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Church of Spiritual Technology

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95-444: The Church of Spiritual Technology ( CST ) is a California 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation , incorporated in 1982, which owns all the copyrights of the estate of L. Ron Hubbard and licenses their use. CST does business as L. Ron Hubbard Library . The Church of Spiritual Technology points to Hubbard as the “focal point,” with the structure designed to realize what Scientologists understand to be his vision. The stated purpose of

190-402: A deferred basis. Invoices are written up for services taken, but no payment is expected while the staff member continues to work for the organization. If they complete their contract, they are pressured to re-commit for another contract term, but if they leave having fulfilled their contract term their deferred invoices are forgiven or waived. While seeming to be free services, if a staff member

285-523: A "hat writeup" ("hat" for short) which consists of Hubbard writings pertaining to that post and other writeups written by those who held the post before. Staff are recruited with promises that they are expected to train or be audited for 2.5 hours per day worked (called "enhancement"), but in reality enhancement time is usually bumped for the latest emergency—called a "flap" —or expected to be performed outside of their normal work hours. Staff receive Scientology training, and occasionally auditing , on

380-473: A Caliph) on their way to Guerrero, Mexico where they played a future role in the wars of independence . Sebastián Vizcaíno explored and mapped the coast of California in 1602 for New Spain , putting ashore in Monterey . Despite the on-the-ground explorations of California in the 16th century, Rodríguez's idea of California as an island persisted. Such depictions appeared on many European maps well into

475-440: A Class V organization, a contract may be as short as 2.5 years; extending to 5 years or more if they are sent to Flag Service Org for extensive training. Sea Org members sign billion-year contracts; effectively a perpetual contract with no expiration date. Sea Org personnel live in communal housing; Class V staff make their own living arrangements and sometimes even have second jobs. Staff hold posts where they are either given

570-459: A Spanish navigator." The name most likely derived from the mythical island of California in the fictional story of Queen Calafia , as recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo . Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be a remote land rich in gold and pearls, inhabited by beautiful Black women who wore gold armor and lived like Amazons , as well as griffins and other strange beasts. Abbreviations of

665-598: A commodity until the 1849 California Gold Rush . From the 1820s, trappers and settlers from the United States and Canada began to arrive in Northern California. These new arrivals used the Siskiyou Trail , California Trail , Oregon Trail and Old Spanish Trail to cross the rugged mountains and harsh deserts in and surrounding California. The early government of the newly independent Mexico

760-415: A follower to a deployable agent . Staff sign employment contracts , though in recent years these contracts label them as volunteers or "religious workers" to circumvent labor laws because staff are almost universally paid less than locally mandated minimum wage . However, all organizational policies written by L. Ron Hubbard refer to such workers as "staff". These contracts have lengthy durations. At

855-576: A free state, the "loitering or orphaned Indians", were de facto enslaved by their new Anglo-American masters under the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians . One of these de facto slave auctions was approved by the Los Angeles City Council and occurred for nearly twenty years. There were many massacres in which hundreds of indigenous people were killed by settlers for their land. Between 1850 and 1860,

950-624: A modest home which in the 1960s cost $ 25,000 would cost half a million dollars or more in urban areas by 2005. More people commuted longer hours to afford a home in more rural areas while earning larger salaries in the urban areas. Speculators bought houses, expecting to make a huge profit in months, then rolling it over by buying more properties. Mortgage companies were compliant, as people assumed prices would keep rising. The bubble burst in 2007–8 as prices began to crash. Hundreds of billions in property values vanished and foreclosures soared, as financial institutions and investors were badly hurt. In

1045-550: A multinational conglomerate of companies with personnel, executives , organizational charts , chains of command , policies and orders. Religious Technology Center is the most powerful executive organization within the Scientology empire, and its current chairman, David Miscavige , is widely recognized as the effective head of the church. Church of Scientology personnel are bound by policy as written by L. Ron Hubbard and by orders from any senior. Each staff member

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1140-469: A part of Mexico. In 1846, the total settler population of the western part of the old Alta California had been estimated to be no more than 8,000, plus about 100,000 Native Americans, down from about 300,000 before Hispanic settlement in 1769. In 1848, only one week before the official American annexation of the area, gold was discovered in California, this being an event which was to forever alter both

