Breaking News

Opinion

A political lesson from the 1994 ‘Contract with America’

Columns

Since the beginning of the 21st century our leaders have put us in a very deep hole. We have had countless broken promises and flowery words that would make William Shakespeare proud. Some “leaders” have done more to help themselves than they have given back to our nation. Congress has an approval rating of just 10% and Trump stands at a mere 36%. We need to stop being chumps. We have to stop supporting those who fail to support us. We do not need new radical politicians, like the Democratic Socialists. We need to take “radical measures” with our current and future mainstream ...

An extremely high CAC score frightens 76-year-old man

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 76-year-old Caucasian male who’s in excellent health. (Or so I thought.) Recently, my cardiologist suggested a coronary artery calcium (CAC) test, and my score was a frightening 1,241! I’m now extremely concerned about my heart health. I’ve been extremely active all my life, and I routinely work out — about 10 hours per week. My resting heart rate is about 50 bpm, and my blood pressure has long been about 110/70 mm Hg. Once or twice a week, I’ll raise my heart rate to a measured 162 bpm during a HIIT (high-intensity interval training) workout and feel ...

Dear Annie: The flight not taken

Columns

Dear Annie: My mom and I have always been close. I’m 35 now, but we talk almost every day, even though she’s in Virginia, where I grew up, and I moved to Washington state after college. We make an effort to see each other as much as possible, but of course, it’s never enough. Recently, a work trip brought her to San Francisco, but I didn’t find out until she was already boarding the plane. San Francisco is a lot closer to me than Virginia is. I couldn’t help but think that if the situation were reversed, I would have found a way to tack on a few days and see her. She ...

Doctor recommends aggressive treatment for Crohn’s disease

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: I’m a 57-year-old man, and I’ve had Crohn’s disease since I was a child. For the past 18 years, I’ve managed it quite successfully with 6-MP, budesonide and Xifaxan. For the past five years in particular, I’ve been in perfect health. My C-reactive protein (CRP) test was under 5 mg/dL, and my colonoscopy from about four years ago was pristine. Just recently, I had a colonoscopy that showed significant inflammation, and my blood work is showing it, too, with a CRP of 19.5 mg/dL. My doctor recommends an aggressive treatment with Skyrizi. I don’t want to take ...

Hegseth’s new gender-affirming care won’t win wars

Columns

Just what the Department of Defense, which now self-identifies as the Department of War (pronouns: sir/yessir), needs: more testosterone. The Pentagon is apparently going to try winning 21st-century wars with 1980s-era action heroes. Because surely if the U.S. isn’t sufficiently winning in modern combat, it’s because male troops aren’t manly enough. As for the females, well, War Secretary Pete Hegseth thinks some of them are too manly and had already previously insisted on getting rid of those who wanted to transition to men. So this new offer is apparently only for men seeking ...

Americans are free to be suckers

Columns

Many of today’s consumer loans are legal but abusive. Payday lenders and used car sellers often steer customers into costly contracts they barely understand. Low-income borrowers with jobs, and therefore, dependable cash flow to siphon off, are favored targets. Sure, there’s a sucker born every minute, as P.T. Barnum allegedly said. But now we have a federal government that’s gone backward in providing protection from predators just as they adopt sophisticated technology to ply their craft. Criminals now use AI to generate fake images and scrub their pitches of misspellings ...