I typed one quick post:

“Just booked co-star role on @AgentsofSHIELD, whoop!!”

This was my second trip into the world of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Back in 2015 I played Scientist #1 in a hazmat suit (that story is here).

This time I got a knife, a scarf, and a fight with Ming-Na Wen.

Spoiler: I lost.

Me (right) as Roughneck in “The Last Day” (ABC, 2018). Still from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., from the clip I shared on X.

The role: Roughneck

My character’s name was Roughneck.

The episode was “The Last Day.” That’s Season 5, Episode 8. It aired on ABC on Friday, January 19, 2018.

Season 5 was a wild one. The team got pulled into the future. Earth was broken into pieces. Most of them were stuck on a space station called the Lighthouse.

In “The Last Day,” part of the team crash-lands on what’s left of Earth. Somewhere in that mess, Coulson (Clark Gregg) and May (Ming-Na Wen) run into my guy.

A hometown paper asked me about Roughneck that month. Here’s how I put it:

“He’s a guy that’s in over his head and trying to do what he thinks is right. He gets caught up in a confrontation with actors Clark Gregg and Ming-Na Wen. He doesn’t die though, so maybe he comes back.”

Who made it happen

When I booked it, I gave a shout to the people who helped:

• Elizabeth Henstridge, who plays Jemma Simmons on the show
• Tanner Gill
• Stunts Unlimited, the stunt group I tagged with #theblackandgold

The episode was directed by Nina Lopez-Corrado. In one post I wrote, “thanks for being so awesome Nina!”

Shoot day

October 17, 2017. The day before.

I posted that I’d be an “actor/stuntman on @AgentsofSHIELD tomorrow. Wish me luck.”

So that’s the job. Say the lines. Then take the hits.

The costume was pure end-of-the-world. Worn tactical vest. Gloves. A big tan scarf. A knife.

In my trailer I couldn’t help myself:

In my trailer as Roughneck, costume knife in hand. Photo: McKay Stewart, shared on X.

Yes, I’m making that face on purpose.

The fight

Here’s the best part. 20 seconds of me with Clark Gregg and Ming-Na Wen.

Watch close. It does not go well for Roughneck.

My scene and fight with Ming-Na Wen in “The Last Day.” Footage: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC. Shared on X.

When I posted it, I wrote: “Guess who wins.”

You already know. May always wins.

The fight kicks off. Frame from the clip I shared on X. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC.

Ming-Na Wen as May takes care of business. Frame from the same clip. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC.

That December, I sent Ming-Na a note. I told her it was great fighting her. Then I fixed it: “I mean getting a beat down.”

That’s stunt work. You make the hero look great. You take the fall. You get up and do it again.

Christmas lunch with S.H.I.E.L.D.

December 12, 2017. I got invited back.

Kyle Jewell asked me to come back to S.H.I.E.L.D. I got to watch him work. I called him a “#digitalmaster” and I meant it.

Then came the cast and crew Christmas lunch. It was big:

• Sashimi
• Lobster
• Filet mignon

I saw Nina Lopez-Corrado again. I met directors Garry A. Brown and Billy Gierhart. I saw Ming-Na across the room too, but I didn’t get to say hi.

Air night

January 19, 2018. Show night.

I posted this picture with a big thumbs-up:

“Watch me on @AgentsofSHIELD tonight at 9PM on ABC!” Photo: McKay Stewart, shared on X.

My post said it was a “super fun scene w @MingNa and @clarkgregg.” It was.

How many people watched? The episode drew 2.41 million viewers on air night. With a week of DVR viewing, that grew to 4.23 million, per TV by the Numbers ratings cited on Wikipedia.

That’s a lot of people watching me lose a fight.

My first meme

A week later, I made my very first meme.

“#myfirstmeme.” Still from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) with my caption, shared on X.

The arrow points to the knife. In case you missed it.

The hometown paper

Before the episode aired, the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber ran a story on me. It came out January 16, 2018.

Why Vashon? I lived on Vashon Island, Washington, from 1989 to 1992. I went to Vashon High School.

The story covered a lot:

• My first acting was in Sheila Jaffe’s English class. She’s one of my best teachers of all time.
• After Vashon I went to Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma.
• Then I studied dance at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
• I danced in commercials and big musical shows for almost 7 years.
• Then I started doing stunts. By 2018 I’d worked as a stuntman and actor on close to 70 TV shows and movies.

Some of those: Desperate Housewives, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Million Dollar Baby, and CSI: Miami.

I told the paper I miss Vashon. I played soccer, baseball and tennis. I wrestled. I acted. I learned French. I was on the debate team. It was a rocket ride.

You can read it here: Former islander lands part in ABC series.

Two roles, one show

Years later, in March 2021, I was still smiling about it.

I posted: “I still can’t get over how great it was to work 2 roles on Agents of SHIELD w cast/crew.”

Two roles. Two seasons, three years apart:

• Scientist #1 in “Aftershocks” (Season 2, 2015)
• Roughneck in “The Last Day” (Season 5, 2018)

One got me a hazmat suit. The other got me beat up by Melinda May.

Both were so much fun.

The record

• Booking post (Oct 9, 2017): x.com/mckaystewart/status/917479123190087680
• Night before the shoot (Oct 17, 2017): x.com/mckaystewart/status/920357819232141313
• Christmas lunch (Dec 13, 2017): x.com/mckaystewart/status/941052369789267968
• Note to Ming-Na Wen (Dec 13, 2017): x.com/mckaystewart/status/941061425077813248
• Air night photo (Jan 19, 2018): x.com/mckaystewart/status/954499199990513664
• Trailer selfie (Jan 24, 2018): x.com/mckaystewart/status/956267300658716672
• First meme (Jan 26, 2018): x.com/mckaystewart/status/956986390792749056
• “2 roles” post (Mar 5, 2021): x.com/mckaystewart/status/1367910302818435076
• Fight clip (Mar 18, 2021): x.com/mckaystewart/status/1372573387206184961
• Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber (Jan 16, 2018): Former islander lands part in ABC series
• Episode details and ratings: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 5 on Wikipedia
• My credits: IMDb

I typed one line and hit send:

“Just booked a role on @Marvel @agentsofshield #agentsofshield! #Boom”

That’s it. No photo. No details. Just #Boom.

A week earlier I was in Seattle rehearsing fights with Manu Bennett on Beta Test (that post). Now I was going into the Marvel universe.

My part: Scientist #1. The episode: “Aftershocks.” Season 2, Episode 11 of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Here’s the story, plus every frame of it I’ve shared over the years.

Me as Scientist #1 in “Aftershocks” (ABC, 2015). Hazmat suit, glasses, old-school camera. Still from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., shared on X.

What is “Aftershocks”?

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. ran on ABC for 7 seasons. It follows Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and his team of agents inside the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“Aftershocks” aired on March 3, 2015. It picks up right after a huge mid-season finale.

Quick setup:

• Skye (Chloe Bennet) just got earthquake powers in an alien city under the ground
• Raina (Ruth Negga) changed in the same temple, and she came out covered in thorns
• Coulson wants payback on Hydra
• Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge) is getting ready to flood the alien city so nobody else goes in

That last part is where I come in.

The crew working down in that city wears white hazmat suits. Lights. Air hoses. Tablets. Cameras. Then Raina crawls out of the rubble and attacks the team.

Scientist #1 does not have a good night. When I posted about it later, I tagged it #deathtomckay. That should tell you how it ends for my guy.

The hazmat team in the alien city. Frame from my action/stunt demo reel, shared on X.

Who made it

The people behind this episode are a big deal in the Marvel TV world:

• Written by: Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon (the show’s executive producers)
• Directed by: Billy Gierhart
• Original title: “Epidemic,” before Marvel renamed it

When Marvel.com announced the guest cast for the episode, my name was on the list: McKay Stewart as scientist #1. That list also had Kyle MacLachlan, Ruth Negga, Adrian Pasdar, Henry Simmons and Dichen Lachman.

Ruth Negga got an Oscar nomination two years later for Loving. So yes, I got taken out by a future Oscar nominee. I’ll take it.

The shoot day

The shoot was on Wednesday, November 26, 2014. That’s the day before Thanksgiving.

On Thanksgiving morning I posted:

“Great working with you yesterday @Lil_Henstridge!!”

I also gave a #yourebrilliant shout-out to Iain De Caestecker, who plays Leo Fitz.

Fitz and Simmons were fan favorites on that show. Getting a day in their world meant a lot.

Booked November 13. Shot November 26. That’s under 2 weeks. TV moves fast.

10 seconds of the “Aftershocks” hazmat scene, cut from my demo reel (full reel on X). Footage: Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., ABC.

The suit

Acting in a full hazmat suit is its own skill.

Your face sits behind a plastic visor. The hood and air hose hide most of you. So your body has to tell the story.

That’s where stunt training helps. You hit your marks. You move like a real tech who does this every day. Then, when the scene turns, you sell it. Fast. Big. Clean.

The moment it goes wrong for Scientist #1. Frame from my demo reel, shared on X.

Air date

I counted down.

On February 23, 2015 I posted: “See me on TV series #AgentsofSHIELD March 3rd, woot! Playing a scientist :D”

On March 2, 2015: “Catch me on #AgentsofSHIELD ‘Aftershocks’ tomorrow 8PM/9PMC! I play a scientist :)”

It aired on ABC on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. About 4.48 million people watched that night, per Nielsen numbers reported by TV by the Numbers.

4.48 million. For a guy in a hazmat suit who said “#Boom” on Twitter a few months before.

The episode later went to Netflix (June 2015) and is now on Disney+.

“Hey! Remember me?”

In August 2016, I sent Elizabeth Henstridge that camera still with a simple line: “Hey! Remember me?” Hashtags: #aftershocks, #superscientist, #deathtomckay.

Two days later, I was inviting people to a screening of my short West Side Swordy at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood (the Swordy story).

Look at the invite. Under “Created by McKay Stewart” it says (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.). One day in a hazmat suit, and it was on my billing.

Screening invite for West Side Swordy, August 17, 2016, 12 PM, TCL Chinese Theatres. Shared on X.

Why this one matters

Look at my 2014 run:

• April: stunt doubling Scott Wolf on TNT’s Perception (that post)
• August: wrapped For Blood as Dead Card Danny (that post)
• November: Seattle with Manu Bennett on Beta Test
• Late November: Marvel. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. “Aftershocks.”

That’s the working actor and stunt life. You train. You audition. You book. You show up and nail your day. Then you hit send on one line: #Boom.

And it wasn’t my last trip to S.H.I.E.L.D. In 2021 I posted that I still couldn’t get over working 2 roles on the show. The second one came in Season 5, and it had a fight with Ming-Na Wen. That’s the next post in this series.

