[Today’s guest post is by Clearwater Vice Mayor Mark Bunker] Attorney Elise Winters has hated the idea of me on the Downtown Development Board since I was elected. She previously tried to get me kicked off the board with some very transparent maneuvers and failed. She has me exiled to the kids table out of sight with a mic that often isn't working.
These humorless, petty, culty intergalactic blow-hards can't engage in civil debate, prove the veracity of their claims about their so-called technology, be transparent about the finances and activities of their "social betterment groups", or leave ex-members alone. This is supposedly "the most ethical group" on the planet, yet they stalk, harass, libel, threaten, and vexatiously litigate against people who publicly disagree with them or publicize their policy-driven, worldwide criminality. These self-proclaimed "masters of communication" don't listen, don't communicate effectively to/with those outside of their bubble, and don't apply the most basic critical thinking skills in fashioning their responses to evidence-based critiques of their "religion". They are consistently petty and dishonest in their interactions with critics and ex-members and can't even embody their vaunted core principles of "ARC" and "KRC".
The scientology wankers on the Downtown Development Board need to grow up, act with civility, not take themselves so goddamned seriously, stop marginalizing Bunker, and get on with actually serving THE CITY OF CLEARWATER, instead of nuzzling the raisins of Hubbardian Homunculus David McRavage.
Bunkie (Councilman Mark Bunker)... WTF? I thought you told me this 22 year old "Injunction" (I was part of, had to fight Scientology attorneys in court...and I WON, years ago) that they made it "permanent". However, the BS "injunction" applies to when we
PICKET!
You being part of the city council and they running this on you in the council room, should be taken up with the Judge and CANCELLED! Scientology is just using "the Injunction" to BULLY you.
Until the voters of Clearwater clean up their mess, this sh*t will go on and on. Mark Bunker is oh so right to extol the success of the Coachman's park and it is the one thing that previous development board did that really makes sense and is paying off.
As for the takedown requests and straight out harassment of the Underground Bunker, Scott, maybe it is time to sue the Clampire. One can hope....
I wonder if they have been inspired by their Australian success - threaten a business with legal costs to defend vexatious litigation and watch it fold.
And... yes it makes you determined to do something.
This takedown campaign by Scientology is pretty much the same scenario that triggered Anonymous to begin their campaign to protest Scientology over a decade ago.
No to the microphone. It's not my job to interfere with the communication team in the control room who bring us all these meetings. My job is to work to improve the downtown whose biggest problem for decades has been Scientology's presence.
You have done an excellent job helping with the downtown creation. However, at this point I do think you should use Scientology's own stupid, insane actions to go back to the Judge (who made the 22 year old "injunction" permanent)...& Get it CANCELLED as it is only supposed to be used when we picket.
Now they are clearly using it to BULLY a City Councilman.
The problem is the insane degree of entitlement that tells them they have an absolute right to exclude everyone else, and control anyone who enters their 'territory'.
If they would like to be accepted as being a religion, they should stop behaving like a street gang.
Go Daddy is *not* a technically good hosting service.
Worse yet because they have folded when Scientology has no legal power over them. They are not responsible for what their clients do any more than the Post Office is responsible for what you write in letters they deliver.
It's none of their concern what Tony has done and that's protected speech under fair use and fair comment in any case. It's also a matter of public interest that this money machine that is accumulating assets is tax exempt.
I don't understand why GoDaddy have done this - well I do - they are afraid of Scientology. I understand why Scientology has done this, though, because they wouldn't win in court, so they went for intimidation, instead.
Big entities with money rule, and so much for free speech. Bah!
To be fair Soter the Scientology attack dog should be doing take downs on every blog with photos, every Vimeo and YouTube video and every website that contains Scientology photos, videos and excerpts from their books, policy’s, bulletins and promotional material. That won’t stop the exposés, however it will make sure that Scientology will contract more.
David Miscavige is a psychopath who has reached the end of his ability to handle negative publicity and Scientology like a turtle has pulled into its Clearwater shell from once being a globally expanding organization. Obviously Tony continues to effectively expose the lies, fraud and crimes of the cherch and that is completely unacceptable to little Davey.
He wants his kickball back and eventually he will be on the playground all by himself.
I believe the law says that if you know (or can reasonably be expected to know) that your copyright is being violated and don't defend it, you lose the right to do so.
Fair use (e.g extracts used as part of a review, academic study, or news story) is allowed. Also use as evidence in matters of public interest (that is compelling public concerns) or for the purpose of parody.
The antics of Dave and the Whales satisfy the first two.
Short extracts were used in a news story. It's also a matter of public interest (especially to taxpayers) as news outlets everywhere routinely do every day.
