"No new deals" might be the new mantra in Trumpland - but the problem is still the same: Donald Trump's entire presidency is going to be one big conflict of interest.

For months now, Trump has been pressed to explain just how he'll divest from his massive business empire once he takes office.

There are some very real constitutional questions at stake here, and the president elect was supposed to use a press conference this Thursday -- his first since the election -- to answer them.

But Trump has now cancelled Thursday's press conference and rescheduled it for some time in January before the inauguration, effectively the last possible moment he could push it back to without getting into some very sketchy legal waters, sketchier waters than he's in right now.

The only new information we really have at this point about Trump's divestment plan is from a series of tweets he sent out last night.

Even though I am not mandated by law to do so, I will be leaving my busineses before January 20th so that I can focus full time on the......
Presidency. Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them. No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office.

The new plan is apparently to hand off the Trump Empire to Eric and Donald, Jr. after January 20th under the explicit condition that they make "no new deals" while daddy is president.

While this obviously sounds better than the alternative -- a Trump business empire under control of the Trump sons that IS capable of making new deals -- but it's still a huge conflict of interest.

Even if they aren't making new deals, Eric and Don, Jr. are still Donald Trump's sons, and any foreign or domestic assets they control will be seen by powerful people all over the world as a way to gain leverage over the President of United States and vice versa.

There's also the question of security.

Read more here.

-Thom

Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10:30pm... Why Trump's Tariffs Could Work... (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)

Community Square  

 "Call for new election - is it naive and far fetched or not?!"
  Posted by apodomus.

 

 "The Rope-a-Dope Lying King Scams Us Again: America's first clairvoyant president"
  Posted by PhilfromOhio.

 

 "DID HE say we should LYNCH HIM"
  Posted by zapdam.

 

 "US businesses should embrace unversal healthcare"
  Posted by wayner.

 

To upload an image click on the "add new blog post" link over at the community.

Wednesday's Daily Stack 

Quote: "They hang the man and flog the woman...that steal the goose from off the common, But let the greater villain loose...that steals the common from the goose." (From The New Tragedy Of The Commons) - English folk poem, ca. 1764.

 

Article: "Trump chooses congressman, former SEAL Zinke as interior secretary" by Steve Holland.

Article: "Trump inauguration protest groups demand access to Washington sites" by Ian Simpson.

Article: "Did The GOP Just Hand Breitbart A Global Media Company That You Paid For?" by Michael Rosenblum.

Article: "Frightened by Donald Trump? You don't know the half of it" by George Monbiot.

Article: "Bill Gates Makes Pilgrimage To Trump Tower" by TMZ.

Article: "Bigger Than Watergate? Legitimate Concerns That Anti-Clinton Faction Within FBI May Have Conspired To Hand Election To Trump" by Seth Abramson.

Article: "CIA concludes Russia interfered to help Trump win election, say reports" by Damien Gayle.

Article: "Clinton's top pollster tells Axelrod: Blame Comey" by Kim Janssen.

Article: "Crosscheck Is Not Just Crooked, It's Criminal" by Greg Palast.

Site: Nature Bats Last - Guy McPherson.

Article: "Earth Will Cross the Climate Danger Threshold by 2036" by Michael E. Mann, April 1, 2014.

Article: "My theory about Trump and Russia" by BainsBane.

Article: "Trump's Business Credit Score Is 19 Out of a Possible 100" by Trump's Business Credit Score Is 19 Out of a Possible 100.

Book: by Sun Bear with Wabun Wind.

Article: "Sun Bear (author)" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Republican success opens door to amending U.S. Constitution".

Site: The Convention of States (COS) Project.

Article: "Donald Trump's Washington Hotel Is About To Violate Its Government Lease" by Marina Fang.

 

Article: "Jessica Rosenworcel's FCC Future in Doubt as Senate Eyes Adjournment" by Ted Johnson.

Article: "Electoral College" by Wikipedia.

Hour Two: Privatizing the Commons...What Happens Next?
- Charles Sauer, The Market Institute  

Quote: " True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence..." - State of the Union Message to Congress, Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 11, 1944.