1235-748: A short break in 1862 when legislative sessions were held in San Francisco due to flooding in Sacramento . Once the state's Constitutional Convention had finalized its state constitution, it applied to the U.S. Congress for admission to statehood . On September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 , California became a free state and September   9 a state holiday . During the American Civil War (1861–1865), California sent gold shipments eastward to Washington in support of

1330-555: A small fixed allowance (Sea Org) or are paid based on a share-percentage of the organization's weekly gross receipts. Occasionally, those who work in sales or fundraising posts may have a chance for bonuses . Sea Org members who work for one of the for-profit corporations in the network are paid a minimum wage, reduced by deductions for housing and other expenses, bringing their pay back in line with other Sea Org allowances. The employees of Hubbard's Org are not merely officials, but also disciples . Hence commitment of staff to

1425-428: A solar-powered turntable, all containing the beliefs of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The site is marked from the air with Church of Spiritual Technology double diamonds. A runway for smaller airplanes is located on CST owned land in connection to the site. The original short strip was expanded in the early 1990s on land acquired by a land swap deal between CST and neighboring land owners in 1992. The first time

1520-612: A state Constitutional Convention was first held in Monterey. Among the first tasks of the convention was a decision on a location for the new state capital. The first full legislative sessions were held in San Jose (1850–1851). Subsequent locations included Vallejo (1852–1853), and nearby Benicia (1853–1854); these locations eventually proved to be inadequate as well. The capital has been located in Sacramento since 1854 with only

1615-483: A thousand years and that Hubbard's teachings will be vital for "rebuilding civilization," in the event of global turmoil. Former members of the church also claim that the symbols in the logo are “guide markers for Scientologists returning from other parts of the universe," according to Scientology in Popular Culture: Influences and Struggles for Legitimacy. According to the Scientology website,

1710-657: A vault location, the Creston Ranch, where L. Ron Hubbard spent his last days, is marked with the CST logo. It is located at 4675 Coyote Creek Lane, Creston , California , with coordinates 35°27′13″N 120°30′0″W  /  35.45361°N 120.50000°W  / 35.45361; -120.50000  ( Church of Spiritual Technology ) The property is used as an archival document storage repository, which will store religious documents preserved by CST. Located at 18749 First Avenue, Tuolumne serves as archival storage for

1805-621: Is Sacramento . The state's diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. Two-thirds of the nation's earthquake risk lies in California. The Central Valley , a fertile agricultural area, dominates the state's center. The large size of

1900-787: Is a state in the Western United States , lying on the American Pacific Coast . It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With nearly 39   million residents across an area of 163,696 square miles (423,970 km ), it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest by area, and most populated subnational entity in North America . Prior to European colonization , California

1995-407: Is forced to turn over 90% of its net income to CST. A document from 1991, reflecting the "financial money flows" of RTC during the year 1989, actually showed a turnover of 59% of RTC's net income towards CST. Other examples of trademarks and service marks owned by CST are The Way to Happiness and The Way to Happiness symbol. As such, CST operates as the L. Ron Hubbard Library. The CST oversees

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2090-552: Is junior to those above them on the organizational chart (called an "org board" ) and is senior to those under them. Scientology members (also called "public" ) are those individuals who are not on staff, who pay the organization for training or auditing services, and who live and work separately from the Church of Scientology. Members defer to all staff personnel, who are seen as their seniors. All members and staff defer to Sea Org staff. Even though at-large members are not part of

2185-590: Is offloaded (fired) or breaks their contract by leaving before its term completion, they are immediately invoiced for all services rendered during their employment. Since Sea Org members sign perpetual contracts, their invoice—called a "freeloader bill"—can be quite high; no waivers or reductions being given for years of service rendered. If a person leaves before their contract termination date without performing specific steps for leaving (called "routing out" ), they are considered "blown" and such individuals will often be declared suppressive . This section contains

2280-416: Is supposedly a store for material written by L.R. Hubbard, as shown in 1998 on ABC News 20/20 : Buried deep in these New Mexico hills in steel-lined tunnels, said to be able to survive a nuclear blast, is what Scientology considers the future of mankind," ABC's Tom Jarriel said in his report. "Seen here for the first time, thousands of metal records, stored in heat-resistant titanium boxes and playable on

