The Steady Drip: Levi’s CEO Announces New Partnership with Bloomberg to Push Gun Bans, Fund Radical Groups (Connecting the Dots: Everytown for Gun Safety, Gun Control, Brady Campaign, Levi Strauss & Co., Michael Bloomberg, FDA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Breakthrough Energy Coalition, Alfalfa Club, The Boy Scouts, The Haas School of Business & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Levi’s CEO Announces New Partnership with Bloomberg to Push Gun Bans, Fund Radical Groups (Connecting the Dots: Everytown for Gun Safety, Gun Control, Brady Campaign, Levi Strauss & Co., Michael Bloomberg, FDA, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Breakthrough Energy Coalition, Alfalfa Club, The Boy Scouts, The Haas School of Business & Soros Funding, All Networking)

Townhall.com

Chris Reeves | September 05, 2018 11:30 AM

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/chrisreeves/2018/09/05/levis-ceo-announces-new-partnership-with-bloomberg-to-push-gun-bans-fund-radical-groups-n2516048

Nike isn’t the only company that’s decided to try its hand at political activism this week. On Tuesday, Levi Strauss & Co. CEO Chip Bergh published a piece for Fortuneoutlining his company’s official plans to team up with Michael Bloomberg’s “Everytown for Gun Safety” group to fund new efforts at promoting gun control legislation with other American business leaders.

“I’m proud to announce,” Bergh said in the piece, “that Levi Strauss & Co. is partnering with Everytown for Gun Safety and executives including Michael Bloomberg to form Everytown Business Leaders for Gun Safety, a coalition of business leaders who believe, as we do, that business has a critical role to play in and a moral obligation to do something about the gun violence epidemic in this country.”

After lamenting that “Americans shouldn’t have to live in fear of gun violence” and touting his company’s history as “a pioneer of the American West and one of the great symbols of American freedom,” Bergh went through the updates that Levi and Strauss intends to make to its pro-gun control policies in some detail (Levi’s has already banned concealed and open carry of firearms in their stores nationwide).

In addition to promoting Levi and Strauss’s new partnership with Everytown, Bergh announced the creation of a “Safer Tomorrow Fund” that will give more than one million dollars over the next four years to “national and grassroots organizations that are working to stem gun violence in America,” according to Levi and Strauss’s website. Included among those organizations is “Live Free,” an interfaith congregational group that describes itself as “working to end the scourges of gun violence, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of Black and Brown bodies that tears at the soul of our society.” Levi and Strauss will also use the Safer Tomorrow Fund’s resources to help former Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords’s “Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence” group and “Everytown for Gun Safety” in their efforts to push for new gun control legislation and the local, state, and national levels.

As a third measure, Bergh declared that Levi and Strauss plans to double its employee donation matches to the above organizations aligned with the Safer Tomorrow Fund and will also be “encouraging employees who are concerned about gun violence to get involved” by allowing them to count hours spent engaging in political activism as part of their five hours a month of company-paid volunteer time.

While Bergh did ultimately acknowledge that Americans cannot “insulate ourselves from every threat (of gun violence),” he appears to believe that this rhetoric only applies to arguing against the concealed carry of firearms in more places in America. The Levi’s CEO did not explain his reasoning for this position. However, Bergh was pretty clear about his and Levi’s broad support for enacting gun bans and universal background checks as the first “common-sense, measurable steps” towards a safer country:

“I’m not here to suggest we repeal the Second Amendment or to suggest that gun owners aren’t responsible. In fact, as a former U.S. Army officer, I took a solemn oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. But as retired four-star general Michael Hayden once said, ‘There are some weapons out there that frankly nobody should have access to. And actually, there are some people out there who should never have access to any weapons.’

“We can’t insulate ourselves from every threat. We can’t ‘harden’ every place we gather—whether it be our schools, workplaces, shops, churches, or entertainment venues. But we can take common-sense, measurable steps—like criminal background checks on all gun sales—that will save lives.”

