Scientology on the ground: Despite church PR, things look very grim as the pandemic lingers

 
Someone mentioned that they’d seen a sign at the Scientology Cambridge Ideal Org that said they were closed. We thought we’d take a look. And since we were in the neighborhood there were a few other Orgs we wanted to see.

Saturday morning Willie and I headed out to Toronto to have a look at whether renovations had started on the Org on Yonge St. Things are opening up more and more here and it was evident as we drove up from the bottom of Yonge St to where the Org was located. There were lots of people out and about.

As we approached the Org we pulled into a side street across the way and into a small parking lot there. I jumped out and walked back to Yonge St with camera in hand and stood across the street. The building was even more decrepit than when I last saw it about a year ago. The Building permit sign was on the front door, but it was from several years ago and there definitely was no sign of any building repairs going on.

 
I grabbed a few photos and headed back to the car. I couldn’t help but think how much money local Scientologists have poured into this and that nothing at all has been done on the building. There was a big fundraising push over a decade ago that lasted for a few years. My OT8 sister told me they’d raised about $5 million, but that Scientology International needed it for some emergency Google campaign and scooped it up. Then a few years ago they ran another fundraiser for Toronto (Tony has written a number of articles on this). I always noticed in the pictures of their fundraisers all our old “friends” from back in the ’70s and ’80s, along with their kids. Still there.

After that we headed out to Guelph, Ontario. The Guelph Org is the “Continental Liaison Office” for Canada and is staffed by Sea Org. I’d never seen it before so was curious. I knew my nephew worked there but didn’t think we’d get a chance to see him.

When we got there I parked right across the street and took a few photos. There were a few Sea Org staff out on the side of the building having their requisite smoke break. I strode over to chat and see if I could say hi to our nephew. I asked if I could see him to say hello and one of the staff trotted off to get him.

 
While I was waiting I went back to chat with the other staff members and just made small talk about the weather and things. One interesing tidbit was that my sister and her husband’s son are still doing Scientology drug lectures in the Ontario schools, but that they are doing them online.

After a few minutes of waiting the staff member came back out of the building with a very serious look on his face. He walked up to me and told me that since I was a declared SP that my nephew wouldn’t be coming out to see me. Then he gathered up the other staff, told them not to talk to me and led them back inside. Pretty much as I expected.

On to Cambridge. It was a beautiful day and the drive in the country was very pleasant. Another thing that was pleasant was seeing a “Closed” sign on the Cambridge Org. There were a few cars parked in the back but no motion to see anywhere. I’m not sure why they’re closed but in Scientology, during the 40 years we were there it was a huge crime to close an Org even for a short time. I think there’s even a Hubbard policy on it.

 
The current Toronto Org is on King St and a friend grabbed a few photos for me. They are located on the 2nd floor and he said there was just one person he could see through the window.

 
It was a fun road trip on a sunny day. I kind of would have liked to see my nephew but didn’t have high hopes for that. I’ve always liked him. Back when we had some contact with him he was always cheerful and friendly. He loved to dance and was an excellent ballroom dancer. I guess if he’s going to be in the Sea Org at least he’s not at Flag or god forbid, Gold Base.

If Scientology ever does renovate Toronto Org I think they’d be very hard pressed to find enough people to staff it.

— Phil Jones

 
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Talking Scientology

We had fun talking with Joey and Jacquelyn about this Scientology thing.

