Hasta La Gadget!

As candy, Peeps are, well, not the tastiest treats in the Easter basket.

However, they can be quite a tasteful medium for artistic expression, as an arts center in Westminster, Maryland, is demonstrating.

From now until April 19, the Carroll County Arts Council is hosting its 10th annual PEEPshow, an event where people are whetting their artistic appetites by making sculptures using the marshmallow-like candies.

The contest has 151 entries so far, “de-peep-ting” all aspects of pop culture including Belle from “Beauty And The Beast,” Pikachu, and even “Grumpy Cat” (who doesn’t seem pleased.)

One Peep sculpture of one of the “Game Of Thrones” dragons features more than 7,500 Peeps, or more Peeps than anyone ever wants to eat ― ever.

The event is locally based, according to spokeswoman Sandy Oxx.

“Transporting these sculptures from far away would be difficult,” she told The Huffington Post.

But this year, for the first time, contest voting is now online giving anyone on the internet a chance to peep at the sculptures and help select a winner. It costs $1 to vote, with the proceeds going to benefit the Carroll Arts Center.

The grand prize-winning Peep piece will win, among other things, a giant plush bunny and a visit to the Peeps factory in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Peeps season usually ends at Easter, but Oxx says Peeps sculptures can last forever.

“Peeps have a two-year shelf life for eating, but I have some entries in my office that are 10 years old,” she said. “They get soft when it’s humid and crunchy when it’s dry.”

Check out some of our favorite entries below:

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President Trump discussed bombing Syria with China’s president over “a beautiful piece of chocolate cake”, which made us wonder if Mary Berry ever discussed war crimes on “Great British Bake Off.” Trump flip-flopped by refusing to call China a “currency manipulator,” so expect a few fawning profiles about the moderating effect of Jared Kushner. And the president says he will induce Democrats into supporting Obamacare repeal by tying it to infrastructure — okay, so maybe people *will* die in the streets, but they’ll be *great* streets. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, April 12th, 2017:

MANAFORT RECEIVED PAYMENTS FROM PRO-RUSSIA PARTY, AP CONFIRMS – Na zdorovye! Jack Gillum, Chad Day and Jeff Horowitz: “Last August, a handwritten ledger surfaced in Ukraine with dollar amounts and dates next to the name of Paul Manafort, who was then Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. Ukrainian investigators called it evidence of off-the-books payments from a pro-Russian political party — and part of a larger pattern of corruption under the country’s former president. Manafort, who worked for the party as an international political consultant, has publicly questioned the ledger’s authenticity. Now, financial records newly obtained by The Associated Press confirm that at least $1.2 million in payments listed in the ledger next to Manafort’s name were actually received by his consulting firm in the United States.” [AP]

FARA you kidding me: “A spokesman for Paul Manafort said the former Trump campaign manager has consulted with federal authorities about whether he should register as a foreign agent because of his past political work in Ukraine, and will now take ‘appropriate steps in response to the guidance.’” [NBC News’ Tom Winter]

REX TILLERSON STAYS AWAKE LONG ENOUGH TO HAVE AWKWARD VISIT WITH RUSSIAN LEADERS – Nice of the secretary of state to take a break from falling asleep in a duck blind while reading a novel about a man and his dog (we assume this is what he does).  Peter Graff: “Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday trust had eroded between the United States and Russia under President Donald Trump, as Moscow delivered an unusually hostile reception to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in a face-off over Syria…. Tillerson started a meeting with Putin in the Kremlin after talking to his Russian opposite number Sergei Lavrov for around three hours. The Kremlin had previously declined to confirm Putin would meet Tillerson, reflecting tensions over the U.S. strike on Syria. Just as Tillerson sat down for talks with Lavrov earlier on Wednesday, a senior Russian official assailed the ‘primitiveness and loutishness’ of U.S. rhetoric, part of a volley of statements that appeared timed to maximize the awkwardness during the first visit by a member of Trump’s cabinet.” [Reuters] 

