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Dear Annie: Cellphone etiquette in public

Columns

Dear Annie: I’m starting to wonder if headphones have gone out of style. Last week, I was sitting in a doctor’s waiting room when a woman across from me put her phone on speaker and had a very loud, very personal conversation for nearly 20 minutes. Everyone in the room could hear about her sister, her husband and what sounded like an argument over money. No one said anything, but several of us exchanged looks. A few days later, I was at the nail salon hoping for a little peace and quiet, and another customer was watching videos at full volume. Between the music, the commentary and ...

Woman succumbs to a prion disease, aka ‘mad cow disease’

Columns

DEAR DR. ROACH: Have you ever discussed prion disease in your column? It afflicts one in 1 million people, swiftly kills its victims in a matter of days, and is incurable. People commonly know it as “mad cow disease.” I recently lost a great friend to a prion disease, and she truly was one in a million. It’s a nightmare to endure. — R. ANSWER: There are three different prions that affect humans, with various ways in which a person can acquire the disease. Of these, the most common is Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which I assume is what you’re talking about. The most ...

When faith takes the field

Columns

One of the fun things I love during the NFL season is getting into the back-and-forth banter on Facebook with my high school and college friends. One of my college classmates posts his weekly “Bum List,” where he asks those of us whose teams lost the previous Sunday to still “rep” our squad. As a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, I have taken some friendly heat regarding their three-year absence from the playoffs. For this week’s Bum List, my college classmate, a Steelers fan, told me he saw “potential” in Dallas’ win over the Washington Commanders, while lamenting that ...

GOP attempts to slow pace of AI and data center overreaction

Columns

I’m far from understanding chatbots, chips and AI technology, but I’ve worked in D.C. long enough to be suspicious when industry giants come begging for government regulations. In the September 2026 essay “We Must Pace the Frontier,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei says that AI “could dramatically raise the quality of human life” but that it “brings risks, and because it is such a powerful technology, these risks are serious.” He advocated “pacing the rate of capabilities advancement so that risk prevention has time to keep up.” The Anthropic CEO recommends ...

Dear Annie: How to manage a bad boss

Columns

Dear Annie: I have worked for the same company for six years and, until recently, truly enjoyed my job. I have always had strong reviews, good relationships with my co-workers and a reputation for being dependable. Eight months ago, we got a new boss, and the entire mood of the office changed. She rarely raises her voice or says anything openly cruel. Instead, she criticizes people in subtle ways, changes instructions and later insists that we misunderstood her and often questions employees in front of the group. She will praise an idea one week and act as though it was a terrible ...

Many influencers are money-grubbing con artists

Columns

(Editor’s Note: This column includes a mention of self-harm which may be triggering for some readers.) Not all of them. Some influencers simply want to persuade and perhaps help others better their lives or their community. Their subject could be politics, economics, music, health or fashion. But social media has become inundated with influencers who harm their devotees, some on purpose. Or make money off their trusting audience by endorsing so-so products. Influencers are people who build followers on social media or other digital platforms. They use the attention to shape ...