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Media, Political Elites Continue Their Hypocritical Attack on President Trump Over Arpaio Pardon
Townhall.com ^ | September 2, 2017 | Joe Connor

Posted on 09/02/2017 6:50:16 AM PDT by Kaslin

The Washington establishment media and political elites continue their hypocritical attack on President Trump’s pardoning of Maricopa, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. 

The criticism began last week with their disingenuous outrage that the president would free Arpaio (charged with a misdemeanor), a Korean War veteran, 23 year tenured sheriff; a man who dedicated his life to the protection of America and his fellow citizens. 

Little or no mention was made by the elites that in August 1999 the Clintons offered executive clemency (commuting sentences) to sixteen members of the infamous Marxist Puerto Rican terrorist groups Los Macheteros and Armed Forces for National Liberation (together “FALN”). 

The FALN waged war against America with over 120 bombings between 1974 and 1985 murdering 5 including my father Frank Connor and three others (wounding 60) on January 24, 1975 during the horrific lunchtime bombing of New York’s historic Fraunces Tavern.  Fraunces was specifically chosen by the FALN as it is the cradle of liberty in the United States. It is where the Sons of Liberty met and where General George Washington bid farewell to his officers after our war for independence was won.

The terrorists were arrested, tried, and convicted in the early 1980s and sentenced in Chicago to appropriate prison terms of 55 to 90 years.

None of the terrorists requested clemency.  So dedicated were they to their “war” against America and in creating a Cuba like Communist Puerto Rico, that none accepted the clemency which included conditional renunciation of violence for a political cause and disassociation with other felons.  None other than future AG Eric Holder engineered the politically driven clemency to help Mrs. Clinton gain traction with Latinos for her upcoming 2000 NY senate race.  Although clemency is an individual grant, Holder and the Clintons allowed the terrorists 30 days to decide during which they were allowed conference calls with each other between prisons.

On September 10, 1999 all but one FALN terrorist, Oscar Lopez Rivera, accepted the terms and walked out of prison; most to heroes’ welcomes. Lopez defiantly refused.  As a small group of FALN victims and victims’ family members heard when we kept Lopez in prison at his 2011 parole hearing and from his rhetoric since, Lopez refused clemency because he still believes in his cause and his comrade Carlos Torres (released in 2010) was not offered clemency in 1999.  Lopez, who was sentenced to an additional 15 years for a violent escape plan revealed himself as an unrepentant terrorist captain, going down with the ship.

But that changed in January 2017 when Barack Obama, during his final days in office, offered an unprecedented second clemency to unrepentant terror leader Oscar Lopez Rivera.

When the truth about the notorious Clinton and Obama clemencies hit the news recently, the media and political elites pivoted.  They parsed words saying that Clinton and Obama clemency (to terrorists!) was justified, but Trump’s pardoning (which forgives the offense) of an American hero was an abuse of power.

In this case, there is little if any difference between a pardon and commutation of sentence. 

Since release, the terrorists have been treated as heroes by the left and the media. Not only are they forgiven, but they’ve been treated as if they committed no crimes at all.  In February of this year, Rahm Emmanuel’s Chicago named a street for Lopez, a man who terrorized Chicago. 

In New York, Mayor DeBlasio and his number two, Melissa Mark Viverito, honored Lopez with a “Freedom Hero” award at this year’s Puerto Rican Day Parade until a small group of us convinced all corporations from Goya Foods to JetBlue and the New York Yankees to pull their sponsorship.  Imagine, a Freedom Hero award for a terrorist who attacked freedom with the goal of subjugating Puerto Ricans in a Marxist state.

Just this week, terrorist Lopez was a guest speaker at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota railing against the United States for “colonizing” Puerto Rico and justifying my father’s murder to a friend of mine who confronted Lopez about his terrorist past. Lopez and his terror supporters fail to acknowledge that less than 5% of Puerto Ricans have ever voted for independence from the US and this year an astounding 97% rejected Lopez and voted for statehood.

So Mr. Trump pardoned Arpaio, a man who dedicated his life to the security of the United States, while Clinton and Obama offered freedom to terrorists who murdered our father and dedicated their lives to America’s destruction.  

And Mr. Trump is attacked?

Such is the compassion of the Left.

No wonder the American people are fed up.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Arizona
KEYWORDS: arpaio; faln; handwringers; joearppaio; oscarlopezrivera; terrorists

1 posted on 09/02/2017 6:50:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Well, it looks like the left is bored with Harvey and all the good news heroes.


2 posted on 09/02/2017 6:59:52 AM PDT by Slyfox (Are you tired of winning yet?)
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To: Kaslin

All they are doing is ensuring Trump easily wins a 2nd term. Their bias is beyond blatant.


3 posted on 09/02/2017 7:02:49 AM PDT by GrandJediMasterYoda (Trump: Greatest POTUS of all time solely for preventing Satan taking office.)
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To: Kaslin

Mark Rich - criminal.
Bradley Manning - traitor.


4 posted on 09/02/2017 7:11:27 AM PDT by bigbob (People say believe half of what you see son and none of what you hear - M. Gaye)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

It’s like they can’t stop themselves.


5 posted on 09/02/2017 7:32:36 AM PDT by Dutch Boy
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To: Kaslin

https://i2.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2017/09/tRump-Traitor.jpeg

Click on the link. Nuff said.


