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i hate when people call me on the phone like this is for my mom only....

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Louis Wain PNGs.

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passenger seat photo beaded curtain by noorann matties

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Guys on Instagram will post “I need a goth girlfriend who listens to Death Grips” on their private stories and then whittle a miniature Canoe from a piece of pinewood, letting it float along the waters from the Great Lakes all the way to the Atlantic Ocean

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As a freelance reporter, from here on out, emails with potential sources who won’t get on the phone or Zoom will go in the trash with no exceptions. On top of verifying someone’s identity the best I can, I also usually learn more and get better quotes this way. Plus, writing can be an isolating gig. Talking to another person is refreshing.

And for everyone else… good luck out there. From banal relationship advice to computer-generated images of girls carrying puppies during a flood, AI is getting very good at generating content that feels real to a lot of people. Some experiments have found that people prefer AI-generated content to human-generated stuff or at least can’t tell the difference. Even when content is human-generated, it seems that many prefer to embrace vibes over truth. But, and perhaps this is old-fashioned, I happen to believe that facts matter. A lot.

When it comes to AI, I’ve been thinking a lot recently about examples like this - A reporter receives an interview offer from a therapist, but it doesn’t seem quite right… because the therapist is not a real person at all, despite being quoted in major media sources. We are already living in an online space where it simply is not possible to easily tell whether someone is real or not.

Next these ai personas will be upscaled with video and voice; they will go on Zoom meetings and work remote jobs. And why wouldn’t people use them this way? Unlike us, they can be upgraded.

Imagine being someone who is already charismatic, successful, or has knowledge in a specific field. Now imagine you can model an MLM after yourself and then make that you better; you can train it on relevant data at a much faster and more accurate rate than your brain is capable of. You don’t stop training it either, unlike the scammers that are underutilizing these tools by comparison. Managing the AI representation of yourself becomes your job.

Right now this is the province of scammers who don’t have these types of goals; they’re just trying to make quick money. In the future this will be how people make three times the income they otherwise could by contracting out their “expertise” through their AI, and the people hiring them may not even know they’re not real. A person might end up with a technically artificial therapist, based on and trained by a real one and far better than this example, and never know.

This is what I mean when I say that machine learning is going to change things in ways most people are not considering yet. I believe instances like this are an example of the beginning of that.

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Edited to remove the term "goes clear" in relation to leaving the church, as that was a sleep deprived error while writing the original post. Going clear refers to being freed of corruption and gaining control of the "analytical mind" due to the auditing process within CoS.

About that Scientology connection...

One of the details that came to light this week in the latest article detailing the horrific allegations against Neil Gaiman (which I believe are true, to be clear, but not the primary focus of what I'm writing about here) is the extent of his ties to the Church of Scientology. I was most engaged with Neil's work as a teenager and in my early 20s, and I didn't recall seeing mention of the connection at the time (granted, that was more than a few years ago!). I couldn't let it go after reading the Vulture article, so I started to dig a bit and found a lot of information being shared on Reddit and even further digging uncovered archived forum posts from over a decade ago by former CoS members.

There are a lot of details in this article by Mikey Crotty, who appears to be an independent comics journalist, which was published by Mike Rinder on his blog in 2023. Rinder was famously an executive in the "church" in Australia and ran SeaOrg (the elite force of CoS, essentially, and responsible for internal discipline within the broader org) before ultimately leaving the organization and speaking out as loudly as he could about the abuses he had been complicit in as a member (at great personal risk, as anyone who is familiar with the tactics used against former CoS members will know).

The piece was written as an exposé about Gaiman's novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was semi-autobiographical. Crotty discusses details about Gaiman's family, Gaiman's participation in CoS, and the coverup his father orchestrated for an apparent suicide of a student of Scientology who had immigrated to the UK and was living with the Gaimans at the time. This suicide is written into The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Neil's father, David Gaiman, was head of worldwide communications for the Church of Scientology in the 60s, and was leading the PR spin to protect the organization from increasing legal scrutiny in the UK at the time. Around the same time, a suicide occurred while a young man, Johannes Scheepers, was living with them (the Gaiman's took in CoS students as lodgers at their home on a regular basis, apparently). The Gaiman family launched a campaign to depict him as a broken down gambler to avoid further scandal for the organization. The logic doesn't quite add up, and it's more likely that Johannes was a new adherent who had been badly taken advantage of. You can read more details in the article I linked. Crotty makes the case that not only were the Gaimans lying about the death of the student, even going so far as to claim he wasn't actually lodging with them, but that Neil then went further to spread these lies in the form of fiction decades later (we now know this book was written as a result of the prompting of Amanda Palmer, who was encouraging him to confront his childhood experiences with CoS per the article in Vulture).

