MR. PRESIDENT, WE MUST NOT ALLOW A WINE CAVE GAP! Wine caves and ‘purity tests:’ Warren and Buttigieg clash over billionaire donors:

Warren, 70, had earlier attacked Buttigieg for holding fundraisers in “a wine cave full of crystals” and suggested he was trying to buy the election in “smoke-filled rooms.”

“The mayor just recently had a fundraiser that was held in a wine cave, full of crystals and served $900-a-bottle wine,” said Warren. “He had promised that every fundraiser he would do would be open-door, but this one was closed-door. We made the decision many years ago that rich people in smoke-filled rooms* would not pick the next president of the United States. Billionaires in wine caves should pick the next president of the United States.”

“I do not sell access to my time,” the Massachusetts senator responded.

Related: Elizabeth Warren reveals she earned $2 million from 30 years of private legal work as she feuds with Pete Buttigieg over financial transparency.

More: Ouch! Elizabeth Warren’s look after Pete Buttigieg’s comment about ‘issuing purity test you yourself can’t pass’ is heap big awkward.

And speaking of wine caves: Gavin Newsom Defends ‘Wine Cave:’ ‘Used By Democrats All Across the Country.’

* Politicians are still making “smoke-filled rooms” analogies in 2019? Though as Jonah Goldberg noted in November, “There’s no doubt mistakes were made by those party fat cats and fixers, but those smoke-filled rooms also gave us Lincoln, Coolidge, the Roosevelts, Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, et al. I don’t love all of those guys, but it’s not obvious to me primaries would have given us better. And you can hardly argue that they weren’t democratically elected. (We can talk about JFK’s election shenanigans another time.)”

(Classical allusion in headline.)

PROGRESSIVE TWITTER IS A BUNCH OF CRAZY, POWER-DRUNK, BULLIES. IT SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO CANCEL ANYONE. J.K. Rowling’s Anti-Trans Tweets Have Not Ruined Harry Potter. Please Calm Down.

UPDATE:

JON CALDARA: How rich Dems made their money helps explain political values.

The four wealthy individuals who bankrolled much of Colorado’s progressive takeover by investing in political infrastructure over the last 15 years (their plan was well described in the book “The Blueprint”) have something in common, besides being rich leftists who know how other people should live.

They all made their money fast in tech, versus slow in brick-and-mortar.

There are deep pockets on the left and right. The right’s demonized Koch brothers manufactured and sold physical things from roads to carpet to glass. The left’s Tom Steyer and George Soros didn’t make any physical things, but made hedge funds.

With a whole lot of room for exceptions, you’ll find that the left’s rich guys haven’t had to deal with the same level of government intrusion and interference during their working years compared to those who fund the right.

That could help explain the difference in their political values.

Read the whole thing.

TOMORROW’S OCTOBER SURPRISE, TODAY! Or, question asked and answered:

“Vice President Biden, i’d like to ask you, three consecutive American presidents have enjoyed stints of explosive economic growth due to oil and gas production,” Tim Alberta said. “As president would you be willing to sacrifice some of that growth, even knowing potentially that it could displace thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of blue collar workers in the interest transitioning to that greener economy?”

“The answer is yes,” Biden responded.

Biden continued…

“The answer is yes because the opportunity for those workers is to switch to high paying jobs,” Biden continued. “We should, in fact, be making sure right now that every new building built is energy contained, that it doesn’t leak energy, that in fact we should be providing tax credits for people to be able to make their homes turn to solar power. There are all kinds of folks — right here in California, we’re now on the verge of having batteries that are about the size of the top of this podium that you can store energy when in fact the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining. We have enormous opportunities.”

…But it’s a pretty safe bet that only the first sentence will make the cut — if Biden makes it to October. QED this video produced last night by the GOP War Room:

OH MY: ‘Trump Isn’t Actually Impeached Yet,’ Says Democrats’ Impeachment Expert and Witness.

ICYMI: New Non-Partisan Group Calls on Amazon to Drop Scandal-Plagued SPLC.

