I went to In-N-Out and ordered a cheeseburger. The cashier, a calm young woman named Destiny, asked me a question I did not expect.
"You want that Animal Style?"
I paused.
I did not know what this meant. But a samurai does not admit he does not know. So I answered with weight.
"...Animal Style."
"Cool. So that's mustard-grilled, extra spread, grilled onions, pickles. Yeah?"
I understood now. This was a sacred permission. For one meal, I was being told to put down my manners at the door. To eat the way a beast eats, without shame. I had waited my whole life for someone to give me this order.
"Yes," I said. "I will become the animal."
Destiny did not blink. "...Okay. You want your fries Animal Style too?"
I stopped. Even the potatoes?
"The potatoes also become animals?"
"I mean, they get cheese and sauce and grilled onions, so..."
"Then yes. Let the potatoes abandon their restraint as well."
"...Got it." She was the calmest woman I have ever met. "3x3, 4x4, or just the one?"
I did not know these numbers, but I knew a challenge when I heard one. "How many must I face?"
"It's, like, how many patties you want."
"How many is the most honorable?"
"...Four is a lot."
"Then four. A warrior does not ask for fewer."
She wrote it down without argument. A 4x4, Animal Style, with animal fries. She warned me once, kindly. "That's gonna be huge." I told her I was counting on it.
It arrived. It was a tower. Cheese and sauce ran down my hands the moment I lifted it. There was no clean way to eat it. There was no dignified way. That was the entire point.
I ate it like a beast. Both hands, no honor, grilled onion on my chin, and I have to be honest with you, it was the best thing I have ever put in my mouth.
For thirty years I have kept my manners at every table in the world.
They handed me a burger and told me to be an animal, and I have never felt so free.
So tell me, America.
The whole country knows the secret menu. What else are you hiding in plain sight?
And "Animal Style." Was I eating the animal, or finally becoming one?
this might be controversial but - over this past year esp since oct7 this admin has eroded american soft power capabilities even beyond trump. never thought it was achievable. ironic since biden ran as the elder statesmen who will fix america's pr on the global stage.
You are all fucking stupid little children. Ronald FUCKING Reagan pressured Israel to stop their siege of Beirut in 1982 because human casualties had gotten too high - around 5000 people. Now 40k+ have been killed and this admin CONTINUES to send them money and weapons.
i care about labor, anti war, free healthcare & college for all. i want a pathway to citizenship for immigrants. i want my taxes to go towards fixing the roads & schools in this country instead of lining the pockets of the MIC execs. kamala’s speech seemed hostile to all of that.
Michael Phelps is literally referred to as a freak of nature because of his disproportionate wingspan, double jointed ankles, lung capacity twice that of an average human, body that produces half the lactic acid of a typical athlete, and he is rightly celebrated for being the greatest male swimmer in history. Meanwhile, female athletes with genetic differences are legally discriminated against and harassed to no end. This is not about “protecting women in sports” - this is about protecting a very specific idea of what a woman is.
Hard to watch, but important. This CNN video is censored by Instagram.
The report documents an Israeli drone strike, killing a group of Palestinian children playing at a foosball table.
The journalist notes that a child is killed or injured every 10 mins in Gaza.
Via @Dena
Let it be known now and forever. He could’ve done this months ago. That America will never ever be the heroes this time around. We watched them veto every time the world asked for lives to be saved. But it only took 3 white people, not the 30 000+ Palestinians gone…