll be receiving a shrimp tail, I'll keep one so you don't continue to try to try to say it's sugar and make me look insane question mark. And then he tweets, this goes on for a while, guys, and I just feel, I feel obligated to tell you all the details. He tweets, I was convinced to go back through the bag since when I first noticed the shrimp tails, I freaked out and closed the box.

Here's all my findings, which now also includes a weird little string. So if you see, see on the picture, there seems to be like, there's a string. This is in his cinnamon toast crunch, okay? And these little like shrimp tail looking jangs, I don't even know. And then he posts after that. Also, many of the squares have black marks and summer dyed red question mark. And yes, I ate a bowl before noticing all of this. So if you see the little picture, it looks like they're just like little black things that are like toasted into the cinnamon toast crunch that. he is posting a picture of from this bag. And someone, he were, someone responded to him and said, hey, I study crustaceans at the

Natural History Museum in L.A. those do look a bit, uh, like a shrimp's Telson and Europods tail. I would totally love to look at your specimen under a microscope. We might even be able to extract DNA to confirm its species or if it's in D. cinnamon sugar. And he said, let's get real Nancy Drew about this. And then someone responded to his picture of the cinnamon toast crunch with the black things on it mouse or rat droppings they said guaranteed they made a home in a bag of flour or other raw

ingredient in all of the shrimp string and everything else is there scavenged items and he responded i just screamed inside my house then he posted another picture and he said update my wife tapanga has a stronger stomach than me and checked the other bag in the family pack so this is a family pack. And so there, I think there are two bags of cinnamon toast crunch in the, in the boxer, like they come with two boxes. He says, this one seems taped up. Like, you can see the picture at the bottom, like it had been open and it was taped up with masking tape. And also appears to include, I don't even want to say it, dental floss. And then he says, I called Poison Control. And by the way, these tweets all have like thousands and thousands of likes and some of them thousands of retweets.

So I called Poison Control. Good news is if it is rat poo, I won't. feel the flu-like effects of an infection for a few days. That's good. And then you really have to see the picture for this part to look funny. People started making like photoshopping boxes of Cinnamonto's crunch with like shrimp tails coming out of it and like rat droppings on it and then like changing the text on the box to say, hmm, real droppings or real shrimp tails. Very funny. Okay, he goes on and he keeps talking about the back and forth between him and Sentimento's crunch in his DMs. So they say that, look, okay, we're going to pick up the shrimp tail, but FedEx needs you to be at your house for three hours during the day so we can pick this up. We can take it to our lab and we can check out what's going on.

And he responds, I won't be giving you the stuff, especially as last I heard from you as an envelope. Again, your tweet calling it sugar was super weird. And I just love how like into this he is. And the fact that you haven't said anything to the contrary doesn't allow me to trust you with it at all. You're being super sketchy and odd when this was a very easy PR response to make people feel assured you care about your products. And then he says, please email me, blah, blah, blah. And then he puts a picture of him going with his cinnamon toast crunch box to a lab. The cinnamon toast crunch box is like in his, it's seat belted and it's strapped into the front seat of his car.

They're going to a lab. And then he posts emails from the. I mean, this is just a PR nightmare for Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Who the heck is communicating with him? So he is communicating with General Mills, the company who makes Cinnamon Toast Crunch over email. They say, thank you for getting back to us. If you are unwilling to send the items in cereal packaging to us, please provide these items to your local law enforcement. This may be product tampering and we need the opportunity to investigate the packaging.

And then this part, I think I can hold it together. I read this last night and literally burst out laughing. So he responds to that email saying, okay, the police you want to involve for your investigation can call me at the number I initially sent you or by contacting me at this email. I'm not walking into a random police station yelling. Here's the shrimp tails that General Mills. Here's the shrimp tails that General Mills wants like it's a smoking, like it's a smoking. like it's a smoking gun from a murder. I also didn't get back to you.

You got back to me. This is the first email I've received from you. We've only spoken over Twitter direct message. I did email you initially through the submission form, which you are replying to for the first time here. You guys are an insane mess of a company. So it's starting to finish out here. Jensen says,

I am happy to report a carcinologist, a crustacean researcher, that works at NHMLA is going to morphologically identify the shrimp using microscopy, and he will work with a team of researchers to use DNA to try and identify the putative shrimp down to species. This is happening. They are, they also are paying for this to be done, which is helpful when a corporation is telling the internet, I actually found wads of sugar. So basically, my shrimp got a scholarship. Oh, so that's all we know right now. The last he posted, I just checked. He said he's no real update.

This was yesterday. I'm not posting about this all day. Again, waiting for the envelope I agreed on from General Mills to send them back pieces of some of a shrimp tail. We'll leave home for DNA testing at noon. They grow up so fast. And so I, of course, will keep you updated on this story. But this just goes to show that speaking of. about things can really make a difference. I mean, this was the wrong guy to have this kind of stuff

happened to because this is blown up into like a huge story. Like people are actually legitimately talking about this. I kind of feel bad for sentimento scrunch, but I also don't because this could have happened to people who don't have this kind of platform. And this is like disgusting. This is disgusting. This makes me not want to eat cereal ever again. Again, if you're listening to this, you have to go watch this on YouTube so you can get the full effect of all these tweets. So the point of today is all, it all ties together. It's to speak up about the things that matter because you never know the difference that it could make. All right.

I'll be back here on Monday.