North Dakota Governor Gives The "All Clear" Sign -- January 15, 2021

All clear! Governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum will lift the state's mask mandate and business capacity limits effective January 18 2021. Stories everywhere. 

Military parade: This is pretty funny: due to Covid-19 and the excitement Sleepy Joe arouses, the president's inauguration team was concerned no one would show up for President Biden's inauguration. Even President Trump had said he would not attend. So, what to do? This is easy: mandate the US military to show up in force. Remember the military parade Trump always wanted and never got? Biden will get his military parade the day he's sworn into office. National guardspeople from every state will show up for the inauguration. North Dakota is sending 130 national guardspeople. LOL. We did this all the time when I was on active duty. When someone "of importance" was scheduled to visit the base and the commander was concerned no one would show up, the commander mandated (ordered) all personnel to attend. And there were often parades. I can't make this stuff up.

Maybe it won't be so bad. The Bismarck Tribune is now reporting that crude oil production is expected to drop "a little this winter, then stabilize upon spring's arrival and possibly inch upward toward the end of 2021." Weren't we told just a week ago or so, that the state was in deep trouble with crude oil production due to the change in the administration?

Hunting for oil. Holy mackerel! Now "Japan is hunting for oil" to meet "robust" power demand amid faltering LNG stocks. Reported by Platts. This is just like New England in the US. I always thought Japan was better prepared, more pragmatic when it came to energy. Oh, that's right: Kyoto. Or spelled backwards: Tokyo.

Fuel oil. In Japan, low sulfur fuel oil commands strong premium.

Okay, well this was huge. This is pretty funny: an estimated 1,000 fast-food workers across the United States went on strike Friday over low wages, staging protests in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. President Biden will fix that: the minimum wage will be raised but fast food restaurants will cut staff to pay for the increased wages. I was just checking my old history book: I was unaware that Martin Luther King, Jr., was so focused on the wages of fast food restaurant workers, but there it is.  Maybe the players will kneel before kick-off this weekend in support of the minimum wage, the protest du jour.

The Bismarck Tribune. To see the names of the twenty people in your state who protested yesterday, see page 3.

1,000. By the way, think about that: 1,000. That's what The Bismarck Tribune reported: "An estimated 1,000 fast-foot workers across the United States ...." Do you know what 1,000 people spread across the United States looks like. Fifty seven states -- less than twenty people from each state. Give me a break. "An estimated 1,000 people...." Either that's a huge typo or it was a  really, really slow news day.


The Suez is back! Sea-going tankers now clearly prefer transit from the US to Asia via the Suez Canal, and not, the Cape of Good Hope. Quick! Pop quiz: where's the Cape of Good Hope?

• 
tip of South America
• 
tip of South Africa
• 
tip of Bob Hope's nose
• 
tip of Tip O'Neill's nose

• wherever that US naval hospital is anchored (by the way, has that hospital ship been re-deployed to California where it seems to be desperately needed?
  

Transfer of wealth. The city's first Ferrari dealership soon to open in Caracas, Venezuela. Hopefully these will be EVs.