WASHINGTON — One of the everlasting social forces in directing human behavior — shame — has become part of the 2020 presidential race. And one of the most shameful things in these times is to be thought or labeled a racist. As it should be, if true. Thus, some Democrats and others ...

Dear Annie: Recently, I stayed with my niece and nephew while my brother and his wife took a trip. This seems like a trivial problem, but I know it can lead to serious health issues in the long run. Neither of my brother’s teenaged kids brushed their teeth regularly. I reminded them often, ...

Dear Annie: I have a problem that many other mothers-in-law may have, but mine has a twist. My daughter-in-law has been angry at me for nearly 20 years because I discussed her fertility problems with another family member, and word got back to her that I had done so. Occasionally, she will ...

Dear Annie: Recently, I was contacted by a person who had just received results from a popular online DNA test, which I had also taken some time ago. She asked who I was. We share a great deal of DNA, so, naturally, she assumed that she would know me. Well, after looking through our shared DNA ...

Teenagers were invented in the late 1950s. If that’s an exaggeration, it’s not as much of one as you may think. While there had — obviously — been teenagers before, it wasn’t until the leading edge of the Baby Boom reached that milestone that the word took on its modern meaning. In ...

I don’t think I’m going too far out on a limb when I say that a lot of people are losing perspective. I won’t be too specific, because if you’re on one ideological team, you probably think I’m referring to the other team. One common practice to avoid flying off the handle is to ...