Locator: 49876LITERTURE.
Locator: 49876SPANISHFLU.
Saturday, January 10, 2026
MAGA -- Jobs -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49875JOBS.
Posted Earlier
Locator: 49858JOBS.
Jobs report: the general tone of analysts regarding the jobs report yesterday -- generally downbeat, dismal, dark -- only 50,000 new jobs vs the 75,000 estimated. What was not said or done, any analysis.
Here's the answer: foreign-born hires are declining.
2024 -- under Joe Biden:
- https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1842746881190838640
- https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1832036524675785085
2025 -- under Donald Trump:
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Word (Phrase) Of The Day
Going down a rabbit hole, I came across "intellectual menopause."
Long, long story. No time tonight to discuss it further.
Satellites -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49874STARLINK.
Starlink is a Texas story.
I don't know if I have one blog that tracks Starling / SpaceX but this is as good a link as any.
Starlink is destined to become the world's number one telecommunications operator.
NFL Playoffs -- Opening Weekend -- Wildcard Weekend -- Saturday -- NFC -- Sunday -- AFC -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49873NFL.
Saturday, first game: LA Rams almost blew this one -- looking surprisingly good early on, should have won this game handily; in the end, the Panthers almost won. #5 beats #4. NFC.
- #4: Panthers -- 31
- #5: LA Rams -- 34
Saturday, night game, exclusively on Amazon Prime, -- early in the third quarter it looks like #7 may take out #2. This may be the (one of the) biggest rivalries of the playoffs. Midway through the 4th quarter, Green Bay looks like they could win this one. Nope, Chicago keeps coming back. Chicago wins.
- #2: Chicago Bears -- 31
- #7: Green Bay Packers -- 27
Sunday, three games.
Monday, one game.
Molten Lava Erupts From An Oil Wellhead Outside Casper, Wyoming -- Facebook -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49872LAVA.
From Facebook, sent to me by a reader, thank you very much. First the photo:
Then the narrative:
Wyoming Oil Well Lava Incident Downgraded From “Geological Anomaly” to “Probably Fine”
CASPER, WY - One day after molten lava erupted from an oil wellhead outside Casper, state and federal officials have officially downgraded the incident from a “once in a lifetime geological event” to “probably fine,” clearing the site for limited operations and cautiously reopening high school earth science textbooks.
The hardened lava, now resembling a glossy black ring of volcanic rock encasing the wellhead, has been tentatively labeled “industrial basalt” by a joint team of geologists, petroleum engineers, and one guy who “used to watch a lot of Discovery Channel.”
“We’ve determined that while this looks exactly like lava, glows like lava, and melted a $40,000 valve like lava, it is technically not something we’re prepared to panic about,” said a spokesperson while standing an unsafe distance away from the site.
Crews reported that overnight temperatures caused the material to crack and steam, briefly reigniting concern among workers who were told to “ignore it unless it starts chanting.”
“Management says if it bubbles again, just radio it in,” said one employee. “Same as oil. Or gas. Or… magma, I guess.”
The Wyoming Geological Survey confirmed that the state still does not have volcanoes, adding that Wyoming does, however, have “a long history of finding things underground that absolutely do not belong there.”
Rumors briefly circulated that the site would be converted into Wyoming’s first geothermal oil-lava hybrid operation, but officials clarified that no plans exist to monetize magma “at this time.”
Meanwhile, the cooled formation has already attracted interest from souvenir hunters, amateur geologists, and at least one local claiming it would “look real nice by the fire pit.”
As operations slowly resume, workers say they’ve made peace with the situation.
“I guess when you drill miles into the Earth, sometimes the Earth drills back,” one crew member said, shrugging. “Just glad it wasn’t dinosaurs.”
Officials reiterated that there is no danger to the public and encouraged residents to remain calm unless additional elements such as ash clouds, tremors, or a fire-breathing mountain appear.
Sushi -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49871SUSHI.
Welcome to my life. Sophia only likes the most expensive salmon. LOL.
We might come back to this article later, link here.
More And More, The "Data" Suggests Trump Has Come To The Same Conclusion Others Reached Years Ago -- In Almost Every "Sector," Western Europe (NATO) Is A Bigger Impediment To America's Future Than Russia -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49870EU.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. That is all.
Would the US be better off without NATO?
"Flu Epidemic" Takes Awesome Reversal -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49869FLU.
I guess President Trump had a "come-to-Jesus" meeting with the "season flu gods" and the latter has agreed to reverse the "flu" trend.
Link here. Data for week 53, ending January 3, 2026. Every chart below shows a stunning reversal.
The map looks better than last week:
Laboratory-confirmed influenza hospitalizations, huge reversal:
How The US Helicopters Walked In The "Front Door" -- Venezuela -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49868VENEZUELA.
Question: how did the helicopters escape complete detection? Why did the Venezuela Air Force not launch; why did Venezuela defense seem so ineffective? Below, videos numbered in the way I found them.
Link here: #5. Adds more granularity after viewing #2 and #4. The video from inside the cockpits was amazing.
Link here: #4. This is probably the best one so far. It sheds more light on those US Navy attacks on "drug boats."
Link here: #3. Amazing. The narrative is okay, but has nothing to do with the video. I can't recommend this video. Start with #2. However, it does add some detail that one might miss by just watching #2.
Link here: #2. Amazing. This is the best one; one can't understand #3 without seeing #2 first.
This is why YouTube is #1. See below the fold.
Link here. #1.
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The Fold
US Online Retail Calendar Year 2025 -- Posted January 10, 2026
Locator: 49867RETAIL.
