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CNN's Dana Loesch Equates Mandatory Trans-Vaginal Ultrasound to Having Sex

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NJDhockeyfan2/18/2012 6:51:39 am PST

re: #541 Obdicut

The charges are murky and vague, but again, that’s not really relevant. If they released the Americans, they’d still be the same people who decided to arrest them, and they’d still be arresting Egyptians and others for the same ‘crimes’.

I’m pointing out that saying ‘release them or we won’t give you any more money’ might get the very short-term solution of getting those Americans out, but A) it’s pretty close to paying ransom, which we don’t do and B) it doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

Here’s what Egypt arrested them for…

Egypt orders trial for U.S. citizens

CAIRO — Relations between Washington and Cairo plummeted further when Egypt’s military-controlled government announced that 19 Americans working for pro-democracy groups, including the son of a Cabinet official, would be ordered to stand trial on licensing and financial charges.

The provocative decision Sunday by investigating judges comes as the U.S. has threatened to suspend $1.3 billion in annual aid to Egypt’s military. It highlights the widening divide between Washington and one of its closest allies over democratic reforms at a time of sweeping political upheaval across North Africa and the Middle East.

State media reported judges have referred 43 people, including 19 Americans, to be prosecuted on charges of violating foreign funding laws for nongovernmental organizations working in Egypt. One of them is reported to be Sam LaHood, the Egypt director of the Washington-based International Republican Institute, or IRI, and son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

The younger LaHood and other Americans working for IRI received haven last month at the U.S. Embassy amid fears they might be arrested after a travel ban was placed upon them. Employees at two other U.S.-based groups — Freedom House and the National Democratic Institute — are also under investigation. The charges reportedly carry a penalty of up to five years in prison.