The Stream

The Brew: Full-Sized Snickers, Flag-Waving Teens and Flesh-Eating Haitians

By Al Perrotta Published on March 12, 2024 •

Al Perrotta

Happy Tuesday!

Pack your bags and grab your passport, because today’s Brew hits a few foreign lands. But first, we need to grab a Snickers bar.

Did POTUS Snooker Us With Line About Snickers?

During his State of the Union riff on “sinkflation,” Joe Biden singled out Snickers bars by name. “Snickers bars! You get charged the same amount and you got about, I don’t know, about 10 percent fewer Snickers in it!”

But is it true? Conservative Scott Jennings actually reached out to Snickers parent company Mars, Inc., on this point — and to hear them tell it, it’s just as true as Joe saying he never talks to Hunter about his businesses.

We have not reduced the size of Snickers singles or share size in the U.S. Like many industries, we continue to face high inflation and spikes in material costs; however, we work to absorb these extra costs wherever possible to provide affordable treats and the best value.

According to The Hill, the specific dig at Snickers was not in Biden’s prepared remarks. He ad-libbed that one.

Confession time: How many people will now say candy bars are smaller to justify cheating on their diets?

Cannibal Gangs in Haiti?

Haiti is crumbling into chaos and anarchy at the hands of vicious gang-leader known as “Barbecue.” Inevitably, when a crisis hits that Caribbean nation, be it natural or man-made, it becomes a problem on American shores, so we’d best keep an eye on it.

The current uprising against Haiti’s already unstable government began February 29. Dire reports from Port-au-Prince include stories of cannibalistic gangs roaming the streets, eating their victims. One such video is going viral in Instagram. Here’s the good news. According to Times Now, as reported by the Hindustan Times, the gruesome video isn’t from the current unrest. It’s two years old, and came out of a brutal battle involving two gangs in the Artibonite Valley.

The bad news? The situation today is not much better.

The notorious Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier leads the uprising. He’ll tell you that’s a pet name his dear mother gave him as a boy, but other people will tell you it stems from his fondness for setting his victims aflame. Cherizier was once a member of the national police force, but as the New York Post reports, he was booted in 2018 over alleged ties to a slaughter in the La Saline slums which left 71 people dead.

Cherizier’s G9 Family and Allies gang now controls 80 percent of Haiti’s capital. Last week, he engineered a mass jailbreak that freed almost 4,000 gang members. (Which means he qualifies to be a Soros prosecutor or secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.)

Barbecue says he will not let up until Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigns. Henry has been out of the country, trying to arrange international help to fight the gangs since the uprising began, and has been unable to return home. The Dominican Republic, meanwhile, has flat-out declared Henry is not welcome there.

According to Judes Jonathas, an independent consultant based in Haiti, “Unfortunately, Barbecue is now the most powerful man in Haiti.”

The U.S. Steps In to Stem Haitian Crisis

The U.S., which has backed Henry since he took over after President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021, is now pressuring him to resign. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met yesterday with Caribbean leaders, pushing the creation of an “independent presidential college” that will rule on an interim basis. Over the weekend, the U.S. military evacuated all nonessential personnel from the American embassy.

Remember, the Florida coast is just a short cruise up the Caribbean from Haiti, and in 2021, tens of thousands of Haitians showed up at the Mexican border. Are we in any way prepared for an even greater influx of refugees?

Our prayers for Haiti include a quick settlement to the political crisis and calmness in the streets, along with continued intercessory prayer against the dark spirits that have long gripped that Caribbean nation.

Portugal Tosses Socialist Government, Media Defines “Far-Right”

Portugal’s socialist government has conceded defeat at the hands of the center-right Democratic Alliance. However, the Democratic Alliance fell short of a majority of the vote, so the question remains whether leader Luis Montenegro can form a working coalition. A new right-wing party called Chega (“Enough”) doubled its position in Parliament, earning nearly one-fifth of the vote. Montenegro has said he wouldn’t team with Chenga, but others in his party are open to the idea of a coalition government.

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Outlets like the Washington Post, New York Times, and CNN refer to Chega as “far-right” and “ultra-right.” But what does that mean? CNN writes that Chega “has been advocating for tougher sentences for criminals as well as a tightening of Portugal’s immigration policy.” Those brutes. “Much like other radical parties across Europe, Ventura’s Chega has also preyed on issues of gender equality, security, and crime.” So they want safe streets and for their boys to remain boys.

Inconceivable. How radical and ultra-right is that?

HS Senior Fights Back When Told to Remove American Flag From Truck and Wins

East Central High School (St. Leon, Indiana) senior Cameron Blasek has been driving around with an American flag in the back of his truck all school year. According to his dad, school officials recently ordered him to remove it. Cameron respectfully said no, then showed them nothing in the school handbook prohibited the display and explained how Indiana law backs him 100 percent. When he asked why they wanted the flag removed, administrators said it might be “offensive” or “controversial to others,” and threatened to punish him if he didn’t comply.

Here’s the great part, according to Libs of TikTok. “After hearing what happened, nearly 2 dozen other students showed up with American flags on their vehicles, protesting the school’s decision!”

The school gave in. The flag stays.

What does the school district have to say? That it was all a terrible misunderstanding! According to Sunman-Dearborn School Corporation Superintendent Dr. Andrew Jackson, administrators got “confused” over which flags are allowed in the parking lot. They had the impression that all flags were banned. (No, said Dr. Jackson, it’s discretionary.)

Jackson told 812 Now he chatted with school principal Tom Black last Friday to set the matter straight, and that Black will be speaking directly to each student involved to assure them they can fly Old Glory to their heart’s content.

Said Black, “First and foremost, I want to emphasize that we encourage expressions of patriotism and pride in our nation among our students and staff.”

Perhaps he’s telling the truth and not just backtracking. However, it is funny that the kid knew the rules better than his principal.

Along The Stream

John Zmirak provides the skinny on a dangerous new method of control: “The Left’s Latest Power Grab — De-Banking Christians — Is Literally Apocalyptic.”

 

Al Perrotta is managing editor of The Stream, coauthor with John Zmirak of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and coauthor of the counterterrorism memoir Hostile Intent: Protecting Yourself Against Terrorism.

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