SYRIA UPDATE

500 ancient artefacts displayed at “Syria’s Recovered Treasures” exhibition

The exhibition is a joint effort of the Directorate over the past years, in partnership with several institutions and organizations concerned with cultural and archaeological heritage, not to mention the heroism of Syrian soldiers to retrieve the Syrian archaeological pieces which have been damaged and looted by terrorist groups.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=148152

More Steps Will Follow Delivery Of S-300 To Syria: Russian Deputy Foreign Minister

“Indeed, the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems have been installed, this is a qualitatively new level of air defense, I will emphasize defense. The steps that were publicly announced by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will be taken,” Vershinin said.

https://southfront.org/more-steps-will-follow-delivery-of-s-300-to-syria-russian-deputy-foreign-minister/

Army foils terrorist infiltration attempt in Hama countryside, advances in Sweida Badyah

Army units, in cooperation with the supporting forces, continued their concentrated operations to hunt Daesh (ISIS) remnants in the depth of eastern Badyia (desert) of Sweida, establishing full control over Qa’a al-Banat land and fixing new points inside the rocky cliffs at the depth of the area, after expelling Daesh terrorists from the remains of the ponds which they use them to hide from the Army’s blows, SANA reporter said. The reporter added that the army unit inflicted heavy losses upon terrorists in personnel and equipment while the rest fled away.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=148145

Khamis inaugurates road projects in Lattakia worth up to SYP 11 billion

Upon the directives of President Bashar al-Assad, Prime Minister Imad Khamis continued his visit to Lattakia province and inaugurated road projects and the HQ of the Faculty of Dentistry at Tishreen University at a total cost exceeding SYP 11 billion.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=148184

Syrian War Report – October 4, 2018: Israeli Minister Says F-35 Jets To Be Used Against S-300

The terrorist group also demanded the Syrian Army to stop its anti-ISIS operation in the area of al-Safa in southern Syria and two release several female members of the terrorist group from prisons. Despite ISIS demands, it’s unlikely that the Syrian Army will abandon its efforts to clear the al-Safa pocket from ISIS members because this decision would mean that the terrorist threat will remain in southern Syria without any chances to be eliminated. According to photos and videos appearing online, the advance is ongoing. Government forces seized several weapon caches with anti-tank guided missiles, rocket-propelled grenades, automatic rifles and other weapons in the framework of their security operation ongoing in the provinces of Hama, al-Suwayda and Deir Ezzor.

https://southfront.org/syrian-war-report-october-4-2018-israeli-minister-says-f-35-jets-to-be-used-against-s-300/

Syria, Russia to boost cooperation in domains of oil, gas and energy

“Our ambition is to boost our relations, particularly in the oil field and we hope these relations would promote up into the level of historic ties between the two countries,” Ghanem said on the sidelines of the second day of International Forum on energy in Moscow.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=148201

FBI Met DNC Lawyer to Talk Russiagate Before Spying on Trump Campaign

Attorneys representing Democrat Hillary Clinton’s campaign and a senior FBI official met during the 2016 campaign season to discuss the Russiagate conspiracy, the latest evidence to that the criminal investigation later launched into Donald Trump's campaign was primarily politically motivated.

Former FBI General Counsel James Baker met with House investigators on Wednesday, and he shared that he had met during the campaign season with an attorney from Perkins Coie, which was on Clinton's payroll in 2016, John Solomon, former editor-in-chief of the Washington Times, writes in The Hill.

"This is a bombshell that unequivocally shows the real collusion was between the FBI and Donald Trump's opposition — the DNC, Hillary and a Trump-hating British intel officer — to hijack the election, rather than some conspiracy between Trump and [Russian President Vladimir] Putin," a source knowledgeable about what happened at the closed-door hearing told Solomon, he reported.

Perkins Coie is the law firm used by the Clinton campaign to pay former British spy Christopher Steele to compose the "golden showers" dossier that alleged Trump went to the Ritz Carlton in Moscow and paid prostitutes to engage in urination games.

The FBI relied on that salacious dossier to obtain a warrant to spy on Americans working for the Trump campaign, though it is becoming clearer and clearer that much of their "evidence" was a political document paid for by the Democratic presidential nominee's campaign. Notably, former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page was put under FBI surveillance because of his alleged connections to Russian spies.

