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tlcya

Old and Re-Tired Websleuth
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[video=youtube;YCTaW_4WQco]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCTaW_4WQco[/video]
 
[video=youtube;Vxbmklj8U6E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxbmklj8U6E[/video]
 
[video=youtube;MV_LK_Fou9I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV_LK_Fou9I[/video]
 
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/webspecials07/special_reports/scientology/

THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY

As the worldwide spiritual headquarters of the Church of Scientology, Clearwater is viewed as a mecca to the thousands of Scientologists who come each year from all over the world to receive some of the highest levels of Scientology training. As the Church of Scientology has grown, so too has its presence and influence in downtown Clearwater, specifically, but also all of Tampa Bay.

The St. Petersburg Times has chronicled the church's presence and impact since its arrival in Clearwater in 1975.
 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scient...e-no-other-miscavige-versus-miscavige/2309340
A Scientology battle like no other: Miscavige versus Miscavige
Thursday, January 12, 2017 10:32am
It says in Chapter 36 that the Church of Scientology is great for families.
Scientologists communicate more freely, raising "their capacity to love other people." Family bonds "strengthen dramatically." And church members "take deep pride in their record of resolving family problems and conflicts."
The words come from What is Scientology?, a volume the church first published in 1992 as it sought greater acceptance from a wary public.
Yet their promise has eluded the church's first family.
Scientology's 56-year-old leader, David Miscavige, and his 80-year-old father, Ron Miscavige, have been embroiled for months in an epic feud that has brought the family's dysfunction into public view. It also has exposed the church to questions about whether its core practices — costing thousands of dollars — live up to their claimed benefits when it comes to family.
The father, who brought his wife and kids into Scientology in 1969, now calls his son a tyrant who has turned the church into a bullying, paranoid, money grubbing enterprise that has ruined families, including his own, with its practice of "disconnection."
The son, through his church, says Ron Miscavige is a wife-beating, philandering, child-abusing "monster" who is lying to make money off the family name. His two sisters, residents of Clearwater, have taken his side, saying they never want to see their father again. And Ron Miscavige's other son, known in the family as Ronnie, has been pulled into the fray, accused by the sisters of sexually abusing them when they were children while their father looked the other way.
In May, Ron Miscavige released Ruthless, a tell-all book about how he found Scientology, saw his son soar to its peak, then escaped — disillusioned over the church's "off the rails" culture.
[…]
 
Leah Remini Doubles Down on Anti-Scientology Crusade: I Want a Federal Investigation
by Seth Abramovitch | August 09, 2017, 6:30am PDT

(. . .)

Season two will ramp up the attacks on the religion, shining a light on what Remini calls "all of the abusive practices of Scientology — sexual abuse and physical abuse." Remini intends for the sophomore outing to move into an "activist" realm — meaning she hopes to present enough evidence of criminal wrongdoing to warrant a federal investigation. "I'm talking about the FBI, the police, the Department of Justice, the IRS," she says. "If the FBI ever wanted to get anywhere, all they would need to do is do a raid. Everybody who's ever gone to Scientology has folders, and anything you've ever said is contained in those folders."


(. . .)
 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scient...ons-involving-leah-remini-the-irs-and/2335085
Scientology draws dueling petitions involving Leah Remini, the IRS and change.org
Friday, August 25, 2017 4:58am
Reaction to this month's Season 2 premiere of the Emmy-nominated Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath series has been swift, from the religion's international spiritual headquarters in Clearwater and nationwide.
Two dueling online petitions have emerged since the Aug. 15 premiere: one calling for the IRS to investigate Scientology's tax exempt status. That one was launched by Jeffrey Augustine, Scientology researcher and husband of former Scientologist Karen de la Carriere, who served aboard the church's ship Apollo with founder L. Ron Hubbard.
The other, launched by a teenage Scientologist in India, calls for the cancellation of the series, alleging it is a "hate show" inciting violence.
But the most notable response comes from the Church of Scientology itself, which has historically prohibited members from reading or acknowledging negative media about the church.
Now the church's Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination arm is circulating form letters for parishioners to send to A&E advertisers, asking them to pull sponsorship of the show's "religious hate and bigotry which leads to violence."
[…]
 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/obitua...estigator-of-Scientology-dies-at-75_162216809
[FONT=&amp]OBITUARIES OF NOTE[/FONT]
Epilogue: Ray Emmons, early Clearwater police investigator of Scientology, dies at 75

