TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: As we begin a new year of Scientology-watching, former Sea Org official Chris Shelton offers us a snapshot of where the church is now and where it’s going thanks to its ruthless leader, David Miscavige. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“Your knowledge of the meter and Four skill with a good operating meter has to be such that you have certainty on this and can’t be given a sales talk and sold on the idea that ‘There’s nothing there, really; it just happened to read.’ Without that certainty it goes off the rails. Instead of asking, ‘What was that
withhold?’ and really cleaning it up, you’ll say, ‘Well, maybe. . . All right, maybe it was in some part life or something so let’s go on to the next question ….’ NO! There goes your pc out of session. That’s it. He can’t be interested in his own case now. His own case has just been alter-ised. Without certainty on the fact that when the meter reads it reads on something, you’re going to waffle on what you ask the pc. That will deteriorate your beingness and your attitude and put the pc out of session.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1980
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“If you did it, you can undid it. How do you like that? You can! You can undo it. Anything you’ve done, you can undo one way or the other — somewhere on the track, given enough time. Even without processing, you could undo it. A lot of you are going forward in life right now, just hoping you will get an opportunity to undo, oh, Lord knows what, killing blondes or something. Hoping you get enough opportunity to unkill battleships or something. Of course, some of you are out of luck entirely because maybe your overt acts are against heavy hussars — heavy cavalry, heavy horse cavalry — and you’re trying to undo overt acts against heavy horse cavalry in an age that doesn’t have any. So you have to become an historical writer.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 3, 1960
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“CRUISE: We rapped out the mileage and as I write this we apparently will have our day’s stats at the end. One day and two nights at sea compared to two days and two nights. It was a fairly comfortable run. I like this port we’ll be in as you read this. The officials have always been pleasant and obliging, the people great, and they don’t push people around. Some aboard don’t like it. Smells of fish they say. Well, I prefer the smell of fish and saw dust to the smell of tourists. I’ll never forget the relief and cheer we once felt when driven by the sea and the height of the Smersh campaign this port welcomed us. It always has been friendly and decent. Not being shoved out to anchor ‘to make room for the great Tourist Liner BUNKO and the Tanker SS Stinko.’ We’re off the beaten track here. The Phoenicians, Carthoginians and Portuguese have left their traces. And these people still go on. I’am changing our scheduling after the next port after this. Be nice to these people, they’re your friends. Be nice to this port. I consider it an Affinity haven.” — The Commodore, January 3, 1971
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“Earth is being taken over, and unless we get rid of this bad DNA from our gene pool or unless we correct our DNA through doing OT8 we will always have trouble here on Earth. This is exactly what David Icke is describing when he says the elite are possessed by reptilians. Hubbard never mentions the word reptilian but its the same thing, maybe David has taken the research further by discovering they are reptiles? Maybe Hubbard knew this but thought people couldn’t handle that data as it might sound too silly or something so didn’t mention what they look like? And it isn’t that relevant anyway. These evil people are not really people, they are possessed. So we can keep fighting the evil changes to our world they are trying to make which is things like setting up the European Union and turning us all into trannys, or we can do OT8 on mass to fix everyone’s DNA so that these evil beings can’t mind control/posses people here anymore.”
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2000: “Anti-Reg” posted a letter he received in response to his request for a refund from Scientology. “I heard from [deleted] that you sent in a letter requesting a return of payments from the Church. Naturally this was a bit of a shock to me and it is a terrible loss. I consider you a friend and I have a lot of ARC for you and it would be quite a loss to have you no longer in the Church and not be able to stay in comm. I could tell from your letter that you have run into some SP’s who have coached you on how to write this letter. I am sure that you are feeling a lot of pressure about this or you would never do it. I also know that you have been PTS before and I want to remind you how overwhelming it felt then. It is my overt of omission that I never insisted that you do the PTS/SP course. All that is happening is that you have gone PTS again. If you have gotten some squirrels or SPs on your lines then there is PTSness there too. This can cause roller coaster — a slump in gains. The door is not shut. And I would still like to help you. You are important to me.”
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“There seems to be a reluctance even among some exes to understand that all the E-meter is physically capable of doing is measuring galvanic skin response. It is incapable of reading one’s emotional state.”
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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] A new sighting of former Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis is always a delight
[TWO years ago] Andreas Heldal-Lund, 1964-2024: Our original story about Scientology’s ‘Lucifer’
[THREE years ago] Jerry Whitfield, longtime Scientology exit counselor, dies at 77
[FOUR years ago] Scientology’s global conquest: Founder L. Ron Hubbard stressed ‘put in ethics’ to foil enemies
[FIVE years ago] Scientology social media: Stop being afraid to turn over all your hard earned cash!
[SIX years ago] In the Sea Org, it’s difficult to see Scientology’s incompetence — until you escape
[SEVEN years ago] We asked Marc Headley about NXIVM’s Allison Mack using his Scientology lawsuit as a defense
[EIGHT years ago] It’s Scientology TV ad season as the Super Bowl approaches — here’s what to expect
[NINE years ago] Tonight on ‘Leah Remini’: Aaron Smith-Levin on how families get so screwed up in Scientology
[TEN years ago] Scientology’s state of the union, 2016: Former spokesman Mike Rinder predicts ‘more pain’
[ELEVEN years ago] Jon Atack: What it’s like for the Scientologist who gives up the dream of being superhuman
[TWELVE years ago] Another Scientology video you aren’t supposed to see: ‘The Command of Theta’
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Joe Reaiche (1958-2024) did not see his daughter Alanna Masterson in his final 6,999 days.
Mike Rinder (1955-2025) did not see his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in his final 7,589 days.
Tammy Synovec has not seen her daughter Julia in 3,497 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 4,001 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,507 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 4,057 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 3,047 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,433 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,928 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,232 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 4,883 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 4,101 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,655 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,996 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,567 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,483 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,650 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,232 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,491 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,243 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 3,808 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 2,123 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,298 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,980 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,317 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,170 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,286 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,648 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 4,059 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,447 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,331 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,896 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,407 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,667 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,771 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 3, 2026 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter.
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.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2024 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2024), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
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Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast
