Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I really should read my own blog.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

The willow is too close to the house.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

John Fetterman: Too Manly for Pennsylvania.  Paid for by the Oz for Senator campaign.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

Bark louder, little dog.

This fight is for everything.

People are complicated. Love is not.

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Thursday Morning Open Thread: Cheering for Pelosi

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Cheering for Pelosi

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E.J. Dionne, in the Washington Post, “Nancy Pelosi vows that House Democrats won’t act like Republicans”:

Incoming speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to be clear about what the new Democratic House majority will not be: They will not, she insists, act like the Republicans.

“We believe that we will not become them,” she said in a New Year’s Day phone interview during a visit to her native Baltimore. “We’re not going to do to them what they did to President Obama. . . . It’s really important for us not to become them and certainly not to become like the president of the United States in terms of how he speaks without any basis of fact, evidence, data or truth…”

Pelosi also pushed back hard against the idea that, in holding Trump and his administration accountable, Democrats would be engaging in some sort of investigative orgy. On the contrary, she said, Article I of the Constitution grants Congress responsibility for “oversight over the agencies of government.”

She added pointedly: “We don’t want the administration describing the traditional congressional responsibility for oversight to be labeled ‘investigation.’ There may be some investigations that spring from another purpose, but we will be strategic and not political when it comes to that.” She senses no need to explain or elaborate on the meaning of the words “another purpose,” even though they represent a potentially mortal threat to Trump’s presidency…

The woman who will return as speaker after an eight-year absence sounded almost gleeful in discussing the planks in the House platform. She was characteristically disciplined in sticking to the issues that helped elect the ideologically diverse group of 63 new Democratic members who gave her the opportunity to wield the gavel.

At the top of the list is a sweeping political reform package linked to a new Voting Rights Act. Taking on the “special interests,” she said, will “give people confidence” in the rest of the Democratic wish list that includes health care (with a focus on prescription drug prices and protecting people with preexisting conditions), workforce training and “building the infrastructure of America in a green way.”…

… One wondrous result of the 2018 election, we will discover, is the near-total irrelevance of Trump’s tweets. He can say whatever wacky thing he wants, throw out whatever insults he pleases, but Pelosi (D-Calif.), the incoming House speaker, is not going to be thrown off track or even alarmed. She takes his tweets as confirmation he is clueless and unstable.

Of course, Pelosi would like nothing better than to demonstrate Democrats can govern and the Republican Senate cannot. (“Pelosi responded to Trump’s ‘let’s make a deal’ invitation by tweeting that the president had “given Democrats a great opportunity to show how we will govern responsibly & quickly pass our plan to end the irresponsible #TrumpShutdown — just the first sign of things to come in our new Democratic Majority committed to working #ForThePeople.”)

Pelosi has her plan ready to go: Pass a clean resolution for six of the seven appropriations bills to fund through the end of the fiscal year and the Homeland Security appropriations through Feb. 8. Trump cannot prevent her from doing it, nor can Freedom Caucus gadfly Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), who declared the move a “non-starter” — as if his consent were necessary…

Reader Interactions

132Comments

  1. 1.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Good morning, BJ!

    And it begins. We’ve been arguing the two competing theories ad infinitum of “No bill from the Democratic Congress will ever get a vote in the Senate” vs “Nancy Smash knows how to get shit done and force Yertle’s hand”. Enough of the theorizing. Now we see what actually happens.

    I think we’re going to be happy with the outcome of this first major battle over Budget and Wall.

    RELEASE THE POPCORN!

  3. 3.

    A Ghost To Most

    All hail Nancy Smash! Shit Hitler is about to learn you can’t “do anything you want”.

    Oversight is coming.

  6. 6.

    Kay

    I’m just pleased we’re hearing from someone other than Trump after 2 years of blanket, exclusive coverage.

    It’s funny though- it didn’t matter in the midterms that there was no substantive coverage of Democrats. The health care focus of voters came about despite the lack of coverage, other than D ads of course. That’s heartening to me- that if it’s something essential and universal like healthcare people find it.

  7. 7.

    Jerzy Russian

    Is it wrong of me to hope that someone kicks McConnell in the nuts? Furthermore, is it wrong of me not to give a shit if someone does think the first thing is wrong?

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    It’s really important for us not to become them and certainly not to become like the president of the United States in terms of how he speaks without any basis of fact, evidence, data or truth…”

    Music to my ears. Even politically disconnected people are alarmed and exhausted by the constant lying. Time to reclaim the truth!

  9. 9.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @rikyrah:

    And Graff added this useful observation that we should all keep in mind: “In most cases, Mueller is running four to six months ahead of where we think he is publicly.”

  10. 10.

    Duane

    McConnell says the Senate won’t vote on anything the President won’t sign. Who knows what that lunatic will or won’t do. McConnell wants the Senate to be held hostage. How weak and pathetic he looks compared to Pelosi.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    My daughter is a liberal ideologically and a reliable voter (even in local races) but she was never overtly “political”, someone who follows politics. She just has other interests. But this she’s following. She’s in Pennsylvania and they had a good election year, plus she’s in Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh mayor has positioned himself as opposite to Trump, so I think that helps.

  13. 13.

    JDM

    You Republicans in office want to survive the Trump capsizing? Not be hopelessly stained through the next election? Start going along with Pelosi; it’s your only hope.

  15. 15.

    Patricia Kayden

    Hang tough, Democrats. Pass the same bill over and over again to reopen the government until Trump caves. This is his shutdown. And by playing along, McConnell has ensured that Republicans fully own the shutdown and all the pain and inconvenience it is causing to the economy and people’s lives.

  16. 16.

    jonas

    Yesterday on NPR they had some blowhard GOP senator on saying this was all Chuck Schumer’s fault for demanding a vote on something that didn’t have advance approval of the House, Senate, AND White House, which is what McConnell requires to bring anything to the floor. Of course he neglected to mention that it was the same CR Trump had agreed to sign before he remembered Ann Coulter has his balls in a jar on her desk. Trump was the one who blew this up, not Schumer. And naturally, the NPR correspondent very politely neglected to challenge him on this. Quelle surprise.

  17. 17.

    MattF

    Note that Pelosi has been demonized by all the usual RW bubblemeisters– but somehow it hasn’t stuck. How did that happen?

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MattF: Shouldn’t be too hard to find. He’s got his head so far up trump’s ass he’s taken the place of t’s adam’s apple.

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Shouldn’t be too hard to find. He’s got his head so far up trump’s ass he’s taken the place of t’s adam’s apple.

    Do you mean Turtle, or Graham?

    Yeah, I know the correct response is “Yes.”

  26. 26.

    JMG

    It’s of course a very very good thing Pelosi becomes Speaker today. It puts Republicans in a mandatory defensive posture for the next two years. But IMO that’s all it does. I believe the Trump administration will defy all subpoenas and count on McConnell and slow walking it through the courts to make it stick. This is an insane short term strategy for the GOP, as what happens when a Democrat becomes President, but it isn’t just Trump’s policies they’ve adapted, but his mindset. Whatever gets you through the next two minutes is the best plan.

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Jennifer Rubin:

    We’ll have to see how Pelosi manages Trump’s temper tantrums, lies and incoherence but so far the approach has been four-fold. First, engage the president publicly and correct him/fact-check him in real time. This reminds voters that Trump is not operating in the real world and his positions aren’t tethered to reality. Second, make certain Trump is on the wrong side of public opinion. In the case of the border wall and the shutdown, voters oppose both. This further diminishes Trump’s leverage and puts pressure on Republicans to split from him. Third, make clear, concise statements of policy. This gives voters a sense that she is in command while Trump blathers on for days, changing his mind and contradicting his advisers. Finally, don’t negotiate against herself. Trump, as she wisecracked, has gone from a wall to slatted fence to “a beaded curtain.” Mocking Trump and pointing out his weakness infuriate him, demoralize his cult-followers and delight her base.
    ………………………….
    In sum, Democratic pols, progressive pundits and ordinary voters should follow Pelosi’s example. Don’t get mad. Get even — and keep pounding away at the truth. Voters can figure out between Trump and Pelosi who’s operating in the real world.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    Oh the weather outside is frightful but I’m still on fire from the inauguration last night. If you get the chance to listen to Governor Mills’ address, do it. There was a lot of Maine identity in the mix but the message was one of welcome and care for everyone.

  30. 30.

    Spanky

    Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she wouldn’t rule out President Trump being indicted while in office, describing the topic as “an open discussion.”

    During an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Savannah Guthrie, the House Democratic leader said it’s possible that special counsel Robert Mueller could seek an indictment against the sitting president, despite Justice Department guidelines against such action.

    “I think that that is an open discussion. I think that is an open discussion in terms of the law,” Pelosi said, on the eve of reclaiming her former title as speaker of the House. She will become the first lawmaker in recent history to hold that office twice when the 116th Congress convenes Thursday.

    SMASH!

  31. 31.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @JMG:

    I believe the Trump administration will defy all subpoenas and count on McConnell and slow walking it through the courts to make it stick.

    They will try that to some extent at least. (McConnell has no say whatsoever about how the House conducts investigations) Unfortunately for them Deutsche Bank and other private entities involved either directly or indirectly will follow an entirely different calculus, one based on their survival.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yes! Fact-checking the pathological liar in real time is a must. Everyone who isn’t a Republican and/or Fox News employee must adopt this tactic immediately. It’s not even that hard since he tells the same lies over and over. Pelosi gets it. More from Pelosi on the importance of the truth:

    “We have to stipulate to a set of facts if we’re going to ever negotiate. But he simply won’t do it. What he talks about with the wall isn’t true. It isn’t true about terrorists coming over the wall, people with illnesses flooding the country. I mean, really?”

  38. 38.

    Central Planning

    Has anyone played Ultima Thune? Do I need to finish Ultima Forever first? Somewhat surprised EA let NASA build a game for them. :p

  40. 40.

    Betty Cracker

    There’s a lengthy profile on once and future Madam Speaker in The Times. My favorite part is at the end of the article:

    Asked if she considers herself Mr. Trump’s equal, she replied, “The Constitution does.” She frowned at the memory of a dinner at the White House last year when men talked over her, and she asked, “Doesn’t anybody listen to a woman in the room?”

    “Hopefully that will become a thing of the past now that we have so many women in Congress — and with the gavel,” Ms. Pelosi said. “The gavel makes a big difference.”

    Damn right it does.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:

    “Doesn’t anybody listen to a woman in the room?”

    From the way Nancy was been vilified in the lead up to her 2nd Speakership, I’d say it’s a pretty sure bet they were listening all along. And from the sudden appearance of puddles under their chairs it seems obvious that they still are.

  43. 43.

    H.E.Wolf

    I woke up this morning and the first thought in my head was a grateful thank you to all the women – candidates, staff, and volunteers – who helped the Democrats win in 2018.

    I prefer the rule of law to the rule of (verbal or physical) violence, so I was heartened to read this excerpt from one of the interviews with Pelosi:

    “We’re not going to do to them what they did to President Obama. . . . It’s really important for us not to become them and certainly not to become like the president of the United States in terms of how he speaks…” [emphasis added]

    Amen. And a further Amen to her comments about the duty of Congressional oversight.

    [Edited to fix the blockquote and clarify a sentence.]

  46. 46.

    JPL

    @OzarkHillbilly: There are two never trumpers who jumped ship and left the party that I don’t think will return. She’s one and Max Boot is the other. Boot because of the realities of climate change.

  47. 47.

    cmorenc

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    In sum, Democratic pols, progressive pundits and ordinary voters should follow Pelosi’s example. Don’t get mad. Get even — and keep pounding away at the truth. Voters can figure out between Trump and Pelosi who’s operating in the real world.

    Taking Abraham Lincoln’s famous words as our metric:
    “You can fool all of the people some of the time
    You can fool some of the people all of the time
    You can’t fool all of the people all of the time”

    There are way too many people in category #2, and 63 million people in category #1 (“some of the time”) stragegically distributed, else Trump could never have won the Presidency in the first place, despite all the media incompetence and Russian interference.

    Let’s hope that between Nancy Smash & the new House majority moves (or awakens) a lot more people into category 3 where it counts – votes.

  48. 48.

    germy

    They’re coming for it.

    After instituting a $1.5 trillion tax cut and signing off on a $675 billion budget for the Department of Defense, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday that the only way to lower the record-high federal deficit would be to cut entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

    “It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem,” McConnell said of the deficit, which grew 17 percent to $779 billion in fiscal year 2018. McConnell explained to Bloomberg that “it’s a bipartisan problem: Unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the demographics of America in the future.” The deficit has increased 77 percent since McConnell became majority leader in 2015.

    https://www.newsweek.com/deficit-budget-tax-plan-social-security-medicaid-medicare-entitlement-1172941

    Thanks mitch, for a battery of 2020 campaign commercial ads on this!— Voltaire's Gardener (@thiswaltz5) January 3, 2019

  50. 50.

    Immanentize

    On a completely different note:

    Singer and pianist Daryl Dragon, best known as “The Captain” of 1970s soft-rock duo Captain and Tennille, has died at the age of 76

    Never really liked their music, but it was everywhere when I was young and later when bartending. The enigmatic Captain gave the duo a little mystery at least. Sail on, Cap.

  53. 53.

    Cheryl Rofer

    This is a good interview. Guthrie presses, but Pelosi answers with what she wants to say, very precisely. Both sides need to be skilled for it to go this way.

    On substance, Pelosi leaves the question open: Let Mueller do what he is going to do.

  56. 56.

    JGabriel

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Is it wrong of me to hope that someone kicks McConnell in the nuts?

    Yes, it’s far too generous. McConnell deserves worse – much, much worse. I’m thinking prison time, unremitting acid reflux, incontinence, and ignominy.

    And that’s just for starters.

  57. 57.

    Immanentize

    @germy:

    They’re coming for it

    But now there is no possibility of getting entitlements. The Republicans will have the media on their side like they did before. But Nancy will be able to reprise her famous reply. Over and over the press asked Pelosi when she was last speaker “what’s the Democratic plan on entitlement reform?” And (after pausing to listen to her desk) she said, “Social Security. That’s our plan.”

  59. 59.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize: The bios on Wiki were rather interesting. I learned that Danny Thomas was Dragon’s godfather and Tennille sang back up for Pink Floyd on “The Wall.” I had forgotten about Dragon’s work with the Beach Boys…. actually, her work too. Saw Captain and Tennille in the early ’90’s at at small club in Reno. Very different show compared to Joe Cocker show the night before. ?

  61. 61.

    oldgold

    From Election Day to the present, Nancy Pelosi has done an excellent job.
    She has lived up to her reputation as a Master Legislator by quelling the challenges to her leadership and assembling the diverse House Democrats into an alignment sufficiently coherent to act as effective check on the political malignancy that is the Trump presidency.

  62. 62.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: If she doesn’t, I do! I have a couple of my own, first being: cook it first outside on the grill (charcoal, not gas) before finishing in the oven….

  63. 63.

    Quinerly

    @JPL: I caught a glimpse of Frum last night. Seems like he disappeared for awhile after being so vocal. He actually looks physically ill.

  66. 66.

    Immanentize

    @Quinerly:

    Saw Captain and Tennille in the early ’90’s at at small club in Reno. Very different show compared to Joe Cocker show the night before.

