Only those with a special phone number and access code can listen in by phone to tomorrow’s ironically titled: Open Public Hearing of the CEP (Commission on Evidence based Policy making) in Chicago. It seems anything but an open to the public meeting. But if you are in Chicago, it’s here: Ralph Metcalfe Building Room 331, 77 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago 60604, from 12-3:30 central time.
The topic is Public Law 114-140, the CEP says; that’s sort of a disguise for what seems to be the real purpose of the CEP’s formation, which seems to be overturning the federal ban on taking individual data, without individuals’ consent, to a centralized, federal place.
The CEP was created this year. This is the second of three public hearings. The third one is to be on February 9, 2017, on the West Coast.
At http://www.cep.gov you may sign up to appear and give public comment at that third, final hearing.
COMMON CORE 
You should send this post to Betsey DeVos. She will probably be confirmed on the 11th.
Thanks, Jennifer
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After watching the film “The Shooter” for the second time a few days ago and after reading this mail I am reminded of a statement made in the film. The Senator and his henchman after a Justice Department hearing were sitting around their hunting cabin talking about the results of the hearing and the fact that the Attorney General had no authority over the actions of the henchman that took place out of the country. The Senator flippantly said to the henchman; “and you told him that the truth is what you say it is”. In the case of the CEP hearings we are going to be told that; ” evidence based policy is what we say it is”. What a joke these commissions are. Dave, WV
I listened and recorded the meeting today. I’ll write up my handwritten notes later. Although I’m still so annoyed that the CEP isn’t livestreaming or YouTubing these “public” meetings anymore, as they originally did, I think I might have been wrong about part of the phone calling issue. They seem to have given out to all parties the same passcode because I just went on cep.gov and saw that they’d pubically posted the passcode and phone number there. If this had been clear to me yesterday, I would have posted that yesterday, so many others would have listened to the proceedings. For the February 9th hearing, I’ll be ready.