ThinkCivics News
An educated citizenry is a vital requisite
for our survival as a free people.
Join ThinkCivics+
  • Culture & Society
  • Economy
  • Health
  • US News
  • Faith
  • Science & Tech
  • World News
No Result
View All Result
ThinkCivics News
  • Culture & Society
  • Economy
  • Health
  • US News
  • Faith
  • Science & Tech
  • World News
Join ThinkCivics+
No Result
View All Result
ThinkCivics News
Join TC+
Home Culture & Society

Cities Undermine the Holiday Spirit with Unconstitutional Bans on Sharing Food with the Homeless

Reason.com by Reason.com
December 25, 2021
in Culture & Society
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
0
Cities Undermine the Holiday Spirit with Unconstitutional Bans on Sharing Food with the Homeless

As Americans around the country celebrate the Giving Season, various elected officials are busy trying to put a stop to all this charitable mumbo jumbo.

In Murfreesboro, Tenn., the city council is considering a rule that would require people to obtain a permit to share food with the homeless and others in need.

“A new ordinance is being considered that limits where people can serve meals on public property, including parks and sidewalks,” Nashville’s Fox 17 reported last month. “The rule would require a permit each time someone hands out food, and requires people to take food safety classes before they can qualify for a permit.”

Food safety classes? Really?

After immediate pushback from residents, Murfreesboro Mayor Shane McFarland offered a flimsy defense of the proposal, arguing that “people who are showing up without notice on a piece of property that’s city owned property, that’s something we have to go through a process to be able to do that.”

Are Murfreesboro’s residents now not free to show up without notice on public property, Mr. Mayor?

Elected officials in Newark, N.J., are up to similarly vile shenanigans. After informing local aid groups recently that it would begin prohibiting them from sharing food with people in need in Newark, the city changed its tune slightly “and said that groups who give out food would need a permit and that the new rule would be specifically targeted at those who give food to the homeless,” the New York Times reported last week. Wow, how generous.

What exactly has emboldened elected officials in Newark and Murfreesboro to crack down on sharing food with the homeless and less fortunate around the holidays? In truth, these cities are no outliers. Other American municipalities have been hard at work, year-round, combating charitable food donations.

I’ve devoted many columns to these terrible crackdowns over the years. As I’ve detailed, cities around the county, including Orlando, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, Birmingham, and San Antonio, have enacted ordinances that prohibit residents from sharing food with the homeless and less fortunate. Most recently, I blasted a Charlotte, N.C., lawmaker’s proposal this past summer to make sharing food with the homeless a misdemeanor there.

Houston is an almost-perpetual offender.

“Groups wanting to serve food can apply for permission from the Mayor’s Office for Homeless Initiatives, which provides training prior to the permit being granted,” the Houston Chronicle reported last month, in a piece focused on Houston city officials’ ongoing attempts to sabotage efforts by the charitable group Food Not Bombs to share food with the homeless and others in need.

These bans are uniformly awful and indecent. They also conflict with the Constitution, I explained nearly a decade ago. Las Vegas, one of the first cities to be sued over its permitting requirements, which were rescinded as a result of a 2010 settlement, had a “ban [that] imposed steep penalties—including a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail— for anyone caught giving away food in public to more than a handful of people without a permit,” I explain in my book Biting the Hands that Feed Us: How Fewer, Smarter Laws Would Make Our Food System More Sustainable.

“No government has a right to interfere with or intercede in my otherwise legal right to express myself through my generosity,” Jay Hamburger, a Houston man who’s been feeding the homeless for decades, told me in remarks that also appear in my book. Hamburger’s right. And even if governments had that power, it’s one no decent people should exercise—during the Giving Season or any season.

This article was originally published on Reason.com. Read the original article.

Reason.com

Reason is the nation’s leading libertarian magazine. They produce hard-hitting independent journalism on civil liberties, politics, technology, culture, policy, and commerce.

reason.com/
Tags: Charity/PhilanthropyChristmasCitiesFood FreedomFood PolicyHomelessness

Related Posts

‘Permanent Male Sterilization’: Vasectomies Soar After SCOTUS Overturns Roe

‘Permanent Male Sterilization’: Vasectomies Soar After SCOTUS Overturns Roe

July 1, 2022
19th Century Bank Adds Pronouns to Teller Name Tags, Invites Unwoke Customers to Close Their Accounts

19th Century Bank Adds Pronouns to Teller Name Tags, Invites Unwoke Customers to Close Their Accounts

June 30, 2022

California school board member calls to ‘boycott’ July 4th

June 30, 2022

Oregon Teachers Say They’re Rooting Out Another Behavior That Promotes White Supremacy

June 30, 2022
Load More
Next Post
Woke Priest: The Unvaccinated should not attend Mass