TRUMP FLIPS ON CHINA CURRENCY MANIPULATION – That sound you hear is 1,000 different journalists gearing up for another round of stories about diehard Trump supporters still being diehard Trump supporters. Gerard Baker, Carol E. Lee and Michael C. Bender: “Mr. Trump, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal…said his administration won’t label China a currency manipulator in a report due this week. He left open the possibility of renominating Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen once her tenure is up next year, a shift from his position during the campaign that he would ‘most likely’ not appoint her to another term…. Mr. Trump said the reason he has changed his mind on one of his signature campaign promises is that China hasn’t been manipulating its currency for months and because taking the step now could jeopardize his talks with Beijing on confronting the threat of North Korea. ‘They’re not currency manipulators,’ Mr. Trump said.” [WSJ]

Haircuts: Arthur Delaney (h/t Arthur Delaney), Eliot Nelson (h/t Tiger Beat).

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YOU CAN HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT, TOO, AND ALSO KILL SOME CIVILIANS  – Sadly, most modern presidents have probably discussed bombing civilians over dessert. Igor Bobic: “President Donald Trump said he told Chinese President Xi Jinping about his decision to launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles against Syria while the men ate dessert at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, last week. During the interview, Trump seemed to dwell on the fact that the two world leaders were enjoying some delicious cake. ‘I was sitting at the table. We had finished dinner. We’re now having dessert. And we had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you’ve ever seen, and President Xi was enjoying it,’ Trump recalled in an interview with Fox News Business host Maria Bartiromo that aired on Wednesday.” [HuffPost]

Then there was the part of the interview where Trump confused Iraq with Syria, but whatever!

GOP’S TALKING POINTS VEIN NOT TERRIBLY RICH – Matt Fuller: “In a document sent to all House Republicans and obtained by The Huffington Post, the House GOP conference offers some tips on how to frame the past few less-than-spectacular months. ‘Republicans promised the American people we’d have an aggressive agenda, and we do,’ the document begins, in an over-promise/under-deliver tone that Republicans are probably familiar with at this point. ‘Using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), we’re working every day with President Trump to roll back harmful Obama-era regulations ― more than any other time in history ― so we can grow our economy and create jobs.’ If you begin your talking points by touting your aggressive agenda, and then bring up all the stuff you plan to get done with the Congressional Review Act ― which allows Congress to block regulations from government agencies with just a simple majority in the House and Senate ― perhaps it is time to rethink how you begin your talking points.” [HuffPost]

YEAH, THIS ISN’T GOING TO HAPPEN – Well, maybe Joe Manchin will support this. Andrew Soergel: “During an interview with Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo, Trump said his tax reform plans would ultimately ‘be better’ if he could first get his desired Affordable Care Act repeal and replace legislation through Capitol Hill…. ‘I see it as part, perhaps, of the health care plan,’ Trump said of his promised infrastructure overhaul. ‘Because phase 2 of the health care plan, in order to get the votes, I need 60 percent for that. And if I put that in, the Democrats are actually going to love the infrastructure plan.’” [U.S. News]

MEANWHILE, THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IS IN TROUBLE – Trump still hasn’t decided whether to help save it or kill it. Jonathan Cohn: “President Donald Trump and his congressional allies could still wreak havoc with the Affordable Care Act’s private insurance markets, even though the effort at full repeal has stalled. They could do so through some combination of neglect and sabotage ― and it could all start more quickly than most people realize. Right now, insurance companies that sell individual policies through the law’s exchanges are trying to figure out what premiums to charge next year and, in some cases, whether to keep selling on the exchanges at all. They’re making these decisions without key information, because the Trump administration has sent mixed signals about its intent to enforce the law and to continue paying critical subsidies to insurers.” [HuffPost]

GOP EKES OUT WIN IN KANSAS SPECIAL ELECTION, TRUMP BUNGLES MESSAGING – “Great win in Kansas last night for Ron Estes,” Trump tweeted last night, “easily winning the Congressional race against the Dems, who spent heavily & predicted victory!” Igor Bobic with how wrong that (mostly) is: “The only thing Trump got right in his tweet, however, is the outcome of the race. Estes did not ‘easily’ win on Tuesday, as the president said. In an ultra-conservative district that Trump won by 27 points in November, Estes won by only 7 points. That’s a 20-point swing toward the Democrats ― and it could bode well for the party in coming special elections, as well as the midterms. Democrats did not spend heavily on the race. In fact, they barely spent anything at all. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee did not begin running live calls urging residents of the district to vote for Thompson until Monday, the eve of the race.” [HuffPost] 

