Whenever the U.S. goes head-to-head with China at the Olympics, there’s always an intense competitiveness between the two sports superpowers. But that rivalry extends to a lot more than the Games, as FBI Director Christopher Wray has spelled out in terrifying detail. China is determined to win where it matters -- in global supremacy -- and they’ll infiltrate any American institution to do it. In most cases, he warns, they already have.

A young man who looks like a teenager walks into a liquor store and pulls a bottle of cheap whiskey off a shelf. He puts it down at the checkout counter and pulls out his wallet. The clerk at the counter looks at him skeptically. “Can I see your ID?” he asks.

How individuals and institutions react to Lia Thomas, the biological male who is allowed to compete in women’s college swim competitions, is a good indicator of people’s values and level of rationality.

Among the many divides between Americans is a completely antithetical view of mask wearing. On one side are those who wear masks almost everywhere outside their homes and who demand that others do so, including young children in class and on outdoor playgrounds, and 2-year-olds on airplanes. On the other side are those who only wear a mask where they are punished for not doing so (most obviously, airplanes). They regard masks as essentially pacifiers for adults.

When President Joe Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021, the federal government’s debt stood at $27,751,896,236,414.77. When his first year in office ended on Jan. 20, 2022, it stood at $29,867,021,509,573.92. That means during Biden’s first 12 months in office, the federal debt grew by more than $2 trillion. How do you put that in perspective?

Last week the Transportation Security Administration confirmed it has allowed illegal immigrants to use their arrest warrants as a valid proof of ID to board flights in the United States for more than a year.

When Chief Justice John Roberts was asked what he’ll miss most about his retiring colleague, Justice Stephen Breyer, Roberts said Breyer is a dear friend with a “surprisingly comprehensive collection of riddles and knock-knock jokes.” Now, the real riddle is his replacement.

The kinder reviews said it “didn’t go quite as planned.” But for anyone else tuning in to the longest presidential news conference in history, it was a disaster of epic proportions. The White House had been shielding Joe Biden from the press for months. And now we all understand why.

When Ohio State played Utah at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day, 87,842 people packed into that stadium to watch the game. On New Year’s Eve, 66,839 attended the Orange Bowl to watch Georgia take on Michigan, and 76,313 attended the Cotton Bowl to watch Alabama take on Cincinnati. COVID-19 did not stop them.

The recent arrival of the omicron variant of COVID-19 has, for far too many, reset the clock of our timeline for a return to societal normalcy. Public health authorities in many countries reimposed loosened travel restrictions that had lapsed.