Hobby Lobby accused of hypocrisy amid smuggling case

[TexasTowelie]

Hobby Lobby, the arts-and-crafts chain whose devout Christian owners won a landmark Supreme Court ruling on religious freedom, is caught up in an antiquities-smuggling scandal that has opened the company to accusations of hypocrisy.

The Oklahoma City-based business agreed to pay a $3 million fine Wednesday over its role in what federal prosecutors said was the smuggling into the U.S. of ancient clay tablets, seals and other Iraqi archaeological objects that might have been looted from the war-torn country.

Online, many people piled on, with more than one saying things like: "I know Hobby Lobby's big on the Ten Commandments, but how about 'Thou shalt not steal'?" and "Hypocritical cretins. Preach one thing and practice another."

Hobby Lobby, whose president, Steve Green, has been collecting ancient artifacts since 2009 and is building an $800 million Bible museum in Washington, pleaded naivete in doing business with dealers in the Middle East.

Read more: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/hobby-lobby-accused-of-hypocrisy-amid-smuggling-case/article_e982bcd6-d51c-5ee1-b2bb-72242d2999e6.html#tncms-source=infinity-scroll-summary-siderail-latest

[mercuryblues]

1. IOW they funded ISIS

But won't Provide insurance coverage for birth control, because that is against their deeply held Christian beliefs.

[CurtEastPoint]

2. Pleading 'naivete' seems to be the go-to excuse for RW fuckheads like him and DT

[Staph]

3. They plead 'naivete'

but the artifacts were packaged up and labeled as 'handmade tiles'. Somebody knew that taking these artifacts was wrong, and tried to hide their crime.

As Jed Bartlet said, "Just stand there in your wrongness and be wrong and get used to it."

[cojoel]

5. Ignorantia juris non excusat (ignorance of the law excuses not)

That naivete plea might not work out so well.

[Solly Mack]

4. I guess that makes him too stupid to run a business then. If he was truly naive about it.

I think he's a liar and a criminal.

[Hugin]

6. No appropriate punishment will be metered out against this goon.

Why has no-one brought up these purchases were likely funding ISIS among other less than honorable groups?

[furtheradu]

7. Collecting since 2009.

Hopefully all those other acquisitions are being investigated.
And YES, isis sells cultural heritage treasure for funding their activities.
After 9/11, MANY Muslims in the US had their $, charities, businesses seized, for *suspected* links to funding AQ. Those stories sort of faded away.
HobLob needs to be fully investigated, & their asses/assets seized. This little fine is a joke, & NOT a deterance.