TRUMP TO SCREW HIS OWN VOTERS, PART 8,303,913 – Arthur Delaney: “Donald Trump won the presidency largely by turning out rural voters whose economic woes had allegedly been forgotten by the Washington establishment. The federal government runs a plethora of programs designed to ease those economic woes, but Trump wants to cut them. His administration has proposed deep reductions to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several federal programs that help small businesses in rural areas…. A president’s budget generally serves as an ideological statement and an opening bid with Congress, which actually sets spending levels. But after Trump released his budget, his administration followed up with a list of domestic spending cuts it would like to see in upcoming legislation to fund government operations beyond April 28.” [HuffPost]

THESE BROS AIN’T LOYAL – Michael Goodwin: “Washington’s rumor mill is working overtime on the fate of presidential aide Steve Bannon, who is said to be at the center of the rampant White House infighting. When I asked the president Tuesday afternoon if he still has confidence in Bannon, who took over the campaign in mid-August, I did not get a definitive yes. ‘I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,’ Trump said…. He ended by saying, ‘Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will.’” [NY Post]

KELLYANNE CONWAY, LADIES AND GERMS – “I’m not the darkness” is also our favorite Liz Phair album. Nick Wing: “White House adviser Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday offered an impressively ironic defense against media allegations that she is an agent of misinformation. Speaking at a Washington D.C. forum on President Donald Trump’s first 100 Days, Hollywood Reporter’s Michael Wolff told Conway that she’s viewed as ‘the darkness’ for many reporters…. ‘I’m not the darkness,’ Conway responded, accusing the media of exhibiting ‘presumptive negativity’ in its coverage of Trump. ‘It’s what I tell small children: Just because somebody says something doesn’t make it true,’ she said. ‘It’s a great lesson for everyone.’” [HuffPost]

GUT GRIEF – Or, “that time the German government had to talk to Sean Spicer about Godwin’s Law.” Willa Frej: “Chancellor Angela Merkel’s administration had to remind White House press secretary Sean Spicer of this on Wednesday after he suggested a day earlier that as monstrous as Hitler was, even he didn’t ‘sink to using chemical weapons.’ … Spicer’s comment ‘only shows what is in any case the German government’s position — any comparison of current situations with Nazi crimes leads to nothing good,’ Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said, according to the Associated Press.” [HuffPost]

ADMINISTRATIVE STATE ASKED TO DECONSTRUCT ITSELF – Lisa Rein and Damian Paletta: “The White House on Wednesday will instruct all federal agencies to submit a plan by June 30 to shrink their civilian workforces, offering the first details on how the Trump administration aims to reduce the size and scope of the government. A governmentwide hiring freeze the president imposed on Jan. 23 will be lifted immediately. But Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told reporters Tuesday that agency leaders must start ‘taking immediate actions’ to save money and reduce their staffs. Mulvaney also said they must come up with a long-term blueprint to cut the number of federal workers starting in October 2018.” [WaPo]

BECAUSE YOU’VE READ THIS FAR – Here’s Sean Spicer failing to pronounce Bashar al-Assad’s name.

VOTERS CAN EVEN – It’s just reporters who can’t even. Ariel Edwards-Levy: “The idea that recent news cycles have become uniquely grueling has taken hold in much of the media. ‘It feels as if we are living in a Superconducting Super Collider of news, with information bombarding us at a head-spinning velocity,’ The New York Times’ Christopher Mele wrote in February. But among respondents who say they generally try to stay informed on what’s happening in politics, just 30 percent say that they feel political news is changing so quickly that they can’t keep up. Sixty percent say they don’t have any problems doing so.” [HuffPost]

COMFORT FOOD

– Cat is the player of the game.

– Dad photoshops daughter into dangerous day-to-day situations in effort to give grandmother a heart attack.

