Here are some of the establishments serving up an early round of beverages during Thursday's Hill hearing:

Washington, DC
Shaw's Tavern

The bar in Washington, D.C.'s Shaw neighborhood is serving Russian vodka cocktails and an "FBI breakfast" bright and early at 9:30 am for their "Comey Hearing Covefe" event where the bar will broadcast the hearing. Shaw's Tavern General Manager Rob Heim told CBS News, "We have always had watch parties for debate nights and on election nights -- but this will certainly be our first watch party for a congressional hearing."

Drink specials: Russian vodka cocktails





Thursday we are opening early for our Comey Hearing Covfefe! pic.twitter.com/o7o2XsFzl2

— Shaw's Tavern (@ShawsTavern) June 6, 2017
Union Pub

The Capitol Hill pub will open at 9:30 a.m. and will buy a round of drinks for the house every time President Trump issues a tweet on the hearing, offering the generous special until Comey's testimony ends.

Drink special: Free round for the house every time Mr. Trump tweets about hearing




TOMORROW: We open at 9:30AM & buying a round of drinks for the house every time @realDonaldTrump Tweets about the #ComeyHearing! #ThisTown pic.twitter.com/7xX4btxKoC

— Union Pub (@UnionPub) June 7, 2017

The Partisan

The part-restaurant, part-butcher shop will be opening at 10 a.m., and offering breakfast service.

Specialty drinks: "The Last Word" and "Drop The Bomb"




#ComeyHearing viewing party this Thursday! Opening at 10am with @redapronbutcher breakfast + The Last Word & Drop The Bomb drink specials. pic.twitter.com/5BjNvwstw1

— The Partisan (@ThePartisanDC) June 6, 2017
Duffy's Irish pub

The pub will be hosting its own "Comey Show" -- doors open early, and the pub offers free WiFi to allow patrons to "work" while viewing the proceedings on any of 15 television screens.

Specialty drink: "Covefefe Cocktail"





Duffy's getting in on the Comey watch party action pic.twitter.com/HvDT35YMHR

— Tierney Sneed (@Tierney_Megan) June 6, 2017
San Fransisco, California
West Coast establishments plan to open substantially earlier than East Coast bars, since the hearing's 10 a.m. ET start team translates into 7 a.m. PT. Bars like Ace's, Gino and Carlo's Tavern and Clooney's Pub will have their TVs tuned to the testimony.

Houston, Texas
Axelrad

The bar will be opening its doors promptly at 8:45 a.m. for early morning beers and friendly debate at their "SUPER BOWL OF Washington" event. While the event boasts a whopping 120 RSVP's and 906 "interested" attendees on Facebook, Axelrad partners Adam Brackman, Monte Large, and Jeff Kaplan say this is far from their first rodeo.

fullsizerender-1.jpg
A watch party for a food-related miniseries highlighting Houston and its immigrant cultures at Axelrad.
Axelrad Beer Garden
"Axelrad has set out to activate the community and be an advocate for causes that align with our values. We have hosted watch parties for all debates where over a thousand people showed up, organized an event with the ACLU that featured music and musicians from countries listed on the travel ban and donate to causes. Throughout the election, we had a voter registration booth on site to encourage young Houstonians too be more active and engage in politics. Around 500 people registered to vote!"


The partners added, "We see ourselves doing our part to further the engagement of younger people who have not typically been engaged in politics, and acting as a community gathering place from people of all walks of life. We welcome people no matter what their political beliefs, but want to encourage people to be more engaged in our community."

Specialty drinks: "Impeachmint", "Bad hombre", "Paid Protester" and "Frozen Covfefe"

https://www.google.com/amp/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/bars-across-u-s-opening-early-for-james-comey-testimony-thursday/

Again and again today at the hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats and National Security Agency Director Adm. Michael Rogers refused to answer direct questions as to whether they had been asked by the president to interfere with the investigation into possible collusion with Russia. In response to Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Angus King (I-Maine), they said they did not feel “pressured” and/or “directed” but declined to say whether they were asked. FBI acting director McCabe also refused to say if he had conversations with former FBI director James B. Comey about his conversations with the president. And then Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein refused to explain how and why Attorney General Jeff Sessions un-recused himself and whether he understood his memo would be used to fire Comey.

[The other shoes start falling]

None of these witnesses invoked executive privilege or national security. They just didn’t want to answer. King finally blew up, scolding Rogers that what he “feels” isn’t relevant. He demanded to know why Rogers and Coats were not answering. He demanded a “legal justification” for not answering, and the witnesses did not supply any. Coats strongly hinted he would share information, just not in public, and that he would cooperate with the special prosecutor.

