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Canada's Enbridge quits Sandpiper Pipeline project

Enbridge
© Mark Blinch/Reuters
After more than two years of slogging through Minnesota's regulatory process, Canadian oil company Enbridge is giving up the ghost of the Sandpiper Pipeline Project. The energy giant asked the state to pull the plug on the pipeline.

On Thursday, Enbridge Energy Partners (EEP) filed documents asking Minnesota to end regulatory proceedings for the Sandpiper Pipeline Project, which called for the construction of a 616-mile (991-km) crude oil pipeline that would have carried 375,000 barrels per day from the Bakken Fields near Tioga, North Dakota, across Minnesota and to Superior, Wisconsin. It was expected to cost nearly $2.6 billion, which would have been privately funded.

EEP "will be withdrawing regulatory applications pending with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission for the Sandpiper Pipeline Project," the company said in a statement, adding that it "has completed a review of Sandpiper and concluded that the project should be delayed until such time as crude oil production in North Dakota recovers sufficiently to support development of new pipeline capacity." That capacity won't likely be needed for at least five years, EEP predicted. If and when it is needed, the company will have to start the regulatory process from scratch โ€’ something EEP has long criticized, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

"Extensive and unprecedented regulatory delays and procedural irregularities have plagued the Sandpiper project since applications were filed nearly three years ago," EEP President Mark Maki told reporters. "The business, competitive and market environment is very different now than it was at the time when we applied for regulatory approval of the Sandpiper project back in 2013."


Comment: Enbridge's switch to the Bakken Pipeline System has ramifications to the environment in numerous states from N. Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, to Native American land and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.


Briefcase

Melania Trump sues Daily Mail into submission, upholds family tradition

Melania Trump
© Mike Segar/ReutersMelania Trump
It seems the Daily Mail forgot they were talking about the most litigious happy family around when they published allegations that Melania Trump was involved in sex work. The article was retracted after she filed a complaint in court.

It seems Melania has taken up the Trump pastime of suing publications that display the family in a disparaging light. On Thursday, she lodged a complaint in a Maryland Circuit Court which claims that the Daily Mail's story - titled Naked photo shoots and troubling questions about visas that won't go away: The VERY racy past of Donald Trump's Slovenian wife - amounted to defamation.

In a lawsuit against both Mail Media and a journalist named Webster Griffin Tarpley, she hit each with one count of libel and one count of tortious interference with actual and/or prospective business advantage against all defendants. In non-legalese English, that means she alleges the stories jeopardized her business relationships "by sullying her good name," according to the lawsuit.

Comment: Retractions aside, like it or not, the story is out there. No thanks to the journalistic sleight of hand.


Sheriff

Justice NOT served: Prosecutor says no reason to charge officer who body-slammed student

south carolina cop body slam
© Samuel Negron / YouTube
A former sheriff's deputy whose assault of a black student shocked the nation last year, has dodged criminal charges for slamming and dragging the 16-year-old girl from behind a desk. Yet, a prosecutor still believes his firing was "necessary."

A South Carolina prosecutor has decided that no charges will be pursued against former Richland County Deputy Ben Fields, who maintained order at the Spring Valley High School until last year.

Comment: So a cop body slams a 16-year-old girl (for presumably being a teenager and doing teenager like things) and SHE is the one who was facing charges that have now been graciously dropped?! Another example of the 'great' American justice system in action.


Pistol

One suspect in custody, two officers injured after Fresno County Jail shooting

Fresno County Jail
© Fresno Co Sheriff / Twitter
The Fresno County Sheriff's Department has confirmed that two officers were injured in a active shooter situation at the Fresno County jail in Downtown Fresno.

Authorities say the active shooter situation is now over. They say one suspect is in custody.

Two officers were taken to the hospital. Their condition is not known at this time.

Fresno Street and M Street are closed.

Pistol

Officer shot in Atlantic City Caesars Casino: 1 suspect dead, 5 others at-large

deadly shootout between suspects and police in Atlantic City
© KYW-TV Crews work the scene after a deadly shootout between suspects and police in Atlantic City, N.J., on Sept. 3, 2016.
A manhunt is underway in Atlantic City, New Jersey for five remaining suspects in a shootout with police that left an officer seriously wounded and a suspect dead outside a casino overnight.

Atlantic City Police Chief Henry White said it happened around 2:30 a.m. Saturday after two patrol officers stopped a group of men near the Caesars Casino parking deck along the 2100 block of Pacific Avenue.

