The New American Digest

I recently expressed some opinions on participating in the stock market. There have been some interesting comments as a result. I enjoy such but I feel the need to state a disclaimer. This also covers opinions not necessarily of a financial nature. To do so, I’m going to steal bits from QTR Fringe Finance because he best expresses my thoughts on the matter; I haven’t changed his wording too much:

My posts represent my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any stocks mentioned at any time without warning.

These are not recommendations to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in.

None of my comments are a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not hold opinions I write about any longer than it takes to write it down. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish any comments, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position.

You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the far side of the fringe … but I can see the fringe off in the distance.

If you see numbers and calculations of any sort, assume they are wrong and double check them.

I do my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts in unusual mental states sometimes. I often edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. It might still be there.

Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

Mostly I won’t give stock advice unless specifically asked – or unless the muse strikes. If and when you ask – about stocks or anything else, I’ll be happy to flap my figurative lips until the cows come home. And beyond if I feel the urge.

I’ve played the stock game for a few decades now and can provide definitive, God’s-honest-truth on methods to lose money. Many of those methods involve listening to experts. I will share what little I’ve learned but my advice is worth what you paid for it.

But that advice or comment may give you a starting point to form your own opinions.

Now. Back to our regularly scheduled program.

… and what’s so special about her that she gets days upon days of national news coverage?

Has no one else had horrific crimes committed against them in the past few days?

Is there nothing else more important going on in the nation or world that national column inches must be filled with yet another personal crime?

Does she have damning information on Hillary Clinton?

Are there no people of national prominence that should better receive national column inches of coverage of their arrests and convictions?

Yeah, I know I could look “Nancy Guthrie” up … but why should I bother?

We’ve already lost, doncha know?

Submitted by Joe from Comments

My wife had a very powerful letter to the editor published in our local paper today. I hope that you enjoy.

When did it become legal or even acceptable to interfere with law enforcement activity? Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carries out duties assigned to it by Congress. It is the right of every American Citizen to engage in free speech and peaceful assembly. Harassing, assaulting and threatening law enforcement officers and their families and blockading their vehicles to impede their activities is not the lawful exercise of free speech. If local or state officers were treated this way, common sense dictates that reasonable citizens would not approve. Because the flood of illegal (forbidden by law) immigrants into the United States of America was facilitated and encouraged by those who want to cause havoc in our great country, the ones responsible are determined to make the most of their accomplishment. We are being told that an “ICU nurse” was an innocent victim of ICE. Only days before, this same “innocent” person had a prior violent confrontation with ICE, clearly caused by him. He was harassing agents, spat upon an agent and kicked out a tail light of an agent’s government vehicle, all the while armed with a semi-automatic Sig Sauer 9mm gun. He was tackled to the ground by an agent, but was not arrested. This “ICU nurse” just happened to belong to a very well paid Signal watch group in Minneapolis that tracks ICE movements in the city for the purpose of interfering with the ICE agents’ assigned duties. In an interview after his death, the parents of this man stated that they were aware of his activities and advised him “not to do anything stupid” while protesting.

I have read several letters severely criticizing ICE activities and the deportation of those who entered our country illegally (in violation of our laws). I would like to suggest that if the letter writers are OK with mob violence and someone breaking our nation’s laws and sneaking in where they are not allowed, that these letter writers remove the locks from their doors, disable all home alarms and cameras, leave their vehicles unlocked, leave valuables and liquor in easily accessible places and then call 911 and wait for law enforcement to rescue them when something unlawful happens to them. Then they can receive a lot of attention explaining on camera (if they are still alive) how they cannot imagine why their home was invaded. Or, they can just invite these illegal (forbidden by law) immigrants, without knowing anything about them, into their homes to live and see how that works out.

How do all these mobs just “spontaneously show up” at these protests? They don’t. This is a well funded and well organized attack on our country. So who is paying the dark money for these protests? A superficial search is all that is needed to find out. Reports state that the civil unrest is being massively funded primarily by George Soros Family Foundation groups, along with the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, Melinda Gates Foundation and Neville Roy Singham, a Connecticut born tech billionaire living in China, as well as the (CCP) Chinese Communist Party, who would love nothing better than to destroy America without ever firing a shot. 

