Hobby Lobby Owner May Be Trafficking in Antiquities

[hoipolloi]

But it's OK, because Jesus, and because he needs stuff for his new Bible Museum: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/10/26/exclusive-feds-investigate-hobby-lobby-boss-for-illicit-artifacts.html

Steve Green, the CEO of Hobby Lobby, admitted that among his family’s extensive collection they might have some illegally-acquired antiquities, though he denied having ever knowingly done anything wrong. “Is it possible that we have some illicit [artifacts]? That’s possible,” he told us for a story slated to appear in a forthcoming issue of The Atlantic. It seems unlikely that this case, however, is one of simply misunderstanding the relevant laws. The paperwork misidentifying the antiquities as “tile samples” certainly suggests otherwise. What’s more, however, in the summer of 2010, Patty Gerstenblith, a well-respected law professor at DePaul University working in the area of cultural heritage, met privately with the Greens in order to explain to them precisely these issues: how to do due diligence with regard to provenance and how to watch out for legal complications with regard to antiquities sales. It cannot be said that the Greens were totally ignorant of the world they were engaging with. And a year later, the Greens imported the tablets that have now become the subject of the federal investigation.

[salex]

Can't wait to hear how this is Christian Persecution and Obama going after them for their lawsuit against aca. I'm surprised it isn't yet on facebook.

 

[doggie]

Well we have heard about lying for Jesus now we see stealing for jesus

[artdecades]

Well we have heard about lying for Jesus now we see stealing for jesus

Post title?

[clueliss]

this just popped up on my Facebook trending.  

[doggie]

more corrupt people the duggers like

 

[ADoyle90815]

this just popped up on my Facebook trending.  

Same here. I guess they thought "Thou shalt not steal" didn't apply to them.

[doggie]

this just popped up on my Facebook trending.  

Same here. I guess they thought "Thou shalt not steal" didn't apply to them.

well nowhere does it say though shall not smuggle so it is ok.

[clueliss]

and hey - it was BIBLICAL so you know that's probably an automatic okay.

[formergothardite]

So they labeled ancient clay tablets as "tile samples"? I"m sure they will try and pass it off as an accident of some sort, but I'm not buying it. They had talked to a lawyer and learned exactly what they needed to do to import things like this legally and then they immediately proceeded to import them in an illegal manner. There is a reason they didn't want to do it the legal way and I bet it is that the tablets were not gained in a legal way.  

[doggie]

next christian persecution is happening not that they broke the law.

[Shoobydoo]

Before checking the article to see what artifacts were actually involved, I kept imagining a secret vault full of mummies. 

[RosyDaisy]

Karma's a bitch. I want these mother fuckers to go down if this is true.

[hoipolloi]

The cuneiform tablets probably originated in Mesopotamia (= Iraq). The chances are VERY HIGH that any cuneiform tablets, particularly in the quantity said to have been imported by Hobby Lobby, were removed illegally from Iraq. Whether it was during the US war or during its aftermath is immaterial.

DAESH (or ISIS) has also been actively mining historic sites and pillaging museums every where they go, so thereʻs also a chance that Hobby Lobby is funding these monsters.

If this is true, I also hope that the Feds throw the book at them: fines + prison time. The quantity of the import and the extent to which the tablets were misrepresented in customs & other paperwork suggest that this matter goes far beyond ignorance or negligence and directly into criminal intent.

[FloraKitty35]

not shocked

[OhTheDrama]

I'm not shocked either, but not because they are Christians... just because they are human.

[DaisyD]

I just got a little aggressive with someone on fb who said they're sure it's not that bad and we should wait to hear the whole story. After all they are good Christian Americans with good values.  It was a friend of a friend. I may have gotten her unfriended. Oh well.

[roddma]

It seems anything conservative Chrisitans do is OK' or 'not that bad".I guess since touching your sleeping sisters isnt rape, smuggling isnt really stealing. I used to buy craft supplies there, but lately I just order from Amazon as the only other options we have is Walmart.

[DaisyD]

I went into the one nearest me (2hr drive) once. It seemed like mostly stickers and distressed clocks. If it was my only craft store option locally, I could see it's use (prior to the recent shit). I actually have to order most stuff for my crafts, as I have the more generalized things available locally. If I need something these days, I usually have to order it from a specialty shop.

[Cleopatra7]

Well we have heard about lying for Jesus now we see stealing for jesus

The Greens probably think they are "liberating" the antiquities from their former evil, Muslim, godless owners.

[clueliss]

I need something framed and am now doing a whole to Hobby Lobby for framing or not.  (although considering it is a soul portrait and whole new age sort of thing I'm thinking yes just for the whole oh so you're christian and hold yourself up as this that and the other thing while you know possibly stealing art work and smuggling it out of a country but you'll take my money to frame something you would run screaming from factor).  

[Rowan]

I need something framed and am now doing a whole to Hobby Lobby for framing or not.  (although considering it is a soul portrait and whole new age sort of thing I'm thinking yes just for the whole oh so you're christian and hold yourself up as this that and the other thing while you know possibly stealing art work and smuggling it out of a country but you'll take my money to frame something you would run screaming from factor).  

I don't know where you live, but if there is Pat Catan's near you, I have *never* been disappointed in their framing and I am very picky about my photos. I will never go to Michael's for my framing again, FYI. One year there were three photos and they messed up on all three - two of them inexcusably. 

I hate myself for it, but I do go to Hobby Lobby for their brand acrylic. I don't want to give them any money, but it really is the best yarn for baby stuff that will get hard wear/use. I try to only go when it's on sale and that is only what I buy, but I do feel like a hypocrite doing it. 

[clueliss]

HL will quickly go on my list of stores not to go into merely due to calendar.  (Holidayssssssssssssss and I know if I go in Christmas is going to have thrown up all over the store)

[47of74]

Several years ago one of my hobbies was making small wooden clocks and Hobby Lobby used to be my store of choice to pick up materials since they had a good selection of wood pieces plus clock parts - faces, numbers, hands, and movements.  Today I wouldn't be caught dead inside one of their stores.  I like to order from places like Klockit since they have even more of a selection then Hobby Lobby.  Plus if I really had to I could go to their stores if need be.

When I went to Turkey in 2012 the tour company and various authors mentioned that trying to remove antiquities from the country without permission was a very big no-no, and that the Turkish government was very strict about such things.  They went on to warn that people had been stopped for even taking small stones out of archaeological sites.

[RosyDaisy]

Say what now? The Greens might be funding ISIS to get artifacts? That's treason! I have no words!