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2018
2018-06-10, Chris Shelton, Critical Thinker at Large
The weekly show where I answer viewer questions left for me in the comments section of my Q&A videos or sent to me by email at AskChrisShelton@gmail.com. This week, the questions I answer are:
(1) What's the process by which a Sea Org member is condemned to the RPF? In other words, what is the Sea Org's equivalent of trial, conviction, and sentencing? In a related vein, what has to happen in order for a person on the RPF to be deemed ready to "graduate"?
(2) I have started listening to a fun podcast by Dax Shepard called ArmChair Expert. He just did an episode (#20) with Erika Christenson (current Scientologist) because they did the show Parenthood together. Dax sees himself as an open-minded intellectual with a talent to argue all sides of an issue. I am dying to get your take on this particular podcast with Erika because she speaks of her Scientology views and I would love your take on the angle she uses and Dax's handling of the topic.
2018-06-10, Jeffrey Augustine, Scientology Money Project
Even as Scientology Cult boss David Miscavige keeps his wife Shelly Miscavige locked away in a high security Scientology facility, he has been trying to hijack the #MeToo movement in order to engage in a sleazy Scientology Fair Game attack against Mike Rinder.
Taryn Teutsch having proved to be an epic failure, David Miscavige has now brought Kirstie Alley into the Fair Game attacks on Mike Rinder:
Kirstie Alley? Seriously? Kirstie Alley has tweeted about her compulsion to slug people "in the vagina or the nuts" in order to shame them:
2018-06-10, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Rod Keller brings us a great update on Scientology's claims that it's opening a new "Advanced Org" — sort of like finishing school for space cadets — in a place that can't possibly use it.
South African Scientologists are being pelted with news that the Advanced Org Africa will be opening soon. It could be true this time, but Scientology has been announcing the new AO for almost 10 years. The massive Castle Kyalami near Johannesburg was built in 1992 by Greek millionaire Demos Dinopoulos, who lived in it until 2001.
After the builder departed, the castle operated as a hotel until it was purchased by Scientology in 2008. It's a wacky Arthurian fantasy castle completely out of place in South Africa, but Scientology loves wacky castles. L. Ron Hubbard built one at Saint Hill, Cine Castle is home to a film studio at Gold Base, the Super Power building in Clearwater has Mediterranean Revival castle-like turrets, and several Ideal Orgs have elaborate arched entries, turrets or grand staircases. They remind one of Hubbard's unpublished book Excalibur, the precursor book to Dianetics. Arthurian themes are common in Scientology and each Ideal Orgs has a ceremonial longsword for special occasions.
Tags: 1992, 2001, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2016, Advanced Org, Africa, Australia, Cape Town, Castle Kyalami, Chill EB, Clearwater, Copenhagen, David Lurie, David Miscavige, Dianetics, Durban, Excalibur, Flag Land Base, Golden Age of Tech, Ideal Org, Int Base, Jean-Claude Falas, Joachim von Neuhaus, Joburg North, Johannesburg, John Sweeney, Los Angeles, Mediterranean, Operating Thetan, OT, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, Quicky, Rod Keller, Russia, Saint Hill, Sea Org, South Africa, Steve Cannane, Super Power, Taiwan, YouTube
2018-06-10, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
The final installment of the first draft of a novel written by our old friend Terra Cognita. Hope you have enjoyed it each Sunday for the past few months.
Terra welcomes all suggestions and feedback — this is draft — you can note them in the comments.
Chapter 73
2017
1 year ago
2017-06-10, Chris Shelton, YouTube
The show where I answer your questions. Please leave any comments or feedback in the comments section here below. I see everything and want to hear from you.
My Critical Picture channel: https://goo.gl/zzKx7p
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2017-06-10, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
The longer I stayed in Scientology, the more I hated going to events.
When I first got into Scientology at my local org, events meant everyone getting off course to listen to a Scientology celebrity talk about a piece of LRH tech. And we students weren't even expected to make up the time!
The speakers were spontaneous, funny, and full of "ARC." They encouraged feedback from the audience and everyone had a great time. Nothing was scripted. The events weren't filmed. There was no video. I had never heard the word: Teleprompter. We weren't updated on the state of affairs of Scientology internationally.
Events changed once David Miscavige seized the reins. And not for the good.
