Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath

[DaisyD]

Marty seems like the type that just HAS to believe in something "alternative". If he doesn't end up back in Co$ I bet he ends up in another cult. I often wonder if it's common for some people to leave one cult, only to end up in another. It seems to be an aspect of some personalities to be vulnerable to that sort of thing.

[PennySycamore]

9 minutes ago, DaisyD said:

Marty seems like the type that just HAS to believe in something "alternative". If he doesn't end up back in Co$ I bet he ends up in another cult. I often wonder if it's common for some people to leave one cult, only to end up in another. It seems to be an aspect of some personalities to be vulnerable to that sort of thing.

My mom had a mail patron on her route about 40 years ago that jumped from her original couch to the Jehovah's Witnesses to LDS to something else.

[Crocoduck]

45 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

My mom had a mail patron on her route about 40 years ago that jumped from her original couch to the Jehovah's Witnesses to LDS to something else.

This is  a great autocorrect. I have an image of some lady leaping off her couch into the arms of an unsuspecting JW!

[PennySycamore]

@Crocoduck, I swear I typed church in my post.  I don't get autocorrect sometimes.  It "fixes" stuff that ain't broke.

[Crocoduck]

10 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@Crocoduck, I swear I typed church in my post.  I don't get autocorrect sometimes.  It "fixes" stuff that ain't broke.

It is comical for sure. Yesterday I was sending a picture of cookies to my dad. I typed "Cooookies!!!" and was "corrected" to "Colonies!!!"

[pamplemousse]

And that is why I've turned off autocorrect on my phone, iPad, and computer.

[Inky]

On 12/2/2016 at 5:36 PM, seattlechic said:

Finally getting through the episode. So far, nothing I did not already know after years of following Tony Ortega's underground bunker, Mike Rinder and others. BUT, the cool thing here is that A&E reaches a loooooot of people. 

I've found the same thing - and it's interesting that with all the sources out there from ex-Scientologists, the stories are consistent.

I think this A&E series is really getting to a different audience though - my husband (who is not normally interested in stuff like this) - is completely hooked on the series. Yahoo! 

[SHERA]

10 hours ago, DaisyD said:

Marty seems like the type that just HAS to believe in something "alternative". If he doesn't end up back in Co$ I bet he ends up in another cult. I often wonder if it's common for some people to leave one cult, only to end up in another. It seems to be an aspect of some personalities to be vulnerable to that sort of thing.

One thing to remember since 2000, Marty was probably fair gamed and team squirrel bustered the worst of anyone. They really attacked him. Have you seen the videos on YouTube or Tony Ortega's blog? 

[DaisyD]

I haven't watched any videos, but I'm well aware of the types of things $ci does. I've known quite a number of people who were so desperate to believe SOMETHING that they'd believe anything. I just suspect that Marty may be that kind of person. It's not meant as an insult. It's an observation. It's a really unfortunate situation for him.

[PennySycamore]

About people that have left one cult being vulnerable to other cults, I know it's not the same, but the late Congressman Leo Ryan's daughter joined the Bhagwan's cult when he set up his commune in Oregon.  As you may or may not recall, Congressman Ryan (and others) was assassinated by some goons from the People's Temple when Leo went down to Guyana to investigate at the behest of constituents whose family members were involved with the People's Temple..  The mass suicide/murder came shortly after Ryan's assassination.  You'd think after what happened to her dad, she's be wary of anything like a cult, but no.

[Howl]

On 12/19/2016 at 6:17 PM, Peas n carrots said:

Tony Ortega seems to think the siting of Shelly Miscavige is the real deal. It sounds like she is in really bad shape. By the description alone it sounds like she is in her own special RPF.

TonyOrtega.org has an update on Leah Remini's records request to LAPD re: Shelly Miscavige. 

Quote

The Los Angeles Police Department has notified Leah Remini’s attorney, Douglas Mirell, that it needs an additional two weeks to fulfill Remini’s December 12 [2016] records request regarding the whereabouts of Shelly Miscavige, wife of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige.

On August 5, 2013, Remini filed a missing person report with the LAPD about Shelly, who was once a formidable executive in Scientology, but who vanished from Scientology’s “Int Base” near Hemet, California in late summer 2005, and has only been seen in public one time since — at the funeral of her father in the summer of 2007 while in the presence of a Scientology “handler.”

On the morning of August 8, 2013 we broke the news of the missing person report, but by that afternoon the LAPD was leaking to other reporters that it had checked on Shelly and that Leah’s report was “unfounded.”

Remini herself never received a formal response from the department, even though she was the one who filed the request to check on her. So, in her December 12 records request, Leah asked not only for a formal response to her report, but also a lot more detail besides…

1. Who conducted the investigation that occurred in response to the [missing person report]?
2. When did that investigation commence?
3. When did that investigation conclude?
4. What actions were undertaken in connection with that investigation, and by whom?

On December 19, a week after Leah made her request and three days before it was required to respond, the department sent a letter under Chief Charlie Beck’s name saying that it was invoking the state records law, which allows an additional two weeks for “unusual circumstances.” With that additional time, the department will “search for, collect, and review the collected records from other Department entities which are separate from the office processing the request.”

We’ve always been curious about the LAPD’s 2013 handling of Remini’s missing person report. When we asked the department’s Lt. Andre Dawson about it, he told us that two of his detectives had met personally with Shelly, who did not want to make a public statement. When we asked him if other church officials had been present at that meeting, he quickly responded, “That’s classified.” Since we had that conversation with Lt. Dawson three years ago, we have spotted him featured numerous times in Scientology fliers for events where he’s been a featured speaker.

