Obama Will Get a Crash Course on Alaskan Wilderness Survival on ‘Running Wild With Bear Grylls’

Barack Obama will get a “crash course” in surviving the Alaskan wilderness on NBC’s “Running Wild with Bear Grylls,” the network announced.

Obama is embarking on a three-day trip to Alaska where he will primarily talk about climate change, but will also take part in an episode to air later this year on NBC.

“The two will then come together in the Alaskan Wilderness,” an NBC news release says. “President Obama will become the first U.S. president to receive a crash course in survival techniques from Bear Grylls.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/08/31/obama-will-get-a-crash-course-on-alaskan-wilderness-survival-on-running-wild-with-bear-grylls/

Ohio lawmakers slam Obama plans to rename Mt. McKinley 'Denali' during Alaska trip?

 




Ohio lawmakers reacted angrily Sunday to the White House's announcement that President Obama would formally rename Alaska's Mt. McKinley — North America's highest peak — "Denali" during his trip to The Last Frontier this week.

"Mount McKinley ... has held the name of our nation's 25th President for over 100 years," Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "This landmark is a testament to his countless years of service to our country." Gibbs also described Obama's action as "constitutional overreach," saying that an act of Congress was required to rename the mountain, because a law formally naming it after Ohio's William McKinley was passed in 1917.

"This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action," Gibbs said.
The Ohio delegation's disappointment at the decision cut across party lines.
"We must retain this national landmark's name in order to honor the legacy of this great American president and patriot," Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, whose district includes McKinley's hometown of Niles, in eastern Ohio.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, also blasted the decision as "yet another example of the President going around Congress", while House Speaker John Boehner said the naming of the mountain after McKinley was "a testament to [the 25th president's] great legacy .. I am deeply disappointed in this decision."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/31/obama-to-rename-mt-mckinley-to-denali-during-alaska-trip-that-focuses-on/?intcmp=hpbt1&cmpid=NL_morninghl

Libyan drownings, truck of corpses drive up migrant toll

Austria said on Friday 71 refugees, including a baby girl, were found dead in an abandoned freezer truck, while Libya recovered the bodies of 105 migrants washed ashore after their overcrowded boat sank on its way to Europe. Almost 100 more were missing and feared dead.

Both tragedies were a result of a renewed surge in migrants fleeing war and poverty that has confronted Europe with its worst refugee crisis since World War Two.

The International Organization for Migration said it estimated a third of a million people had crossed the Mediterranean so far this year to wash up in southern Europe.

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Almost two-thirds had arrived in Greece and most of the rest in Italy. At least 2,636 had perished in the attempt.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said European Union leaders were ready for an emergency meeting, if necessary, to discuss the refugee crisis. The White House urged Europe to crack down on traffickers and ensure that migrants' human rights were protected.

In the latest disaster off the coast of North Africa, a vessel packed with an estimated 400 migrants sank on Thursday after leaving Zuwara in Libya. The port is a major launchpad for smugglers exploiting a security vacuum in a country with two rival governments.

Lacking navy ships, Libyan officials were searching for survivors with fishing boats and inflatables provided by locals. About 198 people had been rescued by noon, officials said.

"The boat was in a bad condition and people died with us," said Ayman Talaal, a Syrian survivor, standing next to his daughter. "We have been forced into this route. It's now called the grave of the Mediterranean Sea."

The migrants were from sub-Saharan Africa, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco and Bangladesh, a security official said. Many appeared to have been trapped in the hold when the boat capsized.

Local officials and residents were putting bodies into red bags on a beach littered with shoes, trousers and other personal items from drowned migrants.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/28/us-europe-migrants-idUSKCN0QX0UH20150828

Don’t Buy the Pro-Abortion Hype – The Pro-Life Movement is a Political Winner

Our colleague and popular Iowa political pundit Steve Deace has an excellent article up at the Washington Times arguing that the pro-life cause is actually a political winner.

For years the GOP establishment and moderate Republicans have worked together to marginalize pro-life conservatives because, they argued, social conservatism was a political loser. However, over the last few years any unbiased observer would notice that on the abortion issue, this was just not true. Most Americans (indeed most humans on the planet) are predisposed to being horrified at the thought of murdering a child (even one that is still in the womb). While the latest Gallup poll on the subject finds that 50% of Americans consider themselves pro-choice (the highest number ever) America may actually be more pro-life than ever before.