Two sources suggest, total US retail sales, calendar years:
- 2025: $5.45 trillion ($5 trillion 450 billion)
- online $257.9 billion 4.7%)
- 2020: $5.64 trillion ($5 trillion 640 billion)
- online: $791.70 billion (14% of total)
Somehow the numbers don't make sense.
- Adobe calls 2025 a record with $257.8 billion on line, whereas other data from 2020 shows $791.70 billion that year (2020) online
- in addition, total retail sales in 2025 actually less than five years ago when folks were staying home?
I'll watch for future data points or recheck the data points already available.
How did 2025 compare to 2024:
Back in 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic:
Killdeer High School -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49866B.
New high school in Killdeer, ND -- opened last fall, 2025.
Funding:
- $34 million bond helped with the new school.
- A county grant also gave them $8.5 million for the project.
- The city helped with streetlights and sidewalks.
WTI -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49865WTI.
Question: on the margin, what is the #1 driver for the price of oil? All things being equal, the marginal price of oil (reflected in daily / weekly / monthly changes in price of Brent / WTI) is China's imports. From where was it alleged that China was getting a lot of its oil; and if not necessarily now, in the future? Answer: Venezuela. So, if the Chinese have lost access to Venezuelan oil what does that mean for global price of oil?
On another note: someone is reading the blog. Every time I point something out, hours later, someone posts that note on x. Exhibit A, link here, this was "discovered" about an hour after my initial post:
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Price Of Oil
WTI: huge jump at end of week. Now at $59.12.
Two major events right now:
Venezuela:
- short term:
- huge amounts of Venezuelan heavy oil being re-directed to US
- heavy oil makes up very small proportion of US oil requirements
- huge advantage for some US refiners
- Venezuelan heavy oil will simply displace Canadian heavy oil
- all things being equal will have little effect on price of oil / gasoline in US (short-term)
- pressure from Trump
- with price of oil where it is, and headed lower, there's no way US companies are going to commit billions of dollars to Venezuela -- no matter how much pressure they get from the president
- and the president has said he wants the price of oil be lower -- thus making it even more unlikely that US oil companies would commit billions to Venezuela
- right now, there's already talk that US oil companies may have to decrease their dividends
- long-term (10+ years)
- could make a difference for Venezuela
- will make little difference for rest of the world
- "wrong" kind of oil
- more than enough oil in more politically stable countries
- Saudi Arabia effect:
- Saudi Arabia will do what it can to prevent Venezuela from upsetting the apple car
- Saudi Arabia can export five grades of oil, from heavy to light, depending on demand
- right now, demand is for light oil and that represents the majority of Saudi export oil
- some oil companies could benefit but the golden era of oil is over
Iran:
- exports a lot of natural gas
- exports less than two million bopd
Lesser issues:
- Guyana: probably less concern now about Venezuela's intentions;
- Permian: different type of oil entirely;
- Russia: could be negatively impacted - but again 10+ years from now
- China: will need to look for other sources of oil --- which could provide floor for price of oil
Four Texas-Related Stories -- Videos -- Facebook -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49864TEXAS.
Ten richest cities in Texas: link here.
High 5: Dallas. Link here. The only way to get the full impact of this video is to maximize it to full screen.
DFW: link here. Also, the only way to get the full impact of this video is to maximize it to full screen.
And, yes, Starlink is a Texas story.
I don't know if I have one blog that tracks Starling / SpaceX but this is as good a link as any.
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Four US Cities That Have Lost Their Mojo
The cities:
- Chicago
- Las Vegas
- Nashville
- Boston
I disagree wholeheartedly. It depends on why one visits these cities in the first place. If I had all the money in the world, I would visit these cities regularly.
Amazing The Training The US Coast Guard And The US Navy Are Getting Under SecDef Hegseth -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49863USCOASTGUARD.
At least five foreign-flagged oil tankers boarded on the open seas.
Most (all?) of them are headed to US ports to off-load their oil or returning to Venezuela. China won't be getting the oil.
Intel -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49860INTEL.
I wonder how folks would feel if Joe Biden had announced a 10% stake in Intel and then met with the Intel CEO periodically and included a photo op with selected quotes from the private transcript.
And let's say, to complete the picture, that Hunter was also in attendance.
Of course the meeting would have been couched in "national security" concerns: the US needs a US-based foundry to offset TSMC.
TSMC -- Jauary 10, 2026
Locator: 49859TSMC.
An aside before I get started.
When these numbers were released on x yesterday, a reader replied that the numbers were fake because TSMC hasn't reported earnings yet; TSMC reports earnings next week.
It took a simple query to answer that question:
TSMC hasn't released its official earnings report yet, but it has released its monthly sales report from which earnings data can be gleaned.
Links:
Shay, link here:
Yahoo!Finance: nice report.
From Google Gemini:
TSMC did not report its full quarterly earnings this past week, but it did release its crucial monthly revenue data which gave the market a strong indication of its performance.
The full fourth-quarter earnings conference and call are scheduled for January 15, 2026.
On Friday, January 9, 2026, TSMC announced its fourth-quarter revenue reached approximately $33.1 billion, a 20.45% increase from the year-ago period, beating market forecasts. This strong performance was driven by surging demand for chips used in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
Futurum Equities: from x. See the social media thread. Helps with context:
Why The Jobs Report Came In Light Yesterday -- January 10, 2026
Locator: 49858JOBS.
Jobs report: the general tone of analysts regarding the jobs report yesterday -- generally downbeat, dismal, dark -- only 50,000 new jobs vs the 75,000 estimated. What was not said or done, any analysis.
Here's the answer: foreign-born hires are declining.
2024 -- under Joe Biden:
- https://x.com/fentasyl/status/1842746881190838640
- https://x.com/RealEJAntoni/status/1832036524675785085
2025 -- under Donald Trump:
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