The record

Check it yourself:

• Episode: “Aftershocks,” Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Season 2, Episode 11, aired March 3, 2015 on ABC
• Wikipedia episode page (cast list sourced to Marvel.com’s “Declassifying” post): Aftershocks (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
• Show on IMDb: tt2364582
• My IMDb: nm1229683
• Booking post (Nov 13, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/533086757806276610
• Henstridge shout-out (Nov 27, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/538004329290940416
• Air-date posts: Feb 23, 2015 · Mar 2, 2015
• “Remember me?” still (Aug 13, 2016): x.com/mckaystewart/status/764524570527174657
• Swordy screening invite (Aug 15, 2016): x.com/mckaystewart/status/765221999643734016
• Demo reel with S.H.I.E.L.D. clips (2021): x.com/mckaystewart/status/1377767989924093954

One line on Twitter. One day in a hazmat suit. 4.48 million viewers. That was my first day at S.H.I.E.L.D.

I posted it straight:

“Day 5 rehearsing, @manubennett doing a fine job with the action on this feature. Down to earth dude, great crew. But I #alreadymissLA!”

Same day I tagged Manu Bennett again from the original Starbucks in Seattle, and from a waterfront overlook with the Great Wheel in the distance. Hashtags: #betatester. #manubennett. #sunnyinseattle.

Twelve years later, that feature has a name on the poster and a slot on streaming lists: Beta Test (2016). I played Richter.

Here’s the trip, the co-star, and the movie that came out of those Seattle days.

With Manu Bennett at the original Starbucks in Seattle, November 2014. I’m in the Inosanto Academy shirt. Shared on X.

What is Beta Test?

Beta Test is an 88-minute American sci-fi action thriller. It hit theaters on July 22, 2016.

The pitch is wild and simple.

A gaming company builds a first-person shooter that does not stay on the screen. A champion tester named Max Troy finds out the “game” is mirroring real events in the city. The on-screen hero, Orson Creed, is a real person being remotely controlled. Virtual and real smash together. They have to stop the conspiracy before the missions spill into the streets.

Director Nicholas Gyeney (who also wrote and produced) called it a cross between Die Hard, Gamer, and The Firm. Production company: Mirror Images LTD. Shot in Seattle, Gyeney’s hometown.

You can look up the title on IMDb (tt4244162). Runtime there: 88 minutes. Release: 2016.

Who I worked next to

Manu Bennett plays Orson Creed — the man inside the game who will not stay a puppet.

If you know him from elsewhere, you already know the physical presence. Spartacus. The Hobbit trilogy (Azog). Arrow (Deathstroke / Slade Wilson). On this set he was the action center of gravity. My Day 5 note was not polite fluff. He was putting in the work, and he was cool about it.

Other names on the board:

• Larenz Tate as Max Troy (also a producer)
• Linden Ashby as Andrew Kincaid
• Yuji Okumoto as The Surgeon
• Kevon Stover, Sara Coates, and a deep Seattle fight cast

I am listed as Richter in cast databases including Plex, Listal, and Filmweb.

Seattle waterfront view the same day — Great Wheel, harbor, that #livinthedream light. Shared on X.

Seattle, November 2014

Principal photography ran about 19 days. It started November 7, 2014 and wrapped November 26, 2014.

That start date is the same calendar day as my Starbucks and waterfront posts.

My earlier post that morning said Day 5 of rehearsals. So the fight work did not begin when the camera rolled. It started before. That matches what the production talked about in public: a long, choreographed fight sequence that took weeks to rehearse. Gyeney wanted a single-shot fight that would smash the old record (he pointed at the famous Oldboy hallway take). The finished film is known for a fight stretch of more than 6 minutes in one continuous shot.

Seattle was not a random backdrop. Gyeney picked his hometown on purpose. He wanted more action work in a local scene that usually leans drama. Locations included spots around the city — the climactic fight was even filmed at Seattle City Hall, per The Seattle Times.

Budget reports put the film under $2 million. For that money they still got national theatrical play in 2016 (Seattle premiere, then cities including New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco).

Coffee, creed, and an Inosanto shirt

The Starbucks photo is one of my favorites from that week.

Manu’s arm over my shoulder. Me in a black Inosanto Academy, Los Angeles shirt. Industrial lights. The classic Starbucks seal on the wall behind us. Cool filter. Zero Hollywood stiffness.

That shirt is not random merch. I train martial arts hard — Wushu, Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Kali, Jiu-Jitsu — and the Inosanto Academy is part of that world. Showing up to a Manu Bennett action rehearsal in that shirt felt right.

Hashtag on the post: #inosantoreps. Representation and training in one frame.

The second shot is quieter. Me on a railing above the old waterfront highway, looking out at Elliott Bay and the Great Wheel. Sepia. Still. After days of fight rehearsal, you take the breath when you get it.

The trailer vibe

When the trailer dropped in 2016, it sold the same promise: a man turned into a human drone, a tester who realizes the missions are real, and Manu Bennett moving like the fight was personal.

Official trailer (YouTube):

Trailer still for Beta Test (2016). Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=XHmAr4CrT6g.

I was already back in the L.A. hustle by then. But those November posts are the time stamp. Rehearsal day 5. Coffee with Creed. Seattle sun when it showed up.

Why this stretch of 2014 still hits

2014 stacked jobs.

• April: stunt doubling Scott Wolf on TNT’s Perception (that post)
• August: wrapped For Blood as Dead Card Danny (that post)
• November: Seattle with Manu Bennett on Beta Test
• Later that same November: I booked Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (next up in this series)

Stunt day. Fantasy Western short. Sci-fi feature with a Spartacus-level action lead. Then Marvel. That is the working actor / stunt life. You fly north. You rehearse until your body knows the hit. You grab a coffee photo because the moment is real. Then you go home and take the next call.

Beta Test is not a quiet indie drama. It is loud on purpose. Controllers. Implants. Street fights. A long take that makes your shoulders ache just watching it.

I got to stand next to the guy carrying that fight — and get credited as Richter when the movie landed.

The record

Check it yourself:

• IMDb title: Beta Test (2016) — tt4244162
• My IMDb: nm1229683
• Cast listings (Richter): Plex · Listal · Filmweb
• Wikipedia production notes: Beta Test (film) — Seattle shoot Nov 7–26, 2014; release July 22, 2016
• Seattle Times coverage of the local shoot and national release
• Rehearsal post (Nov 7, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/530569697708634112
• Starbucks photo (Nov 7, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/530853416986509312
• Waterfront photo (Nov 7, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/530859504293117953
• Trailer: youtube.com/watch?v=XHmAr4CrT6g

That’s the story. Day 5. Manu Bennett. Original Starbucks. An Inosanto shirt. And a sci-fi action feature that turned a Seattle rehearsal week into Richter on the cast list.

“Just wrapped #forbloodmovie … good times!”

I tagged co-stars April Scott and Rick Mora. A few months later I dropped four character posters and a teaser. Then the short hit festivals.

Twelve years later, here’s the full story. Who I played. Who else was at that poker table. And the award the film actually won.

The For Blood cast in Wild West mode around the poker table. CoffeeRing Entertainment promotional still I shared when we wrapped, via my X post.

What is For Blood?

For Blood is an 11-minute short. Genres: Western and Fantasy. It came out in 2015.

The setup is simple and wild.

A group of friends sit down for a poker game. Someone says a Wild West card game would have higher stakes. They splash the pot. A new world shows up. Suddenly they’re somewhere else, somewhen else — playing for blood.

That’s the whole pitch. Friends. Cards. A splash. Another century.

You can look it up on IMDb (tt3917844). Rotten Tomatoes lists it as an 11-minute Western/Fantasy short. Streaming date there: May 1, 2020.

Who made it

Chadwick Pelletier wrote it and directed it. Some listings also credit John T. Connor as co-director and as director of photography.

If that DP name rings a bell: John T. Connor also shot my short West Side Swordy. Small world. Good world.

Production company: CoffeeRing Entertainment. Also connected in credits: Veritas Film & Television and The Hollywood Index.

Producers included Julie Helton and April Scott (associate producer). Jeremy Scott Glenn is listed as co-producer. Mark Hulsey as co-executive producer.

My role: Dead Card Danny

I played Dead Card Danny.

He’s the gambler at the table. Suit. Bowler hat. Cards in hand. The guy who looks like he knows which way the deck is stacked — and doesn’t care.

CoffeeRing cut character posters for the main players. Mine said it plain across the frame:

MCKAY STEWART — DEAD CARD DANNY — ANTE UP 2015

My Dead Card Danny character poster. Bowler, suit, one card ready. Shared on X, Nov 4, 2014.

Playing a cardsharp in a fantasy Western is a blast. You get period wardrobe, hard lighting, and a table full of people who all look like they could end you. Then the magic kicks in and the stakes stop being chips.

The crew at the table

I wasn’t alone. Not even close.

The For Blood group poster. CoffeeRing Entertainment / Veritas. Shared on X.

Here’s the main cast as the credits list them:

• Chadwick Pelletier as Slade (also writer/director)
• April Scott as Lady Blade
• Pete Punito as Mad Mac
• Rick Mora as Proud Feather
• McKay Stewart as Dead Card Danny
• Sapir Azulay as Stacy

April Scott you may know from TV and film. She played Daisy Duke in The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007). She was on Deal or No Deal. Guest spots include CSI: Miami, The Shield, Entourage, and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. On For Blood she also helped produce.

April Scott as Lady Blade. Character poster from the same Nov 2014 drop.

Rick Mora is a model and actor with Native American roles across film and TV. Credits include Twilight (2008), the animated Turok: Son of Stone, and later films like Little Boy (2015). On our set he was Proud Feather.

Rick Mora as Proud Feather. Character poster from the same set.

When I posted the wrap photo I also tagged Danny Downey and Kara Peterson. Good people on a good day.

The teaser

November 4, 2014. Same day as the posters. I shared the teaser on Vimeo.

Title on Vimeo: “For Blood - TEASER.” Uploaded by Veritas Film & Television. Runtime: 32 seconds.

My post that day:

“For Blood trailer! … #deadcarddanny #ladyblade #proudfeather”

Here’s the embed:

“For Blood - TEASER” on Vimeo (32 seconds). Still live as of this post.

Teaser thumbnail from Vimeo.

Festival win: San Diego, 2015

This part is on the public record.

At the 2015 San Diego International Film Festival (Sept 30–Oct 4, 2015), For Blood won the Kumeyaay Award.

That award is the festival’s prize for best Native American film. Directors listed with the win: Chadwick Pelletier and J.T. Connor.

