Another Malaysian Plane Down -- 298 On Board -- Shot Down Over The Ukraine; Doesn't Faze President Obama; Israel Launches Ground Invasion -- July 17, 2014

Updates

Later, 2:07 p.m. PDT: anyone wondering how detached President Obama is? This pretty much sums it up. The Daily Mail is reporting:

Barack Obama provoked fury in the U.S. by casually devoting mere moments to the deaths of 295 people (including 23 Americans) aboard a Malaysian airliner on Thursday in Wilmington, Delaware, and then launching into jokes and his prepared remarks on the need to expand America's transportation infrastructure. Twenty-three Americans are feared dead after the jetliner crashed in eastern Ukraine. Obama declared that 'it looks like it may be a terrible tragedy, but not before enthusiastically declaring that 'it is wonderful to be back in Delaware.'

He just doesn't get it. Or his handlers don't.

By the way, this tweet went viral:

Obama, in sum: A plane crashed. It may be tragic. We're trying to see if US citizens were on board. Hey, great to be in Delaware!

The only major newspaper that did not post this story was The Boston Globe. The author of this tweet was a Boston reporter. I can only assume The Boston Globe editor is a "twit."

Original Post 

Link here.

A Ukrainian official said a passenger plane carrying 295 people was shot down Thursday over a town in the east of the country, and Malaysian Airlines tweeted that it lost contact with one of its flights over Ukrainian airspace.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at an altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher. A similar launcher was seen by Associated Press journalists near the eastern Ukrainian town of Snizhne earlier Thursday. The Buk missile system can fire missiles up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet).

Malaysia Airlines said on its Twitter feed that it "has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam. The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace. More details to follow."

This changes things.

CNN has a new airplane story to follow. Watch their ratings surge. Fox News also reporting.

One has to wonder to what extent this was predictable with the US stepping off the international stage. It might have happened regardless, but as the US steps off the international stage, the world starts to implode in small unconventional wars everywhere: Ukraine, Israel/Hamas, Iraq, Afghanistan. It's not that these trouble spots weren't going to continue to be trouble spots; rather, it seems it's all happening at one time, just as the US provides the vacuum for others to fill. 

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Israel Launches Ground Invasion

Supporting that thesis -- the mice will play when the cat's away: now that the US is off the international stage, Israel has free rein to do what it needs to do. With all attention focused on 300 passengers on a Malaysian Air plane brought down by a Russian-missile, Israel has pretty much dropped off the international radar scope. The timing of that downed Malaysian Air plane could not have come at a worse time for Hamas: a) the eyes of the world are on the Ukraine; and, b) the president is out golfing. The Jerusalem Post is reporting:

IDF ground forces began to move into the Gaza Strip on Thursday evening, the prime minister's office confirmed.  

The statement said that Operation Protective Edge, now in its 11th day, will continue until its goals are reached: restoring quiet for an extended period of time,and delivering a significant blow to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza.

Prior to the commencement of the ground invasion, the IDF launched a massive wave of combined air and artillery strikes on Thursday night.

Speaking of the president out golfing, the White House is in lockdown due to security finding an unattended package. Most likely Amazon delivered the president his new set of golf clubs via a drone.

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Poorest Timing For A Story

Two hours ago Kerry Sheridan posted this story: world is getting warmer, global climate report. Two hours ago:

• a Russian missile downs a Malaysia Air plane over the Ukraine killing 295 passengers
• Israel launches ground invasion into Gaza 

Has anyone noticed? The only international player not in the news today: North Korea.

The Towner County Leases

A reader thinks he has come up with the reason for the leases in Towner County, North Dakota (I agree).

Overseas, and on the East Cost of the US, there are a lot of investors looking to cash in on the Bakken. This is an opportunity for someone to buy up North Dakota leases at a very low price and re-sell them to these overseas and East Coast investors.

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The Road To New England

I was curious why residents in New England didn't seem particularly angered by the high rates they were paying for natural gas this past winter. This may be part of the answer (I don't know, just rambling). Bangor Daily News is reporting:

The problem was highlighted last winter, when heating needs spiked and resulted in a reduced amount of gas available to generate electricity. Competitive bidding in New England’s wholesale power market sets the following day’s price at the cost for the last bit of generation needed. With natural gas making up almost 50 percent of the region’s electricity generation, supply constraints drove up prices for industrial and commercial customers buying on the wholesale market.

Residential customers will see those prices reflected in their power rates later because the standard offer price set by regulators — and used by most buyers — uses a three-year average to insulate ratepayers from fluctuating prices.