When asked when abortion should be legal, 55 percent of Americans oppose all abortions or say abortion should only be legal in a “few circumstances,” typically defined as cases such as rape, incest or if the life of the mother is in danger. Since those cases constitute, at most, 1-2 percent of all abortion cases, Gallup’s numbers confirm 55 percent of Americans oppose 98 percent or more of the 1.1 million abortions that take place annually in the United States.

The poll makes it clear that even 27 percent of those who call themselves “pro-choice” actually take a pro-life position wanting all abortions illegal or abortion legal in only the very rarest cases.

A CNN poll from 2014 found similar disgust for abortion among Americans.

According to the poll, 27% say that abortion should be legal in all circumstances, 13% say it should be legal in most circumstances, 38% say that it should be legal in few circumstances, and 20% say abortion should always be illegal…

Most Americans have never favored using public funds for abortions for women who cannot afford them. According to the survey, 56% remain opposed, with only 39% favoring public funding for abortions.

That means that 58% of Americans oppose almost all abortions. All of this should be good news for pro-life conservatives and it should be good news for the GOP, so why are so many candidates (like John Kasich) so scared to talk about it?

Here’s what Steve Deace had to say on ending abortion being a winning issue for the GOP.

After watching the Dow take its worst tumble since 2011, we will no doubt see GOP presidential candidates pivot to a heavy emphasis on economic matters. And even without this week’s market plunge the economy is usually on top of voters’ priority lists.

But before the hit to the stock market, the nation has been served weeks of macabre videos laying out Planned Parenthood’s bloodthirsty lust for dismembering babies to peddle their remains for profits. All the while displaying the chilling precision and emotional detachment of the stone-cold killers they are.

Instead of hammering our collective pocket book, these videos highlighted the corroded state of our civic soul. There is no way Election 2016 won’t reflect that, so candidates would be fools to disregard what the data points out—not only is it morally and ethically upright to fight against our nation’s growing rot, but it is also a winner with various political constituencies.

Recent pro-life polling conducted by Adam B. Schaeffer, Ph.D., director of research and co-founder of Evolving Strategies, says that just one Texas gubernatorial ad highlighting “Abortion Barbie” Wendy Davis’ support for a baby killing spree had a profound impact on the 2014 electorate. It shifted Democratic-leaning women by 10 points last year away from Ms. Davis and toward current Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, and that’s not all. Voters ages 18-34 shifted to Mr. Abbott by 8 points, and Hispanic voters shifted by about 13 net points to Mr. Abbott.

Imagine that, women, younger voters and Hispanics – or what the GOPconsultant class refers to as “the trinity” – all persuaded and moved by one issue and one magic commercial. Wish you could bottle that? Well, turns out you can, Mr. Schaeffer said.

Read the Rest of Steve Deace’s excellent piece at the Washington Times

George Zimmerman Trolls Obama On Twitter After VA Shooting: You're a Buffoon!

George Zimmerman, the man notorious for shooting Travyon Martin in a 2012 killing that was ruled to be in self-defense, took to Twitterover the past two days to blast a “racist” President Barack Obama followingWednesday’s murder of two reporters in Roanoke, Va.

Zimmerman first joined Twitter in December of 2013, and has generally been a quiet user, with about 1,350 total tweets. But following the killing of Alison Parker and Adam Ward in Virginia, which appears to have been partly racially motivated, Zimmerman unleashed a torrent of mockery and criticism against President Obama, referring to him as a racist and a “baboon

Zimmerman didn’t shy away at all from the topic of his own shooting of Trayvon Martin in 2012, instead gleefully responding to critics who attacked him over the matter:

http://freedomforce.com/5997/george-zimmerman-trolls-obama-on-twitter-after-va-shooting-youre-a-buffoon/

The astounding female injury rates that are being hidden from the public -- and women in the military

The process should be questioned, and nothing makes that clearer than the Army’s combat research on “Exception to Policy” (ETP) experiments, revealing the aforementioned injury rates. CMR explains the findings demonstrate disparate rates of injury in Military Occupational Specialties (MOS), such as field and air defense artillery where women were injured at double the rate of their male counterparts. “In the Field Artillery Surveyor Meteorological Crewmember MOS, for example, injuries for women were approximately 112% higher than men’s. In the Bradley fighting vehicle system maintainer MOS, the rate was 133% higher,” a CMR report reveals.

