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Maryland county explains why (don’t call it Scientology) can take a hike

 The county council in Frederick County, Maryland, is fighting the Church of Scientology in court to keep the church from putting one of its quack drug rehab centers in a former fish camp known as Trout Run.

Readers know we’ve been following this dispute for some time, and that it’s a bit technical. But it’s another []

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Our money maverick dives into Scientology’s latest financial house of horrors

This week, documents became available that had been submitted by Narconon Holland, the Scientology drug rehab center in the Netherlands. At a quick glance, they indicated that the place was in serious trouble. And now, Underground Bunker regular “John P.” — who enjoys telling us about his luxurious life in high finance — has broken []

Wacky scenes from Scientology’s ‘Battlefield Earth’ launch on Hollywood Boulevard

[Phil Jones, right, is told what a failure he is by Scientologists at yesterday’s event]

Hit by another tsunami of bad press, this time over the May publication of Ron Miscavige’s bestselling book Ruthless, Ron’s son, Scientology leader David Miscavige, is hitting back with his own grab for media attention — by bringing out a 34-year-old []

Scientology claims L. Ron Hubbard chose David Miscavige to succeed him, proving he didn’t

[Scientology attorney Eric Lieberman]

Contributor Jeffrey Augustine has taken another close look at Scientology’s over-the-top attacks on Ron Miscavige for this piece today. Once again, he’s found some really interesting stuff!

The website that smears Ron Miscavige — presumably hosted by the Church of Scientology to distract from Ron’s book, Ruthless — is a gift that just []

Karla Zamudio on Scientology, and capturing Marc and Claire Headley in the short film ‘Escape’

[Alexandra Bayless and Karla Zamudio in ‘Escape’]

On Saturday, Karla Zamudio and Rachael Meyers screened their 15-minute student film, Escape, for a private audience in Los Angeles that included Spanky Taylor, who had been featured in Alex Gibney’s documentary about Scientology, Going Clear.

Escape is also about Scientology, specifically the story of how Marc and Claire Headley []

Scientology’s ‘Battlefield Earth’ campaign, featuring Frank Frazetta and a crashed saucer

 It’s time again for Rod Keller’s Scientology Social Media Review. He’s made a specialty of hunting down the odd and wonderful things Scientologists post to the ‘net. He’s a chronicler who piece by piece builds a highly detailed assessment of what Scientology is doing around the world, and this is what he found for us []

BILLBOARD 2.0 — Phil and Willie Jones set their sights on Scientology’s mecca in Florida

 Fresh off of their media conquest in Los Angeles, former Scientologists Phil and Willie Jones have a new target for their bright idea to highlight Scientology’s toxic “disconnection” policy with a prominent billboard near a major church []

Tonight, Cathy Schenkelberg takes her Scientology cans to the Hollywood Fringe

 Former Scientologist Cathy Schenkelberg is taking a big step tonight, and so we called her yesterday to find out how she’s feeling as her one-woman show, “Squeeze My Cans” begins a run at the Hollywood Fringe []

There’s nothing quite like when Scientology cancels your superhuman powers with a ‘declare’

[Dani and Tami Lemberger]

July 2012 was one of the craziest months in our 20-year history of watching and writing about the Church of Scientology. The media was in a frenzy because, at the end of June, Katie Holmes had amputated her ties to Tom Cruise in a highly calculated surgical strike. But so much else []

More signs of the apocalypse for the Church of Scientology’s bitter-enders

 On Monday we discussed Chick Corea and how such a jazz great seems destined to be among the very last to give up his superhuman dreams under the influence of L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology.

But these days, the signs of desperation among the bitter-enders hanging on as Scientology crumbles are coming []