Yankees join FDNY in skipping Puerto Rican Day parade over decision to honor Obama-freed terrorist

I'm actually a little surprised by this, if only because it seems in recent years major league sports have been pretty intimidated by the forces of political correctness. Which is to say: They know who will scream and boycott if they don't give them what they want, and all large, high-profile institutions want to avoid the bad publicity that comes with such things. Oscar Lopez Rivera is a terrorist responsible for more than 100 bombings, but that's old news. The new news is that Barack Obama commuted his sentence on his way out the door, which makes Rivera a new left-wing icon. He is also a bit of a hero to some people of Puerto Rican heritage who don't really know the full story of what he did. The Fire Department of New York knows it, though, which is why they're skipping this year's annual Puerto Rican Day Parade after the organizers decided to honor Rivera as part of the festivities.

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And now FDNY has gotten a very high-profile backer of its decision. The New York Yankees are out as well:

The New York Yankees joined the Fire Department of New York City and other high-profile organizations in dropping out of the Puerto Rican Day Parade in response to parade organizers’ plans to honor freed militant Oscar Lopez Rivera. The Yankees organization didn’t elaborate on its decision, but a spokesperson said in a statement that the team still plans to financially support the parade's scholarship program: "The New York Yankees are not participating in this year's Puerto Rican Day parade. However, for many years, the Yankees have supported a scholarship program that recognizes students selected by the parade organizers. To best protect the interests of those students, and avoid any undue harm to them, the Yankees will continue to provide financial support for the scholarships, and will give to the students directly." The June 11 parade, which draws 1 million people each year, also lost key sponsors because of the decision to honor a man considered to be the leader of the ultranationalist Puerto Rican group responsible for more than 100 bombings. Rivera, who was sentenced to 55 years in prison in 1981 after he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, served 35 years until his sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama.

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Obama's decision to free Rivera was one of the most atrocious things he did as president, which is really saying something considering all the atrocious things he did. Rivera is one of those guys who becomes a folk hero to young rebellious types who think it was cool that he stood up to The Man, and have no appreciation of the horror he inflicted on innocent people in the pursuit of his cause. It's like the idiots who walk around in Che Guevera t-shirts and don't know anything about the evil the guy really perpetrated. But even though he's just as much of a left-winger as his emotionally immature fans, Obama as president was supposed to be responsible enough to know you don't just let a murderer out of prison because it's trendy for lefties to consider him cool. Obama was not that responsible, though, so here we are. Rivera is free and for all we know he might even show up at the parade. I hope New Yorkers are happy getting him but losing their own firefighters and the Yankees. Maybe left-wing politics are such these days that it scarcely matters. Maybe liberal New Yorkers would rather celebrate a terrorist than their own local heroes. Makes me happy to be a Detroiter, as if I wasn't already. But it is a rare occasion for me to give props to the Yankees. That won't happen often.

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