The U.S. Army Institute of Public Health provided CMR with another document revealing that even in basic combat training, the approximate average injury rates for women were 114 percent higher than for men, and in training for military police and engineers they were 108 percent higher. Moreover, while such training requires informed consent, CMR explains a sample consent form provided to them shows that injury rates were not included on it.

There are cost factors as well. Retraining women reassigned from positions beyond their physical strength would cost the Army $30,697 per soldier. An additional $17,606 in basic training costs, not counting individual recruitment expenditures that are higher for women, would be necessitated following decisions to drop out of courses. CMR wonders how the Army reconciles such “avoidable costs” with the reality that the Obama administration is determined to reduce America’s military to pre-WWII levels.

The British Ministry of Defence conducted a similar study, and the report it issued confirms many of Donnelly’s fears. While conceding that there will be elite women capable of passing entry tests for Ground Close Combat (GCC) units, “these women will be more susceptible to acute short term injury than men” and the roles requiring women to carry weight for prolonged periods of time “will be the most damaging.” Furthermore and far more important, the report reveals that “combat marksmanship degrades as a result of fatigue when the combat load increases in proportion to body weight and strength.”

Special: Two Simple Steps to Remove Bags and Wrinkles From Your Eyes

Nonetheless, CMR notes the British report is laced with suggestions regarding how to “mitigate” such injuries, relying on social theories and unrealistic expectations completely undermined by the hard data contained in the same report. CMR insists those efforts are “not credible,” and that the burden to prove otherwise rests on “advocates of unprecedented changes affecting military effectiveness.”

CMR also received documents indicating the Army has prepared a Doctrine, Organization, Training, Materiel, Leadership and Education, Personnel, Facilities, and Policy (DOTMLPF-P) analysis. The topics on the analysis, which were almost completely redacted, only address some of the major sticking points.

CMR insists a more comprehensive list would include higher costs associated with recruiting and training, new separate-gender facilities, the remedial training necessary to eliminate attitudinal barriers, and the extra personnel necessitated by pregnancy and other extended leaves. The analysis should also include what social service/legal specialists will be required to deal with sexual misconduct issues in the combat arms arena and the expanded medical needs associated with higher rates of female injuries and disability.

“By any measure, this is an expensive, unnecessary social experiment,” CMR concludes. “Non-disclosure of the full consequences and costs prevents Congress, the media, and the general public from evaluating and criticizing policy changes that will affect every man and woman in the military.” Those changes include the daunting reality that “sequestration budget cuts are taking essential resources away, while heavy burdens of social experimentation are being loaded on.”

Those burdens may be acceptable to those who view the military as the last bastion of resistance to the social engineering schemes they wish to impose on virtually every aspect of American society. But it is a fool’s errand in the military arena, especially during a period of global unrest that has reached ominous proportions. Inclusion is not, nor will it ever be, the ultimate barometer by which national security will be measured.

http://canadafreepress.com/article/74785?utm_source=CFP+Mailout&utm_campaign=ed115ce0a0-5_20_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d8f503f036-ed115ce0a0-297703129

WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS TO DONALD TRUMP’S CALL TO BAN TELEPROMPTERS

The White House reacted to Donald Trump’s suggestion on the campaign trail that teleprompters should be banned in America for presidential candidates, an allusion to President Obama’s heavy use of the device while delivering speeches.

“Is that something that would affect the president adversely?” asked White House reporter Mark Knoller during the daily press briefing.

Earnest admitted that it was a difficult question to respond to but that each candidate should choose for themselves.

“I think that certainly each of the candidates has an opportunity to choose how they deliver their remarks in public and people are much more focused not on how they deliver their remarks but actually the substance of their message,” Earnest said.

