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Leah Remini discusses her A&E show Scientology and the Aftermath, Scientology's Fair Game, the Aftermath Foundation, and other topics.

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Part 2:

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Katerina was eleven years old and living in poverty in Siberia, Russia when her mother joined the Church of Scientology. The Cult quickly exploited the mother and daughter and recruited them into it's notorious Sea Org. Katrina and her mother were shipped to Clearwater, Florida. Scientology used Katrina as child labor and she received no formal education.

Part 1: Valeska Paris: Scientology Freewinds Ship ~~ Prisoner for 12 Years:

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Part 2: Scientology Sea Org Member Valeska Paris Reveals Sexual Abuse Covered Up by Church:

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Valeska Paris joined the Scientology Cadet Org at six years of age. She then joined the Sea Org when she was 14 years old. As a teenager she was sent to Scientology's ship the Freewinds. In this gripping podcast Valeska discusses the surprise raid on the Freewinds by the French police in 1999 when it was anchored at St. Barts.

Valeska then describes the suicide of her stepfather Scientologist Albert Jaquier; the suicide of a member of a Sea Org member on the Freewinds; and the punishments she suffered on the ship. Valeska talks about her relationship to Shelly Miscavige who has not been seen in public for over a decade. Other people discussed include Mike Napier, the Captain of the Freewinds, Guillaume Leserve, Heber Jentzsch, and Tom Cruise and his $400,000 birthday party on the Freewinds. Albert Jacquier kept a diary as he was dying. After his death his wife, Valeska's mother, published it online. "The Diary of a Dying Scientologist" is posted here:http://www.xenu.net/archive/photoalbum/jaquier.html

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Karen Schless Pressley is the former Commanding Officer of the Scientology Celebrity Centre. In this interview she discusses how she and her then husband -- the composers Peter Schless -- became Scientologists and later joined the Sea Org. Karen fascinatingly discusses the lure of Scientology for celebrities in terms of co-dependency. In my view, this is a remarkably insightful description. Karen's new book "Escaping Scientology: An Insider's True Story: My Journey With the Cult of Celebrity Spirituality, Greed and Power " is available on Amazon.

Note: This exquisite short piece is reposted from Mike Rinder's blog of 13 Septemeber 2017.

Mike Rinder: Tonight’s episode scratched the surface of a subject that many wonder about.

What is David Miscavige like and how did he get where he is?

Understand, he was NOT anointed by L. Ron Hubbard. Though he likes to show a declaration that HIS lawyers drafted for L. Ron Hubbard to sign in the Ron De Wolf probate case and takes a statement Hubbard made about “good scientologists” in Portland and claims it is about him — Hubbard did not choose him.

In fact there is NO written or recorded statement of what Hubbard wanted in his succession other than his will. But his will does not anoint David Miscavige to any position. In fact, the only time in his life where Hubbard failed to provide a briefing for scientologists about what he intended was when he “causatively left his body.” At every other juncture in scientology (and many other times in addition), Hubbard briefed scientologists. He was proud of this.

Way back in 2010 I wrote a blog article about Miscavige based on one of Hubbard’s writings about the “Aberrative Personality” (this was Hubbardspeak for sociopath or Suppressive Person). Though I have a different perspective about Hubbard and scientology than I did 7 years ago, this article is nevertheless instructive. Even applying Hubbard’s standards to Miscavige, he does not look good.

On David Miscavige’s Behavior.

Neither Jackson nor JB overstated anything tonight. And in this episode, as with all of them, much could not fit into the allocated time.

Of course, scientology will claim they are liars and they are nobodies and they know nothing and focus everything on THEM, while ignoring everything they SAID. Will post about that tomorrow.

As I always do, for anyone newly coming to this blog, I include some relevant links to earlier blog articles. And even for those who regularly come to the blog, it is instructive to refresh your recollection as to just how clear the POLICY of scientology is that anyone in disagreement must be destroyed.

To begin to understand the mindset scientologists have about those who criticize any part of it, read this article:

Dealing with Critics of Scientology — The L. Ron Hubbard Playbook

And then read this one:

Why Do Scientologists Lie?

And here is a fairly short explanation of how disconnection is used in scientology (and how they try to spin the practice):

Disconnection: the PR and the Truth

An overview of the efforts by scientology to smear Leah Remini:

Scientology Dead Agents* Itself

And finally this is a post about the lies they tell about their “expansion”:

Scientology “expansion” debunked

Please sign and share my Change.Org Petition: We Demand the IRS Commissioner Begin an Investigation into Scientology’s Tax Exempt Status.

