David Miscavige irked by evidence of his Florida ties, but judge doesn’t want to hear it

We want to caution you that this is a very minor update we are telling you about today in the Baxter v. Scientology labor trafficking lawsuit.

But it contains evidence of Scientology leader David Miscavige throwing another fit, so for that reason we thought you’d want to know about it.

Miscavige, the irritable head honcho of L. Ron Hubbard’s creation who has now been in charge of the operation longer than Hubbard ever was, finds himself fighting mad over being named a defendant in the lawsuit, which was filed last April by former Sea Org workers Valeska Paris and Gawain and Laura Baxter.

On Valentine’s Day, federal Magistrate Judge Julie S. Sneed ruled that Miscavige has been evading service of the lawsuit, and she declared him served by substitute service and an official defendant in the case. She gave him three weeks to make an official answer to the suit itself.

But that deadline has been put on hold since Miscavige filed an objection to her ruling with District Judge Thomas Barber.

We have already told you that Miscavige is objecting to Sneed’s ruling by making the astounding argument that he personally does no business in Florida and so he shouldn’t be included in a lawsuit based there.

Last week, Valeska’s attorneys responded to Miscavige’s objection with some pretty convincing evidence that Miscavige does indeed do business in the Sunshine State. Specifically, they attached exhibits showing that a Tampa Bay Times article by reporter Tracey McManus presented proof that Miscavige is personally lobbying Clearwater officials about Scientology real estate deals. And they also attached an exhibit from Scientology’s social media feeds showing Miscavige presiding over the New Year’s event at the Fort Harrison Hotel in a flier that was used to get Scientologists around the world down to their local org to watch video of the man at work.

Well, Miscavige is apparently blowing a gasket about this, and had his attorney file an angry set of arguments in reply. Oh wait, no, he can’t do that. So instead he had his attorney ask permission to file a 7-page response, because, “Plaintiffs cite several cases, attach new exhibits, and make new arguments that Mr. Miscavige requests an opportunity to briefly address. Plaintiffs’ Response also misstates the law and inaccurately characterizes the record.”

Yes, we would love to see Miscavige’s attorneys whine about Tracey’s article or about that New Year’s flier, but Judge Barber on Friday put the kibosh on that and denied his request.

Judge Barber already has enough paper from both sides to rule on Miscavige’s objection, and doesn’t need another bleating rant from the diminutive leader’s legal squad.

Like we said, it’s just a small update, but a fun one. We now wait for Judge Barber to issue his ruling on Miscavige’s objection, as well as another decision on Scientology’s motions asking to derail the lawsuit into “religious arbitration.”

If we had to lay down a bet, we’d wager that Judge Barber is going to deny Miscavige’s objection and keep him in the lawsuit as a defendant. But we think it’s much harder to handicap the arbitration issue, and we just don’t know how the court is going to rule on that question.

So, we’ll just keep waiting.

 
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Technology Cocktail

“You live in a world that is trying right now to commit suicide on the grandest scale it has ever attempted, although I will say that when they dug up that last cave down in the Middle East and found seven civilizations, they did find under the shreds of the seventh civilization green glass, which looked awfully like the green glass from an atomic explosion out in the middle of the New Mexican desert. In other words, tens of thousands of years ago there was evidently another atomic blast, and perhaps everybody has been coming forward through barbarism and so on up the line.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1957

 
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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?

[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

— The first Danny Masterson trial and beyond

[18] Trial special with Chris Shelton [19] Trial week one [20] Marc Headley on the spy in the hallway [21] Trial week two [22] Trial week three [23] Trial week four [24] Leah Remini on LAPD Corruption [25] Mike Rinder 2022 Thanksgiving Special [26] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part One [27] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part Two [28] Claire Headley on the trial [29] Tory Christman [30] Bruce Hines on spying [31] Karen de la Carriere [32] Ron Miscavige on Shelly Miscavige [33] Karen de la Carriere on the L’s [34] Mark Bunker on Miscavige hiding [35] Mark Plummer [36] Mark Ebner [37] Karen Pressley [38] Steve Cannane [39] Fredrick Brennan [40] Clarissa Adams

