An article last week announced scientology’s purchase of a property on Long Island.
Long Island has been one of the long-term tiny, failed scientology orgs that has never amounted to anything.
Suddenly, they are flush with $15.2 million….
This is a sign that Miscavige is finally breaking down on the ideal org program. It’s been 20 years that his scam has been in place, and there are still plenty of orgs all over the world that have not even purchased a new building, let alone renovated it. There are also a dozen or so that purchased buildings years and years ago and are still not even started on their renovations. New Haven, Philly and Boston right there in the NE US.
Some of these orgs Miscavige knows will NEVER raise enough money to purchase a property. They have a small handful of staff and a few dozen public in total, all of whom were long ago bled dry. Eventually, if the charade of this program is going to be maintained, they’re just going to have to spend some of their stashed billions and buy the buildings. I have often said that if he was really serious about the Ideal Org program being the “solution to planetary clearing” (rather than a way of collecting more revenue) he would simply order the purchase and renovation of buildings for every existing org. Even if he spent $20 million per org, it would still be less than a billion dollars. And if these orgs really do expand 10.3 times the instant they become ideal (as they claim) then the revenue generated should be massive.
Of course, none of the claims about the expansion that ensues once Miscavige yanks his ribbon in front of the building bear any resemblance to reality. Which is why it takes so long for this program to roll out. Imagine if suddenly they had an “ideal world” — with all their existing orgs being “ideal” and absolutely nothing changed. Just like the 10,000 Solo NOTs target, it would be a case of the dog catching the car.
But it should give some encouragement to the other tiny, failing orgs that will never raise enough money to buy a building. Hang on long enough and big daddy will step in and buy it for you. Though there is no telling how long it will take to get it renovated and opened. New Haven has been sitting empty for more than 15 years.
A few details from the article (as you can see, this is another building with NO foot traffic anywhere near it in direct violation of Hubbard policy):
It’s a 62,500-square-foot office building on 5.5 acres at 263 Old Country Road, built in 1999, it has parking for about 250 vehicles. Public records list the property taxes on 263 Old Country Road at $285,065. Scientology has yet to apply for tax-exempt status on the property. CBRE did the purchase for scientology.
God Damn what a scam!
Gotta hand it to Tiny Fists; he sure knows how to shear his sheep.
I will never, never, ever, ever get how some very sharp, highly skilled and financially successful business people and professional people in this area – long term Scientologists who no doubt figure largely in the creation of this hugely expensive boondoggle – I just CANNOT get how they can be so fucking dumb?
Because their dumbness is the ONLY reason Miscavige got AWAY with this.
HE is NOT smart.
THEY are simply dumb.
So if Miscavige is to be congratulated for his scam’s most recent, successful iteration then he needs to be congratulated on having such successful and at the same time amazingly dumb parishioners who blithely throw their good, well earned money down the drain for his Ideal Morgue Pogram, and that’s not a typo, thank you, end of rant.
Not quite: Its 12 years now since I’m out, and 16 years since I caught on to this scam and went UTR, and it still amazes me.
“I will never, never, ever, ever get how some very sharp, highly skilled and financially successful business people and professional people in this area – long term Scientologists who no doubt figure largely in the creation of this hugely expensive boondoggle – I just CANNOT get how they can be so fucking dumb?”
Very well said Aquamarine.
Thank you, Peggy L. I wish I could share details. Revealing what I know about these people, their hard headed business sense and caution in other matters, etc., would make it crystal clear as to why their throwing money down Miscavige’s real estate rat hole blows my mind. Well, its thought stopping, I guess. When it comes to Scientology, they don’t think, they don’t analyze, observe or inspect data as I know for a fact they absolutely do in other aspects of their lives. Any pronouncements from Miscavige, any statements, edicts, etc., issued via Command Intention, cannot be questioned, even something as outrageously stupid and unworkable as his HAVE-DO-BE Ideal M’org Progam (Pogrom), the concept of which they would not DREAM of appying to their own financially successful businesses!
Thank you Aquamarine! it has boggled my mind how successful business people would not do their due diligence before tossing millions of dollars into empty buildings, the living conditions of the workers, oh so many things, I kept thinking are they so needy for attention, or the feeling superiority and a refurbished bowling trophy.
