Only a month after the Clearwater, Florida city council knuckled under and voted to turn over a downtown street to Scientology, church leader David Miscavige is wasting no time, announcing that on August 1 he’ll preside over a ground-breaking ceremony to celebrate the future L. Ron Hubbard Hall.
The 3,500-seat auditorium will be going in near Scientology’s other major Clearwater monuments to Hubbard, the Fort Harrison Hotel and the Flag Building. The new Hall, and a new park across the street, will complete Miscavige’s grand vision for Scientology’s version of Vatican City, what it calls the Flag Land Base or simply “Flag,” the “spiritual mecca” for the worldwide organization.
The ceremony is a fundraising tool, clearly, but it’s also impossible not to view it as a victory celebration over the dupes at City Hall, who turned over a street that it didn’t have to, and that Scientology won’t even have to pay for. (Initially, Scientology agreed to pay $1.4 million if the city vacated the street’s right-of-way, but after Florida’s Scientology-friendly attorney general weighed in, the church insisted it wouldn’t have to pay a dime.)
That dispute may end up in the courts, and we’re told that Miscavige’s project still has a long way to go to get required building permits from various agencies. It could be years before L. Ron Hubbard Hall actually opens its doors.
But for now, Miscavige is gloating, and in his usual style…
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The opening music in that $cieno vid reminded me of a Renaissance funeral dirge. Every clam in the world is going to try to find some excuse to avoid Clearwater on Aug 1 and 2. The regging will be legendary. I do expect the whales to show up and show off by leading the pledge boards by promising really big bucks. I hope all of the tRump loving billionaires show up and publicly throw down big bucks. As the Bible says, 'you will know them by their fruits'. This fruit is rancid.
Off topic - Tom Cruise gave the opening speech at the Spain-Argentina match:
"More than 30 days, 48 nations began a journey. They crossed oceans, they crossed borders, they crossed cultures. And together, they showed us why this game belongs to the world. From the three countries across them, and from every corner of the globe, we have witnessed greatness. And we have shared in moments of joy, moments of hope, moments we will all never forget.
Football is a language spoken without words. A force that unites people, that turns strangers into friends, and reminds us of what we all have in common. Today, only two teams remain: España en Argentina.
But these stories, these stories belong to each and every one of us. To every nation. To every player. To every supporter. To every volunteer. To every dream carried on the pinch. So as we gather for one final chapter, let us celebrate a tournament that brought the world together. Let us celebrate each other. This is football. This is unity. And this... This is greatness."
This is blathering stupidity, just like that song "The Future is Calling" in the LRH Hall video. A quick search showed dozens of songs with those words, seems likely that they borrowed one. Or got an AI to mix one up for them. In my day Peter Schless did most of the music, and it was rare to have strings. Simply because a string section generally needs at least 6 musicians to sound impressive, and there were none at the Int Base. Peter could fake it on his Synclavier, but not as the featured sound.