David Fox on Nashville’s Special Election for Mayor: ‘I Have Decided Not to Run’

In a statement posted on Facebook Thursday, businessman David Fox announced he has decided not to run for Nashville Mayor in the upcoming special election to replace Megan Barry, to whom he lost in a runoff in 2015. “While I would like to run and would love to be mayor of Nashville because it’s an extraordinary platform from which to help people and to ensure that our city is in good shape, I have decided not to enter the race,” Fox said. The area businessman explained that a number of factors, including the personal financial cost of a campaign, the long odds of winning a short campaign, and the stress that a campaign puts on the family persuaded him to stand down this special election cycle. Fox was complimentary of acting Mayor Briley, saying, “I know David Briley to be a good person with a great family. We became friends 14 years ago when his son and our oldest son were born hours apart and a room apart at Baptist Hospital. Any differences I have with David are only on policy issues.” He continued: Still, I think it’s important that we have a mayor who recognizes we are over-spending our way into…

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If Big Box Stores Are Dying Off, What Do We Do with All the Boxes?

My memory of Toys ‘R’ Us now consists mostly of big empty boxes. While I don’t remember many of the toys I got at Christmas as a child, the image of clumps of wrapping paper and piles of discarded cardboard is forever imprinted in my brain. Now, Toys ‘R’ Us is leaving us with much bigger empty boxes—but these won’t be as easy to throw away. On March 15, the company announced that, without a Hail Mary influx of cash, the beloved chain will be closing, leaving its 800-odd American storefronts vacant.

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Harvard Legal Icon Doubts Pardon-Obstruction Narrative

Famed Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz disputed a Democratic senator’s contention Thursday that a reported pardon discussion involving President Donald Trump’s lawyer amounts to “textbook” obstruction of justice. The New York Times reported Wednesday that John Dowd, who then was representing the president in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, floated the idea of a presidential pardon for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former campaign boss Paul Manafort in conversations with their attorneys.

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Donald Trump Says He’s Had Concerns with Amazon’s Business Model Prior to the Election

President Trump said Thursday that he’s had concerns with Amazon’s business model long before running for president. “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Mr. Trump tweeted.

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Meet the Clinton Charity They Didn’t Want You to Know About

Though much has been said concerning the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, analysts have not trained enough attention yet on another tax-exempt organization the Clintons control, The Clinton Family Foundation. Unlike the better known charity started almost 21 years ago as an archive and research center for presidential records created during Bill Clinton’s eight-year- White House tenure, the second entity — a grant-making charity whose Employer Identification Number is 30-0048438 — was formed in December 2001 and can only make donations to validly organized and operated public charities.

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Our Favorite Products with Absurd Medicinal Histories

When men were men and sodas were cocaine-laced nerve tonics. Mmm medicine. PxHere Before they were staples in your fridge or household supply cabinet, many ordinary products were used in extraordinary (and often totally absurd) medical contexts. The most popular example is Coca-Cola, which was first brewed on March 29, 1886 by Georgia-based pharmacist John Stith Pemberton. The sugary soda was originally marketed as a “nerve tonic.” Ads from the 19th century promote the drink, which contained a few milligrams of cocaine per glass, as a way to increase intelligence, relieve exhaustion, and cope with emotions like hysteria and melancholy. Pemberton himself became interested in brewing the drink as a way to manage his morphine addiction, from which many Civil War veterans suffered.

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Carol Swain Commentary: Nashville Needs a Choice, Not an Echo, in Mayoral Election

Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” It is beginning to look like Nashvillians will have no real choice when they cast their August 2 ballots for the city’s next mayor. The closing date for candidates to file their papers is noon April 5, and, so far, no strong candidates have risen to challenge interim Mayor David Briley. Consequently, there is no different vision for the city. Briley is about continuity and carrying forward the vision Megan Barry and the business leaders and developers cast for the city. No one seems to question if Megan Barry’s vision for the city was what native Nashvillians needed or wanted. This is unfortunate because it deprives voters of an opportunity to hear competing ideas about what kind of city Nashville should be, how fast it should grow, and what, if any, responsibilities we owe to native Nashvillians who find the city they love unaffordable. In 2017, a financial and planning website, GoBankingRates, applied a cost-of-living index comparing cities and found Nashville had the greatest increase in cost and that it would take an income of $70,150 to live comfortably in the city. Meanwhile, U.S. Census data from 2016 placed…

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Policy Watchdog Asks Probe of Labor Board Member Over Leak

by Kevin Mooney   Allegations that a member of the National Labor Relations Board improperly disclosed internal deliberations should be investigated, a Washington labor policy analyst says in a letter to the board’s inspector general. Board member Mark Gaston Pearce “allegedly discussed information from documents involving internal Board deliberations” at a meeting of the American Bar Association last month, Competitive Enterprise Institute analyst Trey Kovacs tells the inspector general in the letter. Pearce “reportedly provided advance notice of an NLRB decision to issue an order to vacate the Board’s decision in Hy-Brand Industrial Contractors Ltd. and Brandt Construction Co.,” Kovacs writes in the letter to Inspector General David Berry, dated Wednesday. The board’s pro-union actions demonstrate how it operates as though Barack Obama were still president, and not Donald Trump, the Competitive Enterprise Institute analyst says. The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more >> “There appears to be a troublesome double standard at the NLRB,” Kovacs told The Daily Signal in an email. “The NLRB Inspector General Office has shown zeal for investigating Republican NLRB members, but not Democratic members.” Just after noon Wednesday, a spokesman for the NLRB said…

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David Shulkin Says His Stance Against Privatizing the VA Led to His Firing

Outgoing Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said Thursday that he was fired because of his stance against privatizing the department. “I think that it’s essential for national security and for the country that we honor our commitment by having a strong VA. I was not against reforming VA, but I was against privatization,” Mr. Shulkin said on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition.”

