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Family Interventions and Deprogrammings

May 23, 2022 By Mike Rinder 16 Comments

  Here's an interesting article from Narconon, pushing the virtues of interventions. This is how they describe what an intervention is: Family intervention is a common approach used because it provides the right nudge toward treatment. Family interventions work, but it is difficult to predict how the intervention could unfold. Certified family intervention specialists have the training to prepare a family for what to expect.  Most family interventions use pressure to encourage an addict to admit to their problem and seek treatment. A group of close friends and family come … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Narconon, Scientology Tagged With: deprogrammer, Hana Whitfield, Narconon, Narconon Ojai, Rick Ross, Scientology, STAND League, Steve Hassan, Ted Patrick

Narconon Goes After Country Music

November 17, 2021 By Mike Rinder 48 Comments

  Scientology and its front organizations (like Narconon and CCHR) live in a world disconnected from reality. They seem oblivious to the absurdity of things they say and positions they take. Narconon is now beginning to sound like prohibitionists, targeting county music for "romanticizing alcohol." Unfortunately, while contemporary country music stars continue to produce great music year after year, there are increasing incidences of romanticizing alcohol in country music lyrics, romanticizing it, glamorizing it, or even construing alcohol with happy times, carefree adventures, and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Front Groups, Narconon Tagged With: CCHR, country music, Narconon, Nashville

Narconon’s Troubles Are Not Over

February 6, 2021 By Mike Rinder 38 Comments

Watch this new (less than 30 minute) video with Aaron Smith Levin and Luke Catton discussing the current problems of Narconon. Since the passage of the "Eliminating Kickbacks in Recovery Act" in 2018, it is illegal to pay commissions for referrals to drug rehab programs. This Kickbacks in Recovery Act now makes FSM Commission for the Narconon program a federal crime. Scientology policies around Field Staff Members (FSMs), where people are paid commissions for referring others to Scientology organizations, was one of the major catalysts for Narconon's growth in the United States. It wasn't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Narconon Tagged With: Aaron Smith-Levin, ABLE, ABLE International, Graham Berry, Luke Catton, Narconon, Narconon Int, Narconon Suncoast

Narconon Ojai Failing

December 30, 2020 By Mike Rinder 18 Comments

  A few things to unpack here. First, their "accomplishments" are that they "remained open." Typically, an organization like this would be touting inflated numbers of "lives saved from drugs" -- clearly, they had virtually none. Instead, they announce the "success" of their podcast? 194 episodes for 250,000 downloads over 3 years? This is impressive? I think not. Now that I know something about the podcast world, this is virtually nothing. Fair Game podcast exceeded those download numbers the first week on the air. But, let's not stop there. They put out 16 "stellar, informative" … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Narconon Tagged With: Gerald Posner, Marshall Faulk, Narconon Ojai, Pam Bondi, PPP Loan

Episode 15: Former President of Narconon Luke Catton

November 2, 2020 By Mike Rinder 59 Comments

We welcome an old friend of mine, Lucas (Luke) Catton to the Fair Game podcast this week. Luke was a very prominent member of the Narconon team for a number of years, until he saw the light about scientology. He subsequently spoke out and was targeted by scientology in response. We discuss a wide range of things relating to Narconon, scientology's involvement, the effectiveness of the program and the Fair Gaming Luke has been subjected to. I will include the link as soon as it becomes available. A few of the things we mention during our talk. Here is a copy of the public image.doc … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fair Game Podcast, Narconon Tagged With: ABLE Int, David Miscavige, fair game, Freedom Magazine, Gary Smith, Laurie Zurn, Luke Catton, Narconon, Narconon Arrowhead, Rena Weinberg

Front Groups — Narconon Lies

May 1, 2019 By Mike Rinder 64 Comments

This is a screen shot of a recent discussion with Narconon on their website. The person asks: "I've heard your group is part Scientology, is this true?" The answer: "There is no Scientology related. "We are a non secular program"   The first sentence is simply a lie. They are ABSOLUTELY "Scientology related"... The second sentence is either a typo or a terrible misunderstanding of the word "secular" -- I am sure they meant to say they ARE secular. Because if they deny their scientology connection, they are certainly not going agree that they are affiliated with … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Narconon Tagged With: Narconon, public relations, Scientology

The IAS Keeps on Lying

April 21, 2019 By Mike Rinder 35 Comments

The IAS are renowned for their BS, but this one is a doozie. They "approved a grant" but they didn't spend it because they don't have any photos of anyone on the scene. Just a generic shot from the media of a flooded location. So, to give them the benefit of the doubt, I checked out their Twitter feed. A bunch of shots of the same 7 people, literally one after the other. This is the "team" for the displaced 500,000 people: For the largest private relief force on earth, 10 likes on their Twitter feed is a bit slim. Obviously they have not allocated funds to clickfarms for the VM … [Read more...]

