Blazers End Partnership with Military Contractor Leupold & Stevens

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ABM

ABM

Happily Married In Music City, USA!
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https://www.wweek.com/sports/2019/0...hip-with-military-contractor-leupold-stevens/

Several groups, including the Portland Democratic Socialists of America, have protested the Blazers' relationship with the company, which supplies rifle scopes to the U.S. military and other armed forces.

The Trail Blazers are ending a controversial partnership with Beaverton-based sniper-scopes manufacturer Leupold & Stevens.

NBA writer Sean Highkin first reported that Blazers President Chris McGowan made the announcement this afternoon at the team's media day, saying that "Leupold is no longer a part of the organization."

Several groups, including the Portland Democratic Socialists of America, have protested the Blazers' relationship with the company, which supplies rifle scopes to the U.S. military and other armed forces, including the Israeli Defense Force.

It's the company's work with the Israeli army that has drawn protest from the DSA, which opposes the occupation of Palestine.

Leupold & Stevens had sponsored a regular segment at Moda Center called Hometown Heroes, meant to honor local military veterans and first responders with free tickets, gifts and in-game recognition.(CONTINUED...)

leupold-.jpg
 
They make really great hunting rifles. Never really occurred to me until now the lion's share of their money came from defense, although it seems obvious now.

It's interesting that a defense contractor and a health insurance company (Moda) are the only two corporate sponsors I can think of.

53_pecent_military__logo_large.png


Screen-Shot-2013-09-17-at-10.04.30-AM.png


When a country spends a lot of money on guns and pills, sometimes a sports franchise gets paid. *shrug*
 
Meh. I liked honoring the vets (I'm sure they'll continue doing it), but meh.
 
illmatic99 said:
This is staggering when viewed on a pie chart. Priorities are just skewed.
Click to expand...

Keep in mind this is discretionary spending. That's money that Congress could decide to stop spending tomorrow.

When you throw in entitlements, you get this:
FY17-OT-by-function-pie-chart.png


The federal government largely boils down to taking care of old people and armies at this point.

Oh, and interest on loans we took out to take care of old people and armies.
 
Last edited:
Blazers President and CEO Chris McGowan announced the end of the controversial partnership during the organization’s media day Monday. A coalition of activists staged protests to put pressure on the Blazers to cut ties with Leupold and Stevens last season, but McGowan said those protests were not the main reason for the partnership coming to an end.

“Leupold is no longer a partner of the organization,” McGowan said. “I thank them for many years of supporting our organization. They were a great partner when they were a sponsor, but for various reasons, some unrelated to what you’re referencing, they’ve decided to go in a different direction.”
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https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/...h-scope-manufacturer-leupold-and-stevens.html

Leupold & Stevens is proud to have been able to support the ‘Hometown Heroes’ program with the Portland Trail Blazers. The program honored the brave men and women of our nation’s armed forces, first responders, and other everyday heroes who put service before self. Leupold’s sponsorship contract officially expired at the conclusion of the 2018-2019 season. The company has made the decision to continue its never-ending support for local heroes through other programs.
Click to expand...
https://www.wweek.com/sports/2019/0...hip-with-military-contractor-leupold-stevens/

Seems like a mutual decision that's in both the Blazers and Leupold's best interests. Why would either organization want to continue to something that just serves as a continuous source of protest?
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
I guess the Blazers want US troops to go into combat without rifle scopes.

:NOTMARIS:
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If you pay attention to all the training you receive you don’t need a scope. Snipers cheat and use em though.
 
EL PRESIDENTE said:
I guess the Blazers want US troops to go into combat without rifle scopes.

:NOTMARIS:
Click to expand...

On the contrary, the money they save not paying the Blazers can go towards R&D on better scopes (or, more plausibly, more lobbying to get the government to buy more scopes).

barfo
 
e_blazer said:
https://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/...h-scope-manufacturer-leupold-and-stevens.html


https://www.wweek.com/sports/2019/0...hip-with-military-contractor-leupold-stevens/

Seems like a mutual decision that's in both the Blazers and Leupold's best interests. Why would either organization want to continue to something that just serves as a continuous source of protest?
Click to expand...

because one side is tolerant of diverse beliefs and the other side is not and protests. Tossing thought diversity, freedoms and free speech into the memory hole one piece at a time.

But I’m sure this will end the protesting. Sure their is nothing else they would want to shut down. Right?
 
mook said:
The federal government largely boils down to taking care of old people and armies at this point.
Click to expand...

Well, the way to save money is clear then.

You know about the All-Volunteer Army. Now announcing, the All-Elderly Army.

Grandpa will earn his social security check on the battlefield.

barfo
 
barfo said:
Well, the way to save money is clear then.

You know about the All-Volunteer Army. Now announcing, the All-Elderly Army.

Grandpa will earn his social security check on the battlefield.

barfo
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea. Mount a machine gun and mine detector on the walker. The logistics of keeping the supply of Depends up might be a problem.
 
Id rather round up all the young people standing around town doing zip, put them in the red cross and send them to PR to help rebuild.
 
barfo said:
Well, the way to save money is clear then.

You know about the All-Volunteer Army. Now announcing, the All-Elderly Army.

Grandpa will earn his social security check on the battlefield.

barfo
Click to expand...

And they'll fight like they might die any day!
 
Hoopguru said:
Id rather round up all the young people standing around town doing zip, put them in the red cross and send them to PR to help rebuild.
Click to expand...
Slave labor is the best labor?
 
mook said:
They make really great hunting rifles.
Click to expand...

They do not make firearms. They have never made firearms of any kind.

They are truly the culmination of the American Dream, an eternally innovative, family-owned optics company made from scratch by 2 brothers-in-law in 1907 that left it's mark in the actual surveying of this country, the measuring of it's rivers and lakes, the study of nature from microbes to the stars, and some damn good optics for surveyors, wildlife watchers, golfers and hunters. A majority of advances and improvements in the field have come from their research and designs.

Their headquarters and manufacturing plant are in Beaverton, OR. They have 650 American employees.

They have provided our military with superior tactical optics since 1985.

WTF Blazers?

This is why we can't have Championship Titles.

The toughest team who refuses to bend always wins the Championship. You can't have the toughest team when your management is in touchy-feely-don't want-to-offend-any-whiners mode all the time. You simply can't. Stop kidding yourself, it's never been done, never will be done. The team's attitude is a reflection of management, and the management must be confident, unapologetic, demanding and relentless. That's who wins the title, every time.

"Go ahead and fast while we're in a playoff series, we'll pick up the slack" doesn't quite work we have sadly learned.

We need a management team that is determined to win the title this season. Not get to the finals, win the title. This season. Now.

I don't think we have anything remotely close to that. These guys have no focus on winning at all.
 
The Professional Fan said:
Republican gun nuts crying in 3....2....1....
Click to expand...
I'm not republican. But guns ARE are a heck of a great time and 99.9999999% (just an estimate) of the times they are used nobody gets hurt.

The CDC also found that in the US, they are used (though not usually fired) in over 2 million defensive gun uses per year.

That's 200x more often than they are used successfully to commit homicide.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fo...e-the-cdc-asked-about-defensive-gun-uses/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/reason.com/blog/2018/04/20/cdc-provides-more-evidence-that-plenty-o/amp

Remember that this includes everything from killing an assailant, down to simply brandishing a gun to dissuade a potential attacker.
 
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