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ATLANTIC MAGAZINE SPIKES SCIENTOLOGY ADVERTORIAL AFTER BACKLASH (UPDATED)

UPDATE 11:45 PM: THE ATLANTIC JUST REMOVED THE SCIENTOLOGY ADVERTORIAL IN THE FACE OF MOUNTING RIDICULE. THEY POSTED THIS NOTICE:

“We have temporarily suspended this advertising campaign pending a review of our policies that govern sponsor content and subsequent comment threads.”

ALSO, The Atlantic took down all 25 comments on its Scientology advertorial, but we nabbed them []

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Did the Headleys And Their Lawsuit Torpedo the FBI Investigation of Scientology?

The Headleys

The second half of the series in the Tampa Bay Times about the 2010 FBI investigation of Scientology landed on the Internet tonight, and we’ve given it a good look.

Joe Childs and Tom Tobin have done another fine job amassing new details about the FBI’s probe of human trafficking allegations at Scientology’s []

Scientology Getting It From All Sides: The Tampa Bay Times Looks at 2010 FBI Investigation

The Tampa Bay Times has published the first half of a two-part series on what happened to the 2010 FBI investigation into Scientology.

We wrote our own story about that in March 2012. We found that despite talking to many ex-church members who alleged human trafficking abuses, the FBI lost steam and its investigation resulted in []

Paul Haggis and Lawrence Wright on NBC's Rock Center January 17

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The folks over at NBC’s Rock Center were good enough to send us this promo this afternoon…

…just as we were about to walk into a 3-hour movie. Oh well. So []

Blogging Dianetics, Part 2: The State of Clear!

Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, Bay Area lawyer, and writer Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.

Last week, we started with the book’s opening sentence, which appears in a ten-page synopsis. That’s followed by a []

The Master Gets Three Oscar Nominations

Just a quick afternoon post to acknowledge that Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie, The Master, garnered three acting Oscar nominations today. (But PTA himself, and his film, got snubbed for Best Director and Best Picture.)

Joaquin Phoenix was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Freddie Quell, Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated for Best Supporting Actor []

Scientology True Crime: A First Look at Nancy Many’s Docudrama Airing January 16

If you’ve read Nancy Many’s memoir, My Billion-Year Contract, you know that she had one of the most amazing careers in Scientology — from working directly with church founder L. Ron Hubbard, to spying for the church on its enemies, to running the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, and to being sent to the Rehabilitation []

Excerpts of Lawrence Wright's Book on Scientology are Predictably Awesome

Two great excerpts from Lawrence Wright’s upcoming book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief, have appeared in The Hollywood Reporter today, and they are predictably amazing.

The longer piece looks at Tom Cruise’s relationship with Scientology leader David Miscavige, and Cruise’s wavering relationship to Scientology itself. We’ve taken a stab at those subjects []

Nancy Many’s Life in Scientology Dramatized on January 16 Investigation Discovery Series

Discovery Channel’s true-crime sister network, Investigation Discovery, is airing a 1-hour dramatization of Nancy Many’s amazing life in Scientology next week, at 10 pm on Wednesday, January 16.

Many has been very effective at keeping this a secret, but recently she let us in on it and now that she’s seen the final edit, she’s very []

John Sweeney Talks The Church of Fear, Which Comes Out Today

 Scientology’s “pope” a foul-mouthed, violent bully?

A new book coming out today by BBC newsman John Sweeney makes use of secret electronic communications that portray Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, berating his underlings in texts with phrases like “You Suck!” and “Counter-Intentional Cock Sucker!” and “You Suck Cock on Hollywood Boulevard!”

Sweeney is famous for blowing up in []