Finally, The End Of The Feminization Of America -- November 20, 2016

I'm too exhausted to really expand on this but I think folks are clever enough and smart enough to connect the dots. The "soundbite": something tells me Camille Paglia will be impressed with Trump. Maybe even Susan Faludi. Is Trump the first president that never bought into feminization of the United States?

One might have to ask Rush Limbaugh when the feminization of America began but certainly we started seeing it in the Clinton administration. Wow, so much could be written, but I'm just too tired.

Maybe this will give me my "second wind" this evening:



I think Melania is going to be a breath of fresh air. She doesn't plan to move into the White House. The high point of her day: picking up her 10-year-old son, Barron, from school.

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Have The Democrats Really Lost 910 State Legislative Seats During The Obama Presidency?

Link here.  That was the assessment as of January, 2015. It's now even worse after the November 8,2 016, elections.

"He’s lost almost 70 Democrats since he’s been president," Roberts said of US Congress, "and more than 900 state legislators.

And, again, that was before the recent election.

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How Bad Has Obama Been For The Democratic Party

Hamilton and the Implosion of the American Left

The day after:

• professors at Yale and Columbia universities and other elite schools postpone exams and cancel classes
• kids in Washington schools cut class with tacit approval from administrators
• school officials in Montgomery County offer grief counselors to help students process feelings they have about the election

Fact:

• today's Democrats have become a party of coast elites (and an Omaha sage) completely disconnected from the rest of America

National level:

• the Democratic Party has been wiped out
• Trump won five states that voted for Obama twice: IA, WI, OH, PA, FL
• Republicans now control the US House, Senate, White House, and Supreme Court (with next pick)

State level, incredibly worse outcome; on Obama's watch:

• Democrats have lost a net grand total of 939state legislative seats, 30 state legislative chambers, and a dozen governorships
• there are now more Republican state legislators than at any time since 1920
• if Governor McCrory holds on in North Carolina (and he won't), Republicans will match their all-time high of 34 GOP governors last seen in the 1920s
• Democrats control both the governor's office and the legislature in just five states: OR, CA, HI, CT, RI
• Republicans have total control of state government in 25 states -- half the country

Post-Shut-In-Production Jump -- January 29, 2017

The date stamp will show November 20, 2016, but I'm using an old draft post for a sports-related post that I decided not to keep.

This will be updated at a later date.

Memo to self: be sure to include all wells in the graphic. Note that there is a great example of a well that was off-line for five months and showed no bump in production. 

 Index well:

• 19328, 853, Zavanna 1-13H, Stockyard Creek, t6/11; cum 330K 11/16;

Production profile for this well:

