We’re racing toward a new year again, and so it’s time to look back at the territory we covered in yet another twelvemonth here in the Underground Bunker.
As ever, we want to wish our commenting community a happy holidays and offer another big thanks for making the Bunker what it is. We hope our longtime readers will enjoy some reminders about the important stories of 2014, and maybe our newer readers will consider this a guide to things they might catch up on.
So let’s dive in. The beginning of the year saw a flurry of activity in Monique Rathbun’s harassment lawsuit against Scientology and its leader, David Miscavige. And on January 2 we were giddy about bringing you our first exclusive of the year — the deposition of former church spokesman Tommy Davis.
Davis is the son of actress Anne Archer and had become a minor media star as Scientology’s mouthpiece from about 2006 to 2010. But then he seemed to vanish, and turned up in Austin, Texas. He claimed to be “on leave” from the Sea Organization, and he turned out to be as combative in deposition as we assumed he would be. Monique Rathbun’s attorney, Ray Jeffrey, battled to get Davis to address the accusations of physical abuse that were leveled at Davis’s boss, Scientology leader David Miscavige, in major media reports in 2009 and 2010. Finally, Jeffrey got this answer out of Tommy:
Davis: I don’t recall specifically having any conversations with Mr. Miscavige on a matter such as this. I never felt the need to because not then, not now, and I seriously doubt ever in the future have I ever encountered a single person who was in any way, shape, or form involved in the kind of allegations that were made against Mr. Miscavige, not — I couldn’t find anybody who could verify what was being leveled against him because — and therefore I concluded that the allegations being made against him were not true.
Jeffrey: Wow. I may print that one up and frame it and put it on my wall.
Two days later, another rather amazing development in Monique Rathbun’s lawsuit: Former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder submitted as evidence a series of text messages that Rinder said were from a conversation between him, Tommy Davis, and David Miscavige as the church leader personally supervised surveillance of BBC journalist John Sweeney during the making of his 2007 documentary, “Scientology and Me.” The texts contained evidence of Miscavige not only personally instructing the stalking of Sweeney (evidence that Monique believed would bolster claims that Miscavige also directed the surveillance and harassment of her and her husband, Marty Rathbun), but also showed Miscavige using hilarious coarse language with his underlings in the form of acronyms, such as YSCOHB, which Rinder explained stood for “You suck cock on Hollywood Boulevard.”
Two days later, we were leaked video from Scientology’s November 2013 IAS gala under a big tent in Clearwater, Florida. After an initial portion of the night’s event, the next day we posted the rest of the video, which included a new Scientology ad which would be shown during the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl.
On January 8, a long day in court for Monique Rathbun’s lawsuits produced one of the year’s first great memes. We talked to Ray Jeffrey about the day’s proceedings, and he said Scientology attorney Ricardo Cedillo had repeatedly said something kind of strange…
If Cedillo was often very effective, one thing he repeated several times was “It doesn’t matter if my client has a black heart, what matters is that it’s a case of religion.”
“I thought it was a poor way of putting it,” Jeffrey says.
Our readers really ran with that one, and we asked Observer to come up with a shoop…
On January 13, our sources came through again and we were leaked video from Scientology’s New Year’s Eve celebration in Florida, and we got to see David Miscavige announce, “2014 belongs to us.”
On the 20th, we told you about a new film from former church member Steve Mango, as well as the shocking suicide of a 27-year-old woman who was trying to get away from Scientology named Tayler Tweed. The next day, another distressing tale — what happened to Barbara Cordova Oliver? The 56-year-old woman, a fixture at Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre, had vanished after suffering a nervous breakdown. We’re still hoping to get information about her whereabouts and condition for her mother, Arlene Cordova.
And on the last day of the month, Jefferson Hawkins completed his great series about Scientology ethics. You can find the entire series at this link.
A LOOK BACK AT JANUARY 2013: Lawrence Wright’s Going Clear debuted, as did John Sweeney’s book, Luis and Rocio Garcia filed their federal fraud lawsuit, and Atlantic magazine screwed up big time.
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Sunday Funnies
We’ve got a few tasty morsels for you in this week’s set of Sunday Funnies — the latest fundraising fliers that have been smuggled out to us by our great tipsters…
“Look out, psychs! You have no idea what’s coming at you!”
Another big Valley party featuring Nancy Cartwright. Will she ever get these people to cough up enough dough?
Little Pasadena Org, going Saint Hill Size? In a few weeks? This planet will be cleared in no time.
Scientology in Washington, safepointing all over the place. Go, Ron!
Fearless Leader can hardly contain his excitement about how straight up and vertical the stats are in Scotland…
More of this “Infinity Club” excitement taking over the Silicon Valley Org. Does your big check get you the Infinity decoder ring?
Tonight! In the Valley! OT 8 actress Marisol Nichols will explain infinity, as in, how much money are you expected to turn over…
Thanks again to our great tipsters!
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Posted by Tony Ortega on December 21, 2014 at 07:00
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Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…
BLOGGING DIANETICS (We read Scientology’s founding text) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25
UP THE BRIDGE (Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48
GETTING OUR ETHICS IN (Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING (Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49
PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer
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