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Clearwater Hearings
The Clearwater Hearings were a 1982 Clearwater, Florida commission that investigated the Church of Scientology and Project Normandy. Among the witnesses who testified were Ron DeWolf and various ex-Scientologists. The commission uncovered a number of illegal activities committed by the church, including: * murder of Susan Meister * having Tonja Burden, as a minor, sign promissory notes to the church * negligence and abuse of children * theft of government documents * forging of government ID cards * giving money to its founder, L. Ron Hubbard * harassment of reporters and alleged attackers * harboring of fugitive Mike Meisner * perjury in federal courts The commission likewise found unethical activities committed by the church, including: * lying about the ends and benefits of auditing * fabrication of L. Ron Hubbard's life * forging of evidence for Hubbard's life * unsanitary living conditions for Scientologists * abortions by beating women in the stomach * using a front to bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, United States, northwest of Tampa and St. Petersburg. To the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and to the southeast lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 117,292. Clearwater is the county seat of Pinellas County and is the smallest of the three principal cities in the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the Tampa Bay Area. Cleveland Street is one of the city's historic avenues, and the city includes BayCare Ballpark and Coachman Park. The city is separated by the Intracoastal Waterway from Clearwater Beach. Clearwater is the home of Clearwater Marine Aquarium. The global headquarters of the Church of Scientology is located in Clearwater. History Present-day Clearwater was originally the home of the Tocobaga people. Around 1835, the United States Army began construction of Fort Harrison, named after William Henry Harrison, ... [...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, law lords, 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 anti-constitutional sect. In France, it has been classified as a dangerous cult. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Project Normandy
Project Normandy was a top secret Church of Scientology operation wherein the church planned to take over the city of Clearwater, Florida, by infiltrating government offices and media centers. Gabe Cazares, who was the mayor of Clearwater at the time, used the term "the occupation of Clearwater". History In the 1970s, the Church of Scientology Corporation used a front group, called the "United Churches of Florida", to purchase the Fort Harrison Hotel, for $3 million. The church established their headquarters in the Fort Harrison Hotel, and dubbed it their ''Flag Land Base''. In 1977, an FBI raid on Scientology headquarters uncovered internal Church of Scientology documents marked "Top Secret", that referred to their secret operation to take over Clearwater, as "Project Normandy". The document itself states its purpose is "to obtain enough data on the Clearwater area to be able to determine what groups and individuals B1 will need to penetrate and handle in order to establish ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. 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. 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. History The newspaper traces its origins 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fortune as a newspaper publisher, and is administered by Columbia University. Prizes are awarded annually in twenty-one categories. In twenty of the categories, each winner receives a certificate and a US$15,000 cash award (raised from $10,000 in 2017). The winner in the public service category is awarded a gold medal. Entry and prize consideration The Pulitzer Prize does not automatically consider all applicable works in the media, but only those that have specifically been entered. (There is a $75 entry fee, for each desired entry category.) Entries must fit in at least one of the specific prize categories, and cannot simply gain entrance for being literary or musical. Works can also be entered only in a maximum of two categories, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ron DeWolf
Ronald Edward "Ron" DeWolf (born Lafayette Ronald Hubbard Jr.; May 7, 1934 – September 16, 1991), also known as "Nibs" Hubbard, was the eldest child of Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard by his first wife Margaret Louise Grubb, and highly critical of his father and of the Church of Scientology. Early life In his 1983 interview with ''Penthouse'' magazine, DeWolf said he was born prematurely at after surviving an early abortion attempt; his father constructed a makeshift incubator with a shoe box, later a cupboard drawer, some rubbers, and used blankets and an electric light bulb to keep the baby warm. Relationship with his father Hubbard, Jr. claimed to have helped his father in the early days of Scientology but later rejected his father and Scientology, quitting in 1959 and changing his name to Ronald DeWolf. On November 6, 1982, in a Riverside, California, court, DeWolf sued for control of his father's estate, saying that his father was either deceased or incompete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Front Organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations. Front organizations can act for the parent group without the actions being attributed to the parent group, thereby allowing them to hide certain activities from the authorities or the public. Front organizations that appear to be independent voluntary associations or charitable organizations are called front groups. In the business world, front organizations such as front companies or shell corporations are used to shield the parent company from legal liability. In international relations, a puppet state is a state which acts as a front (or surrogate) for another state. Intelligence agencies Intelligence agencies use front organizations to provide "cover", plausible occupations and means of income, for thei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
False Witness
''False Witness'', also known as ''The Diplomat'' internationally, is a two-part Australian television mini-series, produced by Screentime Australia, and broadcast simultaneously on the Australian subscription television channel UK.TV and BBC HD. Commissioned as part of its required drama output, ''False Witness'' was the third in a series of drama commissions by the network in 2008, following '' Make or Break'' and '' Supernova''. Inspired by real events, ''The Diplomat'' stars Dougray Scott as Ian Porter, a British diplomat to Tajikistan, who comes under scrutiny from Scotland Yard whilst trying to prevent the sale of a nuclear bomb formerly belonging to the Soviet Union. The series premiered in Australia on 11 January 2009, with the second episode broadcast the following night. The series also broadcast in the United States on iOn as a four-hour event on 17 January 2009. Despite being co-produced by the BBC, the series was never broadcast on terrestrial television in the Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polygamy
Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry. In contrast to polygamy, monogamy is marriage consisting of only two parties. Like "monogamy", the term "polygamy" is often used in a '' de facto'' sense, applied regardless of whether a state recognizes the relationship.For the extent to which states can and do recognize potentially and actual polygamous forms as valid, see Conflict of marriage laws. In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use ''polygamy'' in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating. Worldwide, different societies variously encourage, accept or outlaw polygamy. In societies which allow or tolerate polygamy, in the vast majority of cases the form accepted is polygyny. According to the ''Ethnog ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudoscience
Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable claims; reliance on confirmation bias rather than rigorous attempts at refutation; lack of openness to evaluation by other experts; absence of systematic practices when developing hypotheses; and continued adherence long after the pseudoscientific hypotheses have been experimentally discredited. The demarcation between science and pseudoscience has scientific, philosophical, and political implications. Philosophers debate the nature of science and the general criteria for drawing the line between scientific theories and pseudoscientific beliefs, but there is general agreement on examples such as ancient astronauts, climate change denial, dowsing, evolution denial, Holocaust denialism, astrology, alchemy, alternative medicine, occultism, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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