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No Giving Tuesday Here: Is Your City Trying To Make Feeding The Homeless Illegal?

Sam Jones
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No Giving Tuesday Here: Is Your City Trying To Make Feeding The Homeless Illegal?

After most of us spent last Thursday being thankful for the ability to belly up to a feast and go back for seconds — and then put on our stretchiest pants the next day to trample our neighbors in a consumerist thunderdome known as The Mall — the dust and gravy start to clear.

If you’re feeling burned out from hitting the sale sections on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, today is “Giving Tuesday,” marking the start of holiday charitable giving season.

But if you’re hoping to give out food to the homeless as part of your holiday spreading of goodwill toward men, you might be entering a complicated legal snarl, depending on where you live.

In 2012, feeding people in public made national headlines when a 90 year old World War II veteran was arrested twice for trying to feed people in Fort Lauderdale. An ordinance “regulates the activity in order to ensure it is carried out in an appropriate, organized, clean and healthy manner” and “permits indoor food distribution to take place at houses of worship throughout the city,” according to the Sun-Sentinel. But even at houses of worship, those looking for a spot to rest are sometimes met with hostility, as a cathedral in San Francisco sprayed them with water to keep them out.

Mother Jones published a report on this issue:

In Orlando in 2011, more than 20 activists got arrested while ladling food for about 35 people in a park, in violation of the city’s restrictions on feeding the homeless. In 2013, police threatened to arrest members of a Raleigh, North Carolina church group who regularly hand out coffee and sausage biscuits to the needy on weekend mornings. Just this May, six people in Daytona Beach, Florida were fined more than $2,000 for feeding homeless people at a park. (The fines were ultimately dropped.)

In July, St. Louis officials considered a bill that would make it illegal to give anything away between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. “If a person is on the street and I have two sandwiches why won’t I give them one? Its decency and common sense and I will continue to do that,” outreach volunteer Laura Shields told St. Louis Public Radio.

Here are some of the reasons law enforcement and city officials give for these bans on feeding the homeless, from a Low Income Housing Authority blog:

  • The city is concerned about food safety and making the homeless ill
  • The city requires permits (for a fee, of course) in order to distribute free food
  • The city has strict food preparation guidelines
  • The city requires food distribution to be done indoors only
  • The city wants to make homeless people go away
  • The city says that food given to the public can not be prepared in a “non-commercial” kitchen

Here’s where to check if you’re living in one of the 71 cities that’s restricting food sharing practices. The National Coalition for the Homeless also outlines ways to help, in addition to giving that extra sandwich away.

Live On The Fresh Toast Stage: Luce Lutu

TFT Editors
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Live On The Fresh Toast Stage: Luce Lutu

New Mercedes is the debut single/video from Luce Lutu, a young Seattle hip-hop/rapper. Seattle born and raised, he played football for the University of Hawaii before returning to Seattle to begin his music career. His first full length CD is out called MUZM/SZN on Create And Be Real Records. The video is seeing some action in fashion retailers across the country and has been gathering up lots of college radio airplay.

‘Game Of Thrones’ And Other TV Shows That Inspired Wine

Amy Hansen
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‘Game Of Thrones’ And Other TV Shows That Inspired Wine

There was a time not that long ago that great television shows were remembered through re-runs. And maybe a coffee mug. But now, they’re being memorialized in bottles of wine.

Game of Thrones is the latest to get their own line of wine. The HBO show with a cult following has partnered with Vintage Wine Estates in California for three varietals that start at $19.99 a bottle; it’s the perfect addition to what will likely be a gory killing spree during the show’s final season. Heck, the show already has a line of beer.

Did you realize how many other shows can also lay claim to having their own wine? It’s kind of ridiculous. Here are just a few.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCfw4MNJk8f/

Netflix is getting in on the action with Pinot by Tituss — the name of Kimmy’s outspoken best friend, Titus Andromedon. “To be enjoyed by all the fabulous Kings and Kweens.”

Walking Dead

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCG1qfvyQIm/

This series of wine includes the Undead Apocalyptic Red, Cadaver Cab Sauv, Still Alive by Way of the Antidote and the Zinfection Blight Zinfandel.

Sopranos

https://www.instagram.com/p/pJ62J3PoNF/

Five varietals, all from different regions of Italy. Let’s pour one out for Tony.

Duck Dynasty

https://www.instagram.com/p/z1TGy4Hm-l/

What may seem like a complete dichotomy, the dingier version of the Beverly Hillbillies have their own wines — and they don’t come in a box. How sophisticated of them.

Downton Abbey

https://www.instagram.com/p/xcinEISTZh/

Feel the nobility with these French Bordeauxs. Ironically, they’re pretty inexpensive and can be found at stores for commoners, like World Market.

