|
|
 As Scientology’s big November 8 annual IAS gala nears, curiosity about the church’s tent party rises.
We’ve been reporting about unusual things happening lately in Clearwater, Florida, the spiritual headquarters of the worldwide organization. Normally, the October gala of the International Association of Scientologists is held under a big tent in East Grinstead, England. But this year, with no explanation why, Scientology leader David Miscavige decided to move the event to Florida, and had the tent shipped to Clearwater. Some of our readers have kept us current on the state of the tent with photos like those at right, and we were even given a peek inside the empty tent when it first went up. But that was before work had begun on the elaborate staging. And now, we have some pretty remarkable looks inside at what’s going on. Continue reading LEAKED: A Peek Inside Scientology’s Big Tent As Its Gala Nears
Hey, everyone, the Church of Scientology went and hired a kickass journalist to be the new editor of its humorous house organ, Freedom magazine! It’s John Sugg, a name that’s pretty well known in the part of Florida where Scientology has one of its headquarters. It’s an exciting choice, as we’ll explain. Continue reading Meet the New Editor of Scientology’s Propaganda Magazine, Freedom!
 It’s time for another round of Sunday Funnies, as we take a look at the Scientology mailers and fliers that our tipsters have forwarded to us during the week.
We’ll start with an interesting tip we received yesterday. One of our Clearwater readers reports seeing activity Friday night at the Fort Harrison Hotel and the Super Power Building. We’re thinking that the Executive Director’s Conference which has brought in ED’s from around the world had a bit of a party Friday night, perhaps coinciding with a graduation, and they were taken over to the SP edifice for a tour. If you’ve heard something different, please let us know in the comments. The SP Building has been ready for occupancy since the spring of 2011, and perhaps Scientology leader David Miscavige can’t resist showing it off, even if its official grand opening has been put off indefinitely. Continue reading Sunday Funnies: Nothing But Unstoppable Scientology Expansion in Every Direction!
 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 on Saturdays he’s 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.
Jon, for a few weeks now we’ve been bugging you about L. Ron Hubbard’s interest in Sex Magick and Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), which predated his work on Dianetics and Scientology. We know you covered it in depth in A Piece of Blue Sky, as have other writers, such as Lawrence Wright in Going Clear. But we have a reason for bringing it up, and we thought you might ease us into the subject again. Continue reading Blood Relation, Blood Ritual: A Hubbard Family Occult Mystery
 A federal judge has denied a motion by the plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against Scientology and its drug rehab network, Narconon, but arrived at something of a compromise in a way that we think readers will find interesting.
Beginning a year ago in August, we began telling you about attorney Jeff Harris and his investigation of Scientology’s facility in the Atlanta area, Narconon Georgia, for an unlawful death lawsuit. That suit was settled, but not before Harris uncovered damning evidence that Narconon Georgia’s officials had withheld evidence and lied about it, leading to censure by a local judge. Then, evidence of insurance fraud led to a criminal investigation of Narconon Georgia and a raid of the facility by local and state agencies in April. Continue reading Federal Judge Orders Evidence Preservation Based on Narconon Georgia’s “Misconduct”
 Mary Morton Pete Combs of WSB Radio comes through again. Yesterday, we were both reporting that Scientology’s drug rehab program in the Atlanta area, Narconon Georgia, has worked out a deal with county and state officials which allows the facility to surrender its state license and in return is spared criminal prosecution for credit card or insurance fraud. One person Pete talked to was Mary Morton, whose complaints about the center sparked the criminal investigation to begin with. Morton told Pete (and we have the audio, below) that when she called Narconon Georgia this week, she was told by executive director Jeannie Trahant that the facility was not taking new patients — not because it was closed, but because it was too full. Combs says he took those statements to Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter who admitted that it sounded like Narconon was violating the spirit of the agreement, and if he found they continued to spread those kinds of lies, it could jeopardize the agreement itself. Continue reading Shut-Down Scientology Drug Rehab Claiming It’s Full, Says Mother of Insurance Fraud Victim
 The Arnold Building Last night, Tampa Bay Times reporter Charlie Frago published another fascinating scoop: The Church of Scientology paid a premium — more than $3 million — for a parcel of land in a key downtown Clearwater, Florida location which included an aging five-story office building. Frago said the church wasn’t saying why it paid so much money for a collection of properties that the county had assessed at about $610,000. Rumors, he said, had the church buying the land for new housing for workers, or perhaps for a retirement home for church employees. A retirement home. Yeah, that’s a good one. We think we’ve solved this mystery, and we did it by talking to someone who often purchased property for Scientology leader David Miscavige and did so, he tells us, not because the church needed it, but simply to keep it out of the hands of Miscavige’s perceived enemies. Continue reading Did Scientology Pay $3 Million To Foil an “Independent Scientology Org” in Clearwater?
 Scientology’s drug rehab center in the Atlanta area, Narconon Georgia, has cut a deal with county and state officials, and in return for surrendering its license and shutting down an operation that was already on life support, the facility escapes prosecution on credit card fraud and insurance fraud that was said to be in the millions of dollars.
But Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter tells us that doesn’t mean he’s given up on prosecuting individuals. “Our investigation is ongoing. If we find individuals were engaged in criminal conduct, we will prosecute them,” he told us today by telephone. Continue reading Scientology Drug Rehab Shut Down in Georgia, Ordered to Turn Over Records in Oklahoma
Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Claire, last week on our trip up the Bridge to Total Freedom we completed New Era Dianetics and went Clear. That was a big moment. But you were telling us that in recent decades, there’s been an additional step at this point to make certain that we’ve actually gone Clear. Do we have that right? CLAIRE: Yes, the Clear Certainty Rundown, or CCRD, is a set of steps to confirm the state of Clear, once the person has voiced the Clear cognition. Continue reading Scientology Catechism: Claire Headley Puts Our State of Clear to the Test!
 Last night, on Dancing With The Stars, Leah Remini was heard telling her dance partner, Tony Dovolani, that Scientology, which she left this summer, wants her to fail on the program so its members would think that’s what happens to anyone who leaves. “You’re used to taking a lot of negativity on yourself,” she said about being a part of Scientology.
We wanted to ask another actor who left the church recently what he thought about her words. We spoke to Jason Beghe last night and asked him, was Leah Remini correct to say that Scientology wants her to fail? Beghe left Scientology in 2008 in a very public way, recording a YouTube video denouncing the church. Since then, the veteran film and television actor’s career has taken off with recurring roles in Californication and Chicago Fire, and now he’s filming episodes for his own spinoff series, Chicago PD. But in spite of that success, he’s dealt with severe harassment from Scientology since he left, and he told us there was no question that Remini was right about what she said on television last night. “It’s not just that they want you to fail. It’s kind of like they want you to die.” Continue reading JASON BEGHE ON LEAH REMINI: She’s Right, Scientology Does Want Her to Fail
|
As Scientology’s big November 8 annual IAS gala nears, curiosity about the church’s tent party rises.
