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Scientology: Government Against The Ungovernable

May 2, 2022 By Mike Rinder 19 Comments

Two Castle Rock, Colorado High School students, Sally and Madelyn, made a short film about scientology. They entered it in a local competition and won first place in their category! They were required to submit a paper, describing their planned film and why it addressed a worthy topic before they began. You can read their submission here: Context Essay This is their description of their documentary: "Our submission was for the 2022 National History day senior division documentary category! The theme this year is debate and diplomacy, we chose to represent this with the conflict seen … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tax Exemption Tagged With: Castle Rock, Claire Headley, First Amendment, irs, Madelyn West, Sally Pellegrini, Scientology, Tax Exemption

Episode 60: Clearwater City Council Candidate Aaron Smith-Levin

October 4, 2021 By Mike Rinder 28 Comments

  In this episode we talk to our old friend Aaron Smith-Levin about a wide variety of topics, including the status of Goliath the SP dog, but focus on his announcement that he is running to be elected to the Clearwater City Council and the activities of the Aftermath Foundation. Aaron appeared in the original season of The Aftermath, in one of the more memorable episodes:     My recent post about Aaron running for City Council:   Aaron Smith-Levin for City Council website:       Leah Remini: Scientology and the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Aaron Smith-Levin, Clearwater City Council, Fair Game Podcast, irs, Leah Remini, Mark Bunker, Mike Rinder, Tax Exemption, The Aftermath Foundation

Scientology, Christianity and the IRS

September 19, 2021 By Mike Rinder 35 Comments

Reiterating something I have covered before on this Sunday morning. The idea that you can be a scientologist and a Christian is a lie, yet scientologists claim this all the time to try to appear "normal" or "non-threatening." You can see from the official IRS publication above listing the criteria the IRS uses to determine whether an organization qualifies for tax exempt status as a religious organization, that one of them is: Membership not associated with any other church or denomination   During the quest to obtain exemption, scientology explained things to the IRS like … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tax Exemption Tagged With: Aar9on Smith-Levin, Christianity, Churches defined, irs, Joy Villa, L. Ron Hubbard, Ray Cassano, Tax exempt status

Episode 42: Listener Questions Part 5

May 24, 2021 By Mike Rinder 29 Comments

  We answered more "Listener Questions" this week. These are some of our favorite episodes and we really appreciate the questions people send in. This one was especially fun and I think you all will enjoy it. We talk about the last chapter of Hubbard's life which is documented in the Epilogue of Lawrence Wright's brilliant Going Clear. This is an excerpt detailing what Steve Pfauth, one of the handful of people with Hubbard at the end of his life had to say. We talk about Hubbard's succession and mention the issue appointing Pat and Annie Broeker which Miscavige had … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Annie Broeker, Bonnie View, cremation, Fair Game Podcast, Funeral Service, Gold Base, Hernandez decision, irs, L. Ron Hubbard, Leah Remini, Mike Rinder, OCA, Oxford Capacity Analysis, Petrolia, silent birth, sklar, Tax Exemption, Tremontina, Tuolomne, US Supreme Court, Whispering Winds

Episode 41: Law Review Author Taylor Holley

May 17, 2021 By Mike Rinder 35 Comments

Leah and I had the great pleasure of speaking to Taylor Holley this week. Taylor is a law student at Texas Tech University who published a legal analysis of scientology's tax exempt status in the Law Review. Taylor has never been involved in scientology, but grew up in Tampa which sparked her interest in scientology. Her paper is a wonderful summation and careful analysis of the law and makes a compelling argument that the IRS should revisit the exempt status of scientology. I wrote about this earlier. I am including her full paper below, as well as a link to it for downloading. I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Ciongress, Fair Game Podcast, irs, Law Review, Leah Remini, Mike Rinder, public policy, Tax exempt status, Taylor Holley, Texas Tech

Letters to Congress

May 16, 2021 By Mike Rinder 16 Comments

Leah and I have often responded to the question "What can I do to help?" by saying people should write to their elected representatives to demand action. I have been asked a number of times whether there is a form letter to use. Two people have recently sent me copies of letters they have written that may help. The first is a fairly lengthy, footnoted letter and the author has made it possible for you to download it here including the footnotes. He also graciously provided some instructions and guidance on how to go about this:   Hello! Beginning on the next page is a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Special Feature Tagged With: Aftermath Foundation, Congress, irs, letters to congress, Tax Exemption, US Representatives

