There’s nothing like a Scientology hype video to get our blood pumping, and we knew you’d want to see this latest offering from the church.
It’s promoting a two-day “convention” at the San Fernando Valley “Ideal Org” that next week will feature some of Scientology’s most recognizable fundraising icons: Big donors Tom Cummins, Jim Bridgeforth, and best of all, the Fabos Factor, Steve and Peggy Fabos!
We wrote recently about how interesting it is to see the Fabos duo being featured in Scientology fundraising materials after the dicey appearance of Steve’s son as a witness for the prosecution in the Danny Masterson rape trial last October.
But all is forgiven, apparently, and the Fabos whales have rejoined the pod. Hip, hip, hooray!
The other reason we are interested in this particular event and the way it’s being promoted is not only the unusual fact that it’s a two-day shindig, but also in the sense that it seems to be an announcement that things are finally returning to a post-pandemic normality for Scientology. While there have been other “All-Ideal USA” events held in the last couple of years, they were virtual affairs. Now, Scientologists are being asked to come down personally for this fleecing.
And what hours! Attendees will be expected to be in place from 9 in the morning to 10 at night on that first day. Thirteen hours of briefings and seminars! Yikes. And all leading up to a high-pressure situation as once again attendees are asked to give, give, give to complete more Ideal Org projects around the country.
Speaking of that, we do have a bit of news. We had heard that a permit had been taken out for an April 15 grand opening for the new Austin Ideal Org, which is today. But just recently we learned that the permit has been moved back to May 13.
We still expect that Austin will be the first of several Ideal Orgs to open after the long delay for the pandemic. But we’ll have to wait a few more weeks, apparently. After that, our sources tell us, it will be Chicago, an org in Mexico City, and then Paris.
So for now, all eyes will be on the Valley as the Fabos Factor wows them next weekend. We’ll be very interested to see how many people show up.
Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:
Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
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