Last week we looked at the rather dubious decision of certain cities to honor convicted terrorist and FALN leader Oscar Lopez Rivera. Chief among those was New York City, where the expert bomb-maker is set to be awarded a medal and featured prominently in the upcoming Puerto Rican Day parade. As we discovered at the time, that decision isn’t sitting well with everyone in the community, including many Puerto Ricans. But now the ripple effect seems to be spreading outward. There are some sponsors who apparently don’t want their brand associated with FALN and the memory of explosions, burning buildings and mayhem. (Free Beacon)

Several key sponsors of New York City’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade pulled out after organizers decided to honor a convicted terrorist.

Organizers announced this year they plan to name Oscar López Rivera a “National Freedom Hero;” making it the first and only time they’ve awarded the honor, the New York Times reported…

Police groups were among the first to pull out of the parade, with the NYPD and the NYPD’s Hispanic Society announcing their intention to boycott. The FDNY officers’ union and FDNY Hispanic Society on Tuesday announced the same.

Other major corporations and parade mainstays including the New York Yankees, AT&T and JetBlue will also boycott the parade. Latin-American food giant Goya Foods also has pulled its sponsorship, but wouldn’t attribute the decision to the López Rivera invite.

Those are some heavy hitters who will be sitting out the annual event. The police associations were sort of a no brainer and I doubt anyone was very shocked by their decisions, particularly given how many of them were injured as a result of FALN’s actions back in the day. But the Yankees? And AT&T and Jet Blue? They tend to be very generous donors to any big events where they can get some publicity. If outfits like that start peeling off you’ve clearly set more of a blaze than you expected.

But you know who won’t be boycotting the parade? Mayor Bill de Blasio. You can’t keep that guy away from a camera or a controversy these days. (Emphasis added)

“The organization he was affiliated with did things I don’t agree with, obviously, and they were illegal,” he said at a press conference. “All things considered, I understand why so many Puerto Ricans in this city respect that he fought for Puerto Rico, in their eyes.”

Look, I understand that you don’t want to risk alienating a set of minority voters in Gotham, Mr. Mayor, but… things you disagree with? Disagree? I wasn’t aware that there was a debate currently taking place in this country where any sane people who might seek elected office were coming down on the “pro-bombing” side. And it’s nice for you to point out that Rivera did things which were “illegal” but that’s a rather mild way of putting it. We’re not talking about somebody who bounced a few bad checks. He’s a terrorist who tought people how to build bombs and blow up buildings. You’d think the Mayor of New York City would be just a bit more in touch with the whole concept of buildings being blown up by terrorists.

Or perhaps not. It’s 2017 after all. Politics has forced most satire writers to retire because none of them can keep up with reality.