Tags: Auditor's Day, Basics, Birthday Event, Blown for Good, Clear, David Miscavige, Dianetics, E-meter, Golden Age of Tech, International Association of Scientologists, L. Ron Hubbard, Maiden Voyage, Marc Headley, New Year's Eve, Scientology celebrity, Scientology organization, Sea Org, Student Hat, Survival Rundown, Terra Cognita
2017-06-10, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
We beg your patience today as we take you on a bit of a meander to the point we want to make in today's post. Eventually, here's where we intend to arrive: Recently, and without any fanfare, a baton was passed, and we believe there's been a change regarding the highest ranking elected official in this country who happens to be a member of the Church of Scientology.
It sneaked up on us, and we only now realized that the previous holder of that distinction — Nevada Assemblyman Brent Jones — lost his re-election bid in November.
So who's the new title holder?
Tags: 1950, 1960, 1968, 1982, 1985, 1986, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014, Author Services Inc, Battlefield Earth, Brent Jones, CCHR, Clear, David Miscavige, Dianetics, Facebook, Hollywood, Houston, International Association of Scientologists, L. Ron Hubbard, Mission, Mission Earth, Nevada, OT 8, Quicky, Republican, Review, Texas, Washington Post, WhyWeProtest
2016
2 years ago2016-06-10, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
Tags: Quicky, Regraded Being
2016-06-10, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
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.
Cathy's a longtime reader at the Bunker, and someone who has been through some struggles to recover from her years in the church — years that ended up costing her about a million dollars and leaving her broke.
"I'm not a celebrity and I'm not ex-Sea Org. I was just a public Scientologist who got in because I met someone," she tells us. "I'm a Midwest girl, from Nebraska, and I had been introduced to Scientology a couple of times, and then I met an actress in Chicago who told me it was helping mankind and helping the planet. And at that point in my life I wanted to do something less selfish with my life."
Tags: 1991, Catholic, Cathy Schenkelberg, Chicago, Christian, Clear, Company, Criminon, Goldman Sachs, Hollywood, Nebraska, OT, OT 7, Quicky, Raw Story, Santa Monica, Sarah Beller, Sea Org, Squeeze My Cans, UFO
2015
3 years ago2015-06-10, SurvivingScientology, YouTube
It is disturbing how *OBSESSED* the Church is with Sexual Activity, Sexual organs, Pregnancies, marriages and so on.
When a Scientologist staff member exits, the slime and slurs they invent on the person is often sexual.
Not realizing how deranged they appear to the outside world after claiming elevated spiritual states, they label departing Ex-scientolgists as "porn addicts" "Sexual Perverts" "Sexual deviants" "Prostitutes"
2015-06-10, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
Flag is not putting out stat reports every week any more.
That alone tells you things are really not going well. According to L. Ron Hubbard this is the WORST indicator (no report) and indicative of a looming collapse....
The last report before this was 23 April. That is 6 weeks ago.
2015-06-10, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
After Judge James Whittemore granted the Church of Scientology's motion to compel Luis and Rocio Garcia to take their complaints to the church's internal arbitration, we wondered — would they really go through with Scientology arbitration, or would they appeal?
The Garcias are former longtime Scientologists who filed their fraud lawsuit against Scientology in January 2013, alleging that they had been lied to, for example, about how money they donated would be used.
From the first, they said their dispute was about fraud, not religion, and they tried not to get into a dispute about Scientology beliefs and practices. But the church countered that the Garcias had signed contracts which required them to take all disputes to an arbitration process, and asked Judge Whittemore to compel the Garcias to use that process rather than have a trial in civil court.
Tags: 2013, Abortion, Ashan Perera, Australia, Canada, Celebrity Centre, David Miscavige, Dom Castronovo, Erick Racedo, First Amendment, GoFundMe, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief, Jane Kreusler-Walsh, Judge James Whittemore, Karen de la Carriere, Luis and Rocio Garcia, Lyanna Smith, Marc Headley, Mark Ebner, Maryland, Michelle Stafford, Milton, Narconon, Nashville, New York, Ontario Municipal Board, Quicky, Rebecca Mercier Vargas, Road to Rights, Scientology staff, Sea Org, Social Betterment Properties International, Vancouver
2015-06-10, Rachael Williams, Inside Halton
A recent appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to establish a Scientology-based drug and rehabilitation facility on Milburough Line has been denied.
The provincial ruling upheld a decision made by the Town of Milton's committee of adjustment to deny the application of Social Betterment Properties International (SBPI), to set up a Narconon treatment facility at 7651 Milburough Line. If approved, the facility would have seen up to 10 people at a time receive addiction treatment using "drug replacement therapy" favoured by scientologists, including detoxifying sauna sessions and high doses of vitamins.