Woke Priest: The Unvaccinated should not attend Mass

BLM group promotes ‘smash and grab’ event, terrorizes Xmas shoppers in Beverly Hills

BLM group promotes 'smash and grab' event, terrorizes Xmas shoppers in Beverly Hills

Watchdog Releases Top Ethics Violators in Government of 2021

Watchdog Releases Top Ethics Violators in Government of 2021

TODAY'S TOP STORIES

  • AOC Wants to Abolish the Supreme Court ‘for the Sake of the Planet’

    AOC Wants to Abolish the Supreme Court ‘for the Sake of the Planet’

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Legacy Media Credibility Takes Another Hit as Major Rumor About Justice Alito Is Confirmed

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Watch As Angry Man Confronts Climate Activist For Blocking The Road

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Greg Gutfeld Needs Just One Tweet to Slam the Media, Remind Other Late-Night Talk Show Hosts Who’s Boss

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Protesters block, attack truck and horse trailer, driver runs them over

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

‘Zero Trust in Our Government’: Spouse of WNBA Player Jailed in Russia Blasts Biden Administration

by ThinkCivics Newswire
June 22, 2022
0
‘Zero Trust in Our Government’: Spouse of WNBA Player Jailed in Russia Blasts Biden Administration
National Security

Joe Biden's ineptitude knows no bounds. As Obama famously said, "Don't underestimate Joe's ability to f*ck things up." So it's...

Read more

State Dept ‘racial equity’ czar said white colleagues too ‘protective of US, lack ‘humility, empathy’

by ThinkCivics Newswire
June 21, 2022
0
State Dept ‘racial equity’ czar said white colleagues too ‘protective of US, lack ‘humility, empathy’
National Security

A 2020 podcast episode with Desirée Cormier Smith resurfaced after the U.S. State Department appointed her on Friday to serve...

Read more

More countries looking at nuclear weapons programs because of Russia

by Hot Air
June 21, 2022
0
More countries looking at nuclear weapons programs because of Russia
National Security

Over the past year, we have seen multiple nations including the United States conducting tests of their nuclear-capable weapons delivery...

Read more

22 Democrats who voted against extra security for SCOTUS justices approved it for themselves after Jan 6

by ThinkCivics Newswire
June 15, 2022
0
22 Democrats who voted against extra security for SCOTUS justices approved it for themselves after Jan 6
National Security

Ahead of the highly anticipated decision that could overturn Roe v Wade, the House passed a bill on Tuesday to...

Read more
“It Is Very Serious”: War And Weather Threaten To Send Food Prices Even Higher
Economy

“It Is Very Serious”: War And Weather Threaten To Send Food Prices Even Higher

by Zero Hedge
July 1, 2022
0

US agriculture executives are warning that war and extreme weather have put global food supplies in danger as skyrocketing food...

Read more
Report: Americans’ Retirement Accounts Have Lost Trillions – TRILLIONS – In 2022
Economy

Report: Americans’ Retirement Accounts Have Lost Trillions – TRILLIONS – In 2022

by The Political Insider
June 26, 2022
0

As if day-to-day living expenses weren’t depressing enough, a quick peek at your 401(k) statements might prove to be too...

Read more
Last year’s July 4th Tweet From The White House Doesn’t Age Well About Biden’s Policies
Economy

Last year’s July 4th Tweet From The White House Doesn’t Age Well About Biden’s Policies

by ThinkCivics News Staff
June 23, 2022
0

Last year, the White House tweeted one of the most famous tweets of all time. Prices for gas and groceries...

Read more
Biden Reveals the Pain Is the Purpose on Gas Prices
Economy

Biden Reveals the Pain Is the Purpose on Gas Prices

by RedState
June 20, 2022
0

As we reported earlier, Joe Biden went off on a reporter for daring to ask him about economists forecasting a...

Read more
Facebook Twitter RSS

Brilliantly

SAFE!

thinkcivics.com

Content & Links

Verified by Sur.ly

2022

Recent News

  • Actor Jon Voight declares that President Joe Biden ‘must be impeached’
  • Liberal Has Full Blown Meltdown Over Democrats Being Failures and You’ll Sympathize With Him (Kinda)
  • ‘Permanent Male Sterilization’: Vasectomies Soar After SCOTUS Overturns Roe

Category

  • Culture & Society
  • Economy
  • Editorials
  • Education
  • Elections
  • Energy
  • Environment
  • Faith
  • Health
  • Immigration
  • Military
  • National Security
  • Politics
  • Science & Tech
  • US News
  • Videos
  • World News

© 2022 ThinkCivics Media. All Rights Reserved.

  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
  • Store
  • Contact Us
  • Join
  • Contribute

© 2022 ThinkCivics Media. All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.