Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath

[quiversR4hunting]

1 minute ago, Howl said:

Which leads me to believe that there are bodies.....that people have been killed in the name of protecting Co$, especially protecting Dear Leader, David Miscavige -- my fingers keep wanting to type "McSavage".

Still waiting for an update on Shelley....

 I wonder if they blur the line between their characters and their own self. Kind of like the movie Bolt (the dog)

If you are unfamiliar with the movie, from IMDB:

Quote

The canine star of a fictional sci-fi/action show that believes his powers are real embarks on a cross country trek to save his co-star from a threat he believes is just as real.

Someone said they saw Shelley in the last year or two. I really wish she could escape and talk. I wish all the people in Hemet could escape or take a camera in and show it to policy so there can be a raid on the compound(s).

[DaisyD]

The people who have escaped have said that a raid wouldn't do any good. The people in there are so brainwashed that they believe that they deserve to be treated the way that they are. They would toe the party line.

[quiversR4hunting]

7 minutes ago, DaisyD said:

The people who have escaped have said that a raid wouldn't do any good. The people in there are so brainwashed that they believe that they deserve to be treated the way that they are. They would toe the party line.

That is so sad. I hope it would help some that just couldn't escape but not to help many, that is very, very sad.

[Howl]

Great post on Tony Ortega's Underground Bunker, going back to L Ron's early days, dabbling in the occult with Aleister Crowley, "the sorcerer and mystic whose dabblings in black magic earned him the title The Wickedest Man in the World" and American Jack Parsons, "a brilliant rocket scientist".   It's a current visit with Alex Mitchell, a journalist who wrote a 1969 Scientology expose for the Sunday Times of London as well as Mitchell's original article, which also details an early L Ron attempted (and somewhat successful) rip off/con of Jack Parsons, his business partner.   The key is that in 1969, there were ex-members from the early days still living, who had curated tons of Scientology materials and had stories to tell, giving Mitchell a treasure trove of information. 

The level of wacky is off the charts wonderful.  Enjoy: 

Great moments in Scientology journalism: When Alex Mitchell blew the lid off ‘Babalon Working’

ETA: Wanted to add another link, with this text: "The Lotticks want to sue the church for contributing to their son's death, but the prospect has them frightened. For nearly 40 years, the big business of Scientology has shielded itself exquisitely behind the First Amendment as well as a battery of high-priced criminal lawyers and shady private detectives."  The article this quote is from was published by Time Magazine in 1991.  Scientology has been perfecting it's scorched earth policy for far longer than any of us want to think about. 

Link to 1991 Time article: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power

and this -- David Miscavige came to power at an incredibly early age, so he too has been perfecting his reign of terror for a very, very long time. 

Quote

 Scientology is now run by David Miscavige, 31, a high school dropout and second-generation church member. Defectors describe him as cunning, ruthless and so paranoid about perceived enemies that he kept plastic wrap over his glass of water. His obsession is to obtain credibility for Scientology in the 1990s.

 

[Jencendiary]

I always have to chuckle when I hear people making a big spooky to-do about Crowley and such. I ran with Thelemites in college, and nobody got up to anything any more sinister than club drugs, enthusiastic polyamory, and listening to hours of industrial music while culturally appropriating the iconography of Ancient Egypt.

I'd take them over a passel of squeaky-clean Scientologists anyday.

[Four is Enough]

When I was single and just got cable TV for the first time, I had a month of free HBO. During that month, the movie TAPS was played several times. George C. Scott, Timothy Hutton, and a very young Sean Penn and Tom Cruise. The story was of a military academy that was being arbitrarily closed. Hutton, Penn, and Cruise were the older student leaders.  The movie builds to a horrible ending. In it, Cruise is seen shooting a machine gun, spittle flying out of his mouth, saying, "This is beautiful, man!"

 

I got the creepiest vibe from that movie, (made in 1981) and have never been able to shake it about Cruise.

[PennySycamore]

On 1/24/2017 at 7:03 PM, THERetroGamerNY said:

Found this tucked (rather firmly) in my mailbox.

I wonder if they have stepped up advertising in the wake of the show?

@THERetroGamerNY, was that POS tucked in between the flag and the box or was it placed inside the box?  It's a violation of federal law to put inside the box without a stamp and going though the postal service.

[ChunkyBarbie]

@Four is Enough, I have never understood Cruise' appeal. I have found him meh at best, but overall weird and ridiculous.  Even as a teenager in the 80's, maybe in part to that movie. I found it very upsetting, I had forgotten all about it until now. 

[Howl]

9 hours ago, Jencendiary said:

I always have to chuckle when I hear people making a big spooky to-do about Crowley and such. I ran with Thelemites in college, and nobody got up to anything any more sinister than club drugs, enthusiastic polyamory, and listening to hours of industrial music while culturally appropriating the iconography of Ancient Egypt.

I'd take them over a passel of squeaky-clean Scientologists anyday.

Well, outré Crowley was considered quite scandalous for the 1940s and 1950s.   We're in the post-sex-tape era these days, so unphased by anything. 

[DaisyD]

I'm reading 'Inside Scientology' right now. LRH never even met Crowley. It would seem that he really just wanted to be him. He stayed at the Parsonage for a while. Scientology insists that he was undercover with Naval Intelligence, even though Parsons security clearance was never revoked and, though he had a thick FBI file, there's no mention of LRH in any of it. The most interesting thing, for me, was that Parsons died in a chemical explosion in his garage after marrying a woman he believed he had conjured. I might have to read more about Crowley after I finish this Scientology rabbit hole. I have his tarot deck.

