Trump said he would send the National Guard to Toronto and impose 50% tariffs on all Los Angeles products. AllGov reporter Sidney Finster suggested that perhaps Trump had confused the two cities. Because Toronto is in Canada, not the United States, Trump can’t send the National Guard there. And because Los Angeles is in the United States, Trump can’t impose tariffs on a U.S. city. Trump defended his position by saying, “I’m always right.”   read more

The U.S., Singapore, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Israel are getting the biggest bang for their buck in economic and digital innovation. The Geneva-based World Economic Forum says in its new Global Information Technology Report that trends suggest individuals, not business or government, are driving the digital revolution and an already large gap in infrastructure between rich and developing countries is widening.   read more

Sada is certainly aware of his charge to counter the negative statements Trump has made about Mexico. Sada’s predecessor, Miguel Basañez Ebergenyi, had been criticized for his lackluster response to Trump’s disparaging remarks about Mexican undocumented immigrants. Consequently, President Enrique Peña Nieto nominated Sada to replace Basañez. “We need to do a more thorough job so that people understand what (Mexico) contributes,” Sada said after being sworn in.   read more

“This isn’t an estimate, this is the answer,” said the VA's Dr. Shulkin. Hardest hit were young veterans. The suicide rate for vets age 18-29 was 86 deaths per 100,000 for men and 33 per 100,000 for women — much higher than previous estimates, and almost twice as high as other age groups. Women were also disproportionately hit. Though female vets commit suicide at lower rates than males, those under 30 are more than six times as likely to take their own lives as women in the civilian world.   read more

The study has concluded what many people have long thought, but which could not be proved because of a lack of data: African-Americans are far more likely than other groups to be the victims of use of force by the police. The report largely refutes explanations from some police officials that blacks are more likely to be subjected to police force because they are more frequently involved in criminal activity. Black activists said the study was far from surprising.   read more

The report the committee produced is a scathing indictment of the TSA's disciplinary policies and employee morale and behavior. More than 1,200 employees at TSA had at least five allegations filed against them between 2013 and 2015. Long wait times, lax security checks and allegations of rampant mismanagement have plagued the TSA in the past year, causing agency head Peter Neffenger to become something of a fixture at Capitol Hill oversight hearings.   read more

While TV remains the main source of news for Americans, younger viewers are shifting to smartphones and websites for information. Since 2013, the number of people getting news on mobile devices increased from 54% to 72%. And seven in ten people aged 18 to 29 prefer or only use their mobile devices for news. Nearly 60% of news readers now access their news online, while only 26% read print publications. The percentage of adults who read print newspapers has dropped from 27 to 20 since 2013.   read more

A White House campaign to help military families has hit a new milestone: All 50 states have eased the requirements for military spouses whose careers require a professional license. Michelle Obama said just three states accepted licenses from other states when she and Jill Biden launched a broader initiative in 2011 to help military families. Mrs. Obama and Jill Biden asked the nation's governors in 2011 to streamline licensing requirements. Nearly half of the states had done so by 2012.   read more

The misconduct involved psychiatrists seducing the emotionally fragile; doctors fondling minors; anesthesiologists molesting sedated patients; obstetricians raping women. They include some of the country's most accomplished physicians, including the doctor for a basketball franchise, the president of a medical society, and pioneering researchers. The scale and scope of misdeeds varied from lewd comments during intimate exams, to rapes of mentally and physically disabled patients.   read more

Many of the people who already live in Boulder would prefer that the newcomers settle somewhere else. “The experience of being in Boulder...has to do with being able to go to this meadow and it isn’t just littered with human beings,” said Pomerance. All of Boulder’s charms are under threat, he said. People now worry that growth is killing the place they love. But a growing body of literature suggests that anti-growth sentiment is a major factor in creating a stagnant and less equal U.S. economy.   read more

When her mother returned, Padron couldn't even sit in her wheelchair. She was left to lie in bed for about 165 hours a week — without specialized services, including physical therapies. She eventually was unable to straighten her wrists, ankles, shoulders, legs or hips and developed a spine deformity, court records show. She was 29 when she died. Texas was ranked in the bottom one third of states for the comprehensiveness of evaluations conducted on intellectually-disabled patients.   read more

"Much of the information upon which File 17 was written was based on what's in the 28 pages," said former Sen. Bob Graham. He believes the hijackers had an extensive Saudi support system while they were in the U.S.: "File 17 said, 'Here are some additional unanswered questions and here is how we think the 9/11 Commission, the FBI and the CIA should go about finding the answers.' " Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir denies allegations of Saudi complicity, saying that there is "no there there."   read more

The nation's Asian population grew at 3.4% between July 2014 and 2015, with migration responsible for the majority of the growth, government officials said. There are now 21 million Asians in the U.S., with Hawaii as the nation's only majority Asian state. Asians have been the fastest-growing race group since about 2000, and the main driving force is international migration. In 2013, China replaced Mexico as the top sending country for immigrants to the U.S.   read more

Two years after a scandal, the VA still has "profound deficiencies" in delivering health care to millions of veterans. The panel says the VA needs to improve its service to veterans, adding that it "require[s] urgent reform." Congress created the commission after approving a law overhauling the VA in the wake of the wait-time scandal, which involved a cover-up with false paperwork and secret waiting lists. As many as 40 veterans died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA.   read more

The promotion for military-led Thailand could ease tensions with the U.S., its longtime ally. The Thai government reported an increase in prosecutions and convictions for trafficking and had lobbied hard for an upgrade after two years on the lowest ranking, which it had shared with the likes of North Korea and Syria. It is now on the "tier 2 watch list," which is for governments that do not fully meet the minimum standards of combating trafficking but are making significant efforts to do so.   read more

Take a deep breath. Count to 10. What you have is tech support rage. And you are not alone. Getting caught in a tech support loop — waiting on hold, interacting with automated systems, talking to people reading from unhelpful scripts and then finding yourself on hold yet again — is a peculiar kind of aggravation that mental health experts say can provoke rage in even the most mild-mannered person. Worse, just as you suspected, companies are aware of the torture they are putting you through.   read more

New Jersey’s loans, which currently total $1.9 billion, are unlike those of any other government lending program for students in the country. They come with extraordinarily stringent rules that can easily lead to financial ruin. Repayments cannot be adjusted based on income, and borrowers who are facing financial hardships are given few breaks. Most significantly, the loans come with a cudgel that even the most predatory for-profit players cannot wield: the power of the state.   read more