David Cameron Says People Aren't Radicalized By Poverty Or Foreign Policy, But By Free Speech Online, So ISPs Agree To Censor Button
from the censor-now! dept
A few years ago, we mocked then Senator Joe Lieberman's request that internet companies put "report this content as terrorist content" buttons on various types of online content. The plan went nowhere, because it's a really bad idea, prone to massive abuse. Yet, over in the UK, some apparently think it's such a grand idea that they're actually moving forward with it. This isn't a huge surprise -- the current UK government has been going on for quite some time about banning "extremist" content, and just recently ramped up such efforts.And now it appears that a bunch of big UK broadband access providers have agreed to play along:
The UK’s major Internet service providers – BT, Virgin, Sky and Talk Talk – have this week committed to host a public reporting button for terrorist material online, similar to the reporting button which allows the public to report child sexual exploitation.I love the term "radicalising material" as if it's the material itself that has the power to magically turn mild-mannered Brits into violent jihadis just by appearing on their screens. That's not how it works. Yet some have such an irrational fear of the power of words we disagree with that it must be prevented from anyone ever seeing it.
They have also agreed to ensure that terrorist and extremist material is captured by their filters to prevent children and young people coming across radicalising material.
Also, the comparison to child porn is a common one, but wrong. Images of sexually exploited children are not a judgment call issue, for the most part. It's an obvious thing. "Extremist" material or "terrorist" material, on the other hand, is almost entirely subjective. And, over time, the definition of what counts always seems to expand, rather than contract. And that doesn't even take into account how many people will simply choose to use such buttons to try to censor any sort of content they dislike.
David Cameron seems quite excited about turning an open and free internet into a closed and censored space, where only content he likes is allowed:
Addressing a special sitting of federal parliament, Cameron said: “We must not allow the internet to be an ungoverned space”.Why? What's wrong with letting people speak their minds? The whole "terrorism!" claim is overplayed:
“In both our countries we have seen some of our young people radicalised, going off to fight in Iraq and Syria, and even appalling plots to murder innocent people back in our own countries.”Yes, but perhaps you should look at the root causes of why that's happening? But Cameron insists it can't possibly be poverty or UK foreign policy:
“And let us be frank. It’s not poverty, though of course our nations are united in tackling deprivation wherever it exists. It’s not exclusion from the mainstream. Of course we have more to do but we are both successful multicultural democracies where opportunities abound.Hmm. So disagreeing with foreign policy cannot justify terrorist outrages... but, apparently it can justify blatant censorship. Because, apparently, the only possible reason why people are radicalized is because they read something on the internet. David Cameron insists that's the case:
“And it’s not foreign policy. I can show you examples all over the world where British aid and British action have saved millions of Muslim lives, from Kosovo to Syria – but that is not exactly the real point. In our democracies, we must never give in to the idea that disagreeing with a foreign policy in any way justifies terrorist outrages.”
The root cause was in fact the “extremist narrative”, Cameron said.So he presents no actual evidence, but completely waves off poverty and disagreements over UK foreign policy as being non-factors -- and then automatically assumes that the problem is "extremist" speech online? Incredible.
This meant “we must ban extremist preachers from our country, we must root out extremism from our schools, universities and prisons”, as well as dealing with the internet.
And the end result is pure censorship. How long until calling it censorship is considered an "extremist" position as well?
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Filed Under: censorship, david cameron, extremist speech, foreign policy, free speech, isps, poverty, terrorists
Companies: bt, sky, talk talk, virgin
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I completely agree that this is the root cause of all kinds of online censorship like he is proposing.
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This is the best thing they've done.
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This will not end well. It will be hilarious in it's failures, but I really see no way it can end well...
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Sure it can. A large group of people could report a large number of government website pages as ``radicalizing'' or otherwise offensive content, flooding the system and causing collapse.
Everyone outside of government has a good laugh. That sounds like a good ending to me.
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(Terrorists on the other hand probably couldn't care less.)
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Right, well that knocks out the bible, lots of Shakespeare, and half the exhibits in the National Museum for a start (all those old warmongering Assyrians and so on, let us destroy those ancient statues just like..., oh wait..).
How would Nelson Mandela have faired today?
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Re: radicalizing material
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Actually, it's not.
The term child porn is so horribly subjective here.
Last month a guy was prosecuted for having lolicon because apparently "drawings are people too."
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Proposal: extra buttons
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Re: Proposal: extra buttons
Well said citizen!
However one must use the proper terminology, or face the prospect of me seeing "Furtive Movements" or "Not Complying with a Lawfull Order" at which point you'll get the hardwood shampoo, or high-velocity lead poisoning!
Back to proper terminology I believe the buttons need to be labled "Kike" and "Faggot".
Just so there is no confusion you know.
