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City Councilman Mark Bunker and Scientology Tax Exempt Status

March 18, 2020 By Mike Rinder 72 Comments

  The news has sunk in, Mark Bunker is now a Clearwater City Commissioner-elect. As Tracey McManus put it, this is a historic day for Clearwater. There is another piece in the Tampa Bay Times (top of article screencapped above) this morning. It makes some interesting points - first of which is noting Bunker's "desire for the city to urge the IRS to revoke Scientology's tax exempt status..." Some have poo-poo'd this idea "The City of Clearwater doesn't grant tax exempt status, the IRS does" -- as if Mark Bunker is unaware of the difference between a city government and the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clearwater, Tax Exemption Tagged With: Church of Scientology, Clearwater Florida, David Miscavige, Flag Service Organization, Frank Hibbard, irs, Kathleen Beckman, Kirby Wilson, Mark Bunker, public relations, Scientology, Tax Exemption, Tracey McManus

The Black Bag Department

March 13, 2020 By Mike Rinder 15 Comments

See my announcement on Friday -- I am revisiting earlier posts during my vacation. Each day there will be a different one. Marty has been doing a good job of exposing the unalterable policies of the church concerning dealing with perceived enemies. One aspect not much discussed is who are the "outside professionals" hired to do the dirty work. And while there is a lot that is done by Sea Org OSA staff, Class V (local DSAs like Mark Warburg and John Carmichael) and public Scientologists (John Allender, Ed Bryan and Co) there is work that requires specific skills, including licenses to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Harrassment Tagged With: Angie Blankenship, Bart Parr, bob keenan, Bob Quigley, Brian Raftery, bryan seymour, Clearwater Florida, d-line, Dave Lubow, David Miscavige, Ed Bryan, Elliot Abelson, Falcon Industries, Flag Service Organization, Fran Andrews, Gene Ingram, Greg Sloat, Jerry Feffer, Jesse Prince, John Allener, John Carmichael, Judge Waldrip, Ken Cramer, Ken Rice, Mark Warburg, Marty Rathbun, monique yingling, Monty Drake, Penny Atwell-Jones, PI's, Rick Moxon, Robert MacLean, Russ Andrews, Russell Miller, shelly miscavige, TalonExecutive Services, Ted Banas, Tommy Davis

Clearwater City Elections — Scientology Endorsements

February 29, 2020 By Mike Rinder 16 Comments

A recent article in FlaPol (FloridaPolitics.com) reports on recommendations from scientologists "Citizens for Social Reform" (Brett Miller, Joanie and Steve Sigal) These are the surrogates who deliver the political direction of the church without being a formalized statement from the institution. Why do they do it this way? Because if the church itself published them it would run afoul of 501(c)3 prohibitions against political endorsements (though the Evangelicals don't seem to be too concerned about that). But make no mistake, the "Citizens for Social Reform" are just another scientology … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clearwater Tagged With: Clearwater City Council, Clearwater Florida, Elisio Santana, Frank Hibbard, Kathleen Beckman, Mark Bunker, public relations, Scientology

Flag is Emptier than Ever

February 26, 2020 By Mike Rinder 73 Comments

More evidence, as if it were needed, that scientology is failing. Flag is empty. If there was massive international expansion, the number of people moving up the bridge would be increasing. Flag is the pinnacle of the empire and its state is a clear reflection on all of scientology. This is the Oak Cove hotel at 7:30 pm the other night. As you can see, the place is virtually deserted.   This is the nearby retirement home that is the companion building to this one (they used to be part of the same community, but scientology bought the block closest to the Ft … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Flag Service Org Tagged With: Clearwater Florida, Flag Service Organization, Scientology

Scientology’s Happy Valentine’s Day Messages

February 15, 2020 By Mike Rinder 34 Comments

Scientology uses any opportunity to try to get people to step inside their buildings. Each of these supposedly non-church activities is part and parcel of the same big ball of wax. And you can bet that if anyone is silly enough to attend any of these things and give their name, phone number or email they will be receiving SCIENTOLOGY promotional materials for the next 100 years. And here is another "Valentine's Day message" put up on my daughter's web page. The twisted logic of this one defies description. My message to you on this Valentine's Day is "hate your father and do everything you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Public Relations, Scientology Tagged With: Cathy Bernardini, Cathy Rinder, Clearwater Florida, Flag Service Organization, Justice4Mom, public relations, STAND League, Taryn Rinder, Taryn Teutsch, Valentine's Day

