If one were to read the Federal Trade Commission’s recent staff report discussing ways to protect consumer privacy in mobile apps, one might conclude the federal government genuinely was concerned about consumer privacy.

The race to further the gun-control agenda in the wake of last month’s tragic shooting by a crazed gunman in Newtown, Connecticut is moving into high gear. The Grand Old Lady of Gun Control, California Senator Diane Feinstein, last week introduced a bill that not only seeks to reinstate the 1994 “Federal Assault Weapons Ban” (AWB), but goes far beyond the scope of the earlier law (which expired a decade later) in undermining Second Amendment protections for law abiding Americans.

Originally published at Townhall.com on January 23, 2013.

Hundreds of colleges across the nation administer the CIRP Freshman Survey (TFS) each year to their incoming students. Hundreds of thousands of young adults take this survey, which covers a wide range of demographic and psychographic topics. San Diego State University psychology professor Dr. Jean M. Twenge and her team studied these results, and recently released a report painting a disturbing picture of America’s young adults.

Today’s young youth are more narcissistic than ever. This generation is more likely to find role models in vapid Hollywood tabloid starlets like Kim Kardashian than revolutionary business leaders such as the late Steve Jobs, who gave them the iPhones that are now glued to their hands, or Marc Andreessen, whose prescience and skill launched Mosaic, the world's first graphical web browser less than one generation ago.

These young people live on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; public stages in which they are the stars, demanding absolute and immediate attention from their peers. Self-worth is measured in "Likes" and "retweets;" what was had for breakfast becomes breaking news. Heaven forbid if someone ever "unfriends" them.

Originally published at Townhall.com on January 16, 2013.

New York’s penal code makes it a felony to practice medicine without a license. I suspect, however, that one potential defendant who is proposing to do just that, will escape prosecution. Meet “Mayor Bloomberg, M.D.”

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg never attended medical school, did not complete a hospital residency, and never has been admitted to the medical profession. Yet this public official – whose ire in recent years has targeted firearms, salt content, fatty foods, and large-sized soft drinks – is now moving to dictate how doctors should be allowed to issue prescription drugs for their patients.

Bloomberg’s limits on the power of doctors who practice in the Big Apple, is based on his opinion that prescription drugs are being widely abused. In Hizzoner’s mind, if something is perceived as being abused – whether soft drinks, firearms, or prescription drugs – it becomes fair game for his heavy hand of regulation.

Originally published at Townhall.com on January 9, 2013.

Chicago is known for good steaks, expensive stores and beautiful architecture. Unfortunately, the Windy City also enjoys a reputation for corrupt politics, violent crime, and some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere in the country. To rational people, the inverse relationship between the last two is obvious. Unfortunately for residents of and visitors to Chicago, the city is governed by officials who operate not in the real world, but in a virtual “Bizarro World,” where up is down, black is white, and good guys are to be punished.

In this strange environment, current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (who served presidents Clinton and Obama as a trusted advisor) believes the best way to enable citizens to protect themselves from rampant gun violence, is to take away their ability to defend themselves – in other words, disarm law-abiding citizen-victims.

Predictably, under the “Godfather” (as Emanuel is often tabbed by the media) Chicago has descended to historically high levels of violence; turning areas of the city into virtual war zones for residents and visitors alike.