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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 this week…
Scientology followed its dramatic Hollywood Boulevard book launch last week with promotions at individual Barnes & Noble bookstores yesterday. Phil Jones, of “Call Me” billboard fame, showed up at one store, where a life-sized cutout of Terl, the book’s villain, invited people to purchase the 34-year-old novel. Continue reading Scientology goes big with Barnes & Noble and with the Euro 2016 football tournament Advertisement
 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 for more than three years he’s been 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.
Ron Hubbard surely understood the importance of words: While Shakespeare added over a thousand new definitions to the English language, Hubbard left two 500-page dictionaries. However, where Shakespeare’s language is insightful, poetic, and beautiful, Hubbard’s is more usually obfuscating, awkward, and ugly. Continue reading When you postulate upon a star: L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology’s funny made-up words
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 great example of how Scientology tries to run roughshod over local government officials and local courts, and so we’ve been keeping an eye on the case, step by step. And now, we think there’s an interesting new wrinkle you’d want to hear about. Continue reading Maryland county explains why (don’t call it Scientology) can take a hike
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 down those documents in more detail, as only he can. For our newer readers, you will sense that John P. is having fun with his reports about himself, but when he dives into a financial report like this, he’s all business. We hope you enjoy his analysis…
School’s out, and at Global Capitalism HQ, that means one thing: lots of cheap, talented and well-meaning but inept interns to burden with menial tasks. I’m not one of those cruel, sadistic traders who sends an intern out to stand in the hot sun for hours to be first in line at Shake Shack to put in their lunch orders. Instead, I assign Harvard and Yale B-students intellectually tedious research that most people wouldn’t assign to high school kids. At least, people wouldn’t assign this stuff to any high school students they actually liked. Continue reading Our money maverick dives into Scientology’s latest financial house of horrors
[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 science fiction novel, L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth. Continue reading Wacky scenes from Scientology’s ‘Battlefield Earth’ launch on Hollywood Boulevard
[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 keeps on giving. Previously, we pointed out that in an attempt to defend Scientology leader David Miscavige against allegations in the book, the website includes statements by church officials about David that directly contradict what he swore to the IRS when it gave Scientology tax exempt status in 1993. Continue reading Scientology claims L. Ron Hubbard chose David Miscavige to succeed him, proving he didn’t
[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 managed to get away from the church’s secretive International Base in 2005, a story that Marc told in his thrilling 2009 book Blown for Good. Continue reading Karla Zamudio on Scientology, and capturing Marc and Claire Headley in the short film ‘Escape’
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 this week…
Scientology is re-releasing L. Ron Hubbard’s 1982 novel Battlefield Earth this week. Sea Org members John Goodwin (dressed as Terl) and Emily Jones from Scientology’s Galaxy Press visited The Red Booth, a YouTube show with Scientologist host Kimberly Quigley. (Emily is the daughter of Phil and Willie Jones, who are known for the “Call Me” billboards.) Continue reading Scientology’s ‘Battlefield Earth’ campaign, featuring Frank Frazetta and a crashed saucer Advertisement
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 center. Continue reading BILLBOARD 2.0 — Phil and Willie Jones set their sights on Scientology’s mecca in Florida
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 Festival. Continue reading Tonight, Cathy Schenkelberg takes her Scientology cans to the Hollywood Fringe
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