Outlander

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNGGeCagb_z/

Truth be told, the labels are what really sell this wine. Released in early November, each character has a limited edition of 2,500 bottles each. Might be the perfect Christmas gift for the Outlander fan in your life.

Consume is an essential source for food and beverage news, trends, tips, original recipes and everything in between. Want to read more? Try these posts: Cheese Lattes Are Now A Thing, 9 Of The Best Pumpkin Beers In America, and What I Ate Today: Coquine’s Katy Millard.

Hey Seattle: Here’s How Starbucks Can Help You Give Back On Giving Tuesday

Kelly Barbieri
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Hey Seattle: Here’s How Starbucks Can Help You Give Back On Giving Tuesday

After all the indulgence of Thanksgiving, Starbucks is embracing Giving Tuesday by announcing its first regional fundraising initiative today, joining with Seattle’s King County business leaders in an unprecedented effort to raise more than $3 million to ensure “No Child Sleeps Outside.”

In partnership with the Schultz Family Foundation, Starbucks will support the “No Child Sleeps Outside” initiative, an annual campaign led by Mary’s Place.

But this effort needs you too. In addition to a $1 million financial contribution to the “No Child Sleeps Outside” campaign, The Starbucks Foundation will match every dollar donated by customers in participating King County Starbucks stores between December 1st and 31st (up to an additional $1 million dollars) to help shelter local families.

Together Starbucks and the Schultz Family Foundation will contribute over $3 million to provide safe emergency shelter for the estimated 500 unsheltered families in King County, including hundreds of children.

“The 500 families with small children who are sleeping outside in King County cannot wait for the promised reforms and housing that will take a year or more,” said Howard Schultz, chairman and chief executive officer of Starbucks and co-founder of the Schultz Family Foundation. “We need to treat this daily tragedy with the same urgency that would follow any natural disaster. This is a short-term but urgent humanitarian need, and we are proud to join other Seattle employers in the No Child Sleeps Outside campaign.”

Mary’s Place is a 17-year-old privately funded emergency shelter organization with six locations throughout Seattle’s King County. The shelter provides emergency aid to 115-120 families per night, but is forced to turn away more than 20 families a day due to a lack of capacity.

“King County is facing an unprecedented homelessness crisis and more than 500 families are sleeping outside each night in places unfit for habitation,” said Marty Hartman, executive director of Mary’s Place. “It breaks our hearts to have to turn them away each day. We are so incredibly grateful for the support of our business partners like Starbucks, Microsoft, the Schultz Family Foundation and so many others who are making it possible for us to expand our services and bring more families inside to warmth, safety, and stability.”

The campaign also has the support of companies like Microsoft Corp., Dick’s Drive-In, Comcast, Alaska Airlines, Weyerhaeuser, Expedia, Nordstrom, Bank of America, Key Bank Foundation, Group Health, Seattle Mariners, as well as the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Seattle Assn.

“No child should have to sleep outside at night. We must come together as a community to address this vital need as a local imperative,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft president. “We are pledging $1 million, including $250,000 to Mary’s Place, to address homelessness across King County. We will support partners throughout the area to pursue both short- and long-term systemic solutions, including permanent housing.”

Howard and Sheri Schultz, co-founders of the Schultz Family Foundation, are also personally contributing $1 million to Mary’s Place through the Schultz Family Foundation to expand both shelter capacity and the organization’s ability to move families into permanent housing.

[jwplayer djLlnBdi]

Watch This Jerk YouTube ‘Star’ Get Taught A New York Lesson

Brendan Bures
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Watch This Jerk YouTube ‘Star’ Get Taught A New York Lesson

New York City is a land where anything can happen. The congested, claustrophobic nature of the city elicits a community banding together to help everyone win. Have you ever seen a Purge movie? If NY didn’t foster that friendly ecosystem, the city would be like that all the time.

Which is why whenever someone attempts to disrupt that system, they are quickly reminded that this isn’t their city. It’s everyone’s. Step out of line, you’re getting thrown on the third rail.

That’s what happened to Coby Persin, a YouTube personality and prankster. Persin and his buddies staged an illegal photoshoot with his car, stopping traffic and altogether inconveniencing folks trying to transport around the city. We’ll let you decipher the scene as you will, but if the word “douche” is included, we wouldn’t object. But as it does, the city snapped back, providing us this gorgeous, windshield-smashing moment.

https://twitter.com/coby_persin/status/803034363306704896

Coby Persin meet third rail.  Hopefully you don’t know Coby Persin. When I described him to someone today as “the worst,” they instructed me to remove the quotation marks. No irony, he’s just the worst.

