The Kraken Bigfoot wells. The Liberty Pipeline project. The Outrigger - XOM deal near Williston.
The market.
The Mideast.
Schwab-Ameritrade deal. It will be a year for that to close, I suppose.
Apple. Or should we say AAPL?
I can't go on anymore tonight. I'm truly mentally (and physically) exhausted. Of course, some of the physical exhaustion comes from Uber-driving. It's been one-heck of a week.
Futures mean squat, but right now, 8:28 p.m. CT, Thursday night, January 9, 2020, the Dow's implied open is up another 60 points.
Trump is having another incredible rally.
Pelosi, with regard to the articles of impeachment, is in uncharted territory. Imagine if the US House voted to impeach the Republican president but the Speaker of the House was a Republican and a friend of the president who refused to send the articles of impeachment to a US Senate with a super majority of Democrats. Let's say the Republican president was clearly insane but the Speaker of the House, perhaps also a bit insane and a huge friend of the president, refused to send the Articles of Impeachment up to the Senate. Everyone in America clamoring for the Articles to be sent up to the US Senate and the Speaker of the US House refuses to do that. The Founding Fathers completely missed that scenario, it appears. They did not set time limits (sunset "law") with regard to sending Articles of Impeachment up to the US Senate. And no, the US House couldn't vote to impeach the speaker if the speaker did not put it on the agenda. Now, that would be a constitutional crisis.
Because of the current set of circumstances, no one really cares, and as time goes by, folks care even less. It's not a constitutional crisis because no one cares.
I assume that Pelosi has the pulse on Ruth's medical condition (pun intended). If a Supreme Court position were to come open tonight, I can guarantee the Articles of Impeachment would be on Mitch McConnell's desk in a Schumeresque New York minute. The Articles of Impeachment take precedent over everything else.
So, I don't know what is taking the bigger toll on me. I honestly don't think it's the shenanigans in DC. I think it's the market -- I'm naturally acrophobic -- that exhausts me and perhaps all the news that keeps coming out of the Bakken. I would like to stop blogging for 48 hours to rest, but if I quit for even 24 hours it seems to take forever to catch up.
I don't really know that much about the Bakken except at a very, very superficial level. When I say I don't really know that much about the Bakken, I'm talking about the investment angle. That's why I try to remind folks daily that this is not an investment site. I'm interested in the science of the Bakken and the confluence of politicians, regulators, surface owners, mom-and-pop mineral owners, operators, etc., that somehow make the Bakken work. I'm not interested in the investment angle, but following the money is an important component of understanding the Bakken.
The Uber-driving was worse than usual. They are re-surfacing the main thoroughfare through Southlake -- a six-lane divided boulevard, and lane closures often push it to one lane in each direction. Alternate routes are impossible, mostly because of "urban planning" that minimized through-traffic through residential neighborhoods. Had it not been for this "urban planning" there would have been multiple alternate routes.
The highlight of my day is the time I spend with Sophia. Tonight, pitch black outside and she wanted to ride her scooter. No one else in the world would even think of entertaining that ridiculous request, to go scootering in a busy apartment complex parking lot that is poorly lit and pitch black outside. But we put on her helmet; put on reflective tape on her arms and legs, and then I got on my bicycle and rode alongside her as she dodged in and out of parked cars and folks coming home from work.
She did two trips around the complex and then, on her own, said she was done. I knew it would not last long. It was easier to go through the process than argue with her for twenty minutes why we shouldn't be doing it.
A lot of times, it's all about control. And in this case, Sophia felt in control .... she wanted to ride her scooter and whether she was allowed to or not depended upon who was going to be in control: a responsible adult (that should have been me) or a crazy five-year-old (that would have been Sophia). So, Sophia got to control the situation but after a couple quick trips she had filled that square and ready to go back in the house.
Okay, enough of this. When I close the laptop I won't see e-mail or comments. Replying to either will have to wait until tomorrow. Typographical and content errors will have to wait.
Good luck to all.
