Year: 2025

That Feeling Is ‘Collective Fear’

Buck Banks

“We are witnessing an extraordinarily broad chilling effect in American society. It is not just what you want to say, but what you are allowed to ask. It is about both formal government actions and informal threats, with threats of professional ruin or even violence from the President’s supporters. It is about both censorship and self-censorship. It is about a sense of collective fear.”

— Don Moynihan

U.S. Has Most Layoffs in a Month Since COVID Lockdown

Buck Banks

172,000

The U.S. had ~172,000 layoffs in February, up 245% from January and the most in a single month since the Covid pandemic in 2020, according to a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. That’s also the most job cuts in the month of February since 2009, during the financial crisis. More than a third of those layoffs (~62,000) came from the Department of Government Efficiency’s federal headcount reduction. But it wasn’t just federal workers who were laid off: Retail was also hit hard, losing nearly 40,000 roles. Per CNBC, the sector has lost six times more jobs so far this year than it did in the same period last year.

Trump Might Revoke Legal Status of 240,000 Ukrainians

Buck Banks

240,000

“President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to revoke temporary legal status for some 240,000 Ukrainians who fled the conflict with Russia, potentially putting them on a fast-track to deportation,” Reuters reports. “The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden’s administration.”

Canada Ready to Pull the Plug on Electricity Exports to U.S.

Buck Banks

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do everything — including cut off their energy with a smile on my face. …They rely on our energy, they need to feel the pain. They want to come at us hard, we’re going to come back twice as hard.”

— “Speaking Monday at a mining convention in downtown Toronto, Ontario Premier Doug Ford doubled down on threats to cut electricity exports to U.S. border states if the tariffs go through,” the Toronto Sun reports.