Play Video 5:23
King presses officials on refusal to answer Russia investigation questions
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed officials to explain why they wouldn’t discuss conversations about the Russian hacking investigation. (Reuters)
This is nothing short of outrageous. Congress has an independent obligation to conduct oversight. Witnesses cannot simply decide they don’t want to share. If they could, there would be no oversight. While they were not under subpoena, their behavior was contemptuous and frankly unprecedented. The committee has the option to subpoena witnesses, demand answers and then hold them in contempt if they decline to answer. (Is that what the witnesses are hoping for, so they will be seen as having no choice?) It is hard to see any reason why Congress should not do so. A source not authorized to speak on the record but familiar with his thinking told me, “Senator Heinrich will seek to get answers one way or another.” It should be noted that no closed-door sessions are scheduled.

Should Republicans not take these steps, the conclusion should be obvious: They are acting to protect the president from public embarrassment. In doing so, they are demonstrating a lack of respect both for the public and Congress, an equal branch of government.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/wp/2017/06/07/outrageous-contempt-of-congress/?utm_term=.4548db547c15



So when do they get serious?

Some fascists never learn.

(CNN)It's a tough time to work in national security and have opinions, or even a conscience. On Monday, a 25-year-old federal contractor named Reality Leigh Winner was arrested for allegedly leaking a top-secret NSA document to The Intercept.

The apparent document, dated a month ago, contains shocking details about an alleged Russian cyberattack on a supplier of US voting software, as well as malicious emails sent to voting officials in an attempt to hack their computers. Unlike previous reports, this one, if accurate, was far more overt in what it revealed, leaving little doubt that the attacks were coordinated by the GRU, the Russian state's military intelligence unit. Winner was charged under the Espionage Act for the leak, and faces up to 10 years in prison.

Depending whom you ask, Winner is either a criminal or a whistleblower. If she is indeed the person behind the leak, then perhaps she's both: someone who felt an understandable moral obligation to release information that is in the public interest, but who also broke the law.
Her case is an important one to follow, and the sloppy missteps by The Intercept offer important lessons for journalists who receive leaked documents and outlets that publish them. But it shouldn't eclipse the bigger picture: that while low-level leakers like Winner become the subjects of large-scale public prosecutions, our own President has a nasty habit of spewing highly classified and sensitive information to boost his own ego and impress his audience.


http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/06/opinions/reality-winner-distraction-opinion-filipovic/

Ellicott City yoga instructor Keith Golden thinks of Reality Leigh Winner as a dedicated student who works hard and a compassionate person who cares deeply for animals and people.

On Tuesday, Golden opened a text from a friend telling him to look up Winner online. He learned that his 25-year-old former student had been charged with giving reporters a top-secret National Security Agency file about Russian attempts to interfere in last year's election.


Winner, an NSA contractor and Air Force veteran who was stationed recently in Maryland, is the third community professional in their 20s with ties to Maryland accused in recent years of leaking classified documents to the media.

The case, like those of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning before it, could offer a glimpse at what some analysts say is an emerging problem for the intelligence community: young workers who are granted security clearances, discover classified information they find objectionable, and take their concerns to the public.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-md-reality-winner-leak-20170606-story.html








Only four month in and I am so sick of this shit already...

Or, if you prefer, just a tweet about reality...





https://twitter.com/Reezlie/status/830416450418520070



http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/06/politics/reality-winner-twitter-account/index.html

https://twitter.com/chicagotribune/status/871940826506682372

Torture memo' author nominated for Trump administration post
By REBECCA MORIN 06/05/2017 10:05 PM EDT Updated 06/05/2017 10:40 PM EDT
Steven Bradbury, a former George W. Bush administration official who authored legal memos authorizing "enhanced interrogation techniques" that have been regarded as torture, has been nominated to be General Counsel of Transportation.

Bradbury, who is a litigation partner at Dechert LLP in Washington, D.C., was spotted at the White House in March.




In May 2005, Bradbury wrote three memos, including one that authorized the use of 13 different techniques to use against high value detainees, which included dietary manipulation, facial slap or insult slap, cramped confinement, water dousing and waterboarding. The memos later became known as the "torture memos."

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/05/trump-nominee-torture-bradbury-239167


We have entered another dimension.

ABC and CBS will break into their daytime programming on Thursday to cover James Comey’s appearance before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

ABC’s George Stephanopoulos will anchor the network’s coverage, while “CBS This Morning” co-hosts Norah O’Donnell, Gayle King and Charlie Rose will anchor coverage for that network. Rose, King and O’Donnell will be joined in New York by “Face the Nation” anchor and chief Washington correspondent John Dickerson and chief legal correspondent Jan Crawford. The former FBI Director’s testimony is set to begin at 10 a.m. ET.

NBC News has yet to confirm whether or not they will carry the hearing live.

https://www.google.com/amp/variety.com/2017/tv/news/abc-cbs-news-james-comey-senate-testimony-1202454088/amp/

https://twitter.com/cmclymer/status/871906339919888385