Another Anti-ICE Non-Story -- Definitely Not The Bakken -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49781ICE. 

A reader alerted me to a news story that I missed -- so, to Google Gemini, to fact-check:

AI prompt: apparently there's a directive that's been signed that tells ICE agents they are allowed to enter a private residence without a warrant if their purpose is to arrest an illegal immigrant. First, is that true, that such a directive has been issued, and if so, under whose authoritity? What is the constitutional argument supporting that directive? 

Google Gemini reply: 

One can discuss the pros and cons, the ifs and buts, until the cows come home, but again, like so much that happens in Washington, DC, and is reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post, this, too, is a non-story. 

At worse, if you are a legal resident:

• there will be a knock on the door, during daylight hours (in most cases);
• you will go to the door and graciously invite your guests in for a cup of tea; and,
• then everyone will go back to what they were doing before that knock on the door. 

I recall that during the Revolutionary War, George Washington and his troops pretty much slept wherever they wanted.

We've come a long way. 

Two New Permits; Seven Permits Renewed -- Jauary 21, 2026

Locator: 49780B. 

HEB: San Antonio-based H-E-B was ranked the No. 1 grocery retailer in the U.S. for the fifth time in nine years,

 
Pet peeve: I'm getting tired of bankers like Jamie Dimon telling us a cap on credit card rates for one year would be economic disaster. It makes me wonder why Dimon, et al, haven't tried to raise credit card interest rates to 100% if such credit card interest rates are so good for borrowers. The number for tree huggers is net zero and 2°C; the number for bankers, apparently, is 24%. The Federal Reserve led by Jay Powell appears to still be looking for "their" number. 

Intel: earnings announcement scheduled for 5:00 p.m. ET tomorrow, after market closes.  

Siri: to become an AI chatbot. 

SEC: a lot of folks want the US government to get rid of the SEC. Trump, apparently is already doing that -- enforcement cases by "Trump's SEC" has dropped to record lows. Maybe if the anti-ICE folks weren't distracting the administration so much, other branches could do more, like the SEC and the IRS. LOL. I can guarantee you the American business community doesn't mind, nor the billionaires.

ChatGPT: is now using "age prediction" to restrict what minors see / read. 

Venezuela: US refiners are taking advantage of Venezuelan heavy oil. I never would have understood this had I not been blogging since 2007. 

Transformative: regardless of the price of Venezuela oil, more heavy oil means more runs. There has not been a more transformative president since FDR; before him Lincoln; before him Washington. But clearly Trump is doing it his way, and instead of reacting to events (like the other three) he is initiating events! Absolutely audacious. It is beyond amazing that he happened to be president during America's semiquincentennial! 

Greenland: apparently Trump will buy some parts of Greenland this year. If not this year, soon. Trump is taking advantage of the Mercator map. IYKYK. Source: NYT via x. The Times must be going nuts. But seriously, this is the big deal. This provides Taiwan and mainland China a civilized way of resolving differences. 

Trump's market: $700 billion was added to US stock market today -- market value. Link here. I think that is well beyond what the GOAT (Warren Buffett) ever did. We are truly going to miss President Trump when he's out of office. The political theater alone is priceless.

Jamie Dimon: major anxiety -- says a 10% cap on credit cards would be an economic disaster. For him. 

Intel: is just incredible. I am really, really happy for small, mom-and-pop retail investors. It's been an incredible run. This is absolutely the most fascinating company right now. Earnings to be reported tomorrow. This stock is popping at 10% on some days, including today. Disclosure: I own no shares in Intel. I am adequately "weighted" in tech stocks and am simply adding to existing positions. If I add a new tech position, it won't be a "chip" stock.

AI: tech CEOs at Davos sound more bullish than ever. Here's what Barron's had to say, link here. 

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Back to the Bakken

WTI: $60.50.

Active rigs: 27.

Two new permits, #42657 and #31658:

• Operator: KODA Resources
• Fields: Grenora and Hanks, Divide County;
• Comments:
• KODA Resources has permits for two Amber permits, SESE 36-160-103, 
• to be sited 475 FSL and 457 / 492 FEL.

Seven permits renewed:

• Enerplus (6): Sleeper, Pin, Chef, MHA Split, MHA Duckpin, and MHA Trophy; Heart Butte oil field, Dunn County;
• Oasis: Lars, Cottonwood oil field, Mountrail.

USAF Cloud One -- An Update -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49779USAF. 

Time to do some USAF Cloud One research. 

Link here. 

Website here. 

Did SecDef Pete Hegseth cancel this program? According to Google Gemini:

Yes, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth canceled the Air Force'sCloud One Next

resale contract in April 2025 as part of broader cuts to IT and consulting spending, stating it would save the DoD $1.4 billion by shifting to in-house services, though some question the true cost savings.

