Main Street Independent

TAG  ·  Religion & Society

mental health

Unlawful firings leave federal workers with PTSD-like symptoms, survey finds

Illustration accompanying article: Unlawful firings leave federal workers with PTSD-like symptoms, survey finds
  • A survey of more than 300 federal probationary employees fired during Donald Trump's second term found that 95% reported ongoing mental health effects, with nearly half experiencing PTSD-like symptoms and a quarter now taking new medications to manage their conditions.
  • The survey, conducted by 27UNIHTED, a network of former National Institutes of Health employees, drew respondents from 43 states and the US Virgin Islands who had worked across 12 federal departments.
  • A federal judge ruled in September 2025 that the mass firings of probationary workers were unlawful, though the ruling did not require the government to reinstate them.
  • One in five fired workers surveyed remained unemployed as of January 2026, and 49% of those who found new jobs reported earning significantly less, contradicting Trump's public claim that fired workers were receiving higher pay.
  • Russell Vought, the lead architect of Project 2025 and head of the Office of Management and Budget, was recorded in 2024 saying, "We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected," a comment that fired workers cited as evidence the harm was intentional.
 3 MIN READ

No one speaks for four men bludgeoned to death on New York City streets as killer sentenced

Illustration accompanying article: No one speaks for four men bludgeoned to death on New York City streets as killer…
  • Four men who were sleeping on the streets of Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood were bludgeoned to death with a metal bar by Randy Santos in October 2019, and no victim impact statements were delivered at his sentencing on Thursday because no friend or family member was present in the courtroom.
  • Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Alfred Peterson told Judge Laura A. Ward that the absence of speakers was itself a loss, saying, “There are no victim impact statements here today. There’s nobody here to tell this court about their lives and how their absence is a loss.”
  • Santos was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison, with his defense attorney acknowledging the diagnosis of schizophrenia that fueled the attack while expressing remorse on Santos’s behalf.
  • The attack occurred early on the morning of October 5, 2019, when Santos moved among four separate men sleeping in the Bowery area, striking each repeatedly in the head, and had attacked a fifth man earlier that same night.
 3 MIN READ
Illustration accompanying article: Trump signs order to accelerate psychedelic drug reviews including ibogaine