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Re: Proposal: extra buttons
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Root it out of prisons?
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_revolution
After all, the serfs should know their place, right?
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This is an affliction of all humans.
I suspect that the more enlightened approach would be to presume that there is some legitimacy behind all other perspectives and cultures, even those that are particularly belligerent or wasteful or xenophobic or lazy or crazy or whatever.
Ideally, we would find a community structure that accommodates the rights amd needs of all peoples, including ones that are barking mad, so that there is no unresolvable conflict. Possibly a Sisyphusean endeavor.
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Re: This is an affliction of all humans.
Yes, this. It's a key part of learning how to get along with other people -- the ability to understand (with the knowledge that it's possible to understand without agreeing).
As the old saying goes, everyone seems crazy when you don't understand their point of view.
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The cycle where evil gets strong and must be put down is and endless one.
People may not realize it... but when it gets here... it will be here and up in everyone's faces.
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A time to kill, a time to heal
When their frequency becomes enough to challenge the responding agencies' ability to manage them all, the revolution has begun. And usually the rebels have detected each other and organized.
Revolutions are dangerous to begin, and revolutionaries are often tortured, humiliated and killed by state or state-allied forces. Expect room 101. Expect to be forced to recant and praise Big Brother on international video.
Revolutions also can never be fully put down. Tyrants never sleep well.
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If you rise up against that foul man Orwell will be forever grateful.
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issues..
Dare say also the various ISPs agreed knowing full well how the majority in the UK will use it - on just about any and every website - indeed can see a time in the not too distant future where someone gets a collar grabbed for reporting government websites a bit too often.
Or a Firefox plug in that reports just about every website you visit, or every 'n' sites anyway.
Political climate in the UK is shifting and the encumbents of all colours are uneasy about it and the somewhat mocking nature of political reporting here, many would like to wind the clock back a good few years to when people found out only what they were told.
It won't work, this idiocy never does, and this idiot keeps trying, the Home Office is even worse no idea what it is they do to people who work there that turns them all into lunatics. ISPs sound like they are giving up, and will give the Government exactly what they ask for - no more, no less, but exactly whats requested - in the full knowledge it won't work and will cause yet more ridicule in the run up to the elections next year.
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Re: issues..
That's how I'd use it. You could be telling your granny what today's episode of Sponge Bob was about, and I'd click it. Corrupting that gov't database with false positives would be the best thing for it.
Fair warning to all, if they ever roll this out here, I'll report everything and anything. I'll go out of my way to create multiple on-line personalities and use every open network connection I can find to anonymize my actions. I'll report my mother given the chance.
How these numbskulls can think ideas like this have the merit of a second's thought, I can't imagine.
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Re: Re: issues..
But remember, all prospective false positive generators, you will not be clicking anonymously. They know who you are (the NSA will tell them if GCHQ can't keep up). You will be in that database too, as an extremist sympathiser engaged in interfering with lawful government. And you know what that makes you (hint, it begins with a t).
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Re: Re: Re: issues..
Which is why we should be getting the word out to all our friends to do likewise.
Cameron's probably just trying to find *something* to deflect criticism of what his buddies in the city have been pulling in Luxembourg. Did you hear how his dad earned the family fortune? Tax havens.
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I for one, think this is a brilliant idea.
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Untermenschen button.
Thoughtcrime if you will.
A study was done regarding all the web-content filtering software (they all use the same databases of evil sites) that would filter out "hate sites" except when the rhetoric was anti-gay by a well-funded church. When the same text was transferred to an independently owned site and "gays" changed to some other hate target, the companies would add those sites to the list, but even when shown that the big churches rhetoric was identical, they wouldn't screen for the language.
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"Radicalizing Material" is political speech
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Re: "Radicalizing Material" is political speech
The U.K.doesn't has a first amendment, like the U.S. used to.
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Re: Re: "Radicalizing Material" is political speech
The Americans are dead fucking passed out and asleep. Someone or something needs to kick the shit out of us before we wake up and begin smelling the roses.
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Re: Re: "Radicalizing Material" is political speech
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Re: Re: "Radicalizing Material" is political speech
The country that I'm a subject to, still, is less socially advanced than its colonies, hilarious.
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Have You Been Had???
Where did you get these quotes?? No one in the UK would call it "federal" parliament. Your sources is HIGHLY suspect until this is clarified.
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Re: Have You Been Had???
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Re: Have You Been Had???
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Re: Have You Been Had???
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How long until calling it censorship is considered an "extremist" position as well?
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Re: How long until calling it censorship is considered an "extremist" position as well?
