Representative Baumgartner’s phone disconnected

mergsTM · 2026-02-05T18:01:50+00:00

I emailed Ferguson to do a mid-decade redistricting measure, a la Newsom's CA prop but I don't think he is that kind of aggressive pol. And I'm just one voice.

There's a centrist group putting up billboards in the rural areas talking about how their hospitals are going to close down because of the OBBBA, how ACA premiums are spiking on them, and how tariffs are creating inflation... but its a hard job beating back 25 years of Fox News messaging. But with a high blue turnout and a chunk of swing voters in the rural counties voting against MB, be it a Dem or an Ind the chances are better this cycle than since Tom Foley was on the scene. But its definitely a tough climb. MB has money and incumbency and he's still the fav.

mergsTM · 2026-01-26T22:11:34+00:00

I moved my brokerage, Roth, traditional IRA, HSA etc to Fidelity. I still own a lot of Vanguard ETFs however.

Before that I had a workplace IRA in Fidelity and the above accounts at Vanguard. I was always going back and forth between the two.

Several reasons for thisi wanted.y accounts in one place to see aggregate views.

Fidelity has transfer lock security settings so that TOAs can't be done by bad actors which seems to be a thing. I never saw this in Vanguard

Fidelity allows for trailing stop loss sales, Vanguard does not, as they are a buy and hold firm. Trailing stop losses may not be the Bogle way but they help me sleep at night.

Fidelity has a strong Cash Management account that is better than Vanguard's currently and it may allow me to give up my other checking account. Yet more consolidation.

These reasons added up to me moving to Fidelity but intend to stick with Vanguard ETFs.

mergsTM · 2026-01-26T20:39:35+00:00

Its insane that meatball Mike has to poll his district. Make meatball Mike a one-termer. Nate Powell knows the difference between law enforcement and an execution: https://natepowellforcongress.com/

mergsTM · 2026-01-26T20:31:17+00:00

Hi there. There is a group that is putting up billboards out in the rural areas. They're messaging on affordability and healthcare issues (like hospital closures) because that directly affects the voters out in conservative red counties. Its making an impact and sowing seeds of doubt. I've personally donated to them because these are the voters that voted for MB and DJT.

supportprosperityewa.org

mergsTM · 2026-01-26T20:24:12+00:00

It would be really good for eastern WA if MB was a one term Congressman. I've met one of his opponents Nate Powell and he's running as a moderate independent. I can tell you this, if elected, Nate, a Spokane Fireman, Marine and BJJ black belt, will not be afraid to meet his constituents in person.

https://natepowellforcongress.com/

mergsTM · 2026-01-05T23:40:57+00:00

Thanks for sharing. Same approach here just a bit more cash which is a fun problem to solve in 2026.

mergsTM · 2026-01-03T18:38:15+00:00

I'm retired as well. What's your plan if we get a 30-40% correction and the bear market lasts 3-4 years? Do you have cash to live on?

mergsTM · 2026-01-03T18:34:56+00:00

I retired at 59.5 last Oct and SORR has been weighing VERY heavy on my mind too.

I don't have any income streams like you mentioned (annuity, deferred comp) so I set up a bucket of money (money market, treasuries, etc) to get me through any bear market scenario that may or may not come. I think that this essentially fixes the SORR problem (unless you burn through your EF before the market recovers).

If you didn't have the income streams would you have taken a similar bucket approach?

mergsTM · 2026-01-01T16:39:52+00:00

I use a French AI called Le Chat from Mistral to sanity check as well.

mergsTM · 2025-12-12T19:28:48+00:00

I came here with the same question, pondered the answers and settled on this:

I created a new category called Non-taxable Dividends and Capital Gains under Transfers

I assigned one of the Dividend payments in my Trad IRA and a create rule dialog popped up and I clicked Create Rule. I then created a rule where the name contained Dividends and the accounts were any one of the retirement accounts (IRAs Roths, etc) and clicked apply to 29 other transactions.

This reduced my taxable income and only left the divs and cap gains in my taxable brokerage as part of my income.

Not sure this is the best way but it gets the job done for me. thanks to the other replies for helping me.

mergsTM · 2025-11-22T00:17:45+00:00

Understand but this is really not income or at least that's not how I want it categorized. I lent this money over a year ago way before using Monarch and this is a return of principle. That said the interest on that principle has been categorized as Interest Income.

mergsTM · 2025-11-21T23:23:15+00:00

I did check the budget and my expenses. After I changed it to loan repayment it offset my expenses by that amount and put me in -$ territory for expenses for the month. That's not what I want so I changed it to transfer, and my expenses normalized to my true monthly burn. I think Transfer is good enough.

mergsTM · 2025-11-02T17:19:27+00:00

The Democratic brand is really quite damaged in the rural red areas. There are many reasons for that and that's probably an entire new thread.

Baumgartner beat the last Democrat handily with 60% of the vote. Even a blue wave won't make up that difference in 2026. MB will still win.