 
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Source Code

“Some fellow by the name of Snitz, or Smutty, or something out in some state or another has written a book called, ‘What Happened To The Tens of Thousands.’ I’ve never read this book, but I think this is probably a very interesting piece of slander if I know anything else of this young commie. But, I didn’t say he was a commie, he said so. He said he left the party a long time ago, though, last October….What happened to the tens of thousands, he wants to know. What happened to the tens of thousands of people who were in there in Dianetics. Well I can tell you what happened to the tens of thousands of people, is Hubbard didn’t hypnotize them. He told them the truth….Everybody knew everything was being run at sixes and sevens. This wouldn’t be news to anybody. It wouldn’t have anything to do with whether or not there was horrible scandal, or upset, or good jobs of processing or bad jobs of processing. Just nobody started out to make a large cult composed of numerous people. Somebody set out to inform people of everything he knew that was true. And of course it didn’t make a population heavy game. And then a few of us kept on going because we weren’t satisfied that all the answers were in sight. We weren’t satisfied that we knew all the procedures which could be best employed. And we have actually invented a bunch of brand new games on top of games, in some cases. But we’re not aware of these, we’ve just learned how to teach somebody, seven years after Dianetics. What happened to the tens of thousands? They weren’t hypnotized. If those had been tens of thousands of people in psychology they would not now we a hundred million. This is for sure. When you start out to set people free then you have to inform them.” — L. Ron Hubbard, March 20, 1957

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“For using incorrect ethics action, for damaging another and for failure to take any action to ensure MO or auditor action to correct, PAUL PRESTON is declared in a Condition of STUPID.” — Capt. Mary Sue Hubbard, March 20, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Past-life Nazis took over the Church of Scientology with David Miscavige.”

 
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Past is Prologue

2002: Keith Henson reported a protest at the Toronto Scientology org. “Chris Wood and Android Cat met Gregg and me at noon. As usual I was across the street. Brisk day for flyers, some of Kristi’s ‘Is Scientology breaking the law’ and a batch of a posting by Poopsy Charmicheal. Right after I got on station a Scientologist came by and told me to quit what I was doing and go away. He said this about 6 times. Later I had a guy in shades try to get in a fight with me. He claimed he had spent much time with Scientologists and they had never tried to suck him in. I asked him if he was a scientologist and he claimed that I was defaming him. He seemed in shock to discover I had a tape recorder in my pocket. Bob Hill and Brian McPherson put in an appearance. Gregg had considerable interaction with Bobby. Bob was posted after a while out on the corner to keep Scientologists from taking a flyer. A street person was giving Gregg a lot of trouble. After a while the street kid started getting violent – supposedly because Gregg’s patter included a mention that the city would not subsidize a Hell’s Angel’s clubhouse but is providing a tax subsidy to Scientology. Gregg has this really funny section where this street kid is told he is on tape. Total dismay ‘What!’ in a high-pitched voice then ‘Oh F***’ and then he splits. Later Gregg read OT3 and clears the Scientologists from the street. The cops arrived from Gregg’s request. Gregg told them the street kid was gone.”

Random Howdy

“I’m surprised Gary Glitter didn’t become a Scientologist. It would have been the perfect cover for his degraded beingness.”

 
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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. Retrial scheduled, jury selection begins March 29. Next pretrial hearing: Feb 16.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Next pretrial hearing Feb 13.
— Rizza Islam, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for March 1 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next status conference Feb 13.

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: March 15, 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.
— 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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SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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] Ginger Sugerman: Her way out of Scientology was marred by trauma
[TWO years ago] What Scientology doesn’t tell you about its ‘Bridge’ of courses until it’s far too late
[THREE years ago] Brian Statler’s daughter joins lawsuit over his police shooting death at Scientology church
[FOUR years ago] An eyewitness report from Scientology’s LRH Birthday Event Saturday in Los Angeles
[FIVE years ago] Ginger Sugerman is facing enormous challenges — and here’s how you can help
[SIX years ago] Judge: Testimony about Scientology’s abuses so bad, it should get kicked out of the country
[SEVEN years ago] Got a war wound? Scientology can help you with that, and more in our social media review
[EIGHT years ago] ‘Going Clear’: Jason Beghe, the actor who left Scientology and made a stink about it
[NINE years ago] What will you do with your Scientology E-meter tchotchkes?
[TEN years ago] Scientology Ordered to Turn Over Confidential Files in Forced-Abortion Lawsuit
[ELEVEN years ago] Jonny Jacobsen: A Q&A with Europe’s Premier Scientology Blogger

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on March 20, 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