2375-526: Is the home of Hollywood , the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, profoundly influencing global entertainment. The San Francisco Bay and the Greater Los Angeles areas are seen as the centers of the global technology and U.S. film industries, respectively. The Spaniards gave the name Las Californias to the peninsula of Baja California (in modern-day Mexico). As Spanish explorers and settlers moved north and inland,

2470-504: The Battle of Providencia near Los Angeles, he convinced each side that they had no reason to be fighting each other. As a result of Marsh's actions, they abandoned the fight, Micheltorena was defeated, and California-born Pio Pico was returned to the governorship. This paved the way to California's ultimate acquisition by the United States. In 1846, a group of American settlers in and around Sonoma rebelled against Mexican rule during

2565-652: The Bear Flag Revolt . Afterward, rebels raised the Bear Flag (featuring a bear, a star, a red stripe and the words "California Republic") at Sonoma. The Republic's only president was William B. Ide , who played a pivotal role during the Bear Flag Revolt. This revolt by American settlers served as a prelude to the later American military invasion of California and was closely coordinated with nearby American military commanders. The California Republic

2660-715: The California Master Plan for Higher Education in 1960 to develop an efficient system of public education. Meanwhile, attracted to the mild Mediterranean climate, cheap land, and the state's variety of geography, filmmakers established the studio system in Hollywood in the 1920s. California manufactured 9% of US armaments produced during World War II , ranking third behind New York and Michigan . California easily ranked first in production of military ships at drydock facilities in San Diego, Los Angeles, and

2755-566: The Graham Affair , which was resolved in part with the intercession of Royal Navy officials. One of the largest ranchers in California was John Marsh . After failing to obtain justice against squatters on his land from the Mexican courts, he determined that California should become part of the United States. Marsh conducted a letter-writing campaign espousing the California climate, the soil, and other reasons to settle there, as well as

2850-553: The Indigenous people of California had not yet developed a natural immunity. Under its new American administration, California's first governor Peter Hardeman Burnett instituted policies that have been described as a state-sanctioned policy of elimination of California's indigenous people. Burnett announced in 1851 in his Second Annual Message to the Legislature: "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between

2945-616: The Presidio of San Diego , the first religious and military settlements founded by the Spanish in California. By the end of the expedition in 1770, they would establish the Presidio of Monterey and Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo on Monterey Bay. After the Portolà expedition, Spanish missionaries led by Father-President Serra set out to establish 21 Spanish missions of California along El Camino Real ("The Royal Road") and along

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3040-774: The Route 66 . From 1900 to 1965, the population grew from fewer than one million to the greatest in the Union. In 1940, the Census Bureau reported California's population as 6% Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, and 90% non-Hispanic white. To meet the population's needs, engineering feats like the California and Los Angeles Aqueducts ; the Oroville and Shasta Dams ; and the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges were built. The state government adopted

3135-558: The Sea Org , staff are routinely removed from post and reassigned to the Rehabilitation Project Force (RPF), a forced labor and re-indoctrination program. Removing a staff members completely from the organization is called "offloading". Sea Org members are heavily discouraged from engaging in any family activities such as the raising of children, and are expected to spend their entire waking hours in service to

3230-527: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 2, 1848) that ended the war, the westernmost portion of the annexed Mexican territory of Alta California soon became the American state of California, and the remainder of the old territory was then subdivided into the new American Territories of Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Utah . The even more lightly populated and arid lower region of old Baja California remained as

3325-673: The coast of California were the members of a Spanish maritime expedition led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo in 1542. Cabrillo was commissioned by Antonio de Mendoza , the Viceroy of New Spain , to lead an expedition up the Pacific coast in search of trade opportunities; they entered San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542, and reached at least as far north as San Miguel Island . Privateer and explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed an undefined portion of

3420-525: The " disposition of the corporation's assets upon dissolution ". On August 18, 1993, CST filed an application for tax exemption under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code . The Internal Revenue Service granted CST's request for exemption through an official recognition letter on October 1, 1993. At the time of the filing for tax exemption , the following individuals held corporate positions at CST: The Board of Trustees