[Howl]

I guess what amazes me about this whole thing is that LRH/Scientology has been exposed as a fraud, a scam, a bad pyramid scheme and a criminal enterprise from very early on and periodically thereafter, but Co$ is like a cockroach infestation.......you just can't get rid of it.  Meanwhile, the money keeps pouring in...

The Suppressive Person in me thinks that the only thing that could bring it down is if someone were murdered and this could be traced directly back to David Miscavige, along with other members of the elite, who all go to prison.   Foresic accounting then traces the money stashed away in offshore accounts, and the payout from a successful class action suit against Co$ bankrupts the "church". 

[Jilli]

I hope we find proof of Shelley's welfare soon. I've always been fascinated by cults in general, especially Scientology. Shelley was one of the few likeable people related to the top. I noticed her missing before Leah even left. I was so happy Leah said something because I wasn't sure if other people had noticed. 

[THERetroGamerNY]

15 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

@THERetroGamerNY, was that POS tucked in between the flag and the box or was it placed inside the box?  It's a violation of federal law to put inside the box without a stamp and going though the postal service.

Not actually inside, no. Was rather tightly wedged inbetween the box and the house itself (thus that tear on it when I pulled it free).

[ChunkyBarbie]

11 hours ago, Howl said:

I guess what amazes me about this whole thing is that LRH/Scientology has been exposed as a fraud, a scam, a bad pyramid scheme and a criminal enterprise from very early on and periodically thereafter, but Co$ is like a cockroach infestation.......you just can't get rid of it.  Meanwhile, the money keeps pouring in...

The Suppressive Person in me thinks that the only thing that could bring it down is if someone were murdered and this could be traced directly back to David Miscavige, along with other members of the elite, who all go to prison.   Foresic accounting then traces the money stashed away in offshore accounts, and the payout from a successful class action suit against Co$ bankrupts the "church". 

Sadly, I think the Co$ would keeping limping along like the Fundmental Mormons do with Warren Jeffs in prison.  They still follow his orders, and soon, if it hasn't happened already, there will be a new King Cockroach.  

[DaisyD]

That's actually a good analogy. For the most part, Warren's brothers are running things and I wonder how much actually comes from Warren anymore. Likewise, Miscavige is running things, but the parishioners think the new tech comes from LRH.

[Jencendiary]

I wonder if Miscavage keeps the higher-ups in such a jumbled state, rotating them in and out of his favor and then putting them in seclusion and punishment, so nobody can get enough popular support to oust him?

[Peas n carrots]

I wonder if Miscavage keeps the higher-ups in such a jumbled state, rotating them in and out of his favor and then putting them in seclusion and punishment, so nobody can get enough popular support to oust him?

I buy into that theory. It exactly what Stalin did in the Soviet Union!

[JMO]

Thought you all might find this interesting. 

[Howl]

On 2/11/2017 at 0:31 PM, Peas n carrots said:

I buy into that theory. It exactly what Stalin did in the Soviet Union!

 

....and Trump in the White House...

[ChunkyBarbie]

On 2/9/2017 at 7:53 PM, Jencendiary said:

I wonder if Miscavage keeps the higher-ups in such a jumbled state, rotating them in and out of his favor and then putting them in seclusion and punishment, so nobody can get enough popular support to oust him?

I think so.  If something happens to Miscavage there will be initial chaos as a few fight for the throne. Honestly, if Miscavage was smart and Cruise was ambitious, DM would fear Cruise. DM has set Tom up as a beloved equal who is single handedly saving the planet. So, does Co$ really need DM?  He is lucky the members are sheep, who don't think about things too deeply and that Cruise is happy in his current position. If he wanted the throne, he could get it, I bet. 

[purjolok84]

I couldn't see a thread or a post for this but these girls said that they felt that they could come forward because of Leah and her show. Just read this article today:

http://tonyortega.org/2017/03/03/lapd-probing-scientology-and-danny-masterston-for-multiple-rapes-cover-up/

[Howl]

4 hours ago, purjolok84 said:

I couldn't see a thread or a post for this but these girls said that they felt that they could come forward because of Leah and her show. Just read this article today:

http://tonyortega.org/2017/03/03/lapd-probing-scientology-and-danny-masterston-for-multiple-rapes-cover-up/

Just when you think the Scientology ick factor can't get any worse.....

[quiversR4hunting]

4 hours ago, purjolok84 said:

I couldn't see a thread or a post for this but these girls said that they felt that they could come forward because of Leah and her show. Just read this article today:

http://tonyortega.org/2017/03/03/lapd-probing-scientology-and-danny-masterston-for-multiple-rapes-cover-up/

I didn't realize Danny Masterston was $OC. Makes me sad, I liked him. I find myself not liking any $OC actors even if I did prior (Jenna Elfman in Dharma and Greg, for example). 

I am glad these girls found strength to come forward because of Leah's show. I hope they are successful in getting justice.

As always, I hope $OC members see the light and break the bondage of this horrible cult.

[Palimpsest]

Wow.  That is really awful.  I'm glad both Leah and Tony Ortega are going to keep up the heat on the LAPD.  I didn't even know who Danny Masterson was but that is disgusting.

I think it is becoming very clear that the LAPD is compromised.  The investigation by Reyes looks badly screwed up on several different levels.  

[DaisyD]

Yeah, I'm quite suspicious of Reyes now. Wasn't she the one looking into Shelly's well being too? The name seems familiar in the Leah stuff.