    That was likely a purposeful experiment by the CIA in whether schizophrenia can be induced in the youth through music.

  69. 69.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @schrodingers_cat: Good morning. I believe you’re in physics so I’ll share this with you. I’m taking a General Relativity course for fun. Dived right into the deep end. Feeling over my head already 30 minutes into the first (online) lecture.

    Should be an interesting ride!

  72. 72.

    Quinerly

    @Immanentize: Could be. I like to think it had something to do with my younger boyfriend (I was 30, he was 24) who had just taken a job transfer to Reno had free tickets to Captain and Tennille and I sprung for the expensive tickets in the expensive club for the Cocker show. I learned on that visit his mom had liked Captain and Tennille and had an 8 Track tape in the car when he was little. The long distance romance didn’t survive the pressure. ?

  74. 74.

    Quinerly

    @Betty Cracker: I wish I could format things better here when on the smarty pants phone. It is the funniest thing I have read in days. Love the guy’s little profile. I don’t tweet or follow anyone but I sure as hell would follow him.

  75. 75.

    Quinerly

    @schrodingers_cat: he holds no sway with me. I remember him as Bush’s speechwriter. Pretty sure he is credited with the “axis of evil” line. I could be wrong, though.

  76. 76.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    “We’re not going to do to them what they did to President Obama. . . . It’s really important for us not to become them and certainly not to become like the president of the United States in terms of how he speaks…” [emphasis added]

    No, we won’t do to them what they did to Obama, but I have a feeling what we’re about to do to Trump is going to be much worse than anything that ever happened to Obama, and there will be a lot of collateral damage to other Republicans. Looking forward to that. Schadenfreude ist ist die schönste freude.

  77. 77.

    Betty Cracker

    @Quinerly: I had no idea Tennille sang backup on “The Wall” — that’s…surprising. I do remember stories from at least a decade ago about the then-grown kids who sang the chorus suing EMI for compensation; don’t know if they ever received it.

  78. 78.

    Betty Cracker

    @Quinerly: Here’s the tweet for those who don’t do the Twitter:

    LMAO!

  79. 79.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @schrodingers_cat: Coursera. My first try with them. The professor is Russian and says in the intro, “This will be Russian style. Very hard work.” There’s homework which is peer-graded.

    I never took GR in school and have always been vaguely embarrassed for myself when it makes the news (black holes for instance) and I have no idea of the theory behind the news story. Finally decided to try a course.

    What I learned right away is that I didn’t have the requisite Special Relativity background either, or I forgot what I learned about the notation and calculus. So I’m doing a lot of SR catchup at the same time.

    I needed the mental exercise and it really is my masochistic idea of fun. I’m determined to survive this.

  81. 81.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @JGabriel: Well as long as it’s just a start it’s not too generous. I mean, I’m OK starting there and then moving other punishments including prison time.

  87. 87.

    Spanky

    An FYI for future reference just dropped in my IN box:

    Spanky,

    As I wish you a Happy New Year and all the best for you and your family in 2019, I also wanted to let you know that I will not be running for President in 2020.

    Thanks to your support and encouragement of our leadership effort, Win Back Your State, I was able to campaign on behalf of more than 125 candidates, traveling to 30 states in special elections and in the midterms. The strong results for Democrats — and for new Democratic leaders in particular — in these midterms, has reaffirmed my faith that our best days are ahead of us.

    But I have also learned that my usefulness as a candidate for President has passed. I’m proud of the substance and vision we put forward in 2016 and the record of progress from 15 years of executive experience, but — after all we have been through as a nation — America is looking for a candidacy newer than I can offer.

    I made this announcement this morning through an op-Ed in the Des Moines Register and other papers. I hope we can find ways in the future to work together for the country we carry in our hearts.

    With deep respect and gratitude for your friendship,

    Martin O’Malley

    So there’s that.

