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The plan is to repay Iran with Iran's own money. The US government has never treated Iran in a fair or honorable way since the CIA installed the Shaw in the 50s. Just what do you want? Your nation broke the relationship and your nation has only made it worse.

Paying to release hostages is a bad practice because the bulk of hostage-taking foot-soldiers are just desperately poor Somali or Afghan or ... farmers or fishermen who were displaced from honest employment by the latest civil war. Few of them hold fanatical religious views or even understand national politics. Forget about trying to explain international politics to them. These days, the majority of hostages are taken purely as commodities in "kidnap for profit" schemes. As for Moscow holding westerners hostage ... Moscow is just proving that they do not obey international diplomatic customs/traditions/treaties.

As someone who only fairly recently upsized (I’m a 68-year old woman — if I break, I won’t heal fast), I completely agree with most of the advantages of a smaller rig. Comfort in wearing isn’t huge, simply because you really don’t wear your rig that much outside of sitting in an airplane. And anyway, I still remember wearing converted military gear Wendy P.

True Mostly true. But a religious conservative government has never been popular with most Iranians. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini used the corruption of the Shaw to come to power. Most Iranians leaned towards the west and liked western values more than the religious conservatism of the Ayatollah. Today of course the Islamic conservatives have no regard for its people. Perhaps but no non-Islamic government has good relations. The Iranian conservatives meddle in every country in the region. They seize hostages without cause. They have a stated national objective to destroy Israel. As a nuclear power they will act to influence neighboring countries with all means possible. Regardless of the consequences to its people. The US is not to blame for the current state of affairs in Iran. The Mullahs are to blame. Like Putin , like Xi, like Kim and others . They sustain their power through the use of police and security forces. Who will kill and terrorize its people to keep the government in power. The US has set a foolish precedent in its hostage dealings with Russia, N.Korea and Iran. All three of these countries will continue to grab American hostages to act as a bank for future deals with American presidents. Is there any wonder why they don't take UK, French, EU hostages? Americans are the treasured ones. One remedy is to allow the released hostages to pursue serious money damages for their false imprisonment. As there is always Iranian cash in seized bank accounts in the US. In the meantime the cash for "humanitarian purchases" will free up other money for nuclear weapons. Should Iran decide to go ahead with a bomb it could have the fissile material in about two weeks. It has sufficient material once further enriched to build 10-12 bombs. These billions could provide the breathing room to move its nuclear program ahead. Politicians Say Iran’s Economic Crisis Can Lead To Regime Collapse

I think the Biden administration is blowing it big time. I don't care who these dual citizenship folks are or what trumped up charges were leveled against them. Whoever they are, they aren't 5 soccer moms kidnapped, with their minivan, off the streets of America and no way should we be trading 5 of our prisoners and $6 Billion Dollars for them. Thinking that the money will only be spent on humanitarian programs is foolish. We are giving Iran $6 Billion to spend on their armament programs and there is no other rational way to see it. Even if there is some inside poker we can't see we are still setting the per hostage price at $1.2 Billion. Not smart.

The tiny percentage of those guys that regularly visit a range aren’t the ones that worry me most.

IMO dual citizen is a red herring in the hostage-ransom situation at hand. Canada currently has a huge Ukrainian- Canadian citizenship program underway. Where perhaps a half million Ukrainians may end up with dual citizenship. If the current temporary measures are converted to full Canadian citizenship. The Brittney Griner freed from Russian prison in exchange for Viktor Bout deal is a clean example of poor state-craft. Only in this trade there was no cash involved. Bout however, an arms dealer, is likely helping Russia get needed arms and arms components right now. So he is likely helping kill Ukrainian civilians. Hostage negotiations should be handled in a few select ways. This is the best way but there are others as well. In the case of Haiti: US nurse Alix Dorsainvil and child freed by kidnappers, charity says US intelligence should identify the gang responsible and try to kill its gang leaders. Thats how you deal with hostage takers. Israel uses a similar approach but It also conducts swaps. Cash associated with hostages sends a bad message. Having said that the money in the current US-Iran deal belongs to Iran.