"The decision had nothing to do with the validity of the service or the need for it. It was strictly on planning grounds, as it should be," said Ward 3 Councillor Cindy Lunau, whose ward includes the Milburough Line address.
2014
4 years ago2014-06-10, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Another vintage trio A tip of the hat to Communicator I/C, who last night spotted something interesting at the New Republic. It was a review of a new book about science fiction giant Robert Heinlein which apparently contains a salacious detail about Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.
Reviewing William Patterson's second volume of his huge Heinlein biography, New Republic writer Jeet Heer tosses out an aside that should have Scientology watchers doing a double-take.
The context is Heinlein's gradual move from left-liberal to right wing loon (which destroyed his science fiction, Heer says). Along the way, Heinlein was apparently something of a freethinker when it came to relationships.
2014-06-10, Chris Shelton, YouTube
A response to recent internet cyber attacks by the Office of Special Affairs on Scientology critics. OSA is the covert operations arm of the Church of Scientology, tasked with handling legal affairs and dealing with critics of Scientology. L. Ron Hubbard's policies demand retribution and ruination of anyone who dares to speak out against Scientology.
Tags: Office of Special Affairs, Quicky
2014-06-10, Robert Moor, YouTube
This video is uploaded with the intent of educating the public regarding Scientology and its belief structure. I have also uploaded it to help preserve the tech for future generations. I have uploaded it in the spirit of Fair Use Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. All credit for the video goes to its original creator. All rights are reserved by the copyright holder (which is not me). I did not, in any way, CREATE this video...I downloaded it and then Re-uploaded it. Please see the "About" tab on my channel for more information.
2014-06-10, Robert Moor, YouTube
This video is uploaded with the intent of educating the public regarding Scientology and its belief structure. I have also uploaded it to help preserve the tech for future generations. I have uploaded it in the spirit of Fair Use Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107. All credit for the video goes to its original creator. All rights are reserved by the copyright holder (which is not me). I did not, in any way, CREATE this video...I downloaded it and then Re-uploaded it. Please see the "About" tab on my channel for more information.
2014-06-10, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
Well, surprise surprise.
Though the only real shock here is that they put this in writing.
Let me get this straight. COB RTC comes up with new packaging for Objectives as a cornerstone for GAG II, and reverts it to a name canceled with an atomic branding iron by LRH. He probably finds a few OBSCURE processes and includes them in the pack. He issues a directive that he has found a new "why" that "nobody is making the grade because they never did real Objectives" and so everyone in Scientology now gets to redo (and repay) for their Objectives. It's a perfect service too because it requires NO AUDITORS (as that was killed by GAG I). You will note the other service everyone now has to redo is Purif. Also, no auditors.
2013
5 years ago2013-06-10, Miss Fortune, Glistening, Quivering Underbelly
BDR goes all girly and stuff with new brand identity -- "Best Choice Rehabilitation"
With a logo whose graphic elements looks suspiciously like lady parts, Per Wickstrom is about to barnstorm Marne, Michigan with a "new residential treatment facility".
That's corporate-speak BS for a hell hole that sucks money from every bodily orifice, including a few you didn't know existed.
2013-06-10, Mike Rinder, Something Can Be Done About It
Next in the series from our intrepid and dauntless Special Correspondent Natasha Boris, investigating the claims made by the IAS concerning their wondrous accomplishments of bettering the state of the planet.
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Part 4 Creating a Drug Free World
by Natasha Boris
Tags: 1975, 1984, 2002, Austria, Belgium, Delaware, Europe, FASE, Foundation for a Drug-Free World, Google, International Association of Scientologists, L. Ron Hubbard, Latvia, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, Oklahoma, OT, Pakistan, Purification Rundown, Quicky, Scientology organization, Twitter, Vietnam, Wikipedia
2013-06-10, RootedLinuxBrian, YouTube
Late uploading due to being busy yet again. Ending caption covers the rest once you reach that part of the video. I missed some good lulz when mario and most of the culties were complaining about us standing on their side of the public sidewalk and they did not get their way, they ended up calling the police numerous times and after the second time, were ignored as the cruisers just kept driving by each time, with a majority of them smiling as they passed. Calm protest without much action, but lots of public interaction, is calm.
2013-06-10, Tony Ortega, Underground Bunker
Yuliya Keaton, from her Facebook account Scientology Watching is never dull, particularly when things get really weird, as they did this past week.
