Programming note: Regraded Being will return next week,. Given the events of yesterday with the end of the Masterson Preliminary Hearing (and the news he is going to face trial) I felt it was important to keep that post available. Scientology mouthpiece in Clearwater, Pat Harney, was scheduled to give the Invocation at the Clearwater City Council meeting this week. It is part of a rotational system where different faiths are invited to do their thing. Of course, Pat was at a disadvantage as scientologists don't pray. They don't have any set belief in God, and they certainly don't ask God … [Read more...]
Scientology in Clearwater — Big Brother is Watching You
George Orwell's astonishing novel 1984 depicts a dystopian world that has many remarkable similarities to scientology. Big Brother is a character and symbol that represents a society where every citizen is under constant surveillance, constantly reminded of this by the slogan "Big Brother is watching you." If you visit downtown Clearwater, Big Brother (scientology) IS watching you. Anywhere and everywhere. While they claim the dozens of cameras mounted on their buildings are for "security" -- the truth is a little less palatable. And they showed their hand this past … [Read more...]
Episode 12: Mark Bunker
This week, Leah and I have a conversation with Mark Bunker on the Fair Game podcast. Download at midnight tonight. I will add a link to the show here when it becomes available. We talk to Mark about his history with scientology, him becoming the newest Clearwater City Council member and what the future of the City of Clearwater holds. We cover the land grab by scientology so ably reported by Tracey McManus in the Tampa Bay Times "How Scientology doubled its downtown Clearwater footprint in 3 years" : Tracey updated her story a few days ago "Vacancies in Scientology-tied … [Read more...]
Pinellas County Sheriff Candidate Eliseo Santana: Scientology Shill
Eliseo Santana just sent me this mailer as a resident of Pinellas County. Last month, he became the democratic candidate to challenge the incumbent Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. I would not normally comment on this, except earlier this year, Eliseo Santana also ran for Clearwater City Council against Mark Bunker. Santana was a scientology shill in that election. (You can watch some of the videos of Santana in action at that link). Scientology is afraid of running any scientologist candidates -- they know they will lose -- so they try to curry favor with candidates by promising them their … [Read more...]
Mark Bunker Strikes Fear Into Scientologists’ Hearts
I was sent this Facebook message by Aaron Smith-Levin, who received it from Aida Barbosa in Mexico City. He does not know Aida. But she is very concerned that Aaron may know someone who is connected to Mark Bunker and that he should unfriend that person on Facebook as soon as he figures out if that person has other friends connected to Bunker. Obviously she does not know who Aaron is or that he is more than Facebook friends with Mark Bunker. But it gives some insight into the world of scientology and how panicked they are about Mark Bunker. And that, as has been said so often, it is OSA … [Read more...]
What Happened to Ryan Prescott?
Frankly, the closed orgs have dried up a lot of the material for Thursday Funnies -- endless streams of "Get your Pandemic workbook here" and "We command you to do an Extension Course" are just not very funny. We may not see much in the way of Thursday Funnies for a little while... So, I thought some clowncar material from another corner of the scientology bubble might be entertaining. This is Ryan Prescott's Facebook live post from a week or so ago. I had only ever seen his comical Tweets and some bits from his Loony-Tunes books. I had never had the misfortune of seeing him in … [Read more...]
Clearwater Police Chief Inspects Flag
As always, Tracey McManus has the story. I spoke to Tracey about this earlier today and she quoted me in the article. But I had more thoughts on it that she was unable to include. I also have a copy of Chief Slaughter's publicly available report. First, this comes as a relief to me. My son is in this facility, so anything being done to mitigate the threat of this pandemic is very welcome. Second, I applaud Chief Slaughter for taking the initiative to do something. I do not recall the last time any city official walked in to the Ft Harrison to check out what is going on. Third, … [Read more...]
Mark Bunker Settles In at City Hall
Mark Bunker was sworn in to the Clearwater City Council seat 2 on Monday. There is a public ceremony being held in City Hall on Thursday evening. This is his new desk. And his first visitor. Mark tells me Bobblerinder will be a permanent fixture at his desk. It is quite an honor. … [Read more...]
City Councilman Mark Bunker and Scientology Tax Exempt Status
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...]
Unofficial Result — Mark Bunker Wins Election
This is an historic day in Clearwater. Providing nothing changes as this is made into the official result (not sure when this will be), Mark Bunker is now a City Council member of the City of Clearwater. The scientology backed candidate came in 4th out of 5... Once and for all proving that scientology in fact has NO political clout in Clearwater, let alone Tampa Bay. Congratulations to Mark Bunker! Also Congratulations to Frank Hibbard who will be the new Mayor of Clearwater. The people I feel sorry for are those in OSA Flag. This loss will be blamed on them. It will not be … [Read more...]