Article: "Permanent normal trade relations: U.S. and China" by Wikipedia

Article: "United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA)" by Wikipedia

Article: "Panama-United States Trade Promotion Agreement" by Wikipedia

Article: "North American Free Trade Agreement" (NAFTA) by Wikipedia

Article: "Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement" (CAFTA-DR) by Wikipedia. (CAFTA pre January 2004)

Article: "THROWBACK: John Stossel Hosts "Affirmative Action" Bake Sale [VIDEO]" by Liberty Laura.

Book: Study in Power: John D. Rockefeller, Vol. 1 and 2 by Allan Nevins.

 

Site: National Popular Vote.

Case: "West Coast Hotel Co. V. Parrish, (1937)" (Washington State minimum wage).

Article: "Fair Labor Standards Act" (1938) (40-hour work week, national minimum wage, etc.

Article: "Too big, too Leninist - a China crisis is a matter of time" by Martin Wolf.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976

Article: "Mary Anne MacLeod Trump" (Donald Trump's mother).

 

Talk Media News Segment:
- Ellen Ratner, Bureau Chief 

Site: "Goats for the old Goat".

Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman 

Article: "Kasich signs one abortion bill but vetoes another" by TMN.

Article: "Constitutional law professors to Trump: Respect the Constitution" by Bryan Renbaum.

Article: "Trump selects former Texas Gov. Rick Perry to head Energy Department" by TMN.

Article: "Russia declares Aleppo fight over, UN decries 'complete meltdown of humanity'" by TMN.

Article: "Aleppo: Ceasefire collapses as evacuations stall" by Catherine E. Shoichet, Angela Dewan and Hilary Clarke.

Article: "Democrats say agency told them Trump must give up Washington hotel" by Jill Disis.

Article: "Ineligibility Clause" (Emoluments Clause).

Article: "It's Official, New York Observer Now Propaganda Arm of President-Elect Trump" by Justin Baragona.

Article: "Trump's national security adviser shared secrets without permission, files show" by Craig Whitlock and Greg Miller.

Article: "It's Finally Here: Radioactive Plume From Fukushima Makes Landfall on America's West Coast" by EnviroNews Oregon.

Article: "World's largest reindeer herd plummets" by Rebecca Morelle.

Article: "Roger Stone: Trump interviewed Romney to 'torture' him" by Brooke Seipel.

Tweet: "Presidency. Two of my children, Don and Eric, plus executives, will manage them. No new deals will be done during my term(s) in office." by Donald Trump.

Article: "China 'seriously concerned' after Trump questions Taiwan policy" by Tom Phillips.

Site/movie: The Coming War On China.

Article: "Spratly Islands dispute" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Operation Talisman Saber" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Jill Stein's election recount ends as Wisconsin finds 131 more Trump votes" by Reuters.

Article: "Palast Report for Democracy Now!: By Rejecting Recount, Is Michigan Covering up 75,000 Ballots Never Counted?" by Greg Palast.

Movie: "On the Waterfront".

Article: "Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan", February 26, 1997.

Book: "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against The Middle Class" by Thom Hartmann. Get "Screwed" by Thom Hartmann!

Article: "Okanagan Lake" by Wikipedia.

Article: "You Say Okanogan, I say Okanagan, but Salmon Will Call it Home" by NOAA.

Case: "Bush v. Gore", 2000. "The individual citizen has no federal constitutional right to vote for electors for the President of the United States"

Article: "Trump surrogate Roger Stone claims "devastating" WikiLeaks bombshells to come" by Tess Owen.

Article: "Trump adviser reveals how Assange ally warned him about leaked Clinton emails" by Peter Stone.

Article: "The Red Shift: Anomalies In Electronic Voting Trend Overwhelmingly In One Direction" by National Election Defense Coalition.

Law: "Help America Vote Act" (2002).

Video: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.

Site: 18MR.

Article: "Election Day Registration" by Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Thursday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET 

 

We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...

 

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

 

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"

 

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...