Over the last couple of days, Mike Rinder has documented some really interesting things about what David Miscavige was doing on New Year’s Eve at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida.
New Year’s Eve used to be one of the five or six big international events on the Scientology calendar, with a major taping held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in mid-December and then shown at orgs around the world on the actual New Year’s Eve.
But since the pandemic hit, Miscavige has settled for a smaller event in the ballroom at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, which is the centerpiece of Scientology’s spiritual mecca, the “Flag Land Base.”
We first reported about Miscavige holding the smaller New Year’s Eve there two years ago, to bring in 2021. He also showed up at the Fort Harrison in 2022. But Mike was right to ask, with process servers looking for Miscavige, would he dare to show up this time?
In fact, Miscavige did show up, and Mike was able to find out some interesting things about what went on from a Facebook item posted by someone who was in attendance. According to that post, Miscavige promised that things were finally going to go back to normal for Scientology in 2023, and that he planned to open four new Ideal Orgs in the first quarter of the year.
(The new Ideal Orgs in Austin and Chicago have been ready to go for two years. We’re not certain which of the other projects will be ready to go that soon. We’re interested in your suggestions: We know that several of our readers keep a close eye on this.)
The Facebook item also indicated that Patrons of the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) were celebrated, going up to Diamond Maximus With Honors, which means someone has donated $45 million. (We’re guessing that’s Florida businessman Tom Cummins.)
We will eagerly be awaiting a new copy of Impact magazine, which will list each of the donors and their new status levels. (Here are the most recent results, when wealthy donors were celebrated in a November issue.)
The item also said that Miscavige revealed this year’s new Super Bowl ad, and its title, which it suggested was “Live Again.” (We’re dubious about that title, but we’ll soon see.) For coverage of the previous Super Bowl ads, please see this recent piece, and you can see all of the ads from 2013 to 2022 here.
Anyway, we managed to get forwarded a flier that shows the other orgs around the country will get a chance to see Miscavige and the New Year’s celebration this Saturday when video of the event is shown there. (This particular image is for the party they’ll hold on L. Ron Hubbard Way in Los Angeles at Scientology’s “Pacific Area Command,” the Big Blue complex just off Sunset Boulevard.)
Well, Miscavige has really laid down the gauntlet for 2023: Back to “normal” this year, and four Ideal Orgs in the first quarter. We can hardly wait to see if he delivers!
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Technology Cocktail
“The goals of Scientology are to create better abilities in the individual. Scientology is far more closely related to education and its goals than it is to psychotherapy, but because of the factors which Scientology handles it is perforce not only intimately related to but is basic religion. If you find anything disturbing about that association — Scientology and religion — we might cockily ask, “If religion treats of the human soul has there ever been a religion before Scientology?”—since there was precious little information available about the human soul until we took our textbooks in hand.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1954
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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 as Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison. NOW WITH TRIAL INDEX.
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?
— The Underground Bunker Podcast
[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH
— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see
[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf
— SPECIAL: Your Proprietor’s updates on the Danny Masterson trial
[1] Sep 21 [2] Sep 28 [3] Oct 4 [4] Oct 10 [5] Oct 11: Day One [6] Oct 12: Day Two [7] Oct 13: Day Three [8] Oct 17: Day Four [9] Oct 18: Day Five [10] Oct 19: Day Six [11] Special interview with Chris Shelton, Oct 19 [12] Oct 20: Day Seven [13] Oct 21: Day Eight [14] First week in review, with Jeffrey Augustine [15] Oct 24: Day Nine [16] Oct 25: Day Ten [17] Oct 27: Day Eleven [18] Oct 28: Day Twelve [19] Second week in review, with Jeffrey Augustine [20] Halloween special [21] Nov 2: Day Thirteen [22] Nov 3: Day Fourteen [23] Nov 4: Day Fifteen [24] Third week in review [25] Nov 5, Saturday special [26] Nov 6, Sunday special [27] Nov 7, Day Sixteen [28] Lisa Marie Presley breaking news [29] Nov 8, Day Seventeen [30] Nov 9, Day Eighteen [31] Nov 10, Day Nineteen
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“You can, by the way — it’s quite curious — if you were sailing down the street exteriorized and you take a look at somebody, you look over his anchor points, you’ll find those big wing anchor points. They’re way out there, great big gold balls way out in front. You can take one of these, one of this guy’s anchor points, you know, in front and pull it sideways and he’ll start to walk in a circle without knowing why he’s walking in a circle. And you push it out of position and he’ll start to lean. Oh, it’s a very obvious sort of structure.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 5, 1955
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“VISITORS: Only 250 Greek visitors came to the ship today. I am sure they were well handled. But it shows, (a) a lapse of advertising in Div VI and (b) insufficiently interesting ship tour. We should do better next time.” — The Commodore, January 5, 1969
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“The leftist mayor of Washington D.C. is making it difficult for people to arrive in the city for the Trump rally to overthrow the electoral fraud of Communist China and its puppets Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Democrat commies. (Including commie Scienos in our friends lists). The battle of the 6th of December in Washington D.C. will affect every country on the planet, its underground bases and probably the Moon and Mars.”
