You probably remember that we were pretty excited in May to see the TikTok video put out by Ian Rafalko about his father, OT 8 chiropractor and major Scientology donor Eric Berg.
Millions of people saw that video, and Rafalko followed it up with a much longer YouTube video about his problems with being on staff in Scientology.
He’s now talked to Leah Remini and Mike Rinder for their Fair Game podcast, along with former NY org staffer Dylan Follo. Here’s what Mike had to say about it:
We have a special treat this week. Leah and I talk with Ian Rafalko and Dylan Follo. Ian became an internet sensation when he posted a TikTok video about his father, Scientologist chiropractor Eric Berg. His message has been viewed by millions. Ian met Dylan when they were training as auditors at Flag in Clearwater to return to their Ideal Orgs in Atlanta and NY respectively. They are the first people we have spoken to who have actually been on staff inside an Ideal Org and their experiences are pretty shocking. Ian’s family has been torn apart and his wife chose Scientology over him. Dylan returned to his org as a Class V auditor, but there were no public to audit, so he was called before a Committee of Evidence for “low production.”
Wow! That sounds juicy. Listen to the episode right here…
——————–
“Instead of running him on CCHs or something like this, or trying to straighten up something, nah! let’s go for broke; let’s clear him! Not take too many hours at it, either. All right. Now, that’s possible. That can be done. But, let me call this to your attention, it is — this is the controverting fact. It is not being done. Now, you can’t argue with that, can you? Now, I could get down and scream and howl and beat the floor, and Hitlerize the room. But let me tell you something, that isn’t going to do any good. That isn’t going to do any good at all. That’s in the line of reason, or something like this mounts up. If you looked at it very broadly you could say, ‘Well, nobody can audit.’ I mean, that’s the first thing you’d say. ‘Nobody can run a session in the whole world, except just this little handful or maybe five,’ you know. Something like that. But that’s an unacceptable datum that isn’t true, see. So it must be that there were some great big broad bugs on this, and the biggest bug — and I finally located what it was, a very simple bug — it’s just the fact that the goal and the terminal easily disappear in the face of an out-rudiment.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 24, 1961
——————–
“Any real emergency is chaotic. The drilling of sequences of actions is a stable series of data that prevents the chaos from overwhelming one. Interesting bit of history here. I developed the theory and practice of ‘Battle Conditioning’ used in WW II. I did a paper on it for the Navy before the war and was sent over to the Army G2 with it and Army G2 got it in practice, training by crawling under machine fire and all that. Must have saved a few hundred thousand lives! Nobody even ever said thank you but that’s all right.” — The Commodore, August 24, 1970
——————–
“This Present Time problem has always been present through Earth’s time. They only become apparent when some elite runs a scheme. Just the idea that there have been people believing as if L. Ron Hubbard would be coming back in a new body to this planet with its silly inhabitants… There even has been this bloke claiming he had received a letter from L. Ron Hubbard about that. We have this situation as original tech is not applied for some time now! Consider that for a moment. Reflect on the technology and how things were ongoing prior to the late 70s. Everything has gone down ever since! The problem today is people claiming that they have original technology and not the Church of Scientology, when they both have not! In fact they present the SAME status quo of the technology. There are David Mayo and David Miscavige clones all about tricking you to believe something that is not.”
1995: The Church of Scientology announced it is suing the Washington Post and its reporters Richard Leiby and Marc Fisher. “The Washington Post and two of its reporters were sued today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia by the Religious Technology Center (RTC), holders of the intellectual property rights of the Scientology religion. According to the lawsuit, the Washington Post and its writers have engaged in ‘extensive, intentional copyright infringement and trade secrets misappropriation, targeting confidential Scientology scriptures belonging to RTC.’ Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, due to the urgent nature of the matter, scheduled an August 25 hearing on the temporary restraining order and impoundment application to get the Washington Post to turn over the misappropriated documents.”
——————–
“I’m the Dennis Hopper of the ‘Down with Scientology’ club.”
——————–
Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next hearing set for November 10. Trial tentatively scheduled for February.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference August 25 in Los Angeles
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30, 2020 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition to US Supreme Court submitted on May 26. Scientology responded on June 25.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: California Supreme Court granted review on May 26 and asked the Second Appellate Division to direct Judge Steven Kleifield to show cause why he granted Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Oral arguments scheduled for Oct 5.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs. Case appealed on Dec 23. Appeal hearing scheduled for Aug 23-27.
Concluded litigation:
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
——————–
THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON
We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks. Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Danny Masterson changes his tune about criminal case in new civil brief
[TWO years ago] Paging Graham Berry: Another Scientology horror story of credit fraud targeting retirees
[THREE years ago] The Scientology pamphlet that has finally convinced us this planet is theirs
[FOUR years ago] What’s at stake in Tuesday’s San Antonio court hearing with Scientology’s former enforcer
[FIVE years ago] Ken Dandar’s courtroom nightmare is finally over (unless Scientology starts it over from scratch)
[SIX years ago] Tonight, it’s Boston! And that has us thinking about Beantown’s connections to ‘Miss Lovely’
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology claims credit for solving the crisis in Ferguson, Missouri
[EIGHT years ago] LA Sheriff Lee Baca to Grace Scientology Gala, Days after ‘Celebrity Center’ Employee Arrested for Planning to Kill a Cop
[NINE years ago] Marty Rathbun: Scientology’s Attorney ‘Supervised’ Destruction of Records in Lisa McPherson Death
[TEN years ago] The Top 25 People Crippling Scientology, No. 17: Jefferson Hawkins
——————–
Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,402 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,907 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,427 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,447 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,338 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,645 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,513 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,287 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,617 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,091 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,407 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,973 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,892 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,060 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,641 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,902 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,940 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,653 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,178 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 533 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,708 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,259 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,408 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,728 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,583 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,702 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,058 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,361 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,467 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,865 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,741 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,324 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,819 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,073 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,182 days.
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on August 24, 2021 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