"At this point I don't know what the reason for the initial stop was," White said, "but as the officers were getting out of the car, the males opened fire on our officers, striking one."

The wounded officer, whose named was not immediately released, was taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in critical condition.

SOTT Logo Radio

Government censorship: In defence of Russia Insider and alternative news media

alternative news media
As people wake up each day, it's a natural reaction to switch on the computer and read what happened overnight. The objective is not merely news, but information, without an intentionally misleading slant that lectures and often resembles a political script. Consequently, alternative media content gives another perspective, but now under increasing attack in many countries in the supposedly 'free' world.

Rachel Alexander's site Intellectual Conservative paid the price for outing Democrat corruption. Meanwhile, What Really Happened posts a warning that its site might not be available because of constant DOS attacks. Conversely, the same problems do not occur with mainstream media (MSM).

Info

Philippine police blames IS-linked Abu Sayyaf for bomb in Duterte's Davao

Philipine mourners
© REUTERS/Romeo RanocoRallyists display placards condemning the bombing at a market in Davao city during a candlelight protest in front of the Catholic church in Quiapo city, metro Manila, Philippines September 3, 2016.
Philippine police blamed Islamic State-linked rebels on Saturday for a bombing that killed 14 people in President Rodrigo Duterte's hometown and dealt a blow to the firebrand leader's bloody crackdown on narcotics and militancy.

Investigators said Abu Sayyaf, a southern Philippine group notorious for acts of piracy, kidnappings and beheadings, had claimed responsibility for Friday's night bombing at a Davao street market, although police said they were still trying to authenticate the claim.

The attack rattled the normally peaceful home city of Duterte, who typically spends his weekends there, some 980 kilometers away from the capital Manila. He was in Davao at the time of the bombing but far from the site of the blast outside a hotel where he often holds meetings.

National police chief Ronald Dela Rosa said the bomb was home-made and fragments of mortar were found at the site, where two "persons of interest" had been caught on camera.

People

Saudi women launch Twitter campaign to end male guardianship

Saudi women
© Flickr/minxin76
Tens of thousands of Saudi women took to Twitter after Human Rights Watch (HRW) launched a social campaign aimed against cultural paternalism and male guardianship in Saudi Arabia, a country notorious for its oppression of human rights.

The effort was triggered after HRW released a July report on the state of women's rights in the country. The watchdog report highlighted that so-called male guardianship, a strict form of gender-based cultural domination, is "the most significant impediment to realizing women's rights in the country, effectively rendering adult women legal minors who cannot make key decisions for themselves."

Comment: Saudi Arabia's male guardianship still limits women's rights - reforms on paper only


People

After huge Venezuela protest march, government says foiled coup plot

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez
© REUTERS/Marco BelloVenezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez speaks during a meeting with the Diplomatic Corps in Caracas, Venezuela September 2, 2016.
Venezuela's socialist government said on Friday it thwarted a coup plot this week as opponents planned to build on their biggest protest in more than a decade with further street action demanding a referendum to remove the president.

Buoyed by rallies in Caracas on Thursday that drew hundreds of thousands, the opposition coalition is planning more marches on Sept. 7 to demand a plebiscite against President Nicolas Maduro this year.

But with the election board dragging out the process and Maduro vowing there will be no such vote in 2016, it is hard to see how the opposition can force it.

"It was the day they wanted: massive, peaceful and inspirational. But that success leaves a key question in the air: 'What next?'" wrote pollster Luis Vicente Leon in the aftermath of Thursday's opposition-dubbed 'Takeover of Caracas'.

Camcorder

Youtube censorship?: Video site inexplicably removes ad money, angers users

youtube
© Osman Orsal / Reuters
YouTube content creators are up in arms over the video website removing their ability to earn money through advertisements. Many are also confused as to why their work is no longer considered "appropriate."

Beginning late Wednesday night, the Google subsidiary began removing monetization from many videos as part of a decision to better enforce its community guidelines, including what content is considered inappropriate for advertising.

YouTube did not notify its users beforehand that it would suddenly enforce its guidelines more stringently, leading many content creators to believe it was a new policy.

YouTuber Philip DeFranco, who has more than 4.5 million subscribers, had at least 40 videos demonetized. He described the feeling as "a little bit like getting stabbed in the back after 10 years."