That a tax-exempt entity is storing up millions and millions of dollars to no purpose, and keeping their 'ecclesiastical leader' in a life of luxury is a matter of compelling public interest (esp to taxpayers).
Finally, the situation is it's own parody. The bowling trophies alone are more absurd than any satarist could come up with :-)
Like the Post Office, they are a common carrier. The post office is not responsible for what you say in letters carried by them, and Internet service providers are not responsible for what you say on a website hosted by them.
Go Daddy folded because they didn't want the hassle.
It they took Tony to court, it would be fair us, fair comment and the first amendment and they would fail.
All glory to the Deputy Mayor, and phooey poo-poo to the Scientologists and their contemptible fellow-travellers! May the concerts at the splendid new Coachman Park Amphitheatre prove particularly irksome to the denizens of the Sandcastle Religious Retreat! (I'm suiting my style to the Miscavige-induced level of debate at the DDB.)
Also, yah sucks boo to GoDaddy and the ghastly Gary Soter!
The only small silver lining is getting a surprise day off from shooping: I'd probably have filled the room behind Mark B. with misbehaving toddlers. 😉
P.S. Did I say "day off" — who am I kidding? No rest for the wicked, after all! 😈
Mark, you aren't that wicked, merely mischievous. Mischievous in a funny and sometime hilarious way. Keep up the shoops, and everyone else, feel free to shoop on your own.
Aah, so the CO$ is responsible for the disruption to my morning routine (reading the Bunker). Unbelievable 🙄. I should have known, it's been way longer than usual...
However, that would mean three sites, and amn extra hosting cost (Disqus, for all its eccentricities, is free). The enormous archive of past comments also increases the site's visibility on Google, and its search ranking.
Oh no, I haven't thought of that 😮. Right. And what about all the rest? And the Lowdown with all its nice shoops of Donny & Co.? (Am I even allowed to mention the Lowdown here 😆?)
I guess there will be way more comments here today than the usual 5-30...
So those dastardly images are on the server, but not linked in any way, therefore accessible only to the people who have the credentials for the server.
That's a bit of a stretch, but I suppose Scientology scares businesses.
Question: If a Scientology cult member is three feet behind ther head, can Mark Bunker move three feet forward without being chastised by the Scientology cult influenced lawyer?
I understood that it was a settled matter of US law that service providers were "common carriers"
That means that they are no more responsible for what is in a website than the Post Office is responsible for what you write in a letter. They just deliver.
Scientology could sue Tony... but journalism and fair use would lead to it being thrown out at the earliest stage.
So they are intimating GoDaddy by extra-legal means. Bloody typical.
It hasn't happened before, because ethere was no legal way to it.
This attack is upon the service provider, by way of intimidation. Like Steve's publisher GoDaddy has folded for fear of having to spend money defending a ridiculous accusation.
It's a throwback to a situation that was sorted, what... 40 years ago?
Incredibly, this matter was settled way back in the days of acoustic MODEMs and newsgroups. You can't shut online comment down by attacking the commenter's service provider.
Disqus is a commercially hosted forum service that's designed to be linked to a blog article.
The blog software used by tonyortega.org is called WordPress. Disqus flies in such close formation with Wordpress that they look like one entity, but they are actually two seperatly hosted services.
The WordPress site is hosted by GoDaddy which has withdrawn it's services. Disqus is hosted on it's own servers, and is still working. As I said, if you go to Disqus.com, you can still access your previous comments and add to them.
The problem is that each disqus instance is designed to work with a WordPress post, and there will be no new ones while the .org site is down.
Gotta rant:
These humorless, petty, culty intergalactic blow-hards can't engage in civil debate, prove the veracity of their claims about their so-called technology, be transparent about the finances and activities of their "social betterment groups", or leave ex-members alone. This is supposedly "the most ethical group" on the planet, yet they stalk, harass, libel, threaten, and vexatiously litigate against people who publicly disagree with them or publicize their policy-driven, worldwide criminality. These self-proclaimed "masters of communication" don't listen, don't communicate effectively to/with those outside of their bubble, and don't apply the most basic critical thinking skills in fashioning their responses to evidence-based critiques of their "religion". They are consistently petty and dishonest in their interactions with critics and ex-members and can't even embody their vaunted core principles of "ARC" and "KRC".
The scientology wankers on the Downtown Development Board need to grow up, act with civility, not take themselves so goddamned seriously, stop marginalizing Bunker, and get on with actually serving THE CITY OF CLEARWATER, instead of nuzzling the raisins of Hubbardian Homunculus David McRavage.
End of rant😎
Bunkie (Councilman Mark Bunker)... WTF? I thought you told me this 22 year old "Injunction" (I was part of, had to fight Scientology attorneys in court...and I WON, years ago) that they made it "permanent". However, the BS "injunction" applies to when we
PICKET!