Mounting evidence suggests that the FBI relied on politically motivated materials to support the probe into "collusion" between Trump's campaign and the Russian government, giving the bureau cover to spy on officials inside the Trump campaign. As a result, Republicans have pleaded with the president to declassify key materials from the investigation, such as the unredacted text history between FBI lovers Lisa Page and Pete Strzok, both of whom were involved in the probe. (Lisa and Carter have no known relation to each other.)

"I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in [McCabe's] office — that there's no way he [Trump] gets elected — but l'm afraid we can't take that risk. lt's like an insurance policy in the unlikely event you die before you're 40," Strzok texted Lisa Page in mid-August 2016.

To bolster the image of the Russia probe, Strzok and Lisa Page worked on a "media leak strategy" that resulted in the New York Times and Washington Post reporting that Carter Page had been spied on by the American government.

Having viewed the classified materials, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) offered a preview of the text correspondence between Strzok and Lisa Page in a letter from last month: "April 12, 2017: Peter Strzok congratulates Lisa Page on a job well done while referring to two derogatory articles about Carter Page. In the text, Strzok warns Page two articles are coming out, one which is ‘worse' than the other about Lisa's ‘namesake.' Strzok added: ‘Well done, Page.'"

An article published in the New York Times on April 12, 2017, cites one anonymous government official supporting its report that the DOJ obtained approval to wiretap Carter Page "based on evidence that he was operating as a Russian agent."

The FBI's surveillance of the Trump campaign, which included a US intelligence community attempt to infiltrate the campaign through an informant who had previously been directed by the CIA and George HW Bush to spy on the Carter administration during the 1980 election, is growing into one of the bureau's most infamous scandals.

https://sputniknews.com/us/201810041068605759-fbi-met-dems-lawyer-russiagate-collusion/

New Anti-Kavanaugh Claim: If I Was Hurt By Someone Who Isn't Brett Kavanaugh, Brett Kavanaugh Is Guilty

In the continuing attempt to undermine Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a bizarre new tactic has taken hold: victims of sexual assault are coming forward to express their belief that Christine Blasey Ford is telling the truth. The logic seems to be that because something bad happened to them – because they were victimized by a person who is not Brett Kavanaugh – they are therefore entitled to declare Brett Kavanaugh guilty of sexually assaulting a woman who is not they.

Take, for example, Connie Chung’s latest column at The Washington Post. Chung, a longtime TV veteran, says that because she was sexually assaulted when she was 20 by her doctor, Brett Kavanaugh is guilty of assaulting Christine Blasey Ford when he was 17. That’s not an exaggeration. The title of the piece: “Dear Christine Blasey Ford: I, too, was sexually assaulted – and it’s seared into my memory forever.”

Her story is indeed awful, and she describes her experience in graphic detail. She concludes:

Christine, I know the truth, as you do. … I wish I could forget this truthful event, but I cannot because it is the truth. I am writing to you because I know that exact dates, exact years are insignificant. We remember exactly what happened to us and who did it to us. We remember the truth forever. Bravo, Christine, for telling the truth.

Such pieces have become common across social media – indeed, there are protesters walking around the Senate this minute claiming that failure to sink Kavanaugh based on uncorroborated allegations amounts to sandbagging all victims. That’s nonsense, and it’s purely illogical nonsense at that.

Then there’s Abigail Disney, who writes today at USA Today to explain that “Brett Kavanaugh reminds me of my father: Enraged by threats to power and entitlement.” She argues that because her father was mean, and Kavanaugh seems mean, he shouldn’t sit on the court. Again, no exaggeration:

But something more was driving my reaction to Kavanaugh. For all my partisan emotion, he was resonating on a level that went well past the political. What was resonating in the pit of my stomach was his rage. It was the same as my father's rage…. It was Kavanaugh’s rage that set me and so many others off. And it was his rage that was disqualifying.

This is absurd. Brett Kavanaugh isn’t her father. End of story.

But personalizing cases that aren’t yours is a way of avoiding the necessities of evidence. If your emotional response matters more than the actual details of a story, you’re doing it wrong. The Left is doing it wrong. And they’re doing it wrong purposefully, and with malice.

https://www.dailywire.com/news/36709/new-anti-kavanaugh-claim-if-i-was-hurt-someone-who-ben-shapiro

ICE union wants investigation of Portland mayor, calls for him to relinquish control of police

The national union representing U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement officers is calling for state and federal investigations of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and wants him to relinquish control of the city’s police department, according to the Washington Times.