[front hugs > duggs]

I'm only just actually learning about Scientology here in FJ and the links/resources everyone has posted. All I knew about it was Tom Cruise and the big "church" I passed on an LA visit many years ago. This shit is crazy! We hear from the UN about various human rights violations in third world countries, and while I am in no way saying those aren't important, it's crazy to me that there are so many (in my opinion) human rights violations in our own country that are left alone.

The UN defines human rights as "legal guarantees protecting individuals and groups against actions which interfere with fundamental freedoms and human dignity".

Being on FJ and learning about Scientologists, FLDS, Warren Jeffs, the Christian Fundamentalists we discuss.... I would argue these groups all violate human rights.

Maybe this is a bit extreme of a view when you consider situations in Aleppo, etc. But it just isn't right and is really embarrassing that it exists in our very much first world country.

[Yellowdaisy]

14 hours ago, Inky said:

I've found the same thing - and it's interesting that with all the sources out there from ex-Scientologists, the stories are consistent.

I think this A&E series is really getting to a different audience though - my husband (who is not normally interested in stuff like this) - is completely hooked on the series. Yahoo! 

I know what you mean. My husband watches it, he got so interested in all of it

[PennySycamore]

@Howl, thanks for posting that update from Tony Ortega about Leah's demand to get some straight answers from the LAPD about their "investigation" into Sheely's disappearance.  I think I got this from Tony in 2013, but there was something hinky about the way it was handled from the get-go.

[DaisyD]

I'd call a $cientologist police officer handling an investigation into a Co$ matter, pretty fucking hinky.

Mr. D got me Leah's book for Christmas. I'm already about half way through. She's hilarious, and seemed to try really hard to make the "church" better from the inside before she blew. It's really kind of sad.

[Howl]

On 12/23/2016 at 11:19 AM, PennySycamore said:

@Howl, thanks for posting that update from Tony Ortega about Leah's demand to get some straight answers from the LAPD about their "investigation" into Sheely's disappearance.  I think I got this from Tony in 2013, but there was something hinky about the way it was handled from the get-go.

I'll be so interested to know the result of Leah's inquiry.  The two-week delay gives the Co$ time to develop strategy should real police (i.e., not a Co$ lackey cop) demand to see Shelly alone, without handlers.  

According to the internet, Shelly Miscavige is 55 years old and should be enjoying the prime of mid life.  Instead, she's been disappeared into a Co$ gulag for 11 years.  

[SHERA]

On 12/26/2016 at 2:08 AM, DaisyD said:

I'd call a $cientologist police officer handling an investigation into a Co$ matter, pretty fucking hinky.

Mr. D got me Leah's book for Christmas. I'm already about half way through. She's hilarious, and seemed to try really hard to make the "church" better from the inside before she blew. It's really kind of sad.

I just checked it out of the library. It's an easy read. I was amazed at all the crap she went through because of the wedding. 

[seattlechic]

4 hours ago, SHERA said:

I just checked it out of the library. It's an easy read. I was amazed at all the crap she went through because of the wedding. 

Is it worth it you think? I mean, the book?

[Scribber]

Is it worth it you think? I mean, the book?

Definitely!

I was never a Leah Remini fan. But the book(and her speaking out so public) has changed that.

[DaisyD]

She's hilarious. The book is totally worth it.

[Inky]

50 minutes ago, Scribber said:

 

Definitely!

I was never a Leah Remini fan. But the book(and her speaking out so public) has changed that.

 

I was not a Leah Remini fan either, before Aftermath. I saw her once on a talk show - I can't remember if it was Oprah or some other daytime drivel, and she was talking about raising her daughter in scientology and how her daughter was ruling the whole house because they had always given in to her. I think the daughter was around 4 and wouldn't give up a bottle or something. Wish I could remember more, but it made me lose respect for her as a parent, to raise a child this way. Plus I never did watch King of Queens. 

 

Now I find her quite compelling - she's doing so much good with this series.

[PennySycamore]

Tonight's episode is about fundraisers and the PR department.  This guy, Mark Headley,  got into SeaOrg at 15 and made only $25,000 in 15 years or so.  He said he began to see the light about the Co$ when he had to check out the video facilities in all these new buildings.  He said they were all ghost towns; IOW, no one was there, no Co$ staff and no parishioners.  Nobody. Now Leah and Mark Rathbun are talking to Mark and his wife Claire.  Claire's bringing up the policy of coerced abortions in SeaOrg.  Married couples in SeaOrg were forbidden to get pregnant.  If a married woman found out that she was pregnant, she would be expected to have an abortion ASAP.  Claire experienced this herself and she still grieves for that baby she had taken from her.

[Imrlgoddess]

How can they even call this bs a religion?? This is FLDS level concentration camp.   holy crap. 

[MarblesMom]

13 minutes ago, Imrlgoddess said:

How can they even call this bs a religion??

 but I have no idea where the line is drawn between a "religion" and a "cult" in the eyes of the US govt... for their Constitutional rights angle.....I have googled and have only come up with odd sites,  that also list Mormons... is there a reliable US govt source that lays down the line between R and C? (Not that the gubmint is the almighty, just looking to see what the Big Guys' opinion is on all this.)

[PennySycamore]

3 minutes ago, MarblesMom said:

 but I have no idea where the line is drawn between a "religion" and a "cult" in the eyes of the US govt... for their Constitutional rights angle.....I have googled and have only come up with odd sites,  that also list Mormons... is there a reliable US govt source that lays down the line between R and C? (Not that the gubmint is the almighty, just looking to see what the Big Guys' opinion is on all this.)

Mark Rathbun just explained that the First Amendment basically means that there is not much way to legally rein in anything that claims to be a religion