Hobby Lobby to pay $3 million fine, forfeit ancient artifacts

[HAB911]

Source: CNN

(CNN)Hobby Lobby agreed to forfeit thousands of artifacts from modern-day Iraq and pay a $3 million fine to resolve a civil action the Justice Department brought against the company, according to court documents.

The DOJ said the company received the falsely labeled artifacts from a United Arab Emirates-based supplier.

The artifacts, ancient cuneiform tablets and clay bullae, were smuggled into the United States through the United Arab Emirates and Israel, Justice officials said. Cuneiform is an ancient system of writing on clay tablets that was used in Mesopotamia, and clay bullae are balls of clay on which seals have been imprinted.

The dealers working with Hobby Lobby falsely labeled the shipments as "ceramics" and "samples" and illegally shipped them to Hobby Lobby stores and two corporate offices, according to the DOJ.


Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/05/us/hobby-lobby-ancient-artifacts-trnd/index.html

[Baitball Blogger]

1. Is Hobby Lobby looking for clues to the Ark of the Covenant?

[pandr32]

8. That is from a later period

Thanks to other cuneiform tablets found, though, we have been able to understand where some of the biblical stories actually originated.
One of the big ones to get wide press over the last few years was that "Noah's Flood" was actually borrowed from ancient Sumerians.

[HAB911]

2. Wait, you mean the motherfuckers who sell made-in-China crucifixes might be unethical?

Link to tweet

[TBA]

3. How very Christian of them.

[HAB911]

4. LOL, the twitterverse is apoplectic

Paul Ryan just defended Hobby Lobby: “They are new and inexperienced at giving cash to ISIS for stolen goods and not steeped in protocols!"

Link to tweet

[dgibby]

5. Paragon of "Christian" virtue

has clay feet...er, ah,....tablets.

[TEB]

6. My repug congress and senator

In 2014 came out in support of wood v burrel. Well I email and called them today. Hypo fucking crits asses. I asked maybe hobby lobby should be probed investigation aiding Isis.

[pandr32]

7. So what else have they managed to smuggle?

The importance of these artifacts is beyond measure--what were the plans for them, and what else may have been successfully smuggled?
Cuneiform tablets from the ancient Sumerians are like DNA is in researching ancestry--they help us map how the world's major religions came to be. I worry that the "ownership" of these tablets may have meant keeping the valuable information from historical study.

[MineralMan]

9. Artifact-looting asshats!

Dishonest Hobby Lobby! I think I'll boycott them...

[Ray Bruns]

10. I am confused -

Aren't these the people insisting on planting the ten commandments on every public square? I guess that whole "Thou shalt not steal or lie" pertains to someone else.

[MsLeopard]

13. They're also the ones

Who tried to deny their female employees birth control in their insurance, because it went against their deeply held religious convictions. Sickening.

[Sunlei]

11. Looks like museum loot hobby lobby smuggled in! The way they listed them as "ceramics" & "samples.

The Feds should take a look at their entire collection. Doesn't seem like the first time they've smuggled.

[pandr32]

14. Agreed

I posted about it above.
This needs to be investigated.

[HAB911]

12. Good chance some of their money went to ISIS

for stolen antiquities