King Obama on Iran Nuke Deal: ‘We Don’t Rely on Bluster or Bravado’

 

Speaking at a Clean Energy Summit in Las Vegas on Monday, President Barack Obama said the U.S. does not “rely on bluster or bravado” when it comes to foreign policy, specifically when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

“We don't rely on bluster or bravado; we focus on strong, principled diplomacy that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon -- and showing once again to the entire world what American leadership really means,” Obama said.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/penny-starr/obama-iran-nuke-deal-we-dont-rely-bluster-or-bravado

The History of the 30-Year Pro Life Fight

 Note I change The head Line For Mother Jones and  Here the Mother Jones head Line as posted  The Unauthorized History of the GOP's 30-Year War on Planned Parenthood

1979

Where states have been faced with a choice between continuing to fund Planned Parenthood and losing out on critical federal funds, many have chosen to dissolve their family planning programs altogether.

 

The Minnesota legislature passes a sweeping law to end all state family planning funding to groups offering abortion, abortion counseling, or referrals. A federal judge strikes down the law in 1980, noting, "Planned Parenthood's unpopularity in and of itself and without reference to some independent considerations in the public interest cannot justify [the law]." Similar laws in Arizona and North Dakota also tank. Anti-abortion activists start seeking a work-around to the rulings.
1980

In Utah, lawmakers reroute $390,000 in family planning funds from the Planned Parenthood's five clinics to county health departments.
1984

The Reagan administration imposes a new policy that prevents any foreign funding from going to health care providers that perform abortions. The move applies to hundreds of millions of dollars the government sets aside to promote family planning in impoverished countries. The policy is in place until President Bill Clinton rolls it back in 1993.

Colorado approves a constitutional amendment banning state funds from being spent on abortions.
1985

California legislators accidentally send Gov. George Deukmejian a version of the state budget that bars any group providing abortion services from receiving money from the state's $34 million annual family planning budget. Deukmejian, a Republican, refuses to veto the measure, which lawmakers had previously voted to remove. "The clear target of the provision, which was introduced…at the request of anti-abortion groups, is Planned Parenthood and its 16 local affiliates," the Los Angeles Times reported. An appeals court struck the measure down.

1987
The Reagan administration tries a more indirect way to end family planning funding to groups that also provide abortions by establishing the "gag rule." The rule prevented family planning clinics that receive federal money from providing abortion counseling. Clinton will later reverse the gag rule shortly after it survives a Supreme Court challenge.
1989

California Gov. Deukmejian slashes the state family planning budget from $362 million to $12.1 million. The cut largely hits Planned Parenthood clinics that serve tens of thousands of California women. The legislature restores the funds the next year.

1994

Michigan passes a new law that will become a model for stripping family planning funds from groups that provide abortions. The law creates a funding formula that assigns "demerits" to organizations that perform or refer for abortions. Organizations with demerits are the last to receive state funding for pregnancy prevention.

The Georgia legislature passes its own version of the gag rule, affecting $4 million in family planning services. "At the top of their hit list is Planned Parenthood," writes the Atlanta Journal and Constitution's editorial board.

1996
The Missouri legislature adds a provision to its budget barring state family planning funds for groups that provide abortion services. The law applies to only two clinics in the whole state—both are Planned Parenthood affiliates. A federal judge strikes the provision down within a few months.
Missouri lawmakers try to gut the entire $5.3 million family planning budget after Gov. Mel Carnahan, a Democrat, refuses to pledge that Planned Parenthood wouldn't receive any of the funds. The attempt fails by 11 votes. The legislature will include provisions designed to cut funding to Planned Parenthood in every state budget until 2002.

1997
Wisconsin bans state funds from being used for abortions, abortion counseling, or referrals for abortion, unless these services are necessary to save a woman's life.

1999
The incoming governor of Colorado, whose campaign promises included ending taxpayer funding for Planned Parenthood, orders the state health department to clarify that the 1984 constitutional amendment also bans groups providing abortion services from receiving family planning funds. The move threatens $320,000 that Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains receives for 13 rural health clinics. The group spins off its abortion provider into a separate entity in order to keep receiving funds.