It’s part of an ongoing feud between the mayor and the agency over how the Oregon city handled protests against ICE over the summer.

What happened?

ICE union attorney Sean Riddell asked for the investigations in a letter he wrote to Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. Riddell believes Wheeler violated state law by not enforcing city and state laws. He also claims Wheeler used the police bureau for his own political agenda.

“Our hope is that Mr. Wheeler relinquishes his supervisory authority of the Portland Police Bureau pending the outcome of your investigation,” Riddell wrote in the letter obtained by KGW-TV.

Wheeler said he is being targeted for his political beliefs.

“Make no mistake. They are coming after me because I am a vocal opponent of the administration’s policy of separating kids from their parents,” Wheeler told the news outlet.

“Previous claims made by Sean Riddell have fallen apart upon further inspection, and these claims, if investigated, will too,” Wheeler said.

The ICE union’s letter outlines the latest development in an ongoing feud with Wheeler over the Occupy ICE PDX protest in front of the agency’s Southwest Portland office, the Times reported.

The letter states:

According to our investigation, after Mr. Wheeler’s policy declaration of June 20, 2018 the crowd around the ICE building: swelled; physically blocked the exits of a privately owned building; blocked ICE employees from exiting their place of work; denied ICE employees access to their privately owned vehicles; verbally assaulted ICE employees; blocked traffic; harassed local merchants; harassed local residents; engaged in violent and tumultuous behavior; and established an unauthorized occupation of public property without a permit. This behavior continued for at least 38 days.

What else is at play?

Willamette Week reported in July that city policies prevented Portland law enforcement from assisting ICE.

The union called it a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

The group maintained that on at least two occasions, “federal ICE employees called Portland police while being harassed by protesters — but cops did not show up, because Portland’s mayor had ordered them not to intervene,” the Week reported.

Union members had sent Wheeler a cease and desist letter that demanded he require Portland police to assist federal agents at their request, according to the report.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/2018/10/04/ice-union-wants-investigation-of-portland-mayor-calls-for-him-to-relinquish-control-of-police

Signing S-400 deal & defying US: Putin heads to New Delhi to meet Indian PM

Vladimir Putin heads to India for a two-day visit, during which he will meet PM Narendra Modi. All eyes will be on the $5-billion deal to purchase S-400s from Russia, which Delhi approved in defiance of a US threat of sanctions.

The Russian leader is due to arrive in India on Thursday. There won't be time for chit-chat, however, as Putin and Modi are set to discuss cooperation in the area of defense, according to the Kremlin. The leaders are due to sign over 20 documents.

Ambitious S-400 contract with Russia

Military cooperation between Russia and India has been heightened after New Delhi resisted pressure from the US and decided to purchase the S-400 Triumf complexes from Russia. The $5-billion deal to purchase the most sophisticated Russian aerial-defense system available on the market will be signed during Putin's visit to India, according to Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov.

Washington has long threatened sanctions against any nation that buys advanced weapon systems from Russia. By approving the contract, the Indian government has defied the US Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, also known as CAATSA on Russia.

The Russian S-400s are currently the best complexes in their class. India has "healthy pragmatism," and it doesn't want "to somehow annoy" Washington by purchasing them, Aleksey Martynov, a director of the International Institute of the Newly Established States group, told RT.

"When it comes to choosing between security and any other issues, any normal country will make a choice in favor of security. For this reason, Turkey decided to purchase the S-400s from Russia, despite all the threats and sanctions from the US, this is an absolutely logical choice," he explained.

Russia reportedly to be granted with vintage MiG-21s

Putin's visit also follows reports that India will present Russia with three vintage MiG-21 supersonic fighter jets as a reminder of a major agreement on military cooperation reached between the two countries back in the 1960s.

The gift is symbolic since the MiG-21 was the first non-Western warplane purchased by the Asian nation.

These aircraft are intended to "showcase the all-weather friendship and deep strategic partnership between India and Russia, which has been put to the test in recent times due to changing geopolitical conditions," the report said

Longtime business partners

Developing close relations with India, a member of BRICS, remains one of Moscow's top foreign-policy priorities. Over the last several years, Indian companies have invested billions in strategic Russian projects including Vankorneft and Taas-Yuryakh.

Education, science, and a mutual transfer of technologies are key elements of building trust between the longtime partners, which are keen to diversify mutual trade. Russia and India have had close political and military ties since the days of Soviet-Indian partnership, and India is now a booming market for Russia's most-successful industries.