Although Bergh also admitted that his company’s pro-gun control advocacy could turn off potential customers, Bergh made the case that his company’s decision to promote left-wing political activists and their causes was perfectly consistent with Levi and Strauss’s long history of supporting civil rights and progressive activism:

“As a company, we have never been afraid to take an unpopular stand to support a greater good. We integrated our factories in the American South years before the Civil Rights Act was passed. We offered benefits to same-sex partners in the 1990s, long before most companies did. We pulled our financial support for the Boy Scouts of America when it banned gay troop leaders.

“While each one of these stands may have been controversial at the time, history proved the company right in the long run. And I’m convinced that while some will disagree with our stand to end gun violence, history will prove this position right too.

“Our country has faced seemingly intractable issues like this before, but together we’ve overcome them. We can do it again. Together we can put an end to the gun violence epidemic in America.”

You can find Bergh’s piece in Fortune magazine online at this link.

Connecting the Dots:

George Soros is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

William H. Gates III is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

Michael R. Bloomberg is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, the founder of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety and was a benefactor at the Harlem Children's Zone.

Everytown for Gun Safety is a “gun control group” for guns.

John J. Mack is an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety, a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation and was a benefactor at the Harlem Children's Zone.

George Soros was a benefactor for the Harlem Children's Zone, the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition and Andrea Soros’s father.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, the Urban Institute (think tank) and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

William H. Gates III is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition and a co-chair for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Warren E. Buffett is a trustee & major donor for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety and a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank)

Everytown for Gun Safety is a “gun control group” for guns.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Urban Institute (think tank) and the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Richard C. Blum was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank),

married to Senator Dianne Feinstein and a board member for the Haas School of Business.

John C. Whitehead is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and the co-chairman for the Greater New York Councils of the Boy Scouts.

Laura D'Andrea Tyson was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and is a professor at the Haas School of Business.

Richard L. Kauffman was a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and the chairman for the Levi Strauss & Co.

Robert D. Haas was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a board member for the Haas School of Business and is a director at Levi Strauss & Co.

F. Warren Hellman was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), a board member for the Haas School of Business and a director at Levi Strauss & Co.

Donald G. Fisher was a board member for the Haas School of Business and a governor for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Peter E. Haas Sr. was a benefactor for the Haas School of Business and the CEO for the Levi Strauss & Co.

Walter A. Haas Sr. was a benefactor for the Haas School of Business and the chairman & president for the Levi Strauss & Co.

Carl Shapiro was a professor at the Haas School of Business and the assistant attorney general for the Barack Obama administration.

Margo N. Alexander is a board member for the Haas School of Business, an advisory council member for the Acumen Fund, and was a director at the Acumen Fund.

Andrea Soros is a director at the Acumen Fund and George Soros’s daughter.

Haas School of Business is a business school at the University of California, Berkeley.

University of California was the sole institutional investor at launch for Breakthrough Energy. (Breakthrough Energy Coalition).

Richard C. Blum was a board member for the Haas School of Business, a regent at the University of California, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank) and married to California Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Dianne Feinstein was married to Richard C. Blum, a California Senator and a member of the Alfalfa Club.

Michael R. Bloomberg is a member of the Alfalfa Club and a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition and the founder of Everytown for Gun Safety.

Everytown for Gun Safety is a “gun control group” for guns.

David L. Boren is an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety, a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation and a member of the Bretton Woods Committee.

George Soros is a member of the Bretton Woods Committee, a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a friend of Michael Douglas and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank)

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).

Michael Douglas is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank) and a friend of George Soros.

Ted Turner is a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank) and the founder of CNN.

Margaret A. Hamburg is the VP for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank) and was the commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank) and was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank).

Donald Kennedy was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).

Warren E. Buffett is an adviser for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),

a trustee & major donor for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.

Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).

James C. Gaither is the chairman for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and was a director at Levi Strauss & Co.

Donald Kennedy was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Mark B. McClellan was a commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).

William H. Gates III is a co-chair for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.

George Soros is a member of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, Andrea Soros’s father and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank).