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...

Major retailers in the United States are shutting down hundreds of stores, and shoppers are reporting alarmingly bare shelves in many retail locations that are still open all over the country. It appears that the retail apocalypse that made so many headlines in 2015 has gone to an entirely new level as we enter 2016. As economic activity slows down and Internet retailers capture more of the market, brick and mortar retailers are cutting their losses. This is especially true in areas that are on the lower portion of the income scale. In impoverished urban centers all over the nation,...

IT WAS wrenching to listen to President Bush's news conference yesterday. He's struggling to do the right thing. But he's getting terrible advice. He's still counting on a political solution in Iraq. Ain't going to happen. And you can take that to the blood bank. Our famously loyal president has one grave flaw: He's a poor judge of character. He trusts the wrong people. Then he sticks by them. Bush met Russia's Vladimir Putin, "looked into his soul" - and failed to recognize that the guy is an unreformed secret policeman. He stubbornly defends Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the Pentagon's...

Strains grow over strategy to rein in Iran By Daniel Dombeyin London andStephen Fidler in Singapore Published: June 4 2007 03:00 | Last updated: June 4 2007 03:00 The international strategy to deal with Iran's nuclear programme is coming under increasing strain, diplomats and officials acknowledge. Consensus is fraying among the big powers that have fashioned the current policy of imposing limited United Nations sanctions to persuade Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment - which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons grade material - while offering the prospect of better relations if it complies. The Bush administration is caught between...

Can David Petraeus Rebuild a Nation? Lt. General David Petraeus is set to take over in Iraq. Here, we present an excerpt from Thomas P.M. Barnett's March 2006 profile of Barnett. By Thomas P. M. Barnett The naming of Lieutenant General David Petraeus as the top American ground commander in Iraq marks the arrival of one of the Army’s most daring and original thinkers at the top of U.S. decision making on Iraq. Petraeus has been the subject of two very different articles in Esquire in the last year—the first by contributing writer Thomas P.M. Barnett was part of an...

March 14, 2014, 11:53 am President defends his pants By Justin Sink President Obama complained during an interview Friday with Ryan Seacrest that he has been "unfairly maligned" for his jeans selection. "I've been unfairly maligned about my jeans," Obama told the radio host. "The truth is, generally, I look very sharp in jeans. There was one episode like four years ago in which I was wearing loose jeans, mainly because I was out on the pitchers mound and didn't want to feel confined while I was pitching." Earlier this month, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin mocked Obama's...

Buried in the details of the deal to close California's $19-billion budget deficit is a roughly $30-million tax break crafted to benefit a company owned by members of one of the state's richest and most politically influential families, according to a legislative analysis obtained by The Times. The provision, which will allow the Humboldt Redwood Co. to deduct $20 million in old losses from future taxes, is also expected to cover penalties and interest for the firm co-owned by three sons of Donald G. Fisher, founder of the Gap and Banana Republic, said company Chairman Sandy Dean. The tax break...

Gap, which owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, Forth & Towne and Piperlime, has become the latest politically correct retailer, intentionally censoring the use of "Christmas" in their in-store, online and printed advertising. Instead of referring to the season as Christmas, Gap instead uses the word "holiday." As hard as we tried, AFA could not find a single instance in which Gap-owned stores use the term "Christmas." Not a single time! When one Old Navy store manager was asked by AFA if the word Christmas was in his store, he answered, "We have a lot of Christmas gifts in our stores,...

A year later, Gap continues to censor Christmas At Gap, the score is "holiday" 172 and "Christmas" 3 At Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, Christmas hardly exists. For these three companies, all owned by Gap, the only items listed as having anything to do with Christmas were a pair of boxer shorts and a child's sleepwear set. Last year, when Gap also censored Christmas, we contacted the company. The company refused to change their policy of censoring Christmas. This year the company has continued their practice of censoring Christmas from their stores and promotions. The only conclusion one can...