Tampa Bay Times: Scientology ties prompt some to back away from Tampa human rights summit

[ISNOINews]

Tampa Bay Times: Scientology ties prompt some to back away from Tampa human rights summit

Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen said he would not have agreed to speak at the event had he known a Scientology group was co-hosting.

By Tracey McManus
Published 1 hour ago

Scientology ties prompt some to back away from Tampa human rights summit

Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen said he would not have agreed to speak at the event had he known a Scientology group was co-hosting.

www.tampabay.com

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When Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen received an invitation to present at Thursday’s Tampa Bay Summit on Human Rights, he accepted, thinking it would be a chance to talk about justice for migrant workers.

He had never heard of the Miel y Canela Foundation, which first contacted his aides in June. But he trusted it since it was being held at the local government-run Children’s Board of Hillsborough County.

Then United for Human Rights emerged as a co-host and spread online flyers for the summit with Cohen’s photo. It wasn’t until citizens contacted his office last weekend that he learned United for Human Rights is sponsored by the Church of Scientology.

“This isn’t what I thought it was,” Cohen said on Tuesday, confirming he dropped out of the event. “Scientology and a human rights summit, I don’t know they are compatible with one another.”

Scientology has faced decades of allegations of human rights abuses, from the trafficking of religious workers to the use of private investigators to harass and intimidate perceived enemies. United for Human Rights serves as one of its social activism groups that attempt to flip that reputation, often by positioning itself alongside politicians, community leaders and secular nonprofits like Miel y Canela Foundation.

Public outreach falls under a 1982 policy written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard called “The Safe Point,” where parishioners insert themselves in social circles with the motive of building credibility and goodwill for the church.

The policy does not focus on explicitly proselytizing Scientology. Instead, it’s about making allies of decision makers and “the top dogs in the area,” as Hubbard put it, so Scientology is easier to defend later if under attack.

“Viability depends on having all areas and persons who could affect or influence the operation under (public relations) control,” the founder wrote.

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[Type4_PTS]

It's good to see government officials in the area who know the truth about Scientology. This particular County Commissioner I believe has only been in office since this past November, so hopefully, he'll stick around for many years.

Harry Cohen

District 1

www.hillsboroughcounty.org

 

[HelluvaHoax!]

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This quote bears repeating. Many times!

“This isn’t what I thought it was,” Cohen said on Tuesday, confirming he dropped out of the event. “Scientology and a human rights summit, I don’t know they are compatible with one another.” Scientology has faced decades of allegations of human rights abuses, from the trafficking of religious workers to the use of private investigators to harass and intimidate perceived enemies.​

That quote is shared by anyone who has had the unfortunate fate of falling within the toxic gravitational field of the cult. It's more than a quote, it's a realization. In Scientology terms, a cognition.

Wogs realize it.

And Scientologists (eventually) realize it. That's why 98% of Scientologists blow when they realize that Scientology ". . .isn't what I thought it was".

.

 

[ISNOINews]

Council Member Mark Bunker responds to the story:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1418273361654919170

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[Type4_PTS]

Council Member Mark Bunker responds to the story:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1418273361654919170

View attachment 12687

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It would be nice if the Hillsborough County Commission would invite Mark in to educate them on how CoS will attempt to use government officials in the way they almost got Harry Cohen.

 

[HelluvaHoax!]

​

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Here is an example of Scientology's covertly hostile gimmick called "safepointing" which was in the cult's super-secret files even before they invaded Clearwater.

[link to wikipedia]

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".[1]. In the 1970s, the Church of Scientology Corporation used a front group, called the "United Churches of Florida", to purchase the Fort Harrison 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 area control". The document says its "Major Target" is "To fully investigate the Clearwater city and county area so we can distinguish our friends from our enemies and handle as needed".[2]. On November 3, 1979, the Clearwater Sun ran an article with the headline "Scientologists plot city takeover" and later stories claimed that the Scientologists also had international plans to take over the world.[3] The St. Petersburg Times won a Pulitzer Prize for one of their stories that exposed some of the criminal wrongdoings of the Church of Scientology.[1] Cazares also noted that he found it odd that a religious group would resort to using code names for a project to take control of a town, and called the project a "paramilitary operation by a terrorist group".[4]​

​

[link to The Underground Bunker]

In Scientology, there’s a concept known as “safepointing.” It’s an L. Ron Hubbard policy that says Scientologists should reach out to politicians and other “opinion leaders” (police, for example) and generate enough goodwill so that if the idea of investigating Scientology ever comes up, that friendship would tend to deflect it.​

​

Interesting Foonote: Scientology's core black-ops tactic when facing one of its innumerable "enemies" is to "always attack", particularly using its "Fair Game" doctrine, which mandates that one should "trick and lie" others. How that is typically done is by:

- - publishing/promoting horrific lies about their enemies. Hubbard instructs to "find or manufacture" crimes. Manufacture, as in framing innocent people with debilitating personal or career-ending damage—or ideally tricking the courts to falsely imprison them for decades. ​

​

- - publishing/promoting humanitarian lies about themselves. Hey, we're Scientology and we're saving lives! We're also saving people from drugs, illiteracy, crime, insanity, war and disease—and we're saving the planet too! Hey, we're not really the Church of Scientology, we're the "United Churches of Florida"!​

SUMMARY: Imagine a religion that is trying to convert everyone in the world to their faith. Now imagine that religion has such an overwhelming volume of secrets, "withholds" and crimes that they have to hide their own name! And, thereafter, they have to "find or manufacture" another fake name for their religion, like "The United Churches of Florida". Yes, the "modern science of mental health" folks are that mentally ill.

