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EXCLUSIVE: The rise and fall of the ‘Pope of Scientology’ — in his own words

[John McMaster]

Historian Chris Owen just keeps coming up with gems. He notified us this week that he’d made a killer find digging through some British government files — a 30-page affidavit submitted by the “World’s First Real Clear” — John McMaster — for the defense to use in a 1977 libel lawsuit filed by the []

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First person: Four Scientologists have been shot, and you’re being sent to audit the pain away

[An arrest on a day of carnage at Scientology’s Portland Celebrity Centre, 1996. Photo by Maxine Bernstein]

Sunny Pereira’s experiences in Scientology continue to knock us out. Once again, she’s written up an incident that stunned us for what she’s been through. And we’ll say up front, we condemn in the strongest terms the despicable act []

Why don’t Scientologists go to authorities about the abuses they have seen or experienced?

We hear it all the time — why can’t law enforcement do something about the abuses in Scientology? There are a number of ways to answer that question, but one of the simplest is that Scientologists themselves know they cannot report the abuses they see to []

The US government continues to fret over how other countries treat Scientology

[One legacy of Bill Clinton’s friendliness to Scientology — continued federal monitoring overseas]

Rod Keller has highlights for us today from the annual State Department report on how Scientology is being treated around the world. After his notes, we have our own comment about this law and its connection to the Clinton White []

Janis Gillham Grady on Scientology jail: ‘LRH had been like a father to me. So much betrayal!’

[Janis Gillham Grady]

This week we’re continuing our series of excerpts from books about Scientology with the entire opening chapter of Janis Gillham Grady’s Commodore’s Messenger: A diary of my life with L. Ron Hubbard in Scientology’s Sea Organization. Our thanks to Janis for such an extended look at her book, which follows her harrowing journey []

When the famous war protester met Scientology: A spiritual encounter in Los Angeles

 Sunny Pereira, who has helped us out with so many Scientology technical issues, brought up a memory she had about a remarkable man. Once she told us about it, we asked her to write it up for the Bunker as a poignant slice of Sea Org life. We hope you’ll agree that it was a []

Bad boys, part two: Scientology’s involvement with drug smugglers had a long legacy

[L. Ron and Mary Sue Hubbard were running spy operations from sea]

Yesterday, historian Chris Owen explored how Scientology’s Guardian’s Office mounted a secret intelligence operation in cooperation with US Customs to break up an international drug smuggling ring involving ex-Scientologists and two Sea Org vessels. Today, he continues the story with a look at the []

Bad boys of the Sea Org: guns, drugs, murder and Scientology

[L. Ron Hubbard, Commodore of his own navy]

Chris Owen once again dives into Scientology history to bring us sparkling detail on a sordid episode in Sea Org history. Today, the first of two []

Laura D’s attorneys answer Scientology’s latest delaying tactic with a legal blast of their own

[Laura DeCrescenzo and her attorney, John Blumberg]

Laura DeCrescenzo’s legal team has answered Scientology’s latest delaying tactic in her 2009 forced-abortion lawsuit, and attorneys John Blumberg and Ave Buchwald state up front what’s really at stake as Scientology asks for a stay in Los Angeles Superior []

Joy Villa makes it back to the White House, but on a sour note

[Joy Villa returned to Washington on Tuesday]

In January, we reported that Joy Villa’s political aspirations had fallen apart when her manager, Robbie Olson, walked away and told us that Joy’s White House connections were drying up. Then earlier this month, we got some confirmation of that when Joy took down her “testing the waters” web []