[FONT=&amp]Published: November 2, 2017
Updated: November 2, 2017 at 06:27 PM

[/FONT]
[FONT=&amp]CLEARWATER — Ray Emmons was an experienced vice and intelligence sergeant with the Clearwater Police Department in 1981 when he began the assignment that would become his legacy.

By then, the mysterious group that arrived six years earlier and bought major downtown buildings under a fake name had been revealed as the Church of Scientology. But still much was unknown about this new organization that, government documents showed, spied on local journalists and politicians, framed the mayor in a hit-and-run accident, and wrote a manifesto of plans to take over Clearwater.


Emmons went to work investigating Scientology for the city and produced a 10-volume report in 1983 declaring it a criminal, money-making scheme. He later talked about being followed, seeing his trash stolen, and having his home phone bugged.


But Emmons, according to colleagues, never once flinched.
[...]


[/FONT]
 
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scient...ard-Baptist-preacher-takes-a-stand-_164379030
In Scientology’s backyard, Baptist preacher ‘takes a stand’
[FONT=&amp]Published: January 10, 2018
Updated: January 10, 2018 at 09:04 PM

[/FONT][FONT=&amp]CLEARWATER — The Baptist preacher stepped to the stage, his image projected on two mega screens behind him, and looked out at nearly 2,000 parishioners filling his worship center.
"Scientology is a cult," Calvary Church Pastor Willy Rice said into his microphone Wednesday evening.
"Scientology is dangerous. It is dangerous to those within and without, and Scientology should be exposed and opposed, not only by committed Christians but by moral, law abiding citizens who care about human rights and human justice everywhere."
[...][/FONT]
 
Leah Remini's 'Scientology' viewers suspicious of Clearwater police, who are treading carefully
February 11, 2019
CLEARWATER — The social media comments started a few weeks ago, then only intensified, devolving into what Police Chief Dan Slaughter called a “public relations nightmare.”

Following two January episodes of the Emmy award-winning Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath A&E series that focused on Clearwater history, suspicion on Facebook and Twitter rained down on Slaughter’s department and its interaction with the Church of Scientology.

Critics attacked the fact Scientology can hire off-duty officers for security like any other local church when it is the only one with a documented policy for destroying enemies’ lives. They also criticized Slaughter’s cordial public interaction with an organization investigated, though not charged, by the FBI in 2009 in connection with human trafficking.

The attacks prompted Slaughter to take the rare step of posting a video response online and a guest column in the Tampa Bay Times explaining that despite the church’s history, he is obligated by law to treat Scientology like any other federally recognized religious organization.
[...]
 
Lawsuit accuses Scientology, David Miscavage of child abuse, human trafficking, libel.
Lawsuit accuses Scientology, David Miscavage of child abuse, human trafficking, libel.
Lawyers say more lawsuits will follow.The first, filed in Los Angeles for an unnamed Jane Doe, outlines her life of alleged abuse in the church, including at the international spiritual headquarters in Clearwater
June 19, 2019
A team of eight victims' rights attorneys on Tuesday filed the first of what they promise will be a series of lawsuits against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige, on behalf of defectors who say they suffered a range of exploitation from child abuse, human trafficking and forced labor to revenge tactics related to the church's Fair Game policy.

The lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of an unnamed Jane Doe born in 1979, outlines her lifetime of alleged suffering in Scientology where she was subjected as a child at the Clearwater headquarters to abuse inherent to auditing, Scientology's spiritual counseling that can more resemble interrogation. It states she joined the church's clergy-like Sea Org in California at 15, where people worked 100 hours a week for $46. She was at times held against her will. When she officially left Scientology in 2017, Doe was followed by private investigators and terrorized by the church as it published “a hate website” falsely stating she was an alcoholic dismissed from the sect for promiscuity, according to the complaint.

