(CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday cited "reasons having to do with religion or politics" in a list of "root causes" of terrorism in which he also included factors ranging from tribalism to frustration and the desire for a sense of identity and purpose.
Addressing the Oslo Forum in the Norwegian capital, Kerry disputed the notion that a "clash of civilizations" is underway, arguing that "there is nothing remotely civilized about the terrorists that we confront in the world today" such as those in Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL), Boko Haram or Al-Shabaab.
To bypass statutes forbidding the federal government to develop national standards, two private organizations—the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)—in coordination with Achieve, Inc., a private organization established by the NGA and business officials in 1996, agreed to develop Common Core's standards. Expenses for managing the project were defrayed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, another private organization. In the absence of information from all these private organizations, it seems that Achieve, Inc. and the Gates Foundation selected most of the key personnel to write the standards. We do not know why.
