Danny Masterson’s last act of 2025: Consolidating his attacks on his criminal conviction

 
TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: On Wednesday, imprisoned Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson requested that his two distinct bids to overturn his conviction — his direct appeal and his habeas petition — be consolidated as one case. Our expert, an appellate attorney, explains why this is highly unusual. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]

 
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Technology Cocktail

“There is another datum that can be stated here to make it even clearer to an auditor how the meter connects up with the pc’s bank. The E-Meter is an interlocking
device with the electrons of the bank. With the bank you have a sheet of energy there and it is made out of electricity. When you pass a current of electricity near the thing it is going to monitor that current of electricity and that is what shows up on the meter. The auditor who understands that datum will have certainty on the fact that when the meter reads it is reading on something.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1980

 
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Source Code

“As I used to be president of the American Fiction Guild author’s league up in New York, when I was a kid — that’s right, I was a kid — it was very funny to me, I used to laugh myself silly, all of the confession stories written in America are written by unmarried ladies who have reached 40 or 50. Now, there’s nothing wrong with being an unmarried lady reaching 40 or 50. This is perfectly fine. But how come all these confession stories? Yeah, that’s interesting. Because it was out of the current lifetime’s field of experience. I realize now they were writing about past lives, that they were picking it up Whole Track and just putting it in modern dress. But they didn’t know what they were writing about, basically, in this lifetime.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 2, 1960

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“This very nice tribute and list was sent me by Lt. Cmdr. Joan Robertson:
Dear Sir, Like you, I am burying the old year not praising it. YET — Thank you for the wild and wonderful year we have just finished
for restoring all Tech
for restoring Power

for OT VII
for the Sanity Tech Breakthrough
for Ext Intensive
for the C/S Series
for the EP’s
for revitalizing training
for all the other Brilliant Tech Breakthroughs.
And thank you for the Tech of Admin —
for restoring all Policy
for the Bureaux
for the FEBC, HC, OEC —
Supervisor Courses
for Exec Dirs
the Org Boards

for the Aides Conferences
the personal Conferences
the Data Series
the Personnel Series
the Org Series
the PR Series
this Brilliant Management system
the Org and Product Officer System.
Your help on ship lines and to me as an Aide, an officer, a Con, and as a Being.
And for your trust in me in letting me help.
I pledge again my love, loyalty, devotion and work.
A very Happy New Year — Sir!” — The Commodore, January 2, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“The evil intention of Pelosi and her Democrat followers is there to be as-is and vanished by the Indie OTs and scientologists/ex-scientologists.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1999: MSNBC reported on the lawsuit against Scientology by Michael Pattinson. “Former Scientologist Michael Pattinson is claiming that he paid the
church $500,000 to ‘cure’ him of his homosexuality. It didn’t work, he says. Among the eye-popping allegations in the suit: that Travolta’s plane was used to ‘kidnap’ a member of Scientology, that Pattinson and others were forced to work in ‘a robotic slave-like work force’ to service Scientology celebrities like Travolta, Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley, and that Pattinson ‘reasonably relied upon’ Travolta’s marriage to fellow Scientologist Kelly Preston as proof that ‘Scientology processing and courses would ‘handle’ my own homosexuality.’ Not long after the item was posted, Scoop heard from Scientology officials who insisted that the lawsuit had been dismissed. Well, it turns out that’s not quite true. Actually, the church asked the court to dismiss the case and bring sanctions against the plaintiffs. The judge, Christina A. Snyder, denied that request but called the 277-page suit a ‘rambling tale of irrelevancy’ and told Pattinson and his attorney, Graham Berry, to file an amended complaint. They did. Scientology spokesman Kurt Weiland says the suit is ‘the sort of legal monstrosity that gives lawyers a bad name’ and still insists that the case will be thrown out. Weiland says. ‘Mr. Pattinson has no personal knowledge about most of what is alleged in the complaint.’ ‘Mr. Pattinson doesn’t have to be an eyewitness to all the facts alleged in order to recover for the wrongs that were done him,’ counters Berry. ‘It’s far from being thrown out and it’s highly unlikely that it will be thrown out,’ Berry says. ‘Mr. Pattinson has a very strong case.'”

 
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Random Howdy

“Alex Jones and L. Ron both became millionaires by selling people crazy. The $64,000 question is whether it was (A) a cynical scam (B) they’re both insane (C) all of the above.”

 
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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, 2023. Appeal now fully briefed, waiting for 2nd Appellate District court to set a hearing date. Masterson has also submitted a habeas corpus petition.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Pleaded guilty on Nov 10 to a 17-year prison sentence (eligible for parole in two to three more years). Awaiting transfer to state prison.
— Aaron Matthes charged for SA of child under 12 years old: OT Scientologist facing multiple mandatory life sentences. Next pretrial court hearing set for Feb 2.

Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Some defamation claims were removed by Judge Hammock. Judge Hammock’s ruling is on appeal. Leah’s respondent’s brief is due February 11.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ 15 days of arbitration completed, Val waiting for further word from the IJC.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson. Judge Upindra Kalra’s ruling denying Scientology’s motion to strike is on appeal. Appeal fully briefed. Motion to replace Jane Does’ AI-tainted brief denied by court. Awaiting a court hearing date.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration, gets ruling to depose Jane Doe 1. Trial has been set for January 10, 2028.

 
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Other links: The prosecution of Danny Masterson. Leah Remini’s Fair Game Podcast. Leah Remini’s A&E Series. Scientology’s Celebrities, from A to Z. Bryan Seymour’s suppressed series, 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] Stunning letter shows Scientology pitting devotion against family ties
[TWO years ago] Ooh la la! Scientology is bursting about its soon-to-open Paris cathouse
[THREE years ago] A video that answers, what’s it like in Scientology with business so down these days?
[FOUR years ago] TODAY: Scientology wants you to make a resolution to fork over every penny in 2022
[FIVE years ago] Worst part in the Scientology ‘arbitration’ ruling? Danny Masterson can participate.
[SIX years ago] Graham Berry shares a Scientology secret with us that might explain everything
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology smears ‘Aftermath’ guest with info from his supposedly confidential files
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s original case of ‘disconnection’ — L. Ron Hubbard and his doting mom and dad
[NINE years ago] David Miscavige has plenty of new Scientology buildings set to open in 2017
[TEN years ago] Scientology’s 2016: CNN plans to give L. Ron Hubbard his best press in decades
[ELEVEN years ago] First look at Louis Theroux’s BBC film on Scientology: ‘Stairway to Heaven’
[TWELVE years ago] Scientology’s snitching culture: Jefferson Hawkins explains the ‘Knowledge Report’
[THIRTEEN years ago] Scientology Giving this “Internet” Thing a Whirl

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 2, 2026 at 07:00

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Our book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is 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.

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