You can check the festival’s award winners list yourself. It’s the verified one. (Some bios float other festival claims. I’m sticking to what the San Diego winners page shows.)

Runtime: 11 minutes. Year: 2015. Award: Kumeyaay Award, San Diego International Film Festival.

That’s a short film doing real work.

Why this one still matters to me

2014 was a busy year.

In April I was stunt doubling Scott Wolf on TNT’s Perception. (I wrote about that here.)

In August I wrapped For Blood.

In November I booked a role on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (that story is coming).

Same stretch of months: stunt work, a fantasy Western short, and Marvel. That’s the hustle. You take the fight day. You take the poker-table day. You take the next call.

For Blood is small on paper. Eleven minutes. One room that turns into another world. But the craft was real. The wardrobe was real. The posters were real. The festival plaque was real.

And Dead Card Danny? Still one of my favorite character names I’ve ever gotten to wear on a poster.

The record

Want to check any of this yourself?

• IMDb title page: For Blood (2015) — short, fantasy, Western; cast includes Dead Card Danny
• My IMDb: nm1229683
• Wrap post (Aug 27, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/504695026757017600
• Posters post (Nov 4, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/529663056234950656
• Teaser post (Nov 4, 2014): x.com/mckaystewart/status/529668274154651648
• Vimeo teaser: vimeo.com/109267257
• San Diego International Film Festival 2015 winners: Kumeyaay Award — For Blood

That’s the story. Poker chips. Wild West. A splash of the pot. And me in a bowler hat, holding the dead card.

Day one I posted about a West Side Swordy trailer. (I wrote a whole post about that film. Go read it if you missed it.)

Two weeks later I posted a set photo and this line:

“worked on #perception stunt doubling actor #scottwolf from #BreakingBad and #partyoffive. good times!”

That was me. On TNT. Doubling Scott Wolf.

Twelve years later, here’s the full story. Photos, credits, the works.

Scott Wolf (left) and me, side by side in matching orange jumpsuits on the set of Perception. Photo: McKay Stewart, via my X post.

Years later, in 2021, I posted that photo again. My words: “What a great guy, so much fun.” Still true.

What was Perception?

Perception was a crime drama on TNT. It ran 3 seasons, from July 9, 2012 to March 17, 2015. ABC Studios made it.

Eric McCormack starred. Yes, Will from Will & Grace.

He played Dr. Daniel Pierce. Pierce is a brilliant neuroscience professor in Chicago. He also has paranoid schizophrenia. The FBI calls him in on its weirdest cases.

The twist? Pierce sees people who aren’t there. Sometimes those visions help him spot the clue everyone else missed.

Rachael Leigh Cook played FBI agent Kate Moretti, his former student. LeVar Burton, Arjay Smith and Kelly Rowan were in the cast too.

TNT canceled it in November 2014. The last episodes aired in early 2015.

Who is Scott Wolf?

If you watched TV in the ’90s, you know him. Scott Wolf was Bailey Salinger on Party of Five. That show ran 1994 to 2000. He was in 142 episodes.

After that he kept working. A lot.

• Everwood (2004–2006): Dr. Jake Hartman.
• The Nine (2006–2007): Jeremy Kates.
• V (2009–2011): Chad Decker, a TV journalist.
• The Night Shift (2014–2017): Dr. Scott Clemmens.
• Nancy Drew (2019–2023): Carson Drew, Nancy’s dad. He directed 2 episodes too.
• Doc (2025–2026): Dr. Richard Miller.

On Perception he played Donnie Ryan. Donnie is Kate’s ex. He’s a sharp, fast-rising Assistant U.S. Attorney. The Hollywood Reporter called it a major recurring role when he joined in 2013. He was in 25 episodes through 2015.

My job: make sure Donnie could take a hit without Scott taking one.

What a stunt double actually does

Here’s the deal. A stunt double steps in when a scene gets risky.

A fight. A fall. A car chase. Anything where the actor could get hurt.

• You match the actor. Same height range. Same build. Same hair. Same wardrobe. In our case: orange jumpsuits.
• You learn the fight. The stunt coordinator plans every move. You rehearse until it’s clean and safe.
• You sell it. The camera stays wide or catches you from behind. Then the actor steps back in for the close-up.

A stunt driver handles the car stuff. Fast turns. Near misses. Hard stops. The goal is to make it look wild while keeping it totally under control.

When it works, nobody watching should notice you. That’s the whole point.

The prison yard fight on Perception. From my stunt reel.

My credits on Perception

You can look these up yourself:

• Metacritic lists me on Perception as “stunt double: Scott Wolf / stunt driver” for 2 episodes in 2014.
• IMDb credits me as a stunt driver on the season 3 episode “Dirty” (full credits).

“Dirty” aired August 19, 2014. LeVar Burton directed it. Short version: Donnie lands in a compromising spot and calls Pierce for help. Then the evidence starts piling up against him.

So the timeline goes:

1. April 2014. I’m on set. I post the photo.
2. August 2014. The episode airs with my name in the credits.

You sweat in spring. It airs in summer. That’s TV.

Another moment from the yard fight. From my stunt reel.

How I got ready for this

Stunt doubling doesn’t start on set. It starts years before.

• 7 martial arts. Wushu Kung Fu, Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, Tae Kwon Do, Kali, Savate and Jiu-Jitsu.
• Boxing. Trained at Wildcard Boxing.
• Weapons. Broadsword, Wushu staff, Chinese broadsword and fencing.
• Real fights. I’ve fought Muay Thai in the ring.
• Gymnastics and dance. Years of musical theater, including West Side Story.
• Precision driving. Trained by Rick Seaman, one of the best-known stunt driving teachers around.

Other sets I’ve worked

Perception wasn’t a one-off. Some of my other stunt and acting work:

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Avatar: The Way of Water (2022): utility stunts.
• Eagle Eye
• CSI and 1923

In 2021 I cut a new action and stunt demo reel. It has clips from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Perception, Eagle Eye and more. Watch the reel on X.

The first photo I posted

Behind the scenes on TNT’s Perception, April 2014. Photo from my X post.

Orange jumpsuits. Outdoor yard. The whole group grinning between takes.

Not a press kit. Not a promo. Just a real day on set.

Quick fix on my hashtag

My 2014 caption said Scott Wolf was from #BreakingBad. That was me mixing up shows in a hurry. He wasn’t on Breaking Bad.

Party of Five? Totally right.

I’m leaving the old post alone on X. History is history. But here, the record is straight.

Still friends

Scott and I kept in touch on X. In 2021 I told him to do a fight or fall off a cliff so I could double him again. Offer still stands, Scott.

Why this still matters

That brand-new account. That one photo. It was me saying: I’m in this world.

Not dreaming. Not hoping. On a network set, doubling a name people know.

If you’re young and want to do this: train hard, post the work, keep the pictures. Years later, you’ll want the proof.

Not bad for a fresh account.

Originally posted on X (Twitter), April 25, 2014: worked on #perception stunt doubling actor #scottwolf…

Sources

• McKay Stewart on X, April 25, 2014: original photo and caption.
• McKay Stewart on X, February 10, 2021: photo of Scott Wolf and me on set.
• McKay Stewart on X, April 1, 2021: stunt demo reel with Perception clips (source of the two stills).
• McKay Stewart on X, April 12, 2021: reply to Scott Wolf about doubling him again.
• Metacritic: Perception credits: stunt double for Scott Wolf / stunt driver, 2 episodes (2014).
• IMDb, Perception “Dirty” (2014) full credits: McKay Stewart, stunt driver.
• IMDb: McKay Stewart biography: martial arts, boxing, weapons, gymnastics, precision driving with Rick Seaman, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Watchmode: McKay Stewart credits: Avatar: The Way of Water, utility stunts.
• mckaystewart.com: CSI, 1923, Avatar 2, Agents of SHIELD.
• Wikipedia: Perception (American TV series): run dates, creators, premise.
• The Hollywood Reporter, Nov 13, 2014: Perception Canceled at TNT: cast and cancellation.
• The Hollywood Reporter, Jan 29, 2013: Scott Wolf Joins TNT’s Perception: Donnie Ryan casting.
• Wikipedia: Scott Wolf: Party of Five, Everwood, The Nine, V, Perception, The Night Shift, Nancy Drew, Doc.
• TheTVDB: Perception, “Dirty”: air date and director.

One creator’s video hit about 90 million views (Hollywood Reporter, 2026). Copycats followed.

In New York, a mob forced its way into a church near Times Square. Police charged two men with burglary, criminal mischief and assault, all as hate crimes (ABC7, 2026; NY Post, 2026). Police in L.A. and Seattle opened hate-crime investigations too (NBC, 2026; Seattle Times, 2026).

Hate is wrong. We all agree on that. So why does it get a pass when the target is Scientology?

I’m a Scientologist. Here’s what the record shows: the courts, the crimes, and the help. Every claim has a source at the bottom.

Hate is hate

The FBI counts hate crimes every year.

In 2025, police reported 2,408 hate crime incidents based on religion (FBI, 2025).

98 of them were listed as “anti-other religion.” That’s the box for faiths without their own category (FBI, 2025).

The FBI doesn’t track Scientology on its own. So nobody has an exact count. But the incidents are real.

An old playbook against faith

Attacks on religion aren’t new.

Brain-Washing is a 1950s booklet that claims to be a Soviet mind-control manual. In 1959 it was named in the Congressional Record, inside a newspaper column a congressman entered (Cong. Rec., 1959).

It calls for pushing the real helpers out of mental health:

“Thus must be excluded priests, ministers, actually trained psychoanalysts, good hypnotists, or trained Dianeticists.” (p. 45)

Then it names targets to wipe out: Christian Science, Dianetics, faith healing and Catholicism (p. 49).

Catholic, Christian, Scientologist or any faith: it’s the same fight.

Read the full story, with page scans and a free download of the booklet: Conspiracy Theorists Rejoice!

The law says it’s a religion

This isn’t up for debate in court.

• U.S.: In 1993 the IRS granted tax-exempt status to the Church and more than 150 related groups as religious and charitable organizations (NYT, 1993).
• Europe: In 2007 the European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that Russia violated the Church’s rights in Moscow. It said officials “did not act in good faith” (ECHR, 2007).
• U.K.: In 2013 the Supreme Court ruled Scientology is a religion. Scientologists can now legally marry in their London church (UKSC, 2013).

Still treated differently

The U.S. State Department tracks religious freedom around the world. Here’s what it found:

• Germany: Four major parties ban Scientologists from joining. Some employers make job seekers sign “sect filters” saying they have no contact with the Church (State Dept., 2023). The federal spy agency watched the Church for almost 30 years. It stopped in 2026, but Bavaria and Hamburg still watch (Bild, 2026).
• Russia: In 2023 a court sentenced the leader of the St. Petersburg church to 6½ years on “extremism” charges (State Dept., 2023).

