Even though Americans cannot call the White House today (the answering machine says it’s due to the shutdown) we can tweet @POTUS @WhiteHouse @RealDonaldTrump —or send an email. (Scroll to the bottom of this article for easy contact links).
Please alert (plead with) President Trump to veto this already passed bill, HR 4174, that Congress passed WITHOUT a hearing, so stealthily, during the Christmas break when supposedly none of us are paying attention.
—Except that some are! Like the barking dogs who sent the alarm down the valley to alert others that Cruella DeVil was doing her evil, please join us and be a barking dog today.
If President Trump gets this message, he can veto.
Word of mouth, person to person, tends to be stronger than marketing initiatives.
Even if Trump doesn’t veto in time, Americans need to become aware quickly about what this bill will do. So bark!
HR 4174 doesn’t promote informed consent by individuals for agencies taking personally identifiable information for “sharing.” It promotes data sharing across federal agencies and between state and federal entities. HR 4174 will not make America great again! It will make America more like communist China, less like the America of liberty and justice for all, because its whole point is to collect EVIDENCE on you and me, and to create evidence-based policies, based on one-size-fits-all, federal moral values.
Do you want to give your own and your child’s and your neighbor’s privacy away —to public-private research partnerships, whom you never elected and cannot fire? Do you want all agencies to alter their databases to make them all interoperable and therefore much more in danger of huge scale hacking?!
This bill comes from the CEP (Commission for Evidence Based Policy) which formed thanks to Patty Murray, Paul Ryan and Obama a few years ago with a mission to consolidate ALL data of ALL Americans from ALL sources into one “central clearinghouse”.
Now, the fact sheet on the bill denies that it’s creating a new, central, federal data repository. This is on the surface of the words, true. But linking thousands of federal and state agencies’ data interoperably IS creating a new system that actually operates as a new federal repository— of data not given by individual informed consent. That’s flat out theft— especially in the context of the CEP’s history and stated goals (such as getting rid of protective student unit record bans).
The title of the commission, and of this bill, sounds innocuous. Evidence based policy making. But even back when the CEP was first organized, even though it came in part from Republican Paul Ryan, I was in full panic mode, and wrote about CEP’s goals and meetings, a lot. Search this blog.
Now the CEP’s privacy dismissing plot is to become US law (unless we see a veto from President Trump).
People won’t be able to ignore its effects.
When ALL data from ALL sources gets combined (for research purposes only, they promise us) into the de facto central clearinghouse, freedom can quickly go away.
The CEP wants access for officials and researchers to ALL DATA. This is not anonymous data, but Pii (Personally Identifiable Information) on children and adults from everywhere—every US school, every test and tech based report or assignment, data from every document held by public private partnerships including preschools, hospitals, foster families, the social security department, criminal justice departments, both state and federal; the IRS, the CIA, the FBI, the EPA, the TSA, student loans, colleges, universities, including private corporations in public private partnerships, and much much more. When personal data is accessible to a “researcher” or bureaucrat, whether a legitimate policy maker or a nefarious hack, without YOUR informed consent, that’s very, very, exceptionally bad news.
Without revisiting too many historical CEP conference details —you can read those by searching CEP on this blog— just let me share one telling fact that has always stuck out in my mind…
(And yes, this is an appropriate time to be freaking out and taking action)—
This I can not forget:
One of the top dogs at the CEP said— during one of the endless, hours-long conferences that CEP held— that the CEP mustn’t act too FAST in its research-based enthusiasm to take over Americans’ data. That, he said, would be “RIPPING OFF the band-aid” (of privacy) from the American people. (Too obvious! Someone might notice.)
Well, some of us do notice. President Trump, please notice!
Veto. Veto. Veto.
——
Here’s Dr. Effrem’s article for more information:
ACTION:
Please tweet @POTUS @WhiteHouse @RealDonaldTrump to ask Pres. Trump to veto this bill.The switchboard is not taking calls, but you can call your local congressional representative in-state, and send an email to Trump at www.whitehouse.gov/contact.Please also send an email to Rep. Hice thanking him for his wisdom and courage in voting no. https://hice.house.gov/contact/
COMMON CORE 
You can fax also
Thank you.
Also: UNESCO recently published a paper showing (for people that understand) that data interoperability is helping them control curriculum–as their 2004 Microsoft contract put in motion. The paper is called “Future Competencies and the Future of Curriculum”:
Click to access 02_future_competences_and_the_future_of_curriculum_30oct.v2.pdf
In the foreword, they thank Australian Anthony MacKay who is Marc Tucker’s replacement at the NCEE. So, MacKay is helping UNESCO use interoperable data to control curriculum.
Anthony MacKay and Linda Darling-Hammond will be keynote speakers at a personalized learning summit in Portland in April. The conference is sponsored by UNESCO’s 2030 partner the Collaborative for School Networking (CoSN). CoSN is controlling everything the State Education Technology Directors Association (SETDA) does for data interoperability:
https://cosnconference.org/program/global/
A “Fact Sheet” on HR 4174 states some key misleading “facts”: (I’m spitting mad as I paste this):
“Does the bill create a central tracking system for the American public?
No, the legislation does not establish a new database nor does the legislation authorize any new data collection. CEP specifically recommended against the establishment of a data warehouse or clearinghouse in its final recommendations and the Ryan-Murray legislation would not create such a clearinghouse.”
(Giant omission alert. While the bill doesn’t create a NEW federal database, it does LINK all the existing ones, and makes sure everything is interoperable nationally. De Facto, that’s NEW as a system, and yes, it’s national. Just like China. Control-freak Communist China.)
The fact sheet goes on:
“How does the legislation address existing bans on data collection and use?
The bill does not modify existing bans on data collection or use. CEP specifically identified the “student unit record” ban in its final report as one potential ban that Congress may want to revisit.”
(Oh, really!? Lifting the student unit record ban means deleting the last vestiges of personal privacy. The fact that CEP recommends that is all you need to know! The fact that Obama appointed the chair of the CEP to be the chair of the CEP is also all you need to know.)
found at https://bipartisanpolicy.org/blog/fact-sheet-foundations-for-evidence-based-policymaking-act/
Christel, I don’t know how you have the heart to continue your amazing efforts to stave off the loss of our basic freedoms, but I am so grateful that you do. I have just emailed our president about HR 4174, and pray that he will understand the importance of vetoing this bill.
Jane Robbins off American Principles Project explains this bill beautifully! https://youtu.be/Qr14ZmrQGu0