You being part of the city council and they running this on you in the council room, should be taken up with the Judge and CANCELLED! Scientology is just using "the Injunction" to BULLY you.
Tory Christman
Vice Mayor: Looking good, by the way, Mark Bunker! 🌹
Until the voters of Clearwater clean up their mess, this sh*t will go on and on. Mark Bunker is oh so right to extol the success of the Coachman's park and it is the one thing that previous development board did that really makes sense and is paying off.
As for the takedown requests and straight out harassment of the Underground Bunker, Scott, maybe it is time to sue the Clampire. One can hope....
Rant received and sympathised with.
What a shower of pedantic humourless arseholes!
It is as if they learned nothing from their previous clashes with the Internet.
Hey, Dave, this is why!
All you have done with this is a minor hiccup that just makes me more determined to put the brakes on your little crime syndicate.
Tick Tock, tiny tosser.
I hope it's back before Thursday at two.
That´s in 2 minutes here... .So the German Scios are already doomed.
It's two o'clock somewhere right?
I wonder if they have been inspired by their Australian success - threaten a business with legal costs to defend vexatious litigation and watch it fold.
And... yes it makes you determined to do something.
That wasn’t Scientology--that was the Dr. Mengele wannabe’s court victory.
Yes, but who paid for it one wonders..........................
This takedown campaign by Scientology is pretty much the same scenario that triggered Anonymous to begin their campaign to protest Scientology over a decade ago.
No to the microphone. It's not my job to interfere with the communication team in the control room who bring us all these meetings. My job is to work to improve the downtown whose biggest problem for decades has been Scientology's presence.
You have done an excellent job helping with the downtown creation. However, at this point I do think you should use Scientology's own stupid, insane actions to go back to the Judge (who made the 22 year old "injunction" permanent)...& Get it CANCELLED as it is only supposed to be used when we picket.
Now they are clearly using it to BULLY a City Councilman.
Tory Christman
Easier said.
Their presence is unproblematic.
The problem is the insane degree of entitlement that tells them they have an absolute right to exclude everyone else, and control anyone who enters their 'territory'.
If they would like to be accepted as being a religion, they should stop behaving like a street gang.
GoDaddy as Big Brother $cientology puppet.
We will wait patiently/impatiently for the Bunker to go up 🙂.
Meanwhile, time to listen to the wonderful Mark Bunker 😊
Go Daddy is *not* a technically good hosting service.
Worse yet because they have folded when Scientology has no legal power over them. They are not responsible for what their clients do any more than the Post Office is responsible for what you write in letters they deliver.
It's none of their concern what Tony has done and that's protected speech under fair use and fair comment in any case. It's also a matter of public interest that this money machine that is accumulating assets is tax exempt.
I don't understand why GoDaddy have done this - well I do - they are afraid of Scientology. I understand why Scientology has done this, though, because they wouldn't win in court, so they went for intimidation, instead.
Big entities with money rule, and so much for free speech. Bah!
My IT professional brother’s opinion is that Go Daddy are bastards and Scientology are bigger bastards
I would like to make a complaint about the Co$ smear page on me. Tit for tat...
To be fair Soter the Scientology attack dog should be doing take downs on every blog with photos, every Vimeo and YouTube video and every website that contains Scientology photos, videos and excerpts from their books, policy’s, bulletins and promotional material. That won’t stop the exposés, however it will make sure that Scientology will contract more.
David Miscavige is a psychopath who has reached the end of his ability to handle negative publicity and Scientology like a turtle has pulled into its Clearwater shell from once being a globally expanding organization. Obviously Tony continues to effectively expose the lies, fraud and crimes of the cherch and that is completely unacceptable to little Davey.
He wants his kickball back and eventually he will be on the playground all by himself.
Soter would have to work for a billion years to achieve this 😉
I believe the law says that if you know (or can reasonably be expected to know) that your copyright is being violated and don't defend it, you lose the right to do so.
With journalists they are often allowed to use it for news even if it has a copyright
Anyone can.
Fair use (e.g extracts used as part of a review, academic study, or news story) is allowed. Also use as evidence in matters of public interest (that is compelling public concerns) or for the purpose of parody.
The antics of Dave and the Whales satisfy the first two.
Short extracts were used in a news story. It's also a matter of public interest (especially to taxpayers) as news outlets everywhere routinely do every day.
That a tax-exempt entity is storing up millions and millions of dollars to no purpose, and keeping their 'ecclesiastical leader' in a life of luxury is a matter of compelling public interest (esp to taxpayers).
Finally, the situation is it's own parody. The bowling trophies alone are more absurd than any satarist could come up with :-)
Yes fair use is well defined. That being said the legal harassment is sometimes not worth it.
It’s a hassle for Tony and we know they will go to court just to break him. They are scummy pieces of dog excrement. Sorry it makes me angry.
The fault lies squarely with GoDaddy.
Like the Post Office, they are a common carrier. The post office is not responsible for what you say in letters carried by them, and Internet service providers are not responsible for what you say on a website hosted by them.
Go Daddy folded because they didn't want the hassle.
It they took Tony to court, it would be fair us, fair comment and the first amendment and they would fail.
That why they cheated with dirty tricks.
Very true except these companies are still private and have their own policies. I think this will eventually change.
Way past time for "The Injuction" to be revoked and tossed into the dustbin of history.
And $cientology is just getting around to complaining about pictures used in stories from years ago?
As Mark said to Elise Winters, "Oh, come on."
All glory to the Deputy Mayor, and phooey poo-poo to the Scientologists and their contemptible fellow-travellers! May the concerts at the splendid new Coachman Park Amphitheatre prove particularly irksome to the denizens of the Sandcastle Religious Retreat! (I'm suiting my style to the Miscavige-induced level of debate at the DDB.)
Also, yah sucks boo to GoDaddy and the ghastly Gary Soter!
The only small silver lining is getting a surprise day off from shooping: I'd probably have filled the room behind Mark B. with misbehaving toddlers. 😉
P.S. Did I say "day off" — who am I kidding? No rest for the wicked, after all! 😈
Prepare to be sued by angry toddlers who resent being associated with Scientology :-)
They many not be good in court, but you could get you ankles badly bitten if you don;t keep moving.
Mark, you aren't that wicked, merely mischievous. Mischievous in a funny and sometime hilarious way. Keep up the shoops, and everyone else, feel free to shoop on your own.
Aah, so the CO$ is responsible for the disruption to my morning routine (reading the Bunker). Unbelievable 🙄. I should have known, it's been way longer than usual...
And how do we get our Observer photos or Mark Perry-Maddox shoops?
You could do it with self-hosted forum software.
However, that would mean three sites, and amn extra hosting cost (Disqus, for all its eccentricities, is free). The enormous archive of past comments also increases the site's visibility on Google, and its search ranking.
Où est notre shoop du jour par Mark?
Oh no, I haven't thought of that 😮. Right. And what about all the rest? And the Lowdown with all its nice shoops of Donny & Co.? (Am I even allowed to mention the Lowdown here 😆?)
I guess there will be way more comments here today than the usual 5-30...
Actually, as Wonkette is finding out, “chats” on Substack take images.
Today's has been added to the substack post - and goes above and beyond :-)
So those dastardly images are on the server, but not linked in any way, therefore accessible only to the people who have the credentials for the server.
That's a bit of a stretch, but I suppose Scientology scares businesses.
The poor little victims got their way for now. Waaaaaaah!
If I ever come into money, I will 100% fund any legal action Mark Bunker wants to take to get that ludicrous injunction overturned.
Question: If a Scientology cult member is three feet behind ther head, can Mark Bunker move three feet forward without being chastised by the Scientology cult influenced lawyer?
I understood that it was a settled matter of US law that service providers were "common carriers"
That means that they are no more responsible for what is in a website than the Post Office is responsible for what you write in a letter. They just deliver.
Scientology could sue Tony... but journalism and fair use would lead to it being thrown out at the earliest stage.
So they are intimating GoDaddy by extra-legal means. Bloody typical.
It's amazing this doesn't happen more often. OSA must have drones working 24/7 in take-down attempts.
My blog has seen a few, and I'm low-profile.
The fun part is that, when the files were taken down, I just linked to Wikileaks, where I found them.
heh heh heh
It hasn't happened before, because ethere was no legal way to it.
This attack is upon the service provider, by way of intimidation. Like Steve's publisher GoDaddy has folded for fear of having to spend money defending a ridiculous accusation.
It's a throwback to a situation that was sorted, what... 40 years ago?
Incredibly, this matter was settled way back in the days of acoustic MODEMs and newsgroups. You can't shut online comment down by attacking the commenter's service provider.
Disqus is a separate service to the .org website. If you go to Disqus.com you may already be signed in, and can comment on previous threads...
I must think about this...
How can you be in two places at once, when you're not anywhere at all?
Disqus is a commercially hosted forum service that's designed to be linked to a blog article.
The blog software used by tonyortega.org is called WordPress. Disqus flies in such close formation with Wordpress that they look like one entity, but they are actually two seperatly hosted services.
The WordPress site is hosted by GoDaddy which has withdrawn it's services. Disqus is hosted on it's own servers, and is still working. As I said, if you go to Disqus.com, you can still access your previous comments and add to them.
The problem is that each disqus instance is designed to work with a WordPress post, and there will be no new ones while the .org site is down.