Owner Roland Beainy, a Lebanese immigrant who says he opened the restaurant in support of Trump, has been candid with local media. Though his restaurants have no official affiliation with the president, Beainy has said he thinks Trump greatly improved the economy during his first presidency (spoiler: he didn’t) and hopes to collaborate with him one day. Not everyone, however, seems as enthusiastic. Even before opening its doors in May, Trump Burger’s Houston outpost was met with middle fingers from passing drivers, according to a Houston Chronicle report — a sign of the friction in a predominantly Democratic city. But Trump Burger isn’t trying to win everyone over. From the “Made in USA” logos plastered on the menu to burgers literally stamped with the Trump name, the restaurant makes its deference to the president (and a particular group of diners) resoundingly clear.
It sounds like the food is extremely whatever, which doesn’t make it different than most burger chains. But here’s the rub:
Every Trump Burger location tries to outdo itself in nationalist and personality cult aesthetics. Though Houston’s exterior is more subdued and minimalist, the Kemah location features a stage for live music and cocktails. The Bellville location seems most over the top: Images of Trump dominate the space, with life-size posters alongside flags, slogans, and merchandise that blur the line between restaurant decor and propaganda. A particularly jarring image shows Trump raising his fist, bloodied ear and all, after surviving an alleged assassination attempt in 2024 — an image positioned not far from shelves stocked with Trump-branded mugs, hats, and koozies.
But for all the visual noise, the actual atmosphere can feel eerily subdued. As I walked in on a recent Sunday, the tension, likely combined with our nervousness, felt palpable. Here, the vibe wasn’t festive — it was stiff, uncertain, and uncomfortable, particularly for me, a woman of color. The other diners present avoided eye contact. Even the playlist, looping music videos on wall-mounted televisions, couldn’t inject life into the space. The most excitement I saw was among families toddling around with their kids, many wearing Trump memorabilia (a boy, no older than 7, donned the shirt that read “Daddy’s Home”). It was a stark contrast to the raucous, family-friendly energy you’d expect at most burger joints.
The sad thing about this is not that restaurant owners and patrons like Trump. I’ve been in breweries for example whne driving around the nation that are obviously Trumpy and it’s kind of weird. But there’s a whole other level from having your establishment being copaganda and it being festooned in Trump gear, including the buns. It’s just a sad state of affairs when people choose their dining options based on the politics of the owners and the branding as openly fascist. That has nothign to do with the food or even the politics, but because it’s just a dreary experience for all involved. No one is really just relaxing and having fun. Either you are so seething with hate that you come to this place or you feel like the enemy who just wants to leave.
It’s like right-wing students who take college courses in order to get their professors in trouble. What a pathetic and sad way to spend four years. Why would you do this?
2. they have 0 concept of disability as a tragedy or something pitiable.
I’ve watched kids get into an argument with a teacher bc they thought wheelchairs were cool. I told a kid that I can’t stand for too long sometimes and they replied, “That’s okay, I can’t do cartwheels sometimes, but I just do other stuff then. You can sit down with me if you want”. Today a girl asked me what the headphones on a classmate’s desk were for and I told her that headphones are important for some kids because noises bother them, and she said she wished she had headphones at home, because her baby brothers make a lot of noise and it makes it hard to think. The idea that different people could use tools at different times is intuitive and simple and when accessibility aids are explained neutrally, kids don’t see them as bad or unfortunate, they’re just things that are useful.
Even mental disability!! In Kindergarten the other day one of the kids asked me why his table partner got stickers when nobody else did. I started off by saying, “Well, when you do your work well, it feels good, right? That’s your brain giving you a reward,” and the kid just right away went, “Oh, and the stickers are like his reward?” YES! You are 5 and have a better grasp on ADHD than most adults! Kids blow me away every day.
so i took out the trash today like the good house husband i am not, leaving behind the rank smell of long forgotten noodles and the regrets of two people with memory issues
i, like any good tumblr citizen, remember the tales of the person who put two cups of vanilla extract in their oven so i did the sensible thing to get out two Caps of extract
just then, inspiration struck. a bolt of lightning straight from the muses themselves, if i could use vanilla extract…. who’s to say i couldn’t use other extracts?
i scoured the cabinets, i knew my partner had secreted away some illicit non-vanilla type extracts for baking, and i found it.