Earlier in September, the board of directors of BRICS' New Development Bank (NDB) approved three infrastructure and sustainable development projects in India and Russia with loans aggregating $825 million.

https://www.rt.com/news/440311-putin-india-visit-s400/

Accused doxxer of GOP senators allegedly threatened to publish their children’s health information

A Democratic congressional intern accused of publishing the private information of at least three Republican lawmakers allegedly threatened to leak senators’ childrens’ health information if a witness told anyone about his activities.

Jackson Cosko, who recently worked as an unpaid intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, was arrested for allegedly posting the personal information (or "doxxing") of a number of senators including Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah on Wikipedia – with information such as their home addresses and phone numbers. Graham, Lee and Hatch's information was published on Thursday.

According to a sworn statement by Capitol Police Captain Jason Bell, a witness Tuesday saw Cosko at a computer in a senator’s office, where he used to work, a day after two other unnamed senators' information had been put on Wikipedia. Cosko worked for other Democratic senators including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and former Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

Sources familiar with the case tell Fox News Cosko was in Sen. Hassan's office, where he was caught using a login he was not authorized to use. Cosko earlier was let go by Senator Hassan's office. A spokesman for Hassan says she "strongly denounces the alleged actions.”

According to Bell's statement, Cosko is alleged to have been confronted by the staffer and then walked out. Hours later the witness received an email from "livefreeorpwn@gmail.com" saying: “If you tell anyone I will leak it all. Emails signal conversations gmails. Senators children’s health information and socials.”

“Socials” apparently referred to social security numbers, while Signal is a secure messaging application. Bell said that there was probably cause to believe that Cosko published the information of senators, and then made threatening statements directed to the unnamed witness “with the intent to hinder, delay, or prevent” the witness from reporting it to authorities.

Cosko's defense attorney, Brian Stolarz, told Fox News his client acted alone.

"We all need to take a deep breath," said Stolarz. "In this political climate everyone wants to jump to conclusions. We need to put the conspiracy theories aside and focus on the allegations. Jackson Cosko is innocent until proven guilty, and we intend to challenge the charges."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/accused-doxxer-of-gop-senators-allegedly-threatened-to-publish-their-childrens-health-information

>>3332407

about 10 miles back IMO

GRASSLEY ERUPTS! — GOES OFF on Far Left Media Hacks for Bias Against Brett Kavanaugh

GOP Majority Leader Mitch McConnell along with Republican Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley and several Republican senators held a press conference this afternoon on Capitol Hill.

After the initial statements the GOP senators took a few questions.

Senator Chuck Grassley went off on the liberal reporters after the several negative questions on Judge Kavanaugh and this week’s FBI investigation.

Senator Grassley, “What I’d like to do when we get all done. Because this is almost rock bottom. I would like to have the future mending things so that we can do things in a collegial way that the United States Senate ought to do in particularly when it comes to Supreme Court nominations. And you folks can have something to do with this. Now, I would never use the word ‘fake news.’ I consider you folks policemen for our democratic system of government. But I want to show you where some of you have bias. I’ve had demonstrators in my office for two weeks now. Both for Kavanaugh and against Kavanaugh. And one time the people for Kavanaugh wanted to be interviewed. And they said we are only interested in interviewing people against Kavanaugh! Now that’s a bias that none of you should be proud of!.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/10/grassley-erupts-goes-off-on-far-left-media-hacks-for-bias-against-brett-kavanaugh-video/

>>3332484

NICE

On Capitalism and Eternal War. NATO as a “World Government”?

On September 14, in an address to the far right American organisation called The Heritage Foundation, the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, described NATO in effect to be a world government prepared for eternal war. He declared NATO to be the “guarantor of peace and stability in Europe since 1949,” when in fact it has only succeeded in bringing war and catastrophe, for the only real guarantor of peace and stability in Europe until 1991 was the Red Army, the withdrawal of which allowed the NATO war machine to move right up to Russia’s borders.

For Stoltenberg the Warsaw pact didn’t exist. Yet it was the necessary counter to the continuous NATO threats against Eastern Europe and the USSR. Without the Warsaw Pact, without the Red Army, the Americans and their lieutenants would have swept across Europe long ago, on behalf of the captains of free enterprise, with the same resulting misery for the masses as they have caused since. The United Nations does not even figure in Mr. Stoltenberg’s universe. It might as well not exist, nor the Non-Aligned Movement, which also played a significant role in trying to establish the principles of non-interference, of national sovereignty, respect for different social and economic systems, and adherence to international legal principles.