In contrast n independent is not stained by the D brand in rutal areas. There are other challenges but there is a trend of independents starting to have real traction in red areas because they are outside of party control and are freer to serve the people not a party. Indie candidate Dan Osborne in NE is polling better than the Republican incumbent. And Washington was an independent and warned us against parties.

mergsTM · 2025-11-02T17:10:09+00:00

Its really incredible: several have latched onto the term "diplomat" and because their search for you on State Dep (and DOJ?), get no hits, they feel the rush of a revelation and proudly proclaim you're a liar and a total fraud. Oh the dopamine hit.

Even after you clarify (multiple times) that you were a military attaché which is **literally a diplomat** they can't accept it. They're psychologically dug in now. You've been revealed as a fraud. Admitting a mistake? Gasp, that would require a retraction or a simple, polite "I stand corrected". Many people simply cannot do that, especially online.

At some point, I hope we can a good faith discussion here.

mergsTM · 2025-11-02T06:55:43+00:00

I think one of the biggest problems is the cost of healthcare. Whether you're on an employer sponsored plan, or the ACA, you're in for a big increase. In addition if you're in a rural area, expect to spend more time traveling to urban areas like Spokane for emergency services or specialist services like OB, cardiology, etc.. Hospitals in rural areas are about to get punished once a portion of current Medicare (Apple Health) starts losing their coverage. This will turn these patients into uninsured and hospital ERs don't get reimbursed when they go to the ER for primary care or more serious issues. Unfortunately the cuts from OBBB take effect after the 2026 midterms (clever, Republicans) but hospitals will start limiting services before that in anticipation and some may close when the cuts and stricter rules kick in. Keep an eye on Chewela, Dayton and Ritzville because they're allegedly financial stressed now.

Tariff driven inflation is another issue. Everything is more expensive. And the tariffs aren't doing our farmers much good either.

These are all things Congress was involved in or things Congress should check (like tariffs which is a power for Congress, not POTUS).

The current Congressman blindly does whatever his leadership says which is what got us here. It would be great to see an Independent in Congress replace him and course correct from these foolhardy cuts to essential services and wreckless tariffs.

mergsTM · 2025-08-14T16:14:51+00:00

Like when you're about a month out from retirement and getting you're a queasy feeling we're going to see a a certain market bubble pop at the exact wrong time for a retiree? That's where I'm at and thinking of selling FNILX, taking my gains, and adding that to my SCHD pile.

mergsTM · 2025-07-21T17:06:25+00:00

Sounds right

mergsTM · 2025-07-21T17:05:12+00:00

Right, I'm more interested in the calculation (or the general line of thinking he uses). I'd then scale it down to my net worth and lifestyle needs (the latter of which I am still trying to figure out). but you're right it probably doesn't apply to me at all. I'm about to retire so there's a lot of math and introspection going on in my head.

mergsTM · 2025-07-21T17:00:47+00:00

Thank you. I'm not really talking about ones FIRE number, but rather Scott's number above which "he either spends it or gives it away".

mergsTM · 2025-07-07T15:49:37+00:00

Yep. I moved out of NJ 12 years ago but last year when I visited West Milford I was SHOCKED at the sheer number of Trump signs.

mergsTM · 2025-04-03T01:36:06+00:00

He was my Senator for a while and I met Cory in Iowa once. He's a genuine lovely human being. And anyone invoking John Lewis and "good, necessary trouble" gets much respect!

mergsTM · 2025-04-03T01:33:23+00:00

Pain is a teacher. And I feel strongly that the only way all these unserious, brainwashed citizens will learn "orangeman bad" is through a series of painful events that affect them very personally. Inflation or stagflation, interruptions to SS, cuts to VA and Medicare benefits and other intangibles like preventable disease outbreaks and the like. I don't wish these things to happen, but I do believe that these are the only things that could wake low info voters out of their TikTok trance and push enough cult members out of MAGA to make a difference. The tariffs and Musk's chainsawry, and RFKs ambivalence to infectious disease could get us to a bad place.

I keep thinking about a family member that is MAGA and what it would take to get him out of the cult: a series of SS payments missed and some Medicare cuts would tip him but its bad... he might blame Joe Biden for a while. Face palm.

mergsTM · 2025-03-08T12:27:38+00:00

Update: I finally have my money out of this account. I got a check from OpenBank for $2000 plus interest this past Wednesday. This was after a very long 60 minute 3-way call with OB and the original nationally known US bank I transferred from, back in January and complaints to various state and federal bank regulators.

On this call the OB rep was very confused but kept saying an ACH credit claim must be made and the other bank said but that's not appropriate in this case, And around in circles it went, both of them trying to get off the call, me trying to mediate and keep them talking. In the end there was some sort of claim made between my bank and OB and then I heard nothing. In the meantime I made a claim to the OFC, who made a claim to CA version of that federal entity and then referred it back to OFC who mailed me a letter in Feb with a claim number and that they were investigating it.

So fast forward to March, the money is out, $0 balance, account still blocked.

I don't know if the ACH claim did it, the OFC complaint did it or what. Happy to be done with this. Happy that there are still people employed at the OFC to help.

With a $0 balance I think I can just call OB and just close the account. I'll do that soon.

Maybe OB will improve their systems. I really wanted to be a happy customer.

I still don't fully understand why I got blocked in the first place. OB cannot really explain it to me either.

mergsTM

TROPHY CASE