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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday September 29 2016, @01:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the first-time-for-everything dept.

For the first time since President Obama took office in 2009, Congress has overridden his veto.

The U.S. Senate voted 97-1 to override President Obama's veto of the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which would allow victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia. The lone dissenting vote was Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), who has "always had the president's back":

In a letter Monday to House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-Tex.) and ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter warned that allowing the bill to become law risked "damaging our close and effective cooperation with other countries" and "could ultimately have a chilling effect on our own counter-terrorism efforts." Thornberry and Smith both circulated letters among members in the last few days, urging them to vote against overriding the veto. CIA Director John O. Brennan also warned of the 9/11 bill's "grave implications for the national security of the United States" in a statement Wednesday.

The House of Representatives voted 348-to-77:

Congress on Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to override a veto by President Obama for the first time, passing into law a bill that would allow the families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for any role in the plot.

Democrats in large numbers joined with Republicans to deliver a remarkable rebuke to the president. The 97-to-1 vote in the Senate and the 348-to-77 vote in the House displayed the enduring power of the Sept. 11 families in Washington and the diminishing influence here of the Saudi government.

See also: The Risks of Suing the Saudis for 9/11 by the New York Times Editorial Board and this article in the Saudi Gazette.

Previously: President Obama to Veto Bill Allowing September 11 Victims to Sue Saudi Arabia


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  • (Score: 2) by weeds on Thursday September 29 2016, @07:13PM

    by weeds (611) on Thursday September 29 2016, @07:13PM (#408074) Journal

    Top 5 US oil imports:
    Canada................40%
    Saudi Arabia.........11%
    Venezuela..............9%
    Mexico...................8%
    Colombia................4%

    http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=727&t=6 [eia.gov]

    But it's way more fun to just spout off about Saudi Arabia and guns and the corruption of the US government. All the while we were paying $140 for a barrel of oil, it was our best buddies in Canada that were making all the $$.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 29 2016, @08:06PM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday September 29 2016, @08:06PM (#408100) Journal

    Is it sustainable? A lot of Canada's oil is in oil sands, which is only economic at high oil prices. And fracking in the U.S. is similar. Saudi Arabia and OPEC have been keeping prices low in order to hurt Iran or the United States, depending on who you ask. It was only a couple days ago that OPEC agreed to the possibility of a tiny production cut.

    U.S. oil, gas industry sheds 100,000 jobs in slump: Kemp [reuters.com]
    Oil companies face worker shortages after 350,000 layoffs [usatoday.com]
    Texas has lost 84,000 oil and gas jobs in the oil bust [fuelfix.com]
    Cheap oil has killed nearly 200,000 U.S. jobs [cnn.com]

    Women make up vast majority of those leaving Alberta, Statistics Canada data suggests [www.cbc.ca]

    Before the recession hit, many women were moving into the construction industry as men filled the plentiful jobs in the oil and gas sector, said Pallavi Banerjee, a sociologist at the University of Calgary. "Now, with the economy tanking, men who have been laid off from oil and gas are re-entering construction. Jobs are anyway scarce in construction, so women are probably being driven out of the industry," Banerjee said. Many immigrant women who came to Alberta and Calgary during the boom for jobs in the service industry are also now probably returning to Ontario, B.C. and Quebec, she added.

    Canadian hiring rebounds but 'economic lethargy' still a concern [theglobeandmail.com]

    Weak oil prices and wildfires in Alberta have contributed to Canada’s sluggish economy and tepid job creation. The country’s economy shrank 1.6 per cent in the second quarter, its worst performance since the Great Recession.

    OPEC production deal greeted with skepticism in Canada [thestar.com]

    But many analysts noted that the deal by the 14-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in Algeria on Wednesday was merely an agreement to look at possibly cutting production to between 32.5 million and 33 million barrels a day. That would be down from August’s production rate of 33.2 million barrels a day – but it would shave only 700,000 barrels a day, some 2 per cent of overall production. Crude oil was selling for more than $100 (U.S.) a barrel in the summer of 2014, before bottoming out below $30 a barrel in January. That fall largely came from a boom in U.S. shale oil production and countries like Saudi Arabia choosing to continue to pump to hold onto market share.