You are being silly. It was simply being descriptive of who they are: folks of Iranian decent with Iranian and American citizenship living and/or working in Iran where they were detained. That is worldly people who must have known there was some risk of detention simply because they were dual citizens.

Hahahahaha!! Sounds like a fun group! And may be worth reviving at the next Perris bigway camp. Nipple Boy A-19820 "Safety First! Fun Forever!"

In your OP you reference duality of citizenship. Is this a limiting factor in calculating the appropriate price of their ransom? If they had more Anglo type surnames would your objections be as strong?

Some people’s idea of “freedom” is the lack of anyone to push back against their religious views. Doing things like, say, wearing swimsuits, understanding that the gender assigned at birth is wrong, showing that they are romantic with the same gender person, or figuring that “personhood” comes at a God-assigned, not a brain activity-assigned, moment. Wendy P.

I’m not as charitable as Lippy so I’d say that’s quite apt.

Hi folks, Looks like Mr. Bundy is going to get some free lodging: shows him being led away from the fundraiser in handcuffs Ammon Bundy arrested in Idaho on contempt charge - oregonlive.com How sweet it is. Now, on to The Donald. Jerry Baumchen

I’m quite happy talking about him in this one, when it highlights your outrageous and unjustifiable double standards. There is no evidence that Joe Biden engaged in corrupt dealings with his son. If you want to talk about real corruption and nepotism in the White House, you have to talk about Donald Trump.

I get a nice warm feeling every time I read this: "You've chosen to ignore content by Slim King."

Hmm. Do you get annoyed when a guy open carrying won't let you play with his handgun? I mean, why else would he "open carry?" It's right there in the name!

What else shouldn't we expose kids to -- political beliefs? Religion? Intergender affection? How about violence? Children learn most naturally from being exposed to things, in a context of a loving family (of whatever description). They learn from being able to make and learn from their mistakes -- the parent's job is to make sure that their environment is such that mistakes are generally ones they can learn from, and not regret for the rest of their lives. Wendy P.

I have a teenage daughter and I frequently have conversations with her about how she presents herself has an impact on how others might behave towards her. That doesn't mean that if a girl is raped and somebody says: well she shouldn't have worn that skirt, that person isn't a fucking idiot.

I understand that torture victims benefit from torture, because that which does not kill you makes you stronger. Should teach it in 3rd grade.

Hi John, Trump. Jerry Baumchen

Just an FYI for any of you old St Croix jumpers who knew her, Beve Androsky Baker passed away a few days ago from complications from several strokes that she suffered. She and Charlie started and were the backbone of the Superior group. There's getting to be too many of us up in that great DZ in the sky. See Skydive Superior facebook for more info.

Harald I was reviewing our forum exchange from April 2011. I did retire at the end of June 2011. It took a while to get used to being retired, however, I am not totally retired. My wife and I own and operate a 300 year old historic Bed & Breakfast near Valley Forge, PA. The Great Valley House of Valley Forge, www.greatvalleyhouse.com. Without the B&B I would probably feel pretty useless but it keeps me busy maintaining the yard and pool in the summer and building fires in the fireplace in the winter.. I hope things are going well for you and all other Osceola alumni that visit this site. Jeff Benson

Just read the post re: "dead fish in a coffin" stinking up your club house....Hey blame it on the thieving ways of the St Croix group. Knowing that our clubs (St Croix, Superior, and Eua Claire) liked to "borrow" things from other clubs, we (Superior) made up a double sided sign that nicely said, "Apollo Inn Home of the Superior Skydivers), filled it with fish guts, caulked all the seams and hung it outside (to keep it frozen) the front door of the Apollo during our winter jump meet. On the last day of the meet, the sign disappeared (as planned) and boy were we mad (and tried very hard not to laugh). One of the best GOTCHA's I've ever heard of!!

Naked was all the rage... I vaguely remember a large group of girls doing a naked jump at the NCC boogie (1978-80is) out of a DC-3. They had a friend that was suppose to be waiting on the north end of the runnway with their cloths. Q found out and somehow hijacked the pile of cloths just before they landed. It seems to me (as memories fade) that there were 10 beautiful women walking back to the packing area wearing nothing but F-111 Togas. Good times indeed! Birdshit & Fools Productions "Son, only two things fall from the sky."