– We are very into this Japanese woodworking.

TWITTERAMA

@EmilyRPeck: I give it 2-3 weeks before we get a “I Ate The Chocolate Cake At Mar-A-Lago. It Was Not Beautiful” story

@emilybell: podcast genres : 1. Men going on about things. 2. Whispery crime 3.Millennials talking over each other 4. Should be 20 minutes shorter 

@MEPFuller: I like coffee with chocolate cake, but Tomahawk missiles prob also pair well. 

What’s your favorite missile after a meal? Let us know in th

Got something to add? Send tips/quotes/stories/photos/events/fundraisers/job movement/juicy miscellanea to Eliot Nelson (eliot@huffingtonpost.com)

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A Kenyan-born Mormon accountant from Salt Lake City is running for president of his native country after nearly 20 years in Utah.

Amram Musungu, 39, moved to Salt Lake County nearly two decades ago after converting to Mormonism as a teen. He studied business and accounting, eventually becoming a financial auditor, getting married and starting a family. Now, Musungu hopes to return to Kenya as the republic’s fifth president.

“I want the best for Kenya, and every Kenyan should be proud of their country,” he told Deseret News in a recent interview. “I will be the best president the country has ever had.”

Musungu has always been ambitious. As a child, he said, he walked seven miles each way to school ― though it wasn’t mandatory for him to attend. “I wanted to be different,” he said.

The accountant grew up in a Protestant family and was just 14 years old when he met Mormon missionaries and decided to convert. Just three years later, Musungu said, he felt a calling to do missionary work in his native Kenya on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church agreed, and the then 17-year-old Musungu started his 27-month mission a day later.

“It taught me that you can go any place the Lord wants you to go,” he told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2008. “I plan things out, but Heavenly Father has other ideas. I rely on the [Holy] Spirit to direct my life.”

When Musungu moved to Utah shortly after his mission, he entered a largely white, upper middle-class religious milieu. According to a 2007 survey by Pew Research Center, 86 percent of U.S. Mormons are white. Just three percent of Mormons in the country are black.

The church has a long, often-conflicted history of inclusion ― and exclusion ― of black people dating back to its founding. Black members were banned from joining the priesthood under Brigham Young, a policy that persisted until 1978. Today, some Mormons say the church isn’t doing enough to speak out about present-day racism.

“The seeming reluctance by some Mormon leaders to speak about the violence faced by its black members in the United States has brought many black Mormons to points of frustration,” wrote Janan Graham-Russell in a 2016 article for The Atlantic.

Musungu, who was once one of only two black men and three black singers total in the hundreds-strong Mormon Tabernacle Choir, shook off the church’s troubled history of race relations in the Salt Lake Tribune interview.

“Withholding priesthood served God’s own purpose. His timetable is different than man’s,” he said.

These days, Musungu is more concerned with the problems back home. Kenya has experienced a rise in hate speech and violence, and the last two presidential elections were highly contested. Musungu said he worries about corruption and political unrest, as well as the country’s high unemployment rate and economic turmoil.

The 39-year-old will face off against seven other candidates in the Aug. 8 election, according to Deseret News.

“Some would call this a long shot, but it’s a real shot,” he said.

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President Donald Trump again downplayed top White House adviser Steve Bannon’s influence Wednesday amid speculation that the former Breitbart News executive is falling out of favor with the president. 

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the president described Bannon as “a guy who works for me.” According to the paper, the president also described himself, not Bannon, as his own “strategist.”

Trump’s latest comment comes one day after he declined to express his full support for Bannon, and one week after Bannon was removed from the National Security Council — two signals that his role in the administration may be diminishing. 

“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump told New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”

According to multiple reports, Bannon has repeatedly clashed with Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, representative of a larger ideological divide between two warring factions within the White House. The conflict has largely played out in the press, with both sides leaking unflattering details about each other to reporters.

Last week, Trump reportedly told the two to “cut it out” and ordered them to meet to work out their differences. 

“Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will,” Trump told Goodwin. 

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See that image above? The one that looks like a cosmic rorschach test? That’s the first composite image of a dark matter web that stretches between galaxies, according to a paper published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.