I have often thought if there’s anything to Karma they should all lose every dollar they have if for no other reason than their disregard for the harm secintology has done to their workers, their families, and especially the children.
Thank you for the thoughtful, educating response. That fills in some blanks.
Stay safe and happy and sweet 🙂
I remember when I was on staff at CCNashville and I came across that LRH PL that required orgs to be located around solid foot traffic and noticing that 8th Avenue in Nashville had virtually no foot traffic whatsoever. At the time I couldn’t figure it out. Now I know why.
Right. Basically, this buying up of real estae is money laundering on Miscavige’s part. That is the concept. Purchasing, renovating and furnishing real estate with other peoples’ money, only they will own nothing because the money is given in the form of church donations. Totally legal. Totally out LRH and off policy and totally out -ethics and immoral but then, his victims paying for his real estate,, are/were being quite thought-stoppingly stupid, including me, back in the day.
I got scammed too, for a short while. I too had the Church of Scientology “walled off” in my mind as an entity not to be questioned, doubted, inspected, analyzed, etc.
But in my own defense, this dumbness with regard to the Ideal Morgue Pogram didn’t last too long. Long enough to get $8000 out of me before something occurred which made me mentally sit up and LOOK and pay attention and start to ask questions about what exactly was going on. Long story, another time. But yeah, I had the thought stopping thing which allowed me to donate to this scam for about a year and a half.
Aqua, DM sort of grew up around lavish LRH properties that were kept hidden from members, like the horse ranch in Crestone and the old spa with golf course outside Hemet. Hubbard bought manors, faux chateaus and the Fort Harrison. His successor may just be following what he saw his mentor do, not what he said to the flock – to whom he also claimed not be to being paid anything more than regular pay.
Interesting, Peacemaker. So the little former plug-ugly from South Philly is something of a snob when it comes to buildings. He is embarrassed by plain homely building wherein people are being trained as auditors, where preclears are being audited to Clear. I get it. He is ashamed of those buildings. Never mind what good might be occurring with them; never mind how people, being listened to and cared for, might be helped. Its all about the facades, with him. This despite his own personal taste being beyond bad. as evidenced by the decor of his Int Event sets.
The sets that invariably showcase him as a heaven sent – the della robia blue sky, fluffy white clouds framing him at his little podium, the pillars left and right symbolizing portals to eternal paradise, Gilt, silver, scarlet, everywhere, I mean these sets are manage to be hilarious and hideous at the same time.
And he has the nerve to be embarrassed about older, plain buildings and plain furnishings – with HIS taste? He should instead be embarrassed about his Int Event sets. Deeply embarrassed. I know I would be. I’d die before making a speech on such a stage. “Long Island Mafioso’s Nightmare About Renaissance Italy” would be my name for this “decor”.
Aqua sez:
“Gotta hand it to Tiny Fists; he sure knows how to shear his sheep.
I will never, never, ever, ever get how some very sharp, highly skilled and financially successful business people and professional people in this area – long term Scientologists who no doubt figure largely in the creation of this hugely expensive boondoggle – I just CANNOT get how they can be so fucking dumb?”
The answer to that is easy – scientology ‘ethics’. Everyone who gets entangled in the cult does some sort of course or auditing and if that produces a good feeling for them, they are hooked. They will get further entangled by doing more course work or auditing trying to replicate that good feeling. Along the way, everyone gets into ‘ethics trouble’ in their efforts to replicate these good feelings. So, in addition to student folders and auditing folders, one will acquire an ethics folder. Even in routine lower auditing, ‘overts & withholds’ are extracted. These are embarrassing little ditties that serve to blackmail culties. Even on ‘grade II’ auditing some of the sessions begin with the phrase “I’m not auditing you”. This means that the cultie is then susceptible to blackmail if they get out of line because this stuff is not confidential. Whales, with their monetary resources are particularly susceptible to this blackmail. They don’t want their misdeeds exposed to public scrutiny. Nobody does.
So, these people aren’t necessarily dumb, they are manipulated. Whales are love bombed into being members of the cult elite and given big shiny objects and photo ops with COB.
