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Mike Rinder: I was in Scientology’s prison with Emily Armstrong’s mom

[Mike Rinder and Gail Armstrong]

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: As the Emily Armstrong/Linkin Park story caught fire, we’ve seen the question raised: How much of a Scientologist is she? Mike Rinder supplies part of the answer, revealing that he []

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When Scientology sent out its baddie to ‘handle’ the Lisa McPherson protests

[The protest, memorialized at Jeff Jacobsen’s Lisa McPherson website]

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Some new photos have surfaced that document one of Scientology’s darkest scandals and how it handled public criticism. And wait till you see who shows up []

Mike Rinder exposes Scientology ‘Fair Game’ for Leah Remini’s lawsuit

 Yesterday we told you that Leah Remini had fired back at Scientology’s attempt to gut her lawsuit with a motion to strike and []

Mike Rinder: A class act we’re proud to call a friend

 About a week ago, Mike Rinder let us know that he was experiencing some health issues, and that he was awaiting test results to determine what was going []

Tonight: Our conversation with Mike Rinder on ‘A Billion Years’ for Mark Twain House

 Our first trip to the Mark Twain House in Hartford was with our friend Dan Perkins, the man behind Tom Tomorrow and the This Modern World comic strip. We got a special tour, and at one point found ourselves in Twain’s upstairs billiards room where his writing desk was tucked away in a corner. It []

Special Thanksgiving Podcast: ‘A Billion Years’ author Mike Rinder on Scientology’s epic fails

[Illustration by Observer]

On September 27, we had the treat of meeting Mike Rinder in Manhattan on the publication day of his book, A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology. (See our review of the book []

How a major Scientology donor family is caught up in the Danny Masterson case

[The $10 million couple: Steve Fabos and Peggy Oppenheim-Fabos]

In court on Monday, Deputy DA Reinhold Mueller described to Judge Charlaine Olmedo one of the witnesses the prosecution plans to call in Danny Masterson’s criminal rape trial, which starts []

Double storms hit Scientology: Hurricane Ian and Hurricane Mike Rinder

With all of their purported super powers, the OTs of Scientology were unable to fend off a double-bullseye yesterday as the church was rocked by two very different kinds of []

Mike Rinder’s ‘A Billion Years’: A gripping takedown of Scientology and its leader

 There are many books about Scientology now, including some put out by major publishers. If you wanted a robust history of where Scientology has been over many decades, you could turn to Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear, or the earlier, deeply researched investigations by Russell Miller (Bare-Faced Messiah) or Jon Atack (A Piece of Blue []

Jon Atack and Mike Rinder on Scientology’s wackiest book: ‘A History of Man’

 We’re very glad that Jon and Mike have taken on this awesome task, and you might also look at the fun we had when we read this most insane of Scientology textbooks with biologist PZ Myers in 2013. Now, here’s Jon’s introduction to today’s video, which is worth the price of admission all on its []