Anyways, his AdSense money and other deals allowed him to purchase a gaudy Beemer. (Question: If a luxury Beemer isn’t gaudy, is it even a Beemer?). He uses it *hilariously* like in the video below, *proving* that woman is a *gold digger*. He totally didn’t create a false pretense and then exploit it to manufacture a biased confirmation.

So let that be a lesson. Don’t mess with New York’s natural flow. A baseball bat might be waiting on the other side.

 

The most essential daily news, entertainment, pop culture, and culture coverage. Want more? Check out “ ‘Arrival’ and ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Showcase Amy Adams As One Of Our Best Actors” “Here Are The “Best” Black Friday Fight Videos of 2016” and “5 Singing Dogs To Make You Feel Better About Life”

Wes Anderson Shot A Very Wes Anderson Christmas Ad For H&M

Brendan Bures
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Wes Anderson Shot A Very Wes Anderson Christmas Ad For H&M

A surprising reaction occurs whenever you watch a Wes Anderson production. Almost without trying, you think, “Oh, look. Wes Anderson doing Wes Anderson things.” Wild how that works.

Some (read: everyone) might describe his work as twee. Or colorful. Or featuring Bill Murray and/or Jason Schwartzman. Mixing an arts-and-craft aesthetic and an overstated technical hand, Anderson creates emotionally-saturated, pastel-colored pallets where you’re allowed to play pretend again.

No holiday matches with Anderson’s style quite like the Christmas holidays. A forgivable cheesiness permeates both. They share a similar end goal: slipping into that warm embrace called “family.”

Now is the holiday an artificial construct we choose to believe in? Sure! But you’re kind of a heartless, green carpet monster if you don’t give into the cheer and celebration. It may shock you, but scholars even have a name for this type of monster. This is pretty NSFW so be careful before proceeding. The name scholars deem this creature? A Grinch.

Anyways why are we discussing Christmas and Wes Anderson? Great question. Well, Anderson recently directed a holiday short for H&M. It stars Adrien Brody as a mustached train conductor, breaking the news to passengers they won’t make it home for Christmas. Initially dismayed, Brody assembles them together to share some holiday celebration.

This isn’t the first quality holiday ad to strike the webs this year, delivering us some much-needed glee. Nor is this the first time a film director has produced a short film for a brand. Spike Jonze teamed up with Kenzo and Margaret Qualley for some inflammatory ecstasy. And Portlandia’s Carrie Brownstein debuted as director in another Kenzo short.

 

The most essential daily news, entertainment, pop culture, and culture coverage. Want more? Check out “ ‘Arrival’ and ‘Nocturnal Animals’ Showcase Amy Adams As One Of Our Best Actors” “Here Are The “Best” Black Friday Fight Videos of 2016” and “5 Singing Dogs To Make You Feel Better About Life”

Mood Mapping: New App Recommends Food Based On Your Emotions

Jillian Peterson
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Mood Mapping: New App Recommends Food Based On Your Emotions

If only there was an app that could stand in for your best friend, telling you when to eat foods to boost your mood.

Good news: there is!

Scientists at Oxford University are getting ready to roll out an app that suggests foods based on your facial expressions. This “mood mapping” enables the app to recommend foods like walnuts when it senses you’re sad, or dark chocolate when you’re stressed.

Professor Charles Spence, one of the researchers behind the app, says there is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates that your mood has a significant impact on your taste and smell. 

It can deaden or liven the effect of both —  a reverse of this is also believed to be true, that food can have a number of affects on your mood.

Spence is the same guy who led a study that revealed how your environment affects the taste of wine back in 2014.

He’s now working with food delivery service Just Eat to launch the app, which can detect a number of emotions, including anger, sadness, joy…and even more nuanced feelings, like disgust, fear and surprise.

The app was tested this past weekend, with an official launch planned for later this year.

Why Is It Illegal For Cannabis Consumers To Own A Gun?

Al Olson
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Why Is It Illegal For Cannabis Consumers To Own A Gun?

A federal ban on the sale of firearms to cannabis consumers does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court ruled this summer.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling applies to the nine Western states that fall under the court’s jurisdiction, including California, Washington and Oregon — all hotbeds of cannabis consumption. California is the largest and the first state to allow medical marijuana. Washington and Oregon have legalized cannabis outright.

In essence, the court ruled that medical marijuana patients — cancer victims, PTSD sufferers and those with intractable pain — do not have a right to Second Amendment protection.

S. Rowan Wilson filed a lawsuit after she a firearms dealer refused to sell her a gun because he was aware Wilson carried a medical marijuana card. According to Wilson, she does not even consume marijuana — she obtained her card as an act of solidarity for the legal cannabis movement. She is challenging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives directive instructing dealers not to sell guns to customers possessing medical marijuana certification.

