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We’re still pinching ourselves that this Sunday, after all this time, Scientology’s “Flag Building” — better known as the “Super Power Building” — will be opening up, 15 years after it was begun.
Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY SUPER POWER COUNTDOWN: Six Days to Blast-Off!
Last week, Luis and Rocio Garcia responded to Scientology’s most serious attack on their federal fraud lawsuit with a harshly-worded court brief which also included a declaration from Luis Garcia himself.
On Friday, Scientology filed a new motion which is asking for Garcia’s declaration to be rejected. Why? Because Garcia is now alleging facts which contradict the lawsuit’s original complaint, the church says. In January, the Garcias sued five of Scientology’s corporate entities, accusing them of defrauding the Garcias as they were asked for donations. In particular, the Garcias say they gave one entity — the Church of Scientology Religious Trust (CSRT) — more than $300,000 for donations toward construction of Scientology’s “Super Power Building.” Continue reading Scientology Attacks Garcia Filing; Marc Headley Schools Clearwater’s Mayor

If you’ve been following our coverage of Luis and Rocio Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, you know that the lawsuit is facing a possibility of dismissal because of a question of jurisdiction. However, until that can be resolved, there’s another key issue the lawsuit must overcome if it’s going to continue — and that’s the matter of arbitration. Continue reading Luis Garcia Responds to Scientology’s Arbitration Scheme
Hundreds of pages of court documents in Tom Cruise’s $50 million lawsuit against Bauer Media, publishers of In Touch and Life & Style magazines, were put into a public court file recently, and yesterday, RadarOnline pounced on a short excerpt from a deposition given by Cruise.
We have more pages from Cruise’s deposition than Radar posted, as well as hundreds more documents which Cruise’s lawyers were able to pry out of Bauer — including internal e-mails between employees at the magazines as they were putting together the stories that Cruise found so offensive. In all, there’s some pretty fascinating material here beyond the revelations that became public yesterday. You’ve probably already heard that Cruise admitted to being separated from his daughter for more than three months after his divorce, and that he also admitted, somewhat vaguely, that Scientology was one “aspect” to the reason he and Katie Holmes split up. Continue reading The Tom Cruise Smear Machine: Accusations From His Deposition You Haven’t Heard
Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous “volcano” TV ads in the 1980s. He’s told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he’s helping us understand the upside-down world of Scientology “ethics.”
Jefferson where are you taking us today? JEFFERSON: This week we’re covering Chapter 3 of Introduction to Scientology Ethics, which deals mostly with statistics. It’s a pretty detailed description of the importance of keeping statistics, exactly how you graph them, and how you determine statistic trends. Continue reading Statistically Speaking: Jefferson Hawkins Takes Us Into Scientology’s Numbers Fixation
We’ve been watching things deteriorate for Scientology’s closed drug rehab center in the Atlanta area — Narconon Georgia — whose employees are now being investigated for potential criminal charges following a raid by law enforcement in April.
Our readers will likely remember that documents pried out of Narconon Georgia during a wrongful death lawsuit inspired Atlanta’s media to dig even further until they found evidence that a woman’s insurance company had been charged more than $160,000 after she had been told her advance payment of $15,000 would completely cover her daughter’s treatment. After state investigators began a criminal probe based on that information, millions more in suspicious charges to insurance companies turned up. Now we’ve talked to a man who said he was told his treatment would cost $20,000 — but then found that his insurance company was billed nearly $200,000 instead. This man’s name is Sean Blevins, and he was treated at a Narconon-style center in Manistee, Michigan. We have Sean’s insurance billings. Will they inspire the same kind of interest in Michigan that has law enforcement digging in Georgia? Continue reading More Questions About Scientology-Style Drug Rehab And Insurance — This Time in Michigan
Yesterday, Luis and Rocio Garcia of Irvine, California filed their response to Scientology’s latest attempt to derail their federal fraud lawsuit in Florida. Attorney Scott Pilutik took pains to help us all understand the basic (if lesser known) legal concept of “diversity jurisdiction” that Scientology had put into question with its latest motion.
Scientology argued, nearly ten months after the Garcias filed their lawsuit against five Scientology corporate entities in January, that the Garcias had erred by filing in a federal court in Tampa. Three of the church’s entities are trusts with trustees in California, and since the Garcias are also in California, a federal court in Florida was not the correct place for the lawsuit. One of the three entities, CSRT, is particularly key to the suit because of the amount of money the Garcias had given it, and its dismissal might cripple the lawsuit. Now, the Garcias are responding, and angrily point out that it’s awfully late for the church to be discovering the location of its own corporate officers. Continue reading Luis Garcia Responds: We Don’t Trust Scientology’s Trustee Ploy
Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Well, this is it. We’re finally plunging into Scientology’s “Operating Thetan” levels after Claire Headley has taken us all the way up the Bridge to Total Freedom. Claire, we’re very excited about this. You’ve explained to us that the anticipation of Scientology’s superhuman secrets — finally revealed on the OT levels — is what keeps people in for years, toiling away at repetitive tasks that can seem ridiculous in the extreme. But now, we’re finally here! CLAIRE: Well, cool your jets. We have one final step before we can plunge into OT 1 itself — and that’s “OT Eligibility.” THE BUNKER: Say what? Continue reading Claire Headley Takes Us OT! Here We Go with Scientology’s Operating Thetan Level ONE!
Los Angeles actress Roslyn Cohn’s sense of timing is impeccable. She’s debuting her one-woman show about Scientology, “diffiCult to Leave,” on November 25 in Los Angeles — right between the dates the church itself has set for events that seem like last-ditch efforts to stave off Scientology’s steady decline.
Scientology has announced to its members that it’s putting on a big product launch and building grand opening on November 15-17, and then its annual International Association of Scientologists gala on November 29-30, with events being held in a giant tent in Clearwater, Florida. But in LA, Cohn will counter that church self-promotion with a show we’ve been looking forward to ever since a rough-cut version appeared online several months ago. Continue reading Sunday Funnies: Roslyn Cohn’s One-Woman Show Set to Skewer Scientology
Multiple sources sent us several different internal church messages this morning which all claim that last night at Scientology graduation ceremonies the church finally announced dates for upcoming events to be held in its giant tent in Clearwater, Florida.
We can imagine that today, Scientologists around the country are scrambling to get flights and accommodations, because they’re expected to be in the Florida town in less than two weeks for the start of a series of big parties that will be unfolding through the end of the year. We’re so excited we can hardly stand it! So here is the schedule that we’ve been able to put together from multiple messages from several different sources… Continue reading Dates for Scientology Events Announced Last Night: Super Power in Two Weeks!
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