The Very Christian Store Hobby Lobby has spent the last few years acquiring (read: smuggling) ancient cultural artifacts on the black market. As Séamus Bellamy wrote here in 2018:

Over the course of a few years, the craft supply and kitschy-shit store bought over 5,500 relics from dealers in the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

TikTokker Anneke Roberts of Grand Rapids, Michigan is doing the Lord's work. Calling herself the "Banksy of Rae Dunn,"** she and a friend recently infiltrated Hobby Lobby, the arts-and-crafts chain led by that notorious conservative Christian, by droplifting faux pro-birth control products in one of their stores. — Read the rest

Hobby Lobby's President Steve Green was part of a conspiracy to steal a lot of irreplaceable antiquities. The stolen artifacts have now been returned to the Iraqi Government. Mr. Green is suffering as a devout Christian does, before his God and no one else. — Read the rest

If you're not up to speed on Hobby Lobby's sketchy investments in illegal artifacts from Iraq, here's the lowdown. — Read the rest

According to a lawsuit (PDF) filed Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice, craft retailer Hobby Lobby illegally imported thousands of Iraqi artifacts, intentionally mislabeled them and lied about their origins.

Though a consultant to the company estimated the artifacts' value at $11,820,000, an invoice shows Hobby Lobby paid $1,600,000 for them in deals with the United Arab Emirates and Israel.

A judge excused a member of a fundamentalist LDS offshoot from testifying in a church child labor case after he said his religious beliefs prohibit him from discussing church matters.

The Satanic Temple, known as "the nicest Satanic cult in the world," is "seeking a religious exemption to certain anti-abortion laws that attempt to dissuade women from ending a pregnancy."

Hobby Lobby is so offended by the idea of contributing to its employees' birth control expenses that it fought all the way to the Supreme Court over the issue. But its retirement plan has over $73M sunk into funds that include companies that make contraception.

The Christian-owned retailer cannot be required to include contraception in health plans (PDF), reports the BBC. The 5-4 ruling applies to "closely held" corporations.

The case turned in large part on whether the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which bars the US government from taking action that "substantially burdens the exercise of religion", applies to for-profit companies…The decision marks the first time the Supreme Court has found a profit-seeking business can hold religious views under federal law, analysts say…

But it is unclear whether any women employees will actually lose birth control coverage, because the Obama administration had already devised a mechanism under which workers of non-profit organisations that object to the contraception mandate could keep coverage without the organisation having to pay for it.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide later this year whether a corporation can have religious beliefs. Maggie Koerth-Baker looks at the science of birth control, and how it might inform the debate.

Tom the Dancing Bug, IN WHICH Hobby Lobby, Inc. Converts From Christianity to Ancient Roman Religion

Jesus returned to the Super Bowl to wash some more feet. If you saw the game, you no doubt saw this year's version of the "He Gets Us" ad campaign that debuted at the 2023 Super Bowl. USA Today describes the first of two ads that aired at during the 2024 Super Bowl:

The first 2024 ad, entitled "Foot Washing" aired during the first quarter of the game.

If you've wondering who's behind those warm, fuzzy, and seemingly inclusive Jesus Gets Us ads that are all over TV, did you have "shadowy Christian billionaires" on your bingo card. One of them is the virulently anti-LGBTQ Hobby Lobby guy. And those ads are about to appear during the Super Bowl.

Supreme Court justice Samuel Alito leaked the 2014 anti-contraception ruling to evangelicals (archive.org), reports the New York Times. It quotes one of those pressuring conservatives on the court, and finds contemporaneous emails that corroborate his claim.

In a letter to Chief Justice John G.

CNN shares that people are getting sick enough of Elon Musk to stop buying his EV cars. It appears too much to ask people to buy into his politics, antics, and Tesla's erratic build quality. Folks are canceling orders and refusing delivery of cars at a time when EV automobiles are wildly in demand. — Read the rest

If you are like many, many people on the internet you have already seen the listing for a house that is over-adorned with cute sayings signs, including one that says "Welcome to Poundtown" over a bed. The origin story of that sign is shared in Mel Magazine by the artist, and house-flipper, Lauren Hegenbarth, because of course it is. — Read the rest

I had to get an e-ink photo frame for an Xmas gift and, after exhaustively researching the matter for about 8 minutes, have decided that the one from Frame Labs is clearly the least cheesy. Its ArtFrame e-ink photo frame [Frame Labs] has an elegant, classy style rather than the Hobby Lobby bargain bin look of the others, and (like most e-ink gadgets) doesn't need recharging so long as you're happy with the current photo. — Read the rest

Well, this is a big old red flag. And an anti-science lie.

Epidemiology is intrinsically at odds with right-wing ideology: the idea that all humans have a shared microbial and viral destiny, one that entwines the poorest and richest among us, which cannot be severed by the highest walls or all the private security in the world is a significant barrier to anyone who dreams of Going Galt and declaring themselves to be responsible only to themselves — there is no Ayn Rand novel thick enough to stop you from getting antibiotic resistant TB.