Ironically, these people not only don’t want their misdeeds revealed, what they REALLY don’t want is for the world to know that they are scientologists. That is the ultimate embarrassment.
So here’s the hot tip for OSA. If these whales aren’t actively devoting ALL their time and financial resources to the IAS, local OT Committees, and dissemination efforts, etc. get in there and find out WHY. Lots of money to be had doing that and stats will trend sharply up. That is, unless you push a little too hard and a good old fashioned case of cognitive dissonance kicks in and all hell breaks loose. Leah Remini, Jason Beghe, Karen de la Carriere and Mike Rinder immediately come to mind.
Ms B,
Aha! So the reason is not ENTIRELY “thought stopping”. Interesting angles you’ve presented here!
Could be they’re simply afraid! In other words, they KNOW the truth but…they’re being, effectively BLACKMAILED.
Wow wow wow.
YOu know, I always suspected that CELEBRITIES were being blackmailed, forced to donate, etc., so that they’re pecadillos remained secret, but now that you’ve opened this window, yes, I could see how the very successful, respected and well thought of businessmen and professional people – who are NOT celebrities with the general public but who are, effectively “celebs” within their own circles – I could see how they would definitely not want their “overts” made public. I know one guy, a long time Scientologist with a very successful business he started wholly from scratch, a very nice guy , terrific husband and father, whose FAMILY is a total embarrassment to him – I wish I could tell you why because you would defintely have heard of them and waht they did, this news was nation-wide – anyway, the very nice guy has donated nearly a million to the cult. And he is SO smart and decent…but the cult has very embarrassing information about his FAMILY which would be highly embarrassing to HIM and certainly damaging to his business if the cult turned on him and linked him to what some members of his family did. Maybe HE is being blackmailed that way. Wow.
Thanks for opening up my thinking on this, Ms. B. As my beloved fiction detective heros and heroines are always saying about the puzzling out of a crime: “It is almost always the obvious person/ the obvious answer”.
Of course there are other reasons besides ‘ethics’ that trap people, but I would posit that without the club of ‘ethics’, the vast majority of culties would have made for the exits long ago. I have never seen a correlation between intelligence and cult membership. There are plenty of smart people in not only scientology but other cults as well. Plenty of dumb ones too.
I find it curious that you never see any celebrity or whales actively disseminating scientology services. Even Cruise isn’t beating that drum anymore. Can you imagine the reception a Forbes 500 business person would get if they stood up in front of their peers and praised the wonders of scientology admin ‘tech’ or shared their wins and gains received in auditing? That will never happen because despite their cult affiliation they definitely don’t want to be laughing stocks.
When I first got in, I REALLY wanted what scientology promised. I wanted to be one of those people that others would come up to and ask why I was so happy and doing so well in life. With dozens of auditing folders under my belt that never happened. Christ, I was trying my best to be honest with myself and I was never able to even locate an engram in auditing (hint, they don’t exist, they are make believe). So, I was never able to go to a class reunion and have people clamoring around me asking what my secret to success was. I sure as hell wasn’t going to go around telling everyone I knew about the wonders of scientology and it’s planet clearing ‘tech’. Why? It’s all made up. Pulled straight out of the ol’ Grifters arse and presented as his gift to mankind. No thanks… end of rant.
They’re embarrassed, Ms B. Celebs are now embarrassed to speak about Scientology. My opinion, of course. I don’t know these people personally, But what other reason could it be?
And its not only celebs. People I knew back in the day – staff people – LONG time staff people, still in, still there, who’ve been supporting themselves with moonlighting jobs forEVER…go to their Linkedin, other websites – not a WORD about Scientology. One woman I know (who doesn’t talk to me any more, natch) who’s been a staff member and moonlighting with one thing or another since the early 80s has on her Linkedin and Facebook “Churchworker”. Of course she doesn’t say WHAT church. The others, if they make mention of it at all, say something like “Worked for a Non-Profit”. You’d think that on such pages any work experience or life experience that would make a person look like a worthwhile upstanding citizen etc. would not be left OUT of your Linkedin profile, right? Well, guess what? Zippo about Scientology. And these people are just ordinary people and even THEY keep it zipped about their LONG LONG TERM, STEAD,Y, CONTINUAL, affiliations with Scientology. Why? I’d say because they believe, with good cause, that any mention of Scn does them NO GOOD in the “Wog” “Gotta Make a Living” world.
