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Here’s our story about big 2023 donors Scientology doesn’t want you to see

 
Here we go again!

Substack has taken down one of our entire posts (published December 24) reporting on legitimate news about Scientology after the church complained about the use of their images, and Substack did it without even giving us the opportunity to remove the images before taking down the story as a whole.

While this is a very irksome practice by Substack, once again it allows us to re-post the story with substitute images to make the point that Scientology’s attempts at censorship are just not going to prevent us from reporting on the news they themselves released: The identities of their big donors that were announced at their November 4 Patrons Ball under the big tent at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England.

(Go here to see the original story that was preserved here at the dot org site.)

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Technology Cocktail

“Man is caught in a huge and complex labyrinth. To get out of it requires that he follow the closely taped path of Scientology. Scientology will take him out of the labyrinth. But only if he follows the exact markings in the tunnels. It has taken me a third of a century in this lifetime to tape this route out. It has been proven that efforts by Man to find different routes came to nothing. It is also a clear fact that the route called Scientology does lead out of the labyrinth. Therefore it is a workable system, a route that can be travelled.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1965

 
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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

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[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

“You look at the basic mechanism of life, and we see this fellow kicks off as Ebenezer Snouzer and gets born as young Billy Jones. And nobody is more convinced when he becomes young Billy Jones that he has never been Ebenezer Snouzer. Does this have any liability to him? It certainly does. Because the inescapable truth of the matter, contained in earlier postulates, is that he was and is Ebenezer Snouzer. And so Ebenezer Snouzer, to some slight degree, goes on living. And we have past lives cropping
up, and fellows going around pleading with us to believe that they can’t shoot, can’t ride, girls just begging to be believed that they have no charm, you know? That’s to keep Ebenezer or Betty Schnouzer from living on, don’t you see?” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 4, 1957

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“Above case gain is COMPETENCE. If you want to see a 9 foot tall OT, look at one who is also competent! And knows it. Like our Qual Auditors. They create new people! After case gain comes progressing improvement by new Competence attained. There have never been Thetans who were Clear OT and COMPETENT. Something new has been added.” — The Commodore, January 4, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“An implanter would be a controller and controllers work outside of this planet. We here have been fooled our whole lives about everything. But this understanding comes from outside of Scientology. One would recognize every mystery when one understands the Matrix rulers, how they operate, and what supreme being they answer to. One must understand that what we see in current time is a playout of a war between an evil and an all good God. The war is almost over and we are reaching the point that LRH referred to as The Markabian Landing and Christians call Christ’s Second Coming. The truth and deception about this Matrix had to remain hidden otherwise they couldn’t control you. It’s ok. Big changes are coming soon.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1999: Gerry Armstrong posted an open letter to Scientology leader David Miscavige this week, describing new evidence of Scientology’s harassment of him. “You will recall that a cult operative broke into the trunk of my car in 1984 and stole my briefcase which contained about 300 original pages of my art, almost all handwritten or drawn. You will recall that my attorney Julia Dragojevic wrote to the org demanding return, and that your org attorney John Peterson answered, denying the theft and possession of my things. Recently I had the happy opportunity to talk with Jesse Prince about all this. Jesse stated that while inside he too was told by both you and Mark Rathbun about your agent’s theft of my things from the trunk of my car and your having possession of them. Jesse recalled you describing my work as weird writing. You stole them, you know were they are and you can put your hands on them. Now get them back to me, and be known thereuntil as a thief.”

 
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Random Howdy

“The only thing I want from Disqus is to bring back the downvote, make the AV image bigger and make the YouTube video image much smaller.”

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

Criminal prosecutions:

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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 January 29, 2024.
David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud.

Civil litigation:
Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Complaint filed August 2, motion to strike/anti-SLAPP motions by Scientology to be heard January 9, 2024.
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] VIDEO: Scientology’s latest promo to audit away your own space cooties at home!
[TWO years ago] PI stalking Leah Remini for Scientology was unlicensed, it turns out
[THREE years ago] Scientology celebrates its pandemic response in latest Impact magazine
[FOUR years ago] Scientology, disconnection, and the worst Christmas ever
[FIVE years ago] Tiponi Grey’s daughter: She knew her life might end at any time
[SIX years ago] Even in 2018, Scientology is still selling L. Ron Hubbard like he had the universe figured out
[SEVEN years ago] Aaron Smith-Levin appears on ‘Leah Remini,’ hours later gets own Scientology attack site
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s appeal on rehab zoning fight in Maryland to be heard today
[NINE years ago] Sunday Funnies: Scientology now selling the idea it solved the Ferguson crisis
[TEN years ago] MONIQUE RATHBUN FILES FOR SANCTIONS, SUBMITS SCIENTOLOGY LEADER’S FOUL-MOUTHED TEXTS
[ELEVEN years ago] Blogging Dianetics, Part 1: Vance Woodward Helps Us Parse L. Ron Hubbard’s Masterpiece

 
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Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 3,264 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 3,779 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,329 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,319 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,200 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 5,504 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,375 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 4,927 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,269 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 12,835 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 8,754 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 4,922 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 4,503 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 4,764 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 3,800 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 3,516 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 3,080 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,395 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,570 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 7,121 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,252 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,590 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,445 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,564 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 2,920 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 7,223 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,329 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 3,727 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,603 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,168 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 3,681 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 3,935 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,044 days.

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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 4, 2024 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

 

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