The Patriot Post® · Friday Top News Executive Summary
The March jobs numbers are heartening, to say the least. In February, the economy saw the addition of an alarmingly low 33,000 jobs. In March, however, CNBC reports that payrolls jumped to 196,000. Wage gains grew by 0.14% and the headline unemployment rate remains 3.8%.
On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced, “We’re going to give [Mexico] a one-year warning and if the drugs don’t stop or largely stop, we’re going to put tariffs on Mexico and products, in particular cars. And if that doesn’t stop the drugs, we close the border.” This negates, for now, the economic impact of an immediate shutdown while giving the U.S. time to evaluate Mexico’s willingness to take effective measures.
According to testimony by former Border Patrol Chief Mark Morgan: “Today, 60 to 65 percent of those illegally crossing are family units and minors, and because of our broken laws and policies, those individuals are allowed into the country. So let’s do the math. One million this year anticipated. That’s means we’re going to release 650,000 individuals into this country that are going to remain here indefinitely. This makes the current crisis in my opinion the worst we’ve ever experienced.”
Democrats are trying hard now to incriminate Attorney General William Barr, a ploy to which the Justice Department responded: “Given the extraordinary public interest in the matter, the Attorney General decided to release the [Robert Mueller] report’s bottom-line findings and his conclusions immediately — without attempting to summarize the report — with the understanding that the report itself would be released after the redactions process. The Department continues to work with the Special Counsel on appropriate redactions to the report so that it can be released to Congress and the public.”
The Washington Post says, “The White House could attempt to block the release of President Trump’s tax returns to Democrats,” which is perfectly understandable given the Democrats’ persistent witch hunt.
Unsurprisingly, Jussie Smollett has ignored Chicago’s reimbursement deadline related to its investigation of Smollett’s hate-hoax, which prompted the city yesterday to begin initiating a lawsuit to recoup investigatory expenditures. Meanwhile, other reports suggest Smollett will get his “Empire” job back.
Reuters reports that “Trump plans to nominate former pizza chain executive and Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board, where he will help set interest rates for the world’s biggest economy.” Assuming all goes according to plan, Cain will sit alongside Stephen Moore, who is also being nominated by Trump to join the board.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact has procured another member. The New Mexico governor this week signed off on a bill that circumvents the Electoral College by utilizing the popular vote. “States that have passed similar legislation … now represent 189 electoral votes,” according to The Daily Caller. “The compact could become official when that number hits 270, enough votes to elect the president of the United States.”
Welfare reform: “More than 750,000 people, many among the nation’s poorest, would likely lose their food stamps this year under a new rule proposed by the Trump administration. The proposed rule aims to make more able-bodied adults work for government aid by placing limitations on a state’s ability to waive the current employment requirement for recipients.” (The Hill)
“Rejecting a plank of President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, the House on Thursday invoked never-before-used powers to demand that his administration withdraw support from the Saudi-led war in Yemen. The Senate passed the same resolution in March with bipartisan support. Trump is expected to issue a veto of the measure, his second as president, and Congress does not have the votes to override him.” (Associated Press)
Humor: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything endorse Bernie Sanders (The Babylon Bee)
Policy: Why China’s intellectual-property theft is a concern for national security (The Daily Signal)
Policy:The implications of closing the U.S.-Mexico border (American Action Forum)
For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.