Filed Under: IAS, Narconon, Volunteer Ministers Tagged With: fundraising, IAS, Narconon, volunteer ministers

Getting People onto The Bridge Through Narconon

November 12, 2017 By Mike Rinder 116 Comments

Tonight at 8pm there is a special episode of The Aftermath touching upon the subject of scientology's front groups. Of course, the most well-know of them is Narconon, which is why it was so ironic that I was sent this a couple of days ago. Scientology says the "social betterment" organizations are NOT recruitment arms for scientology. Look at the first paragraph of this letter. Bobby Wiggins seems to have retired from his Narconon job and now is making commissions from persuading people to give money to the IAS.  The irony of this is when he WAS in Narconon he had to scrape and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Narconon, The Aftermath Tagged With: fundraising, IAS, Leah Remini, Marty Rathbun, Mike Rinder, Narconon, The Aftermath

The Golden Age Of Narconon

May 17, 2016 By Mike Rinder 104 Comments

If they consider THIS to be the Golden Age of Narconon, it pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the "Golden Age" moniker... Never in its history has Narconon been confronted with so many lawsuits resulting from deaths and abuses at its facilities. At no time has there been the volume of negative media coverage Narconon boasts today. The reputation of Narconon is at its lowest ever ebb -- so much so that Miscavige has attempted to revive it by opening "model" "celebrity" Narconons that have flashed into the pan and then gone black as fast as their ribbons have been … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Narconon Tagged With: Narconon

Narconon = Scientology

April 11, 2016 By Mike Rinder 80 Comments

This is an interesting piece from the Auditor magazine, the official chronicle of all things scientology: "if it isn't in the Auditor, it didn't happen" is the their motto. This is from back in the day before there was a conscious effort to distance Narconon from Scientology. Today, Narconon claims it is NOT Scientology. Scientology likewise claims all they do is "support" Narconon. This Auditor magazine story reflects the true nature of the relationship. They are not just in the same family, they are siblings. Maybe identical twins. Click on the image to enlarge: … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Narconon, Scientology Tagged With: Narconon, public relations, Scientology

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Troublemaker - Leah Remini
Ruthless - Ron Miscavige
Going Clear - Lawrence Wright
Bare Faced Messiah - Russell Miller
Counterfeit Dreams - Jeff Hawkins
Blown For Good - Marc Headley
Abuse at the Top - Amy Scobee
Unbreakable Miss Lovely - Tony Ortega
The Church of Fear - John Sweeney
Fair Game - Steve Cannane
Inside Scientology - Janet Reitman
A Piece of Blue Sky - Jon Atack
Beyond Belief - Jenna Miscavige
My Billion Year Contract
Escaping Scientology - Karen Schless
Commodore's Messenger - Janis Grady
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Sorry, can't. I'm listening to @MikeRinder #ABillionYears on @audible_com

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Ex-Scientologist turned whistleblower @MikeRinder talks about his new book "A Billion Years: My Escape from a Life in the Highest Ranks of Scientology" and joins me in identifying the similarities and differences between our respective former #cults. https://youtu.be/YBVUxhwPzCE

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blownforgood Marc Headley @blownforgood ·
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Scientology Q&A Live w/ Aaron Smith-Levin & Mike Rinder 5:45 PM (MST) #XenuIsMyHomeboy https://youtube.com/live/sgIdM250NhM?feature=share

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mikerinder Mike Rinder @mikerinder ·
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Crazy L. Ron Hubbard's 1980 letter to Pres. Reagan explaining his plan for a national sales tax and abolishing the IRS. It was a key theme of #scientology's war on the IRS... until they got exemption. Do today's proponents know? Full letter in blog post.
https://www.mikerindersblog.org/the-flat-tax-republicans-reviving-the-scientology-campaign-to-abolish-the-irs/

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klempmichele Michele Klemp @klempmichele ·
29 Jan

@MikeRinder just finished reading your book. I've been anti-scientology for about 30 years. Your book was so informative as to the mindset and the bullying, gaslighting etc. Every through I watched the documentaries and listened to the podcast, I found this book so much (/2)

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