  89. 89.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah: Tail wags, meows, and waves back at you. ??Poco’s mom is avoiding painting a 12 ft up kitchen ceiling right now. She has now avoided it for two weeks. She blames Balloon Juice. ?

  90. 90.

    Yarrow

    Just saw Savannah Guthrie’s interview with Nancy SMASH. Guthrie was awful but it was just wonderful seeing the fire in Nancy’s eyes when she said a new era has dawned. I am so excited to see her as Speaker.

  91. 91.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah: I’m still laughing. Hope I’m not losing my mind and finally going over the edge. It could happen. I’ll disappear into the sunset with my own “walking bird.” ?

  92. 92.

    H.E.Wolf

    @What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    No, we won’t do to them what they did to Obama, but I have a feeling what we’re about to do to Trump is going to be much worse than anything that ever happened to Obama, and there will be a lot of collateral damage to other Republicans. Looking forward to that. Schadenfreude ist ist die schönste freude.

    Yes. That’s what the rule of law is *for*, and there are a lot of us who worked hard to restore the Democrats to the majority in the House in order to make it happen.

    In honor of the day, here’s a bit from the Ode to Joy in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony:

    Freude! Freude!

    Freude, schöner Götterfunken
    Tochter aus Elysium,
    Wir betreten feuertrunken,
    Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!

  93. 93.

    opiejeanne

    @Yarrow: I saw a little clip from that interview with Nancy Smash last night on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show and she was awesome. And you’re right, Guthrie was terrible. I wanted to smack her upside the head, but Nancy kept saying “no” until she’d made clear that no means NO..

  95. 95.

    TomatoQueen

    First time for everything dept.: I’ve set a reminder on t’telly for today’s festivities in the House, beginning at noon on C-Span, and apparently running until 8 pm. SMASH-O-MATIC!

  97. 97.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @TomatoQueen: So that’s enough time for, what, all the budget bills, convene a dozen investigatory committees and pass articles of impeachment?

    I guess with dinner and bathroom breaks some of that stuff might roll over into tomorrow.

  98. 98.

    Yarrow

    @opiejeanne: Guthrie asked such vacuous questions. “Are you proud of your accomplishments and that you’re the first female Speaker?” Nancy’s all, “Gawd, you’re an idiot, you stupid TV talking head.” Okay, no she didn’t say that. She said, “I see it as a responsibility to the voters and Americans who are counting on us” or something like that. I understood the subtext loud and clear, though. Heh.

  99. 99.

    bjacques

    @chris: Oh, man, I still have the Whole Earth Review (Spring 1987) that had the original article

    “The Basic Laws Of
    Of Human Stupidity”

    And here ’tis! (pdf)

    It had great illustrations by James Donnelly. It sorta described crime on a sliding scale, where the intelligent bandit would benefit as much as you lost, but most were stupid, like smashing your car window to get at a briefcase that just had a notepad and a nutrition bar in it.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @schrodingers_cat: I was going to suggest an email but seeing as @Immanentize: wants to know, I’ll do it here. They first thing to know is that it is never the exact same dish because just like her mother she works with whatever she has available.

    The first (and I suspect most crucial step) is the broth. She makes it a day ahead. This year she started with 1/2 a chuck roast she had cut up (pork and chicken work as well but she says chicken is her least favorite of the 3). She sauteed it in olive oyl, then added onions, garlic, a shredded roma tomato, and lastly the shrimp peels, funky looking pieces of crab she had trimmed from the legs, and a couple pieces of whitefish, stirring all of it constantly until….. It was “ready”. She couldn’t quite explain how she new it was ready, just that she did. Then she added app 8 cups of water and let that simmer until it was also “ready”, anywhere from 4-8 hours. When I looked in the pot it appeared it was reduced to about 4 cups.