Wilson was not available for comment, but posted this on her Facebook page:

Senior District Judge Jed Rakoff said that marijuana use “raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated.”

“The panel held that plaintiff’s Second Amendment claims did not fall within the direct scope of United States v. Dugan, which held that the Second Amendment does not protect the rights of unlawful drug users to bear arms,” said the court’s ruling summary.

… Applying intermediate scrutiny, the panel nevertheless held that the fit between the challenged provisions and the Government’s substantial interest of violence prevention was reasonable, and therefore the district court did not err by dismissing the Second Amendment claim. The panel rejected plaintiff’s claims that the challenged laws and Open Letter (issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to federal firearms licensees, which prevented plaintiff from purchasing a firearm) violated the First Amendment.

Wilson’s attorney, Charles Rainey planned to “press on” with the case. “We are going to litigate this, exhaust whatever remedies we have,” Rainey said. “When this (ATF) letter was issued, it was issued as part of a deliberate attempt by the (U.S. Department of Justice) to quell a political movement.

“We live in a world where having a medical marijuana card is enough to say you don’t get a gun,” Rainey continued, “But if you’re on the no fly list your constitutional right is still protected.”

The National Rifle Association has not issued a comment on the ruling. But other groups are speaking out against the decision

“There is no credible justification for a ‘marijuana exception’ to the U.S. Constitution,” Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws said. “Responsible adults who use cannabis in a manner that is compliant with the laws of their states ought to receive the same legal rights and protections as do other citizens.”

“It is incumbent that members of Congress act swiftly to amend cannabis’ criminal status in a way that comports with both public and scientific opinion, as well as its rapidly changing legal status under state laws,” Armentano concluded.

The Marijuana Policy Project said in a statement that “seriously ill patients who use medical marijuana should be treated the same as patients who use any other doctor-approved medication.”

QUIZ: Do You Know Your Terrible Cookbook Titles?

Jillian Peterson
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QUIZ: Do You Know Your Terrible Cookbook Titles?

It’s time to start thinking of holiday gifts for your loved ones. How about a nice cookbook for the foodie in your life? Or not? Unless you’re looking for a White Elephant gift this year, these are probably cookbooks best left on shelves.

[qzzr quiz=”259400″ width=”100%” height=”auto” redirect=”true” offset=”0″]

 

Dressing Up Like a Duck Helps This Baby Goat Deal With Anxiety

Taylor Berman
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Dressing Up Like a Duck Helps This Baby Goat Deal With Anxiety

While we’ve never seen a goat and a duck interact, we’d like to believe they’d get along. The below photo of a rescue goat dressed up in a duck costume gives us hope that they would.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMOmomhj_UX/

The Dodo reports that Leanne Lauricella—who runs a goat rescue operation in New Jersey called Goats of Anarchy—purchased the costume just before Halloween, thinking it’d be fun and cute to dress her baby goats in it. She was, of course, right, but a baby goat named Polly formed a special bond with the duck outfit.

Polly is blind, severely underweight, and suffers from crippling anxiety issues that cause her to cry out in a panic when she can’t find Lauricella and do other odd things. “She’ll find a corner of a wall in the house, and she’ll just start sucking on the wall,” Lauricella told The Dodo. “So all the corners in our house have these little suck marks from her mouth.”

But the duck costume seemed to temporarily cure Polly’s issues. “As soon as I put it on her, she just instantly got calm,” Lauricella said, adding that it worked better than any other methods she’d tried.

“I tried a ThunderShirt — it didn’t work,” she said. “There’s something about that duck costume that calms her. She goes into a little trance. She just closes her eyes and she’s out.”

Lauricella also puts the suit on Polly when she takes her out in public.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLy5TKBD1f-/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BL1ARk1j_aR/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLztQ8PDbTS/

Photos and videos of Polly dressed in her duck costume in a shopping cart received thousands of likes and views on Instagram, but apparently some haters had their doubts about the necessity of the suit.

“Some of yall don’t believe me,” Lauricella wrote in a subsequent Instagram post. “Polly loves her duck suit. Polly NEEDS her duck suit. It puts her right to sleep. Tonight she was feeling anxious because I’m too busy to sit with her. I put her duck suit on and she’s totally happy. It instantly soothes her! Its the strangest cutest thing. This is not abuse, this is love.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMDAWjJD04v/

Polly has also tried on pig and fox costumes, but clearly prefers the duck one, according to Lauricella. “I’ve started regretting that I didn’t buy the next size up,” she said.

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