“This isn't going to be the last of the lawsuits being filed,” Philadelphia-based attorney Brian Kent told the Tampa Bay Times, declining to say how many more are forthcoming. “We've seen what can happen when there is truth exposed in terms of child abuse within organizations. You've seen it with the Catholic Church, you're seeing it with the Southern Baptist Convention now. We're hoping for meaningful change.”
[...]
The lawsuit also states agents of Scientology “stalked, surveilled and followed” Doe while driving from 2017 to June 2018. Hubbard's 1967 policy letter outlining Fair Game states those who seek to damage the church “may be deprived of property or injured by any means by any Scientologist without any discipline of the Scientologist. May be tricked, sued or lied to or destroyed.''

Scientology officials have said the Fair Game policy was canceled 50 years ago. But scores of defectors, attorneys, journalists, critics and other perceived enemies of the church have reported being followed, harassed, sued and smeared when challenging Scientology.

“Scientology has a choice for how they want to act and what they want to be known for,” Kent said. “If that is continued harassment, following people, fair gaming people, then that's fine. They can be known for that … at the end of the day, people like our client with courage is standing up against wrongs happening.”
 
Daughter-in-law of opera singer Plácido Domingo reveals Scientology celeb secrets | Daily Mail Online

EXCLUSIVE: Daughter-in-law of opera singer Plácido Domingo reveals Scientology celeb secrets, claiming Tom Cruise's kids were 'indoctrinated to hate Nicole Kidman, John Travolta tried to raise his son from the dead and Jada Pinkett Smith WAS a member'
  • Sam Domingo, 51, is the daughter-in-law of the world's most famous opera singer, Plácido Domingo, and spent 22 years with the Church of Scientology
  • Now she reveals what life inside the Church was like for the stars and their children in a bombshell interview with DailyMailTV
  • Domingo claims Tom Cruise's children Connor and Isabella were 'indoctrinated to hate' Nicole Kidman after she split from Cruise
  • She says John Travolta tried to command his 16-year-old son Jett's Scientology spirit back into his body after a seizure, which was meant to raise him back to life
  • Jada Pinkett Smith, 47, is 'lying' when she says she was only dabbling in Scientology courses, as Domingo witnessed her recruiting other celebrities
  • Kirstie Alley, 68, was 'humiliated into begging over 100 low ranking Scientology members to forgive her for breaking the cult's ethics code after having wine
  • A spokesperson for the Church has denied Domingo's claims, saying she has been making false allegations about the Scientology religion
Very long article but very interesting
 
I also posted news article on this thread:
That '70s Show's Danny Masterson Accused Of Raping Multiple Women

Lawsuit: Scientology stalked, threatened women accusing ‘That ’70s Show’ actor Danny Masterson of assault
August 16, 2019
As soon as four women filed reports with Los Angeles Police in 2016 and 2017 alleging they were raped by actor Danny Masterson, the Church of Scientology unleashed a campaign of terror to intimidate the accusers and protect its celebrity parishioner, according to a joint lawsuit filed this week in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The women repeatedly found strangers around their homes, sometimes peering inside with flashlights at night. Their email accounts were hacked and credit cards stolen. One woman’s dog mysteriously died and the autopsy showed trauma to its trachea. They were chased in cars; one was run off the road. They were followed into grocery stores and nail salons. All have woken up to find their car doors and trunks wide open.

The 22-page complaint names Masterson, the Church of Scientology International and leader David Miscavige as defendants to claims of stalking, libel, slander, invasion of privacy and conspiracy.

It is the second lawsuit filed this summer against Miscavige and Scientology by a team of a dozen victims rights’ attorneys. In the absence of criminal prosecution by federal or local law enforcement, the legal team is using civil courts to expose Scientology’s institutional structure it says enables child abuse, human trafficking and harassment of critics.
[...]
 
Scientology policy enabled years of child sexual abuse, lawsuit says
SEPTEMBER 20, 2019
In the third lawsuit filed against the Church of Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige, in three months, a 25-year-old woman alleges she was repeatedly sexually assaulted as a child in Scientology’s care, including at the church’s Clearwater Academy.