3515-513: The 18th century. The Portolá expedition of 1769–70 was a pivotal event in the Spanish colonization of California, resulting in the establishment of numerous missions, presidios , and pueblos . The military and civil contingent of the expedition was led by Gaspar de Portolá , who traveled over land from Sonora into California, while the religious component was headed by Junípero Serra , who came by sea from Baja California . In 1769, Portolá and Serra established Mission San Diego de Alcalá and

3610-491: The 1992 Rodney King riots. California was the hub of the Black Panther Party , known for arming African Americans to defend against racial injustice. Mexican, Filipino, and other migrant farm workers rallied in the state around Cesar Chavez for better pay in the 1960s and 70s. During the 20th century, two great disasters happened: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and 1928 St. Francis Dam flood remain

3705-403: The 21st century, droughts and frequent wildfires attributed to climate change have occurred. From 2011 to 2017, a persistent drought was the worst in its recorded history. The 2018 wildfire season was the state's deadliest and most destructive. One of the first confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States occurred in California on January 26, 2020. A state of emergency was declared in

3800-522: The California coast in 1579, landing north of the future city of San Francisco . The first Asians to set foot on what would be the United States occurred in 1587, when Filipino sailors arrived in Spanish ships at Morro Bay . Coincidentally the descendants of the Muslim Caliph Hasan ibn Ali in formerly Islamic Manila and had converted, then mixed Christianity with Islam, upon Spanish conquest, transited through California (Named after

3895-526: The California coast, 16 sites of which having been chosen during the Portolá expedition. Numerous major cities in California grew out of missions, including San Francisco ( Mission San Francisco de Asís ), San Diego ( Mission San Diego de Alcalá ), Ventura ( Mission San Buenaventura ), or Santa Barbara ( Mission Santa Barbara ), among others. Juan Bautista de Anza led a similarly important expedition throughout California in 1775–76, which would extend deeper into

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3990-534: The California government in 2022. These groups were also diverse in their political organization, with bands, tribes, villages, and, on the resource-rich coasts, large chiefdoms , such as the Chumash , Pomo and Salinan . Trade, intermarriage, craft specialists, and military alliances fostered social and economic relationships between many groups. Although nations would sometimes war, most armed conflicts were between groups of men for vengeance . Acquiring territory

4085-443: The California state government paid around 1.5   million dollars (some 250,000 of which was reimbursed by the federal government) to hire militias with the stated purpose of protecting settlers, however these militias perpetrated numerous massacres of indigenous people. Indigenous people were also forcibly moved to reservations and rancherias, which were often small and isolated and without enough natural resources or funding from

4180-680: The Church of Scientology. Further paralleling the institutional order of developed societies, ... Hubbard has strategically used that authority to establish Scientology upon the legal-rational basis of an almost ideal-typical bureaucracy. This social world is run along formal lines defined by "Policy"—the stream of bulletins and material written or authorized by Hubbard, periodically compiled into thick volumes and treated for all intents and purposes as law. Policy specifies every aspect of organizational life. Though formal training courses are available for all posts, staff members are expected to be proficient at all times, whether trained or not. All posts have

4275-585: The Church of Spiritual Technology was mentioned publicly to Scientologists was by David Miscavige in 2000 at the New Year's event. Its founders included Meade Emory , a non-Scientologist who used to work for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) but went into private practice as a tax lawyer. He was hired as a specialist for the complex Internal Revenue Codes. The Church of Scientology International and most Scientology organizations settled with

4370-487: The Church of Spiritual Technology “is not involved in the ecclesiastical management of Scientology churches or the delivery of Scientology religious services. Its day-to-day activities are the long-term archival preservation methods to ensure that Mr. Hubbard’s written recorded works will be preserved for future generations.” The website also states that the archive's purpose is to make available L. Ron Hubbard's technology “in its exact and original form, no matter what happens to

4465-547: The IRS about 11 years later when the service passed a resolution in 1993 declaring the Church tax-exempt. Other Scientology organizations require all corporate officers to be Scientologists in good standing, along with Scientologist general directors and staff. The CST, however, includes "Special Directors" who are not required to be Scientologists, but who are required to be lawyers "to ensure that CST takes no action to jeopardize its tax-exempt status". California California