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1998: Johan Wevers provided a signed affidavit to Grady Ward this week, to blunt the accusation from Scientology that Grady was responsible for the “Vorlon” posts of the NOTS materials to the Internet. Johan admits to posting all of the Vorlon materials. “Scientology keeps harassing its members with lawsuits and worse. Even worse, they will accuse people of things they have not done. One example is their accusation that Grady Ward would be Vorlon. I know it it not true because I am Vorlon. The one and only. I have kept this fact secret for obvious reasons. But I won’t let anyone else get the trouble for something I did. Therefore I decided to come out of hide and have sent the declaration below to Grady to help him in his lawsuit. Let me add that Co$ clearly showed no interest in who the real Vorlon was, when I met McShane the liar, I was surprised how uninterested he was. Now I know why: he wanted to blame an easier victim for it, and claimed in court I denied being Vorlon 1. I declare that I am the person and the only person known as ‘Vorlon’. I am solely responsible for the initial posting on May 6, 1996, and subsequent postings made under that name on the Usenet discussion groups alt.religion.scientology, alt.religion.scientology.xenu, nl.scientology and alt.clearing.technology. Grady Ward had nothing whatsoever to do with them.”
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“Well, Hubbard did say that the thetans created the MEST universe so that they would have a place to play, but that eventually they forgot they had done so. The idea that Hubbard saw this whole thing as a game has always seemed pretty obvious to me.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Mistrial declared November 30. Status conference scheduled January 10, retrial scheduled March 27.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Plea deadline scheduled for December 16.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff scheduled to time served with three years supervised release, restitution of $9.7 million.
— Rizza Islam, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for March 1 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial hearing December 9.
— 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, Scientology moving to compel arbitration. Plaintiffs filed amended complaint on August 2. Hearing November 17 to argue the arbitration motions, awaiting ruling.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Selection of arbitrators underway. Next court hearing: February 2, 2023.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Stay in place at least through February 7.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Case settled ahead of scheduled Dec 6 trial.
— 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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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] Here’s proof that David Miscavige’s real estate approach to Scientology leadership pays
[TWO years ago] The wealthy people getting Scientology through the lockdown with their donations
[THREE years ago] Does Mexico really need a Scientology ‘Advanced Org’? We’ll soon find out.
[FOUR years ago] A Scientologist murdered: Our experts try to make sense of Australia’s ‘Advanced Org’
[FIVE years ago] Court magician? Scientology attorney can now affect matter with thought, levitate, read minds
[SIX years ago] Scientology cash-in! Top church attorney puts her beach bungalow on market for $2.4 million
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology posts the new ad that will likely be its Super Bowl entry this year
[EIGHT years ago] Former spokesman Mike Rinder describes Scientology’s dismal options in 2015
[NINE years ago] Sunday Funnies: Scientology charges into the new year!
[TEN years ago] Scientology Drug Rehab Program’s Newest Victim: A New York 15-Year-Old
[ELEVEN years ago] All Scientologists Look Alike, Right? — And More in our Weekly Stats Roundup!
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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 2,900 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,405 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,955 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,945 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,836 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 5,141 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,011 days.
Doug Kramer has not seen his parents Linda and Norm in 2,116 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,589 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,905 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,471 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,390 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,558 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 4,139 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,400 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,436 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 3,151 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 2,716 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,031 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,206 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,757 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,888 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,226 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,081 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,200 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,556 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,859 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,965 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,363 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,239 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,822 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,317 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,571 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 14,680 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 5, 2023 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
