Friday Morning Links

Updates

April 22, 2013: it looks like the Obama government knew more about the Islamic terrorists (Boston Marathon, April 15, 2013) than first told (?). 

According to The New York Times, the terror suspect's application, presented on September 5, also prompted the FBI to do 'additional investigation' of him this year. They didn't reveal how far the probe had gone or what it covered.

Tamerlan's papers were submitted just days after his brother, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, had his own citizenship application approved. According to the Times, officials with Homeland Security contacted the FBI late last year to learn more about its interview with the terror suspect and the agency reported its conclusion that he did not present a threat.

However, immigration officials did not move to approve or deny the application, choosing instead to leave it open for 'additional review.'

Original Post

First, with regard to the Boston Marathon Bombing: it should be noted that the suspect on the run in the Boston area can feel pretty safe knowing that most law-abiding non-law-enforcement citizens do not have any guns. It should make him feel much safer if he gets outside the cordoned-off area. Just saying. Something tells me the gun law that was voted down this past week would not have made much difference. Unless the gun control bill also included a ban against pressure cookers and terrorists agreed to turn in their pressure cookers. Even a CNBC talking head suggested the same thing (with regard to a Bostonian feeling a bit safer if he/she had a gun while hunkering "down in place").

Along that same line, Senators need to read the fine print in the immigration bill in light of new events. The bill contains 400 waivers, exceptions, and exemptions.

And finally, the decision to allow Arab terrorists the opportunity to test expedited entry into the US seems a bit ill-timed.

But I'm probably over-reacting.

Something tells me this offers the opportunity for law enforcement agencies to really shake down the entire terrorist network in the Boston area.

WSJ Links

Will require subscription, though I have discussed google access before.

Section M (Mansion): I don't read.

Section D (Arena):

Section C (Money & Investing):

• Schlumberger: black gold's blue chip.

The world's largest oilfield-services provider by market value shed around a tenth of its value in the past two months as crude prices retreated. After all, Schlumberger's share price, like its peers', is highly correlated with oil in the short run. If the way down for energy prices is deep and dark, then look out below.

But Schlumberger has a vaunted spot in its industry, not just because of its size but also its sophistication. It spends more on research and development than all of its competitors combined and is more geographically diversified, too. This creates the impression that it is better-insulated from a downturn.

Schlumberger's first-quarter earnings, due Friday, should be encouraging. It is seen reporting $1.00 a share, up from 97 cents a year earlier.

In-Play says SLB beat by 2 cents.

Section (Marketplace):

• FAA expected to end grounding of Boeing 787. [Update: July 12, 2013 -- perhaps not so fast.]

• $30 billion black hole in the Caspian Sea? Great update. I've followed this story for some time. Sounded like a disaster shortly after initial excitement. 

For more than a decade, the promised bonanza from Kazakhstan's giant offshore Kashagan oil field has been a costly mirage for its developers. And the wait still isn't over.

The companies backing the project—which include Exxon Mobil Corp., Eni Spa, and Royal Dutch Shell PLC—in March missed the startup date Eni predicted last year. And now, after a decade of work and more than $30 billion in expenses, it isn't clear when one of the world's biggest untapped fields will produce its first drop of oil.

Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni said last month the operators "are going to begin production in June." A spokesman for the North Caspian Operating Company BV, which represents all of the oil companies in the project, says "we are confident that we will deliver oil in the course of this year," though he said he isn't sure when. A person close to KazMunaiGas, or KMG, the Kazakh state oil company that owns close to 20% of Kashagan, said it may be 2014 before significant amounts of oil flow.

Delays beyond Oct. 1 could subject the companies to new financial penalties on top of tens of millions of dollars worth of concessions they have already given the Kazakh government for missing earlier deadlines and cost overruns, according to energy consultancy IHS CERA. Setbacks could also heighten tensions with a frustrated Kazakh government, say several people close to the project—and will make it difficult for the firms to make more than a marginal profit from their investments.

• Affidavit unsealed in probe of Pilot Flying J. 

An affidavit filed in federal court in Knoxville, Tenn., asserts employees of truck-stop giant Pilot Flying J conducted a scheme to deceptively withhold diesel-fuel price rebates and discounts from Pilot Flying J customers without those customers' knowledge or approval.

The purpose of the alleged scheme, described in detail in the 120-page document, was designed not only to increase sales commissions, the affidavit says, but also to boost profitability of Pilot Flying J, the largest chain of truck stops in North America.

Pilot generally agrees to pay its trucking customers rebates based on volume purchases and other variables. The affidavit asserts that Pilot employees didn't pay the companies the full amounts they were owed.

• Why jet owners don't want to be tracked. 

Section A:

• Factory overtime cranks up 

Factory workers are racking up more overtime than they have in years, a trend that reflects strengthening demand in the U.S. economy and could eventually lead to more hiring.

Production and nonsupervisory employees in the U.S. manufacturing sector worked 41.8 hours a week on average in March, down slightly from February's 41.9 but still at a level rarely seen in recent times. Similar work hours were notched amid the economic boom of the 1990s and, prior to that, during the World War II-related production jump in 1945, according to the latest data from the Labor Department. 

Companies often boost hours of existing employees rather than hire new ones when they are worried an upturn in demand may be temporary—and tend to bring in new workers only when the outlook improves. While this is bad news for unemployed workers, the existing workforce often welcomes the chance to fatten their paychecks.

Eric Stamper, a married father of a 9-month-old in Dayton, Ohio, said he is now working 15 hours of overtime many weeks—more than the roughly 10 hours of overtime that are typical for him. That is helping him save up to buy a new house and car.

There may be more to this story. Think ObamaCare.

• Make it as painful as possible -- the Obama administration -- air delays loom as cuts kick in.

The Federal Aviation Administration has laid out final plans for implementing federal spending cuts at the nation's airports that could cause delays and cancellations affecting thousands of flights a day.

FAA officials told airline-industry executives this week that the cutbacks, due to start Sunday, could delay as many as 6,700 flights a day at 13 of the nation's biggest airports, people familiar with the briefing said.

The projected delays, which are more detailed than any the government has so far provided, are mainly the result of furloughs for air-traffic controllers that will require them to take one day off without pay for every 10 work days. Nearly a third of the more than 23,000 daily U.S. flights could be affected.

The FAA has told airlines that on average each day, the furloughs could delay twice as many flights as during the most heavily storm-disrupted days last year.

Hmmmm. Sounds like the FAA got a telephone call asking why there haven't been any delays yet. Sounds like you want to take a non-stop, and you want to have internet access at the airport. Think Apple iPad.

• Book review: foxhole conversion, but discomforting. A cancer diagnosis leads a poet to rediscover his Christianity, but belief occasions in him not comfort but continual unease. My Bright Abyss: Meditation, Christian Wiman.