There may be a confusion with names, further search revealed this:

Cloud One Next (C1N) ishe U.S. Air Force's initiative to modernize its enterprise cloud environment

, evolving from the original Cloud One, by creating a standardized "cloud landing zone" with common services, tools, and security (like Zero Trust) to help mission owners migrate data and applications from on-premise data centers to various cloud providers. This multi-award contract program, with winners like Accenture and Leidos, focuses on architecture, application modernization, migration, and managing cloud services, aiming for a more automated, secure, and efficient IT infrastructure.

My hunch: this program isn't going anywhere. It may get a new name and the funding my come via different routes, but the program itself is unlikely to die. Unless Pete Hegseth wants to give the entire program to Microsoft or Palantir or some other publicly-traded company. 

I have not dog in this fight. This is simply for the archives.

However, having said that, I have no trouble with Hegseth canceling a program. It will require folks to justify the program and re-start it if necessary. In my 30+ years in the USAF, many of those years at headquarters level -- I saw a lot of programs that needed ot be canceled. Most were not. 

Wow, Let's See Where This Goes -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49778OH-OH. 

Best video of the day -- perhaps the year! Holy mackerel. Some youngster won't be on CNN much longer unless CNN wants to have a legal debacle on its hands.

Link here. My hunch: a lot of folks are going to download this entire video so that the video doesn't somehow inexplicably disappears. The video won't delete itself. LOL. 

[He] "said that by accident and didn't mean it." Wow.

 

Random Thoughts While Waiting For The Storm Of The Century To Hit Texas -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49777ANTICIPATION. 

Preparation: got out the deer / venison sausage, defrosting it now, for "venison-burgers" this weekend. A friend of the family supplies us with a bit of deer meat each season. 

Weather: it's a beautiful and balmy day here in north Texas, today. It's a slightly cloudy at 63°F right now; the forecast: 64°F and it stays like this until Friday afternoon (two days from now). By Monday we're back to 40. The daytime high is in the 20's and 30's on the weekend, though it could be slightly cooler for the high.  

Inflation: the high cost of eating out has made even "specialty" items from the local grocer look affordable now. I used to stay away from the deli -- too expensive. But now I can buy maybe 30 slices of salami for sandwiches that will make / last a dozen sandwiches, total about $8. I used to think $8 was way too expensive. Last week my wife and I had Japanese soup -- ramen -- $25 each -- the proprietor gave us the hot tea free. The bill was $50+ and then we gave a $20 tip.

Today, I had two salami sandwiches -- think "subway" -- probably cost all of $2.00 all in.

Davos: I see Jamie Dimon is speaking at Davos now. Does anyone care? Is anyone listening? Trump just spoke and the US tech sector surged. At least the three stocks I was looking at surged: Intel, AMD, MU.

Master negotiator: Trump won't impose tariffs on EU, Denmark. Says he has a framework for Greenland. truly amazing. Brilliant negotiator.  

Trans-Regional-United-Maritime-Plan: framework for Greenland, Iceland, Prince Edward Island (Nova Scotia), Svalbard to become part of NATO. NATO will now be called TRUMP-NATO and will be governed by a Danish Dance Team headed up by Marco Rubio. Norway is reconsidering that Nobel Peace Prize debacle. Norway has agreed to a re-count asked for by Ms Pam Bondi. Trump says he no longer cares that he already has a Nobel Peace Price (he donated the monetary piece of the award to that Venezuelan politico. 

Investing: I marvel at the number of folks who are concerned whether they are getting 4% or 5% on bonds, annual return.

And then I go to Micron, 250% appreciation in six months.

Likewise, Buffett is still considered the GOAT by many; BRK-B may have made 8% last year. In the past six months, BRK-B has "made" 2%; in the last full year, 3.3%. 

It was an open-book test: in that same period, one fully year, Micron has made 257% and paid a small dividend. Again, BRK made 3.3%. And paid no dividend. 

 SCCO: is having a bad day today. Down 2.5%. 

For the full year, SCCO is up 91%. And pays a dividend well above 2% for those who have been in the stock for awhile. A year ago, the share price we $95. SCCO was paying an annual dividend of $2.80 ($2.80 / $95 = 3%. 

Literary buffs: fascinating site -- link here. 

AMD: might as well check in, for the archives. Appreciated 60% in six months; for one full year, 105%. 

Intel: p/e today 5,082. Earnings tomorrow.  

Is this important? Link here. And this isn't even memory! But this drives memory demand. Is Larry Ellison looking brilliant just about now? I don't know.

Trump's administration: is it the best ever? Each of us has our favorites; each of us has our least favorites. But as a team, absolutely amazing.  

Off the net -- some recreational reading.  

The Prisoner's Dilemma -- Shay -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49776TIMING. 