I don’t believe dm paid for the building or used his reserves.
In another small failing org, all the money that was raised for many years was held in trust by dm/SO reserves. When the total was reached, only then was it spent to buy the building.
It appears as if dm is buying the building but he isn’t.
Fundraising is now on an all hands basis using resources outside of each org and spanning across the US. Even the poorly treated, unpaid staff are coerced to make loans they cannot repay.
Paying for a building would ruin dm’s sadistic games on the long suffering staff and public. Not to mention, less funds for himself.
In any case, all the money that is collected, even if for that specific building, is first of all pocketed by the SO reserves, makes stats, stays there for a while to generate interest, and is disbursed (without affecting the SOR stat, please) only when everything is approved by DM. He decides everything, they haven’t had stable strutture and thinking execs for almost 30 years now.
“Even the poorly treated, unpaid staff are coerced to make loans they cannot repay.”
Yes, its true and oooooh this makes me so angry. And I was never staff, always a public. Miscavige is cruel. And, sociopath that he is, how he must enjoy “owning” his dumb but well intentioned sheeple as well as “owning” people like us (me) who get furious just reading about it!
I get ya, Aqua! I still remember that ‘you worthless piece of shit’ look he gave me when I almost bumped into him in 2009 at CCNashville.
If he were a good man, no matter how important he was, no matter how exalted his position, if he were a good man and a real leader he would never have that kind of negative energy flowing out of him.
Look at Pope Francis. I’m not a Catholic nor do I subscribe to any formal religion, but I do admire Pope Francis. As enormously influential as he is, notwithstanding the immense power of his position as the head of a church with a billion members, he is still humble.
He is kind. He mingles with his flock, talks to them, listens to them, touches them, allows selfies with ordinary people.
Do you know what he said about giving money to homeless people? I’ll tell you, because reading it made such an impression on me, and I started following his advice right away. I had always dropped some coins into the cups, baskets etc of the homeless, and big deal, millions of others do the same. But now I do it a little differently. Here’s what Pope Francis said about that, and I’m paraphrasing but you’ll get the gist:
“When you give money to a homeless person, don’t just drop the money into the basket and walk on. Instead, LOOK at him or her; smile; say somthing, however brief, but let him or her know that you SEE him or her as a PERSON. Connecting with this person this way can mean more than the money you are giving.”
Nice, eh? That’s what Pope Francis said,
I do it now because I get how important his meaning is. The underlying reason the person is homeless, whether due to drugs or whatever, has to be severe lack of a sense of self worth.
So now , when I give to the homeless on the street. I look at them, until they look up at me, and then I smile and say, “Good luck to you”. I make sure we connect though, for however a brief moment. This doesn’t make me a good person. All I’m doing is giving someone some spare change, and letting the person receiving it know that I recognize him or her as another human being. Maybe it gets thru, maybe it doesn’t. But if it does, its nice, you know? And each time I mentally thank Pope Francis for advising it.
Now, can you just imagine David Miscavige advising Scientologists to do this?
Aqua, that’s a laugh! We pretty much all know it is not in Miscavige’s nature to be kind to anyone. It’s all about him. Not to be political but he sort of reminds me of Trump. As far as Pope Francis, I have always admired him for his simplicity and his concern for the poor and disadvantaged. His Holiness and His So-called Thetaness are as far apart as light and dark.
Yeah, I get it and agree. And not to be political either but Trump and Miscavige have a LOT in common, in fact, SO much that I suspect that they ARE in communication, possibly by proxy. After all, Elena Gargoyle Cardone started a Go Fund Me for his legal bills, and Trish Duggan threw him 5 mill recently. And then there’s the “Never Defend, Always Attack”..oh, .yes,yes yes, if I had money I’d wager that he’s being coached by the cult.