4560-519: The Org is secured by ideological means, replacing the need for the attractions of tenure, secure salary and orderly promotion through a work hierarchy. Staff are required to keep " stats " (short for "statistics")—a count of their production. They perform weekly evaluations of their own stats and are required to chart the stats on a graph, declare their " ethics condition " for last week's production, and write up their "ethics formula", laying out their plans for

4655-624: The San Francisco Bay Area. Due to the hiring opportunities California offered during the conflict, the population multiplied from the immigration it received due to the work in its war factories, military bases, and training facilities. After World War II, California's economy expanded due to strong aerospace and defense industries, whose size decreased following the end of the Cold War . Stanford University began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay instead of leaving

4750-403: The Scientology scriptural archiving project, which aims to preserve the works of Hubbard on stainless steel tablets and encased in titanium capsules in specially constructed vaults throughout the world. Copies of Hubbard's works go through a rigorous process, beginning with the removal of deterioration-causing acid from the paper , and then being placed in plastic envelopes. They are then placed in

4845-668: The Tuolumne County Building Department the facility features a 15-foot-wide, 250-foot-long-tunnel. The first 98 feet from the entrance are improved, with a 10.5-foot domed ceiling. At the end of the 98 feet is a 10-foot-long storage room. According to CST, the purpose of this base is to provide storage space for an archiving project to preserve Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard 's writings , films and recordings for future generations. Hubbard's texts have been engraved on stainless steel tablets and encased in titanium capsules underground. The project began in

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4940-497: The U.S. Army. In the 20th century, thousands of Japanese people migrated to California. The state in 1913 passed the Alien Land Act , excluding Asian immigrants from owning land. During World War II, Japanese Americans in California were interned in concentration camps; in 2020, California apologized. Migration to California accelerated during the early 20th century with the completion of transcontinental highways like

5035-454: The Union . However, due to the existence of a large contingent of pro-South sympathizers within the state, the state was not able to muster any full military regiments to send eastwards to officially serve in the Union war effort. Still, several smaller military units within the Union army, such as the "California 100 Company" , were unofficially associated with the state of California due to a majority of their members being from California. At

5130-688: The archive in CST, according to the church is “so that future generations will have available to them all of L. Ron Hubbard’s technology in its exact and original form, no matter what happens to the society.” The Church of Spiritual Technology (CST) was incorporated by Sherman Lenske in Woodland Hills, California , on May 27, 1982. The Bylaws of CST were signed on June 7, 1982, by its General and Special Directors , who were at that time Lyman Spurlock, Rebecca Pook, Maria Starkey, Stephen A. Lenske, Sherman D. Lenske and Lawrence A. Heller. In 1986, CST's Articles of Incorporation were amended to clarify

5225-454: The best land in the state, were secularized by 1834 and became the property of the Mexican government. The governor granted many square leagues of land to others with political influence. These huge ranchos or cattle ranches emerged as the dominant institutions of Mexican California. The ranchos developed under ownership by Californios (Hispanics native of California) who traded cowhides and tallow with Boston merchants. Beef did not become

5320-464: The best route to follow, which became known as "Marsh's route". His letters were read, reread, passed around, and printed in newspapers throughout the country, and started the first wagon trains rolling to California. After ushering in the period of organized emigration to California, Marsh became involved in a military battle between the much-hated Mexican general, Manuel Micheltorena and the California governor he had replaced, Juan Bautista Alvarado. At

5415-551: The conquest include the Battle of San Pasqual and the Battle of Dominguez Rancho in Southern California, as well as the Battle of Olómpali and the Battle of Santa Clara in Northern California. After a series of defensive battles in the south, the Treaty of Cahuenga was signed by the Californios on January 13, 1847, securing a censure and establishing de facto American control in California. Following

5510-535: The deadliest in U.S. history. Although air pollution has been reduced, health problems associated with pollution continue. Brown haze known as " smog " has been substantially abated after federal and state restrictions on automobile exhaust. An energy crisis in 2001 led to rolling blackouts , soaring power rates, and the importation of electricity from neighboring states. Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric Company came under heavy criticism. Housing prices in urban areas continued to increase;

