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DAVID MISCAVIGE, YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED

 
Just checked the court file in the lawsuits brought by Valerie Haney and Chrissie Bixler, et al. (the lawsuit against Danny Masterson), and what do they both contain?

Yes, proof that David Miscavige, chairman of the board Religious Technology Center, otherwise known as the iron-fisted dictator of the Church of Scientology, has been served in both lawsuits through the process of “substitute service.”

That means process servers left notification that Miscavige is being sued with officials at RTC (as well as the Church of Scientology International), and Miscavige is effectively served, even if he’s not in the country at the moment (which we suspect is the case).

Here, take a look at the document detail for yourself…

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Miscavige now has 30 days to respond to the court in writing, and then the legal battle is really going to be on.

Gosh these lawsuits are sure getting interesting. OK, back to today’s scheduled story…

 
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Scientology’s Freedom magazine re-appears after a year, but is fooling no one

 

[Freedom editor John Sugg and his new beauty]

Three weeks ago, we pointed out that it had been a full year since Scientology’s venerable propaganda organ, Freedom magazine, had put out an issue, even though church leader David Miscavige pays top dollar for a full stable of former journalists to sing his praises.

Yesterday, Freedom put out a new “Clearwater” edition that appears to be a direct rebuttal to the Tampa Bay Times investigation which appeared on Sunday showing how in just the last three years, Scientology has doubled its stranglehold on downtown Clearwater properties, clearly in retaliation for the city’s plan to revitalize the area.

The hard work by Tracey McManus at the Times showed how wealthy Scientologists had suddenly begun snapping up properties in 2017, and there’s little doubt that it’s being coordinated by Miscavige himself. Any hopes that the city had for revitalizing the area are now pretty clearly a $64 million project that would be a waste of time.

But in the new Freedom magazine, editor John Sugg petulantly argues that it’s the Tampa Bay Times and McManus herself who are the real obstacles to a downtown revival.

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Now, first, let’s get something perfectly clear. No one — and we mean no one — is going to take seriously a rant from Scientology in its propaganda rag, and so there’s little point in going through Sugg’s manufactured outrage that tries to make it look like the local newspaper has prevented a Clearwater renaissance.

We only want to point out one small detail that we think people sometime forget about what was going on in 2017 with a particular 1.4-acre parcel that is at the center of the controversy and that set off Miscavige in this newest secret takeover of the Florida town.

Here’s what Sugg says: “For ten years the Church had sought a 1.4-acre vacant lot as the final property needed to complete its downtown campus.”

Oh my. Miscavige only wanted that one little piece of land to “complete” the Scientology “campus,” really?

Where have we heard that before? Oh yeah, we remember: “We just want this small piece of Czechoslovakia, just this teeny tiny slice. Nothing more.”

What Sugg doesn’t bother to explain about that small parcel of land: At one point, Clearwater had a real opportunity to bring life back to the downtown area, and with the help of the Clearwater Aquarium, a world-class operation that had a superstar, Winter the dolphin, and was drawing huge crowds to its location out by the beach.

To help the city revitalize, the aquarium had agreed to expand to the downtown on a 1.4-acre lot in a $160 million project, instantly creating a major attraction to the dead city core.

And who worked to kill that deal?

Yes, the Church of Scientology.

Why? Because that proposed project was going to be built adjacent to two of Scientology’s major downtown locations, the back of the Fort Harrison Hotel, and next to The Oak Cove, another hotel run by Scientology.

The last thing Scientology wanted was a major international attraction drawing hordes of curious outsiders to the very core of its “spiritual mecca,” and cheek-by-jowl with the very cabana room at the Fort Harrison Hotel where parishioner Lisa McPherson had spent her final 17 days of life, being held in isolation and silence in order to deal with her mental breakdown.

Thousands of tourists, walking around just steps from where McPherson had been dehydrated to death? Oh no. That was not happening as far as the church was concerned.

Finally fed up with the opposition to its plans, the aquarium announced that it was giving up on its project, and then wanted the city to take the 1.4-acre parcel off its hands for a fair price.

Miscavige tried to put major pressure on the aquarium and the city to allow the church to buy the parcel, and ended up offering four times what it was worth.

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But why in Xenu’s name would either the city or the aquarium want to give Scientology exactly what it wanted, the parcel of land, after the church had done what it could to kill the aquarium’s project there?

