Free Republic

Of all the burdens Manhattan has borne this January, the imminent closing of the 24-hour Midtown West Rite Aid hardly qualifies as a tragedy. But the fact that an otherwise-thriving major corporation is giving up on core Manhattan matters for our decaying borough. The pharmacy, on 8th Avenue and 50th Street, will close Feb. 8. Last week, it was effectively already shuttered, with most of the store cordoned off with gates. Just a small, strange assortment — children’s coloring books jumbled with vitamins — was marooned on front shelves on “clearance.” The clearance prices were ironic — because the reason...

On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a warning on the debt-ceiling hike. “Let’s get on with writing the bill,” she said. “I don’t need to see markets drop 400 points. But Republicans may need to see markets drop 400 points.” Pelosi remembers September 2008, when the House, then controlled by the Democrats, initially voted against the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Stocks plunged 778 points. Only after her caucus felt the visceral terror of an impending depression was Pelosi able to cobble together votes to counter Republican opposition. If the House goes to the wire this time, there will...

<p>December 8, 2003 -- THE horror of 9/11 presented New York with this reality: Our task is not to build a soaring memorial Downtown to honor our abstract dead. Rather, we must create a cemetery, where the city will bury flesh and bone.</p>