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Putting The Bakken Into Perspective, Over In The North Sea

Reuters over at Rigzone is reporting:

U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. will cut about 225 jobs in its North Sea oil operations after reviewing its business in the region where high costs have undermined some field developments.

The second largest U.S. oil company will reduce by around one fifth its Aberdeen, Scotland-based oil and gas exploration operations headcount, it said in a statement to Reuters. The jobs will include contractors, employees, and expatriates. Chevron, like many of its peers, has been under heavy pressure from shareholders to cut spending after seeing disappointing earnings and plans to sell about $10 billion of assets in the next three years.

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Global Warming

"The sun has gone quiet -- weakest cycle in more than a century."

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Good Idea Gone Bad?

Out west, someone has solved the problem of the disappearing phone booth. ATT now leaves an iPhone in those old phone booths, and trusts that folks won't steal the iPhone. Our granddaughters tested this at the Grand Canyon.

A Solid (Un)Employment Report -- Everything Is Hunkey Dory: July 17, 2014

From Bloomberg:

Declines underway in jobless claim point squarely to improvement underway in the labor market. Initial claims fell 3,000 in the July 12 week to 302,000. The 4-week average is also down 3,000, to 309,000 which is a new recovery low.

Continuing claims, reported with a one-week lag, tell the same story. Continuing claims in data for the July 5 week fell 79,000 to a recovery low of 2.507 million. The 4-week average is down 13,000 to 2.559 million, also a recovery low. The unemployment rate for insured workers is down 1 tenth to a recovery low of 1.9 percent.

But this report is solid and will raise expectations for another strong employment report for July.

July 17, 2014: Almost 200 Active Rigs In North Dakota

Active rigs:

	7/17/2014	07/17/2013	07/17/2012	07/17/2011	07/17/2010
Active Rigs	196	189	209	178	132

RBN Energy: Update on NGL fractionation in the Utica/Marcellus.

There is no doubt about it: With its location, infrastructure and long history, Mont Belvieu, Texas, is and will remain the center of the NGL fractionation world. It is worth noting, though, that fast-increasing production in the “wet” Marcellus and Utica has been spurring development of a new NGL hub of sorts in southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia and eastern Ohio. But the fractionation sector in the Utica/Marcellus is an orange to Mont Belvieu’s apple—that is, the infrastructure needed to separate NGL into its various purity products is evolving in an entirely different (and, well, more “fractionated”) way near Houston, PA than it did near Houston, TX. Today we explain this and summarize new fractionation-related developments in the Utica/Marcellus.

WTI: I assume folks have watched the minor volatility in WTI crude oil -- down to $99 fairly quickly (from $106) and now back up to $102 fairly quickly. A reader suggested the reason a couple of days ago, and I'm inclined to agree. Contracts expired on / about the 14th of the month. Folks holding contracts in oil will get that physical oil -- it will show up somewhere. When oil was getting down to $99, it certainly suggests a lot of folks were unloading oil as fast as they could -- ohterwise they were going to see tankers of oil show up out their back yard, with a sleepy-eyed truck driver asking the speculator where he/she wanted the oil to be unloaded.

The Wall Street Journal

Top story: US escalates sanctions on Russia over Ukraine. I assume New Hampshire will still be allowed to import Russian coal. LOL.

Here we go: Arkansas (Medicaid) denies payment for very expensive cystic-fibrosis drug. 

Slush fund: states increasingly use funds from gas taxes to service debt and spending unrelated to roads and bridges.

Immigrant children fare better in US immigrant courts if they have an attorney. Well, duh.

Quick: which party holds the Senate? Just asking. I see the Senate failed to override the recent Supreme Court opinion on Hobby Lobby and ObamaCare. Talk is cheap.

Shortage of physicians. Missouri will allow medical school graduates to skip required training to become licensed as physicians; instead, these undocumented graduates will be allowed to work as physician assistants in rural Missouri. Memo to self: stay healthy traveling cross-country through Missouri.

Five-hour ceasefire agreed to by Israel to allow Hamas to reload and re-organize.

China's GDP grew to 7.5%, up from 7.4% the previous quarter, reassuring global investors all is right with the world.

As births slow, P&G turns to adult diapers.

Do tax breaks work? Tesla is looking again at building its "big" battery factory in California after the state promises new tax breaks AND regulation changes.

Congress dithers, Obama fumes, pharmaceutical companies invert. Could Apple, Inc., invert?

Dow rises to record close.

Warren Buffett's Achilles' heel: retail. This is not a story about WB's stock-picking skills, this is a story about tectonic changes occurring in the US (can you spell Amazon?) and the very, very, very slow recovery (using the word "recovery" loosely -- the economy collapsed [their word, not mine] in 1Q14).