Imagine that headline about any other church.

So what is Scientology?

The word comes from Latin scio, “knowing,” and Greek logos, “study of.”

It means “knowing how to know” (Scientology.org).

Here’s the core of The Aims of Scientology, written by L. Ron Hubbard in 1965:

“A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper and honest beings can have rights, and where Man is free to rise to greater heights, are the aims of Scientology.”

Read the full text here.

What Scientologists actually do

Some numbers below come from the Church itself. I’ll tell you which ones.

9/11

Scientology Volunteer Ministers (yellow shirts) at Ground Zero, 2001. Photo: Church of Scientology International / Scientology.org.

The New York Times reported Volunteer Ministers at Ground Zero days after the attack (NYT, 2001).

The Church says 800+ Volunteer Ministers gave 130,000 hours there (Church-reported).

Hurricane Katrina

A Volunteer Minister helps a soldier after Hurricane Katrina, 2005. Photo: Church of Scientology International / Scientology.org.

The Church says 900+ Volunteer Ministers came to help after Katrina and Rita (Church-reported).

Haiti

Volunteer Minister with an injured child in Haiti, 2010. Photo: Scientology Volunteer Ministers, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

After the 2010 earthquake, NBC’s Today show ran a report called “Scientologists Make a Difference in Haiti.” A doctor in it said she was “very impressed” (NYT, 2010).

Crime and cleanups

Volunteers and LAPD officers at a Way to Happiness cleanup in Hollywood. Photo: Scientology Newsroom.

The Way to Happiness is a free booklet with 21 common-sense moral rules.

• In Plettenberg Bay, South Africa, the local police commander handed out 700 booklets to families (ShowMe Plett, 2013). A Church magazine says robberies there fell 25% after (Church-reported).
• In Hollywood, volunteers hold monthly cleanups. The Church says LAPD is a partner. One cleanup pulled 32 used syringes off the street (Church-reported).
• Criminon brings these courses to prisons. The Urban Institute reviewed it and found parts that match proven rehab methods (Urban Institute, 2006). That review didn’t measure repeat crime.

Drugs and human rights

Drug-Free World volunteers at Super Bowl LVIII, Las Vegas, 2024. Photo: Scientology Newsroom.

Volunteers hand out Truth About Drugs booklets at big events. The group says it’s active in about 180 countries (Church-reported).

The record

I’m only naming cases where a court, an apology, or the person’s own words make the record clear.

1. The Sunday Express. In 2007 it reported that author Andrew Morton was threatened by Scientologists. The paper later admitted the story wasn’t true and apologized (Irish Examiner, 2007).

2. The Sun. In 2013, after a letter from Church lawyers, it printed an “apology”… to “alien lifeforms” for linking them to Scientologists (Poynter, 2013). A joke made out of a correction.

John Sweeney speaking about Scientology in Liverpool, 2014. Photo: Richardc39, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

3. BBC Panorama. In 2007, reporter John Sweeney screamed at a Church spokesman on camera. The BBC called it “clearly inappropriate,” and Sweeney apologized (Digital Spy, 2007).

4. Belgian prosecutors. After an 18-year case, a Brussels judge threw out every charge in 2016. His words: “The defendants were prosecuted primarily because they were Scientologists” (AFP/Guardian, 2016).

5. Leah Remini. A&E paid her to host and executive-produce Scientology and the Aftermath (2016–2019). Then she signed an overall deal with A+E Networks (Deadline, 2018).

In 2013 she filed a missing-person report on the church leader’s wife. Police found her “alive and safe” and called the report “unfounded” (LAPD, 2022; THR, 2013). Later, her lawyers sent the Church letters seeking up to $1 million (Calif. Court of Appeal, 2026).

Her 2023 lawsuit? A judge struck about half of nearly 100 of her claims. The appeals court struck more in 2026. Her harassment and surveillance claims are still headed to trial (Calif. Court of Appeal, 2026).

My take: as a failed and disgruntled former Scientologist, she did the series for the money and the attention. That’s a business model, not a crusade. The Church’s side is at leahreminiaftermath.com.

Mocking any religion or its beliefs is bigotry and hate speech.

The Church of Scientology’s Flag Building in downtown Clearwater, Florida. Photo: Taty2007, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

6. Aaron Smith-Levin. He runs an anti-Scientology YouTube channel with about 257,000 subscribers (YouTube, 2026). He ran for Clearwater City Council in 2022 and lost (Florida Politics, 2025).

In July 2025, police arrested him in Clearwater for battery on a Church security guard. A court later ordered him to have no contact with the guard (Florida Politics, 2025).

Then he was charged with battery on a second Church staff member. A judge revoked his bail and sent him back to jail (Florida Politics, 2025).

In April 2026, a jury found him guilty of battery in that second case. He stayed in jail until May 4, then went on probation (Pinellas County Sheriff, 2026). STAND, a Scientologist anti-discrimination group, says the court also ordered him to stay at least 500 feet from Church property downtown (STAND, 2026).

In the first case, a jury found him not guilty (Scientology Money Project, 2026).

Northcliffe House in London, headquarters of the Daily Mail’s parent company. Photo: Alex.muller, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

7. MailOnline. In 2015 it ran a story built on interviews with ex-members about the Church’s leader. He filed a complaint with IPSO, the U.K. press watchdog. In 2016 IPSO ruled against MailOnline. It said the site didn’t show it had taken care to be accurate or included his denials. MailOnline wouldn’t even defend the story. IPSO ordered it to post the ruling on its homepage for 24 hours (IPSO, 2016; Guardian, 2016).

Paul Haggis, 2013. Photo: Canadian Film Centre, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

8. Paul Haggis. The Oscar-winning director is one of the best-known ex-Scientologists. In 2022 a New York jury found him liable in a civil rape lawsuit. It ordered him to pay $10 million (Reuters, 2022). He blamed the case on a Church plot. Variety reported that no evidence of that ever came out. He denied the claim and later settled for about $2 million, with no admission of fault (Variety, 2026).

Spain’s National Court (Audiencia Nacional) in Madrid. Photo: FDV, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

9. Spain’s Justice Ministry. In 2005 the ministry refused to list the Church of Scientology of Spain as a religious group. In 2007 Spain’s National Court threw out that refusal. It ruled the Church had the right to be registered as a religious entity (Audiencia Nacional, 2007; Spanish Ministry of the Presidency).

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. Photo: Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

10. Russia, again and again. The Moscow loss above wasn’t the last. In 2009 Europe’s human rights court ruled unanimously that Russia broke Scientologists’ religious freedom by refusing to register their churches in two cities. In 2014 it ruled against Russia again over St. Petersburg. That makes at least 3 losses in Strasbourg (ECHR, 2009; ECHR, 2014).

Treat us like anyone else

You don’t have to agree with my faith. I don’t need you to.

Just hold it to the same rule you’d use for a church, a mosque, a temple, or a synagogue.

No mocking. No raids for clicks. No “sect filters.”

Hate is hate. Even when it’s trending.

Sources

Hate crimes and incidents

1. FBI/DOJ, “FBI Releases 2025 Hate Crime Statistics” (Aug. 14, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/hatecrimes/hate-crime-statistics ; FBI Table 1, Hate Crime Statistics, 2025 (copy): https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/storage/fbi2025hate.pdf ; FBI Crime Data Explorer: https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/
2. Seattle Times, “‘Speed run’ at Seattle Scientology church ends in hate crime arrests” (May 11, 2026): https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/speed-run-at-seattle-scientology-church-ends-in-hate-crime-arrests/

Legal recognition and discrimination

1. New York Times, “Scientologists Granted Tax Exemption by the U.S.” (Oct. 14, 1993): https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/14/us/scientologists-granted-tax-exemption-by-the-us.html
2. European Court of Human Rights, Church of Scientology Moscow v. Russia, no. 18147/02 (Apr. 5, 2007): http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2007/258.html
3. UK Supreme Court, R (Hodkin) v Registrar General [2013] UKSC 77 (Dec. 11, 2013), press summary: https://supremecourt.uk/uploads/uksc_2013_0030_press_summary_b3b4bffd26.pdf
4. U.S. State Department, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Germany: https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/547499_GERMANY-2023-INTERNATIONAL-RELIGIOUS-FREEDOM-REPORT.pdf
5. Bild, “Beobachten oder nicht?: Verfassungsschutz-Zoff um Scientology” (May 26, 2026): https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/beobachten-oder-nicht-verfassungsschutz-zoff-um-scientology-6a153a5a67305f34561da160
6. U.S. State Department, 2023 Report on International Religious Freedom: Russia: https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom/russia/

What Scientology is

1. Scientology.org, “What does the word Scientology mean?”: https://www.scientology.org/faq/background-and-basic-principles/what-does-the-word-scientology-mean.html
2. Scientology.org, “The Aims of Scientology”: https://www.scientology.org/what-is-scientology/the-scientology-creeds-and-codes/the-aims-of-scientology.html

Helping out (Church-reported figures are marked in the text)

1. New York Times, “Changed Lives; Religious Leader Takes His Calling to Ground Zero” (Sept. 20, 2001): https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/20/nyregion/changed-lives-religious-leader-takes-his-calling-to-ground-zero.html
2. Scientology.org, “Volunteer Ministers Respond to 9/11 Disaster in New York”: https://www.scientology.org/how-we-help/volunteer-ministers/disaster-relief/new-york.html
3. Scientology Newsroom, “2001–2011: The Volunteer Ministers Movement”: https://www.scientologynews.org/press-releases/scientology-volunteer-ministers-2011.html
4. New York Times (The Lede), “Questions for Baptists, Praise for Scientologists in Haiti” (Feb. 3, 2010): https://archive.nytimes.com/thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/while-baptist-group-is-questioned-scientologists-are-praised-in-haiti/
5. ShowMe Plettenberg Bay, “Plett’s men in blue bring happiness to Wittedrift” (Oct. 31, 2013): https://showme.co.za/plett/news/plett%c2%92s-men-in-blue-bring-happiness-to-wittedrift/
6. Freedom Magazine (Church-published), “Trouble in Paradise, Then Hope: Reducing Crime in South Africa” (Nov. 2014): https://www.freedommag.org.za/issue/201411-held-back/world/trouble-and-hope-in-paradise-reducing-crime-south-africa.html
7. Scientology Newsroom, “Kicking Off a Happy and Clean Holiday Season in Hollywood”: https://www.scientologynews.org/press-releases/kicking-off-a-happy-and-clean-holiday-season-in-hollywood.html
8. Urban Institute Justice Policy Center, The Criminon Program Evaluation: Phase I (Jan. 2006): https://www.criminon.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Criminon-Program-Evaluation-Phase-1-The-Urban-Institute.pdf
9. Scientology Newsroom, “Drug-Free World Tackles Drug Abuse at Super Bowl LIX” (2025): https://www.scientologynews.org/press-releases/drug-free-world-tackles-drug-abuse-at-super-bowl-lix.html