D-L-C, the coming Paris “ideal” org is an IAS building, so that means the international management coffers must have been opened up for it. We know they have tried to use “alliances” to get people from outside the org “field” to help with the projects of remaining mostly smaller orgs that don’t have the ability to raise all the money necessary from the own local members. I would not be surprised if in a few other cases DM has had to put some money in the pot so that he can finally finish some projects and keep up the propaganda claims of “expansion” – and if not, I think that time will come before long if places like Battle Creek where it’s hard to get anyone to care about them (Long Island is at east well known, and know to be populous and prosperous) are ever going to go “ideal.”
It’s all about him building himself a huge property portfolio that, along with the cash, will do a runner when he drops $camatology like the rotting pile of mud bricks that he has turned it into for better and no extradition treaty climes.
GL, authoritarian leaders almost never slip away, but rather die in the saddle. Even perpetrators of conventional financial frauds behave similarly – they almost never take the money and run, instead hanging on until they end up in handcuffs. They perpetrate what they do to begin with, because they think differently than you and I.
Plus the buildings they have been buying will be very hard to resell. Just look at the ones they’ve been stuck with in places like Boston, St. Louis and Albuquerque when they’ve decided to change plans, which have all sat on the market for years and years. As the professional analyst who goes by John P. Capitalist once wrote an article about, ideal orgs are destroyers of wealth – the money is just being burned through to fuel the myth of expansion that keeps DM in power, but with some underlying “build it and they will come” fantasy at work.
You may well be correct about Demento but I still think there is a possibility, however small (like the dwarfinator himself), that he’ll do a runner because deep down he’s a craven coward. The thought of him being dragged kicking and screaming in handcuffs out of the building…sigh…pipe dreams…
GL, I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some plan to move Dear Leader to some posh location that doesn’t extradite to the US, and some shell corporation already owns land in such a place to be used for establishing a base, where he could remain in power but safe. But I doubt he would leave the church behind; if he did there would probably be a very ugly internal fight afterwards with him being scapegoated for everything gone wrong in typical scientological style, and he’d have to live the rest of his life in fear of an “R2-45” order being put out on him and actually carried out.
New Haven finally cracked down on $cientology’s property tax exemption this year. From a New Haven Independent article:
“Acting City Tax Assessor Alex Pullen informed the Church of Scientology of Connecticut, Inc. in a notice dated Feb. 2 that the organization must pay taxes this coming July on the property at 949 Whalley Ave., which has remained largely tax-exempt for two decades. That’s because, Pullen said, “the property is not being used for a tax-exempt purpose.”
Should have happened years ago.
I meant to write Jon Atack, who is a brilliant man. I have seen enough of his videos, and read his books, to know his name:)
Kim
It is not possible to pretty up scios PR, and general reputation. Everybody, at this point in time, know that it is a cult.
Stefani Hutchison, John Atack, and Phil Jones, know that it is a cult, which is far from being ideal, and they are now on the Aftermath Foundation, which makes me happy, since I like all three.
At this point, I see scio, as a cult of families, keeping their own family members inside, to keep being connected.
It is a blackmail scheme.
Kind regards
Kim
Early in the fundraising for Atlanta, someone else came in and scooped up the building that was being fundraised for. Then the CoS had to buy it, and whoever it was that scooped it up made a quick million. The fundraising continued though, over 25 million , and then some. Scn is pretty gawdawful in conducting such financial business, but who cares, it’s other peoples money.
You can look it up on the Fulton Cty tax assessor website.
Scn reminds me of a mix between the mafia and the government, all the bad stuff rolled up into one.
Just another ‘Temple of or for the Doomed’.
Peggy, authoritarian regimes are surprisingly persistent, so I think DM will string along the big lie of “expansion” along with using the stick of disconnection to hold things together until the very end of him, at least. After that it will probably fall apart, as for example is happening to the Moonies after their Dear Leader died.
LI is one of the small and failing orgs that can’t even keep full hours any longer, if this video is representative. From evidence I’ve seen in the past, they do indeed have a just a small membership, and after sharing a building with an auto body shop, are now in a rather small space even for an org that hasn’t gone “ideal” yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NovrxXLj_eI
The amount of money Scientology has spent on these buildings is insane to me. They could use the money for other things but they use it for buildings that no one outside of Scientology will step into.
I am probably way off base here but do think that the end of DM is going to come from deep within. He just couldn’t keep from announcing wonderful plans he had, ask for more money, collected more money, yet nothing he promised happened, His faithful followers must be scratching their heads by now.