The Los Angeles Times

Microsoft to cut up to 18,000 jobs in sweeping restructuring. The story was previously reported on the blog but not the exact numbers. Can you spell Apple? 

July 16, 2014: Eleven (11) New Permits; Ten (10) Producing Wells Completed; Statoil, XTO Each With One "High IP" Well; BR With A Gusher In Corral Creek

Wells coming off the confidential list Thursday:

• 25491, drl, QEP, Johnson 2-4-9BH, Grail, no production data,
• 25866, conf, Hess, HA-Thompson 152-95-2017H-5, Hawkeye, no production data,
• 26093, drl, XTO, Loomer 24X-34A, Tobacco Garden, no production data,
• 27267, 2,525, BR, CCU Red River 34-9MBH, Corral Creek, no production data,

Active rigs:

	7/16/2014	07/16/2013	07/16/2012	07/16/2011	07/16/2010
Active Rigs	192	189	213	178	132

Eleven (11) new permits --

• Operators: Oasis (4), Zavanna (3), SM Energy (3), Petro-Hunt
• Fields: Leaf Mountain (Burke), Missouri Ridge (Williams), East Fork (Williams), Poe (McKenzie), North Tioga (Burke)
• Comments:

Wells coming off the confidential list today were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

Ten (10) producing wells completed:

• 25087, 3,091, Statoil, Edna 11-2 6H, Camp, t6/14; cum --
• 26456, 3,027, XTO, Broderson 31X-27H, Siverston, t6/14; cum --
• 27180, 480, EOG, Austin 91-01H, Parshall, one section, t7/14; cum --
• 27093, 380, EOG, Austin 78-18H, Parshall, one section, t6/14; cum --
• 27189, 416, EOG, Austin 32-31H, Parshall, one section, t6/14; cum --
• 27092, 608, EOG, Austin 135-18H, Parshall, one section , t6/14; cum --
• 27179, 767, EOG, Austin 90-01H, Parshall, one section, t6/14; cum --
• 23996, 1,356, Statoil, Margaret 5-8 5TFH, Spring Creek, t6/14; cum --
• 26190, 788, CLR, Montpelier 4-14H, Indian Hill, t6/14; cum --
• 26771, 1,060, CLR, Winston 7012H, Long Creek, t7/14; cum --

One (1)  recompleted well:

• 25940, 56, Luff Exploration, State Miller M-16H, State Line, a Red River well, t11/13; cum 10K 5/14

Change of operator:

• KOG transferred two wells to HRC, both in Williams County

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For Investors Only

KMI/KMP: 24/7 Wall Street  and Wall Street Journal interpreted the results differently. 24/7 Wall Street's headline got it wrong, in my opinion; The Wall Street Journal got it right. Bottom line: great earnings report for KMI/KMP, as far as I'm concerned.

Disclaimer: this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment decisions based on anything you read here or think you might have read here.

Trading at new highs today: Alcoa, CSX, CNI, CAT, COP, HAL, JOY, KOG, NSC, WLL.

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Global Warming

AccuWeather is reporting:

A summertime version of the polar vortex will continue to set record low temperatures in the Plains and Midwest this week. Cool air will also reach into the South and Appalachians.

The air will feel refreshing to some people but downright chilly and autumnlike to others.

According to AccuWeather Meteorologist Steve Travis, "Many residents and visitors will be toting jackets and long sleeves."[This is July, isn't it?]

Rather than days of hazy sunshine and high humidity, typical of mid-July, many areas will experience a deep blue sky, at times, low humidity and a cool breeze.

Yup, more of that global warming. More cognitive dissonance for the warmists. Don't you just love it? When it's warmer, it's due to global warming; when it's colder, it's due to an anomaly called the polar vortex. And, it's not open for discussion. The subject is closed.

Coming right on cue, by the way: record cold temperatures set in Kansas City, Kansas, today and yesterday. IceAgeNow is reporting:

The thermometer dropped to 54 degrees F yesterday at Kansas City International Airport, a new low for July 15, according to the National Weather Service.

That beat the old record of 56 degrees set in 1990.

Yet another record fell this morning, when the mercury dropped to 55 degrees, breaking the previous record low for this date of 57 degrees set in 1985.

St. Joseph also tied its record low for this date (July 16) of 54 degrees, set in 1970.

It was back in 1990 or thereabouts that the earth quit "warming." I can't make this stuff up. 

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A Note to Readers

I apologize for limited blogging for the past few days. Unfortunately it will continue for at least ten more days.  At a minimum the daily activity report will be summarized each day, but after that, it's hard to say. We have the two granddaughters in California for the month of July, and other family members are in and out during that time period.

