#BlackLivesMatter -- Except When It Comes To Employment? -- July 9, 2016

Updates

July 11, 2016: this Canadian said what needed to be said.
 

Original Post

 
Wow, if you want to see why there is so much discontent in the African-American community, check out this post with regard to #BlackLivesMatter. It certainly appears that for some progressives #BlackLivesDon'tMatter -- certainly when it comes to employment opportunities. In case the link ever breaks, here is the pertinent chart:

From the linked article:

Perhaps one of the more interesting data points from yesterday’s Employment Report is displayed in the graph above, which shows that the jobless rate for black male teens (aged 16-19 years) increased to 40.1% in June from 28.1% in May. Except for a slightly higher increase of 12.2% during the aftermath of the Great Recession, the 12% increase in June was the highest monthly increase in history going back to 1972 when the BLS starting keeping records for this series.

One possible explanation for this spike would be the “midyear burst of minimum-wage increases on July 1” outlined in a recent WSJ article.

This is quite staggering. Talk about "cause-and-effect." I wonder if anyone is paying attention?

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The Profiling And Terrorist Page

From a WSJ "Review and Outlook" piece -- "After Dallas, Leadership, two excerpts:

What people hear most of the time from groups like Black Lives Matter or Al Sharpton is inflammatory rhetoric that distorts reality and indiscriminately demonizes the police. Showing some awareness Thursday of this lopsided public perception, Mr. Obama said it is possible to express support for the police “while also saying there are problems across our criminal justice system.” Mr. Obama’s attempt at balance might have more resonance if once he said Black Lives Matter’s view of American justice is wrong.

In suburban Minneapolis this week, the officer identified as shooting Philando Castile is named Jeronimo Yanez, who is apparently Hispanic. But here is Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton’s contribution to cooling the racial flames: “Would this have happened if the driver were white, if the passengers were white? I don’t think it would have.” That is a profile in political fox-holing. 

#BlackLivesMatter: the movement is a terrorist movement and the group is nothing more than the evolution of the 1960's Black Panthers.

Later: after posting the above, I came across this article -- El Paso police chief -- #BlackLivesMatter is a "radical hate group."  The group is unlikely to be targeted, tracked, investigated until Comey, Lynch, Obama are off the scene.

From Ben Shapiro: The Left: Don't blame Black Lives Matter movement for violence of a few. But blame all cops for a few shootings we won't wait for evidence on.

Number Of US Jobs Added In May Revised Downward To 11,000 -- July 9, 2016

I may be misreading this but I don't think I am. From a New York Times story this morning:

The good news is that doesn’t appear to be the case. The blockbuster 287,000 jobs the Labor Department reported employers added in June surely overstates the pace of improvement, just as surely as the miserable 11,000 jobs reported to have been added in May understated it. (The May number was originally reported as an almost-as-miserable 38,000.) A Verizon strike contributed to the seesaw, but most of it is probably driven by a mix of sampling error and the sometimes weird effects of seasonal adjustment.

If you encounter a paywall, see this post.

If I am reading the NYT story correctly, the number of jobs reported in May, originally reported to be 38,000, was in fact ... 11,000.

If that is accurate ... OMG.

Yes, this short post gets a "staggering" tagline.

The writer blames the "miserable" May jobs number on:

• the Verizon strike (as if strikes are rare as hen teeth)
• sampling error
• "sometimes weird effects of seasonal adjustment"

I can think of other explanations. 

Week 27: July 3, 2016 -- July 9, 2016

The US stock market surges to new highs or near-new highs despite Brexit.  It was "lifted" by a great jobs report, though the underlying data is not particularly supportive.

The US is coming very close to a new record: more than 10 million bbls/day of "gasoline delivered." Record storage at Cushing noted. There is further evidence that OPEC is severely pinched.

US propane exports: one of the top US energy stories of the decade. It just never quits: the shale boom's new winner -- propane.

And possibly the story of the century: US holds more oil reserves than either Russia or Saudi Arabia. 

Operations
Rystad Energy suggests that decline in Bakken production is due to "temporary" issues 
Decline rates "way down"

Bakken 101
Bakken OOIP; Saudi Arabia's OOIP; Proved, Probable, Possible Reserves

Eight New Permits; 29 Active Rigs -- July 8, 2016

Active rigs:

	7/8/2016	07/08/2014	07/08/2013	07/08/2012	07/08/2011
Active Rigs	29	191	186	213	170

Eight new permits:

• Operators: Hess (5), Enerplus (3)
• Fields: Blue Buttes (McKenzie), Antelope (McKenzie)
• Comments:

No reports of any DUCs completed.

On Recipes -- July 8, 2016

This is nothing about the Bakken. If you came here for the Bakken, scroll down or check out the sidebar at the right.

In the past several years I have really been enjoying cooking. My wife is probably among the best cooks in the western world. She has recipes on 3 x 5 cards, but seldom needs to look at them. She remembers the correct temperature to cook fish or bake chicken. I don't know how she does it.

I've always thought recipes seemed too complicated in all the recipe books one sees at Barnes and Noble. If not complicated, certainly too detailed. I'm talking about cooking here, not baking.

Baking: one must be "exact."

Cooking: lots of flexibility.

I was reminded of that while reading Leonard Mlodinow's Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior. In the very first chapter he talks about recipes. He notes that even the font of the recipe in those cooking books affects one's feeling about a recipe. A recipe in fancy and hard-to-read italics is often perceived by the reader "as too difficult to try."

I would go a step further. When I see a list of ingredients, and a paragraph how to make a marinade, for example, my eyes glaze over. I don't need the details. Give me the big picture. I 'll figure out the rest. That's why I love the way I presented the bread recipe as seen on SortedFood the other day:

Bread

• 4 cups flour
• yeast
• salt, tsp
• 1.5 hour to rise
• punch down, in bread pan for another 1 hour
• in oven with tray of water on bottom of stove 
• 15 minutes at 425; 25 minutes at 350

That was it. For some folks even that much was too much. For some folks, the only thing they needed was the reminder for the tray of water at the bottom of the stove.

But for me, I had to add a few more things, like salt and yeast, to make sure I did not forget. Compare that to a standard recipe for bread on the internet. Lots of words; an intimidating list of ingredients.

It seems one could accomplish the same purpose with an introductory essay on "why" bread is bread and a basic generic recipe, followed by any number of recipes, containing only modifications with lists that highlight variety or differences from the basic generic recipe, if that makes sense. But every bread recipe seems to be about 90% like any other bread recipe. And all that information is repeated.

For the bread recipe above, for example, some folks would add some sugar, some folks would add some vegetable oil. I just don't want to forget the yeast, and unlike my wife, I can never remember cooking times or cooking temperatures.

One last example: corn-on-the-cob or spaghetti -- the only thing one has to remember: ten minutes.