The article also points out evidence of Neil's continued involvement with Scientology:

Neil Gaiman’s history with Scientology is very murky; deliberately so. His family are practically Scientology royalty in the UK, he met his first wife Mary McGrath while she was studying Scientology and lodging at Harrow House and he himself worked as a Scientology Auditor for several years in the Eighties and was a Director of a Scientologist’s property company ‘Centrepoint’ until 1999.  He now won’t discuss his own Scientology connections and states, without any details, that he’s no longer a member of the Cult that supported Apartheid up until the mid eighties, believes homosexuals are deviants and mental illness is a manifestation of personal failure in the sufferer’s current or past life; beliefs which are anathema to most of Neil’s adoring audience. His connection to Scientology and apparent departure from the cult first went public as part of a court case in 2002 where when asked “Are you still involved with the Church of Scientology?” Neil said “I don’t understand the question”, subsequently asked “Are you still a member of the Church of Scientology?” he replied “I don’t consider myself as such”. Even then his admission that he worked for the Church for 3 years is somewhat confusing: “I worked for a 3 year period after getting out of school as a ‘Counsellor’ for the Church of Scientology”; in fact he actually worked as an ‘Auditor’ in a process made famous in the award winning 2015 Documentary ‘Going Clear’ which explains how officials in the Church of Scientology keep in-depth records on everything its members say during private ‘auditing’ sessions and then use their secrets against them. Renowned Journalist and author on Scientology Tony Ortega says that Gaiman “became a Class VIII auditor, and even ran the Birmingham “org” as its ED, executive director. “. While there is no contradiction in Neil’s actual admission of working for Scientology up till the late Nineties and subsequently leaving the cult and its beliefs sometime in the early Noughties, conflicting details arise in the period since, when Neil has insisted he’s not a Scientologist. According to public records he was a shareholder in the family firm G&G Foods, which produces the vitamins used in Scientology’s highly criticized Narconon and De-Tox practices, since 2011. He transferred approximately a quarter of a million shares to Scientologist shareholders in 2013. There’s the book ‘Ocean’ also from 2013 and then there’s also his production company ‘The Blank Corporation’. ‘The Blank Corporation’ is Neil’s production company which works on all his adaptations such as ‘Sandman’, ‘Anansi Boys’, ‘Good Omens’ and the upcoming ‘Ocean at the End of the Lane’ in partnership with Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros, the BBC and others. According to the website and any interviews, Neil founded ‘The Blank Corporation’ in 2016 with his Vice President and former P.A. Cat Mihos. According to the official Companies registration however, the company was actually set up by Neil and then wife (and still devout Scientologist) Mary McGrath in 2000. The company is still registered to a Scientologist’s P.O Box in Wisconsin, where Mary McGrath still works for the Church of Scientology. One company; two very different stories, it’s just another mystery, like what really happened to cause Johannes Scheepers to take his own life in 1968.

I want to note that based on what I've read, being a Class VIII auditor is the highest level you can go as an auditor in CoS without becoming a member of SeaOrg. Auditors are individuals who are key to the brainwashing process members of CoS undergo; they utilize the org's "technology" to identify past sins by doing intensive interrogation sessions with members. This means Neil was well trained in how to psychologically interrogate org members and held a position of relative power over them as he documented their dearest secrets for the org (primarily to blackmail them with should they ever want to leave, based on CoS records and former members' experiences).

I found forum posts where others reviewed public records that confirmed the majority of these claims, although unable to confirm the PO Box in Wisconsin. His sister, Lizzy Calcioli, is the current company director of G&G, which supplies pseudoscientific vitamin treatments to drug rehabilitation seekers that are horribly abused by Narconon (CoS does not allow actual medical intervention or medical practices in its org). According to public filings, Neil still owns shares in G&G.

There is also this interview from 2010 with the New Yorker, in which Neil claims he is no longer a member of CoS, but expresses sympathy with them:

These days, Gaiman tends to avoid questions about his faith, but says he is not a Scientologist. Like Judaism, Scientology is the religion of his family, and he feels some solidarity with them. “I will stand with groups when I feel like they’re being properly persecuted,” he told me.

