There are 1.6 million Californians today who were alive when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor 80 years ago, pushing America into World War II.

Pretty much anyone who has had the privilege of standing next to one of the biggest, oldest giant sequoia trees understands the rush of awe. Here is a tree so burly, cars could — and once did — drive through a tunnel carved out of the massive trunk. (Thankfully, we don’t do that anymore.)

Compared to almost any other public health or environmental problem, the presence of toxic lead in drinking water is an easy one to fix. Congress is giving the country a chance to do so.

CNN finally admitted Tuesday night that anchor Chris Cuomo went too far. He crossed, blurred and stepped over the line of trusted network anchor when he used his position to help protect his big brother, Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York, fight off sexual harassment allegations that eventually led to his resignation in August.

President Joe Biden got it right: The new coronavirus variant omicron is “a cause for concern, not a cause for panic.” The travel restrictions the U.S. and 70 other nations imposed will buy scientists time to further understand what risks omicron poses at this extended stage of the pandemic. For now, it’s time to double down on what already works: Vaccinations, booster shots and wearing masks in crowded indoor settings.

Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and the longtime head of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, keeps saying that his critics are “really criticizing science because I represent science.” Maybe he even believes it. But it might be time for science to find another spokesman.

Unsurprisingly, the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict has exposed some fierce divisions among Americans. On one matter, though, there ought to be renewed consensus: It doesn’t help to have guns displayed at political rallies and protests.

Finally.

The problem with using the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves to drive down fuel prices is it’s a temporary solution that, absent a cohesive long-term energy strategy, won’t change the cost trajectory.

When parents warn their children about drug exposure, they tell them tales of the danger of peer pressure from teenagers in murky basements or from the dark corners of the bleachers during a high school football game. Coming-of-age movies portray swimming pools full of teens drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana while the protagonist dodges bad influences like a spy weaving through radioactive laser beams. The reality for many American teenagers, however, doesn’t align with popular narratives. First-time drug use often begins somewhere far more fluorescent: the dentist’s chair.

The brutal killing of Ahmaud Arbery echoed a hundred lynchings, beatings and fatal shootings of unarmed Black men before him at the hands of white men. So you can forgive the Black man in the Georgia courtroom who let out a cry of triumph on Wednesday when the first verdict of guilty in a long string of guilty verdicts was read out against Travis McMichael, followed by similar guilty findings against his father and his neighbor.

If you’re worried about the direction of the nation, the state of the economy or the sharp rise of price inflation, you’re not alone.

President Joe Biden has taken to saying that the Democrats’ “Build Back Better” legislation will reduce inflation. This spin isn’t just unconvincing. It underscores the absurdity of the Democrats’ political project.

As the world pays new attention to supply chains, much of the focus has been on delays in delivering products to stores and consumers. What is called the forward supply chain, the path from raw material to the customer, is being scrutinized.

The supply chain crisis is the universe’s way of teaching Americans about logistics. Before COVID-19, most Americans neither knew nor cared about the subtleties of just-in-time management. We remained largely untroubled by the tactics through which every possible efficiency had been exacted along the manufacturing journey of our trinkets, from raw materials to box on our doorstep. With prices rising by 6.2% year over year for October, we’re starting to pay attention to the architecture and management that we once took for granted.

The recently passed $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill will provide desperately needed federal dollars to fix our roads, water systems and other public infrastructure. But the bill is not all sunshine and rainbows.

Disappointed the recent international climate summit closed without producing much of consequence to stop temperature creep, activists are now pushing both the United Nations and the United States to declare climate emergencies.

Thousands of local governments and plaintiff attorneys are seeking to extort companies in the drug supply chain by holding them liable for the nation’s opioid epidemic. Now armed with a jury verdict, a federal judge is holding Walgreens, Walmart and CVS hostage to a settlement.

The bargain bonanza that is Black Friday has begun. Only there are fewer special offers this year, and those that are being advertised aren’t quite so eye-catching. You can blame the global supply chain meltdown for the dearth of doorbusters.

This Thanksgiving, I’m giving thanks for all the things I’m not.