Vegan Food Truck Owner Receives Death Threats After Opining About Vegas Shooting

Delinda and Kyle Jensen have always been open to talking to customers about the opinions they have at their Mother Nature Vegan Cuisine food truck. But their opinions have now resulted in death threats since the comments made about the Las Vegas shooting did not go over very well.

Delinda Jensen, who is 60 years old, has gotten several death threats after posting this Facebook comment: “Yes I am jaded. Fifty-nine meat eaters dead. How many animals will live because of this?” She then made a comment under that same post that said: “I don’t give a (expletive) about carnists anymore.”

According to the Washington Post, Jensen has since deactivated her Facebook account, hidden her food truck, and canceled all of her bookings. She has also installed a security camera at her home. Her son said people have driven by their home shouting threats and obscenities, and they have had to call the police several times out of fear for their safety.

Jensen said she became a vegan two years ago and started the Mother Nature Vegan Cuisine food truck with her son. She said she was trying to make the point that she believes animals are tortured and killed unnecessarily for their meat, however, now the former adjunct history professor at Marywood University said she is living in fear since her post set off an intense and immediate backlash on social media last week. Many Facebook users shared Jensen’s post, which generated hundreds of hate-filled comments and threats with very little defense of her stance.

But she also says she’s sorry, and regrets making the post on Facebook. “Was it poorly written? Absolutely. Do I regret it? Yes. I am so sorry I wrote that,” she said. “Meat eaters or not, no one deserves to die like that. I wasn’t celebrating the death of those people.”

“I (expletive) up,” Jensen said while sitting at her kitchen table with son and business partner, Kyle.  Jensen tried to explain her motivation for writing the post, by saying she wanted to make the point that too many animals are tortured and killed every year. She estimates 20 billion-plus animals are killed for human consumption yearly. Jensen said people can eat good food without the inhumanity of abusing and killing innocent animals. She also said that just one vegan translates into saving 155 animals per year.

“It’s almost like a lynch mob is forming,” said Jensen. “It seems that it’s no longer about the Facebook post — now it’s about eating meat.” Jensen is still angry at herself for what she called “a moment of stupidity.” She felt her vegan business was doing good things for people; like giving them a healthy alternative to meat. Jensen would bring her truck to Public Square on Mondays and it was very popular. “We even gave food to the homeless for free,” she said. But now, “We’re done. We canceled all of our booked events. We had a really good product, too.”

“We are not bad people,” she said. “We are aware that there are people on social media who have been trying to organize groups to come after us.” So at night, Jensen and her son lock all the doors and turn out the lights. They leave porch lights on so security cameras can record anyone trying to get near them. “I’ll just take it one day at a time,” she said. “I understand the tragedies of history — there’s never anything to celebrate. I never once felt ‘Yay, yippee, 59 people are dead.’”

But that isn’t how those who read her post felt on social media. “I did write an apology on Facebook right after the post went up,” Jensen said. “It didn’t matter. People were already running with it.” Kyle, who has a degree in culinary arts, is sure he will find another job, but his mother may be out of work for good. “I’m not mad at my mom,” he said. “We are a family. We’ve been through a lot. But people have destroyed our business.”

“This was our life and now it’s gone,” she said. “I’m so scared to go out anywhere.”

Food Truck Giving Free Food to Workers, Kicked Out of Town for Serving Irma Victims With No Permit

Image: Triple J"s BBQ, Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TripleJsBBQ12/

Green Cove Springs, FL — After Irma devastated Florida, most restaurants and stores were shut down in certain areas. Green Cove Springs was one of those places. So, when Jack Roundtree, owner of the Triple J BBQ food truck, arrived in town, not only was he welcomed with open arms — he was desperately needed. As he sold BBQ to paying customers, Roundtree used the extra money to feed utility workers for free for all their hard work. However, once officials saw a man who’d dare sell food in their town without paying them first, police were called in to make quick work of this entrepreneurial good samaritan.

Shut down and get out of town—is what Roundtree was told by local authorities for both providing charity and a much-needed product and service. Why was Roundtree told to get out of town, you ask? Well, he hadn’t paid the local government for the ‘privilege’ to sell food to those in need inside Green Cove Springs.

Roundtree is no outlaw. In fact, Green Cove Springs actually encouraged him to sell his BBQ during their monthly Saturday-in-the-Park event before the hurricane. But not this time.

Even if he would’ve gone to city hall to buy a permit to sell during the Irma aftermath, however, he couldn’t—they were closed.

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According to Clay Today:

“It was interesting to learn that Roundtree and his truck were encouraged to serve customers during Green Cove’s monthly Saturday-in-the-Park event without a permit, but during Irma’s aftermath, not so much.

“Had Roundtree decided to press his case at City Hall, he would have been greeted with a sign that read: ‘Due to Hurricane Irma, City Hall offices and services will re-open on Thursday, Sept. 14, 2017.’”

So, instead of allowing Roundtree to offer free food to utility workers and sell food to people during their time of need, and just get a permit after government employees decided to return to work—they just kicked him out of town.

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Here’s how one Green Cove Spring witness, Bettie Tune, described the events at Rich’s on her Facebook page, as reported by Clay Today:

Just saw a BBQ food truck set up in town. GREAT!! Wanted to stop and get a good lunch for the guys helping us. When I pulled in, there was a Green Cove Springs police sitting there. OK, everyone has to eat, and the choices are very limited right now. Starting to talk to one of the guys from the food truck and found out that the “city manager” had sent her police to make them leave. This is such a great little town, but it seems like the people who run it do their best to keep it from progressing. THANKS Green Cove Springs City Manager. Shame on you!

The irony here is that he was kicked out of town for failing to get a permit by government workers because the other government workers who would’ve given him this permit, were not at work.

In a report from the Institute for Justice, Communications Coordinator, Matt Powers explains that Roundtree is not alone.

Cities across the country often impose strict regulations that make it nearly impossible for food trucks to operate. In 2011, IJ launched its National Street Vending Initiative to fight these laws.

In Baltimore, the Institute for Justice (IJ) is challenging a ban on food trucks parking within 300-foot of a brick-and-mortar business that sells the same type of food. In Chicago, IJ is challenging regulations that bans food trucks from operating within 200 feet of a brick-and-mortar business serving food and forces them to install GPS tracking devices that broadcast their every move. And IJ is challenging a Louisville, Kentucky, law banning food trucks from operating within 150 feet of any restaurant selling similar food.

These strict regulations are ostensibly designed for food safety, but in reality, serve to raise revenue for the state and limit established restaurants’ competition. They also stifle economic growth.

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As the IJ noted:

It is not only during times of crisis that food trucks contribute to their communities. According to IJ’s report Streets of Dreams mobile vending businesses help people escape poverty and unemployment through affordable start-up costs which creates the initial economic opportunity for upward mobility. IJ’s report, Seven Myths and Realitiesfound the presence of food trucks can actually help local restaurant industries by attracting new customers and serving as incubators for new restaurants. Cities should embrace food trucks and liberate them from onerous regulations so they can enjoy the benefits these businesses bring.

When people in need are denied food they are willing to purchase because government workers aren’t in the office to sell the maker of that food a permission slip, something is wrong in the land of the free.

As TFTP reported earlier this month, this problem is everywhere. It stifles local economic growth, persecutes the poor the hardest, and turns hard-working entrepreneurs into criminals, ripe for the extortion of state.

Luckily, thanks to Martin Flores, who filmed an innocent hot dog vendor named Beto get robbed by a Berkely police officer for selling hot dogs, Americans are seeing the harsh reality that is making a living in a police state.