CHILD USA has been involved in two specific events scientology cannot tolerate, and more broadly in successful efforts to give victims voices. First: The Executive Director of Child USA, Marci Hamilton, a constitutional law professor, successfully argued in the California Appeals Court to overturn the ruling that would have forced Danny Masterson's victims to submit to scientology's sham arbitration. It was the first loss scientology had suffered in its efforts to suppress all attempts to get justice by those it abused. Second: CHILD USA supported and assisted in the passage of the … [Read more...]
Book Event Tonight — Join Us in Philly
I'm flying to Philadelphia today to join Prof. Marci Hamilton to discuss A Billion Years at the University of Pennsylvania. I hope if you are in the area you will join us. The event is free. I will be signing books. And talking with Marci about the book and other things that are important to us. You can register for the event here. … [Read more...]
A Billion Years Event: Scientology is Losing Its Mind
On Wednesday November 30th I am doing an event at the University of Pennsylvania with Professor Marci Hamilton. This is causing great consternation in the hallways of OSA/Stand League. They tweeted about it using my daughter's account and even created a new video where she whines how she just got a "copy and paste" reply to her form-letter complaint to UPenn. Seriously, only scientology could come up with something like this -- a whineTweet for Thanksgiving. I thought Thanksgiving was supposed to be a day when you remember what you are thankful for, not an excuse to circulate the … [Read more...]
Child USA Gala
I am out of town attending the annual Child USA Gala celebration, so there will be no Thursday funnies this week. I will leave this posting up today and tomorrow. I encourage you to visit the Child USA website and learn about the good work of the organization. This is a wonderful organization I learned about through Professor Marci Hamilton when she so graciously agreed to appear on The Aftermath to help us all understand the limitations and possibilities of the law in dealing with scientology's abuses. Marci is a highly respected law professor at the University of … [Read more...]
Statute of Limitations Reform — Child USA
I am honored to be on the Board of Child USA. It is an organization doing a great deal of good for many, many victims of abuse. Part of the important work is changing the arcane Statute of Limitations (SOL) laws. For a simple explanation why this is so important, this is from the ChildUSA website: Child USA submits testimony in legislative hearings considering SOL reform, with the goal of seeing states extend and eliminate SOLs. This year, we: Submitted written testimony in 5 states and assisted in many others, with 8 states improving their SOLs thus far. Provided input on … [Read more...]
The Aftermath Emmy Win
I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone concerned for the wonderful finale episode of The Aftermath which was recognized with our second Emmy last night. We were nominated 4 times and won twice, which is a pretty remarkable record. It takes a LARGE number of people to make any TV show, it took an especially large number of people to make a complex, live audience show like that one with a subject matter that was very difficult, and particularly in light of the fact that Danny Masterson had not been charged at the time. Let me start at the top. A&E were an amazing family to be part … [Read more...]
Religious Protections Run Amok
This is a thought-provoking, and somewhat alarming article by Professor Marci Hamilton, Founder and CEO of Child USA Marci appeared on The Aftermath and was part of the team who filed the civil lawsuits on behalf of the Masterson victims and Valerie Haney. She is one of the country's foremost experts on First Amendment Law as it relates to religion. Marci eloquently and persuasively highlights something I have often said, conservative Supreme Court justices are overly zealous in their efforts to protect religions, and the umbrellas they establish allows scientology to get away with … [Read more...]
David vs. Goliath
This is a wonderful profile on Professor Marci Hamilton, a real champion of human rights. Marci appeared on The Aftermath and helped us a great deal. Through this we came to find out about her amazing organization, Child USA. Both Leah and I are Ambassadors for Child USA and I accepted Marci's invitation to join the board. The work being done is helping victims across the United States. If you don't know about it, read the article, check out the website, follow on social media and participate in any way you can to supporting Child USA. It is making a difference for victims of ab … [Read more...]