Free Republic

Approximately 50,000 GM factory workers will each get a profit-sharing check totaling $11,750 later this month, according to company statements as reported in the Detroit Free Press and USA Today. In addition, about 40,000 union workers at Fiat-Chrysler will get profit-sharing checks of $5,500, as well as $2,000 bonuses. Also, about 54,000 workers at Ford will get profit-sharing checks of $7,500 each. GM made $12.8 billion in pre-tax profits in 2017, said USA Today. Fiat-Chrysler earned $4.4 billion in pre-tax profits in 2017, and Ford pulled in $8.4 billion in pretax profits. "The actions we took to further strengthen our...

Lost in all the brouhaha about "The Da Vinci Code" is a simple observation that seems to have gotten lost with all the protests and condemnations and threats of boycotts. It's just not very good. I'm a latecomer to this whole kerfuffle. Blissfully oblivious to the controversy, I didn't even know what the book was about until a couple of weeks ago, when I picked it up to kill some time on a long airplane flight. I wasn't more than 20 pages into Dan Brown's thriller when I realized what a woofer it was going to be. Readable? You betcha....

HOW long ago was it that you last heard some pundit blather on about the US being "the greatest empire since Rome"? Quite a while, I imagine. For if the Iraqi insurgency has done nothing else, it has induced a sense of humility and of the limits of American power. Surely all Americans hope the Iraqi elections will usher in a coalition that will let us depart. But it is time we stood back and took a hard look at what this war tells us, not only about the US's ability but also about the wisdom of trying to remake...

Just a quick question...I've noticed several articles on FR with the keyword "CARY." The articles seem to cover a very diverse range of topics. What does CARY mean? Is it an acronym? Curious.....

The Catholic Church was for a long time in awe of its superstar Pope, a man who fulfilled more than the wildest hopes and dreams of the cardinals who elected him one humid autumn afternoon in 1978. The papacy was in a severe trough at the end of the reign of Pope Paul VI, and in severe crisis hardly a month later when his successor, John Paul I, failed to wake from a night's sleep.Paul VI seemed to have lost confidence in himself and his office after the rough ride that his encyclical on birth control, Humanae Vitae, received in...

Iraq has warned that it will not abide by any new resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council. What a surprise. Anyone surprised? Bueller? Bueller? - Ivan State radio said the decision to reject any new conditions had been made during a meeting involving President Saddam Hussein and senior officials. "American officials are trying to issue or pass a new, bad resolution by the Security Council. Iraq declares it will not deal with any new resolutions," the brief announcement said. Under growing international pressure, Iraq announced on Monday it would accept the unconditional return of international weapons inspectors nearly...

GA/PAL/880                                                                                                                                                                        10 April 2002  UN INTERNATIONAL MEETING TO SUPPORT MIDDLE EAST PEACETO CONVENE IN NICOSIA, CYPRUS, 16 - 17 APRIL NGO Meeting in Solidarity with Palestinian People to Take Place on 18 April  NEW YORK, 10 April (Department of Political Affairs) -- The United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People will convene the United Nations International Meeting in Support of Middle East Peace in Nicosia, on 16 and 17 April.  The Meeting will be followed, on 18 April, by a United Nations NGO Meeting in Solidarity with the Palestinian...

UN environment agency backs BBC TV series on sustainable development28 March – The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today it would sponsor a BBC television series focusing on sustainable development in the lead-up to the UN World Summit for Sustainable Development to take place later this year in South Africa. The BBC Earth Report programmes that UNEP will support cover topics such as wildlife smuggling, sustainable fisheries and water contamination. The series, seen weekly in some 180 million homes on BBC World Television, is the "only weekly series on global television that sets out to cover the issues on...

MIDDLE EAST: UN Rights Mission Heads to Zone of ConflictMon Apr 8, 7:00 PM ETGustavo Capdevila,Inter Press ServiceGENEVA, Apr 8 (IPS) - The Middle East mission headed by the United Nations (news - web sites) High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, is slated to begin investigating the humanitarian situation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories Tuesday. • European Platform for Conflict Prevention and Transformation • Human Rights Action Project • OneWorld Full Coverage on Conflict • Baladna-Association for Arab Youth The High Commissioner will be accompanied by former Spanish prime minister Felipe González and former head of the...