The record

1. Irish Examiner, “Apology to Church of Scientology” (Dec. 20, 2007): https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/arid-30341378.html
2. Poynter, “U.K.’s Sun mocks Scientology with apology to alien lifeforms” (June 13, 2013): https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2013/u-k-s-sun-mocks-scientology-with-apology-to-alien-lifeforms/
3. Digital Spy, “BBC man rebuked over Scientology show” (May 14, 2007): https://www.digitalspy.com/media/a46509/bbc-man-rebuked-over-scientology-show/ ; The Guardian (May 13, 2007): https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/may/13/broadcasting.bbc
4. AFP via The Guardian, “Scientology criminal enterprise case thrown out by Belgian judge” (Mar. 11, 2016): https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/11/scientology-criminal-enterprise-case-thrown-out-belgian-judge
5. The Hollywood Reporter, “A TikToker’s Scientology ‘Run’ Inspired a Trend. He Says It’s Too Far” (Apr. 23, 2026): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/tiktoker-scientology-run-inspired-a-trend-1236573730/
6. ABC7 New York, “Video shows mob ransacking Church of Scientology in Midtown Manhattan” (May 2026): https://abc7ny.com/post/video-shows-mob-storming-church-scientology-new-york-city/19031313/ ; New York Post, “Crazy video shows mob ransack NYC Scientology church as 3 busted…” (May 25, 2026): https://nypost.com/2026/05/25/us-news/crazy-video-shows-mob-ransack-nyc-scientology-church-as-3-busted-for-possible-social-media-stunt/

7. NBC News, “Church of Scientology blasts TikTok ‘speed running’ trend as viral videos circulate” (Apr. 30, 2026): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/church-of-scientology-blasts-tiktok-speedrunning-trend-rcna342747

8. Deadline, “Leah Remini Inks First-Look Development Deal With A+E Networks” (Apr. 13, 2018): https://deadline.com/2018/04/leah-remini-first-look-development-deal-ae-networks-scientology-1202363407/ ; IPC/A&E premiere release (Oct. 27, 2016): https://theipcorp.com/eight-episode-ipc-series-leah-remini-scientology-and-the-aftermath-will-premiere-tuesday-november-29th-at-10pm-on-ae/
9. LAPD, “LAPD Responds to Comments Made by Leah Remini” NR22330jl (Nov. 14, 2022): https://www.lapdonline.org/newsroom/lapd-responds-to-comments-made-by-leah-remini-nr22330jl/ ; The Hollywood Reporter, “LAPD Rules Shelly Miscavige Missing Persons Report ‘Unfounded’” (Aug. 8, 2013): https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/leah-remini-leaves-scientology-lapd-602860/
10. California Court of Appeal, 2d Dist., Div. 2, Remini v. Church of Scientology International, No. B337765 (filed July 31, 2026; unpublished), appeal from L.A. Super. Ct. No. 23STCV18300: https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/remini-scientology-appeals-ruling.pdf ; Courthouse News, “Appeals court gives Leah Remini’s defamation suit against Church of Scientology another trim”: https://www.courthousenews.com/appeals-court-gives-leah-reminis-defamation-suit-against-church-of-scientology-another-trim/
11. Variety, “Judge Tosses Parts of Leah Remini’s Lawsuit Against Scientology” (Mar. 2024): https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/leah-remini-lawsuit-scientology-ruling-anti-slapp-1235942074/ ; Deadline (Mar. 14, 2024): https://deadline.com/2024/03/scientology-leah-remini-lawsuit-latest-1235857866/
12. Church of Scientology International, “Aftermath of the Aftermath”: https://www.leahreminiaftermath.com/ ; Church statement concerning Leah Remini: https://www.scientologynews.org/statements/abc-news/church-of-scientology-statement-leah-remini.html
13. YouTube, Growing Up in Scientology channel (@growingupinscientology), subscriber count checked Oct. 8, 2026: https://www.youtube.com/@growingupinscientology
14. Florida Politics, “Anti-Scientologist and former Clearwater candidate back in jail after bond revocation” (Nov. 20, 2025): https://floridapolitics.com/archives/766593-anti-scientologist-and-former-clearwater-candidate-back-in-jail-after-bond-revocation/
15. Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, booking record for case 25-15304-MM (battery, Fla. Stat. 784.03; booked Apr. 14, 2026; released to probation May 4, 2026): https://www.pinellassheriff.gov/InmateBooking/SubjectResults.aspx?id=2030272 ; The Scientology Money Project, “Aaron Smith-Levin Found Guilty of Misdemeanor Battery Charge in Pinellas County, Florida” (Apr. 14, 2026): https://scientologymoneyproject.com/2026/04/14/aaron-smith-levin-found-guilty-of-misdemeanor-battery-charge-in-pinellas-county-florida/
16. STAND (Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination), “Aaron Smith-Levin, Aftermath Founding Board Member, Convicted and Jailed for Assaulting a Scientologist” (May 13, 2026): https://www.standleague.org/newsroom/blog/aaron-smith-levin-aftermath-founding-board-member-convicted-and-jailed-for-assaulting-a-scientologist-01085a
17. The Scientology Money Project, “Aaron Smith-Levin: Not Guilty” (Mar. 3, 2026): https://scientologymoneyproject.com/2026/03/03/aaron-smith-levin-not-guilty-prosecutor-scientology-lose-in-court/
18. IPSO, Miscavige v Mail Online, ruling 01450-16 (published July 19, 2016): https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/01450-16/ ; The Guardian, “Scientology leader’s complaint over Mail Online’s Tom Cruise story upheld” (July 19, 2016): https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jul/19/scientology-mail-online-tom-cruise-david-miscavige
19. Reuters, “Oscar-winner Paul Haggis must pay total of $10 million in civil rape case” (Nov. 14, 2022): https://www.reuters.com/legal/oscar-winner-paul-haggis-must-pay-total-10-million-civil-rape-case-2022-11-14/ ; AP, “Jury tells filmmaker Haggis to pay $10M total in rape suit” (Nov. 14, 2022): https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-movies-lawsuits-paul-haggis-c12bd93280bc86eff399fcbf6cbf81e7
20. Variety, “Paul Haggis Settles With Rape Accuser for $2 Million” (Jan. 9, 2026): https://variety.com/2026/film/news/paul-haggis-rape-accuser-2-million-1236627708/
21. Audiencia Nacional (Spain), Sala de lo Contencioso-Administrativo, Sección 3, SAN 4394/2007, recurso 352/2005 (Oct. 11, 2007), full text: https://www.cesnur.org/2007/sc_10_11.htm ; listed by Spain’s Ministry of the Presidency: https://www.mpr.gob.es/mpr/subse/libertad-religiosa/paginas/jurisprudencia-interes/personalidad-juridica.aspx
22. European Court of Human Rights, Kimlya and Others v. Russia, nos. 76836/01 and 32782/03 (Oct. 1, 2009): https://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2009/1424.html ; Church of Scientology of St Petersburg and Others v. Russia, no. 47191/06 (Oct. 2, 2014): http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/ECHR/2014/1019.html
23. Congressional Record, 105 Cong. Rec. A569 (Jan. 20, 1959), Appendix, entered by Rep. Edgar W. Hiestand; scans and context: https://mckaystewart.github.io/2026/10/08/conspiracy-theorists-rejoice/
24. Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics (1955), pp. 45, 49; free PDF: https://mckaystewart.github.io/assets/docs/brain-washing-psychopolitics.pdf

Photos

• Clearwater Flag Building: “Scientology Clearwater headquarters.JPG,” Taty2007, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scientology_Clearwater_headquarters.JPG
• Ground Zero and Katrina: Church of Scientology International, from Scientology.org Volunteer Ministers pages (official church images).
• Haiti: “Scientology Volunteer Ministers in Haiti - February 2010,” Scientology Volunteer Ministers, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scientology_Volunteer_Ministers_in_Haiti_-_February_2010.jpg
• Hollywood cleanup and Super Bowl: Scientology Newsroom (scientologynews.org) press images.
• John Sweeney: Richardc39, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:John_Sweeney.jpg
• Northcliffe House: “Northcliffe House 2008 06 21.jpg,” Alex.muller, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Northcliffe_House_2008_06_21.jpg
• Paul Haggis: “Paul Haggis, Canadian Film Centre, 2013 (cropped).jpg,” Canadian Film Centre, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_Haggis,Canadian_Film_Centre,_2013(cropped).jpg
• Audiencia Nacional: “Audiencia-Nacional-141115.jpg,” FDV, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Audiencia-Nacional-141115.jpg
• European Court of Human Rights: “Cour européenne des droits de l’homme (Strasbourg) (2).jpg,” Gzen92, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cour_europ%C3%A9enne_des_droits_de_l%27homme_(Strasbourg)_(2).jpg

Oh, and the website is back from the dead too. More on that below.

West Side Swordy poster art, from the 2015 press kit (poster designs credited to Alex Lombardo and Julian Martin).

So what IS West Side Swordy?

Picture West Side Story. Now give everybody swords. Now put Deadmau5 in charge.

That’s basically it. Here’s the official synopsis from our 2015 press kit:

“The Jets chase the Sharks through an alleyway and up over a tall fence, when suddenly they find themselves in another world, magically transported into an abandoned warehouse. Where they are controlled by the electronic beat of the world-renowned disc jockey, Deadmau5. This is an LA West Side Story.”

IMDb’s one-liner is even better: “The ‘Jets’ chase the ‘Sharks’ over a fence and land in… a warehouse! With swords in their hands. And Deadmau5 controls them all!”

It’s a 9-minute short (IMDb lists it as a 2015 U.S. short, genres Short / Action / Adventure), made under my company, Origins of Light, and shot in Los Angeles.

The alley chase. Still from the West Side Swordy press kit (2015); set stills credited to Stephen William, Jay Andrino and Shant Hamassian.

My jobs on it (spoiler: a lot of them)

Per IMDb’s full credits, I:

• wrote it,
• produced it (executive producer / producer),
• played Riff, leader of the Jets,
• and got a co-choreographer credit.

