Free Republic

For years, Bryant Park Grill & Cafe in Midtown Manhattan has been one of the country’s top-grossing restaurants, the star property in Ark Restaurants’ portfolio of 20 restaurants across the United States. But what propelled it to the top has vanished. The tourists are gone, the office towers surrounding it are largely empty and the restaurant’s 1,000-seat dining room is closed. Instead, dinner is cooked and served on its patio, and the scaled-down restaurant brings in about $12,000 a day — an 85 percent plunge in revenue, its chief executive said. Five months into the pandemic, the drastic turn of...

In the heart of Manhattan, national chains including J.C. Penney, Kate Spade, Subway and Le Pain Quotidien have shuttered branches for good. Many other large brands, like Victoria’s Secret and the Gap, have kept their high-profile locations closed in Manhattan, while reopening in other states. Michael Weinstein, the chief executive of Ark Restaurants, said he will never open another restaurant in New York. Of Ark Restaurants’ five Manhattan restaurants, only two have reopened, while its properties in Florida — where the virus is far worse — have expanded outdoor seating with tents and tables into their parking lots, serving almost...

A Republican in Congress raised the name of the CIA officer accused of being the Ukraine whistleblower during a congressional hearing about Puerto Rico last month. Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas asked Natalie Jaresko, Ukraine’s former finance minister, who is now executive director of the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, whether she had any involvement with National Security Council officials in her previous post. He cited an April 2016 meeting at a Le Pain Quotidien restaurant close to the White House between Eric Ciaramella, another White House official, and Ukrainian parliamentarian Olga Bielkova. A Foreign Agents Registration...

As reported yesterday, news on the Internet is spreading quickly. Many now believe there are at minimum connections between Adam Schiff’s leaker, aka the “whistleblower,” to the now infamous Eric Ciaramello – Obama’s Director of Ukraine at the NSC. Here’s more on the infamous Director of NSC for Obama in the Ukraine. Somehow this guy is believed to be very close to the leaker that Adam Schiff refuses to provide to the American public. For starters, it turns out that the fake Russia collusion junk dossier was initiated on the same day by the same people that met Eric Ciaramella....