It is also well known that celebrity members of CoS are encouraged/allowed to lie about their connection to it in order to support their monetary success. Because of course they're going to contribute back to the organization through that success, which it appears Neil has done.

Additionally, we know from public accounts of CoS's practices and leaked documents that once someone leaves the organization, they are not allowed to continue to associate with anyone within the cult. Isolation of former victims is one of the many tools used against them. The fact that Neil maintained a marriage for decades to an active member who still works for CoS, as well as relationships with his family members who are leaders in CoS, indicates he is either still on the books as a member or is contributing to CoS in order to avoid alienation from his family. Any sympathy a desire to remain connected with his family might conjure is misguided in my opinion, because we know that he's likely profiting off of shares in a company that takes advantage of and contributes to the traumatization of vulnerable patients as a CoS affiliated business.

Had I known Neil Gaiman was so closely connected to the "church" sooner (one degree away from L. Ron Hubbard himself as a child!), I would not have supported his work in the way that I did in the past. And I think he knew that a significant portion of his audience would respond the same way, which is why he obfuscated and downplayed those connections.

His alleged ongoing involvement also changes the way I perceive his actions - Deception and manipulation is, by former member's accounts, standard procedure for leaders within Scientology. It should come as no surprise that he will continue to deny any evidence, attempt to blame his victims, and lie lie lie to avoid potential consequences. It is, after all, the example he was given and trained in as an active participant in a destructive cult that he has never publicly disavowed and that he appears to continue to support.

I think this information should be taken into account as former (hopefully) fans react to his responses to these accusations. I wish for peace for the victims who are now speaking out, and I hope they are able to reach the resolution they deserve.

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Good post on scientology and how abusive it is. However, "going clear" is not the term for leaving the organization. Going clear is the desired outcome from their "auditing" process. They want people to get clear. Being shunned as a suppressive person is what happens when people leave. But maybe that doesn't apply to wealthy celebrities. They seem to have different rules for people of high status.

Ah, you are totally right! I was a bit sleep deprived and down the rabbit hole yesterday when i wrote the post, I will edit the original. Although unfortunately the incorrect version is in circulation now... :/

And based on many accounts from celebrities who have left, they encountered similar experiences, but I addressed those thoughts just now in another ask reply.

Thank you for reaching out! :)

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Heya about the Scientology thing, you are allowed to leave/distance yourself from Scientology, you just can't say anything even slightly negative about it. If you do, then they go 'fair game' and smear/harrass

Hey anon, hope your day is going well! You're definitely right about the Fair Game policy and how it is intended to prevent folks from speaking out about their experiences.

Based on what I've read/seen in documentaries related to Scientology, it is a very risky thing to do because there are high pressure tactics to force individuals to remain within the organization. And typically an individual who fully departs from the organization is also subject to Disconnection, which Leah Remini and other former members have spoken about very publicly, which means that any remaining family members/friends are disallowed by the org from remaining in contact with the former member regardless of their public stance against the "church". There are some recent cited examples in the wikipedia article on Disconnection as a general starting point for folks who are unfamiliar with the practice (not suggesting you are not, anon, but for general education), but those recent examples indicate to me at least that this is still an active policy. It's possible that exceptions might be made for celebrities, but it hasn't happened for many publicly out celebrities, even before they were openly critical, so I don't think it's likely in most cases that they would be allowed to leave without repercussion.

It also does not appear to be the case that Neil was not connected to the org throughout most of his career - There are records of him and his ex-wife as members in good standing with large monetary donations in CoS's Cornerstone newsletter as recently as 2009, as well as his share holdings in G&G that I mentioned in the original post. He has maintained public relationships with family members who are still active in the organization, and extremely highly positioned within CoS as well, which I interpret as compelling evidence that he is still in good standing with CoS.

Now I think it is fair to say we cannot outright prove that Neil is currently involved in CoS, and it may be the case that in recent years he has distanced himself and avoided criticizing it in order to avoid the potential consequences.

But! We can also prove that he has profited off his connection to the org and contributed to the suffering of members who have been taken in by it in the past. And I personally think that this information damages his credibility and supports allegations of a pattern of behavior in which individuals who come into his orbit are taken advantage of, regardless of his current status within CoS.

Be well!

