🗞️Layoffs Hit NBC News

October 15th, 2025

What happened today 🇺🇸,

• NBC News is laying off about 150 employees, which represents roughly 7% to 8% of its staff, due to economic pressures and in preparation for the separation of MSNBC and CNBC into a new company called Versant

• For the first time in 20 years, the U.S. passport has fallen out of the top 10 most powerful passports globally, dropping to 12th place in the latest Henley Passport Index with visa-free access to 180 destinations

• War/Defense Secretary Hegseth's plane made an unscheduled emergency landing in England due to a cracked windshield while flying over the Atlantic Ocean…no injuries were reported

• President Trump said today that he is considering sending National Guard troops to San Francisco as a part of his "crime crackdown"

• Reports today stated that the Trump administration has secretly authorized the CIA to conduct lethal covert operations inside Venezuela as part of an intensified campaign to remove Nicolás Maduro from power

• Federal judge, Susan Illston, has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from firing federal employees during the ongoing government shutdown

• Bank of America and Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) have been hit with lawsuits accusing them of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations…read more here 

• BlackRock, Nvidia, Microsoft, and xAI are part of a group of investors who have agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion, marking the largest data center deal in history…the group aims to accelerate development of massive AI-optimized data centers across North and South America

• Google's autonomous driving unit Waymo is set to introduce its fully self-driving ride-hailing service to Europe for the first time in London, England…testing of Waymo's self-driving cars on London streets with human safety drivers is planned to begin in the coming weeks, with official commercial robotaxi service expected to launch in 2026

• Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler and Jeep, has announced a $13 billion investment in its U.S. operations, this investment will expand U.S. vehicle production by 50%, introduce five new vehicle models, and create more than 5,000 new jobs over the next four years

• J.M. Smucker Company has filed a lawsuit against Trader Joe's, alleging that the grocery company's new crustless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are too similar to Smucker's Uncrustables brand

• DOW down .04% / S&P up .40%

Bonus: A Gallup poll showing trust in mass media by age from 2001-2025

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Comic of the week 😂: Our current political climate…

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