• Better-than-expected March jobs report: U.S. payroll numbers rose by 228,000 in March, blowing away the Dow Jones estimate of 140,000. The previous two months were revised downward, however, with the January jobs report falling from 125,000 to 111,000 (-14,000) and the February report falling from 151,000 to 117,000 (-34,000). That makes the March figure all the more welcome — if it holds. Federal government employment declined by 4,000 jobs. At the same time, government employment at the state and local levels increased by roughly 23,000. The most significant gains were found in healthcare, social assistance, transportation, and retail. Retail is coming off a strike, so food and beverage retailers saw big gains (+20,700). Labor force participation held steady at 62.5%. Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs notwithstanding, this is an encouraging report on the state of the jobs market.

• 50 countries seek tariff talks: Can something be predictable and impressive simultaneously? That’s the feeling you get when the National Economic Council director and Treasury secretary both report that more than 50 nations have reached out to the White House to negotiate on the tariffs Donald Trump imposed last Wednesday. It’s impressive that Trump consistently makes foreign leaders dance to his tune, though it’s predictable that when the largest economy on earth imposes tariffs on essentially everyone, foreign leaders will try to make those tariffs disappear. These 50+ nations anticipate serious negative economic results if these tariffs remain in place. However, White House economic adviser Peter Navarro warned that the U.S. expects more than reduced tariffs on American goods. “It’s the non-tariff cheating,” Navarro says. “Stop manipulating your currency.” Apparently, the tariffs driving economic crises worldwide aren’t going away easily.

• TikTok gets 75 more days: A year ago, Congress passed a bill that forces ByteDance, the Chinese company behind TikTok, to divest its stake in TikTok or see the app banned in the U.S. That law took effect just before Donald Trump took office, though his promises to force a sale of the app resulted in TikTok restoring U.S. access until a deal goes through. In January, Trump managed to kick the deadline down the road, which was not quite legal. Yet he signed another executive order late last week granting another 75 days. Reports are that a sale slated for April 5 was tanked by the “Liberation Day” tariffs on China. The TikTok law is clear: No sale should mean no TikTok in America. Unfortunately, Trump is grossly stretching if not actually breaking the law.

• Signal snafu caused by Apple auto-suggestion: The latest entry into the now-infamous “Signalgate” story is that National Security Advisor Michael Waltz may have been right in his initial statement that Jeffrey Goldberg got added to the text group because Goldberg’s number was “sucked in” to his phone. The story goes back to October 2024, when Waltz’s communications chief, Brian Hughes, copied an email from Goldberg about a hit piece he was writing into a text sent to Waltz’s phone. That email included Goldberg’s signature block and a phone number. Waltz’s phone saw a text from Brian Hughes with a new phone number and auto-associated that number with Hughes’s contact. Months later, when Waltz tried to add Hughes to the Signal chat about the attack on the Houthis, his phone grabbed Goldberg’s number. This is an embarrassing account, but it was a mistake, not a malicious action.

• Illinois lawmakers target homeschoolers: Homeschoolers have a reputation for self-learning, winning spelling bees, and not falling into every cultural trend that sweeps public schools. Public schools are known for rote learning, political indoctrination, and general chaos. Illinois lawmakers seem unaware of these reputations as they attempt to pass their Homeschool Act. “This bill … treats [parents] as criminals, guilty until proven innocent,” says a Chicagoland Homeschool Network leader. This bill would initially require parents to submit homeschool declarations and education portfolios to the local public school, allow at-home inspections, and provide health documentation for children who wish to participate in public school activities. Failure to keep up with all these requirements could lead to jail time for parents. Some 90,000 residents have made their opposition to this bill known, while approximately 1,000 support the bill. This is government overreach of the worst order.

• Mastercard overhauls censorship policy: Good news for conservatives: Mastercard promises to no longer try to censor half the political spectrum — wait, what? The credit card giant has agreed that the choice to run or not run an ad should be decided by Mastercard, not some third party of globalist bureaucrats like GARM. This comes after Inspire Investing, represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, put pressure on Mastercard over its involvement with GARM and its boycott of X. All it took was a proposed shareholder resolution to investigate Mastercard’s involvement with GARM for Mastercard to agree to stop letting any third-party influence in its marketing choices. This is a significant step in securing the financial freedom necessary for a society to have truly free speech.

Headlines

• Mike Johnson strikes deal with Anna Paulina Luna on parental proxy voting (The Hill)

• AOC would beat Chuck Schumer by double digits, poll finds (Washington Free Beacon)

• Senate hearing on Daylight Saving Time set (The Hill)

• North Carolina appeals court finds merit in GOP challenge of nation’s last unsettled 2024 election (Just the News)

• Colorado father fights to keep government from sterilizing his 14-year-old son (The Federalist)

• Brits try to bury their gang-rape scandal (Hot Air)

• Humor: Ten major effects of Trump’s tariffs (Babylon Bee)

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