House Republicans defeat resolution to force the Justice Department to reveal Donald Trump's ties with Russia.

Mike Pence and House Republicans pose for a selfie.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

House Republicans on Tuesday defeated a resolution that would have asked the Department of Justice to reveal what it has uncovered about President Donald Trump’s contacts with Russia and his conflicts of interest with other foreign governments. 

Eighteen Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee opposed a resolution offered by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) that would have required Attorney General Jeff Sessions to hand over information related to investigations into the president, his campaign aides, the White House and Trump’s businesses. 

The vote came about after Nadler and other Judiciary Committee Democrats made several unsuccessful appeals to Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) requesting he hold hearings on Trump’s Russian ties and other foreign conflicts. Goodlatte opposed the resolution, calling it “overbroad” and “premature.” 

Nadler’s resolution is one way Democrats are pressuring Republicans over the president’s business conflicts and his campaign’s possible ties to hacking by Russian intelligence services against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

So is that it, is this whole thing over?

Fuck no!

In fact it is just getting started.

Right now the Republicans are hoping against hope that they can obfuscate, undermine, and ultimately delay all of this until the American citizens get distracted by the next shiny new thing.

However the more pressure they receive in the form of phone calls, emails, and faxes the harder it will be for them to keep putting things off. (You can start that process by clicking here.)

Want proof?

Here is what Darrell Issa, that guy who would have investigated the Obama Administration for wearing white after Labor Day, had to say after this was voted down:

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) did not support the resolution, but said committee members should send bipartisan letters asking for information related to the Russian hacking allegations. He added: “If [Russia has] attempted to distort our democracy, we need to know it.”

So why would Darrell Issa, a guy who is so partisan that he would have thrown his own mother in jail for voting Democrat, be breaking with his GOP comrades over this?

Because he just barely won his seat in the last election that's why and he is smart enough at least to figure out where the wind is blowing on this, and it is not blowing in Donald Trump's favor.

All it takes for the Republicans to jump on board the "Let's investigate Donald Trump" train is the realization that if they don't their political careers are over.

The city of Ferguson is requesting outlandish fees before handing records over to reporters investigating the shooting of Michael Brown. Now why does that sound familiar?

Courtesy of the AP:

Officials in Ferguson, Missouri, are charging nearly 10 times the cost of some of their own employees' salaries before they will agree to turn over files under public records laws about the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. 

Missouri's attorney general on Monday, after the AP first disclosed the practice, contacted Ferguson's city attorney to ask for more information regarding fees related to document requests, the attorney general's spokeswoman said. 

The move to charge high fees discourages journalists and civil rights groups from investigating the shooting and its aftermath. And it follows dozens of records requests to Ferguson under the state's Sunshine Law, which can offer an unvarnished look into government activity. 

The city has demanded high fees to produce copies of records that, under Missouri law, it could give away free if it determined the material was in the public's interest to see. Instead, in some cases, the city has demanded high fees with little explanation or cost breakdown.

Well that is outlandish, and I think with more public scrutiny the city will be forced to change these outrageous demands or risk attracting even more negative attention. Which at this time they can ill afford.

However as I was reading that I realized that I was suddenly having a case of deja vu.

And I am not the only one, as the AP reported a little further down the page:

Other governments also have demanded spectacular fees. During the 2008 presidential campaign, for instance, news organizations asked for emails belonging to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee. 

The Anchorage Press said officials at first wanted $6,500 in search fees, leading the newspaper to withdraw its request. Thousands of pages of those emails were ultimately provided to news organizations for about $725 in copying charges.

Oh hells yeah! Who could forget all of that hullabaloo back in the days before Palin finally threw up her hands and quit?

Remember how they quoted a price to the AP of over 15 million for the emails?

Ultimately of course the state had to cave to the pressure, but it certainly gave Palin and her minions plenty to time to redact anything that might have actually proven newsworthy.

I wonder if the city of Ferguson is taking a page from that same playbook?