5605-557: The entire corpus of Hubbard’s original texts on steel plates.” The most famous example is the Trementina Base , an underground vault built into a mountainside near Trementina, New Mexico . It is marked by a CST logo visible only from a high altitude and was built in the late 1980s. Former members claim that the purpose of CST's archival efforts is to ensure that Hubbard's work survive a nuclear apocalypse and reform civilization. The church believes that these plates will last beyond

5700-626: The government to adequately sustain the populations living on them. As a result, settler colonialism was a calamity for indigenous people. Several scholars and Native American activists, including Benjamin Madley and Ed Castillo , have described the actions of the California government as a genocide , as well as the 40th governor of California Gavin Newsom . Benjamin Madley estimates that from 1846 to 1873, between 9,492 and 16,092 indigenous people were killed, including between 1,680 and 3,741 killed by

5795-459: The highest output of any U.S. state, and is led by its dairy , almonds , and grapes . With the busiest port in the country ( Los Angeles ), California plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain, hauling in about 40% of goods imported to the US. Notable contributions to popular culture , ranging from entertainment , sports , music , and fashion , have their origins in California. California

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5890-410: The indigenous peoples developed complex forms of ecosystem management, including forest gardening to ensure the regular availability of food and medicinal plants . This was a form of sustainable agriculture . To mitigate destructive large wildfires from ravaging the natural environment, indigenous peoples developed a practice of controlled burning . This practice was recognized for its benefits by

5985-572: The interior and north of California. The Anza expedition selected numerous sites for missions, presidios, and pueblos, which subsequently would be established by settlers. Gabriel Moraga , a member of the expedition, would also christen many of California's prominent rivers with their names in 1775–1776, such as the Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River . After the expedition, Gabriel's son, José Joaquín Moraga , would found

6080-531: The largest dam removal and river restoration project in US history was announced for the Klamath River , as a win for California tribes. Covering an area of 163,696 sq mi (423,970 km ), California is the third-largest state in the United States in area, after Alaska and Texas . California is one of the most geographically diverse states in the union and is often geographically bisected into two regions, Southern California , comprising

6175-487: The late 1980s. The base includes a number of dwellings and the archives themselves, the latter in a network of tunnels. The base also has its own private, concrete airstrip, the San Miguel Ranch Airport (NM53). The site is about a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 -hour drive east of Santa Fe. Access is through a gated road and a private concrete airstrip, the San Miguel Ranch Airport (NM53). The Trementina location

6270-844: The middle of the state lies the California Central Valley , bounded by the Sierra Nevada in the east, the coastal mountain ranges in the west, the Cascade Range to the north and by the Tehachapi Mountains in the south. The Central Valley is California's productive agricultural heartland. Divided in two by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta , the northern portion, the Sacramento Valley serves as

6365-414: The next week. Personnel whose production stats were lower than the prior week, or whose graph shows a general downtrending pattern, are dealt with by the " ethics officer ", often with harsh penalties. For example, certain conditions below "Normal" may preclude getting paid at all. Staff may be punished, though usually for lack of production or insubordination; not usually for basic behavioral matters. In

6460-413: The organization proper, they are ranked within the entire chain of command and are frequently pressed into service for clerical or promotional tasks or recruiting new members. Members who recruit people for Scientology services are called "field staff members" (FSM) and are paid a commission of 10%–15% of the amount the new person pays. The recruit is transformed from a client to a follower and from

6555-414: The population of San Francisco increased from 500 to 150,000. The seat of government for California under Spanish and later Mexican rule had been located in Monterey from 1777 until 1845. Pio Pico, the last Mexican governor of Alta California, had briefly moved the capital to Los Angeles in 1845. The United States consulate had also been located in Monterey, under consul Thomas O. Larkin . In 1849,

6650-733: The pueblo of San Jose in 1777, making it the first civilian-established city in California. During this same period, sailors from the Russian Empire explored along the northern coast of California. In 1812, the Russian-American Company established a trading post and small fortification at Fort Ross on the North Coast . Fort Ross was primarily used to supply Russia's Alaskan colonies with food supplies. The settlement did not meet much success, failing to attract settlers or establish long term trade viability, and

6745-469: The races until the Indian race becomes extinct must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert." As in other American states, indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from their lands by American settlers , like miners, ranchers, and farmers. Although California had entered the American union as