IRS Commissioner Mr. John Koskinen has the legal and statutory authority to open an investigation into the Church of Scientology’s 501(c)3 tax exemption. We demand Commissioner Koskinen open an investigation for the following reasons:

1. Scientology’s lack of corporate governance as it represented to the IRS in its 1023 application for tax exemption. David Miscavige is the managing agent of Scientology and has pierced all corporate veils. Scientology is the alter ego of David Miscavige and he wields unchallenged and dictatorial control.

2. Scientology’s refusal to grant refunds or repayments to dissatisfied members as it represented to the IRS in its 1023 application for tax exemption.

3. Scientology use of tax-exempt dollars to engage in harassing former members, critics, and journalists. One example is the use of tax-exempt dollars to create slanderous hate websites and videos against former members, critics, and journalists who speak out and expose Scientology’s inhumane practices.

4. Scientology’s internal cover-ups of child sexual abuse and rape as described by the very victims of the sexual abuse and rape.

5. Scientology use of tax-exempt dollars to hire private investigators to spy on, stalk, and harass former members, critics, and journalists who speak out and expose Scientology’s inhumane practices. This is Scientology’s malicious policy of Fair Game and it is funded by tax-exempt dollars.

6. Scientology’s abuse of US religious worker visas to recruit non-US citizens to work in the Sea Org. Once in the US, these non-Americans have their passports confiscated and are forced to work 100 hour work weeks for wages far below the poverty level. Sometimes these workers receive no pay at all for weeks or months on end.

7. Scientology’s use of onerous contracts of adhesion to strip Scientologists of their legal and civil rights.

8. Scientology’s use of child labor.

9. Scientology’s predatory fundraising practices and use of commission salespeople to raise money.

10. Scientology’s use of a system of brutal and inhumane gulags known as the RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force). The RPF is a thought reform camp used to crush dissent. People in the RPF are often imprisoned for years and are stripped of their civil and legal rights.

11. The forced breaking up of families by Scientology’s inhumane practice of Disconnection.

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Janis Grady was born into the Church of Scientology. She joined the Sea Org at age 11 and was one of the first four original messengers in L. Ron Hubbard's Commodore's Messenger's Organization (CMO). Janis' mother was Yvonne Gillham Jentzsch who founded the Scientology Celebrity Centre.

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Description: Aaron Smith-Levin and Jeffrey Augustine discuss Marty Rathbun's video series in which he uses lies, distortions, and falsehoods to attack those who speak out against Scientology. Marty has no credibility according to the Church of Scientology itself. So why are Marty's videos on Scientology's website?

From Tony's Ortega blog of May 29, 2017:

We’ve seen tonight’s 2-hour A&E special episode of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath, and we can tell you that it accomplishes much more than simply tiding fans over as they await the start of season two.

When Aftermath premiered last November, it was the network’s most-watched first episode in a couple of years. It went on to average about 1.6 million viewers per episode as A&E scrambled to take advantage of its popularity by shooting a couple of special hour-long extra episodes for a season total of nine.

The second of those two special episodes featured author Lawrence Wright, attorney Ray Jeffrey, and cult expert Steve Hassan answering questions in a group setting. Tonight’s new 2-hour special follows that format as well, this time with six special guests.

But what really impressed us was the opening segment of tonight’s show, when Remini and her sidekick, former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder, once again took the time to educate viewers about Scientology concepts, in this case the iron-clad L. Ron Hubbard policies that have produced such a toxic, unrelenting organization that tries to hunt down and destroy its critics.

This is perhaps what impresses us the most about Remini’s series, that time and again she and Rinder have taken the time to explain Scientology’s history and structure and controversies in ways that really respect the viewer — which is often missing from cable TV “reality” programming. In this case, Remini knows that much of the criticism aimed at Scientology is for its outlandish beliefs about past lives and space opera nuttiness. That’s a mistake, she believes. She wants viewers to understand that what really matters is that Hubbard left behind piles of books that contain thousands of policies that Scientology’s executives must follow to the letter even today. And those policies demand that critics — whether former members or simply curious reporters — must be dealt with brutally.

And for the doubters in the audience, Remini shows the policies on the screen, which we found really effective.

“It was important to remind people that ridiculing people for their beliefs actually gets Scientology excited, because you’re not actually focusing on the damaging policies that make up the religion,” Leah told us after we had seen the episode and asked her about the approach she was taking. “Scientology dictates how to react to people who are speaking out about it. And that’s an important message that people need to focus on instead of the Xenu stories.”

We told her it was a powerful opening segment that should be a real education for people unsure about Scientology’s motives.

