Sorry, Not Sorry: More Sponsors Say 'No Thanks' to Terrorist-Loving NYC Parade

There are places in the world where you can get away with awarding a convicted terrorist a “freedom award” at your parade — Syria, perhaps. Pakistan. Yemen. But not in New York City.

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This is what the organizers of NYC’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade are finding out the hard way. As we reported earlier this week, they have made the incredibly moronic decision to honor a convicted terrorist at this year’s parade, which takes place on June 11.

In fact, parade organizers are doubling down on their radical leftist tendencies by honoring a convicted terrorist, Oscar López Rivera, with a “National Freedom Hero” award.

Just one small thing … López Rivera just last week finished serving 35 years in jail for his part in terrorist activities that resulted in the deaths of ten Americans and the maiming of a dozen others. López Rivera was a part of Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional (FALN), a Marxist-Leninist paramilitary group that used violence in the 1970s and 80s to advocate for Puerto Rican independence. He claimed at the time to be an anti-colonial combatant, and argued that he couldn’t be prosecuted.

Perhaps parade organizers didn’t live in the Big Apple back on September 11, 2001, when – what was it again? – oh, yes! When New Yorkers saw thousands of their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, neighbors, and friends murdered by terrorists. The organizers may have forgotten what terrorism did to their city, but most New Yorkers remember it well.

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And here’s the real idiocy – López Rivera’s beloved FALN set off a bomb in the heart of New York City in 1975 that resulted in the deaths of four businessmen. Anyone with two brain cells to rub together – and without a rabidly leftist ideology – would know that most New Yorkers think honoring a terrorist is a bad thing.

Same goes for the parade sponsors. AT&T, the Yankees, JetBlue, and Goya Foods had previously pulled their sponsorships, and today, New York Daily News and Corona have done the same. New York’s police commissioner, James O’Neill, has opted out, as have police and fire unions and fraternal groups.

One person who still plans to be there is Mayor Bill DiBlasio, the Marxist leader of the city. And that’s a slap in the face to all of his constituents who remember what terrorism did to their beloved city.

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