"My amendment would close the loophole that has forced millions of pro-life Americans to subsidize the nation's leading abortion provider, sustaining and underwriting the destruction of innocent human life that has been carried out on a massive scale by Planned Parenthood."

 

Planned Parenthood temporarily closes its Columbia, Missouri, clinic while it complies with another budget measure designed to prevent the group from getting state funds. A judge rules that the group did not adequately separate its family planning and abortion activities, and Planned Parenthood loses $804,000 in state funds for the year and is barred from receiving future funds.

2000
The Clinton administration approves a permanent rule requiring groups taking Title X dollars to keep that money "separate and distinct" from abortion activities.

2001
President George W. Bush reinstates the Reagan-era policy of prohibiting foreign aid to health care groups offering abortion services. The move redirects tens of millions in funding appropriated to the International Planned Parenthood Federation. President Barack Obama reverses the policy in 2009.
US Rep. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican who would later become a senator, offers an amendment to an appropriations bill that would bar abortion clinics from receiving Title X funds. The amendment—the first of many—is roundly defeated.
2002
Colorado investigators determine that Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains' family planning clinic and abortion clinics are not sufficiently separate to comply with the law, and suspends $380,000 in Title X funds, affecting 13,000 poor women.

Pennsylvania begins a five-year tradition of approving annual budgets that exclude abortion providers from approximately $4 million in family planning funds. Abortion providers' family planning clinics must be spun off into separate entities in order to keep receiving funds.

2003
Rather than continue to finance several court battles over budget measures to defund Planned Parenthood, the Missouri legislature simply eliminates all state funding for family planning.
Texas approves a one-year budget that bars the use of state family planning funds by groups that offer abortions (except in emergencies) or that contract with organizations offering abortions.
2007
The Texas budget requires abortion providers to be "physically and financially separate" from their family planning clinics in order to receive state funds.

Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) offers an amendment to the 2008 appropriations bill that would bar abortion providers from receiving any federal health funds, including from the Title X program. Rep. Mike Pence, (R-Ind.) offers an amendment that would block Planned Parenthood from accessing Title X funds. Both amendments failed.

2009
Pence offers a similar amendment again. "My amendment would close the loophole that has forced millions of pro-life Americans to subsidize the nation's leading abortion provider, sustaining and underwriting the destruction of innocent human life that has been carried out on a massive scale by Planned Parenthood," he writes in a press release.
2010

Citing a need to slash spending, newly elected Gov. Chris Christie cuts all $7.5 million in family planning aid from the New Jersey budget. Only $1.2 million of that money was destined for Planned Parenthood; the cuts affect 58 family planning clinics around the state.

"The taxpayers of New Jersey are under no obligation to fund the radical and failed social agenda of Planned Parenthood."

 

As Democrats in the statehouse fight to restore the funds, Republicans say they oppose channeling any more state money toward Planned Parenthood. "The taxpayers of New Jersey are under no obligation to fund the radical and failed social agenda of Planned Parenthood," said Marie Tasy, the director of New Jersey Right to Life, shortly after Christie vetoes efforts to restore the funding.
2011

The US House passes a new measure introduced by Rep. Pence to prevent Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funds, including Medicaid and Title X grants. The amendment is attached to a critical spending bill and almost shuts down the government. The measure ultimately fails.
Arizona lawmakers ban the state from contracting with abortion providers, a measure that a federal judge overturned within the year.

The Indiana General Assembly bans the state from contracting with any abortion providers except for hospitals. The move is touted as a way to shut off all Medicaid dollars—more than $2 million—to Planned Parenthood. A federal judge blocks the law that summer.

The newly Republican Kansas legislature blocks all Title X family planning funds from flowing to abortion providers or their affiliates. The measure, which is stalled by a lawsuit, strips $330,000 from Kansas's Planned Parenthood clinics, even though no Planned Parenthood clinics in Kansas perform abortions.

The New Hampshire Executive Council, a branch of the governor's office, votes to strip Planned Parenthood of $1.8 million in Title X funds.

The North Carolina General Assembly bans the state from contracting with Planned Parenthood, which receives $434,000 in family planning funds. The state later loses a court battle to enforce the law.

The Republican administration of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam cuts off Title X grants of $1.06 million to Planned Parenthood and reroutes the money to local public health departments.

