Chaos Theory

I love wheelchair costumes

There's even a group that will build them for you.

Psychedelic eggs

So there's a thing.

I love this thing

Hallmark Squawkin Easter Egg Droppin Plush Chicken Mama Hen. Lays eggs and has a song and freaks out your baby.

Hidden Peep shows

So while reading the ComPost chat (Washington Post)....

Q: I am still getting over the loss of the peeps, as long as we're airing Post-related grievances.

I will never get over it. Even with the Westminster Md. peeps show to look forward to. My one regret on retiring from NSA was that I would no longer be able to see the internal Peeps show, many of whose entries were brilliantly funny, even though you had to have the right classification to get the jokes.

A: Alexandra Petri

There was an INTERNAL peeps show at the NSA? Are you even allowed to tell us this? I thought the only kind of peeps show the NSA did was singular.

Q: Re: Loss of the Peeps

Did I ever mention I was a finalist in the American Bar Association Peeps in Law competition in 2012? And that the word "anus" was removed from my description (even though I pulled the language directly from the complaint filed in court)? I can't understand why I didn't win: http://www.abajournal.com/gallery/peeps2012/577

A: Alexandra Petri

What is the world COMING to? Maybe the institution itself was rotten, between this and Defenestration of Peeps, and needed to have its swamp drained before it could rise anew.

Are you even allowed to tell us this?

You'd be surprised at what we're allowed to tell you. Individual offices set up their own Peeps displays, and once you reach a certain level of access, it's usually no problem having a colleague buzz you through the office door to see their efforts. It's literally the only thing I miss about working there.

Q: What would a peep made today look like in 50 years?

A twinkie - probably the same, but a peep?

A: Alexandra Petri

Maybe our new tradition should be the creation and eventual opening of a Peep time capsule -- both to see how time treats the joke and to see how time treats the Peep.

Also, here's the Peeps in Law photos.

Update #52: top of the evening to ya!

TrumpLife and Awesome Tremendous International Relations and Holiday Hell!!

• British Intelligence Agency Calls Claims That It Spied On Trump "Utterly Ridiculous"
• Now The White House Says It Doesn’t Regret Blaming Britain’s GCHQ For Wiretapping Trump
• Trump infects St. Patrick's Day.
• Secret Service laptop with Trump Tower floor plans stolen in New York I am so conflicted about this. And also this: White House jumper on grounds for 15 minutes before caught, Secret Service source says
• What Trump Might Do When He Realizes He’s Losing "But this is most likely wishful thinking, when there is a path-of-least-resistance that would satisfy Trump’s lust to impose his will, win, and be feared. Faced with roadblocks in every direction, and loath to become another Carter, it is unnervingly plausible to imagine him turning to the military levers of power over which he exerts singular control, and unleashing hell."
• "Lawmakers in nearly half the states want to add a requirement for presidential candidates: Show us your tax returns."
• Being Wiretapped by Obama Is the One Thing Merkel and I Have in Common. O RLY?Trump Refuses to Shake Hands With Angela Merkel, and It’s Very Awkward She's probably better off anyway.
• What Does Vladimir Putin Want?
• There will be an Easter egg roll after all!
• Irish musicians say ‘No, Nay, Never’ to White House on St. Patrick’s Day

TrumpCare:

• GOP Health-Care Bill Is One Vote From Death After Senator Susan Collins Opposes It
• Yeah, he knows.
• "The three GOP representatives were the first Republican votes against the plan to repeal and replace Obamacare since its introduction last week."
• “We’ve been dreaming of this since you and I were drinking out of a keg.” God, I hate Paul Ryan. What a turd. 
• Does Donald Trump know what the GOP health bill does? No.

The Evil Empire:

• The Men of the Trump Administration Want You to Know How Manly They Are: "Our nation is currently being governed by lots of the kind of men who think it would be cool to have the name “Wayne Tracker.”
• White House Says Cutting Meals on Wheels Is ‘Compassionate’
• Trump's Budget Would Turn the US Into a Heavily-Guarded Shitpile
• 4 Reasons Why the Trump Budget Cuts Won’t Happen
• Anne Helen Petersen article: The Softening Of Kellyanne Conway How do you create sympathy for Trump’s spin doctor?

Fear and loathing:

• "If you’re working with a psychopath, be careful. And whatever you do, if one day he decides to run for office, please don’t vote for him."
• Franken meets Somali girl caught up in travel ban
• FBI Arrests Man Who Allegedly Used Twitter To Cause Seizure Of Newsweek Writer
• Amid ‘Trump Effect’ Fear, 40% of Colleges See Dip in Foreign Applicants  There goes all college money. 