6840-403: The region known as California , or Las Californias , grew. Eventually it included lands north of the peninsula, Alta California , part of which became the present-day U.S. state of California. A 2017 state legislative document states, "Numerous theories exist as to the origin and meaning of the word 'California, ' " and that all anyone knows is the name was added to a map by 1541 "presumably by

6935-510: The society.” Additional archive sites exist in Tuolumne , California and Petrolia , California. CST operates numerous bases throughout the western United States. Locations include: This location is said to be where Shelly Miscavige is kept by the Church. Located at 25406 California Highway 189, Twin Peaks, California, this location is one of the more secretive within the Church. While not

7030-654: The state as part of the Gold Rush or to seek work. Even though the Chinese proved indispensable in building the transcontinental railroad from California to Utah, perceived job competition with the Chinese led to anti-Chinese riots in the state, and eventually the US ended migration from China partially as a response to pressure from California with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act . Under earlier Spanish and Mexican rule, California's original native population had precipitously declined, above all, from Eurasian diseases to which

7125-521: The state on March 4, 2020, and remained in effect until Governor Gavin Newsom ended it in February 2023. A mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on March 19, 2020, which was ended in January 2021. Cultural and language revitalization efforts among indigenous Californians have progressed among tribes as of 2022. Some land returns to indigenous stewardship have occurred. In 2022,

7220-430: The state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains . Droughts and wildfires are an ongoing issue. California's economy is the largest of any U.S. state, with a $ 4.0 trillion gross state product as of 2024 . It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. California's agricultural industry has

7315-515: The state's demographics and its finances. Soon afterward, a massive influx of immigration into the area resulted, as prospectors and miners arrived by the thousands. The population burgeoned with United States citizens, Europeans, Middle Easterns, Chinese and other immigrants during the great California gold rush . By the time of California's application for statehood in 1850, the settler population of California had multiplied to 100,000. By 1854, more than 300,000 settlers had come. Between 1847 and 1870,

7410-522: The state's name include CA, Cal., Calif., Califas , and US-CA . California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America . Historians generally agree that there were at least 300,000 people living in California prior to European colonization. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct ethnic groups , inhabiting environments ranging from mountains and deserts to islands and redwood forests. Living in these diverse geographic areas,

7505-620: The state, and develop a high-tech region, now known as Silicon Valley . As a result of this, California is a world center of the entertainment and music industries, of technology, engineering, and the aerospace industry, and as the US center of agricultural production. Just before the Dot Com Bust , California had the fifth-largest economy in the world. In the mid and late twentieth century, race-related incidents occurred. Tensions between police and African Americans, combined with unemployment and poverty in inner cities, led to riots, such as

7600-511: The ten southernmost counties, and Northern California , comprising the 48 northernmost counties. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east and northeast, Arizona to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California to the south (with which it makes up part of The Californias region of North America , alongside Baja California Sur ). In

7695-407: The time of California's admission into the Union, travel between California and the rest of the continental United States had been a time-consuming and dangerous feat. Nineteen years later, and seven years after it was greenlighted by President Lincoln, the first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. California was then reachable from the eastern States in a week's time. Much of the state

7790-411: The titanium "time capsules." The writings are also carved into stainless steel plates, which, according to Church of Scientology officials , can withstand being sprayed with salt water for a thousand years. Hubbard's taped lectures are recorded again into gold compact discs encased in glass. The Church places prime value to Hubbard's volumes of works and because of this has instituted the CST to “engrave

7885-570: The transition from Spanish colonial rule to independent Mexican rule. In 1821, the Mexican War of Independence gave the Mexican Empire (which included California) independence from Spain. For the next 25 years, Alta California remained a remote, sparsely populated, northwestern administrative district of the newly independent country of Mexico, which shortly after independence became a republic. The missions , which controlled most of

7980-556: The watershed of the Sacramento River , while the southern portion, the San Joaquin Valley is the watershed for the San Joaquin River . Both valleys derive their names from the rivers that flow through them. With dredging, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin Rivers have remained deep enough for several inland cities to be seaports . Scientology officials The Church of Scientology network operates as