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Mr. Gaiman is blocked by me, btw. Folks who are tagging him on this post will need to make their own for him to see anything because I have no desire to discuss this with him directly, nor do I anticipate any response from him considering, uh, the other things he’s dealing with right now. I do not argue with people on the internet, least of all celebrities who are much wealthier and more powerful than I.

About that Scientology connection...

One of the details that came to light this week in the latest article detailing the horrific allegations against Neil Gaiman (which I believe are true, to be clear, but not the primary focus of what I'm writing about here) is the extent of his ties to the Church of Scientology. I was most engaged with Neil's work as a teenager and in my early 20s, and I didn't recall seeing mention of the connection at the time (granted, that was more than a few years ago!). I couldn't let it go after reading the Vulture article, so I started to dig a bit and found a lot of information being shared on Reddit and even further digging uncovered archived forum posts from over a decade ago by former CoS members.

There are a lot of details in this article by Mikey Crotty, who appears to be an independent comics journalist, which was published by Mike Rinder on his blog in 2023. Rinder was famously an executive in the "church" in Australia and ran SeaOrg (the elite force of CoS, essentially, and responsible for internal discipline within the broader org) before ultimately leaving the organization and speaking out as loudly as he could about the abuses he had been complicit in as a member (at great personal risk, as anyone who is familiar with the tactics used against former CoS members will know).

The piece was written as an exposé about Gaiman's novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was semi-autobiographical. Crotty discusses details about Gaiman's family, Gaiman's participation in CoS, and the coverup his father orchestrated for an apparent suicide of a student of Scientology who had immigrated to the UK and was living with the Gaimans at the time. This suicide is written into The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Neil's father, David Gaiman, was head of worldwide communications for the Church of Scientology in the 60s, and was leading the PR spin to protect the organization from increasing legal scrutiny in the UK at the time. Around the same time, a suicide occurred while a young man, Johannes Scheepers, was living with them (the Gaiman's took in CoS students as lodgers at their home on a regular basis, apparently). The Gaiman family launched a campaign to depict him as a broken down gambler to avoid further scandal for the organization. The logic doesn't quite add up, and it's more likely that Johannes was a new adherent who had been badly taken advantage of. You can read more details in the article I linked. Crotty makes the case that not only were the Gaimans lying about the death of the student, even going so far as to claim he wasn't actually lodging with them, but that Neil then went further to spread these lies in the form of fiction decades later (we now know this book was written as a result of the prompting of Amanda Palmer, who was encouraging him to confront his childhood experiences with CoS per the article in Vulture).

The article also points out evidence of Neil's continued involvement with Scientology:

Neil Gaiman’s history with Scientology is very murky; deliberately so. His family are practically Scientology royalty in the UK, he met his first wife Mary McGrath while she was studying Scientology and lodging at Harrow House and he himself worked as a Scientology Auditor for several years in the Eighties and was a Director of a Scientologist’s property company ‘Centrepoint’ until 1999.  He now won’t discuss his own Scientology connections and states, without any details, that he’s no longer a member of the Cult that supported Apartheid up until the mid eighties, believes homosexuals are deviants and mental illness is a manifestation of personal failure in the sufferer’s current or past life; beliefs which are anathema to most of Neil’s adoring audience. His connection to Scientology and apparent departure from the cult first went public as part of a court case in 2002 where when asked “Are you still involved with the Church of Scientology?” Neil said “I don’t understand the question”, subsequently asked “Are you still a member of the Church of Scientology?” he replied “I don’t consider myself as such”. Even then his admission that he worked for the Church for 3 years is somewhat confusing: “I worked for a 3 year period after getting out of school as a ‘Counsellor’ for the Church of Scientology”; in fact he actually worked as an ‘Auditor’ in a process made famous in the award winning 2015 Documentary ‘Going Clear’ which explains how officials in the Church of Scientology keep in-depth records on everything its members say during private ‘auditing’ sessions and then use their secrets against them. Renowned Journalist and author on Scientology Tony Ortega says that Gaiman “became a Class VIII auditor, and even ran the Birmingham “org” as its ED, executive director. “. While there is no contradiction in Neil’s actual admission of working for Scientology up till the late Nineties and subsequently leaving the cult and its beliefs sometime in the early Noughties, conflicting details arise in the period since, when Neil has insisted he’s not a Scientologist. According to public records he was a shareholder in the family firm G&G Foods, which produces the vitamins used in Scientology’s highly criticized Narconon and De-Tox practices, since 2011. He transferred approximately a quarter of a million shares to Scientologist shareholders in 2013. There’s the book ‘Ocean’ also from 2013 and then there’s also his production company ‘The Blank Corporation’. ‘The Blank Corporation’ is Neil’s production company which works on all his adaptations such as ‘Sandman’, ‘Anansi Boys’, ‘Good Omens’ and the upcoming ‘Ocean at the End of the Lane’ in partnership with Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros, the BBC and others. According to the website and any interviews, Neil founded ‘The Blank Corporation’ in 2016 with his Vice President and former P.A. Cat Mihos. According to the official Companies registration however, the company was actually set up by Neil and then wife (and still devout Scientologist) Mary McGrath in 2000. The company is still registered to a Scientologist’s P.O Box in Wisconsin, where Mary McGrath still works for the Church of Scientology. One company; two very different stories, it’s just another mystery, like what really happened to cause Johannes Scheepers to take his own life in 1968.

