Mark, did Tom or Steve or any of the other ones make a big effort to recover you? Steve about came unglued when I informed him I wouldn’t be back. He even tracked me down after I moved.

Hitler made it in 15 years or so at the power. Hubbard made it 35 years or so. His executerr still goes on because he’s a dwarf. People h.ave sympathy

p.s. That’s not actually one of the Mike Rinder quotes from the Libération article, though this is:

«L’objectif est de convaincre les donateurs que la scientologie s’étend partout dans le monde, décrypte Mike Rinder. (“The goal is to convince donors that Scientology is spreading around the world”)

You appear to be very fluent in French, Mike! 🙂

I hope some of this detail about orgs and missions is of interest, I find it sometimes insightful as to what’s going on.

Paris seems likely to be left to molder as one of the older lot of building purchases, but I’m curious to see if the newly purchased and already-modernized Edinburgh facility is treated any differently or just gets lumped in with the rest.

Thanks, Mike. So they spent 33 million euros to buy what looks like a relatively new building in a prime location – one more than 50% larger than the average “ideal” facility.

But while it was reported just a couple of months ago, it appears that the purchase actually took place covertly, though shell companies, at least as far back as 2017 – perhaps Scientology thought they could insulate it from possible seizure if ownership was opaque enough. And then it’s presumably part of the old “ideal” plan; plus they reportedly had grand renovation plans including a large auditorium, so it’s far from being ready to move in to.

I did search before posting, and couldn’t come up with Tony’s piece. In hopes of redeeming myself, given that link I dug a bit deeper, including into the original Libération article (cited, but not linked) – which quotes one Mike Rinder:

“En France, ses responsables avancent régulièrement le chiffre de 40 000 adeptes. Selon un ancien cadre qui les a quittés au début des années 2010, ils seraient à peine 400.” (basically, they claim 40,000 members, but an executive who left in 2010 says its’s only 400)

Saint-Denis : les scientologues lancent le siège, les élus résistent
https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/04/18/saint-denis-les-scientologues-lancent-le-siege-les-elus-resistent_1722247

There’s also a brief piece from another source, in English:

The Church of Scientology settles in Saint-Denis: “Everyone is a little helpless”
https://www.tellerreport.com/news/–the-church-of-scientology-settles-in-saint-denis–%22everyone-is-a-little-helpless%22-.HyGJycv9N.html

It appears that the building they purchased at 270 Ave du Président Wilson in Saint-Denis is a former Samsung office, though I can’t find much more about it.

Ortega did a piece about the building they bought in Paris (it’s the 2nd story): https://tonyortega.org/2019/04/19/coming-may-9-silvertail-books-publishes-chris-owens-ron-the-war-hero/

Good on you, Peter!

And I am that Class XII Surfer!

Mark, you certainly deserve it.

Don’t be too hard on yourself.

Despite what Ron said about Jerkers and Degrooders.