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Jeff Hartline Commentary: Security for Me But None for Thee

by Jeff Hartline   Most Americans bristle when the U.S. Congress passes laws for us, but exempt themselves from those same laws. Case in point: In 2009, under the leadership of Barack Obama, Democrats passed Obamacare, saddling Americans with massive increases in health insurance premiums or just loss of their coverage. In a move that defied description, Congress exempted itself from the ACA requirements they foisted on everyone else. If that makes you mad, you’ve got bigger problems closer to home. Between 1993 and 2010, Tennesseans began regaining their long-lost-to-Jim Crow-era 2nd Amendment rights. With the influx of a Republican supermajority in recent years, the hope was that these rights would be fully restored under the leadership of supposed 2nd Amendment “supporters.” But those supporters never counted on Beth Harwell. Since she was elected Speaker of the Tennessee House, she has methodically opposed 2nd Amendment legislation, set up committees that would block 2nd Amendment legislation, work with lobbyists and activist groups to intimidate 2nd Amendment supporters, intimidate and punish lawmakers pushing for 2nd Amendment legislation and protected those who stood with her in these schemes. And now, the coup de grace – the demand that State Representative David Byrd (R…

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New South Korean Trade Deal and Progress on Denuclearization in North Korea Proves Tariffs, Sanctions and Pressure Work

By Robert Romano   In “The Art of the Deal,” President Donald Trump wrote: “Leverage: don’t make deals without it.” Three developments in the past week prove that President Trump’s approach to foreign affairs where he utilizes all the tools in his arsenal including tariffs, sanctions, and overall pressure — are yielding dividends in the Asia Pacific region because they exerted significant leverage by the U.S. South Korea and the U.S. have agreed to new amendments to the U.S.-South Korean trade agreement, where South Korea agreed to reduce its steel export quota by 30 percent and to double the amount of American-made cars that are imported. In exchange, the U.S. will grant South Korea an exemption to President Trump’s 25 percent tariff on steel imports. Senior administration officials have also hinted that a new currency agreement is in the works that would address exchange rate and Treasury markets manipulation. These were all things Trump had spoken of last June when South Korean President Moon Jae-In visited the White House. Now they’re actually being delivered. All because of Trump’s tough stance on trade, including the tariffs but also his call for trade to be fair and reciprocal. The discussions were ongoing, South Korea was…

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Commentary: The Demands of Antifa and the Original Fascists Have a Lot in Common

by Antony Mueller   A ghastly phantom has descended upon America: the specter of anti-capitalism. Young people march behind the socialist bandwagon and some activists block free speech as members of a group called “Antifa”. This “anti-fascist” movement engages in militant protests and does not shrink from using violence. As a part of the extreme left, the members of the “antifa-movement” are self-proclaimed “anti-capitalists” and declared “enemies of the right”. They call themselves “anti-fascist”, when, in fact, more than any other ideology, fascism characterizes their own movement. Yet what is fascism and what is the content of this ideology? The “Fascist Manifesto” The Fascist Manifesto was proclaimed in 1919 by Alceste De Ambris and Filippo Tommaso Marienetti. In their pamphlet, the authors called for an eight-hour workday and a minimum wage; it demanded worker representation in industrial management and equal standing of trade unions, industrial executives, and public servants. The Manifesto demanded the confiscation of the property of all religious institutions. The authors of the Fascist Manifesto demanded progressive taxation, invalidity insurance, and other types of social benefits, along with reducing the retirement age. The Manifesto demanded the confiscation of the property of all religious institutions and to nationalize the armament industry. The authors…

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Randy Boyd Declines to Endorse Marsha Blackburn for U.S. Senate

Randy Boyd Declines to Endorse Marsha Blackburn for U.S. Senate

Tennessee Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd appeared on WNWS Radio in Jackson, TN Thursday to talk about a variety of issues, including the need for more focus on West Tennessee economic development. Boyd is former Tennessee Commissioner of Economic Development and noted that he is a 7th generation Tennessean with 6th of those generations living in West Tennessee. After pointing out several of the economic development projects he successfully helped bring to the area Boyd noted that the region is very important to him. “West Tennessee has been left behind the last twenty years,” Boyd said. “We need a Governor who will focus on it and I will be that Governor.” “We are going to finish the Megasite,” Boyd promised, “land a big major manufacturer and several smaller manufacturers, and generate 34,000 forty jobs that will transform West Tennessee just like Middle Tennessee was transformed when Nissan landed there 34 years ago.” Host Dan Reaves asked Boyd for his thoughts about Congresswoman Diane Black (who is also running for Governor) endorsing Marsha Blackburn in her Senate primary earlier this week. “I’m not really thinking too much about what Diane Black is or isn’t doing,” Boyd said. “I think Marsha’s been…

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