    The economies of oil-producing provinces like Alberta, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland have suffered amid persistent low prices. Oil producers have shuttered projects and eased off on production. Workers have been laid off, with tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs lost. Alberta’s current recession looks like it will be the longest and worst in the province’s history.

    Petronas to review Canada project [nst.com.my]

    Early this year, Petronas announced it would cut spending by up to RM50 billion over four years in response to the oil price slump. On the possible second wave of layoffs in Petronas, Wan Zulkiflee said: “We always look at the business and the opportunities for optimising, and of course we will do that.” In March, Petronas announced the layoff of about 1,000 employees whose positions were made redundant under its transformation exercise. It was the first major decision it made since oil prices began to plummet in June 2014. It is learnt that the company is undergoing another manpower restructuring exercise involving its non-performing staff in coping with the prolonged low oil prices.

    So maybe users should be spouting off about Saudi Arabia.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Friday September 30 2016, @02:09AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Friday September 30 2016, @02:09AM (#408204) Journal

      Is it sustainable? A lot of Canada's oil is in oil sands, which is only economic at high oil prices.

      Well, are low oil prices sustainable?

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday September 30 2016, @02:23AM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday September 30 2016, @02:23AM (#408207) Journal

        Possibly. Production is very high, and demand growth is weak [cnbc.com]. Green energy mandates and emissions targets could drive demand down even further. Places like Alberta will experience a yo-yo effect with any price increase/decrease cycle.

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      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday September 30 2016, @02:47AM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday September 30 2016, @02:47AM (#408216) Journal

        Saudi Arabia could also play a little game where they keep production high enough to price out certain sources like the oil sands and U.S. fracking, with the intent of eliminating all of their oil reserves over a certain timeframe.

        Let's say that Saudi Arabia has about 300 billion barrels of recoverable oil in reserve. That is their proven oil reserves and a little extra undiscovered. Production has fluctuated between 8-11 million barrels a day over the years. At 15 million barrels per day of production, they would have just under 55 years of supply. If they can get that supply out of the ground and invest the profits in solar, fusion, playgrounds for the rich, land, etc. then they may be able to get out of the oil business around the time demand has hit rock bottom. 2071 is a pretty aggressive target for the world to be using lots of electric cars, solar, and fusion, but it's not completely unrealistic. Apparently, Saudi Arabia wants to try 12.5 million barrels a day. That would yield 65.7 years and another decade to wean the world off oil.

        The gamble is to not leave any oil in the ground by the emergence of a post-oil planet, while forcing Alberta, Canada and others to leave their oil in the ground throughout. Strategic investment can help the Saudis or others buy a stake in the next energy boom. The obvious problem here is that you have to believe fusion, etc. will become viable within 50 years. The situation should become more clear soon. [nextbigfuture.com]

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    • (Score: 2) by weeds on Friday September 30 2016, @12:46PM

      by weeds (611) on Friday September 30 2016, @12:46PM (#408351) Journal

      Your point is that when oil prices are low those who produce a lot of oil are hurt.
      OK, but you forgot - when oil prices are high, those who produce a lot benefit.
      This applies to the US, Brazil and any other oil producing country (don't forget Russia). The ups and downs are controlled by a cartel, not a free market and certainly not by a perfect market.
      The fact that Canada has been financially disadvantaged by low oil prices doesn't change that fact that they send us the huge majority of our oil. They made gobs of money selling oil to the US when prices were high. I don't begrudge them that, hey, it's a free market, oh wait, no it's not, it's a cartel. You don't like the cartel, don't buy their oil. We don't! we buy Canadian oil and guess what? They charge cartel prices. I might have some sympathy for them if they sold us oil under the cartel rate, but they didn't. If your are going to play in that sandbox, then be prepared.