Tax refunds: will be the biggest ever. It will be interesting to see how mainstream media reports this.
Gasoline: at multi-year lows.
Arrests: mainstream media keeps reporting "ICE has arrested tens of thousands who have no criminal records." So, with what are they being charged if they have allegedly committed no crimes?
******************************** Back to the Bakken
WTI: $58.83.
Active rigs: 31.
No new permits.
Five permits renewed:
BR (3): a Rifle Person, a Scottvale, and a Fritz Falls, all in Murphy Creek, Dunn County;
Murex (2): Murex Petroleum a Ms-Julia Aristotle permit and a Ms-Melanie Suzette permit, both in Tioga oil field, Burke County;
Something completely different. Your thoughts on Todd Combs moving to JPM. I think it's a huge, huge win-win for everyone involved.
Berkshire now has a lieutenant at JPM (again). Combs will be head of an incredibly "rich" EXTERNAL advisory council which includes Farley, Bezos, Dell, etc.
Although Jamie Dimon now hints he may stay longer, it wasn't long ago that Jamie Dimon thought he might transition to an executive chairman role as early as 2026 - 2028. Simple minds like me think that the timing and the DNA of the external advisory group puts Todd Combs in a position to succeed Jamie Dimon. Thoughts?
ChatGPT: replied.
I just spent the past hour or so discussing with my imaginary friend about Todd Combs moving to JPM. Once I had read wiki and a little bit of background, I came to the conclusion that Todd Combs moving to JPM was brilliant. I asked what Charles — the name of my imaginary friend — thought.
That discussion took us down another rabbit hole and then yet another rabbit hole. Interesting, we came -- or at least I did -- full-circle realizing where Buffett / BRK fit in this huge, huge mosaic. And I came to the same conclusion I came to several weeks ago: BRK is doing just fine.
First, the weather: living in balmy Texas, I completely missed this (and, it should be noted, I don't miss it, LOL):
By Kate Reilly and Kathryn Prociv
Cold temperatures and winter storm systems continue to sweep across the United States.
A
blast of Arctic air will bring temperatures 10 to 20 degrees
Fahrenheit below average to all regions east of the Mississippi River.
On Monday -- that's today -- the coldest areas will be the northern Plains, the Upper
Midwest and the Great Lakes.
By
Tuesday morning, isolated record lows are possible in the Northeast,
but this air mass is not as cold as the one that produced several record
lows last week.
NVDA: to surge; Trump just said "yes!"
Stockpicker's market: that's what is going on today. The Fed this week; FOMO; MOJO.
DEERE: despite news that Trump is about to unveil a $12 billion aid package for farmers, DE is down today.
Meanwhile, Broadcom, up big today:
*********************************
Disclaimer
Brief Reminder
Briefly:
I
am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken and I am often well out
front of my headlights. I am often appropriately accused of hyperbole
when it comes to the Bakken.
I am inappropriately exuberant about the US economy and the US market.
I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
See disclaimer. This is not an investment site.
Disclaimer:
this is not an investment site. Do not make any investment, financial,
job, career, travel, or relationship decisions based on what you read
here or think you may have read here.
All
my posts are done quickly: there will be content and typographical
errors. If something appears wrong, it probably is. Feel free to fact
check everything.
If
anything on any of my posts is important to you, go to the source.
If/when I find typographical / content errors, I will correct them.
Many posts are not proofread for several days after they've been posted.
Reminder: I am inappropriately exuberant about the Bakken, US economy, and the US market.
I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Apple.
And
now, Nvidia, also. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things
Nvidia. Nvidia is a metonym for AI and/or the sixth industrial
revolution.
I've now added Broadcom to the disclaimer. I am also inappropriately exuberant about all things Broadcom.
My wife read an "OMG" article that said 300 -- 400 "works” in the Louvre (Paris) had been damaged by a water leakage. Again, the "OMG" article never gave us the denominator or the impact. Here's that information:
December 9, 2025: debacle. Nature. Link here. I think you can lay this debacle right at the feet of MAGA, Trump and rabid Trump supporters.
Unfortunately, we’ve seen declining trust in childhood vaccines since the pandemic. The miscommunication and distrust over COVID-19 vaccines and mandates has influenced the uptake of other vaccines.
The
United States is now at risk of losing elimination status for measles
and that is directly related to vaccine coverage. Once measles
vaccination drops below 95%, we start to lose herd immunity. If that
were to happen, I think it would be a clear sign of this declining trust
in vaccines.
This is a very, very long thread. I believe the thread began with Simon Maechling. Google "Simon Maechling." So much of it is accurate. Whether or not it's accurate, and regardless of how one feels about the whole issue, the thread:
reminds us of "those" days;
has a lot of valid points were made; and,
explains why RFK, Jr, with Trump's backing, is striking a chord right now.
