PHOTO: Jenna Elfman emceeing Scientology’s concert, and more IAS fallout

Once again we have Alex Barnes-Ross to thank after he sent over the photo you see above, our first image of Jenna Elfman actually emceeing last week’s Scientology IAS charity concert, which occurred on the final night of the big IAS three-day series of events at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England.

We had previously posted photos that Jenna herself had uploaded to her Facebook account showing her and her husband Bodhi Elfman as they dressed to the nines for the Friday night event (a David Miscavige speech and the handing out of Freedom medals) and Saturday night’s black tie Patrons Ball.

But this is our first glimpse of her handling her duties putting on the Sunday night concert. Now, if we can just get some clear images of David Miscavige on stage. So far, we’ve only seen one very out of focus shot. Let us know if you’ve found something.

Meanwhile, Alex sent over another shot that we knew our sleuths in the Bunker community would have some fun with. As always, we’re wondering about the number of people that Scientology actually managed to attract to this event. One way to judge that is to literally count the seats in the venue. And Alex has found a photo that gives about the clearest shot of the seating under the tent. He says he’s counted only about 1,000 seats, and that includes the rows in the far distance beyond the sound stand. What number do you come up with?

And we have yet another bonus item thanks to Alex and our new friend from Vancouver, Jeff a/k/a PTS for Life, as a result of their trip to the org in Sunderland. In our discussion, they mentioned that they had grabbed some issues of Impact magazine that were sitting around, and that included a newer issue we hadn’t seen before.

It appears to be from earlier this year, and it includes the usual parade of whales who are being celebrated for increasing the amounts of their cumulative donations.

Once again, here’s our usual disclosure: It’s really important to keep in mind that these are cumulative amounts given just to one Scientology initiative, the International Association of Scientologists, the church’s membership organization (and leader David Miscavige’s legal slush fund). Someone credited for giving $1 million, for example, may have given only a few thousand in recent months that enabled them to get past that plateau. (For an explanation of how we know what amounts the statuses represent or the estimates we’ve made for some of them, see our methodology here.)

And just to be clear, these are donors being celebrated from earlier this year. The donors who were just feted at the IAS gala last week will show up in a future copy of Impact magazine, due in several weeks.

But for now, here are your 2023 whales who are keeping Scientology afloat…

The Ben Jacob Family, Silver Meritorious ($500,000), Florida

Chieko Suganuma, Silver Meritorious ($500,000), Japan

The Demarco Family, Silver Meritorious ($500,000), France

Angelika Thonauer & Christian Grischany, Silver Meritorious ($500,000), Austria

Bright Chou, Silver Meritorious With Honors ($750,000), Taiwan

Minoru Motokawa, Silver Meritorious With Honors ($750,000), Japan

Dylan Gaines, Gold Meritorious ($1 million), California

Earl Wertheim, Gold Meritorious ($1 million), Florida

Claudia Betancourt & Max Brylkin, Gold Meritorious ($1 million), Venezuela

Eva Scott, Gold Meritorious ($1 million), Mississippi

Manuel & Gabriela Suarez, Gold Meritorious With Honors ($1.75 million), Florida

Kevin & Karen Dale, Platinum Meritorious With Honors ($3.75 million), California

Kendrick & Aaradona Walker, Diamond Meritorious ($5 million), California

Steve & Wendi-Lynn Hechtman, Patron Excalibur ($20 million), California

Just last year, the Hechtmans were recognized for reaching “Platinum Laureate With Honors,” so our estimate is that they’ve given another $6.5 million in just the last year. Wow!

 
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Technology Cocktail/

“Engrams are run to release Charge from a case. Charge is not released to cure the body or to cure anything physical and the meter cures nothing. Charge is released entirely to return to a thetan his causation over the Time Track, to restore his power of choice, and to free him of his most intimate trap, his own Time Track.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1963

 
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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.

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 [41] Louise Shekter [42] John Sweeney [43] Tory Christman [44] Kate Bornstein [45] Christian Stolte [46] Mark Bunker [47] Jon Atack [48] Luke Y. Thompson [49] Mark Ebner [50] Bruce Hines [51] Spanky Taylor and Karen Pressley [51] Geoff and Robbie Levin [52] Sands Hall [53] Jonny Jacobsen [54] Sandy Holeman