Gov. Rick Perry dissolved much of the state's Medicaid program in order to exclude Planned Parenthood. The state walks away from $200 million in Medicaid dollars as a result.

 

The Texas legislature cuts a staggering $73.6 million out of its $111.5 million family planning budget. It allocates the remaining money according to a new, tiered funding formula inspired by Michigan's two-decade-old demerit system. The tier system renders Planned Parenthood completely ineligible for state pregnancy prevention contracts. Other family planning clinics, including some that do not provide abortion services, suffer drastic reductions or closure under the new system. The cuts are fully in place for two years.

Texas lawmakers also eliminate Planned Parenthood clinics from the state program that provides preventive care, screenings, and birth control to 130,000 Texas women. The move causes the program to lose its federal designation, and with it, $30 million in federal Medicaid dollars for poor women's health services.

In Wisconsin, new GOP Gov. Scott Walker proposes eliminating the state's entire $3.4 million family planning budget. Republicans in the statehouse opt to merely cut the program back, to $1.7 million, by rejecting federal funds and using only state money. Rejecting the federal funds allows lawmakers to include a budget provision barring any organization providing abortions from access to the money. The new provision applies to only one health care provider: Planned Parenthood. Its nine Wisconsin clinics lose $1 million.

Building on the 1997 restriction that barred family planning funds from flowing to abortion affiliates, Walker also ends a $138,000 contract that paid for two Planned Parenthood caseworkers to sign up low-income women for breast cancer screenings. A county health department takes over the sign-up program.

2012
North Carolina bars family planning clinics that are not affiliated with the state from receiving family planning funds.

2013
Ohio adopts the Michigan model of allocating state and federal family planning funds through a tiered system that prioritizes recipients. Family planning clinics, including 29 Planned Parenthood health clinics, are last in line below state health clinics and community clinics.
Oklahoma bars family planning clinics not affiliated with the state from receiving family planning funds.

A judge rules that Texas cannot bar a federally approved provider—Planned Parenthood—from participating in the state's Medicaid program. Republican Gov. Rick Perry responds by dissolving much of the state's Medicaid program and forming a new family planning program that excludes Planned Parenthood. The state walks away from $200 million in Medicaid dollars.

2015 (up until the release of the videos in July)
Christie has left the dramatic family planning cuts in place for five years running. Today, he cites his opposition to Planned Parenthood, not the need to cut spending, as the reason for his opposition. "When they send me Planned Parenthood funding year after year after year…there is no room for compromise there," he says at a press conference.

The Arkansas legislature bars public funds from going to most groups that provide or refer for abortions, a move intended to cut off grants Planned Parenthood used to run sex education programs.

Since the sting, states have been scrambling to cut their Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood, some citing laws that allow them to terminate contracts with a group that has engaged in illegal activities. This is in spite of the fact that state-led probes of Planned Parenthood have turned up no illegal behavior. As my colleague Nina Liss-Schultz reported, investigations

in Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, and South Dakota have found no evidence that Planned Parenthood has sold fetal tissue. Ohio, Arizona, Texas, and Kansas investigated the allegations even though Planned Parenthood affiliates don't run fetal tissue donation programs in those states. And in Louisiana—where Gov. Bobby Jindal ordered an investigation in mid-July—Planned Parenthood doesn't even perform abortions.*

On Thursday, the Center for Medical Progress dropped a seventh video. This one purports to show that Planned Parenthood alters its abortion procedures to better preserve fetal specimens for sale. "Planned Parenthood is a criminal organization from the top down," said David Daleidin, the anti-abortion group's founder, "and should be immediately stripped of taxpayer funding and prosecuted for their atrocities against humanity."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/08/30-year-history-gop-attacks-defund-planned-parenthood

Common Core: Who's Watching the Kids? Obama Or Jed Bush?

Common Core is about more than just a shift in educational standards.  The architects of Common Core have always planned to integrate computer technology with Common Core standards under the guise of “closing the digital divide” and “preparing our children for the 21st-century workplace.”  They want us to envision “educational equality,” where each student has access to the same technology and resources, including his or her own one-to-one device (one student, one device).  These sound like worthwhile goals, but we know better.