On top of the abuse, the lawsuit explains how church officials allegedly knew it was occurring and did nothing to stop it or alert law enforcement, actions rooted in policy written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

When the woman spoke of her alleged abuse after leaving Scientology in 2018, the church deployed a campaign of harassment against her, a tactic also based on Hubbard’s Fair Game policy aimed to destroy those labeled as enemies.

According to the complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court on Wednesday, Scientology operatives cut the brake lines on the woman’s car, vandalized her property, followed and surveilled her, and harassed her with hundreds of spam calls.

The woman is referred to in the complaint only as Jane Doe for fear of more retaliation by the church.
[...]
The legal team’s first lawsuit filed in June on behalf of another Jane Doe accuses the church of: child abuse related to auditing, where children are interrogated for hours about sexual questions; human trafficking the woman was a part of in the Sea Org; and Fair Game tactics she endured after escaping, including, the church publishing “a hate website” falsely stating she was an alcoholic dismissed from the sect for promiscuity.

The second lawsuit was filed in August against Scientology, Miscavige and actor Danny Masterson on behalf of four women who allege they were raped by Masterson, a parishioner. After they reported the rapes to Los Angeles Police in 2016 and 2017, the lawsuit states Scientology unleashed a campaign of terror to intimidate the accusers.
[...]
 
`That 70s Show' actor Danny Masterson charged in 3 rapes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson was charged with the rapes of three women in the early 2000s, Los Angeles prosecutors said Wednesday, the culmination of a three-year investigation that resulted in a rare arrest of a famous Hollywood figure in the #MeToo era.

The three counts of rape by force or fear against Masterson were filed Tuesday, and an arrest warrant issued. Masterson, 44, was arrested late Wednesday morning, jail records showed. He was released a few hours later after posting bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 18.

Masterson’s attorney Tom Mesereau said his client is innocent, and “we’re confident that he will be exonerated when all the evidence finally comes to light and witnesses have the opportunity to testify.”

Prosecutors allege that Masterson raped a 23-year-old woman sometime in 2001, a 28-year-old woman in April of 2003, and a 23-year-old woman he had invited to his Hollywood Hills home between October and December of 2003.

If convicted, he could face up to 45 years in prison.

Prosecutors declined to file charges in two other Masterson cases that police had investigated, one because of insufficient evidence and the other because the statute of limitations had expired.
... [more at link]
 
Scientology can settle legal disputes from within, appeals court rules
Scientology can settle legal disputes from within, appeals court rules
“ I don’t see how any former Scientologist can ever sue the church for anything now,” said an attorney representing two defectors.
November 3, 2021
In an opinion that could set precedent for challenges to the Church of Scientology, a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday affirmed the church’s ability to arbitrate disputes with former members on its own, effectively sidestepping the court system.

The decision upheld a federal judge’s earlier ruling that resulted in the first-ever internal arbitration held between the church and defectors.

Luis and Rocio Garcia had sued Scientology in Tampa federal court in 2013, alleging they were defrauded of $1.3 million. But because the couple had signed dozens of contracts over their 28 years as parishioners agreeing to resolve any future disputes within the church, U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore granted the church’s motion to compel the couple into internal arbitration.

Theodore Babbitt, an attorney for the Garcias, called the two-day arbitration that took place in 2017 “a sham” as church officials refused to allow the couple to enter evidence critical of Scientology or have an attorney present.

Church doctrine teaches that defectors like the Garcias are “suppressive persons” who are insane criminals out to destroy Scientology. Babbitt argued that because the Garcias were seen as enemies of the church, they could not possibly receive a fair hearing, making the agreements they signed “substantively unconscionable.”
[...]
In their appeal to the federal appeals court, the Garcias also argued that the agreements themselves were not valid because at the time they signed them, the church did not have established rules for how to conduct arbitrations. In an earlier hearing, Scientology’s legal director, Allan Cartwright, testified that the church, founded in 1954, had never held an arbitration in its history before the Garcias’ case.
[...]
 

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