Your proprietor is big at the Daily Beast again today with a new story about everyone’s favorite Scientology topic: Tom Cruise.
Our handlers over there asked us to sum up Tom’s history in Scientology with the new movie, Top Gun: Maverick hitting theaters this week. We were only too happy to oblige.
Our readers here know that over the years we’ve taken on the fruitless task of pushing back at tabloid reports that, once or twice a year, have Cruise leaving Scientology and reuniting with his ex-wife Katie Holmes or with his daughter.
But the actual evidence suggests the opposite. Our readers here know that before the pandemic hit and events stopped altogether, in 2019 for the first time since we started watching Cruise attended both the LRH Birthday event in Clearwater, Florida and the IAS gala in East Grinstead, England. And we saw evidence that at the IAS gala Cruise had brought along his kids Isabella and Connor for the first time.
It’s been tougher to get information in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, but we still see no new information that suggests Tom is pushing his best pal David Miscavige away.
And every reporter who asks us about it, we point out that even if Dave didn’t like the way Katie separated from Tom in 2012 and then he declared her SP, and even if that meant that Suri, who is connected to her (of course) is PTS, then Tom, as a Scientology celebrity, could ignore those rules and continue to see his ex and their daughter. But he doesn’t. Why not?
We’ll remind you how we answered that question in this very short video we encourage you to watch.
After you’ve seen it and perused our Daily Beast feature, please offer your thoughts on Scientology’s favorite actor. It’s been a while since we’ve had a full-on discussion about Mr. Top Gun.
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Scientology school tries stealth, fails miserably
The formidable Ben Schneiders has a great new piece this morning about a school in Australia that tried to rebrand itself as a Montessori school in order to hide its connection to Scientology.
Didn’t work.
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Bonus items from our tipsters
Meanwhile, Battle Creek is on fire!
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“I can take a look at my desk barometer any day of the week and get a better weather forecast than I get over the telephone. I’m being hard on the boys. Every year they get a little bit better. They’re finding the sky too. And then all of a sudden we get into passenger traffic left and right across the Atlantic, and we hear ‘above-the-weather flight,’ ‘radar-spotted weather,’ you see, and so on. They’re still finding clouds. They haven’t found the sky yet, see. Then they shot off a few cosmonauts, who became naught in Russia with great rapidity, and they found a great deal there called ‘the sky.’ And five dead cosmonauts later, the Russians must have decided that they should know something about it. But because they had lots of cosmonauts they probably haven’t bothered. But the point is, they send people up into the Van Allen belt, named after Van Allen. Who the hell heard of him? I don’t know, maybe he was the fellow who invented radiation fallout or something. In other words, they shoot people up into these areas, and they get scorched or something happens or something of that sort, and they’re in the big vagueness of ‘There is a sky.’ They’re still on this thing here, see.” — L. Ron Hubbard, May 29, 1963
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“Captain Mary Sue Hubbard has just returned from correcting and bringing off a mission flubbed by three others. She, accompanied by Liz Ausley, did in 3 days what has been hanging fire for nearly 3 weeks. She bulldozed the biggest bank in Spain, bearded the Spanish Security forces and saved us $5500 in fees as well. She got the whole thing handled. MSH is the first SO Missionaire (spring 1967) and on each of the four or five she has run, has achieved consistent Power, having actually saved the day against terrible threats to Scientology in every single instance. We ought to put her under glass. If NATO had her on their payroll they could disband!” — The Commodore, May 29, 1969
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“The problem with the independent field in the US is that they have forgotten the purpose of training and auditing, they are far from being spiritual and it’s tragic there’s no one here to lead. The situation is very serious, as we see the world being taken over by the implanters, they want to drug people, turn them into robots. Every day more and more people won’t be auditable.”
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2000: Canoe newspaper service reported that John Travolta dislikes questions about Scientology. “While on a press junket in Barcelona Spain to promote his latest film ‘Battlefield Earth’ which is based on the book by L. Ron Hubbard who founded the church, Travolta had a confrontation with a French journalist. The journalist asked Travolta why the religion wasn’t mentioned in ‘Battlefield’s’ press kit and then asked about funding for the Church of Scientology. Travolta was apparently unhappy with the line of questioning and claimed he was being ‘trapped’ by the interviewer who in turn had his video tapes confiscated for ‘verification’. When the tapes were returned, they were blank.”
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“I appreciate Shatner for being a survivor and roaring back to be virtually everywhere at once after his wife died and everyone had written him off as a hopeless drunk.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Next pretrial conference May 31. Trial scheduled for August 29.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury. Additional charges also referred to grand jury after January 5 assault while in jail.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Pretrial conference June 9 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for June 2.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.
Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Complaint filed April 28 in Tampa federal court.
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Eleventh Circuit affirmed ruling granting Scientology’s motion for arbitration. Garcias considering next move.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Valerie’s motion for reconsideration denied on March 15.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Next hearing scheduled for June 29.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for December 6.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: New trial ordered after appeals court overturned prior ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.
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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?
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THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Mike Rinder on the myth of the ‘reactive mind’ and how Scientology still ropes in new people
[TWO years ago] What’s $20,000 between friends? LA Mayor Garcetti presents a Scientology gift to city
[THREE years ago] Scientology planning new series of books to rope in children?
[FOUR years ago] Laura D’s attorneys answer Scientology’s latest delaying tactic with a legal blast of their own
[FIVE years ago] She’s back! Leah Remini builds a case for Scientology aggression in tonight’s A&E special
[SIX years ago] It’s a miracle! Scientology put ‘more than 10,000’ people in these 1,000 chairs!
[SEVEN years ago] 20 questions about Scientology — with answers that get to the center of a dying movement
[EIGHT years ago] Hey, IRS: Stunning photos inside the lavish personal offices of Scientology’s leader
[NINE years ago] Former Scientology Enforcer Marty Rathbun Examines His Past as the Church’s ‘Warrior’
[TEN years ago] Amanda Palmer Dramatically Answers Questions About Her Connection to Scientology
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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 2,679 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,184 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,734 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,724 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,615 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,921 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,790 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,564 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 1,895 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,368 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,684 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,250 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,169 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,337 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,917 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,179 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,215 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,930 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,455 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 810 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,985 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,536 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,685 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,005 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,860 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,979 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,335 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,638 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,744 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,142 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,018 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,601 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,096 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,350 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,459 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on May 29, 2022 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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
Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast
