Art has been getting people in trouble today. The police just arrested a second prison worker at the Clinton Correctional Facility who helped two convicted murderers escape Shawshank Redemption-style three weeks ago—and it turns out the worker was giving the prisoners tools like screwdrivers and pliers in exchange for their artwork. And an artist in Brooklyn just filed a lawsuit alleging that Starbucks has been using her artwork or work “strikingly similar” to hers on their mini-frappuccino cups without her permission. In Detroit, police have issued a felony arrest warrant for artist Shepard Fairey (of Andre-the-Giant and “Hope” posters fame, and an artist who got the Turkish president fined for calling his monument a monstrosity may now go to prison for four years for “insulting the leader.”
In other news, debates continue to boil about the Confederate flag, with Jon Stewart suggesting we should be replace it with something “we can all get behind: a pig on fire—honoring the creation of barbecue” and Apple banning most games and apps featuring the flag. Well, if the Pope can condone marital separation (a major shift from hundreds of years of the Church’s rigid teachings on the subject) in cases where it’s “morally necessary,” a BBQ flag (or basically any other flag at all) is surely not impossible — and is most definitely preferable — here.
It’s also possible that the French government may finally offer Edward Snowden asylum—at least the leftist French daily newspaper Libération thinks it should. The editor wrote that the move would send “a clear and useful message to Washington” after new leaked documents (not tied to Snowden) showed the U.S. spying on the last three French presidents. If these famous people can apologize for their own movies, it’s possible that the U.S. can apologize to France for their…moves. If not, our country might end up like the Piper Chapmans of the world—unable to face the consequences of stealing a screwdriver and actually being the worst. Besides, we’ll need the French on our side when we face the robot apocalypse.