hidden in the back of the cabinet was a lone bottle of mint extract
i emptied my two caps with abandon into an (oven safe) glass dish and gleefully set the oven for 300 for an hour
all that was left now was to wait for the sins of the mind to be purged by the mighty mint leaf
ten minutes in… starting to smell kinda like a thin mint
fifteen minutes in, i take a nice deep breath of lovely scented air and i am greeted by searing burning minty pain
i launch myself towards the kitchen, every step closer to mint hell, every orifice on my face burning with the freezing righteous flame of menthol
im fumbling for the oven mitt to rid my home of this foul demon, i pry the oven open and am hit with a blast unlike anything else
i feel what that vine kid taking shots of mouthwash feels, i was seared raw, my tits were blown clean off, and it was just me and that devilish beguiling minty fresh taste
quickly dumping the rest into the sink i ran towards the door, begging for the sweet sweet smell of un-minted air
learning nothing from this encounter, i dare to try once more, with the tumblr-approved extract this time
wish me luck
update: the vanilla has finished cooking, it now very much smells like the pillsberry doughboy fucked a thin mint
it takes quite a bit of social intelligence for a creature to understand:
I know what I am doing is wrong
I know there is an activity that looks similar that is not wrong
If I am quick I can plausibly pass one off as the other
these cats are displaying remarkable theory of mind skills by not only registering that the humans can perceive them but actively trying to manipulate that perception! that requires one to be aware that other individuals have complicated interior thoughts of their own, to know that those thoughts are not always based on truth, and to quickly decide on the best possible “lie” for the situation. this is why I despise animal intelligence tasks based on obedience— some of the most clever moments stem from intelligent disobedience.
Ah, okay, so it’s because he’s nervous, right? Or because the shivering is kinda like stimming? Bit stereotypical I guess, but it’s true a lot of autistic people do have issues with anxie–
Adding this amazing “Sinners Syllabus” too for further resources to educate yourself. The books above are ones I have in my personal library, but some very cool people put together an entire webpage of information. Check it out HERE.
Making a modern Jurassic World movie, where it’s nothing but scientists desperately trying to get like a single viable zygote. And the horror is how every day they have to be in meetings with shareholders who talk the whole time about the giant dinosaurs they’ll make, and setting opening deadlines while no one else in the room knows if they’re even gonna get a cluster of cells to last more than a day. The shareholders keep firing scientists and engineers for poor performance, slashing the laboratory budget, and spending millions of dollars on marketing and efficiency consultants.
Even incremental progress is terrifying because if you tell the bosses there’s progress, they assume an alive fully grown dinosaur will be ready for the public in one week. Every executive does literally nothing but play solitaire and complain what a waste of money dinosaurs are.
“Can’t we use AI to make the dinosaurs?”
“… wh…”
“We’ve got a six million dollar contract from OpenAI standing by if we give them exclusive rights to 3D models of the dinosaurs to use as chatbot avatars.”
“…”
“ChatGPT says we can make dinosaurs with frog DNA and water. Also three chicken eggs, twenty cups of sugar, and one cigarette. And I don’t think we need an entire lab for something a single commercial kitchen can do, soooooooo…”
“…”
“ChatGPT, write a letter to fire these people, but in a way that sounds like we’re really sad about it or whatever.”
A Minnesota woman seen using a racial slur against a child in a video posted on social media has raised over $300,000 through a crowdfunding campaign, saying she and her family need to relocate for their safety.
The incident, which occurred at Soldiers Field Memorial Park in Rochester, shows a woman, identified as Shiloh Hendrix, using the n-word in an argument with a man who confronted her about her language toward a Black child. The video, which circulated across social media platforms including X and TikTok, shows Hendrix repeating the slur and defending her actions by claiming the child stole from her toddler’s diaper bag.
I was thinking about this on and off before this story even broke the news but by and large it doesn’t matter what consequences white supremacists who harass black people, on camera, in public, actually have to deal with because legions of fellow white supremacists are in the wings ensuring that they’ll be fine throughout the ordeal.
Good news!
this is still ongoing & people can support Kiandria Demone’s—she’s updating a guide for what company to contact (including templates)
The way my jaw dropped when I saw that video where Darshen said he’s like a younger brother to Samuel..
that is literally not even factual 💀 that is fully a rumor. like can yall not. so many people were bothering them about this random misinfo.
Now that we’ve cancelled out the additional lore we can return to contemplating Darshen, and how no combination of existing emoji could recapitulate his specific fixed smile.
ALT
ALT
