January 1, Florida Man Faces Impeachment

This Day in History | 1800

President John Adams moves into the newly constructed White House in Washington D.C.

Good Morning Middle Americans!

Well the vote happened, but not much has changed. Yesterday House Democrats, minus two defectors, voted to formalize the impeachment process. Those two Democrats joined with every Republican to reject House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s proposal.  This was not the bi-partisan outcome Speaker Pelosi was promising. More of the impeachment testimony will now happen out in the public. TV cameras, members of Congress… I’m sure it will all be fine. And no one will grandstand. (Sarcasm) 

Pres. Trump has moved, well kinda. He official changed his residency from New York to Florida. It’s a move a lot of wealthy northeastern folks have made.  Since the GOP tax plan went into effect, state and local sales taxes have been eliminated as deductions.  Just goes to show you how the wealthy can avoid certain taxes. 

Also today, you can count NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio among those who think something “doesn’t fit” about disgraced sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein’s death.  If his death was a suicide or murder, he’s just another statistic contributing to disturbing American trend… life expectancy for men is moving in the wrong direction. 

Read all about it

– Fraser Dixon

Trump’s Presidency on Treacherous New Ground

(Bloomberg) – Donald Trump’s presidency stands on its most treacherous ground after the House voted Thursday to approve and proceed with its impeachment inquiry.

The resolution, passed on a largely party-line 232-196 vote, does not just lay out a road map for the public phase of the inquiry. It sends a clear signal that a vote to impeach Trump, and a trial in the Senate, is all but inevitable.

Trump becomes just the fourth president to be subject to a formal impeachment effort. Two of them, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, were impeached in the House but weren’t convicted in the Senate. Richard Nixon, facing certain conviction, resigned before the House could vote to approve articles of impeachment.

Read more from Bloomberg 

Trump Now a Florida Man

(New York Times) – He came of age in Queens, built Trump Tower, starred in “The Apprentice,” bankrupted his businesses six times, and drew cheering crowds and angry protesters to Fifth Avenue after his election. Through it all, President Trump — rich, bombastic and to many Americans the epitome of a New Yorker — was intertwined with the city he called his lifelong home.

No longer.

In late September, Mr. Trump changed his primary residence from Manhattan to Palm Beach, Fla., according to documents filed with the Palm Beach County Circuit Court. Melania Trump, the first lady, also changed her residence to Palm Beach in an identical document.

Each of the Trumps filed a “declaration of domicile” saying that the Mar-a-Lago Club, Mr. Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, will be their permanent residence.

Learn more about Pres. Trump’s decision to change is residency from New York to Florida here

De Blasio: ‘Something Doesn’t Fit’ About Epstein’s Death

(Politico) – Mayor Bill de Blasio again raised the specter of conspiracy surrounding the death of Jeffrey Epstein, saying Thursday that “something doesn’t fit,” even after the city’s own medical examiner found the death was a suicide.

De Blasio first said in August he thought something was amiss regarding the billionaire’s suicide in federal jail in Manhattan, where he was being held on multiple charges of sexual abuse and sex trafficking. This week, a pathologist hired by Epstein’s brother disputed findings of an autopsy by the city’s medical examiner that the death was a suicide.

Read more about NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio’s take on Jeffrey Epstein death here

Life Expectancy for American Men Drops for a Third Year

(CBS News) – Life expectancy for American men dropped for a third consecutive year, with the National Center for Health Statistics citing an increase in so-called “deaths of despair,” such as the rise in drug overdose deaths. 

The average lifespan of men in the U.S. dipped to 76.1 years in 2017 (the latest data available), amounting to a four-month decline in life expectancy since 2014. The findings shed additional light on economic research into the sharp increase in recent years in deaths from overdoses and suicides among white men with less education. 

Learn more about why American males are dying younger from CBS News here