I want to note that based on what I've read, being a Class VIII auditor is the highest level you can go as an auditor in CoS without becoming a member of SeaOrg. Auditors are individuals who are key to the brainwashing process members of CoS undergo; they utilize the org's "technology" to identify past sins by doing intensive interrogation sessions with members. This means Neil was well trained in how to psychologically interrogate org members and held a position of relative power over them as he documented their dearest secrets for the org (primarily to blackmail them with should they ever want to leave, based on CoS records and former members' experiences).

I found forum posts where others reviewed public records that confirmed the majority of these claims, although unable to confirm the PO Box in Wisconsin. His sister, Lizzy Calcioli, is the current company director of G&G, which supplies pseudoscientific vitamin treatments to drug rehabilitation seekers that are horribly abused by Narconon (CoS does not allow actual medical intervention or medical practices in its org). According to public filings, Neil still owns shares in G&G.

There is also this interview from 2010 with the New Yorker, in which Neil claims he is no longer a member of CoS, but expresses sympathy with them:

These days, Gaiman tends to avoid questions about his faith, but says he is not a Scientologist. Like Judaism, Scientology is the religion of his family, and he feels some solidarity with them. “I will stand with groups when I feel like they’re being properly persecuted,” he told me.

It is also well known that celebrity members of CoS are encouraged/allowed to lie about their connection to it in order to support their monetary success. Because of course they're going to contribute back to the organization through that success, which it appears Neil has done.

Additionally, we know from public accounts of CoS's practices and leaked documents that once someone "goes clear" and leaves the organization, they are not allowed to continue to associate with anyone within the cult. Isolation of former victims is one of the many tools used against them. The fact that Neil maintained a marriage for decades to an active member who still works for CoS, as well as relationships with his family members who are leaders in CoS, indicates he is either still on the books as a member or is contributing to CoS in order to avoid alienation from his family. Any sympathy a desire to remain connected with his family might conjure is misguided in my opinion, because we know that he's likely profiting off of shares in a company that takes advantage of and contributes to the traumatization of vulnerable patients as a CoS affiliated business.

Had I known Neil Gaiman was so closely connected to the "church" sooner (one degree away from L. Ron Hubbard himself as a child!), I would not have supported his work in the way that I did in the past. And I think he knew that a significant portion of his audience would respond the same way, which is why he obfuscated and downplayed those connections.

His alleged ongoing involvement also changes the way I perceive his actions - Deception and manipulation is, by former member's accounts, standard procedure for leaders within Scientology. It should come as no surprise that he will continue to deny any evidence, attempt to blame his victims, and lie lie lie to avoid potential consequences. It is, after all, the example he was given and trained in as an active participant in a destructive cult that he has never publicly disavowed and that he appears to continue to support.

I think this information should be taken into account as former (hopefully) fans react to his responses to these accusations. I wish for peace for the victims who are now speaking out, and I hope they are able to reach the resolution they deserve.

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in small fandoms you need to be grateful to the person who only accidentally hit you twice with a frying pan while trying to make you breakfast. in big fandoms you can block people for wearing a shirt you don’t like

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About that Scientology connection...