 
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Source Code

“Let’s get the idea that right this moment you’re engaged in killing a woman. Now let’s remember this as an incident that occurred 20 years ago. Now let’s get the idea that you’re right this moment engaged in killing a man. Now let’s remember this as though it happened 35 years ago. All right….Now let’s get the idea of being a space ranger, a space man being shot to death right at this minute. Now let’s get this on recall now, as something that happened a hundred thousand years ago. This very incident. All right. Now let’s get the idea, right this moment you’re engaged upon being a sultan. Being a sultan. And now recall this as having happened 200 years ago. Now let’s get the idea of being a general, a general who is engaged in slaughtering a million troops. Killing them all to the last troop. Now let’s get this as having occurred a hundred and fifty thousand years ago. Now let’s get the idea of you being engaged this moment, successfully engaged upon blowing up the entire physical universe. Now get this as having happened yesterday. Now let’s get the idea of your own universe at this moment being blown to pieces. Now throw your memory into action as though it happened last night. And now as though it happened 50 years ago. And now as though it happened a billion years ago. And now as though it happened a trillion years ago. And now as though it happened 76 trillion years ago. Now, let’s get the idea right now of being engaged upon the construction of an entirely new universe. Now let’s get this as though you were engaged upon it, actually, at six o’clock this morning. OK.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 22, 1954

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“SECURITY: Remember, we were doing great until we forgot our security in letters, telexes and radio comms and ceased to be archaeologists or moving pictures people. Get our security in.” — The Commodore, March 22, 1969

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“I think various people are rollercoastering from lack of proper supervision and having done weird things to their own cases, as well as those of their PCs. I think what we’re seeing is the outcome of a huge experiment on their part into what happens if all the checks and balances of Scientology are ignored. Left to their own devices and doing the wrong processing actions badly, or skipping key actions altogether, they’ve managed to create a really bad chain of BPCs, overruns, etc. In a properly supervised org scenario, all of these indies would have their folders red-tagged and it would get handled with a GF, from which any other repair actions would be taken. There would also be Qual oversight over their processing.”

Past is Prologue

2002: Scientologist John Mappin has lost a case in the U.K. for defrauding a gossip columnist, claiming that he would produce a film based on the writer’s life. From The Guardian: “Benjamin Pell, better known as ‘Benji the Binman,’ has won back the 77,500 pounds he was hoodwinked into paying to finance a bogus Hollywood blockbuster about his life, following a high court ruling this afternoon. Mr. Pell brought an action for fraudulent misrepresentation against John Mappin, an heir to the Mappin and Webb jewelry empire, claiming he had been ‘duped.’ He made four separate payments totaling 77,500 pounds so as not to miss this ‘unique opportunity to work with one of the biggest names in Hollywood.’ His counsel, Marion Smith, said: ‘He believed there were going to be Hollywood writers on the case, for it to be picked up by a Hollywood studio, cast with big-name actors and a Hollywood film resulting.’ In fact, the ‘well-connected Hollywood film-maker’ was a friend of Mr. Mappin called Iain Jones, who turned out to be a hairdresser. Mr. Jones, she claimed, had never directed or produced any film at all, but had been credited with hair design on three Quentin Tarantino films – Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and White Man’s Burden.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Margery Wakefield writes in ‘The Road To Xenu’ about how they were allowed and encouraged to watch Star Trek in the mess hall. They would laugh about how the ‘wogs’ didn’t understand what they were watching were real Whole Track memories.”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to April 13.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Charged in Brooklyn federal court on Feb 4. Arraigned on Feb 9. Pretrial conference set for Apr 29.

Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. June 7: Status conference.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 24.

Concluded litigation:
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.

 
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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.

LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH

An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.

SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z

Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

 
Other links: Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. 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 a weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Scientology tries to rah-rah its way through the pandemic while endangering its members
[TWO years ago] Here’s the police report on Scientology’s sad attempt to mess with ‘Aftermath’
[THREE years ago] Scientology TV gives viewers a glimpse of the church’s most secret locations — but why?
[FOUR years ago] The real reason Leah Remini is taking a wrecking ball to Scientology
[FIVE years ago] Trial set in New York on April 7 over Narconon drug rehab hiding connection to Scientology
[SIX years ago] ‘Going Clear’ subject Hana Eltringham Whitfield fills us in on a Scientology secret or two
[SEVEN years ago] Jon Atack: Why I call Scientology a cult and not a church
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s Sneaky Infiltration of New York City Schools
[NINE years ago] Russia Still Going About Things All Wrong, and More in our Scientology Stats Roundup

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 22, 2021 at 07:00

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The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), 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, 15 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

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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