.

 

[ISNOINews]

​

.
Here is an example of Scientology's covertly hostile gimmick called "safepointing" which was in the cult's super-secret files even before they invaded Clearwater.

[link to wikipedia]

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".[1]. In the 1970s, the Church of Scientology Corporation used a front group, called the "United Churches of Florida", to purchase the Fort Harrison 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 area control". The document says its "Major Target" is "To fully investigate the Clearwater city and county area so we can distinguish our friends from our enemies and handle as needed".[2]. On November 3, 1979, the Clearwater Sun ran an article with the headline "Scientologists plot city takeover" and later stories claimed that the Scientologists also had international plans to take over the world.[3] The St. Petersburg Times won a Pulitzer Prize for one of their stories that exposed some of the criminal wrongdoings of the Church of Scientology.[1] Cazares also noted that he found it odd that a religious group would resort to using code names for a project to take control of a town, and called the project a "paramilitary operation by a terrorist group".[4]​

​

[link to The Underground Bunker]

In Scientology, there’s a concept known as “safepointing.” It’s an L. Ron Hubbard policy that says Scientologists should reach out to politicians and other “opinion leaders” (police, for example) and generate enough goodwill so that if the idea of investigating Scientology ever comes up, that friendship would tend to deflect it.​

​

Interesting Foonote: Scientology's core black-ops tactic when facing one of its innumerable "enemies" is to "always attack", particularly using its "Fair Game" doctrine, which mandates that one should "trick and lie" others. How that is typically done is by:

- - publishing/promoting horrific lies about their enemies. Hubbard instructs to "find or manufacture" crimes. Manufacture, as in framing innocent people with debilitating personal or career-ending damage—or ideally tricking the courts to falsely imprison them for decades. ​

​

- - publishing/promoting humanitarian lies about themselves. Hey, we're Scientology and we're saving lives! We're also saving people from drugs, illiteracy, crime, insanity, war and disease—and we're saving the planet too! Hey, we're not really the Church of Scientology, we're the "United Churches of Florida"!​

SUMMARY: Imagine a religion that is trying to convert everyone in the world to their faith. Now imagine that religion has such an overwhelming volume of secrets, "withholds" and crimes that they have to hide their own name! And, thereafter, they have to "find or manufacture" another fake name for their religion, like "The United Churches of Florida". Yes, the "modern science of mental health" folks are that mentally ill.

.

I think Tracey did an excellent job of succinctly explaining Hubbard's 1982 policy letter “The Safe Point." It you follow the link and read the entire story; she then gets good elaboration from Aaron Smith-Levin.

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[HelluvaHoax!]

I think Tracey did an excellent job of succinctly explaining Hubbard's 1982 policy letter “The Safe Point." It you follow the link and read the entire story; she then gets good elaboration from Aaron Smith-Levin.

/

Great, I hadn't seen that elaboration, but will check out the link(s) now. Thanks!

.

 

[Type4_PTS]

Mike Rinder covered this story on his blog a couple days ago:

Scientology Human Rights — An Oxymoron Update

Scientology Human Rights — An Oxymoron Update

www.mikerindersblog.org

Excerpt:

Following up on this piece, Scientology Human Rights — An Oxymoron, Tampa Bay Times intrepid scientology reporter Tracey McManus managed to speak to a number of the people concerned as covered in the story above.

It turns out that Hillsborough County Commissioner Harry Cohen was unaware of any scientology connection. Turns out people who read this blog contacted his office and he then found out about the link.

“This isn’t what I thought it was,” Cohen said on Tuesday, confirming he dropped out of the event. “Scientology and a human rights summit, I don’t know they are compatible with one another.”

Cohen’s office was alerted to United for Human Rights’ connection to Scientology by an email on July 15 with a link to a blog written by Mike Rinder, who spent 25 years as a senior Scientology executive before defecting in 2007.

It turns out the Children’s Board of Hillsborough had no involvement in the event other than renting out a space. They too discovered the problem and Tracey reports:

Children’s Board executive director Kelley Parris was unaware that a Scientology group was co-hosting until a citizen called her on Friday.

“I was extremely disturbed when I found out who they were and I think it is very deceptive not to have revealed that,” Parris said.

<snip>


It seems that Scientology has to use deceptive tactics to obtain support from others, but once the truth is revealed that makes it worse for them in the long run. Given the shady tactics they use in their operations makes people even less willing to be associated in any way.