6 posted on 09/02/2017 7:33:25 AM PDT by Nicojones
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To: Kaslin
Sheriff Arpaio Did Not Commit a Crime. He Enforced the Law., August 27, 2017 Daniel Greenfield

"He doesn't need a pardon. He needs a medal. But the pardon will have to serve as his medal.


7 posted on 09/02/2017 7:34:54 AM PDT by Cheerio (#44, The unknown President)
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To: Kaslin

Media keeps beating the drums. No one is listening.


8 posted on 09/02/2017 7:55:59 AM PDT by Tammy8 (Please be a regular supporter of Free Republic !)
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To: Kaslin
Who can forget how Bill Clinton, out of the goodness in his heart, pardoned poor, beleaguered billionaire fugitive Marc Rich?

And poor Bill himself, being accused of all sorts of bad behavior just because he was having a sexual affair with Marc's ex-wife Denise.

And Denise just happened to have bad timing when she donated $450,000 to the Clintons shortly before the pardon was granted.

"Denise Rich Gave $450,000 to Clinton Library"

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=121846


9 posted on 09/02/2017 8:04:36 AM PDT by Vlad The Inhaler (We were Trumpin' before Trumpin' was cool.....)
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To: Kaslin

Too late, dumbbells, nobody but a few loons care.

Believe it or not, there are more important things going on.


10 posted on 09/02/2017 8:22:12 AM PDT by SaxxonWoods (CNN IS ISIS.)
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To: Kaslin

Pardoning a person convicted for upholding the law= bad
Pardoning a perverted traitor = good


11 posted on 09/02/2017 9:02:31 AM PDT by okie 54
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To: Kaslin

So what?


12 posted on 09/02/2017 9:04:43 AM PDT by onedoug
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To: Kaslin

13 posted on 09/02/2017 10:12:34 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
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To: Kaslin; LucyT; null and void; Cold Case Posse Supporter; Flotsam_Jetsome; circumbendibus; ...

Ping to excellent “compare and contrast” Trump Arpaio v. Clinton/Obama pardon article with stomach-turning recent commie DeBlasio details on how he celebrated Rivera! DeBlasio obviously wants to turn NYC (my birthplace, BTW) into Caracas on the Hudson! But nobody in NYC reads any independent (conservative sourced) news from Venezuela, it seems.

quote:

On September 10, 1999 all but one FALN terrorist, Oscar Lopez Rivera, accepted the terms and walked out of prison; most to heroes’ welcomes. Lopez defiantly refused. As a small group of FALN victims and victims’ family members heard when we kept Lopez in prison at his 2011 parole hearing and from his rhetoric since, Lopez refused clemency because he still believes in his cause and his comrade Carlos Torres (released in 2010) was not offered clemency in 1999. Lopez, who was sentenced to an additional 15 years for a violent escape plan revealed himself as an unrepentant terrorist captain, going down with the ship.

But that changed in January 2017 when Barack Obama, during his final days in office, offered an unprecedented second clemency to unrepentant terror leader Oscar Lopez Rivera.


14 posted on 09/02/2017 10:14:05 AM PDT by Seizethecarp
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To: Dick Bachert

That’s funny right there.


15 posted on 09/02/2017 10:14:46 AM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill

That dumb shit couldn’t even answer the POLITICAL and GOVERNMENT questions! HELL, that’s SUPPOSED to be his beat! We’re regular Jeopardy viewers and even a college drop out like moi bats around 80%. How the hell do schmucks like this keep their jobs? That was a rhetorical question!


16 posted on 09/02/2017 10:23:26 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
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To: Kaslin

magic negro and his henchmen should never have gone after Arpaio for trying to stop illegals.


17 posted on 09/02/2017 12:43:27 PM PDT by Joe Boucher (President Trump makes obammy look like the punk he is.)
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To: Seizethecarp

Obama never met a communist he didn’t like = Chavez, Castro, Ayers, Quentin Young, Milton Cohen, Van Jones, Anita Dunn, Danny Davis (Rep. - D. Ill), Saul Alinsky’s ideas, Ortega, DeBlasio, Rep. Conyers and half the Black Congressional Caucus - Rep. Lee, Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters) and of course, our favorite con-man, extortionist, rabble rouser Al Sharpton.

This is the real “Obama”, not the media-created coverup for his communist history and ideology.

The Truth hurts those who are afraid of it.


18 posted on 09/02/2017 8:39:58 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: Kaslin

JOE: When I took my daughter and granddaughter to Fraunces Tavern a number of years ago, I noticed that there was little or no mention of “WHO” died in the FALN bombing that killed your father and others.

Is this still the situation? If so, make a big crappy stink about this deliberate lack of acknowledgement of their deaths.

Tell which ever government or local agency runs the tavern (I think it is on a historical register), that the killings by the FALN was “historical event” and that the victims of these communists should be remembered BY NAME.

Meanwhile, we’re still working on the murder of Officer O’Donnell in San Francisco by the Weathermen led by Ayers and Dohrn.

“Real Justice never sleeps, nor quits”.


19 posted on 09/02/2017 8:44:25 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: MadMax, the Grinning Reaper

For a red-diaper baby, Barry has made out pretty well getting in bed with Wall Street bankers and leaving office with his gigantic (ghost-written) book deal!


20 posted on 09/03/2017 8:12:07 AM PDT by Seizethecarp
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