Pool	Date	Days	BBLS Oil	Runs	BBLS Water	MCF Prod	MCF Sold	Vent/Flare
BAKKEN	11-2016	30	2416	2515	2537	8454	7386	621
BAKKEN	10-2016	31	2435	2215	2272	6084	5315	307
BAKKEN	9-2016	30	1406	1310	1446	2612	1994	171
BAKKEN	8-2016	31	2028	2025	2167	4746	3666	618
BAKKEN	7-2016	31	1820	2067	1911	3809	3035	312
BAKKEN	6-2016	28	2241	1965	2223	4511	3875	219
BAKKEN	5-2016	31	2611	2407	2698	5616	4195	959
BAKKEN	4-2016	30	2948	2925	3020	6640	5578	615
BAKKEN	3-2016	31	3025	3037	3103	6684	5485	737
BAKKEN	2-2016	29	3835	3585	3308	7496	5338	1726
BAKKEN	1-2016	31	4309	4220	3916	8366	6706	1198
BAKKEN	12-2015	31	5416	5441	4852	10523	9234	827
BAKKEN	11-2015	30	4913	4866	4378	9523	8440	636
BAKKEN	10-2015	31	6069	6035	5427	10822	8799	1561
BAKKEN	9-2015	30	6690	6403	5128	10964	9785	732
BAKKEN	8-2015	31	7079	6454	6279	12969	12274	233
BAKKEN	7-2015	31	6771	6733	6149	12215	11582	171
BAKKEN	6-2015	30	7478	7390	7467	12998	11746	805
BAKKEN	5-2015	31	11085	9959	10184	16475	10687	5326
BAKKEN	4-2015	18	3129	2962	6790	5355	5044	43
BAKKEN	3-2015	31	9404	9432	22399	16653	16152	39
BAKKEN	2-2015	17	5390	4709	27885	6896	4221	2422
BAKKEN	1-2015	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	12-2014	0	0	121	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	11-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	10-2014	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BAKKEN	9-2014	12	1282	1114	973	2159	1664	316
BAKKEN	8-2014	31	3118	2618	2501	5368	4437	469
BAKKEN	7-2014	31	3543	3654	3185	6325	5527	336
BAKKEN	6-2014	30	3937	3741	3750	6409	5825	137
BAKKEN	5-2014	31	4916	4891	6547	7025	5141	1422
BAKKEN	4-2014	18	1181	1234	3710	1579	477	804
BAKKEN	3-2014	10	1462	1420	744	2302	2057	96
BAKKEN	2-2014	28	5508	6112	2707	8911	8534	0
BAKKEN	1-2014	31	5417	5188	2981	8507	6983	1062
BAKKEN	12-2013	31	6315	6334	3987	8892	6619	1811
BAKKEN	11-2013	4	812	0	840	952	243	649
BAKKEN	10-2013	17	2556	2827	3371	3515	1653	1609
BAKKEN	9-2013	10	1053	943	2478	1466	982	335
BAKKEN	8-2013	16	531	530	264	2874	1428	984
BAKKEN	7-2013	31	2058	2016	1658	2874	1428	984
BAKKEN	6-2013	30	4546	4447	4491	7640	4383	2810
BAKKEN	5-2013	31	4920	5513	3056	7674	3328	3884
BAKKEN	4-2013	30	6276	5328	3225	8670	6660	1563
BAKKEN	3-2013	1	75	0	100	1096	184	897
BAKKEN	2-2013	19	1751	2430	931	4443	3119	907
BAKKEN	1-2013	31	4851	4410	1437	11783	10572	749
BAKKEN	12-2012	31	5306	5056	2322	11498	9722	1314
BAKKEN	11-2012	30	6632	7263	2719	11979	9690	1842
BAKKEN	10-2012	12	3440	3505	1646	4560	898	3483
BAKKEN	9-2012	22	4866	4244	2173	7124	3401	3380
BAKKEN	8-2012	10	2010	2159	1108	2351	1430	772
BAKKEN	7-2012	27	5995	5718	2805	11817	8021	3394
BAKKEN	6-2012	21	4842	4501	2194	6664	5222	1129
BAKKEN	5-2012	31	4458	4638	1738	5412	4215	735
BAKKEN	4-2012	29	6203	6374	3544	12280	9238	2595
BAKKEN	3-2012	29	5837	5778	3034	8872	8448	0
BAKKEN	2-2012	29	6609	6031	3325	11219	10342	445
BAKKEN	1-2012	31	7561	8550	3787	12023	10902	659
BAKKEN	12-2011	31	8646	8401	4248	12370	10058	1850
BAKKEN	11-2011	30	10220	10488	4858	12079	11071	561
BAKKEN	10-2011	21	6983	6294	3317	8811	8092	406
BAKKEN	9-2011	18	6072	6653	2637	11455	10054	1118
BAKKEN	8-2011	31	14861	15287	6457	23455	21173	1820
BAKKEN	7-2011	31	15866	15518	6675	6078	83	5533
BAKKEN	6-2011	25	16881	15356	11358	19461	71	19017
BAKKEN	5-2011	28	13470	13436	11134	25644	0	25227
BAKKEN	4-2011	8	4163	4163	7784	8350	0	8216

At Twitter Fifteen Minutes Ago -- Drill, Drill, Drill -- November 20, 2016

@PennEnergy: 15 minutes ago --

#Trump has vowed to rescind "all job-destroying #Obama executive actions" and increase #oil and #gas drilling.

Truly amazing how many gullible folks voted to re-elect him:

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Thanksgiving Dallas FC Tournament

Olivia's team, 14-year-olds. Olivia and her friend are the only two 13-year-olds on the team, "playing up."

The team took second place in the tournament.

This was a very, very prestigious tournament: only the best of the best were invited to attend. Very low scoring games. It turns out that Olivia and her friend (the only one's "playing up") scored the only goals for their team throughout the tournament. They came in second: the championship game was 0 - 0 after regulation time. In overtime, the other team won on a penalty kick, and most agree, of course, the penalty was ill-called.