“I’m glad you said that as someone who covers Scientology. That’s what journalists should be focusing on,” she says.

She and Rinder talk about how obsessed Hubbard was with reporters and the press, and how his policies give precise instructions for how to undercut reporters and feed them distracting information.

Leah says her husband, Angelo, after he viewed the episode, reminded her that she had been handled with the same policies when she confronted Scientology leader David Miscavige in late 2012, before her final exit from the organization after more than 30 years.

“When I went in to meet David Miscavige and Laurisse, his assistant, I asked him why he was attacking former Sea Org members [such as Rinder]. I have OT 8s from Israel telling me an entire mission was declared,” she says, referring to the mission in Haifa that broke away from the church in 2012. “He brought me into another room and showed me all the buildings that were coming out, and all of the renovations that were going to cost hundreds of millions. I told him, ‘I don’t give a shit about buildings. Why are you showing me buildings? These are good people being attacked by their church — why are you showing me buildings?’ He referred to a Hubbard policy, ‘Signs of Success,’ that said the only reason the church is being attacked is that it’s growing.”

Even then, she knew it was a dodge. “They’re not growing. They’re just buying buildings. They were trying to do to me what they do to journalists. But I wasn’t buying it anymore. Why was he trying to sell me on that? Because it’s all he knows. Why? Because that’s what LRH [Hubbard] says.”

Although Leah left that personal anecdote out of the episode, its message still comes through: Scientology continues to do what Hubbard established in the 1950s and 1960s — always to attack, never to defend. And to help bolster that message, Remini and Rinder bring on six special guests that our readers should be pretty familiar with.

Australian television journalist Bryan Seymour has been pounding away at Scientology stories for about a decade now, and when he was starting out he got better access than just about anyone has in recent years. We especially enjoy his celebrity interviews, including Nancy Cartwright, who admitted to Bryan that she was in Scientology to become a god.

Janet Reitman’s book, Inside Scientology, came out in 2011, and we especially praised its chapters on the Lisa McPherson saga. The book grew out of an earlier story Reitman had written for Rolling Stone, where she’s a staff writer. When she was researching that story, Mike Rinder was still running the church’s intelligence wing, which handles reporters, and he lets Janet in on a few fun secrets about how they tried to derail her.

We’ve mentioned our old pal and colleague Mark Ebner here often. Not only for his terrific 1996 Spy magazine feature about Scientology (which is discussed on tonight’s program) but also his great examination of the death of Philip Gale, as well as his habit of randomly finding Scientology treasures.

Ford Greene found out the hard way why most attorneys won’t go near Scientology litigation. While he successfully sued the church in the Lawrence Wollersheim saga, he was the subject of numerous bar complaints and Scientology dirty tricks.

Stephen Kent, of the University of Alberta, is the real deal. Not only has he been investigating and exposing Scientology’s harsh policies — in particular its prison program, the Rehabilitation Project Force — but he also has one of the largest collections of Scientology materials in the world.

And we’re especially happy to see Len Zinberg take part. We revealed in our book, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, that Len had been a volunteer for the Guardian’s Office who had taken part in operations against Paulette. Some 40 years later, his conscience eating away at him, he messaged Paulette, telling her what he had done and asking for her forgiveness. It was a very rare gesture, and one we’re glad to see recognized on this compelling broadcast.

Please join us in the comments section tonight as we live-blog the program. We’re looking forward to your reactions to the show!

UPDATE: Because our readers are spread around the world, and everyone loves to take part in a live-blog, here’s when to expect the action. This episode airs on the A&E network at 9 pm in New York. That translates to the following times in other places in the world — although we don’t know you’ll actually be seeing the broadcast then. (We think the US west coast broadcast may show up three hours later, for example)….

Monday Night
3 pm: Honolulu
5 pm: Anchorage
6 pm: Los Angeles
7 pm: Denver
8 pm: Chicago, Mexico City
10 pm: Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro

Tuesday Morning
2 am: London, Dublin, Lisbon
3 am: Paris, Rome, Berlin, Brussels, Cairo, Johannesburg
4 am: Helsinki, Athens, Moscow, Jerusalem
6:30 am: New Delhi
9 am: Perth, Beijing, Singapore
10 am: Tokyo
11 am: Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne

 

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Brandon Reisdorf, a third generation, Scientologist talks about his experiences growing up in a Scientology family and his time on Staff at the San Diego Org. He also discusses the Church's ludicrous claims about the wild success Scientology Media Productions will achieve by bringing millions of people into Scientology. The interview ends with a great description of what Brandon can now do in life now that he is free of the 24/7/365 slavery of Scientology.