Tony Ortega: How to make the IRS re-examine Scientology’s tax exempt status

Dead aliens, a Royal curse, and Trump’s war on Scientology, in this week’s tabloids | Boing Boing

Excerpt:

“Trump’s Secret War on Scientology!” is the National Enquirer cover story, claiming that the president is outraged after finding that a cult “spy” has “infiltrated the Department of Justice.” While it’s true that the president has questioned Scientology's tax-free status, and equally true that the Bureau of Justice Assistance director nominee Jon Adler has pushed a highly dubious cult-backed drug detox program, he can hardly be called a “spy," and there’s little evidence that Trump knows what day of the week it is, let alone the religious affiliations of his appointees.

From https://boingboing.net/2017/11/22/dead-aliens-a-royal-curse-an.html

Donald Trump's Secret War On Scientology! | National Enquirer

President goes after notorious church after spy infiltrates Washington!

https://www.nationalenquirer.com/photos/donald-trump-scientology-washington-scandals/

Hey, IRS: You might want to look at this new photo Scientology posted of David Miscavige

By Tony Ortega, March 16, 2018

Excerpt:

We’ve looked very carefully at the image of Miscavige’s watch and compared it to product images, and we have to agree that what Dave is wearing is a pink gold “Drive de Cartier” wristwatch with alligator leather strap.

Cartier itself lists the watch at its website for $19,100. See for yourself.

https://tonyortega.org/2018/03/16/h...-photo-scientology-posted-of-david-miscavige/

Proof that the US government has all it needs to act on Scientology — and it has for 50 years

By Tony Ortega, August 7, 2018

Quote:

This is a letter written in 1966 — more than fifty years ago — from Mitchell Rogovin, an assistant US Attorney General, to the IRS, asking for the agency’s help as the US government was about to go to war with Scientology over its tax exempt status. A year later, the government won that battle, and Scientology was stripped of church status, and would spend the next 26 years fighting to get it back. (The letter ended up in the FDA’s files as part of its own investigation of Scientology which was happening at the same time, and was found for us by the indefatigable R.M. Seibert.)

What angered us was to see Rogovin, a lawyer in the top law enforcement agency in the country, describing so clearly what a sham Scientology was, that it was pretending to be a church so unqualified people could practice unlicensed psychiatric processes on victims at an hourly rate, and while claiming that it had unlocked the secrets of the universe.

There are plenty of other problems with Scientology but that, folks, is a pretty good basic description of why Scientology is a menace, and it was spelled out cold in a letter from this country’s highest law enforcement authority. Fifty-two years ago.

That’s how long the highest levels of the US government have known why Scientology is a danger to the public. That’s how long the US government has known about Scientology’s essential scam, and yet in 1993 — after raiding Scientology in 1977 and sending 11 of its top officials to prison — it gave tax exempt status back to the Church of Scientology, and has been largely hands off since then.

Think about the energy exerted, year after year, by former Scientologists, journalists, and activists trying to raise awareness about Scientology’s abuses, and trying to get the US government to care. And yet, for half a century, the government has known. Why does it fail to act? That’s something we wonder about every day of the week.

Here’s the letter.

Continued at https://tonyortega.org/2018/08/07/p...o-act-on-scientology-and-it-has-for-50-years/