Are we to believe that these groups have our best interests at heart? Anyone who is unaware of the numerous heinous crimes committed against American citizens (adults and children) by Illegal immigrants is either not paying attention or is so busy being “compassionate” towards illegal immigrants that they are in denial of the truth. In addition to the human cost of this violence, we (American tax payers) have lost billions upon billions of dollars through fraud and by monies spent on housing, health care, and education of illegal immigrants, not to mention the cost of the increased need for local law enforcement, court costs and incarceration costs if and when criminals are prosecuted. All the while, many of our own citizens, especially veterans, are homeless. 

A just released report from just one state, Tennessee, outlines some of the consequences of allowing/encouraging illegal (against the law) immigrants into our once sovereign nation:

Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference has released its annual state immigration report revealing that in 2025, illegal migrants committed 2,183 violent offenses, including 41 homicides, 145 sexual offenses, 1,592 assaults, 11 child rapes, 40 aggravated kidnappings, 2,920 DUI’s, 5,318 cases of driving without a license or on suspended/or revoked, 966 carjackings, 36 Felony firearms offenses, and 66 assaults on police or first responders.

Remember, these are statistics from just one state, Tennessee, for one year.

These crimes are committed by the criminals ICE is trying to remove from our country. In addition to dealing with violent criminals, ICE agents are enduring the added threat of violence from our own citizens who hate our country. Ice agents are risking their lives to protect American lives, even the lives of those attacking them and our American way of life. 
Sheila……

The old depot.

Lester began as a logging camp on the west side of Stampede Pass alongside the Green River east of Seattle. The Northern Pacific Railway established the company town of Lester in 1892 about 7 miles west of the Stampede Tunnel which was opened in 1888. The town was named for a railroad telegrapher.

At one time, Lester held extensive steam engine support facilities including this depot, a roundhouse, coaling docks, and a population of about 1,000 by the 1920s. As steam engines gave way to diesels, steam support facilities were no longer necessary; the region began to shift focus to logging.

In the meantime, the city of Tacoma began purchasing property in the area in order to maintain a water supply for the city. As a result, the city of Tacoma placed a locked gate across the only access road; several court battles were fought over the restricted access (to residents and guests); the land is in King County, Tacoma in Pierce County. The court cases mostly favored Tacoma. The last resident died in 2002 and the area is now jointly held by the Forest Service and the Tacoma Utilities with no public access allowed.

The railroad mothballed the line through Lester and Stampede Tunnel in 1984; the line was upgraded and re-opened in 1996.

I took this picture in 1990; I drove to the site so the gate must have been open. The depot was later burned by arson; the Burlington Northern Railroad – successor to the Northern Pacific – tore it down the remnants in 1992. Remaining buildings in Lester were razed in 2017.

Nothing lasts forever …

This may be the last major stamp mill built in Nevada.

Out in the middle of once-was-somewhere Nevada, sits this relatively intact silver stamp mill. Not as unknown as it used to be, this mill was so far off the beaten path that much of it and the surrounding buildings still exist even though it is not part of a historical site or park. Hoping to maintain what little can be hidden, I’ll not reveal its name or location though it wouldn’t be hard to find information. Most of the machinery was removed when the mill shut down.

Although the Comstock Lode/Virginia City is well known as a major silver-producing area, the richest silver veins were found in the center of the state. The greatest “rushes” to the area occurred in the late 1860s/early 1870s but extraction methods were relatively inefficient.

Although this area had been “settled” in 1865, the majority of mines had played out quickly and the original mills in the region shut down by 1892 and the equipment moved elsewhere. However, after the Tonopah discoveries in 1901, mining companies using more modern techniques started to develop the older areas intending to seek deposits over-looked or deemed too difficult by the earlier efforts.

At this site, the mines were re-opened in the 1920s but the area was not suitable for building a mill. Transportation issues being what they were, it was more effective to mill the ore on-site and transport the semi-processed ore. A more suitable mill location was selected – about 2 miles distant from the mine – and this mill with associated structures was built. The ore was transported from the mine by an aerial tramway. It turned out the remaining ore in the reopened mines was not as rich as hoped, processing the ore proved more difficult than expected, and silver prices were falling; the re-opened mines and mill operated less than one year.

The tramlines are still in place as is the last tram bucket of ore, hanging in the wind, waiting for time (or vandals) to bring it back to earth.

It’s on my list as a possible destination for this year’s road trip.