The Standing Rock Sioux are inspiring the world with their resistance against the pipeline. But it’s not just Big Oil and Gas that they’re opposing.

When the Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit for the 1,100-mile Dakota Access Pipeline in July, executives at the corporations behind the plan probably thought their path forward was clear. They’d moved easily through the permit process, seemingly dodging the concerns of people affected by the pipeline, and were ready to go ahead with construction.

But the communities in the pipeline’s path, especially local tribes, had other ideas. Thousands of people, mostly Native Americans, have converged at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota in an effort to stop the pipeline from being built. The Standing Rock Sioux call the pipeline a black snake, and they know that if it were to rupture and spill — a serious risk, given the well-documented history of pipeline leaks in the U.S. — it could poison their drinking water and pollute their sacred land.

As we will detail, the Standing Rock Sioux are not just up against the oil and gas industry and the federal government, as daunting a challenge that alone would be. They are up against the many of the most powerful financial and corporate interests on Wall Street, the profit-driven institutions that are bankrolling this pipeline plan and so many others like it throughout the country.

http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/who's-banking-dakota-access-pipeline

A pipeline company agreed to halt until Friday construction of an oil pipeline in parts of North Dakota where a Native American tribe says it has ancient burial and prayer sites, a lawyer for the company said in court on Tuesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pipeline-nativeamericans-idUSKCN11C26B

A federal judge will rule by Sept. 9 on the injunction filed by the Standing Rock Sioux tribe to stop construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, according to attorneys representing the tribe.

U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., decided Wednesday to take a couple of weeks to rule on whether to halt the pipeline's construction while the tribe pursues its lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, alleging violation of the National Historic Preservation Act during the pipeline permitting process.

http://bismarcktribune.com/bakken/federal-judge-to-rule-sept-on-dakota-access-injunction/article_9ee99b5d-8b72-516e-a12c-72195be3f75e.html

A federal ban on the sale of guns to medical marijuana card holders does not violate the Second Amendment, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applies to the nine Western states that fall under the court's jurisdiction, including California, Washington and Oregon.

It came in a lawsuit filed by S. Rowan Wilson, a Nevada woman who said she tried to buy a firearm for self-defense in 2011 after obtaining a medical marijuana card. The gun store refused, citing the federal rule banning the sale of firearms to illegal drug users.

The court also said Congress had reasonably concluded that marijuana and other drug use "raises the risk of irrational or unpredictable behavior with which gun use should not be associated."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/us-court-upholds-ban-gun-sales-marijuana-card-41778814

On September 3, the Dakota Access pipeline company attacked Native Americans with dogs and pepper spray as they protested against the $3.8 billion pipeline’s construction. If completed, the pipeline would carry about 500,000 barrels of crude per day from North Dakota’s Bakken oilfield to Illinois. The project has faced months of resistance from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and members of nearly 100 more tribes from across the U.S. and Canada.

Democracy Now! was on the ground at Saturday’s action and brings you this report:

Mercenaries Just Attacked Dakota Pipeline Protesters with Dogs & Pepper Spray (VIDEO)
Nathan Wellman | September 3, 2016

Private security guards working on behalf of the companies building the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline have reached a despicable new low. Video and photos of the pepper spray and dog attacks are going viral on social media.

https://usuncut.com/climate/dakota-pipeline-pepper-spray-video/

Vaccine Injury Payouts Rise
The U.S. government is about to make it easier for claimants to be compensated when vaccinations are improperly injected
A government program that pays people hurt by vaccinations recently doled out more than $1 million to Latasha George, a Louisiana nurse. Katherine Brooks, an Indiana emergency-room doctor, received $92,500. Roberta Livolsi, a retired Pennsylvania housekeeper, got $75,000.

All were deemed victims of the flu shot—but their injuries had nothing to do with what was in the syringe.

The patients were among dozens that have been diagnosed with “Sirva,” or shoulder injury related to vaccine administration. They were hurt by how the shot was given, not the contents of the vaccine. It is a growing phenomenon for which U.S. health officials increasingly have been awarding compensation and is now being added to a no-fault system intended to expedite claims.

Sirva generally is caused by an injection improperly shot too high on the arm, Dr. Atanasoff says. This can injure the musculoskeletal structures of the shoulder, such as tendons, ligaments or bursa, causing sudden shoulder pain.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/vaccine-injury-payouts-rise-1440430702

"Just imagine, there are some 540,000 containers with cargo caught up at sea," explains Lars Jensen, chief executive of Sea Intelligence Consulting in Copenhagen.

That means that a lot of the goods en route to the US are geared at the busy year-end holidays and any disruption will be a major headache for the companies that have entrusted their products into the hauls of the Hanjin freighters.

Ships, cargo and crew might find themselves stuck for weeks, if not months, without knowing when and where their current voyage will end.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-37241727