My day is full. I have a couple hours free to blog between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. PDT but after that there is no blogging until we get home, and after we have dinner, do math, do crafts, play board games, and put the granddaughters to bed about 11:00 p.m.

Of course, I am exhausted. But there is so much I want to write about but I simply am too exhausted to get started. I play my favorite music -- and I play it loudly -- hoping to get energized, but it barely helps.

I am a newsaholic. There seems to be some major "disconnects" -- the likes of which I have seldom seen before.

Here are the disconnects I see when I check the news on-line:

• there are three fairly significant shooting "wars" going on right now: Ukraine, Iraq, Israel-Hamas -- and yet, none of these stories make for many headlines on the CNN, Fox News, WSJ, LA Times websites or the Drudge Report
• there are three fairly significant shooting "wars" going on right now, and the US stock market keeps hitting new highs (including another new high today)
• the Mideast seems worse than ever and yet the price of oil dropped fairly quickly from $106 to $99  (although it seems to have bottomed out and is now increasing again)
• Afghanistan, once so important, now makes news only because SecState John Kerry is counting votes; no one seems to care any more
• the Fed and so many other "entities" are concerned about the US economy, and yet the Dow keeps on hitting new highs (including another new high today)
• OPEN BORDERS is a resounding success in the minds of some political leaders (notably the president, Harry Reid, and Ms Pelosi) but OPEN ARMS is causing significant consternation among communities across the United States
• everyone has noticed the commander-in-chief is AWOL and yet the mainstream media (CNN, Fox News, WSJ, LA Times) never mentions it in a "straight" news story; only Peggy Noonan in The WSJ has mentioned it, and that was in an op-ed piece

One individual who appears to being taking advantage of these disconnects is Russia's Vladimir Putin. Following a very successful winter Olympics, he was emboldened to take the Ukraine back. When there was no push-back from the US on that invasion, he filled the void in Iraq by selling the Iraqis jets when the US would not. When there was no push-back from the US on that gambit, he visited Central America, starting with Cuba and erasing 90% of Cuba's foreign debt, and announced he would start drilling for oil 90 miles from Florida. I think I read somewhere Russia is a "third-world country with oil" and yet, Mr Putin seems not to notice.

I did not read Cheney's op-ed -- I assume it was Dick, not Lynn, who wrote it, but Drudge says "Cheney" considered Mr Obama the worse among modern presidents. That was incredibly inflammatory and regardless of what side one takes, it's hard to deny that the United States is pretty much a spectator of world events at the moment. Maybe that's not a bad thing. But it can't be denied.

This may have been the strangest headline I've seen in a long time: the US is importing coal from Russia. This was reported by Bloomberg, perhaps the most trusted name in business news, and linked on the blog earlier. This was not a puff piece by Fox News; it was reported by Bloomberg. The US is importing coal from Russia. That pretty much sums up the "disconnects" I'm seeing. These "disconnects" all have one thing in common: they defy explanation.  

Much more could be written; many more examples could be given. But if anyone can explain why the US is importing coal from Russia that would be a good start. If an explanation is attempted, please include a discussion of the sanctions that Mr Obama has imposed on Russia. If an explanation is attempted, please include a discussion why New England activists don't want new natural gas pipelines but aren't upset about Russian coal ending up in their furnaces. I find myself listening to Lana Del Rey and laughing: Mr Obama hates coal so much he has been at war with King Coal for twenty years, and here he is, imposing sanctions on Russia, but not doing anything about importing coal from Russia. Heaven forbid, however, importing oil from our friends to the north.

Yes, a lot of "disconnects."

Everyone knows.

Everyone Knows, Leonard Cohen

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A Note to the Granddaughters

Another full day in southern California. Today, much of of it was spent in Surf City, USA: Huntington Beach, CA.

We went out to the pier to see about fishing from the pier. Our older granddaughter had done her homework, researching the internet, and told us that it was free to fish from the pier, and did not require a fishing license. So, we went to the pier to find out. That was accurate: fishing from the pier is free and requires no license. We had planned not to fish until next week, but the "bait shop" made it so easy, it was impossible to resist. We rented a pole and bought bait (squid) and the older granddaughter began to fish. Within minutes a fish, but it got away.

It was so much fun I went back and rented a pole for myself; the younger granddaughter wanted to play in the surf.

The city is setting up for the Vans US Open Surfing Championship, July 26 - August 3, 2014. So, while we were fishing, we could watch the men -- and yes, it was all men, I believe -- surfing on the south side of the pier, practicing for the US Open starting next weekend.

Wipeout, The Ventures