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Obama pardons terrorist Oscar Lopez Rivera

Nap said:
https://www.google.com/amp/townhall...a-n2273267?amp=true?client=ms-android-samsung

First all of those terrorists in Gitmo, now this.......

What I find odd is that far-left sources refer to him as an "Activist", so I am sure this should be an interesting subject.
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Lopez was the leader of a radical terrorist group named FALN. His resume includes;

FALN's goal was a free and socialist Puerto Rico. The group was primarily active in New York and Chicago and claimed responsibility for more than 140 bombings since 1974. Authorities connected five deaths to the bomb blasts. Another 100 people were maimed by the bombings, authorities said.
Obama commutes sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, member of Puerto Rican militant group - Chicago Tribune
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Maybe Obama can give him a Medal of Freedom award while he's at it.


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It's not a pardon.
 
Deuce said:
It's not a pardon.
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Its a commutation. Hes letting someone go free who directed people to set off bombs which killed people, and personally set off bombs, to overthrow the US govt.
 
jonny5 said:
Its a commutation. Hes letting someone go free who directed people to set off bombs which killed people, and personally set off bombs, to overthrow the US govt.
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He doesn't seem to have been convicted of that.
 
Deuce said:
He doesn't seem to have been convicted of that.
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He does. Convicted of "seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms and ammunition to aid in the commission of a felony, and interstate transportation of stolen vehicles"

and he admitted it.

This is who Obama is letting out of prison, one day before getting away with having to answer for his abuse of power.

[Lopez was] personally involved in bombing and incendiary attacks across the country for at least five years prior to Méndez's [sic] involvement and knowledge, has been a prime recruiter for members of the underground terrorist group, and has been a key trainer in bombing, sabotage and other techniques of guerilla warfare. He has set up a series of safehouses and bomb factories across the country, the searches of which have uncovered literally hundreds of pounds of dynamite and other forms of high explosive, blasting caps, timing devices, huge caches of weapons and stockpiles of ammunition, silencers, sawed-off shotguns, disguises, stolen and altered identity documents, and the proceeds of the armed robberies of locations such as a National Guard Armory, Chicago's Carter-Mondale Re-Election headquarters, radio and communications companies, as well as a variety of stolen vehicles.
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-Puerto Rico Herald, Findings of Committee on Government Reform.
 
The guy tried to escape and was denied clemency in the past because of his refusal to denounce violence as a tactic. Definitely seems like one of the harder commutations to support unless there is more to the backstory I don't know.
 
RetiredUSN said:
I saw this and laughed, and then flipped him the virtual middle finger.
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I thought the exact same thing. But I know he's flipping me back.

Nap said:
https://www.google.com/amp/townhall...a-n2273267?amp=true?client=ms-android-samsung

First all of those terrorists in Gitmo, now this.......

What I find odd is that far-left sources refer to him as an "Activist", so I am sure this should be an interesting subject.
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Perhaps he's a community activist?.
 
jonny5 said:
He does. Convicted of "seditious conspiracy, use of force to commit robbery, interstate transportation of firearms and ammunition to aid in the commission of a felony, and interstate transportation of stolen vehicles"
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None of those things are setting off a bomb or killing people.
 
BrewerBob said:
The guy tried to escape and was denied clemency in the past because of his refusal to denounce violence as a tactic. Definitely seems like one of the harder commutations to support unless there is more to the backstory I don't know.
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I think it's more of a "he's served a lot of time for the crimes he was actually convicted of" kind of thing. Who knows.

Also he's in his 70s now.
 
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He's a 74 year old who renounced violence years ago. A political prisoner.
 
Manc Skipper said:
He's a 74 year old who renounced violence years ago. A political prisoner.
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So every violent offender who renounces violence is first a " political prisoner " and second should have his sentence commuted ?
 
Manc Skipper said:
He's a 74 year old who renounced violence years ago. A political prisoner.
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He never renounced violence.




Forget Chelsea Manning. This is the Obama pardon you should be mad about.


What was Obama thinking granting clemency for Oscar Lopez Rivera?