Washington Post:

• Hillary Clinton says she’s ‘ready to come out of the woods’
• What happens when two immigrants, five liberals and a Trump voter sit down to dinner
• Alexandra Petri writes clickbaity title, White House staffers don't read it but pimp it, everyone LOL's.  "This is 2017 in a nutshell: You start with what you think is obviously a joke, and then a few days later it is being sent out from the White House."
• Also by Alexandra Petri: Somebody Else’s Babies are a real menace: "Your Baby is excellent. Your Baby is meeting all its milestones and everything it does is riveting. Your Baby is a genius, looks just like you, and definitely was smiling at you, not passing gas. Somebody Else’s Baby, by contrast, is always trying to ruin your life. Somebody Else’s Baby is always crying on airplanes. Somebody Else’s Baby is rolling through the door on his walker to ruin his father’s BBC interview."
  Trump and his advisers can’t keep quiet — and it’s becoming a real problem “They seem not to know when they need to keep their mouths shut,”
• Trump’s proverb, Paul Ryan’s ‘despicable’ pint and other St. Patrick’s Day mishaps: "But perhaps the most “appalling” moment of the day for some came as Ryan offered a toast, in honor of Ireland’s visit. While addressing the luncheon, Ryan suddenly pulled out a pre-poured pint of Guinness beer from under the podium. “To what our forefathers have started and our children will continue, may the light always shine upon them. Sláinte.” The speaker may have used the correct word for the toast, but all Irish Guinness enthusiasts could focus on was that “despicable pint.” Anyone who has lived in or traveled to Ireland knows the law of the land: a dark, Irish beer should always be topped with a creamy, white, thick foam. One person tweeted she would be “ashamed” to be seen holding that pint. It looked like a pint “you find in the smoking area at the end of the night, its owner stumbled home long ago,” said another."
• "The poll also finds that a whopping 90 percent favor allowing those who have been working here “for a number of years,” know English, and are willing to pay back taxes to stay and eventually apply for citizenship. Only nine percent want them deported. And 60 percent say the government should prioritize legalizing those working here illegally over deporting them." As Cher Horowitz (or a bunch of dudes) says: "And so if the government could just get to the kitchen, rearrange some things, we could certainly party with the Haitians."  Oh, and speaking of Cher, new Clueless comic book by Amber Benson and Sarah Kuhn!
• Democratic push to end gerrymandering, helmed by Eric Holder, to begin in Va
• Berkeley, Calif., to avoid business with companies involved in building Trump’s wall

Humor!

• The Uncanny Similarities Between the Trump Presidency and Arrested Development
• "If anyone has access to any of Donald Trump's other tax returns, please microwave them to me."

The Resistance:

• Chelsea Clinton's children's book: She Persisted.
• Interview with founders of Safety Pin Box.
• Why bureaucrats matter in the fight to fight to preserve the rule of law.
• Trolling the Tweeter in Chief: California congressman stands up to Trump, using the president's favorite weapon: “Michelle Obama had that beautiful line, ‘When they go low, we go high,’” said Lieu. “I thought about it a lot. But I also thought, ‘We lost the election.’ My view now is that when they go low, we fight back.”
• Under President Trump, Stephen Colbert has never been angrier — and his show's never been better
• Ten steps that every American can take to save health care. 
• "The way we approach our nerdy entertainment must undergo a philosophical change. Rather than thinking of our art as a distraction, we should think of entertainment as a weapon. Nerd culture may actually be giving us the social and emotional armature we need to deal with a world apparently descending into madness. Hidden in the scripts and code are practical concepts and tools can teach us how to be open-minded, compassionate individuals, a transformation that feels like the most effective coping tool."
• Juno cast to fundraise for Planned Parenthood.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

• Irishness, the changeling in the cradle
• The Do’s and Don’ts of Irish people on Saint Patrick’s Day
• St. Patrick was an immigrant.

6 myths about the Ides of March and killing Caesar

"This is what most of us know about the death of Julius Caesar, half-remembered from movies and plays:

• Some soothsayer said, "Beware the Ides of March."
• A few idealistic Romans decided to win back Rome for the people.
• Caesar got stabbed by Brutus with a big sword, said "Et tu, Brute?" and died nobly.

All of that is wrong."

George Washington could tell a lie.

On his spymaster days.

"nobody is tap dancing or breaking into a Rogers and Hammerstein song."

“What other month could host a holiday that’s designed to remind us we’re all gonna die?” That's February for you. It's bleak, it's honest, and it just tells you the way it really is."

"If you can live through February, you can live through another year."

That's pretty much how I feel about January. Though on the plus side, there are some holidays in February and it's a few days shorter. So there's that. 

"After three years of listening to me complain about being born on Valentine’s Day, it was clear that Michael would rather watch a gruesome murder scene than have this conversation."

"Yet I’ve grown bitter about my birthday because I can’t stand watching everyone else get cards and gifts on what’s supposed to be my special day. And I hate that I have to plan parties before or after Feb. 14 if I want anyone to come."

(Washington Post)