Sure, today John Sugg can, in the grand Scientology tradition, pretend that the church was victimized when the city took possession of that piece of land, but who does he think he’s fooling?

And does Scientology really believe that the longtime residents of Clearwater have memories so short they can’t remember when the church surreptitiously moved into town in 1975, lying about who they were as they began to buy up properties like the Fort Harrison Hotel and the Clearwater Bank building?

Let’s remember that journalists like Richard Leiby (now with the Washington Post) were exposing Scientology’s takeover plans at the old Clearwater Sun back in 1979, forty years ago…

 

 
Scientology can put out all the slick magazines it wants to pretending that it cares about the quality of life in Clearwater, but they’re fooling no one.

Scientology wants to keep non-Scientologists out of downtown Clearwater because it runs a factory there for removing large amounts of money from indoctrinated people with more money than sense who come to Florida from around the world to go through brutal interrogations and arcane “processing” in order to reach the upper regions of the Bridge to Total Freedom. Talk to anyone who worked at the Flag Land Base, all that matters is moving the marks through that assembly line, and harvesting as much money as possible.

Everything else is unimportant. Including the quality of life of the people who live and work there, many of whom sign billion-year contracts, work 112-hour weeks for little or no pay, and who may go years without seeing their family members in other countries.

Scientology can try to justify itself with a lot of puppetry about its aims and goals, but now that it has used its wealthy members to buy up downtown, it really doesn’t matter what a lifeless place it has been and will continue to be. It’s Scientology’s town. And there’s not anything anyone can do at this point.

Go to the beach instead. We hear it’s really lovely.

 
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Jeffrey Augustine interviews Mark Bunker about the Clearwater takeover

Here’s the city council candidate on the news uncovered by the Tampa Bay Times.

 

 
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Source Code

“You want to know what is wrong with the fellow? Let’s say that when he is very young somebody decides to take his tonsils out….Later on he meets some doctor who says, ‘Well, the reason you have ulcers is because … ?’ Actually, it was because one of the doctors during the tonsillectomy — this fellow’s earlier colleague — had an elbow in the patient’s stomach. I think doctors knew this all the time, by the way. I am sure they had this all worked out. The doctor leans his elbow on this young would-be writer’s stomach, and he grinds this elbow down while he is holding the patient. Later on the fellow has to be operated on for ulcers. You can make more money this way and send your children to better colleges.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 22, 1951

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Ron’s invention of auditing: quite probably the single greatest advance in the history of mankind. And it works because life comes before, and is senior to, the physical universe; auditing confirms this. Life errs when thinking the physical universe has domain over it. Auditing undoes this fallacy.”

 
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Random Howdy

“So when your certificates get canceled, whose job is it to track down all those engrams and body thetans and tell them they need to re-implant and re-attach themselves?”

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

[The Big Three: Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Kirstie Alley]

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] A call to arms for Scientology voters: ‘Religious freedom’ vs. the evil psychs!
[TWO years ago] Wally Hanks, Scientology ranch terror recently portrayed on ‘Leah Remini,’ dies at 70
[THREE years ago] Who was responsible when Scientology finally paid Lawrence Wollersheim a lot of thin dimes?
[FOUR years ago] A Scientology childhood: What it’s like to grow up under the Hubbard spell
[FIVE years ago] Tom Cruise and his Freedom Medal of Valor: Where’s the tabloid press?
[SIX years ago] Scientology Has No City Permit for IAS Gala or Other Events: Is It Keeping The Party Private?
[SEVEN years ago] Lewis Black Calls Times Square Anti-Scientology Demonstration “Best. Protest. Ever.”
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Transfusion: Commenters of the Week!

 
——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

Bernie Headley has not seen his daughter Stephanie in 5,605 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 1,734 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,238 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 1,758 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 778 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 669 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 3,976 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 1,844 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,618 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,392 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 2,738 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,304 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,223 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,391 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 2,972 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,233 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,272 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 1,984 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,510 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,036 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,599 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 2,739 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,059 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 7,915 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,034 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,389 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 5,692 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 1,798 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,200 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,072 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,655 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,150 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,404 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,513 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on October 22, 2019 at 07:00

E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2018 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2018), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 14 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…

Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.

Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele

 

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