One of the details that came to light this week in the latest article detailing the horrific allegations against Neil Gaiman (which I believe are true, to be clear, but not the primary focus of what I'm writing about here) is the extent of his ties to the Church of Scientology. I was most engaged with Neil's work as a teenager and in my early 20s, and I didn't recall seeing mention of the connection at the time (granted, that was more than a few years ago!). I couldn't let it go after reading the Vulture article, so I started to dig a bit and found a lot of information being shared on Reddit and even further digging uncovered archived forum posts from over a decade ago by former CoS members.

There are a lot of details in this article by Mikey Crotty, who appears to be an independent comics journalist, which was published by Mike Rinder on his blog in 2023. Rinder was famously an executive in the "church" in Australia and ran SeaOrg (the elite force of CoS, essentially, and responsible for internal discipline within the broader org) before ultimately leaving the organization and speaking out as loudly as he could about the abuses he had been complicit in as a member (at great personal risk, as anyone who is familiar with the tactics used against former CoS members will know).

The piece was written as an exposé about Gaiman's novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, which was semi-autobiographical. Crotty discusses details about Gaiman's family, Gaiman's participation in CoS, and the coverup his father orchestrated for an apparent suicide of a student of Scientology who had immigrated to the UK and was living with the Gaimans at the time. This suicide is written into The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

Neil's father, David Gaiman, was head of worldwide communications for the Church of Scientology in the 60s, and was leading the PR spin to protect the organization from increasing legal scrutiny in the UK at the time. Around the same time, a suicide occurred while a young man, Johannes Scheepers, was living with them (the Gaiman's took in CoS students as lodgers at their home on a regular basis, apparently). The Gaiman family launched a campaign to depict him as a broken down gambler to avoid further scandal for the organization. The logic doesn't quite add up, and it's more likely that Johannes was a new adherent who had been badly taken advantage of. You can read more details in the article I linked. Crotty makes the case that not only were the Gaimans lying about the death of the student, even going so far as to claim he wasn't actually lodging with them, but that Neil then went further to spread these lies in the form of fiction decades later (we now know this book was written as a result of the prompting of Amanda Palmer, who was encouraging him to confront his childhood experiences with CoS per the article in Vulture).

The article also points out evidence of Neil's continued involvement with Scientology:

Neil Gaiman’s history with Scientology is very murky; deliberately so. His family are practically Scientology royalty in the UK, he met his first wife Mary McGrath while she was studying Scientology and lodging at Harrow House and he himself worked as a Scientology Auditor for several years in the Eighties and was a Director of a Scientologist’s property company ‘Centrepoint’ until 1999.  He now won’t discuss his own Scientology connections and states, without any details, that he’s no longer a member of the Cult that supported Apartheid up until the mid eighties, believes homosexuals are deviants and mental illness is a manifestation of personal failure in the sufferer’s current or past life; beliefs which are anathema to most of Neil’s adoring audience. His connection to Scientology and apparent departure from the cult first went public as part of a court case in 2002 where when asked “Are you still involved with the Church of Scientology?” Neil said “I don’t understand the question”, subsequently asked “Are you still a member of the Church of Scientology?” he replied “I don’t consider myself as such”. Even then his admission that he worked for the Church for 3 years is somewhat confusing: “I worked for a 3 year period after getting out of school as a ‘Counsellor’ for the Church of Scientology”; in fact he actually worked as an ‘Auditor’ in a process made famous in the award winning 2015 Documentary ‘Going Clear’ which explains how officials in the Church of Scientology keep in-depth records on everything its members say during private ‘auditing’ sessions and then use their secrets against them. Renowned Journalist and author on Scientology Tony Ortega says that Gaiman “became a Class VIII auditor, and even ran the Birmingham “org” as its ED, executive director. “. While there is no contradiction in Neil’s actual admission of working for Scientology up till the late Nineties and subsequently leaving the cult and its beliefs sometime in the early Noughties, conflicting details arise in the period since, when Neil has insisted he’s not a Scientologist. According to public records he was a shareholder in the family firm G&G Foods, which produces the vitamins used in Scientology’s highly criticized Narconon and De-Tox practices, since 2011. He transferred approximately a quarter of a million shares to Scientologist shareholders in 2013. There’s the book ‘Ocean’ also from 2013 and then there’s also his production company ‘The Blank Corporation’. ‘The Blank Corporation’ is Neil’s production company which works on all his adaptations such as ‘Sandman’, ‘Anansi Boys’, ‘Good Omens’ and the upcoming ‘Ocean at the End of the Lane’ in partnership with Netflix, Amazon, Warner Bros, the BBC and others. According to the website and any interviews, Neil founded ‘The Blank Corporation’ in 2016 with his Vice President and former P.A. Cat Mihos. According to the official Companies registration however, the company was actually set up by Neil and then wife (and still devout Scientologist) Mary McGrath in 2000. The company is still registered to a Scientologist’s P.O Box in Wisconsin, where Mary McGrath still works for the Church of Scientology. One company; two very different stories, it’s just another mystery, like what really happened to cause Johannes Scheepers to take his own life in 1968.