8075-714: The writings of L. Ron Hubbard. The Lady Washington Mine and two houses on 26.23 acres were purchased in 1988 by William and Donna Daniels. In 1988, the Daniels gave the property to Norman Starkey , trustee of "Author's Family Trust". Starkey gave the property to the Church of Spiritual Technology in 1993. Digging began in 1997. According to the Los Angeles Times, the CST "is using state-of-the-art technology to protect Hubbard's writings, tape-recorded lectures and filmed treatises from natural and man-made calamities, including nuclear holocaust ." According to plans filed with

8170-544: Was abandoned by 1841. During the War of Mexican Independence , Alta California was largely unaffected and uninvolved in the revolution, though many Californios supported independence from Spain , which many believed had neglected California and limited its development. Spain's trade monopoly on California had limited local trade prospects. Following Mexican independence, California ports were freely able to trade with foreign merchants. Governor Pablo Vicente de Solá presided over

8265-541: Was composed of John Allcock, David Lantz and Russell Bellin. Thomas Vorm, Russell Bellin and Catherine Schmidt formed the Board of Directors . CST's President was Russell Bellin, its Vice-President Thomas Vorm, its Secretary Jane McNairn and its Treasurer Catherine Schmidt. The existence and founding of CST is intimately connected to the creation of the Religious Technology Center (RTC), which

8360-552: Was extremely well suited to fruit cultivation and agriculture in general. Vast expanses of wheat, other cereal crops, vegetable crops, cotton, and nut and fruit trees were grown (including oranges in Southern California), and the foundation was laid for the state's prodigious agricultural production in the Central Valley and elsewhere. In the nineteenth century, a large number of migrants from China traveled to

8455-607: Was highly unstable, and in a reflection of this, from 1831 onwards, California also experienced a series of armed disputes, both internal and with the central Mexican government. During this tumultuous political period Juan Bautista Alvarado was able to secure the governorship during 1836–1842. The military action which first brought Alvarado to power had momentarily declared California to be an independent state, and had been aided by Anglo-American residents of California, including Isaac Graham . In 1840, one hundred of those residents who did not have passports were arrested, leading to

8550-404: Was incorporated on January 1, 1982. Shortly after its inception, RTC received on May 16, 1982 "the ownership, supervision and control" of the trademarks and service marks , identifying "Scientology applied religious philosophy" and "Dianetics spiritual healing technology" by the originator and founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard through a so-called " Assignment Agreement ". This agreement

8645-714: Was not usually the purpose of these small-scale battles. Men and women generally had different roles in society. Women were often responsible for weaving, harvesting, processing, and preparing food, while men for hunting and other forms of physical labor. Most societies also had roles for people whom the Spanish referred to as joyas , who they saw as "men who dressed as women". Joyas were responsible for death , burial , and mourning rituals , and they performed women's social roles. Indigenous societies had terms such as two-spirit to refer to them. The Chumash referred to them as 'aqi. The early Spanish settlers detested and sought to eliminate them. The first Europeans to explore

8740-666: Was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America . European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization by the Spanish Empire . The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence , but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War . The California gold rush started in 1848 and led to social and demographic changes, including depopulation of Indigenous tribes. The western portion of Alta California

8835-502: Was short-lived; the same year marked the outbreak of the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). Commodore John D. Sloat of the United States Navy sailed into Monterey Bay in 1846 and began the U.S. military invasion of California , with Northern California capitulating in less than a month to the United States forces. In Southern California, Californios continued to resist American forces. Notable military engagements of

8930-557: Was subject to an additional "Option Agreement" between Hubbard, RTC and CST. In two so-called "Option Agreements" from May 1982, Hubbard granted CST the right to purchase at any time from RTC the "Marks", the "Advanced Technology" and all the rights to them for the sum of $ 100. Parallel and similar-sounding agreements between Hubbard, RTC and CST were created during that period concerning the so-called "Advanced Technology," which consists of unpublished derivatives of Scientology's confidential "Advanced technology". Under these agreements, RTC

9025-399: Was then organized and admitted as the 31st state in 1850 , as a free state , following the Compromise of 1850 . The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas are the nation's second- and fifth-most populous urban regions , with 19 million and 10 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is the state's most populous city and the nation's second-most ; California's capital

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