Michael Fumento

As America Sleeps, China Conquers Latin America

Bucaramanga, Colombia--Step aside, EU! China is set to become Latin America's second-largest trading partner in two years. And 13 years later it will be king of the hill according to the journal China Policy Review. Yes, having locked up Asia and Africa, the ever-hungry Chinese dragon is salivating over what the U.S. at least used to consider its "back yard." (You know, the Monroe Doctrine and all that.)

Ebola Hysteria Redux

We're now witnessing the worst Ebola epidemic ever. It's spun "out of control," warns one of the world's most influential newspapers. What's not to be afraid of? Well, Ebola.

No Prisoner Exchange, Merely a Massive Gamble

Now that the outrage over the prisoner exchange of one POW whom by all accounts wasn't worth a rusty Taliban AK-47 for perhaps THE five most evil and potentially destructive Taliban is dying down a little, maybe we can relax and see the truth for what it is. It was NOT a prisoner exchange.

Few Options to Aid Venezuelan People

Two crises: Ukraine and Venezuela. Both heartbreaking and, unfortunately, intractable. Yet even as American pundits are practically chiding Pres. Obama for not going to war with a huge nuclear-armed country over Ukraine, Venezuela is almost ignored.

Gutting US Military Threatens World Peace

The best war is that avoided, because the good guys have convinced the bad guys they cannot win. Israelis have learned that and you would think Americans would have, too. But the newly-announced U.S. defense budget, plus dramatic spending cuts even before, plus those in the works under a congressional automatic sequestration plan, show otherwise. The U.S. now faces a "hollow military," even as the world and Israel must face the end of the "Pax Americana."

Global-warming ‘proof’ is evaporating

The 2013 hurricane season just ended as one of the five quietest years since 1960. But don’t expect anyone who pointed to last year’s hurricanes as “proof” of the need to act against global warming to apologize; the warmists don’t work that way.

Autism Fraud Just the Tip of the Iceberg

"A deliberate fraud." That's what the British Medical Journal, one of the world's most prestigious periodicals, has just written of the study that kicked off the current anti-vaccine movement. It's "clear evidence of falsification of data should now close the door on this damaging vaccine scare" it said in a heavily documented editorial.

In Black and White, the Toyota Hysteria Exemplified

It's not "live!" It's not even "In color!" And there's no sound. But it's quite stunning. A surveillance video just posted by Fox Chicago News Online shows a 2006 Toyota Corolla backing out of a parking space and striking a car. The Corolla then shoots forward and slams into another vehicle, knocking it aside. Next the car swerves, presumably in an effort to avoid a strip mall, and crashes into a brick wall. The driver, Leon Przybylowski, died of his injuries later that day.

Vaccines and the Supremes

Every injured person deserves his or her day in court, right? Wrong. Throughout the civilized world, the national sport is soccer; here it's litigation. We need certain restrictions just to keep from having more courthouses than gas stations.

Geron’s Human Embryonic Stem Cell Experiment a “Scam”

"First Patient Treated With Stem Cells ," blares one headline. "First Patient Treated in Stem Cell Study ," shouts another. They're bogus. It was actually the first human trial using embryonic stem cells, or ESCs. Their Cinderella stepsister, adult stem cells, or ASCs, have already seen thousands of human clinical trials and are treating scores of diseases.

Texters Would be Better off Driving Drunk

"Border collie jill surveying the view from atop the sand dune." Those were the last words of Malibu plastic surgeon Frank Ryan, best known for "reconstructing" reality TV star Heidi Montag . It's not quite up there with "Et tu, Brute?" Yet it seemed important enough for him to text it just before driving off a cliff in August. Jill survived.

California’s Jobs Terminator

What state ranks third in unemployment, second in foreclosures, has the nation's worst credit rating, is running a $19 billion deficit--yet insists on spending billions on a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan that can't possibly impact global warming?

New Medicare Proposal Could Be A Real Killer

Medicare is speeding toward insolvency , and only major fundamental changes can save it. But beware the "tweakers"--those who say that little things can add up to a lot. Usually what they're pushing is of little benefit to Medicare, but of much benefit to them.

Toyota Defense Is License to Kill

The "Toyota defense" just sprung a killer from prison. Ironically, it did so just days after a whistleblower revealed that the government was sitting on powerful evidence undercutting the whole "the throttle made me do it" excuse. Four years ago, Koua Fong Lee sped down a St. Paul, Minn., freeway off ramp at between 70 and 90 mph in his 1996 Camry. He struck two vehicles waiting at a stop light --instantly killing Javis Adams, 33, and his 10-year-old son, Javis Jr. Another passenger, 6-year-old Devyn Bolton, was left paraplegic and later died from her injuries.

Skilled Healthcare Will Pay Now; the Elderly will Pay Later

It's a tort reform advocate's dream--meaning a defendant's worst nightmare.

Purveying Pig Flu Panic at the Post

"Panic is what we want," Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum wrote last May of swine flu. "Panic is good," she said, also labeling the disease a "pandemic" five weeks before the World Health Organization (WHO) did. Yet flu season is now officially over and we've had about 12,500 total flu deaths, or a third the usual number according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.

The Phony Flu: Just the Facts, M’am; Just the Facts

Flu season has just ended, and if you're reading this you're most likely still alive. But don't buy that t-shirt just yet, the one proudly proclaiming "Survivor: Great Swine Flu Pandemic." Here are some phony flu fast facts you should know. The predictions and the government alarms didn't quite match up to reality.

No More Crying ‘Spanish Flu’

Flu season has officially ended. We had about 12,000 fatalities, a third the usual number according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. Yet almost all infections were H1N1 swine flu. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed 18,036 swine flu deaths over the past year, somewhat shy of the 250,000 to 500,000 it estimates die annually of seasonal flu.

Toyota’s Indispensable New Role: Hobgoblin

"The whole aim of practical politics," wrote H.L. Mencken, "is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." Last year's hobgoblin was swine flu. The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology warned of as many as 90,000 excess flu deaths, and the federal government declared two national emergencies. Yet, with the U.S. flu season ending, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate we've had perhaps a third the usual number of flu deaths.

America’s Deadly Obsession with Safer Cars

It's like worrying about a pesky mosquito while surrounded by hungry man-eating lions. The media have gone wild over two accidents and five deaths the government has attributed to Toyota sudden acceleration. (There were 19 more "associated with" it, before class action suits caused that to skyrocket to currently 102.) Yet during that same time, over 400,000 Americans died in motor vehicle accidents -- almost all involving driver error. Millions more were injured.