I want to note that based on what I've read, being a Class VIII auditor is the highest level you can go as an auditor in CoS without becoming a member of SeaOrg. Auditors are individuals who are key to the brainwashing process members of CoS undergo; they utilize the org's "technology" to identify past sins by doing intensive interrogation sessions with members. This means Neil was well trained in how to psychologically interrogate org members and held a position of relative power over them as he documented their dearest secrets for the org (primarily to blackmail them with should they ever want to leave, based on CoS records and former members' experiences).

I found forum posts where others reviewed public records that confirmed the majority of these claims, although unable to confirm the PO Box in Wisconsin. His sister, Lizzy Calcioli, is the current company director of G&G, which supplies pseudoscientific vitamin treatments to drug rehabilitation seekers that are horribly abused by Narconon (CoS does not allow actual medical intervention or medical practices in its org). According to public filings, Neil still owns shares in G&G.

There is also this interview from 2010 with the New Yorker, in which Neil claims he is no longer a member of CoS, but expresses sympathy with them:

These days, Gaiman tends to avoid questions about his faith, but says he is not a Scientologist. Like Judaism, Scientology is the religion of his family, and he feels some solidarity with them. “I will stand with groups when I feel like they’re being properly persecuted,” he told me.

It is also well known that celebrity members of CoS are encouraged/allowed to lie about their connection to it in order to support their monetary success. Because of course they're going to contribute back to the organization through that success, which it appears Neil has done.

Additionally, we know from public accounts of CoS's practices and leaked documents that once someone leaves the organization, they are not allowed to continue to associate with anyone within the cult. Isolation of former victims is one of the many tools used against them. The fact that Neil maintained a marriage for decades to an active member who still works for CoS, as well as relationships with his family members who are leaders in CoS, indicates he is either still on the books as a member or is contributing to CoS in order to avoid alienation from his family. Any sympathy a desire to remain connected with his family might conjure is misguided in my opinion, because we know that he's likely profiting off of shares in a company that takes advantage of and contributes to the traumatization of vulnerable patients as a CoS affiliated business.

Had I known Neil Gaiman was so closely connected to the "church" sooner (one degree away from L. Ron Hubbard himself as a child!), I would not have supported his work in the way that I did in the past. And I think he knew that a significant portion of his audience would respond the same way, which is why he obfuscated and downplayed those connections.

His alleged ongoing involvement also changes the way I perceive his actions - Deception and manipulation is, by former member's accounts, standard procedure for leaders within Scientology. It should come as no surprise that he will continue to deny any evidence, attempt to blame his victims, and lie lie lie to avoid potential consequences. It is, after all, the example he was given and trained in as an active participant in a destructive cult that he has never publicly disavowed and that he appears to continue to support.

I think this information should be taken into account as former (hopefully) fans react to his responses to these accusations. I wish for peace for the victims who are now speaking out, and I hope they are able to reach the resolution they deserve.

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Hunter's supermoon.

(October 17, 2024)

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Every time I read the word "blorbo" I picture some kind of baby Digimon

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All of my friends that work at wildlife rehab centers have had to untangle animals from this stuff, or had animals brought in that died in it. This is especially nasty for small owl species.

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Let’s learn about adverse possession!

More commonly known as…

Squatter’s Rights

Disclaimer: This does not constitute legal advice! The author is not a lawyer! There are property lawyers who can provide legal counsel regarding these concepts, but it���s not me! There are a range of state specific requirements, so definitely review your state’s laws before attempting anything like this.

Adverse possession is a legal process in the U.S. that allows individuals to take possession of unused property and make it “productive” again by caring for and residing on the property. This can be used for anything from small amounts of overlapped property to houses to larger amounts of privately owned undeveloped land.