Australian Media Again Leading the Way

April 7, 2021 By Mike Rinder 25 Comments

You have to hand it to the Australian media -- they are, as a whole, less cowed by scientology than in any other country. We have watched for years as Bryan Seymour and Steve Cannane have done numerous stories exposing scientology's abuses. And there have been others too. And now Ben Schneiders  has joined the party, and is making a big splash. In the past week he has published an explosive report about scientology finances and follow up stories detailing how this is now ballooning into a demand from at least one member of the Australian Parliament, Andrew Leigh, for an investigation of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Tax Exemption Tagged With: ABC, Andrew Leigh, ben schneiders, bryan seymour, Charities and Not For Profits Commission, irs, Steve Cannane, Sydney Morning Herald, Tax exempt status, The Age

Auditing Scientology: Reexamining Tax Exemption Eligibility

February 17, 2021 By Mike Rinder 57 Comments

IRS exemption scientology

One of our commenters (ISNOINews) forward me a link to a wonderful piece by Taylor Holley, a Juris Doctorate candidate at Texas Tech University Law School written for the Law Review. It is titled  Auditing Scientology: Reexamining the Church's 501(c)3 Tax Exemption Eligibility. If you click on the link above, you can download the full paper -- it is 27 pages long and summarizes all the facts and legal arguments as to why scientology should NOT enjoy tax exempt status. Below I include her abstract summarizing the paper: Abstract The Church of Scientology is one of the most discussed … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Special Feature Tagged With: 501(c)3, irs, Law Review, Scientology, scientology tax exemption, Tax exempt status, Tax Exemption, Taylor Holley, Texas Tech

Is Scientology an Investment?

January 16, 2021 By Mike Rinder 32 Comments

Old Wil Seabrook is at it again. These STAND flunkies are entirely predictable. Anything that is a touchy subject for scientology (in this case, their merciless money-grubbing) is taken up and presented as if it's a GOOD thing. Let's just dissect a few of Wil's statements. One thing that people ask me is why Scientologists make donations for their services. I think there’s an idea that help, especially of a religious nature, should be free. But once you start to examine that concept, it’s easy to see that nothing in life is ever actually free and that resources are required to do … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fundraising Tagged With: David Miscavige, fundraising, IAS, irs, STAND League, Tax exempt status, Wil Seabrook

An Open Letter to Church of Scientology by Mark Fladd

December 31, 2020 By Mike Rinder 32 Comments

  Mark Fladd appeared with his wife, Stephanie, on an episode of The Aftermath. They told part of their experiences with Orange County org. Good people, chewed up and spit out by the relentless money-grubbing. Of course, instead of making things right with them, scientology sought to smear them. Mark wanted to clarify some things and I am happy to have this forum available for him to do so.   Open Letter to Church of Scientology Clarifications and an update for the Public Record By Mark Fladd, ex-Scientologist | Riverside County, California | 2020   Introduction The … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fundraising, The Aftermath Tagged With: Adam Whitworth, AOLA, Aryana Dangberg, Cathy Moore, David Miscavige, fundraising, irs, Karin Pouw, Leah Remini, Mark Fladd, Mike Rinder, Orange county org, Scientology The Aftermath, SRD, Stephanie Fladd, The Aftermath

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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
Ron the War Hero - Chris Owen
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Cruz: Have one door… and have that one door, armed police officers at that door. If that had happened.. when that psychopath had arrived, the armed police officers could’ve taken him out…

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This is the country that never ratified the U.N. Convention for the Rights of the Child, which is shameful.

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The time has come for elected officials to pass legislation to actually protect our children from senseless gun violence. All of us failed them by letting politics and lobbyist dollars take precedence over safety.

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For those missing the #FairGame podcast -- I snuck in a 20 min chat with @Marci_Hamilton about our shared passion for the work of @CHILD_USA

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  • Alcoboy on Regraded Being: “Why? When it comes to Scientology, that’s just business as usual.” May 27, 12:19
  • Alcoboy on Regraded Being: “To: Alabamaslammer From: David Miscavige COB RTC Re: criticizing the royal family. HOW DARE YOU SPEAK NEGATIVELY ABOUT A MONARCH…” May 27, 12:18
  • Jere Lull on Regraded Being: “If you think what happened in the past was astounding, wait a bit. It gets WORSE the more you find…” May 27, 12:11
  • Jere Lull on Regraded Being: “There’s ONE way out of that crushing debt load for scns: It’s called the Sea Org, and you won’t have…” May 27, 12:07
  • Lily R on Through the Bubble – Lili’s Adventures in Scientologyland Part 12: “Fred, I appreciate you pulling back the curtain on that “ignore the noise” advice you got from your OSA exec.…” May 27, 11:29
  • Cindy on Thursday Funnies: “Well said!” May 27, 10:32
  • Real on Thursday Funnies: “EMA Artist USA is an online based company touting social media prowess and it doesn’t have its own email address????…” May 27, 10:01
  • Real on Stories About Ron — More News: “yes, I saw a video taken a couple months ago on a Friday from around 6 to 7 p.m. and…” May 27, 09:45
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