 
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Source Code

“I myself had a rig worked out in order to take care of witch doctors down in Africa. Ran this way: I was going to get an asbestos glove, you know, and — it doesn’t matter whether something is supercold or superhot, you know? They both burn and there is sensation, so the practitioner should be careful when he’s doing something like this. I was going to take an asbestos glove and I was going to put a metal disc, preferably a lead disc, in the palm of the glove, you see? And there’d be a little snap in there so that it could be taken out and put in easily. And get this little disc supercold, totally supercold, you see? Get it down there to maybe -200 or something like that — way down, you know — and then snap that quickly in the glove and go out and shake hands with the witch doctor. Well, the dampness of a palm is quite adequate there, and it would of course brainwash him. Be very, very effective. As a matter of fact, one could probably take over the entirety of witch-doctoring throughout Africa with the greatest of ease, particularly if you shook hands with all of the witch doctors in front of the tribe, and they instantly went down on their knees and went “gaggo bulla,” and you said, “Bark,” and they would thereafter bark. You see, they hold all the natives in that sort of a thrall. And so if you held them in that sort of a thrall, why, then the natives would of course do what you said twice as good as they would do what the witch doctor says; and this is already perfect.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 13, 1956

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“ENEMY ACTION: We have discovered exactly who has been shooting at Scientology for 18 years and know all the names. They are a small group with international ambitions founded by a madman, taken over by a politically ambitious few. This is turning out to be a bitter and fundamental war. The forces which seek to bring light and freedom to the world — us — have run squarely into the No. 1 engram of the planet, kept alive by a dark and secret enemy of Mankind. These insist on torturing or killing the insane. It is the age old battle of truth and light against the powers of darkness. But, with the enemy active in legislatures and the press, we haven’t much choice but to fight. And we hav begun to fight. We have already hurt his morale and finances enough to make him move his HQ. Our forces are closing in on it again in the new location. This one we’ve got to win. We may not have another chance.” — The Commodore, November 13, 1968

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Overheard in the FreeZone

“The ‘beings’ that run this planet are totally controlled by a superior AI outside of this galaxy to such an extent that we ought not think of them as beings but instead refer to them as MEST entities.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1995: David Milligan continues his battle for the Internet domain “dianetics.com”. “I will continue to use dianetics.com for the next 90 days, during that time I will be offering mail service for a flat fee of $90.00 CANADIAN for the set-up of a E-Mail account and an aliases such as ‘lron@dianetics.com’ or ‘brainwash@dianetics.com’ this will be an actual valid return address for your E-Mail. The funds will go to pay the provider of the E-Mail service and to start a legal fund to fight the attempt to take this domain from me, if I win I will continue to provide the mail service to all Net users. My stand on this is, if RTC chooses not to negotiate a resolution to this dispute I would like to challenge the Trademark rights in court, I believe that the current Trademark laws do not effectively deal with the use of a name as a address on the Internet.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Shit, I was under the gun for suggesting there were mucho socks on board…which was later proven to be true thanks to help from Robert, StillGrace and Andrew…and I was a big meanie for ragging on the noobs for over-commenting…and then I had the audacity to merely hint that the beloved Knickers was anything less than the Virgin Mary. I wasn’t saying shit to anyone at that point.”

Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Found guilty on two counts on May 31, remanded to custody. Sentenced to 30 years to life on Sep 7.
— ‘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 October 30.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud.

Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Complaint filed August 2, Scientology submitting anti-SLAPP response Oct 26.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration. Plaintiffs allowed interlocutory appeal to Eleventh Circuit.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Discovery phase.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Ordered to mediation.

 
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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] Leah Remini remembers when Mackenzie Phillips was rooting against Scientology
[TWO years ago] Betrayed by L. Ron Hubbard, and stuck in a desert prison: A Scientology horror story
[THREE years ago] Afraid to leave Scientology? Ex-members describe their lives after David Miscavige
[FOUR years ago] Hubbard family member: Mary Sue griped about Scientology leader’s ‘Napoleon complex’
[FIVE years ago] Shifting gears: Leah Remini talks about tonight’s two-hour special on Jehovah’s Witnesses
[SIX years ago] Sexual harassment allegations strike a blow against a Scientology political ally in Florida
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology saw a tempting target in a Tampa pastor gaining fame for her compassion
[EIGHT years ago] Why it was Scientology leader David Miscavige who declared Lisa McPherson ‘Clear’
[NINE years ago] Scientology Photoshopping, Part 2: A mystery disappearance on the yacht Apollo
[TEN years ago] LISA MARIE PRESLEY ON SCIENTOLOGY: “CRAZY CRIMINAL PEOPLE”
[ELEVEN years ago] Lay Off Xenu: An Ex-Scientologist’s Plea

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on November 13, 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, 1995-2022 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2022), 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

 

Tony Ortega at Rolling Stone