The support of national liberation movements by the USSR that succeeded in liberating the peoples of the third world from colonialism was one of the most important advances of democracy in world history. Yet according to Mr. Stoltenberg this liberation of the colonial peoples was “aggression from the Soviet Union” while NATO is “an alliance seeking a stable rules-based international climate where all nations can prosper,” when in fact he meant that the NATO nations can prosper.

He confessed this when he stated that NATO has helped to “spread democratic values, free enterprise and stability” to millions of people in the eastern part of Europe when in fact NATO has only replaced socialist democracy with capitalist democracy, the democracy of the working people, with the democracy of capital, by capital and for capital and in nations such as Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and numerous countries in Africa has acted to crush local democracies that oppose NATO’s interests.

To advance “free enterprise” that is to ensure the complete freedom of movement of capital of the NATO nations against the wishes of the peoples of the world, he proudly boasted of their nuclear arms and readiness to use them and admitted that the twenty-eight American bases in Europe are “not only for Europe, they enable the US to project military power across the wider Middle East and Africa.” He happily pointed out that the US Africa Command, one is tempted to use the Nazi Wehrmacht term Afrika Korps, is based, not in Africa, but in Stuttgart, Germany and that the US 6th Fleet that patrols from the Barents Sea to Antarctica is based in Naples while its jackboot troopers wounded while wreaking havoc in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are treated in Ramstein, Germany.

He then repeated the US-NATO claim that the invasion of Afghanistan was a collective defence action under Article 5 of the NATO Treaty when Afghanistan had nothing whatsoever to do with the incident in New York and when invocation of that section of the NATO Treaty was in violation of Article 1 that requires the NATO powers to adhere to the UN Charter which forbids military action against a nation unless approved by the Security Council.

He claimed that NATO’s agreed to increase in military spending is “real progress” and that “we are moving in the right direction” and congratulated Donald Trump for his leadership. In response to a question he stated that the US and its allies intend to occupy Afghanistan forever. He stated,

“We have to remember that the reason we are in Afghanistan is to prevent Afghanistan from ever again becoming a safe haven for international terrorists.”

https://www.globalresearch.ca/on-capitalism-and-eternal-war-nato-as-a-world-government/5656113

Dutch ‘OPCW hacker attack’ hype link in chain of massive anti-Russian crusade — legislator

The Netherlands’ claims of ‘Russian cyberattacks’ on the OPCW fits into a string of other accusations from some Western countries and testifies to a colossal smear campaign against Russia, an MP says

MOSCOW, October 4. /TASS/. The Netherlands’ claims of ‘Russian cyberattacks’ on the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) fits into a string of other accusations from some Western countries and testifies to a colossal smear campaign against Russia, Head of Russia’s Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee Konstantin Kosachev said on Thursday.

"A synchronized and unanimous reaction by the West - where in addition to the British Foreign Office, Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld and NATO Secretary General Jons Stoltenberg ‘showed up’ at the same time - confirms that what we are seeing is not a mere accident, but an episode in a massive campaign," Kosachev wrote on his Facebook page.

He believes that these accusations are aimed at justifying any hostile action against Russia. "Given the context, the fact that the name of the professional supplier of these ‘required’ fakes is the British ‘independent’ company Bellingcat, confirms the attempt to tie together anything possible into a single dossier of Russia’s fake ‘crimes’ that would justify any, even the most absurd accusations against it, and accordingly, any hostile action against it," the senator said.

He said accusations would keep mounting against Russia, which, for its part, should not "swallow these provocations".

Earlier, Dutch Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld claimed at a news conference that Dutch military intelligence and security services had allegedly foiled an attack by Russian hackers against the OPCW. She claimed that four Russians - Alexey Morenets, Yevgeny Serebryakov, Oleg Sotnikov and Alexey Minin - were involved in the incident. Bijleveld claimed that all four worked for the Main Directorate (formerly the Main Intelligence Directorate, the GRU) of Russia’s General Staff. If she is to be believed, the equipment confiscated from them was evidence that they had tried to get access to information about the Malaysian MH17 flight disaster in Ukraine.