Her soccer shoes on Friday night were ruined because her shoes were "stepped" on so many times during the game. She bought a new pair Friday night and slept in them overnight to help break them in before Saturday games.

Olivia: third from left, top row. 

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The Literature Page

I couldn't recall if I had posted anything about The Paris Wife, Paula McLain, c. 2011, so I searched the blog. Only one entry that had McLain in it:

Link here to a most interesting essay (2011) on A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition, edited by Sean Hemingway, c. 2009. 

It begins:

Fifty years ago, Ernest Hemingway died by his own hand. The quintessentially American writer—and poster bear for burly masculinity—is undergoing one of his periodic revivals, spurred not only by the anniversary of his suicide but by Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, set in the 1920s Left Bank of Hemingway’s heavily fictionalized memoir A Moveable Feast, and The Paris Wife, Paula McLain’s novel about Hadley, the writer’s wife during the period chronicled in Feast.

So, as serendipity would have it, I am reading McLain's novel, a New York Times bestseller and a most interesting way of writing a biography.

I have just completed the first five chapters and do not know if I can go on. It reminds me too much of my coming-of-age years. Madly in love. Special delivery letters. Not knowing if she was real. She not knowing if I was real.

It's "funny" -- that entry above -- it mentions one of the movies on my top ten list: Midnight in Paris and the book I am currently reading.

It is interesting. There are times when I listened to Hemingway's dialogue in Midnight in Paris and thought he might be a poet, rather than "simply" a writer.

And then this, in Chapter Three, in response to a question from a woman he had just met about his plans --

Hemingway: "Now I'm writing trash copy for Firestone tires, but I mean to write important stories or a novel. Maybe a book of poetry."

Isn't that cool?

Only Two Bakken Wells Come Off Confidential List This Weekend Through Wednesday -- November 20, 2016

Wednesday, November 23, 2016
None

Tuesday, November 22, 2016
None.

Monday, November 21, 2016
None.

Sunday, November 20, 2016
None.

Saturday, November 19, 2016

• 30564, 2,695, HRC, Fort Berthold 148-95-23C_14-10H, Eagle Nest,, 34 stages, 5.1 million lbs;  t5/16; cum 4K 0ver 5 days;
• 31247, 1,613, EOG, West Clark 103-0136H, Clarks Creek, 37 stages, 21.1 million lbs, s12/10/15; TD, 12/20/15; TVD, 10,552 feet; TD, 17,965 feet; again, only a 1.5 section lateral; 960-acre spacing; middle Bakken; 

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31247, see below, EOG, West Clark 103-0136H, Clarks Creek:

Date	Oil Runs	MCF Sold
9-2016	17520	63978
8-2016	11554	22619
7-2016	31077	75251
6-2016	37118	85473
5-2016	16264	29938

Again, Mark Perry Never Disappoints -- November 20, 2016

His Saturday evening links.

On another note, UN climate talks in Marrakesh, Morocco, at five minutes to midnight, reach a consensus, announce a breakthrough: implementing the "Paris Accord" will be delayed for one full year.

I was in Marrakesh, Morocco, many, many years ago. I stayed at a 5-star hotel courtesy of the US government. Wow, those folks certainly live in style. Malcolm Forbes knew that. In 1989 he threw a birthday bash in Tangier, Morocco, to beat all birthday bashes to celebrate his own 70th birthday. I remember that well. I had been to Morocco before then so I was able to vicariously enjoy his party. I loved the shrimp; I hated the small talk.

Casablanca, An Alternate Ending, SNL

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Update on Nigeria

Speaking of narratives, the narrative coming out of Nigeria is all about militancy putting Nigeria's oil future at risk. Not.

It's red tape.

The inability of the Nigerian government to pass an energy bill, according to Platts, is putting Nigeria's oil future at risk. Some data points:

• red tape has cost Nigeria $15 billion / year in lost investments
• more worrying: a slump in both its output in the past two years and its fast depleting oil and gas reserves
• Nigeria's crude reserves have dropped from 37 billion bbls to 28 billion bbls over the last five years
• Nigeria's current production: below the 2.2 million bopd in early 2016
• Nigeria is suffering its first recession in more than 20 years 

The cost of tribalism.

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Witches

On September 8, 2016, I started reading Witches by Stacy Schiff. Each day at the library I would read a chapter or so. Then all of a sudden, in late September, the book was no longer on the shelves. I checked every day.  Then, all of a sudden, this past week, now that Halloween has passed, I guess, Witches is back on the shelves, and I'm starting to read it again.