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move on to today and we read how yet another child porn case is headlines in the UK. when Cameron started his supposed 'protect the children', i bet he didn't expect to get the shit that's being thrown around now to come to the surface! the implications of senior military and political figures being involved, even running the show, it's gonna be interesting to see how it all unfolds!! be even more interesting to see how it affects him and the government in power at the moment!
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Cameron's own opinions
So long as you regard the problem as being only a fanatical fringe then you have disarmed yourself for the main battle. The problem is that you cannot argue against the fanatical fringe without saying things that upset the mainstream. Then your only weapon is to try and shut the fringe up with censorship.
Cameron should look at his predecessor, Winston Churchill's, views on the issue.
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Heard this speech before
I'm pretty I've heard this speech before. Change around a few terms and the target, and you get Germany circa 1935 or so.
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many will just report sites that have noting to do with ""extremist" content" and more to do with things they don't like or for the LOLZ
like many have said this will end well anyway you look at it
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The "good people" will suffer no consequence for clicking on things they do not like, however, those "bad people" will feel the full wrath of justice if they even think about defiling the pristine websites of the great benefactors.
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This speech is just a form of advertising. Advertising is designed to condition customers, and motivate them to buy now. I don't see how this is any different. It turns looky-loos into buyers. Or rather potential extremists into actual extremists.
Okay where's my evidence? Where's your evidence that solving poverty solves extremism. At best you'll get "it's a contributing factor" just like extremist speech online is a contributing factor.
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Everyone is an extremist because it, like art, is all in the eye of the beholder. A wise person knows that attempts to define what is extreme, is the very nature of it.
Propaganda is just the attempt to find, and push a person's 'fuck it all' button so they willingly step into the abyss. Everyone has that button... and when it is found people can go flipping bat-shit crazy! Our very lives are a testament to how well some of us keep the button well hidden and un-pushed.
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Think about that for a bit...
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Speaking as one of the batshit crazy ones...
If wenwere to worry about the trigger of every marble flinger on the net, no-one would have any fun at all.
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Corellation between poverty and extremism
Impoverished citizens tend to have more grievances, and will, if they cannot do without, engage in crimes of necessity in order to survive.
When there is enough of such crime that it organizes, you have a burgeoning revolution. That's extremism.
Even if the extremist message is we're hungry, and the police are raping our daughters and shooting our sons that's still extremism.
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Re: Corellation between poverty and extremism
And again, I'm not advocating censorship. If you take my analogy of propaganda as advertising, the way to combat your competitor's advertising is to first understand the customer's buying motives, and then to advertise how your product is better.
I would also argue that your definition of extremism is incorrect. Extremism is not a complaint about conditions, it is a call to action in which the action is neither proportional to, nor ethically consistent with the complaint.
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My extremism is not your extremism.
I don't think you and I could agree to what are proportional responses to certain grievances, let alone those from other cultures or, say, Mr. Cameron.
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Re: Re: Corellation between poverty and extremism
LOL - non-democratic governments, like that magically makes things all non extreme.
"Extremism is not a complaint about conditions"
It depends upon who is doing the name calling. Obviously those in charge are going to call all in opposition extremists.
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It's the internet's fault!
Once upon a time, before I ever had a networked computer, I received some unsolicited neo-nazi propaganda. It's true! I couldn't believe it, either. But, there it was, plain as day, among the daily paper, bills and junk mail in that day's mail.
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We are no longer captive audiences to the corporate-state propaganda machine. The state can no longer contain
and control information. It can no longer control narratives. It can no longer keep it's dirty secrets buried.
The moves toward authoritarianism in recent years are desperate attempts by these bloodsuckers to hold onto power.
But we have been indoctrinated to believe in "freedom and democracy" for a long time. People will not tolerate this nonsense for much longer.
Your sense of hopelessness is unwarranted. Your depression, counterproductive. Stand up!
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Lets not stop there...
That way we can all be safe and discriminate in peace.
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This is ludicrously disingenuous considering that Cameron's government led a 'crackdown' on charities and aid workers travelling to and from Syria; including the investigation of charities, police harrasment, and even going so far as to threatening to void citizens' passports. All whilst pushing for sending more weapons and making an arguement in parliment for air strikes.
The message this government has sent, loud and clear, is that we'll bomb you or add more weapons into an already deadly mix but food parcels will not be tolerated. As a nation we're continuing to create far better recruitment materials than a few 'slickly-edited' YouTube videos.
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Like this will solve anything...
[ ] FLAG AS TERRORIST CONTENT
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God Masnick its not the power of the words. its the power of people they are trying to control. You put too much stock in peoples intentions. There is a movement to deliberately control populations across the globe. Have you seen "Century of the Self" yet?
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Facile and Shallow
And, shame, Oh Shame!, on David Cameron for proposing a policy despite Techdirt trashing it some months ago. Some flunky must have forgotten to put hard copy in the PM's briefing book.