The Dutch Defense Ministry claims that the cyberattack was carried out on April 13. All four Russian suspects were expelled on the same day.

http://tass.com/politics/1024514

Moscow Responds to New Washington's Hacking Accusations: 'Dangerous Path'

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has responded to the new Washington's accusations of hacking against Moscow.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the Western public is being intimidated again with alleged Russian hackers attacking computer networks almost all over the world.

https://sputniknews.com/russia/201810041068606905-russia-usa-hacking-accusations-response/

Judge Delays Tesla CEO Musk Settlement Over Securities Violations - Court Filing

An agreement between Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been delayed until at least October 11, a deadline for both parties to justify a proposed settlement of securities law violations by Musk, according to a court order issued on Thursday.

"A court must make a 'minimal determination of whether the agreement is appropriate' before entering a consent order," US District Court Judge Alison Nathan wrote. "No later than October 11, 2018, the parties shall file a joint letter not to exceed ten pages, double spaced, explaining why the court should approved the proposed consent judgment."

Musk and the SEC have agreed to settle an SEC lawsuit alleging that Musk misled investors by claiming to have secured financing to take Tesla private.

The proposed settlement requires Musk to step down as Tesla's chairman for three years, while allowing him to remain the company's chief executive officer. In addition, Musk and Tesla must pay a penalty of $20 million.

Previously, SEC filed a lawsuit against Musk for fraud, citing his public statements on taking the company private, which caused "confusion and disruption" in the stock market and harmed investors. The regulator among other recommendations has asked a federal judge to prevent Musk from serving as a head of a public company.

On August 7, Musk via Twitter said he could take the California-based company private at a price of $420 per share just as the stock was trading at around $358 per share. Tesla's stock price increased by more than six percent from the time of Musk's tweet until the close of trading that day on the NASDAQ exchange.

https://sputniknews.com/us/201810041068607023-usa-tesla-musk-settlement/

>>3332666

Trips of the devil brag of his work!

Wall Street Pumping Cash Through Loophole in Anti-Corruption Rule

Colorado gubernatorial nominee Walker Stapleton gets bankrolled by dark money and financial donors — as he oversees state investments.

If you are a Wall Street executive looking to land a lucrative contract to manage Colorado retirees’ pension money, a federal anti-corruption rule is designed to deter you from trying to use campaign cash to influence state officials who oversee those investment decisions. Despite that regulation, however, Republican Treasurer Walker Stapleton’s gubernatorial campaign is being boosted by a political group partially sponsored by financial firms that receive giant investments from the pension fund Stapleton helps run, according to documents reviewed by Capital & Main.

During Stapleton’s tenure as a trustee of the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), four real estate investment firms have been given contracts to manage more than $1 billion of Colorado state employees’ retirement savings. During the 2018 election cycle, donors from those firms have delivered more than $492,000 to the Republican Governors Association, which has been blanketing Colorado with ads supporting Stapleton’s candidacy.

In addition, members of a Denver law firm that is registered to lobby at the federal level for another major PERA money manager have collectively given almost $20,000 to Stapleton’s campaign and to a Colorado-based super PAC whose stated mission is to promote Stapleton’s gubernatorial bid. That is on top of a separate $2.2 million worth of anonymous dark money that has flooded into super PACs supporting Stapleton — cash whose source is impossible to trace.

Stapleton’s campaign did not respond to Capital & Main’s questions about the investments and donations.

While Stapleton and his political apparatus have been vacuuming in money from fossil fuel donors and other corporate interests with business before the state, the financial industry donations stand out because they are potentially governed by the Securities and Exchange Commission’s 2010 “pay to play” rule.

Passed in the wake of major pension corruption scandals across the country, the rule is designed to penalize financial firms that direct campaign contributions to public officials who have the power to steer state investments to donors’ financial firms. It is meant to deter such campaign cash from helping those officials — and includes broad anti-circumvention provisions aimed at preventing donors from routing contributions through third-party groups that then support the election campaigns of those public officials.

Cont.

https://capitalandmain.com/wall-street-pumping-cash-through-loophole-in-anti-corruption-rule-1004

Bill Clinton with an Underage Girl Named Rachel Chandler on the “Lolita Express” — Private Jet Owned by Convicted Billionaire Pedophile Jeffery Epstein

http://12160.info/photo/bill-clinton-with-an-underage-girl-named-rachel-chandler-on-the-l?xg_source=activity

The Speech That Got Andrew Breitbart Killed

>>3332160

>>3332808