Details are still sketchy, but apparently, in April a Florida woman named Yuliya Keaton who had once served in Scientology's elite Sea Organization rejoined the group at its Los Angeles headquarters, but didn't tell the church her real aim was to smuggle in recording devices to capture examples of abuse.
On May 30, her plan was discovered. She has claimed in e-mails and Internet postings that she was held in a hotel room and interrogated by church officials for several days. On June 4, the church sent out legal threat letters by e-mail to at least two church critics, accusing them of being in cahoots with Keaton. One of those accused was prominent ex-church member Karen de la Carriere. We have the letter the church sent her, as well as her response.
Tags: 2010, Church of Scientology International, Critic, Debbie Cook, Elisabeth Moss, Facebook, Florida, Gary Soter, Greg Arnold, Heber Jentzsch, Infiltration, Karen de la Carriere, Legal, Los Angeles, Mark Bunker, Paul Marrick, Private investigator, Quicky, Ray Jeffrey, San Antonio, Scientology executive, Sea Org, The Hole, Yuliya Keaton
2013-06-10, University of California Television (UCTV), YouTube
(Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Los Angeles attorney Paul Morantz has devoted his professional life to fighting cults. But in the late 1970s that life almost came to an abrupt end when one of the cults he litigated against planted a live rattlesnake in his mailbox. Morantz speaks with California Lawyer editor Martin Lasden about his career and the dangers he faced. Series: "Legally Speaking" (1/2013) (Public Affairs) (Show ID: 24671)
2012
6 years ago2012-06-10, Marty Rathbun, Moving On Up a Little Higher
The book What Is Wrong With Scientology is likely to be rather controversial to Scientologists. It addresses some Scientology sacred cows in a fashion that may cause some uneasiness, even among independent Scientologists. Think of this old Zen proverb before shying away: Unless the medicine stuns you, it won't cure the disease.
One of the reasons I asked a couple of Scientology technical experts to serve as editors of the book was to function as a reality check that my radical-at-first-blush ideas were technically sound. Another reason is because in describing what is wrong with Scientology, I tell what Scientology is, or what it was intended to be by L. Ron Hubbard. As you can see below, nobody likely has a better reality on both scores than my two editors.
The Editors of What Is Wrong With Scientology?
Tags: 1969, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 2003, 2004, Arizona, California, Clear, Dan Koon, Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard, Los Angeles, Mission, Phoenix, Quicky, Saint Hill Special Briefing Course, Scientology organization, Sea Org, Sweden
2011
7 years ago
2011-06-10, Tim Bryant, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Here are some updates:
Completion is near on the million-dollar restoration of the auditorium and entryway of the German House, a Lafayette Square landmark the Church of Scientology is redoing as an education center. The work that began last summer includes the repair and replacement of the auditorium's intricate plaster work.
The four-story brick building at 2345 Lafayette Avenue had been vacant nearly a decade when the church bought it for $1.9 million in 2007. The building opened in 1928 as a German cultural center, and later was home to two Christian schools before it was boarded up.
2011-06-10, Nate Carlisle, Salt Lake Tribune
Utah's attorney general and a federal agent who busted drug labs in Utah County will be among the guests Saturday at a Las Vegas fundraiser with actor John Travolta.
Travolta is helping generate money for what's called the Heroes Health Fund, a nationwide program which provides treatment to soldiers and emergency responders who believe they were sickened by exposure to chemicals. The treatment - consisting largely of exercise, time in a sauna and a diet of antioxidants - has its roots in the Church of Scientology, of which Travolta is a well-known member.
2011-06-10, Drew Harwell, Tampa Bay Times
In 2006, the city of Clearwater got fed up and started levying a $250 daily fine. After the building finally passed all its inspections Monday, the meter stopped at an eye-popping $450,000, easily one of the biggest fines in the city's history.
But before paying up, church representatives will likely talk to a group few Clearwater residents ever see: the city's Code Enforcement Board, which has the power to cut the church's fine.
2010
8 years ago
2010-06-10, Anderson Cooper, CNN
Marty Rathbun used to beat people. He admits it. But he says he was pressured to do it by his boss.
Rathbun was once a senior official of the Church of Scientology, reporting directly to church leader David Miscavige. He says that Scientology's leadership fostered a culture of violence among its top ranks and that Miscavige "constantly pushed me to get physical with people" during his time among its top ranks.
"And I've got to tell you, I've admitted to some, to doing a few of those," Rathbun said. "But not like he did."
Rathbun broke with Scientology in 2004 after 27 years. Other former members support his accusation, telling stories about Miscavige kicking, punching and choking members of the Sea Organization, a religious order that is the church's international leadership team.