Link here. 

Ticker Of The Day -- Micron -- Hasn't Missed A Beat -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49775MU. 

Today:

Last six months, comparison with Wall Street's darling:

Hump Day -- The Market Pivots -- Again -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49774B. 

WTI: $60.67.

New wells reporting:

• Thursday, January 22, 2026: 34 for the month, 34 for the quarter, 34 for the year, 
• None.
• Wednesday, January 21, 2026: 34 for the month, 34 for the quarter, 34 for the year,
• 41292, conf, Hess, GO-Morgan-156-97-1806H-3, 

RBN Energy: Mexico's planned gas-fired plants, LNG export capacity driving pipeline projects. Link here. Archived.

Mexico’s still-rising demand for U.S.-sourced natural gas — and new pipelines to deliver it — has been driven almost entirely by the buildout of new gas-fired power plants south of the border. Now, the state-owned Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) is planning another tranche of generating capacity and private-sector companies are developing LNG export capacity, spurring a new round of gas demand and pipeline needs. In today’s RBN blog, we conclude our look at the non-state midstreamers that own and operate gas pipelines in Mexico and discuss the incremental gas demand that may bring them new opportunities.

n Part 1, we noted that U.S. gas exports to Mexico have been rising steadily as new gas pipelines and gas-fired plants come online and that two successive presidential administrations in Mexico have seen the value of having the private sector play a major role in pipeline development — as long as state-owned Cenagas and CFE take the lead in pipeline planning. We also started a review of the leading private-sector companies involved in building new pipelines in Mexico with a look at TC Energy, which owns and operates eight large pipelines there. In Part 2, we reviewed the pipelines and projects of three other companies: Esentia Energy, Grupo Carso and Engie SA.

Today, we’ll look at Sempra Infrastructure and Grupo CLISA, and also discuss the drivers of what will likely be another round of gas pipeline development in Mexico.

Sempra Infrastructure

Sempra Infrastructure develops, owns and operates natural gas pipelines, LNG export terminals and other energy-related infrastructure in the U.S. and Mexico. Sempra Infrastructure is currently 70%-owned by Sempra Energy, the California-based utility giant, with KKR owning a 20% stake and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) owning the remaining 10%. In September 2025, Sempra reached an agreement to sell a 45% stake in the infrastructure company to KKR and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for $10 billion in cash. That deal, which is expected to close in either Q2 or Q3 2026, will result in the KKR/CPPIB consortium owning 65% of Sempra Infrastructure, with Sempra holding 25% and ADIA holding 10%.

Sempra -- RBN Energy -- January 21, 2026

Locator: 49773SRE. 

RBN Energy: Mexico's planned gas-fired plants, LNG export capacity driving pipeline projects. Link here. Archived.

Mexico’s still-rising demand for U.S.-sourced natural gas — and new pipelines to deliver it — has been driven almost entirely by the buildout of new gas-fired power plants south of the border. Now, the state-owned Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) is planning another tranche of generating capacity and private-sector companies are developing LNG export capacity, spurring a new round of gas demand and pipeline needs. In today’s RBN blog, we conclude our look at the non-state midstreamers that own and operate gas pipelines in Mexico and discuss the incremental gas demand that may bring them new opportunities.

n Part 1, we noted that U.S. gas exports to Mexico have been rising steadily as new gas pipelines and gas-fired plants come online and that two successive presidential administrations in Mexico have seen the value of having the private sector play a major role in pipeline development — as long as state-owned Cenagas and CFE take the lead in pipeline planning. We also started a review of the leading private-sector companies involved in building new pipelines in Mexico with a look at TC Energy, which owns and operates eight large pipelines there. In Part 2, we reviewed the pipelines and projects of three other companies: Esentia Energy, Grupo Carso and Engie SA.

Today, we’ll look at Sempra Infrastructure and Grupo CLISA, and also discuss the drivers of what will likely be another round of gas pipeline development in Mexico.

Sempra Infrastructure

Sempra Infrastructure develops, owns and operates natural gas pipelines, LNG export terminals and other energy-related infrastructure in the U.S. and Mexico. Sempra Infrastructure is currently 70%-owned by Sempra Energy, the California-based utility giant, with KKR owning a 20% stake and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) owning the remaining 10%. In September 2025, Sempra reached an agreement to sell a 45% stake in the infrastructure company to KKR and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) for $10 billion in cash. That deal, which is expected to close in either Q2 or Q3 2026, will result in the KKR/CPPIB consortium owning 65% of Sempra Infrastructure, with Sempra holding 25% and ADIA holding 10%.

Intel — January 21, 2026

Locator: 49772INTEL. 

Link here.

Link here.

Link here. Absolutely unable to sort this out.

Link here.

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The Prisoner's Dilemma
 

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Today

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