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Scientology And The Legal System
The Church of Scientology has been involved in numerous court disputes across the world. In some cases, when the Church has initiated the dispute, questions have been raised as to its motives. The Church of Scientology says that its use of the legal system is necessary to protect its intellectual property and its right to freedom of religion. Critics say that most of the organization's legal claims are designed to harass those who criticize it and its manipulative business practices. In the years since its inception, the Church of Scientology's lawsuits have numbered in the thousands—filed against newspapers, magazines, government agencies (including the United States tax collecting unit, the IRS), and many individuals. In 1991, ''Time'' magazine estimated that the Church spends an average of about $20 million per year on various legal actions, and it is the exclusive client of several law firms. According to a U.S. District Court Memorandum of Decision in 1993, Sciento ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Church Of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement. The movement has been the subject of a number of controversies, and the Church of Scientology has been described by government inquiries, international parliamentary bodies, scholars and numerous superior court judgements as both a dangerous cult and a manipulative profit-making business. In 1979, several executives of the organization were convicted and imprisoned for multiple offenses by a U.S. Federal Court. The Church of Scientology itself was convicted of fraud by a French court in 2009, a decision upheld by the supreme Court of Cassation in 2013. The German government classifies Scientology as an unconstitutional sect. In France, it has been classified as a dangerous cult. In some countries, it has attained legal rec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
French National Assembly
The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known as () or deputies. There are 577 , each elected by a single-member Constituencies of the National Assembly of France, constituency (at least one per Departments of France, department) through a two-round system; thus, 289 seats are required for a majority. The List of presidents of the National Assembly of France, president of the National Assembly, currently Yaël Braun-Pivet, presides over the body. The officeholder is usually a member of the largest party represented, assisted by vice presidents from across the represented political spectrum. The National Assembly's term is five years; however, the president of France may dissolve the assembly, thereby calling for early elections, unless it has been dissolved in the preceding twelve m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
R V Church Of Scientology Of Toronto
''The Queen v. Church of Scientology of Toronto'' was a 1992 Canadian criminal case involving the Church of Scientology and members of the organization, resulting in a conviction on two counts of breach of the public trust. It also involved previously untested sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Preceding An investigation into the Church of Scientology's activities in Ontario was begun when stolen documents from public and private agencies as well as information on other covert activities in Canada turned up as part of the evidence collected in the Operation Snow White case in the U.S. On March 3–4, 1983, police raided the Scientology headquarters in Toronto and seized an estimated 250,000 documents in more than 900 boxes. Trial The trial began on April 23, 1991. It was during this case that the events that sparked the case of '' Hill v. Church of Scientology of Toronto'' occurred. Results On June 25, 1992, seven members were convicted for operations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as closed-circuit television (CCTV), or interception of electronically transmitted information like Internet traffic. Increasingly, Government, governments may also obtain Customer data, consumer data through the purchase of online information, effectively expanding surveillance capabilities through commercially available digital records. It can also include simple technical methods, such as Human intelligence (intelligence gathering), human intelligence gathering and postal interception. Surveillance is used by citizens, for instance for protecting their neighborhoods. It is widely used by governments for intelligence gathering, including espionage, prevention of crime, the protection of a process, person, group or object, or the investigat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criminal Record
A criminal record (not to be confused with a police record or arrest record) is a record of a person's criminal Conviction, convictions history. The information included in a criminal record, and the existence of a criminal record, varies between countries and even between jurisdictions within a country. In most cases it lists all non-expunged criminal offences and may also include traffic offences such as speeding and Driving under the influence, drunk driving. In most countries, a criminal record is limited to unexpunged and unexpired actual convictions (where the individual has pleaded guilty or been found guilty by a qualified court, resulting in the entry of a conviction), while in some it can also include arrests, Criminal charge, charges dismissed, charges pending and charges of which the individual has been Acquittal, acquitted. The term rap sheet refers to ''Record of Arrest and Prosecution'', similar to a criminal record. A criminal history may be used by potential emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonie Brinkema