NTC reminded its followers that the SPLC faced a devastating scandal back in March involving claims of racial discrimination and sexual harassment. That scandal led to the firing of the SPLC’s co-founder, and it broke open even further as employees came clean about being “part of the con,” exaggerating hate by padding the “hate group” list and “bilking northern liberals” into cutting big checks. The SPLC has millions in offshore bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.

No right-leaning organization with these problems would be allowed the kind of public influence that the SPLC is granted.

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STABBING THE GOP FOR MEANINGLESS MEDIA PLAUDITS IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF “MCCAIN CONSERVATIVE.” McCain Conservatives Are Rallying Behind Justin Amash.

BIDEN CRAPS ON HIS OBVIOUS SUPPORT:

Sort of related:

The Europeans’ track record over the past century or so has not been exactly brilliant.

OPEN THREAD: It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.

FIGHT THE POWER: Rachel Alexander: Liberals Want Sanctuary Cities? We’ll Have Second Amendment Sanctuary Cities. “Conservatives have taken a page out of the progressive playbook. Localities pass resolutions vowing not to enforce gun control laws that violate the Second Amendment. They believe that many laws violate the Constitution’s clear language. And increasing numbers pass these. It’s become a serious movement.”

Yep. And it’s not just symbolic. I’ll be talking about this at the NRA Convention’s Firearms Legal Seminar in April.

METAPHOR ALERT:

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS:

● Shot: CNN Host Silent as Dem James Clyburn Shocks: Give Trump a ‘Fair Trial and Hang Him.’

—NewsBusters, today.

● Chaser: CNN’s King Apologizes For Guest’s ‘Crosshairs’ Term. “On Tuesday’s John King USA, CNN’s John King issued a prompt on-air apology minutes after a guest on his program used the term ‘crosshairs’ during a segment: ‘We’re trying to get away from using that kind of language’”

—NewsBusters, January 19th, 2011.

IT’S OFFICIAL: House Dems Close Up Shop Without Sending Articles of Impeachment to Senate. “‘Hoyer announces no more votes until January 7. Big cheer goes up in House chamber. This means the House won’t approve a resolution on impeachment [managers] & to send impeachment [package] to Senate until at least January, 2020,’ Fox News reporter Chad Pergram tweeted.”

Related: Trump’s lawyers wonder: If Pelosi never delivers the articles of impeachment, does that mean he’s not really impeached?

More: “Trump Isn’t Impeached Until the House Tells the Senate, According to the Constitution, impeachment is a process, not a vote” – says Harvard law professor Noah Feldman, who testified before the House Judiciary Committee at the start of the month (and has been pro-impeachment since month two of the Trump presidency.)

As Iowahawk tweets, for the moment, we’re in “Schrodinger’s Cat” territory.

UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Everyone knows impeachment isn’t official until the Marshal of the Supreme Court delivers the papers while riding on Unicorn-back.

Of course, if Trump is re-elected but the Dems take the Senate and keep the House (hey, it could happen), they’ll probably try to deliver the papers then. Pretty sure an impeachment vote expires with the Congress that voted it, but I’m sure they can find some lefty lawprofs to argue that it’s still valid. (Though if they’re dumb enough to try that, which until today I would have doubted, they may get Cromwelled, with Trump simply refusing to treat them as legitimate, and might even deserve it; we’ve seen nothing like this wilful pollution of an American institution, even in the worst periods of American political division.)

Related: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s impeachment delay is questionable, constitutional experts say
“Bizarre” move is a “manipulation of the system.”

Pelosi insisted on Thursday that before she will send the Republican-led Senate the articles of impeachment her Democrat-dominated chamber approved against President Trump, GOP leaders must provide more detail about how they will handle the trial, and she’s insisting on more witnesses, testimony and documents.

“Articles of impeachment were not meant to be articles of barter,” said impeachment expert Jonathan Turley, who testified before the House during the proceedings. “Just as the House elected not to seek to compel the testimony of critical witnesses, the Senate can make the same decision for its own house.”

Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz, slamming the impeachment itself as “unconstitutional,” said of Pelosi’s ploy, “It’s an unconstitutional gambit and it won’t work. … It would be like indicting someone and then just not having a trial and letting the charges sit there unresolved.”

If it doesn’t go to a Senate trial, he said, “The impeachment should be struck as void.”

Civil rights attorney lawyer Harvey Silverglate said there’s nothing in the Constitution that compels Pelosi to hand over the articles in a timely matter, or at all. But he described her stance as “kind of bizarre” and a “manipulation of the system.”

“This is sort of the Wild West,” Silverglate said. “I do not consider it a good development that impeachment in the modern era has been becoming more frequent. … The institution of the presidency has suffered a lot.”

Turley added, “The delay also contradicts the Democratic narrative that time is of the essence because this is a ‘crime spree in progress.’”

“It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.” Compare Trump’s polling, which isn’t even that great, with Congress’s. It’s really unwise to precipitate this sort of constitutional crisis, especially when you’re holding such a weak hand. And for what? To please angry Twitter activists? Politics may seem like a game of fools, but past a certain point it’s playing with fire.

I’ll add that I’m unpersuaded by the argument that there’s no impeachment until the papers are delivered. The House voted to impeach. The Senate has the sole power to try impeachments, which means any House efforts to meddle with the rules are unconstitutional. And I don’t see why the Senate can’t take official notice of the House vote. The English practice was otherwise, but impeachment is a different animal in English law and history.

I REMEMBER WHEN LYNCHNG WAS OUT OF STYLE: Wait, What Did Clyburn Mean When He Said ‘Let’s Give Him a Fair Trial and Hang Him’?

IMPEACH THIS: Tonight’s Dem Debate Drunkblog is live and on the air, even in the tiny Republic of Togo.

Also for our VIP readers, I published this earlier today: Maximum Violence, Minimum Time: Today’s Blueprint for Tomorrow’s Wars.

It’s a longer piece, but worth your time I hope. And if you haven’t yet pulled the trigger on becoming a VIP supporter, the promo code VODKAPUNDIT is still good for a nice little discount.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my scotch and the debate.

WELL: Durham Is Scrutinizing Ex-C.I.A. Director’s Role in Russian Interference Findings. “The federal prosecutor investigating the origins of the Russia inquiry is examining testimony by the former C.I.A. director John Brennan and seeking his communications records.”

The CIA is still trying to hang the FBI out to dry — and the NYT is helping! — but I don’t think that’s ultimately going to work.

THEY SHOULD: New Hampshire Democratic Operatives Worry About Impeachment Fallout.

STEPHEN GREEN IS DRUNKBLOGGING TONIGHT’S DEMOCRATIC DEBATE. “The PBS talking heads include a white guy, three women, two of whom are of non-pallor, and approximately 1.5 lesbians. Which makes it 86 times more ‘diverse’ than the six candidates waiting in the wings.”

DON’T BE EVIL: Apple and Google Named In US Lawsuit Over Congolese Child Cobalt Mining Deaths.

TO THOSE ASKING, YES I’LL DRUNKBLOG tonight’s Democratic debate.

Details soon.

Think they’ll talk about impeachment?

SPACE: Boeing’s Historic Starliner Launch May Be Visible from the U.S. East Coast Friday.

A BAD MOVE, BUT IIRC, AT THE TIME MOST HONG KONGERS SUPPORTED IT: History: On this day in 1984, Britain signed the Hong Kong Handover agreement. And 2047 seemed a lot farther away than it does now, because it was.

HERE ARE TWO FOX NEWS ARTICLES ABOUT NIKKI GOESER’S NEW BOOK, Stalked And Defenseless: How Gun Control Helped My Stalker Murder My Husband in Front of Me.

WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF FITNESS AND CONSUMER ELECTRONICS: We Tested Ring’s Security. It’s Awful. “Ring lacks basic security features, making it easy for hackers to turn the company’s cameras against its customers.” Consumer technology shouldn’t be readily convertible into adversary technology.