Be that as it may, in the June 30, 2016, issue of London Review of Books, there is another story on witches. This one took place in Germany, in 1615, and involved Johannes Kepler.

Most witchcraft trials occurred not in the Middle Ages, but in Kepler's lifetime, during the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. Witch-hunting can in part be explained by the fury of that schism. The war between Christ and Antichrist took many forms, including village squabbles where the wretched were suspected of bewitching the righteous for revenge and gain.

The accused were typically women, usually older and dependent on their communities. Around 25,000 witches were executed in early modern Germany, including 3,200 in southwestern regions between 1561 and 1670 [the Salem witch trials: 1692]. Of these, only 197 (6 percent) were in the duchy of Wurttemberg.

This relatively reassuring information was not available to the Keplers, whereas the horrifying news of scores of people burned in Ellwangen, outside of the duchy but just sixty miles away -- three hundred in 1611 - 12 alone -- probably was.

Johannes was right to fear the worst for his mother. The first to accuse Katharina was her own son, Johannes's younger brother Heinrich. He had returned home from serving in the imperial guard, penniless, at a time of bad harvests, shortages and high prices, and had denounced his mother for failing to feed him properly. Rumours crept through the streets of Leonberg, and dark patterns formed in the minds of people who had suffered bad luck.

Ursula Reinbold, who had recently become lame, said: "That Kepler woman has to take her spell away before I die."

Sort of reminds me of global warmists vs deniers.

**************************************

Camelot 2

The Trump presidency is going to be simply mesmerizing. There will literally be surprises and spectacles every day (if the link breaks, it is being reported that Melania and 10-year-old Barron will not be moving to the White House). This is going to be so exciting. I can hardly wait. 

NASCAR Championship Today On NBC, 1:30 Central Time -- November 20, 2016

The four drivers in the "Chase" will be starting in the middle of the pack after completing really, really poor qualifying times. Who wants to bet that they did not want to "blow their engines" 24 hours before the championship race. Even if they finished dead last in the qualifying trials, they were still going to be in the championship race.

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The Literature Page

I'm in the process of cleaning up the house which means throwing out stacks of old periodicals. But before throwing out any copy of London Review of Books or The New York Review of Books I take one last look to see if there is any article that needs to be linked for future reference.

A google search of "Keynes" at this blog will note that I've actually mentioned him several times. However, I have never linked one of the better recent books that discusses Keynes. From The New York Review of Books : "Money: The Brave New Uncertainty of Mervyn King," by Paul Krugman, in a review of Mervyn King's The End of Alchemy: Money, Banking, and the Future of the Global Economy. A very worthwhile read. 

A short excerpt:

King argues ... that economic decisions always take place under conditions of "radical uncertainty" -- ignorance about the future that can't be quantified by probabilities, so that there is no such thing as optimizing behavior.

People cope with this uncertainty by settling on "narratives" that are conventionally accepted at any given moment, but can suddenly change. And he urges economists to turn away from supply-and-demand-type analysis, which he calls the economics of "stuff" -- as in markets for prosaic physical goods - in favor of the economics of "stuff happens." 

Sometimes I think Trump makes decisions based on "stuff" where as Janet Yellen (and her predecessors) make decisions based on "stuff happens."

On another note, the most important concept that political junkies (including me), need to understand: "narratives." What they are, how they are used, how to maximize their effect. 

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The Political Page

November 20, 2016, T+12: the president-elect met with Mitt Romney over the weekend. The facts suggest that Mitt Romney would not be a good fit for the Trump team; the tea leaves suggest they both know that.

By the way, for those (including myself) who raised questions about Trump's alignment (as it were) with the Reagan Republican party, his first appointments practically shout that he is well aligned with Reagan Republicans. Trump has populated the three or four most critical posts with what some call hardliners.

The rest of the appointments are of interest, but none, not even the Secretary of Defense, carry the weight of those positions already appointed, at least one of which does not require Senate confirmation. Some have argued that Secretary of the Treasury is important; perhaps. Quick, no googling: what's the first name of the current SecTreasury? That's what I thought. How important is the treasurer of any organization to which you've belonged? That's what I thought.

He has already released his short list from which he will select his Supreme Court nominee.