Clearwater City Commission Candidate Forum

February 12, 2020 By Mike Rinder 26 Comments

Tonight is the official Candidates Forum for the City Commission hopefuls conducted by the city. The event begins at 7 p.m. in the City Council chambers in the Main Library at 100 N Osceola Ave. The city will broadcast the forum live on the streaming video page at http://bit.ly/ClearwaterCityCouncilMeetings and the city’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cityofclearwater/. It will also be shown on C-View TV, Clearwater’s cable access channel, on Spectrum (channel 638), Wow! (channel 15) and Frontier (channel 30). The election is a little more than one month away -- on March 17. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clearwater Tagged With: Clearwater Florida, Mark Bunker, public relations, Scientology

Elect Mark Bunker

February 7, 2020 By Mike Rinder 24 Comments

Please watch this short, self-explanatory video. It is important for Clearwater citizens to know that one candidate for the City Council is on the ballot and he is not afraid of scientology. Mark Bunker will represent the interests of the citizens of Clearwater. He is a smart, kind man with a backbone of steel. He will not be intimidated or cowed by bullies of any sort. Please take a moment to do what you can to support him. You don't need to be a citizen of Clearwater. Scientology wants to make Clearwater the first scientology city. Note, they say "First". If they are not stopped in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clearwater Tagged With: Clearwater Florida, Mark Bunker

Mark Bunker’s New Scientology Hit Squad

January 20, 2020 By Mike Rinder 51 Comments

  Clearly scientology is worried that Mark Bunker is proving to be a viable candidate for the Clearwater City Council. They are now resorting to one of their tried and true tactics against those who worry them the most (see below in this blogpost for earlier examples of the same playbook). Following is a series of short videos of a recent candidates forum. Scientology sent along a gaggle of hecklers to disrupt Mark's statements -- pursuant to the policies of L. Ron Hubbard. Unfortunately, there is no video showing their faces -- perhaps next time when both Aaron Smith-Levin and I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clearwater, Harrassment Tagged With: Clearwater Florida, Dave Bloomberg, David Miscavige, Eliseo Santana, Flag Service Organization, Going Clear, Lisa McPherson Trust, Marc Yager, Mark Bunker, Mary DeMoss, sara goldberg, Scientology The Aftermath, tampa bay times

Where Clearwater Candidates Stand on Scientology

January 6, 2020 By Mike Rinder 26 Comments

Tracey McManus published another of her uniformly excellent articles recently:  Where every Clearwater City Council Candidate stands on Scientology I have excerpted most of the answers to her survey and offer my biased views on them. I believe there are just two reasons why scientology is actually being spoken about in this election.  It has been a taboo subject for local politicians for decades. They have steered clear of this topic like it was the plague...  Now for the first time in recent memory, it is something  to be debated. The two factors are Tracey's bombshell article … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clearwater Tagged With: Bob Cundiff, Bruce Rector, Bud Elias, Church of Scientology, Clearwater Florida, Elisio Santana, Elizabeth Drayer, Flag Service Organization, Frank Hibbard, Kathleen Beckman, Lina Teixeira, Mark Bunker, Michael Mannino, Scott Thomas, tampa bay times, Tracey McManus

Flag is Empty

January 5, 2020 By Mike Rinder 50 Comments

  They claim it is a 4 star hotel. This is the peak season in Florida. Yet while every other hotel is charging the highest prices of the year, they are trying to attract people with special discounts -- $113 for a 4 star hotel in Florida in January? Absurd. And breakfast thrown in and chocolate covered strawberries. At this time of year you would be lucky to get into a 2 star hotel for that price. The place is empty and they are doing anything they can to get some rooms occupied. If Flag was "booming" the Ft Harrison would be full and they would not have room for locals to … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Clearwater, Flag Service Org Tagged With: Clearwater Florida, Scientology

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Important Reading

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
Commodore's Messenger - Book II
Scythe Tleppo - Nathan Rich
Expert Witness - Jesse Prince
Perfectly Clear - Michelle LeCaire
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