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Scientology Sunday Funnies: What’s a little human trafficking between friends?

LtAndreDawsonSciWelcome to another collection of Scientology Sunday Funnies! Each week, we post some of the better Scientology fundraising fliers we’ve been forwarded by our great tipsters.

This week, we wanted to start off with something that our commenters have been talking about — a Los Angeles Police Department gladhander, Captain Dave Storaker, who runs a Twitter feed that’s about as smarmy as it gets. And the breathless way he promoted a “human trafficking” conference at Scientology’s LA headquarters was pretty awful. Scientology itself was investigated by the FBI for human trafficking violations in 2009 and 2010, and that probe was derailed for unfortunate reasons.

Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies: What’s a little human trafficking between friends?

Jonny Jacobsen: New Scientology legal setbacks in Belgium, France, and Holland

Jonny Jacobsen

Jonny Jacobsen

Once again we have a special report from our man in Paris, British journalist Jonny Jacobsen. He has news of three new developments: Scientology’s maneuvering has been cleared away so that a Belgian prosecution of fraud against the church can occur, an attempt by Scientology to sue one of its biggest critics in France for libel has been denied, and Holland’s highest court has reversed and remanded a ruling about Scientology’s tax exemption in Amsterdam. Jonny, take it away…

 
Belgium’s highest court has rejected Scientology’s last appeals and sent 13 senior members and two of its organizations there for trial, a Belgian newspaper reports.

Continue reading Jonny Jacobsen: New Scientology legal setbacks in Belgium, France, and Holland

Jon Atack packs a lot into a new short book — ‘Scientology: The Cult of Greed’

SciCultOfGreedWhat do you do if you’re Jon Atack and you’re already known for writing one of the best and most comprehensive books about the history of the Church of Scientology? Apparently, you do it again, but in digest form!

We’re pleased to announce that an 83-page, 13,000-word e-book by Jon that gives an excellent overview to L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology is now available at Amazon under the title “Scientology: The Cult of Greed.”

Continue reading Jon Atack packs a lot into a new short book — ‘Scientology: The Cult of Greed’

The questioner: Scientology brings in its legal ringer for a Florida showdown

Bert Deixler

Bert Deixler

We heard from a couple of readers who have been keeping an eye on the federal docket in the Luis and Rocio Garcia lawsuit against the Church of Scientology that a new document had been filed by the church on December 5.

We thanked them, letting them know that we had noticed it, and that it was not a major new development in the case. But it is noteworthy, and we wanted to explain why.

Continue reading The questioner: Scientology brings in its legal ringer for a Florida showdown

Marc Headley responds to sliming Scientology gave him at the ‘International Business Times’

Marc_Claire_Headley2Yesterday, we brought you the news of the latest bizarre Scientology ambush — in this case, by a group of “Sea Org” workers swarming former church member Marc Headley, who was at Scientology’s International Base in Southern California with a Danish television crew.

We had a feeling the story might have legs because just a few weeks earlier, a similar ambush — of Marty Rathbun at an LAX terminal — had produced a video that was widely picked up by the media.

Continue reading Marc Headley responds to sliming Scientology gave him at the ‘International Business Times’

Scientology ambush! Another crazy encounter, this time with Marc Headley at Int Base

IntBaseConfront
Just a few weeks ago, former Scientology executive Mark “Marty” Rathbun found himself confronted by three high-ranking church officials who ambushed him at a gate in the Los Angeles International Airport while carrying cameras and speaking bizarrely. The video Rathbun shot of the encounter got a lot of attention in the press as it captured the strange way Scientology has of dealing with former members.

Continue reading Scientology ambush! Another crazy encounter, this time with Marc Headley at Int Base

SUNDANCE BOUND: HBO’s film about Scientology will debut in Utah on January 25

Going_ClearThe Sundance Film Festival announced today that it has selected Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney’s HBO-produced documentary about Scientology, Going Clear, for its 2015 lineup.

The two-hour movie, based on Lawrence Wright’s 2013 book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief, will make its premiere at the festival, screening for the first time at 2:30 pm on Sunday, January 25 in Park City, Utah.

Your proprietor was interviewed for the film and has been invited to the premiere. We are looking forward to what we believe will be a devastating look at the effect Scientology has on its adherents. We can’t say much more about what’s in the movie. Gibney’s production company issued this terse synopsis of the film…

Continue reading SUNDANCE BOUND: HBO’s film about Scientology will debut in Utah on January 25

Scientology Sunday Funnies: Special Pearl Harbor Day edition!

IdealSchemaThe Church of Scientology has had many days of infamy, but one thing’s for sure — leader David Miscavige and his organization sure keep up the pretense that they’re going full speed ahead.

This week, our great tipsters sent us another collection of new fundraising fliers smuggled out of the church. And among them was a fancy new multi-part campaign of rah-rah about the Ideal Org program.

Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies: Special Pearl Harbor Day edition!

Jon Atack: How to get a convinced Scientologist on the road to recovery

Jon_AtackJon 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 a year on Saturdays he helped 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. He was kind enough to send us a new post.

Jon has really come through for us again, this time laying out a complete program for the frustrated friend or family member who wants to get a Scientologist to begin challenging their indoctrination. Jon, tell us how it works.

Continue reading Jon Atack: How to get a convinced Scientologist on the road to recovery

Steve Cannane has Scientology book news, and helps us with a Down Under history lesson

SteveCannane2Here’s a bit of news we’ve been keeping under our hat. Steve Cannane, one of Australia’s excellent television journalists who cover Scientology, told us some time ago that he’d signed a contract to write a book about Scientology’s history Down Under.

Scientology has a long and controversial background in Australia, and Cannane has been hard at work interviewing people and digging up documents for his book. He doesn’t have a publication date for us yet, but he agreed to let us reveal that his project is nearing completion after we pestered him recently with a question about an obscure document.

Continue reading Steve Cannane has Scientology book news, and helps us with a Down Under history lesson