Peggy, In scn there is something that we can call blackmail of “spiritual freedom”. DM eliminated anyone who might be a threat – including Shelly – over time. In fact, apart from him, the entire management structure is only and forever ‘temporary’. Hardly anyone will have the courage to attack it from within. The facts are that there is a constant haemorrhage without new members. And those who remain will see more and more evident dissonances between great achievements and how many seats are filled at an event. And they will leave too. I don’t know if DM will be taken to court or run away to South America. Or he will be hit by a block of ice falling from the sky containing a frozen thetan, it’s fact that all the shit he created is the only thing he will take with him.
Thank you LoosingMyReligion & Catherine for your thoughtful replies.
Hopefully those who have doubt will decide to contact those out there who can help them rebuild a life where they are free from the life they are now living. I’m sure is scary for them to think about it, but I sure hope they reach out.
I guess I was thinking about how in general things didn’t end well for dictators.
Peggy, thanks. Right fascistic dictactors never end well. Or they remain locked up and hidden for the rest of their lives like miserable rats, but without being able to go out or live among people and trust anyone.
LosingMyReligion
I actually think, scio will become very very small, and that Miscavige, will do a dissappearing act, in our lifetime.
Like you say, people will start, to compare expansion statements, with what they see, in Real life, more and more. Problem is that it Will be the hardcore members, who will remain. These hardcore people, would learn a lot, by Reading this blog, or watching Mark Fischer, Janis Gilham Grady, or Marc Headley.
Kind regards
Kim
Yes, I know a UTR family, really struggling. One of them was assigned to travel around looking at the orgs, can’t remember why, and became disillusioned by seeing them all empty. But the family can’t all leave because of jobs, financial ties, and flat out PTSD. I know another who is so UTR even their partner, a true believer, does not know. And I suspect there are many many more like that.
Kim is definitely as you say. There have been no new OT levels for well over 40 years – and there won’t be, as hubbard left nothing but scribbles from which no one can draw anything. The whole scam revolves around the preparations that “need” to be made in order to make them available. But it doesn’t have any end. Even the toughest ones, in my opinion, have already busted their balls waiting because they know that their bodies have an expiration date. So people eventually leave. Those who remain are actually people who don’t even have that much intention of progressing. It’s like attending a bowling club because they feel alone. Stay well.
LosingMyReligion
I have no reason, to believe that your bowling club metaphor, is not right, which could very well mean that something drastic, will happen, in this life time. It is problematic that they have so much money, though.
Kind regards
Kim
Kim I don’t know how things will end exactly. However, the flow of new people has not only dropped dramatically but is non-existent. In the old days – without the internet talking about them – however out of ten First starts less than three eventually continued for a while. Furthermore, 99% of the names on their “recovery lists” no longer want to hear about it. If scn had worked with them they would be in the org.
Apart from this there is a functional aspect that should not be underestimated: previously there was a multi-level structure with specific functions. As if it were a skeleton. All of this has largely been dismantled by DM where he now controls (or pretends?) everything. So what’s left is a shapeless mass of tissue with a little bone in the middle – DM. Sooner or later it collapses. Last note: with money you can defend yourself, keep going for a while, buy mest and call it “expansion”, but you can’t buy a new public. It’s already over now but they don’t know it.
That’s why the silos and isolation – they believe what their told. They don’t need to see it…until they do. Thankfully, for some, they see it…hopefully sooner than later.
Hope’s all well, Mike!
Catherine
Yes the silos and isolation keeps a lot of people inside scio, I think. Disconnection is clearly included in this scheme.
Marc Headley said something interesting in his video, regarding the difference between the setup of GO, and OSA. Today COS gets other people, to do the dirty work.
So crimes may not bring scio down, it has to be reality.
As long as scio is regarded a religion, and not a cult, reality must convince the last hardcore members.
Kind regards
Kim
The first and only thing that comes to mind is what they could have done with that money to improve their crap PR, like helping people and families who really need and are in serious difficulty, as a church that is such should do.
Instead they continue to accumulate “mest” serially and obsessively. How much “planet clearing” one can find in empty “mest”? They are as useful to no one as swarms of locusts.