". . . He defiantly challenged the legitimacy of the court that tried him. Shortly after entering federal prison at Leavenworth, Kan., he and FALN members on the outside hatched an escape plan; the FBI foiled it by arresting Lopez Rivera’s would-be helpers, who were armed with guns and explosives. A conviction for that escape attempt added 15 years to his sentence.
In 1999, Lopez Rivera was one of 16 imprisoned Puerto Rican terrorists to whom then-President Bill Clinton offered executive clemency.

He refused, reportedly because Clinton’s offer did not include one of the FALN members who had tried to break him out of Leavenworth.
In addition, Clinton required the Puerto Ricans to renounce violence as a condition of receiving clemency. . . . "
 
Fenton said:
So every violent offender who renounces violence is first a " political prisoner " and second should have his sentence commuted ?
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Of course, we should just forget the fact that he was the leader of a terrorist organization and directed bombings around the country.

I mean he is 74, he has likely forgotten how to make bombs by now and all his followers from that time now use walkers. It is not like he could easily find people now who would take his bombs to commit acts of terrorism.........

We might as well let Manson go, he didn't actually kill someone. He is a "political prisoner"
 
Nap said:
Of course, we should just forget the fact that he was the leader of a terrorist organization and directed bombings around the country.

I mean he is 74, he has likely forgotten how to make bombs by now and all his followers from that time now use walkers. It is not like he could easily find people now who would take his bombs to commit acts of terrorism.........

We might as well let Manson go, he didn't actually kill someone. He is a "political prisoner"
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Oscar Lopez Rivera was part of a movement that sought to end US colonial rule of Puerto Rico. To that end, he was convicted of seditious conspiracy and that makes him a political prisoner. No one is suggesting that he shouldn't have been held or punished for any crimes of violence he committed or was involved in, but the question has always been under what status and on what charges? Should a person fighting for independence from a colonial power be regarded as a prisoner of war or as a common civilian charged with sedition and therefore a political prisoner?
 
Napoleon said:
Oscar Lopez Rivera was part of a movement that sought to end US colonial rule of Puerto Rico. To that end, he was convicted of seditious conspiracy and that makes him a political prisoner.
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You are making him sound like some sort of "Peaceful Protestor", if that were the case then I doubt anyone would take issue.

You are forgetting one crucial part to his "movement" and that it was a terrorist organization. It doesn't matter what his goal was, he was a terrorist and should not have been set free.
 
Nap said:
You are making him sound like some sort of "Peaceful Protestor", if that were the case then I doubt anyone would take issue.

You are forgetting one crucial part to his "movement" and that it was a terrorist organization. It doesn't matter what his goal was, he was a terrorist and should not have been set free.
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That all depends on how you define terrorism. Not everyone agrees that fighting for the independence of a nation from a colonial government constitutes terrorism and the only act of violence actually committed by Oscar Lopez Rivera was the armed robbery of a National Guard Armory. I don't consider what Oscar Lopez Rivera promoted or actually did to be an act of terrorism.
 
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Napoleon said:
That all depends on how you define terrorism. Not everyone agrees that fighting for the independence of a nation from a colonial government constitutes terrorism.
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When you make bombs and instruct people to blow stuff up.......I think most agree that is terrorism.

I suppose you think people blowing up abortion clinics in the name of Christianity is not terrorism but pursuit of religious freedom.
 
Nap said:
When you make bombs and instruct people to blow stuff up.......I think most agree that is terrorism.

I suppose you think people blowing up abortion clinics in the name of Christianity is not terrorism but pursuit of religious freedom.
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You're comparing apples to giraffes. Do you consider George Washington or Michael Collins to be terrorists?
 
Napoleon said:
You're comparing apples to giraffes. Do you consider George Washington or Michael Collins to be terrorists?
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I can't comment on Collins because I don't know enough about him or what he did.

I'm pretty sure there were many at the time that thought of George Washington as a terrorist.
 
Nap said:
I can't comment on Collins because I don't know enough about him or what he did.

I'm pretty sure there were many at the time that thought of George Washington as a terrorist.
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Collins was a military and political leader in the Irish War of Independence. I also agree that some would have regarded both Washington and Collins as terrorists, but most don't today and the core of what Lopez did is really no different.
 
Napoleon said:
Collins was a military and political leader in the Irish War of Independence. I also agree that some would have regarded both Washington and Collins as terrorists, but most don't today and the core of what Lopez did is really no different.
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What do you believe would have happened to Washington had he been captured?
 
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