(Hmmm? By the logic of this column, I am now motivated to launch a DDOS attack on this site. Right? After all, jumping straight to crime when wh don't like something is only natural.)
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Re: Facile and Shallow
FTFY
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David Cameron Says People Aren't Radicalized By Poverty Or Foreign Policy, But By Free Speech Online, So ISPs Agree To Censor Button
I don't see them out on the streets, protesting this.
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Re: David Cameron Says People Aren't Radicalized By Poverty Or Foreign Policy, But By Free Speech Online, So ISPs Agree To Censor Button
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Government lies do not hold up to any amount of scrutiny!
Translation; we're losing our grip on the minds of the serfs, they are beginning to wake up and realize what pathological lying murderers we are! WE'RE AFRAID OF THE INTERNET! WE MUST CONTROL THE MESSAGE!
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Kill the nasty Jew sickness
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Free Speech Online
Describing HATE speech as FREE speech is definitively very tolerant..
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Ziopathy
It's not a canard if it's true
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Re: Ziopathy
Would you rather they did it Meyer Lansky's way?
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Radicalism in Britain.
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censorship == evil ; always...
Benjamin Franklin. (Imho one of the greatest Americans ever ! :-)
*ALL* totalitarian/dictatorial regimes started there evil power mongering by installing censorship, as a (preemptive) measure against (any and all) opposition...
Besides that, the fact, allegedly, some people (a very, very, very small minority) are abusing Freedoms and Rights, is absolutely no justification to abolish these Freedoms and Right, nation wide...
The Freedom to speak your mind and criticize your leaders/politicians (without fear of being arrested, etc.) is one of the very essentials of a civilized, *Democratic* society.
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Re: censorship == evil ; always...
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free speech
The jews and assisting them in the NWO freemasons are waging war on the hated by them free speech and truth.
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Secondly, if there is'nt, what are they gonna do when cameron's deemed a terrorist...........
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It is becoming INCREASINGLY obvious the the "major" isp's are in bed with the uk government, exchanges have obviously been made, if it were just one, fair enough, but its a concerted effort to "do as they say"
Now folks who disagree with uk's government actions are'nt gonna want to sign up nor support with their wallets these isp's that wont say no or at least argue, instead of submitting.......so this folks will likely, eventually go looking for isp's that do, and they're still out there, isps that WONT implement these, barring a complete lack of lawlessness from uk government to NON SUBTELY force them
So what does that mean.......it means the government is herding the kind of pro government subcribers to an isp that is pro government, and then giving them the opportunity to give the government what they want, the illusion of support from those they've dellusioned
Think for yourselfs, make your own damn choices.....dont default to supporting something the government peer pressure WANTS you to support, unless you agree with every aspect of it, stop with the here, now mentality, patience for the right person, right promises, right action "is not a crime"
Believing in humankind and freedom from leaders without choice is not a crime, ......where are our leaders of integrity, our leaders of human rights above all.........you wanna know why people are ill-content.....its because there are none, or their not shown, or are demonized by the status quo for their common sense arguments
Truth is treason, in the empire of lies
Dont hit that invade my privacy terrorist button to hard, you might hurt yourself.........
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Its the wmd of the internet, excessive panic resulting in over reach in power........and when the current flavour of panic is all done and settled, our "leaders" end up with new shiny "toys"
Rinse, repeat, rinse repeat.........the only thing their after, are the people exposing the rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat
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Well whats that gonna obviously look like, for obviously being what it obviously is, persucution
Now what if, now what if, they build an illionary system, where now, they can go after whoever they like and justify that its the will of the people
Oh, thats assuming that whoever they censor has has a higher proportion of being "investigated".........
Now how can i go about arresting these "extremist" without me looking like the bad guy i am, mmmmmmm?
Says i
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Thankyou and enjoy, oh, by the way, terrorism *Play: alfred hitchcocks hypnotising theme song :here*
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At any rate, I encourage british people to push the button when visiting the conservative party website and to share links everywhere about Cameron's proof of Freemasonry (basically Satanism), child sacrifices of the british family (they really liked to do it with native canadians the queen and prince phillip would fly to canada in our disgusting "residential schools", read concentration camps for the children of native canadians, which have injuctions against digging next to them, because it is widely known that there are mass graves of children where those church of england sponsored schools (only banned in 1996), I digress, just share the most links possible about Cameron's freemasonry satanic links.
I'm still trying to weight in who's worse, Harper or Cameron, hopefully both get the booth in less than a year (elections in October in canada, finally, with a re-established Liberal Party, I'd be okay with a minority gov for the liberal and the NDP as opposition, even central canadians are getting sick of Harper, we've suffered long enough.
Sad for my aussie friends though that this cancer called Abbott is back and crazier than ever.
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