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 Good morning from New Braunfels, Texas, where we will be providing a second consecutive morning of live-blogging from the Comal County courthouse.
Yesterday, Judge Dib Waldrip allowed opening statements and testimony in Monique Rathbun’s request to convert a temporary restraining order into a temporary injunction in her harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology. But today, the temporary injunction hearing is being put on hold as the church’s motion to disqualify Monique’s attorney, Ray Jeffrey, becomes the focus. Continue reading MONIQUE RATHBUN VS SCIENTOLOGY, DAY 2: Texas Showdown Shifts Gears
 Day One just ended in the temporary injunction hearing of Monique Rathbun’s harassment lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige.
We live-blogged the first half of the day’s session, which included opening statements by attorneys on both sides. But then Judge Dib Waldrip called for a ban on recording devices during Monique’s testimony in the afternoon, so we had to quit live-blogging and went back to pen-and-paper tech. It was old school time! Monique gave two hours and twenty minutes of testimony guided by her attorney, Ray Jeffrey, and after a short break, she then was cross-examined by Church of Scientology International’s San Antonio lawyer, Les Strieber, for another hour or so. Continue reading MONIQUE RATHBUN’S TESTIMONY: Day One Finishes in Her Temporary Injunction Hearing
 Today and tomorrow, at the Comal County Courthouse Annex on Seguin Avenue in downtown New Braunfels, Texas, a temporary injunction hearing is scheduled to take place in the lawsuit filed by Monique Rathbun against the Church of Scientology and its leader David Miscavige, who is responsible for a campaign of harassment against her, Monique alleges.
Monique herself is prepared to testify today in a hearing to determine if a temporary restraining order will be converted to a temporary injunction, which will keep Miscavige and the church from surveilling and harassing her throughout the life of the lawsuit. But will the church pull a fast one and grant the injunction, preventing any testimony today? That might be one outcome, or the church may be in for some of the most damaging testimony since Debbie Cook’s day in court in February 2012. Continue reading LIVE FROM TEXAS: The Monique Rathbun vs. Scientology Temporary Injunction Hearing
 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.
Claire, we’re so happy to be finishing up the Grades. We’ve been pretty amazed at what rates people pay on these levels, and what they get in return. Let’s see what we get here on “Expanded Grade Four.” CLAIRE: Expanded Grade 4 is known for handling your service facsimiles. THE BUNKER: Our what? Continue reading Scientology Slackers: How to Audit Away Your Passive-Aggressive, Dominating Deviancy!
 Marty Rathbun and David Miscavige, back in the day When Mark “Marty” Rathbun filed an affidavit last week saying that his former employer, David Miscavige, firmly rules every aspect of the Church of Scientology and oversaw its dirty tricks campaigns in Texas, we expected that the church might respond by calling Rathbun a liar. Instead, Scientology is crying foul because Rathbun told the truth. In a stunning, if predictable, move, late yesterday the Church of Scientology asked Comal County, Texas Judge Dib Waldrip to disqualify Monique Rathbun’s attorneys and cripple her harassment lawsuit because, the church says, Monique’s attorney Ray Jeffrey and his team improperly used “confidential and attorney client privileged information” when it allowed Marty Rathbun to submit an affidavit in his own wife’s lawsuit. Continue reading SCIENTOLOGY MOVES TO DISQUALIFY MONIQUE RATHBUN’S ATTORNEYS
 Leah Remini finally stopped with the coded messages and spoke directly and publicly about leaving Scientology today with her appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show. But it still was a very limited statement, and nothing like the detail that we provided when we broke the story of her defection on July 8 and in a lengthy interview with her sister Nicole on July 18.
It’s a big deal that Leah said anything at all on such a popular daytime show, and Ellen’s reactions are priceless. But essentially, Leah’s story remains untold by her, and we’re looking forward to her going into so many things we’ve learned about her defection from Scientology: the scene at the wedding of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes in 2006, the three months of interrogations she went through when she dared to ask about the disappearance of the wife of Scientology leader David Miscavige, and how she managed to convince her entire family to leave with her. It’s a great story, and it remains to be told by her. Leah, we’re listening! Continue reading Leah Remini on The Ellen DeGeneres Show: Fairly Tight-Lipped About Scientology
 Alfreddie Johnson behind Louis Farrakhan and singer Stacy Francis at a Scientology Hollywood Celebrity Centre event, circa 2006 Last year, Drew Harwell of the Tampa Bay Times described a nightmare scenario — a collection of Scientology and Nation of Islam hucksters who had teamed up to bleed dry a charter school in Dunedin, Florida. They had been sent out to Florida by Alfreddie Johnson’s Scientology front group, the World Literacy Crusade, and were led by WLC’s executive director, Hanan Islam, who told parents and teachers not to worry, she wouldn’t “push any religion” on the kids. But soon enough, pupils at the Life Force Arts and Technology Academy were being herded into Scientology events at the Tampa org. Their course materials, meanwhile, were heavy on “Study Tech” from Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Continue reading Scientology and Nation Of Islam Education Hucksters Marching on Sacramento!
 Never forget In 1979, the full extent of Scientology’s dirty tricks campaigns, illegal break-ins, and smear attempts had been revealed in documents seized by the FBI two years earlier. One of the targets of Scientology’s destructive schemes was the Clearwater Sun, a daily newspaper that served the town Scientology had stealthily taken over in 1975. Documents seized by the FBI showed that the Sun‘s publisher, editors, and reporters had been targeted with surveillance and smear schemes. Church spies were planted in the newsroom and advertising departments, plans were made to lie to advertisers to get them to drop the paper, and other plans were hatched to devalue the paper until the church could buy it and take control. The church also investigated letter writers who spoke critically of the church. Continue reading The 1979 Clearwater Sun Editorial the Tampa Bay Times Should Run Today
 Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
Jon, we have a feeling you’re going to get us in a lot of trouble this week. You’ve been unearthing some real gems for us recently, but in this investigation, you’ve found some connections in the early writings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard that suggest he owes a greater debt to some psychiatric techniques than his followers might like to admit. We have a feeling today’s comment section is going to be lively! Continue reading Scientology Heresy: Jon Atack on L. Ron Hubbard’s Debt to Psychiatry
 We have some rare video of David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology, giving a drawn-out and very strange explanation for why and how the IRS battled and ultimately caved to the church over its tax exempt status in 1993. The speech is from the New Year’s Eve 2000 Scientology event, which we hadn’t seen before, and it was edited into a funky video presentation that was assembled in 2007 by J. Swift, who tells us the thing hasn’t been online for several years.
We’d love to get your thoughts on this pre-Anonymous bit of church criticism, and Miscavige’s weird explanation for what motivated the IRS. Continue reading VIDEO: Scientology Leader David Miscavige’s Weird Explanation for the IRS Victory
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Good morning from New Braunfels, Texas, where we will be providing a second consecutive morning of live-blogging from the Comal County courthouse.