And I did not do it alone, not even close. Dan Liu directed and edited. John T. Connor and Nate Fu shot it. Nick Lanzisera choreographed. Erin Rogers did costumes. Jason Brillantes played Bernardo (and did stunts), and Jaimie Bess played Anita. Deadmau5 himself was played by Saige Walker and André Van Driessche. The rest of the Jets, Sharks and dancers are all on the IMDb credits page, and every single one of them killed it.

Why swords? In my own words from the 2015 press kit:

“I originally wanted to create a sword-fighting reel to try and help me and a few fellow stunt performers get jobs on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. No joke! But then, I wanted it to be special, to have real production value, have a story. In essence, a short film.”

And why West Side Story? Also from the press kit: I’d performed in it twice, as Baby John, once in Austin, Texas and once in Redondo Beach. Definitely my favorite musical, by far.

Steel under the spotlight. Still from the West Side Swordy press kit (2015).

The trailer (April 29, 2015)

My first-ever blog post was literally just a link: “Official Trailer for West Side Swordy!” Here it is, embedded properly this time:

“West Side Swordy Trailer” on my YouTube channel, uploaded April 22, 2015 (38 seconds).

The tagline in the YouTube description says it all: “A Sword-Swinging Beat-Down Boogie.” It was billed as “a modern fairy tale featuring Original Music from West Side Story and from Electronic Dance Music producer Deadmau5.” World premiere coming soon, stay tuned!

The mau5. Still from the West Side Swordy press kit (2015).

The website (May 24, 2015)

Post number two, word for word:

“Over one year in the making and hundreds of hours of labor, it is finally finished. www.westsideswordy.com !”

Two exclamation points in the title. I was pumped.

And honestly? It deserved it. The site was built by Halo Creative, a Los Angeles design firm, and it was gorgeous: an illustrated, parallax warehouse world with my big ol’ sword and the mau5 head floating out front, a pop-up trailer, a cast “About” page you unlocked by playing a memory game, an RSVP form for the invitation-only world premiere showcase, and the song “Pandora” by composer Pascal Tatipata playing in the background. The homepage even said “Funded in part by Kickstarter.”

What I remember most is that the whole thing moved when you tilted your phone. The layers shifted with you, like you were peeking around inside the warehouse. That’s not just my memory, either. The archived code runs the scene through Parallax.js, a plugin that drives the layers “from the gyroscope output of a smartdevice” (and falls back to your mouse on a computer). Our Awwwards entry bragged about “Gyroscope and mouse-activated parallax animations” and put the build at “over 500 hours of interactive blood, sweat and tears over a period of nine months.”

The westsideswordy.com homepage as archived by the Wayback Machine in August 2015, rendered from the restored copy.

It got award love

The design community noticed:

• Awwwards Nominee, August 11, 2015 (awwwards.com/sites/west-side-swordy). That’s the little “Nominee” ribbon you can see in the top-left corner of the screenshot.
• CSSReel Nominee (cssreel.com/website/west-side-swordy).
• Featured in the CSS Nectar gallery on July 23, 2015 (cssnectar.com).

And now it’s back!

The original domain died a long time ago. But the Internet Archive saved most of it, so I’ve rebuilt it from the Wayback captures. Go play with it:

Visit the restored westsideswordy.com

On a computer, move your mouse around. On a phone, turn it sideways and tilt it (on an iPhone, tap once and allow motion access). A few things didn’t survive: the photo gallery images were never archived, and the RSVP and contact forms are closed now. But the warehouse, the trailer pop-up, the music and the tilt are all back.

The warehouse. Still from the West Side Swordy press kit (2015).

Where it went from there

West Side Swordy got out into the world:

• Dances With Films 2016 listed it as a World Premiere, screening in the “Downbeat” program on Friday, June 3 at 2:45 PM (listing).
• The 2016 Urban Mediamakers Film Festival (UMFF) named it Best International Music-Driven Short Film (UMFF 2016 winners, PDF).
• The Short Stop International Film Festival programmed it in a music video block (listing).

A sword-fighting reel I wanted to send to the Pirates people turned into a short with a Technocrane, a Deadmau5 head, an award-nominated website and a festival win. Thank you to every single person who bled, sweated and danced on this thing.

Originally published April 29 and May 24, 2015 at mckaystewart.blogspot.com.

Sources

• IMDb, West Side Swordy (2015): title page and full credits. IMDb blocks automated reads, so these were read through Wayback captures from January 2026 and February 2024.
• YouTube, “West Side Swordy Trailer”, McKay Stewart channel, uploaded April 22, 2015.
• westsideswordy.com, Wayback Machine captures from July 26 and August 31, 2015, including the site’s code (jquery.parallax.js by Matthew Wagerfield).
• West Side Swordy press kit (Origins of Light, 2015), as archived from westsideswordy.com by the Wayback Machine on August 24, 2015.
• Awwwards: West Side Swordy, Nominee, Aug 11, 2015
• CSSReel: West Side Swordy (Nominee)
• CSS Nectar: West Side Swordy
• Dances With Films 2016: West Side Swordy
• UMFF 2016 winners (PDF)
• Short Stop IFF: Music Video 4
• Original Blogspot posts: April 29, 2015 and May 24, 2015

Cover, Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics (undated AFN Books reprint). Scan: Internet Archive, item goff_Brain_washing.

The paper trail

Before we open the booklet, here’s where it turns up in the official record. The three entries below are printed in the bound Congressional Record, the permanent record of the proceedings of Congress. The page scans come from the Government Publishing Office’s govinfo site. I’ve linked each page so you can read it yourself.

• June 13, 1957: Rep. Usher L. Burdick (R-N.D.). In an extension of remarks titled “Beware of Psychiatrists,” Burdick told the House: “My next Extension of Remarks will include the speech of Beria, who addressed a group of American students at Lenin University in Russia” (103 Cong. Rec. A4642–A4643). His next one, “Communist Brainwashing for Americans,” opens: “Mr. Speaker, to apprise the people of this country just what the Communist practice was and probably still is in regard to the treatment of so-called mentally sick persons, I have decided to reprint the entire speech made by Communist Beria to a class of American students at Lenin University.” Then comes “An Address by Beria,” the same address that opens the booklet (pp. 3–4) (103 Cong. Rec. A4644–A4645). Burdick doesn’t say where he got his copy.
• August 12, 1958: Rep. Edgar W. Hiestand (R-Calif.). Under the heading “Psychopolitics, the Basic Communist Tactic,” Hiestand inserted “two additional articles by that great patriot, George Todt, of the North Hollywood, Calif., Valley Times,” saying “These articles outline the basic Communist tactic, psychopolitics, and should awaken all America to this grave threat.” Todt’s column of July 30, 1958 names its source: the Beria address “as reported by ex-Communist Kenneth Goff in his book Brainwashing” (104 Cong. Rec. A7356–A7357).
• January 20, 1959: Hiestand again. Under “Soviet Psychopolitics,” he inserted “articles III and IV of George Todt’s current series on ‘Psychopolitics.’” Todt quotes Burdick’s 1957 “Beware of Psychiatrists” remarks word for word. He then reprints what he calls chapter 13 of “the official Russian textbook on Psychopolitics” and names the booklet by its full title: “Called Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Text Book on Psychopolitics, this little eye-opener ought to be the subject of a study group by every patriotic society in the United States today.” He tells readers that reprints “may be obtained by my readers through writing to Rev. Goff in Englewood, Colo.” (105 Cong. Rec. A569).

So by January 1959, the Beria address had been printed in full in the Congressional Record, and the booklet itself had been named there by title, along with where to order it.

Rep. Burdick introduces the Beria address. 103 Cong. Rec. A4644 (June 13, 1957), bound Appendix. Scan: U.S. Government Publishing Office, govinfo.

The booklet named by title, with where to get a copy. 105 Cong. Rec. A569 (Jan. 20, 1959), bound Appendix, entered by Rep. Hiestand. Scan: U.S. Government Publishing Office, govinfo.

Rep. Usher L. Burdick, from the 1957 Pocket Congressional Directory. U.S. Government work, public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Rep. Edgar W. Hiestand, c. 1953–1963. Courtesy of the Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

The document

The booklet is called Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics. It’s free to read and download from the Internet Archive. Every quote below is copied word for word from that scan, with its printed page number, so you can check each one yourself. I’m not paraphrasing anything inside quote marks.

Download the full booklet (PDF, 2.0 MB) — same Internet Archive scan (goff_Brain_washing).

Here’s how it defines its subject:

“PSYCHOPOLITICS: the art and science of asserting and maintaining dominion over the thoughts and loyalties of individuals, officers, bureaus, and masses; and the effecting of the conquest of enemy nations through ‘mental healing.’” (cover/title page)

Conquest through “mental healing.” Keep that phrase in mind. The whole playbook builds toward it.

Here’s the thesis of this post, in the booklet’s own words: the playbook itself identifies Dianetics as effective. It lists “trained Dianeticists” among the people “actually proficient in the handling or treatment of mental health” (p. 45). It names Dianetics among the “actual healing” groups that must be smashed “out of existence” (p. 49). That’s what the document says. You can check it yourself on the pages cited below.

Step 1: Flood the culture with chaos and distrust

The booklet opens with a speech it presents as “An Address by Beria,” given to “American students at the Lenin University.” The first goal it lists isn’t military at all:

“To produce a maximum of chaos in the culture of the enemy is our first most important step. Our fruits are grown in chaos, distrust, economic depression and scientific turmoil. At least a weary populace can seek peace only in our offered Communist State, at last only Communism can resolve the problems of the masses.” (p. 3)

That’s the stated mechanism: wear the population down until the offered system looks like the only way out. The address ends with this summary:

“By psychopolitics create chaos. Leave a nation leaderless. Kill our enemies. And bring to Earth, through Communism, the greatest peace Man has ever known.” (p. 4)

Page 3. Scan: Internet Archive, item goff_Brain_washing.