I’ve seen videos about how supposedly easy it is to do this, but it requires following very specific legal requirements to be successful. Most typically it comes up in lower stakes situations, for example where someone builds a fence over their neighbor’s property by accident. If they succeed in utilizing that land for the minimum required amount of time without the neighbor complaining, then they can claim title of it. But it can be used to take ownership of abandoned or uninhabited homes, a fact that makes landlords very nervous based on the many websites I’ve read.

I became fixated on this idea a few months ago and decided to write down my research, so enjoy this spontaneous and completely untested guide on the legal requirements of successfully taking over unoccupied property.

Let’s break it down!

Requirements for Adverse Possession

Minimum Period of Continuous Possession

This is the amount of time in which you must demonstrate you have maintained residency and possession of that property.

Most states range between 5 and 20 years of established residency, although a couple of places, Louisiana and New Jersey, require 30. There are also some cases where claiming “color of title” can shorten that period, but would require documents you likely will not have that establish some claim to the title of the property; title in this case meaning a document establishing ownership, such as a deed.

There is also typically a statute of limitations for when the land owner can sue for eviction and demand returned use of the land they own, which may be the same timeframe as the minimum period of continuous possession or may be a shorter timeframe depending on local/state laws.

The land owner can also simply write you a letter stating you have free use of the land, which negates any claim of adverse possession you would otherwise have and will screw up your whole game. And that’s because adverse possession also requires…

Hostile Claim

Hostile claim from a legal perspective means that there is no apparent existing agreement between whoever is establishing possession and the original owner of the property. If you’re already renting the land with any type of legal contract (whether written or verbal, in many states), you cannot establish adverse possession. The “hostile” part of this is referring to adverse interests against the property owner because there is no amicable agreement to use of the property. In other words, you just moved on in and didn’t ask, and they didn’t tell you it was okay.

This is the easiest way for a property owner to prevent claims of adverse possession if they aren’t interested in pursuing eviction. An owner can just send a letter to the occupant stating that the possession is happening with their awareness and consent, and it will prevent any right to claim adverse possession.

Open and Notorious

This means you’ve got to be obviously living there, and you do not attempt to hide your residency. The owner of the property could see you’ve moved in if they stopped by, and you’re not hiding in the attic or something.

Actual Possession of the Land

This means that the possessor must actually possess and use the property, maintain it and, in many states, pay taxes on it.

Let’s say your neighboring lot is owned by an investment company, for example, and they’ve never attempted to develop it. Maybe you live next door and want more space for a garden. So you walk over and begin building gardens on the property, generally caring for it, maybe install a fence or store your gardening tools there. This demonstrates open and actual possession of the land because you are using the land for your own purposes.

Paying taxes may also be required in some states, and while they don’t necessarily have to be paid throughout the time you’re living there, any owed taxes would need to be settled for the claim of ownership to work. For example, Indiana requires possession for a continuous period of 10 years with property taxes paid for the duration of that timeframe before you can claim adverse possession.

Exclusive

Nobody can use the property other than the possessor, who must exclude all potential trespassers. So in this case, you can have your direct household members living with you on the property and that would count towards possession. But the residence cannot change hands throughout the time period, and you cannot charge rent for others to stay there.

How does this work in practice?

Let’s say a homeowner passes away, and their next of kin doesn’t claim the property. The state doesn't know who owns it, so the home sits in a kind of limbo until someone comes along to claim it, and all the while the property taxes pile up. You observe the vacant property and move in, have a piece of mail sent to the location to establish date of possession, and begin living in the home. You treat it as your own, take care of the property, and even make improvements to the house. No one contests your ownership, so after the length of time required by the state, you inquire about past due taxes and make a payment to bring them current. You then work with a property lawyer to make a claim for adverse possession (perhaps with color of title because of unclear documentation or without). If no one steps forward to contest it, then the state has an incentive to allow you to take ownership - You’ve paid the taxes, after all, and it’s better from the state's perspective for the land to be in use than falling into decline due to abandonment.

It is potentially easier or more difficult than this example, depending on state law, which is why it is essential to research your own state of residence before making any attempts to squat a property. It’s also highly advisable to speak with a property lawyer before attempting the legal process of adverse possession - The court system is not easy to navigate without the resources available to lawyers, and they can help anticipate challenges to your claim. There’s also an increasing amount of legislation to try to change these laws and make squatting more difficult, so these requirements may change in the near future.

That’s the gist! If you’ve successfully done this or know someone who has, I’d be very interested to hear about it.

Stay safe out there!

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My latest cartoon for @GuardianBooks.