November 20, 2016: From "What James Comey Did," in The New York Review of Books. It begins:

Whatever else one might say about the just-concluded 2016 presidential election, one thing is certain: FBI Director James Comey played an outsized and exceptionally inappropriate part. 

I agree that James Comey "played ... a ... part" in the 2016 presidential election but it was not "outsized." He was, of course, "exceptionally inappropriate." Among the FBI agents, he was apparently the only one who, with eyes wide shut, was unable to see the conspiracy to obstruct justice, the conspiracy to evade national security rules and regulations. Had he played his role correctly, Hillary would be facing felony charges. Only those with their eyes wide shut can't see that.

David Cole, the writer of the linked article, is obviously a legal scholar to be able to note the fine points involving Comey. He must have had eyes wide shut when observing the meeting between Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch on the tarmac. Wow. At the end of the day, books will be written about the Comey Comedy but the only footnote about this whole affair worth reading is the conspiracy to obstruct justice with that tarmac talk. 

Speaking of comedies:

California Is Still Counting Votes -- November 20, 2016

It goes without saying that this is just one more reason why switching from the "electoral college" to the "popular vote" will never happen in the US: many states are still counting their votes. Results may not be known in one state for at least a year due to allegations of fraud at a very high level. Be that as it may, California is still counting votes. From the Los Angeles Times article:

In an era when there’s almost nothing that can’t be found out quickly, the long wait for final results from an election in California feels interminable. And yet, there’s a pretty simple reason why it takes so long to count all the votes.

California is not just home to more voters than any other state in the U.S. But it also has more election laws designed to maximize a voter’s chances of casting a ballot.

Go to the article to find all the reasons why California takes so long to count its votes, but this one is easy to understand:

• 52% of all California voters now vote via "permanent absentee voting"
• the ballots must be postmarked by election day to be counted
• ballots will be accepted up to three days late as long as the postmark is by election day

The article is chock-full of other reasons by the California vote is still being counted.

As I've said earlier, the trope that has now become a meme -- that Hillary won the popular vote -- that has not yet been certified. And even if she did, it must be remembered that Trump did not compete in California.

And 52% of Californians now "permanently" self-identify as being absent on election day. Election day might be a great day to visit Disneyland, the beaches, and the national parks. No one would be home.

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A Note To The Granddaughters

Between 2002 and 2007, I was "deployed" to northern England by the USAF on many, many occasions. I was stationed at RAF Menwith Hill Station. It was not far from Harrogate. I traveled the area by train, frequently, but not enough. I remember my favorite trip: Harrogate to Leeds:

The average journey time between Harrogate and Leeds is 37 minutes. The fastest journey time is 37 minutes. On an average weekday, there are 48 trains per day travelling from Harrogate to Leeds.

This link may lead you to some photos. If I had all them money in the world, I would have a small flat in Harrogate.

North Dakota Is Home To First Mosque In The United States -- November 20, 2016

This past week, our 10-year-old granddaughter participated in a "Heritage Day" event at her school in which students explored their heritage, a project that will occupy their time for the next week or so. Parents were invited to be part of this particular day in which the students placed as many items that  they could fit into a large "shoe box." Then for two hours, the students (and parents) would study the contents of at least four boxes to a) attempt to identify the student to which the items belonged; and, b) the history of that particular family.

Unrelated, but that event and the note I received earlier today from a reader, caused me to look again at a link I've had at the site for years. The link is at the bottom of the sidebar. I noted that the link took one to the original article but not to a MDW post.

I needed to make a comment regarding that article from Voice of America.

First of all, I was alerted to the migration pattern of the Syrian-Lebanese by a woman of Syrian descent who I had met about fourteen years ago. I was always intrigued.

Subsequently I stumbled across Prairie Peddlers: The Syrian-Lebanese in North Dakota, William C. Sherman, Paul L. Whitney, and John Guerrero, c. 2002. Chuck Wilder at Books on Broadway in Williston, ND, always keeps this book in stock (a great, great Christmas gift).

Back to the linked article. There is a typographical error in the article. The article mentioned "Rapid City, Iowa" in the last couple of paragraphs. In fact, the city is Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The woman who alerted me to the migration patterns of Syrians in the US back in 2002 was from Cedar Rapids.

Just think, when visiting North Dakota, President Obama could have taken a helicopter ride for a photo op of that mosque and with the Bakken in the background.