2010-06-10, Jeremy Binckes, Huffington Post
This is not the first time that Angle has been attacked for her ties to the Second Chance program, which is a detoxification and rehabilitation program for drug-addicted prisoners. She proposed a bill, which was defeated, to implement the program in the Nevada prison system in 2003. Last month, her primary opponent, Sue Lowden, attacked her over the proposal, which a Lowden campaign ad implied would pamper prisoners.
2008
10 years ago2008-06-10, WagTheWog, YouTube
Scientology denies that they teach abut Xenu (a.k.a. Xemu). Here's proof they do, right from L. Ron Hubbard's mouth. By the way, to learn about Xenu/Xemu in scientology would cost you hundeds of thousands of dollars! You can get to tthe entire 90 minute lecture here: http://tinyurl.com/5lh898
2008-06-10, WagTheWog, YouTube
Scientology denies that they teach about Xenu (a.k.a. Xemu). Here's proof they do, right from L. Ron Hubbard's mouth. By the way, Scientology denies that they teach abut Xenu (a.k.a. Xemu). Here's proof they do, right from L. Ron Hubbard's mouth. By the way, to learn about Xenu/Xemu in scientology would cost you hundeds of thousands of dollars & many years of your life!
2008-06-10, Will Van Sant, Tampa Bay Times
In politics, Armstrong sizes up potential candidates and opens the donation floodgates when he likes what he sees.
His chief clients have been powerful development interests. But in 1999, he took on a client that raised some eyebrows: the Church of Scientology. It was not to do legal work, but to help the church make connections and become more accepted in Clearwater.
His services aren't cheap. Lou Kwall, another well-known Clearwater attorney, said for a job like representing the Rays, Armstrong charges $400 to $600 an hour. Armstrong wouldn't confirm or deny that range.
2005
13 years ago2005-06-10, Janaka Perera, Asian Tribune
Sri Lankans did not invite Scientologist to come to Sri Lanka and or sought their support and assistance. They came and saw the situation after tsunami favorable to them and in the pretext of helping the affected people; they started exploiting the human misery and began to proselytize Sri Lankans. Shame on them - said Venerable Medagama Dhammanda of the Asgiriya Chapter, Kandy.
2004
14 years ago
2004-06-10, Stephen M. Silverman, People
The first center, which was opened two years ago in Manhattan and has reportedly treated 400 people to date, was funded, in part, by L. Ron Hubbard's controversial Church of Scientology, of which Cruise is a high-profile member.
The alternative treatment, outlined in Hubbard's book Clear Body, Clear Mind, utilizes a regime of "exercise, sauna sweat-out, vitamins and minerals" to cleanse rescue workers' bodies of toxins.
2004-06-10, Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle
A popular anti-drug program with ties to the Church of Scientology will be ousted after 13 years in the San Francisco schools unless it agrees to stop teaching what the district calls inaccurate and misleading information, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said Wednesday.
1985
33 years ago1985-06-10, Dianna Waggoner, People
On May 17, in the Multnomah County Court House across the street, a state circuit court jury had dealt the 35-year-old sect a stunning setback. Finding that former Scientologist Julie Christofferson Titchbourne, 27, had been defrauded by the church and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, the jurors awarded her $39 million in punitive damages.
The verdict sparked protest rallies that brought the stars out, day and night, in Portland. An impressive contingent of Hollywood Scientologists came to town to speak up for their faith. John Travolta flew in at midnight in his private jet and held a press conference to extol the church's virtues. Actress Karen Black sang I Shall Be Released and singer Frank Stallone sang a tearful America. Later musicians Edgar Winter, Chick Corea and Nicky Hopkins jammed with lesser-known talent.
1985-06-10, UPI
BOSTON -- The Church of Scientology and a woman who brought a $200 million lawsuit against the organization for harassment and illegal activity settled for $150,000 and the case was dismissed Monday by a federal judge.
The attorney for the woman, Michael Flynn, said the suit was brought against the church for 'harassment and written policies calling for illegal activities.'
Flynn said his client, La Venda Van Schaick, 35, has since moved out of Massachusetts.
FrontCite 06/15/2018 08:56a
See also:
FrontCite Mediawiki
UmbraXenu - The Home Game
xenu-directory.net: Scientology in the news
Scientology in the UK Media
See also:
FrontCite Mediawiki
UmbraXenu - The Home Game
xenu-directory.net: Scientology in the news
Scientology in the UK Media