Step 2: Break the family

Chapter V, “An Examination of Loyalties,” goes through a person’s loyalties one at a time and explains how to destroy each. The second one on its list is family:

“The second loyalty is to his family unit, his parents and brothers and sisters. This is destroyed by making a family unit economically non-dependent, by lessening the value of marriage, by making an easiness of divorce and by raising the children wherever possible by the State.” (p. 26, Chapter V)

The same page spells out what it expects that to produce. Pressure on the home and on children, it says, “…will in the end create the chaos necessary to Communism.” (p. 26)

Step 3: Turn the young

Next come teenagers. The booklet is blunt about the goal:

“If we could effectively kill the national pride and patriotism of just one generation we will have won that country.” (p. 27, Chapter V)

And about the method:

“Creating a greed for drugs, sexual misbehavior and uncontrolled freedom and presenting this to them as a benefit of Communism will with ease bring about our alignment.” (p. 27, Chapter V)

Step 4: Get into the classroom without using the word

Chapter XI, “The Use of Psychopolitics in Spreading Communism,” says the label can come later:

“As the conquest of a nation by Communism depends upon imbuing its population with communistic tenets, it is not necessary that the term, ‘Communism,’ be applied at first to the educative measures employed.” (p. 53, Chapter XI)

It claims the vehicle is psychology textbooks, “to such a degree that anyone thoroughly studying psychology becomes at once a candidate to accept the reasonableness of Communism.” (p. 53)

Step 5: Capture the mental-health system and have the public pay for it

Chapter IX, “The Organization of Mental Health Campaigns,” tells operatives to set up community mental-health groups and use them to press governments for money and facilities:

“…thus bringing a government to finance its own downfall.” (p. 45, Chapter IX)

It also states the scale it hopes for: “a psychiatric ward in every hospital in the land, and psychiatrists in every company and regiment of the nation’s army.” (p. 48)

Step 6: Destroy the healers who actually help

This is where the playbook arrives at its target. The same chapter says the mental-health groups it describes have to purge anyone who’s actually good at the work:

“Mental health organizations must carefully delete from their ranks anyone actually proficient in the handling or treatment of mental health. Thus must be excluded priests, ministers, actually trained psychoanalysts, good hypnotists, or trained Dianeticists.” (p. 45, Chapter IX)

It then describes planting a person inside a target group, “whether Christian Science or Dianetics or faith preachers,” so that the group gets blamed and banned (p. 46). And then it gives the order outright:

"The psychopolitical operative should also spare no expense in smashing out of existence, by whatever means, any actual healing group, such as that of acupuncture, in China, such as Christian Science, Dianetics and faith healing, in the United States; such as Catholicism in Italy and Spain; and the practical psychological groups of England."
(p. 49, Chapter IX)

Page 49, Chapter IX. Scan: Internet Archive, item goff_Brain_washing.

Notice the wording: “any actual healing group.” The booklet’s own logic is that the groups that work are the ones that have to go. Put pp. 45 and 49 together and the playbook marks Dianetics twice: its practitioners as “actually proficient” and its movement as an “actual healing group.” That’s the booklet’s own assessment, not mine.

The intended effects, in its own words

Put the steps together and the booklet tells you what it’s aiming for:

• A worn-out population: “a weary populace can seek peace only in our offered Communist State” (p. 3).
• A leaderless nation: “Leave a nation leaderless” (p. 4).
• A generation with no national loyalty: “we will have won that country” (p. 27).
• Communism that looks reasonable: students who become “a candidate to accept the reasonableness of Communism” (p. 53).
• A government paying for it all: “bringing a government to finance its own downfall” (p. 45).
• No real healers left: “smashing out of existence… any actual healing group” (p. 49).

What happened next: the documented record

The National Security Council’s assessment. An evaluator at the Operations Coordinating Board of President Eisenhower’s National Security Council reviewed it on 20 March 1956 and wrote: “if the booklet is a fake, the author or authors know so much about brainwashing techniques that I would consider them experts, superior to any that I have met to date.” (Introvigne, p. 69, citing NSC Papers, OCB File 702.5, Eisenhower Library.)

The Alaska bill. The edition I’m quoting opens with an editorial note that points readers to “the Alaskan Mental Health Bill,” calling it “the attempt to establish a mental Siberia in Alaska” (Editorial Note, front matter). Congress passed the bill anyway. The Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act became Public Law 830 on July 28, 1956 (70 Stat. 709, govinfo).

Into the Congressional Record. From 1957 to 1959, Reps. Burdick and Hiestand put the Beria address, and newspaper columns quoting the booklet, into the Congressional Record. The details and page scans are in “The paper trail” above.

Investigations? I searched for a congressional hearing or federal investigation into psychiatric or mental-health “infiltration” that this booklet prompted. I didn’t find one. The official response I could document is the NSC assessment above.

Meanwhile, in the real labs: LSD and psychiatry. The booklet talks about “striking insanity into their families through the use of drugs” (p. 4) and about “peyote, mescaline, and later drugs which cause temporary insanity” (p. 46). Here’s what the documented record shows about drugs and psychiatry in the same years. It’s a parallel, not proof of any connection.

• The drug: Albert Hofmann at Sandoz in Basel first made lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25) in 1938. On April 16, 1943 he felt its effects by accident, and on April 19, 1943 he deliberately took 0.25 mg. Sandoz then made it available “to research institutes and physicians as an experimental drug” under the trade name Delysid. The Delysid prospectus listed “Analytical psychotherapy” among its indications and advised that “By taking Delysid himself, the psychiatrist is able to gain an insight into the world of ideas and sensations of mental patients.” The first systematic human study was run at the University of Zurich’s psychiatric clinic and published in 1947, and Hofmann writes that hallucinogens “gained entry into medicinal research, biology, and psychiatry” (Albert Hofmann, LSD: My Problem Child, 1980, MAPS PDF).
• The CIA: At a joint Senate hearing on August 3, 1977, CIA Director Stansfield Turner testified about 149 MKULTRA subprojects, many connected to “research into behavioral modification, drug acquisition and testing or administering drugs surreptitiously.” The records named 80 institutions, including “44 colleges or universities” and “12 hospitals or clinics.” Senator Kennedy noted that tests included giving LSD to “unwitting subjects in social situations,” and that MKULTRA records had been destroyed in January 1973 on Director Richard Helms’s instructions (Project MKULTRA, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 1977).
• The psychiatrist: A federal court later laid out the undisputed funding facts. The CIA set up a front, the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, in 1955. A CIA employee who read a 1956 article by Dr. Ewen Cameron of Montreal’s Allan Memorial Institute of Psychiatry invited him to apply for its research funds. Cameron’s application proposed “the use of chemical agents, including LSD, to depattern the individual.” The CIA approved it as MKULTRA Subproject 68, running from March 18, 1957 to June 30, 1960. Whether Cameron’s methods were therapy or experimentation was, in the court’s words, “plainly in dispute” and left for trial (Orlikow v. United States, 682 F. Supp. 77 (D.D.C. 1988)).

Sound familiar?

The booklet tells you what success would look like, and it tells you which healers it feared most. Here are seven of its stated aims next to what U.S. data actually show. These trends have many causes, and nothing here shows that anyone carried out this playbook. Look at the numbers and draw your own conclusions.

1. “Our fruits are grown in chaos, distrust…” (p. 3) In 1958, 73% of Americans said they trust the federal government to do what is right “just about always” or “most of the time.” In September 2025 it was 17% (Pew Research Center, “Public Trust in Government: 1958–2025”).

2. “If we could effectively kill the national pride and patriotism of just one generation we will have won that country.” (p. 27) In 2025, a record-low 58% of U.S. adults said they were “extremely” or “very” proud to be American, down from 91% in 2002. Gallup found Gen Z and millennials “much less proud of their country than their elders” (Gallup, June 30, 2025).

3. “…by lessening the value of marriage…” (p. 26) The U.S. marriage rate fell from 8.2 per 1,000 people in 2000 to 6.1 in 2023 (CDC/NCHS National Vital Statistics System).

4. “…a psychiatric ward in every hospital in the land…” (p. 48) The share of U.S. adults who took an antidepressant in the past 30 days rose from 10.6% in 2009–2010 to 13.8% in 2017–2018 (CDC/NCHS Data Brief No. 377, 2020).

5. “Creating a greed for drugs… will with ease bring about our alignment.” (p. 27)

• Adults overall: In 2025, about 1 in 4 Americans 12 and older (24.0%, or 69.8 million people) used an illicit drug in the past year. SAMHSA’s trend tests for 2021–2025 show past-year illicit drug use increasing overall, driven by adults 26 and older. Past-year hallucinogen use rose from 2.7% (7.6 million) in 2021 to 3.1% (9.1 million) in 2025, and marijuana from 19.0% to 21.2% (61.6 million) (SAMHSA, 2025 NSDUH press release, July 27, 2026; SAMHSA blog, July 27, 2026).
• Psychedelics and cannabis: The NIH-funded Monitoring the Future panel found past-year use of “psychedelic drugs/hallucinogens” reached “the highest levels ever recorded in 2024 among adults ages 19 to 30 and 35 to 50.” Among 35- to 50-year-olds, cannabis use “has doubled or nearly doubled” over the past five and 10 years (University of Michigan ISR, Aug. 26, 2025). In 2025, adult cannabis use stayed “at or near all-time highs,” and daily use among 35- to 50-year-olds rose from 6.6% to 8.5%. Psychedelic use among 19- to 30-year-olds dipped from 8.9% in 2024 to 7.2% in 2025 (NIH, Aug. 12, 2026).
• Microdosing: In a nationally representative RAND survey (Dec. 2023–Jan. 2024), 3.1% of U.S. adults had used psilocybin in the past year, and 46.9% of them said they microdosed the last time they used it. RAND estimates that at least 8.4 million U.S. adults have microdosed psilocybin (RAND; RAND press release, June 27, 2024).
• Teens go the other way: Past-year illicit drug use among 12- to 17-year-olds decreased from 2021 to 2025 (NSDUH). In 2024, a record 67.1% of high school seniors said they hadn’t used marijuana, alcohol, or nicotine in the past 30 days (NIDA, Dec. 17, 2024).