Leonie Helen Milhomme Brinkema (born June 26, 1944) is a federal district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. Early life and education She was born as Leonie Milhomme in Teaneck, New Jersey, and was raised in Teaneck, Englewood and Tenafly, where she attended Tenafly High School. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Rutgers University in 1966 and a Master of Library and Information Science from the same institution in 1970. She earned a Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School in 1976. Career She worked in the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section 1976–1977, and then the United States Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia, Criminal Division from 1977 to 1983. From 1983 to 1984, she returned to the Criminal Division and worked as a sole practitioner from 1984 to 1985. Federal judicial service Brinkema was a United States Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of V ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moxon & Kobrin
Moxon & Kobrin is a "captive" law firm of the Church of Scientology, meaning that it has no other clients apart from Scientology-affiliated entities. Its headquarters are located in Los Angeles, California, in the Wilshire Center Business Improvement District. Its members are: Kendrick Moxon, Helena Kobrin, and Ava Paquette. The firm is best known for being church staff and attorneys for the Church of Scientology, working for the Religious Technology Center, which controls the trademarks of Scientology and the copyright of the works of L. Ron Hubbard. History Kendrick Moxon holds a B.A. in anthropology and a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from George Mason University. Before becoming Scientology's lead in-house attorney, he worked in the Church's Guardian's Office (subsequently usurped by the Office of Special Affairs) under Mary Sue Hubbard. During Operation Snow White, in which eleven Scientologists pleaded guilty or were convicted in federal court, Moxon was listed as an u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher. Prizes in 2024 were awarded in these categories, with three finalists named for each: Each winner receives a certificate and $15,000 in cash, except in the Public Service category, where a gold medal is awarded. History Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer gave money in his will to Columbia University to launch a journalism school and establish the Pulitzer Prize. It allocated $250,000 to the prize and scholarships. He specified "four awards in journalism, four in letters and drama, one in education, and four traveling scholarships". Updated 2013 by Sig Gissler. After his death on October 29, 1911, the first Pulitzer Prizes were awarded June 4, 1917; they are now announced in May. The '' Chicago Trib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute for Media Studies, a nonprofit journalism school directly adjacent to the University of South Florida St. Petersburg campus. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single year for the first time in its history, one of which was for its PolitiFact project. History The newspaper traces its origin to the ''West Hillsborough Times'', a weekly newspaper established in Dunedin, Florida, on the Pinellas Peninsula in 1884. At the time, neither St. Petersburg nor Pinellas County existed; the peninsula was part of Hillsborough County. The paper was published weekly in the back of a pharmacy and had a circulation of 480. It subsequently changed ownership six times in seventeen years. In December 1884, it was bough ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of newspapers in the United States, sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the largest in the Western United States with a print circulation of 118,760. It has 500,000 online subscribers, the fifth-largest among U.S. newspapers. Owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by California Times, the paper has won over 40 Pulitzer Prizes since its founding. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to Trade union, labor unions, the latter of which led to the Los Angeles Times bombing, bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. As with other regional newspapers in California and the United Sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frivolous Litigation
Frivolous litigation is the use of legal processes with apparent disregard for the merit of one's own arguments. It includes presenting an argument with reason to know that it would certainly fail, or acting without a basic level of diligence in researching the relevant law and facts. That an argument was lost does not imply the argument was frivolous; a party may present an argument with a low chance of success, so long as it proceeds from applicable law. Frivolous litigation may be based on absurd legal theories, may involve a superabundance or repetition of motions or additional suits, may be uncivil or harassing to the court, or may claim extreme remedies. A claim or defense may be frivolous because it had no underlying justification in fact, or because it was not presented with an argument for a reasonable extension or reinterpretation of the law. A claim may be deemed frivolous because existing laws unequivocally prohibit such a claim, such as a Good Samaritan law. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