    When it is all done she strains it of all the basura (what her mother called it because it all (and by all, I mean all) went into the trash and was something Abuelita never let anybody see)

    The next day she starts by preparing all ingredients for the pan (a paellera) ahead of time (the #s before each ingredient are for delineating when they get added to the paellera):
    1) 1 Tomato- shredded
    1) Finely minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
    1) Half an onion (she shreds her onion very finely because she dislikes the texture of cooked onion)
    2) Meat, chopped into small pieces (beef, pork or chicken, this time she did 3 chicken breasts)
    3) Green beans/peas/carrots fresh/frozen(thawed)/or even canned (well drained) if desperate
    4)Seafood (1 package of shrimp(peeled and deveined the day before, she is very picky about how clean her shrimp are) and 1 package of squid, typically 1# and 1/2# ?)

    While prepping the ingredients she has started to warm up the broth (adding salt to taste) in a pan.

    Drizzle the paellera with olive oyl and heat it up. When it is hot add the # 1) ingredients above, salt and peppering as she thinks they need it. When that has progressed she adds the Meat @ # 2) (w/ more olive oyl as needed) and sautes that (again adding salt and pepper as she thinks necessary) when she feels it is time she adds the veggies @ #3) (again w/ the salt and pepper and olive oyl) and lastly the shrimp and squid (more olive oyl and S&P). When all that is ready she adds the Bomba rice (1/3 cup/person) (it MUST be Bomba rice, accept no substitute) and sautes that until… it too is ready (browned).

    At this point she adds the saffron till the proper color is acheived then begins adding the broth to the pan (if she felt it was not enough she would add water to it) a little at a time making sure not to have too much liquid for the rice in the pan (1/3-2/3 cup broth per cup of rice). She also arranges the crab legs (apparently ours get here pre-cooked, adjust as necessary), clams and mussels on the top at this time. As the broth is absorbed she adds more until the rice is done (al dente for us).

    Maybe some day I’ll send in a pic of Abuelita’s paella. It is beautiful.

  106. 106.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So our liberal betters in the form of the Sanders supporters have sexism problem. Well color me surprised that the same group who who consider so old white dude the liberal savior and had an African American problem don’t know how behave around women.

  111. 111.

    Elizabelle

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Wow. Thank you, Ozark and Madame Ozark. Full service blog, indeed.

    (Also, I am home today, cheering Nancy Pelosi and all the Democrats in the House and Senate on. It’s their moment in history. Go to it.)

  115. 115.

    gwangung

    @germy: Sigh.

    Given that I think harassment is common in political campaigns, Sanders could have taken leadership and pushed hard to clean up his own organization.

  116. 116.

    SFAW

    @J R in WV:

    I have to say, it not only doesn’t amuse me, but barely makes any sense. But that’s probably me.

    I think Willis just transcribed one of Grandpa Simpson’s “crazy old man yells at clouds” rants. Or so it appears from reading some of the responses to his tweet. Apparently I am no longer aware of all Intertubez traditions.

  117. 117.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: @schrodingers_cat: I just checked. The package I found is 12 ozs. but I think my wife did 16 ozs. NY Day.

    I just told my wife y’all said thank you and she’s like “Did you post that?” I said “Yeah, I told you folks were asking.”

    And she repeats, “Make sure you tell them to use ONLY Arroz Bomba, so I am resupplying a link.

    Bomba is the supreme strain of rice in all of Spain. Bomba absorbs three times its volume in broth (rather than the normal two), yet the grains remain firm and delicious. For the perfect paella, there is no substitute.

    Bomba is an ancient strain of rice that matures very slowly. Ours is grown in fresh mountain water around the town of Calasparra in Murcia, using aqueducts first built by the Romans. The result is a rice produces an exceptionally dehydrated grain when it is harvested, because it has taken such a long time to mature. This enables it to absorb 30% more broth than ordinary rice.

    Until recently, many feared that the strain would become extinct. Bomba had all but disappeared from the land because it requires intensive care in order to flourish. Fortunately, alert gourmet chefs created a demand, so that today Bomba is once again available for the pleasure of discriminating food lovers.

