I'm starting to be irked they got off with nobody facing criminal charges. They were structuring payments to hide them and producing fraudulent shipping manifests.
The contrast with Obama-era right-wing rich people is striking. Back then, they impeded good government policy for the usual conservative reasons. Now, they fund terrorists to pillage historic artifacts. Much like the current administration, this is Bond villain territory.
Although in the interest of our strict standards for journalistic accuracy, is there a source for the ISIS connection? Or is it just "they bought artifacts, ISIS is selling artifacts, do the math"? The first three or four articles on Google News had nothing stronger than that.
Nobody is going to face criminal charges as long as Jeff Sessions is AG. I'm pretty pissed about that, too.
So it turns out that the reason Hobby Lobby was funding ISIS was to build a museum in DC to "remind the nation of its origins." Apparently in there among the ten commandments and stuff is an escape clause in "thou shalt not steal." Once again, laws are for the little people.
Let's memorialize the case name: The United States of America v. Approximately Four Hundred Fifty (450) Ancient Cuneiform Tablets; and Approximately Three Thousand (3,000) Ancient-Clay Bullae.
2.2: Given that ISIS is not only selling artifacts but is also really enthusiastic about it as a major source of hard currency, and has presumably opened up a lot of sites that were previously under official control, and is or was in a lot of the right parts of Iraq, it seems a pretty safe supposition that some out of thousands would have benefited ISIS. But no positive evidence, if The Atlantic has the facts: "nothing in the case indicates that these objects were associated with any terrorist group".
So it turns out that the reason Hobby Lobby was funding ISIS was to build a museum in DC to "remind the nation of its origins."
It's an Iran Contra museum?
Blog post suggesting what I thought in 5 a a safe supposition may not have been:
This story has nothing to do with IS. These antiquities were not looted by IS. IS is not the centre of the antiquities looting and smuggling world, they just are in the press.
Given that they used to run tv commercials about how everybody who even looks at a joint is funding FARC, I really don't give a shit.
Or at least, it would be irresponsible not to speculate.
Oh, sure, I don't care about maligning their reputation. I asked partly out of a tiny bit of concern for accuracy - I mean, it would look dumb if we were parroting something that's definitely wrong - and mostly out of simple curiosity.
Anyway, as far as "reminding the nation of its origins", buying stolen property isn't necessarily wrong.
I mean the nation was built literally by stolen people, never mind artifacts.
reminding the nation of its origins
oh yes, welcome to the wondrous Low-Hanging Fruit Gardens of Babylon...
If only hippopotamus balls hung so low.
For the first time since November I kind of feel the blog has its vibe back.
It's OK if You're On a Mission from God
I find this just about the least surprising news ever. This is exactly the kind of thing people like this do all the time.
The only information I know of that might connect this with ISIS specifically is that the artifacts are from Iraq. The texts might give a better sense of exactly where they originated (which is not necessarily where they were looted from), which would help clarify a bit how likely it is that ISIS was involved, but AFAIK none of that information has been released.
People who sell fabric swatches and glue are the worst.
Requiring them to abide by generally applicable laws governing trade in looted biblical relics would unduly burden their religious freedom.
17: I'm going to get a lot of mileage using that phrase back on you. Probably the least surprising fun ever.
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Apologies for going off-topic early; but treating this as the political thread, I just saw something too good not to pass along.
Errol Morris interviewed Donald Trump fifteen years ago and they talked about Citizen Kane (note, the video at the link appears to repeat at the end).
Errol Morris: Well, there have been moments in my career where people have said things to me that raise all kinds of crazy questions about self awareness. To what extent is this person aware of himself? To what extent is this person aware of what he's saying? And then there's a whole set of additional questions. How could he not be aware of what he's saying? How is this possible?...
Anthony Audi: Trump certainly seems to suffer from that disorder. What do you think he sees in Citizen Kane?
EM: Somehow he identifies clearly with Kane. Kane is Trump. And it's not the kind of identification that I would make if I were Trump. Of course that issue--if I were Trump, what would I do, what would I think, what would I say?--it's one of those counterfactuals I'm probably not equipped to address. But, if I were Donald Trump, I would not want to emphasize that connection with Kane. You know, a megalomaniac in love with power and crushing everything in his path. The inability to have friends, the inability to find love. The moral that Trump takes from Kane--I mean, it's one of the great lines that I recorded. I ask, "Do you have any advice for Charles Foster Kane, sir?" You know, let's get down to the psychiatric intervention. How can we help this poor man? He's obviously troubled. How can we help him? Donald, help me out here!
And Donald says, "My advice to Charles Foster Kane is find another woman!" And you know, I thought, is that really the message that Welles was trying to convey? That Kane had made poor sexual choices, poor marriage choices?
AA: It's an incredible line. And it makes you wonder what goes through Trump's mind as he watches the movie. I still can't wrap my head around if he just chooses to ignore its obvious moral undertone, or if he genuinely doesn't see it.
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Kane was a loser. Trump won the electoral college. It was tremendous.
Teo, what kind of cheap bourbon did I like again?
Nothing is better than Ezra, except the things that cost much more. That's a pretty good mnemonic.
I'm actually kind of surprised that Hobby Lobby's excuse wasn't "But ISIS was destroying antiquities all over Iraq and Syria; the least we could do is try to save some of them. For Jesus."
24: I've seen that link before, but am less impressed now than formerly. Lots of people don't grasp Citizen Kane one whit; the spouting discussed isn't a sign of pathology, just that he's in the middle or maybe lower-middle quintile of intelligence. And an affinity for hollow artifice? - hell, that's been his brand since forever.
I keep waiting for them to colorize it before I watch it.
I've seen that link before, but am less impressed now than formerly.
I hadn't, but I was thinking about that before I posted it -- I think the least interesting reading of it is, "gosh Trump is dumb." The most interesting things, to me, were just the way in which he identified with Kane and also hearing his (now) familiar speaking rhythms discussing a more abstract topic than he usually addresses as a politician.
Errol Morris comes across as kind of dense in that excerpt, as if the only way people normally respond to art is to think about what it means and what message its creator(s) is(are) trying to convey.
I deal with very different kinds of antiquarian materials but that the UAE served as a conduit for some of this stuff does not surprise me in the least.
In my basement, I have the original light switches from Noah's Ark, plus the jigs that scientists use to create the dinosaur fossils and the original draft of MLK's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" (before they edited out the part where he explains why a single-payer health care system is racist). Is this a good time to sell them?
I'm sure Mr. Green will pay handsomely for the photo of Jesus riding a dino into Jerusalem.
I want to keep that. It really makes the living room.
It's a Polaroid, so I can't just run another print.
AIMHMHB someone did once send me what might have been a polaroid of Jesus making a personal appearance at a market in Mombasa but I lost it when I left that job.
You need to have it carbon dated to confirm it's from 2000 years ago or use non-traditional theology.
The chair, of course, is an original...