jon atack, family and friends

A review of the current court case in Los Angeles Criminal Courts where Danny Masterson is being tried for sexual assault.   These are the TOP 5 points covered in this video:    1. Three women came forward to report the same incident to the Los Angeles Police Department: actor Danny Masterson had allegedly offered them a drink which made them semi-incapacitated, and then coerce...

Christian Szurko has helped thousands of former members of extremist authoritarian sects in their recovery. He and Jon agree that taking responsibility for the harm you have done is a necessary part of that recovery. This responsibility is balanced against the coercive control the member was subjected to, but this mitigates rather than excuses our harmful actions. Christian and Jon also discuss th...

Mike Rinder was at the very pinnacle of Scientology management. under both Ron Hubbard and David Miscavige for more than three decades. He reveals the inner, and malevolent, workings of the group during that time. Mike reads from his remarkable new book and shares his insights with Jon about the dreadful conditions at the heart of Scientology.    As a Watch Messenger, Mike was often alon...

Investigator Jeffrey Augustine talks through the Director of Special Affairs checklist with Jon. Every Scientology organization has an official who monitors potential public relations catastrophes through infiltration, staff criminality, or legal threats. Jeffrey reads through a copy of the weekly report showing just how paranoid Scientology is. Links:  Scientology Money Project: https://scie...

There is much said about the Scientology Cult and L Ron Hubbard, but condensing it down to basics, it is a church that wants tens of thousands of dollars, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, to train you to use Scientology techniques to expel the attached spirits that are stuck to you or your body. This is their Holy Grail and Secret of Secrets. ---------- Links:   Vanity Fair - What Katie...

Jolyn Armstrong grew up as a Mormon in Utah but never really believed. She became a trauma recovery coach after experiencing trauma and has just published Trauma Recovery: A 90-Day Guidebook to Building a Great Life After Trauma.   links:    Jolyn's book: https://www.amazon.com/Trauma-Recovery-90-Day-Guidebook-Building-ebook/dp/B0B9Q46QYC/  Steven Hassan's BITE model: https://f...

Why do so many people crave certainty despite evidence that their certainty is emotional rather than rational? What can we learn from this need and how can we come to terms with uncertainty? Celebrated author Mark Laxer speaks with Jon about these weighty questions.   Mark Laxer's books: https://www.ramatraumatrump.com  read about "suspendergate": http://brendanixononamish.blogspot....

many former members remain trapped in Ron Hubbard's psychological prison. Karen talks with Jon about escaping the dismal mental slavery of Scientology's implants and the tools that former members have to stop authoritarian groups like Scientology from ruining the future.   full George Bailey clip: https://youtu.be/_2YnX83ghME

An interviewer told Jon that he'd been told repeatedly that he couldn't work as a documentary presenter because he is a white male. This sparked a conversation with Yuval Laor, PhD, about the neo-liberal dogma followed so blindly by all parts of the political spectrum when image overtakes reason.

Jon talks with one of the most successful recovery experts Christian Szurko about his model of involvement with authoritarian groups. Christian refines decades of work with thousands of recovering members to give a clear and exceptionally useful model that will help many to better understand their own and other people's involvement with extremist authoritarian sects.   learn more about the tr...

Professor Emerita Eileen Barker talks with Jon about her long career as a sociologist studying various religious groups with a special focus on the Unification Church. Jon talks with Professor Barker about coercive control, brainwashing and kidnap deprogramming and her continued study of the Moonie sects.

Craig Malkin of the Harvard Medical School has defined narcissism as 'feeling special.' We question this definition and even the use of the word 'narcissism' to describe people who demand adulation because they don't feel love. A wide-ranging discussion that also questions the use of symptoms to define psychiatric conditions, the authoritarian nature of our society, and the danger of human predato...

Jon Atack coaches the audience on suing Scientology after years and years of experience in handling SCN litigation.

Putin's advisor Alexander Dugin wants to reclaim Russia's empire through conquest. He hates science and technology and longs for the time of Ivan the Terrible. He'd like to stop the machines, destroy the Internet and return the Russians to serfdom. Yet the Russians celebrate and support him. A discussion with Joe Szimhart.

Kelvin Pierce wrote his book, "Sins of My Father" because he heard Donald Trump using the same rhetoric as his neo-Nazi father. Kelvin and Jon talk about the divisions in our society and the divisiveness of our politicians.    links:  debunking the protocols of the elders of Zion: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protocols-of-the-Elders-of-Zion    lyrics to "you've got to...

Should former members of authoritarian groups speak out immediately or should they wait until they're beyond the trauma of membership? Jon and director documentarian Hoyt Richards go into the fine print about speaking out.   Hoyt talks with Steven Hassan: https://youtu.be/oTC_9v8gIvU

Modern 'Traditionalism' is based on a shallow study of mysticism interfused with a lust for the End Days. Traditionalism inspired Putin to invade Ukraine and led to Donald Trump's attempt to isolate the US from the world. Many of our leaders listen to Traditionalist gurus who have created a new tribalism through a simplistic view of history. Jon talks with Christian about tradition and the danger...

Voltaire said that people who believe absurdities will commit atrocities. Traditionalism is the simplistic creation of a golden age to support ideas of tribalism and racial purity. It has taken hold of populist movements and generated a new and ill-informed rightist upsurge. In the US, it is represented by Steve Bannon - who put Trump in the White House and was his first Chief of Staff; in Russia,...

Cult expert Joe Szimhart discusses attitudes toward death from prehistoric times to present cult recruitment. This fear makes us all vulnerable to cultic lures.

Scientology's most highly trained defector discusses Ron Hubbard's inhumane treatment of his followers - from throwing a pensioner who couldn't swim from four storeys into the sea to ordering a four-year-old to be locked in his ship's chain locker. Karen considers the attributes of a human predator given in Jon's book Opening Our Minds as they apply to Hubbard.

ANALYTICS EDIT VIDEO Recovery counselor Frances Peters talks with Jon about the signs that show someone has joined an extreme authoritarian group and how best to help them reconsider their involvement.

For some people, meditation can be devastating. Scientific investigation showed this decades ago, but health systems continue to recommend Mindfulness as a panacea. Joe and Pat were long-term meditators and are steeped in the scientific literature. They describe the puja ceremony in Transcendental Meditation and Jon describes his own experience at age 18 of learning zazen in an accredited Soto Zen...

Mark Laxer was there from the beginning when Frederick Lenz splintered from the Sri Chinmoy group and created the Rama cult. Mark has written three books and is currently working on a screen play about his experiences. Mark reconnected with a friend from those earlier days and was interested he felt that the experience - although in many ways negative - had been formative. Although Nietzsche's 'wh...

A deep dive into the reality of 'racial purity, the origins of Aryanism, and the reality of our genetic interconnectedness to all the people of Earth. As Yuval says, there's no such thing as race, but there is such a thing as racism.

Karen and Jon discuss the 70-year criminal history of Scientology.