    Rice is the most important ingredient in paella, which is the reason many paellas are called “arroces” in spain. This special paella rice is very different from Italian Arborio rice, which is bred to be creamy, and Asian rice, which is meant to be sticky. Substitution of these strains will result in a soupy or mushy paella.

    Bomba rice from Calasparra is grown without pesticides and herbicides. No chemicals of any kind are added during processing.

    It’s expensive but worth it.

  119. 119.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Sounds fabulous!

    Thanks!! Front pager, needs to be posted with recipe tag!! TaMara, HELP!!!

    Love that stuff, had it so many great versions in Key West!

  120. 120.

    Uncle Cosmof

    @H.E.Wolf:

    Deine Zauber binden wieder
    Was die Mode streng geteilt!
    Alle Menschen würden Bruder
    Wo dein sanfte Flügel weilt!

    If only. If only.

  122. 122.

    J R in WV

    @schrodingers_cat:

    @OzarkHillbilly: Thank you so much, would one package of shrimp be a pound of shrimp?

    Silly physicist, only if it says 16oz on the package! Many are 12 OZ…

    ;-)

  123. 123.

    Uncle Cosmof

    @bjacques: FWIW I had a near equivalent of that happen to me ~35 years ago: I’d left a jacket in my car parked & locked in front of my apartment in uptown Baltimore. Came out in the morning to discover my shotgun window smashed in (with a hunk of concrete that landed on the driver’s seat) & the jacket gone. It was one of those butternut-colored PVC things with a cracked collar, street value maybe $1.95, but it looked enough like leather to provoke smash&grab – & cost me $80 to replace the window. Moral: If you’re gonna leave stuff that looks like it’s worth stealing in the car in plain view, might as well leave the doors unlocked so the thieves don’t need to smash the window.

  124. 124.

    BC in Illinois

    @Uncle Cosmof:
    @H.E.Wolf:

    Whenever the Ode to Joy (An Der Freude) comes up, my mind takes me to the (upcoming) Joy of seeing the Trump’s Downfall (Untergang).

    I sing to myself, the Ode An Der Schadenfreude.

    Schadenfreude, Götterfunken,
    Tochter aus Elysium . . .

    THAT will bring every Mensch together.

  125. 125.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Uncle Cosmof:

    If you’re gonna leave stuff that looks like it’s worth stealing in the car in plain view, might as well leave the doors unlocked so the thieves don’t need to smash the window.

    I don’t believe in locking my friends out of my vehicles so I just leave them unlocked all the time.

  128. 128.

    JustRuss

    @Quinerly:

    Saw Captain and Tennille in the early ’90’s at at small club in Reno. Very different show compared to Joe Cocker show the night before.

    I feel ya. I once saw Cocker open for Kenny Loggins at a club in Santa Barbara.

  129. 129.

    patrick II

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    nd Graff added this useful observation that we should all keep in mind: “In most cases, Mueller is running four to six months ahead of where we think he is publicly.”

    If that were true for me Trump already be in prison.

  131. 131.

    Terry Chay

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I can’t speak for your Coursey’s professor, but as for “Russian physics is hard work”, only two countries grad students ever failed the qualifying exam in my physics graduate school, Americans and Russians. Americans because the funding bias in accepting US citizens. Russians because the myth that they are good in physics. The fact is unless they are Landau or Lifshitz’s age, Russian physicists are worse than mediocre. The corruption in the country extended to their sciences and it’s been three generations since their height, and a full generation since they’ve had any incentive to be competitive with the West.

    By the way, since you are influenced by the recent Nobel prize, I learned General Relativity from Kip Thorne. I don’t think your professor matters much, the only time I saw students be worse off because of a bad prof and not because of a lack of diligence was, ironically, a visiting professor from Moscow, Ia Ipatova. I was told she was a “student of Lifshitz.” Lol!

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