6. “By psychopolitics create chaos.” (p. 4) In 2016, Russia’s Internet Research Agency (IRA) ran fake American social media accounts on both sides of the divide. The Mueller report says the IRA’s goal was “sowing discord in the U.S. political system.” It ran fake conservative groups like “Being Patriotic” and “Secured Borders” alongside fake Black social justice groups like “Blacktivist” and “Black Matters” (Mueller report, Vol. I, Sec. II, pp. 14, 24–25). The Senate Intelligence Committee found that the operatives used “hot-button, societal divisions” to “pit Americans against one another and against their government” (SSCI report, Vol. 2, p. 6). After the election they worked both sides on the same day. On or about November 12, 2016, one IRA-controlled group organized a New York rally to “show your support for President-Elect Donald Trump,” and another IRA-controlled group organized a New York rally called “Trump is NOT my President” (Special Counsel indictment, U.S. v. Internet Research Agency, ¶ 57; SSCI Vol. 2, p. 42). 7. “He can instruct, in an optimum situation, the entire nation in how to handle children…” (p. 27) The same page that targets the young says the operative, “from his position as an authority on the mind,” can “advise all manner of destructive measures” and “instruct, in an optimum situation, the entire nation in how to handle children” (p. 27). Here’s what official data show about psychiatric drugs and American kids:

• ADHD diagnoses and medication: In 2022, 11.4% of U.S. children ages 3–17 (about 7.1 million) had ever been diagnosed with ADHD, about 1 million more than in 2016. Of the 10.5% (6.5 million) with current ADHD, 53.6% were taking ADHD medication (CDC, ADHD Data and Statistics; Danielson et al., J. Clin. Child & Adolesc. Psychol., 2024).
• Stimulants: Among commercially insured Americans ages 5–64, the share filling a stimulant prescription rose from 3.6% in 2016 to 4.1% in 2021. For girls 15–19 it went from 5.3% to 6.1%, including a 15.1% jump from 2020 to 2021 alone. Boys 10–14 had the highest rate of any group, at 10.8% in 2016 and 9.9% in 2021 (CDC, MMWR, March 31, 2023). On August 1, 2023, the DEA and FDA warned of stimulant shortages “in combination with record-high prescription rates of stimulant medications,” noting that “from 2012 to 2021, overall dispensing of stimulants… increased by 45.5 percent” (DEA/FDA joint letter).
• Antidepressants: From January 2016 to December 2022, the monthly rate of antidepressant dispensing to Americans ages 12–25 rose 66.3%, from 2,575.9 to 4,284.8 per 100,000. After March 2020 it rose 63.5% faster than before, and 129.6% faster among girls 12–17. Dispensing to boys 12–17 dropped at the outbreak instead (Chua et al., Pediatrics, 2024).
• The pushback, written into law: In 2003 the U.S. House passed the Child Medication Safety Act 425–1 “to protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering psychotropic medication in order to attend school” (H.R. 1170; H. Rept. 108-121). It passed the House again in 2005, 407–12 (H.R. 1790; Roll Call 590). Neither bill passed the Senate. The protection itself became federal law in the 2004 rewrite of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires states to “prohibit State and local educational agency personnel from requiring a child to obtain a prescription for a substance covered by the Controlled Substances Act… as a condition of attending school” (20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(25)). Many states have added their own versions. Connecticut requires every school board to bar staff from “recommending the use of psychotropic drugs for any child” (Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-212b). Texas bars school employees from recommending a psychotropic drug or using a parent’s refusal “as grounds, by itself, for prohibiting the child from attending a class” (Tex. Educ. Code § 38.016). Oregon bars school personnel from requiring a controlled-substance prescription “as a condition of attending school” (ORS 339.873). The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) says it “spearheaded a national campaign” that led to the federal amendment, and that its “work with state legislators” led to similar protections in 11 states (CCHR, Fight for Kids).

Some trends line up with the booklet’s goals and some go the other way. A checklist isn’t a cause. But go back to the one thing the playbook says plainly about its rivals. Out of every school of mental healing it could have named, it singled out Dianetics twice, as “actually proficient” (p. 45) and as an “actual healing group” to be smashed “out of existence” (p. 49). By the playbook’s own account, it saw Dianetics as effective. The full booklet is a free download. Pull the raw frames yourself, same as I would with camera footage: no filter, nobody’s summary.

Conspiracy theorists, rejoice. Then read it. 📚

Sources

1. Brain-Washing: A Synthesis of the Russian Textbook on Psychopolitics. Undated AFN Books reprint (Johnstown, CO), with an editorial note signed by Kenneth Goff. Local download: /assets/docs/brain-washing-psychopolitics.pdf (2.0 MB). Source scan: Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/goff_Brain_washing (PDF: https://archive.org/download/goff_Brain_washing/goff_Brain_washing.pdf). Quotes use the printed page numbers.
2. Massimo Introvigne, “Did L. Ron Hubbard Believe in Brainwashing? The Strange Story of the ‘Brain-Washing Manual’ of 1955,” Nova Religio 20, no. 4 (2017): 62–79, https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.2017.20.4.62. Cited here only for the documented NSC assessment.
3. Alaska Mental Health Enabling Act, Pub. L. 84-830, 70 Stat. 709 (July 28, 1956): https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-70/pdf/STATUTE-70-Pg709.pdf
4. Congressional Record (bound edition), Appendix, U.S. Government Publishing Office via govinfo: Rep. Usher L. Burdick, “Beware of Psychiatrists” and “Communist Brainwashing for Americans,” 103 Cong. Rec. A4642–A4645 (June 13, 1957), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt20/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt20-1 (vol. 103, pt. 20; page scans: A4642, A4643, A4644, A4645); Rep. Edgar W. Hiestand, “Psychopolitics, the Basic Communist Tactic,” 104 Cong. Rec. A7356–A7357 (Aug. 12, 1958), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-CRECB-1958-pt25/GPO-CRECB-1958-pt25-1 (vol. 104, pt. 25; page scans: A7356, A7357); Rep. Edgar W. Hiestand, “Soviet Psychopolitics,” 105 Cong. Rec. A569 (Jan. 20, 1959), https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-CRECB-1959-pt18/GPO-CRECB-1959-pt18-1 (vol. 105, pt. 18; page scan: A569). Index volumes 103 and 104 list further Hiestand/Todt entries at A7286–87 and A7576–77 (1958).
5. Pew Research Center, “Public Trust in Government: 1958–2025” (updated Dec. 4, 2025): https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/06/24/public-trust-in-government-1958-2024/
6. Gallup, “American Pride Slips to New Low” (June 30, 2025): https://news.gallup.com/poll/692150/american-pride-slips-new-low.aspx
7. CDC/NCHS, “Provisional number and rates of marriages, divorces, and annulments: United States, 2000–2023”: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/dvs/marriage-divorce/national-marriage-divorce-rates-00-23.pdf
8. Brody DJ, Gu Q., “Antidepressant Use Among Adults: United States, 2015–2018,” NCHS Data Brief No. 377 (2020): https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db377.htm
9. NIDA, “Reported use of most drugs among adolescents remained low in 2024” (Dec. 17, 2024): https://nida.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/2024/12/reported-use-of-most-drugs-among-adolescents-remained-low-in-2024 ; University of Michigan news release (Dec. 17, 2024): https://news.umich.edu/missing-rebound-youth-drug-use-defies-expectations-continues-historic-decline/
10. SAMHSA, “SAMHSA Releases Annual National Survey on Drug Use and Health” (July 27, 2026): https://www.samhsa.gov/newsroom/press-announcements/20260727/samhsa-releases-annual-national-survey-on-drug-use-and-health ; SAMHSA blog, “Release of the 2025 National Survey on Drug Use and Health” (July 27, 2026): https://www.samhsa.gov/blog/release-2025-nsduh-using-data-to-drive-great-american-recovery
11. University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, “Nicotine pouch, cannabis, vaping, psychedelic use on the rise among US adults” (Aug. 26, 2025, MTF Panel 2024 data): https://isr.umich.edu/news-events/news-releases/nicotine-pouch-cannabis-vaping-psychedelic-use-on-the-rise-among-us-adults-2/ ; NIH, “Elevated use of cannabis, nicotine among U.S. adults continues into 2025” (Aug. 12, 2026): https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/elevated-use-cannabis-nicotine-among-us-adults-continues-into-2025
12. RAND, “Psilocybin Microdosing in the United States: Insights from a Nationally Representative Survey”: https://www.rand.org/pubs/external_publications/EP71229.html ; RAND press release (June 27, 2024): https://www.rand.org/news/press/2024/06/27.html
13. Albert Hofmann, LSD: My Problem Child (McGraw-Hill, 1980), MAPS edition: https://maps.org/images/pdf/books/lsdmyproblemchild.pdf
14. Project MKULTRA, the CIA’s Program of Research in Behavioral Modification, Joint Hearing, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research, 95th Cong. (Aug. 3, 1977): https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/sites-default-files-hearings-95mkultra.pdf
15. Orlikow v. United States, 682 F. Supp. 77 (D.D.C. 1988): https://hallapproved.com/dc/cases/federal/district/1988/1583126/
16. Robert S. Mueller III, Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election, Vol. I, Section II, “Russian ‘Active Measures’ Social Media Campaign,” pp. 14, 24–25 (U.S. Department of Justice, March 2019): https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1373816/dl
17. U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Report on Russian Active Measures Campaigns and Interference in the 2016 U.S. Election, Volume 2: Russia’s Use of Social Media with Additional Views (Oct. 2019), pp. 6, 42: https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf
18. Indictment, United States v. Internet Research Agency LLC, et al., No. 1:18-cr-00032-DLF (D.D.C. Feb. 16, 2018), ¶ 57, p. 23: https://www.justice.gov/archives/sco/file/1035477/dl
19. Danielson ML, Claussen AH, Bitsko RH, et al., “ADHD Prevalence Among U.S. Children and Adolescents in 2022: Diagnosis, Severity, Co-Occurring Disorders, and Treatment,” Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology (2024): https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2024.2335625 ; CDC, “Data and Statistics on ADHD”: https://www.cdc.gov/adhd/data/index.html
20. Danielson ML, Bohm MK, Newsome K, et al., “Trends in Stimulant Prescription Fills Among Commercially Insured Children and Adults — United States, 2016–2021,” MMWR 72, no. 13 (March 31, 2023): 327–332, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7213a1.htm
21. DEA and FDA, joint letter to the public on prescription stimulant shortages (Aug. 1, 2023): https://www.dea.gov/documents/2023/2023-08/2023-08-01/dea-and-fda-issue-joint-letter-public-actions-address-shortages (PDF: https://www.fda.gov/media/170736/download)
22. Chua KP, et al., “Antidepressant Dispensing to US Adolescents and Young Adults: 2016–2022,” Pediatrics 153, no. 3 (2024): e2023064245, https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/153/3/e2023064245/196655/Antidepressant-Dispensing-to-US-Adolescents-and
23. Child Medication Safety Act of 2003, H.R. 1170, 108th Cong. (passed House May 21, 2003, 425–1, Roll Call 203): https://www.congress.gov/bill/108th-congress/house-bill/1170 ; H. Rept. 108-121: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-108hrpt121/html/CRPT-108hrpt121.htm ; Child Medication Safety Act of 2005, H.R. 1790, 109th Cong. (passed House Nov. 16, 2005, 407–12, Roll Call 590): https://www.congress.gov/bill/109th-congress/house-bill/1790 , https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/2005590 ; Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Pub. L. 108-446, § 101, codified at 20 U.S.C. § 1412(a)(25), “Prohibition on mandatory medication”: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/20/1412
24. State statutes: Conn. Gen. Stat. § 10-212b, https://www.cga.ct.gov/current/pub/chap_169.htm ; Tex. Educ. Code § 38.016, https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/ED/htm/ED.38.htm ; Or. Rev. Stat. § 339.873, https://oregon.public.law/statutes/ors_339.873
25. CCHR International, “Fight For Kids—CCHR’s Campaign to Protect Children”: https://www.cchrint.org/fightforkids-accomplishments/