Trump announces he will leave his business

President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he and his children will hold a press conference next month about his plans to leave his business “in total” in order to focus on his administration. He has faced criticism that he has not done enough to separate himself from his businesses in order to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest. Trump tweeted, “I will be holding a major news conference in New York City with my children on December 15…While I am not mandated to do this under the law, I feel it is visually important, as President, to in no way have a conflict of interest with my various businesses. Hence, legal documents are being crafted which take me completely out of business operations. The Presidency is a far more important task!”

In Other News Fidel Castro's ashes have begun a four-day journey across Cuba from Havana to their final resting place in the eastern city of Santiago. The remains of the 90-year-old leader were taken out of Cuba's Defense Ministry and placed in a small coffin covered by a Cuban flag to begin a more than 500-mile (800 kilometer) procession. His ashes will be interred Sunday, ending the nine-day mourning period for the man who ruled the country for nearly 50 years. President-elect trump provided interesting remarks involving Amendment I and free speech, advocating punishments for American who burn the American flag. "Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag," Trump wrote on Twitter, "if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” There are no criminal consequences for flag burning, however, because the Supreme Court has twice ruled that flag burning is a type of political expression. That means it is protected from government punishment by the First Amendment. On his remarks regarding losing citizenship, it is unconstitutional to strip citizenship for most crimes. The only way an American citizen can lose citizenship, under federal law, is by taking explicit action to "voluntarily" show intent of "relinquishing" citizenship. Examples include formally declaring allegiance to another state, renouncing citizenship before a U.S. consular officer while abroad, or taking violent action to overthrow or "levy war against" the United States. It is interesting to note though that in 2006, 65 senators voted for a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. That effort, which failed to reach the supermajority required for amending the Constitution, did not mention jail time or revoking citizenship as a punishment. As far as burning the flag in protest, history will show that it is not an effective way to protest. It outrages more people than it engages, and ends up being counterproductive, regardless of whether it is legally protected or not.