Initially, in order to continue to be eligible for Obama’s “Race to the Top” federal funding, states were obligated to implement a Student Longitudinal Database System (SLDS), used to track students from preschool through college (P20-WIN).  Some of us may recall the many reports about measuring 400 data points.  This is part of SLDS.  Those of us who are paying attention may have assumed that these data points were going to be gathered via the Common Core assessments.  Perhaps some of us assumed that “opting out” or refusing the test would keep us safe.  Not so fast.  Could these one to one devices be another carefully disguised method of software-driven mass surveillance of students?  And in what other ways is data being collected?  Parents, you need to take a closer look at this.  

We are headed back to school, and this year, all across America, more and more classrooms will be filled with children innocently using their iPads or other handheld devices.  Children may be playing interactive educational games, doing interactive assignments, and writing stories that can be easily shared with the teacher and other students.  These seemingly harmless activities are in fact being used to collect personal and private information without the parents’ consent or knowledge.

Could that educational game be used to measure your child’s mental state?  Could those interactive assignments involve morally ambiguous questions that can be used to create a psychological profile of your child?  Could that shared story be used to predict violent behavior?

Besides the one-to-one handheld devices, there are other methods of collecting data, such as written school surveys and notes taken by teachers, guidance counselors, and other school officials who may not even realize that every word they type about a student is stored and analyzed.  The obvious “personally identifiable information” is being collected, including student tests scores and grades, and also information such as name, address, Social Security number, date of birth, place of birth, and mother’s maiden name.  In addition, “sensitive information” is being collected.  This data includes political affiliation and beliefs of students and their parents; mental or psychological problems of the students or their families; illegal, anti-social, or self-incriminating behaviors; gun ownership and beliefs about firearms; and legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships such as those of attorneys, doctors, or priests, among many other things.

What our government might do with all this data is a troublesome question.  

All of this data from multiple sources (exams, assignments, handheld devices, surveys, conversations with school officials, et al.) now feeds into a larger collection of databases that will be mined for patterns and insights.  This data can be accessed and created by the federal government and educational corporations.  Parents assume that FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) and COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) provide protection, but too many loopholes exist.  COPPA protects only up to the age of 13.  FERPA’s privacy protection language was weakened when it was reinterpreted by the U.S. Department of Education to allow greater access by third parties (big business).   

There are many yet to be known ways in which this information may be used and abused.  Our federal government has extensive plans to use this data for a variety of purposes such as workforce education, shaping student behavior, perhaps forcing compliance to the will of the state, and definitely providing “direction” for our kids in their careers.  The data sets on individual students gives government the ability to impose heavy-handed regulations which will direct children’s futures. These handheld devices are the key enabling technology for the marriage of convenience between big government and big business called “public-private partnerships.”  Since the government didn’t build the handheld devices, big business provides the ability to collect the student data, while big government provides the regulations that force the collection of the student data.

If you comfort yourself with the belief that this information is desired simply so that companies can market products for your children, for example (as if that weren’t bad enough), think again.  This data will be stored forever, and parents will have very, very limited access to it, if any at all.  Maybe you think “predicting future violent behavior” is a step in the right direction.  What if your kid is flagged because he did something that most of us did growing up, such as draw a picture of a gun?

So who will be watching and analyzing our kids?

National standards plus the universal use of one-on-one devices are sold as “closing the digital divide.”  Like every other aspect of Common Core, there is more than meets the eye: these are also necessary pre-conditions for mass surveillance.  They are inseparable.  This Orwellian vision of “educational equality” enables the kind of mass surveillance that can be characterized only as an educational police state.  We the People are watching it happen to our children, and most of us still won’t believe our eyes.

Mary Anne Marcella is a parent and New York City public school teacher.  She cares about her children and her students and wants the best for them.  Her opinions are her own. maryannem@optonline.netMaryAnne@maryannemercog

Cort Wrotnowski is a management consultant in biotechnology and president of BioSpark Associates, LLC.  Over the last two years he has been fighting Common Core, over-testing, and the assaults on local control in public education.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/08/_common_core_whos_watching_the_kids.html