TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Our expert said that Danny Masterson’s request to combine the two ways he’s appealing his conviction — with a direct appeal and a habeas corpus petition — seemed unusual. And now, the 2nd Appellate District has apparently agreed, putting out notice that Danny’s request is denied. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“Reach and Withdraw is a very simple but extremely powerful method of getting a person familiarized and in communication with things so that he can be more at cause over and in control of them. One would not expect a person to be at cause over or to have much control or understanding of or skill in something with which he was not familiar. The keynote of familiarity is communication. Reaching and withdrawing are two very fundamental actions in this universe. By REACH we mean touching or taking hold of. It is defined as ‘to get to,’ ‘come to’ and/or ‘arrive at.’ By WITHDRAW we mean move back from, let go. Life itself is composed of reaching and withdrawing.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1980
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“You find many a girl — various stresses in the war you notice this: Some girl who was very much in love with some young man, and he got knocked off, something like that, and right away she becomes a lawyer — begins to talk in a rather husky voice. If you watch her a while longer, the next thing you know, she’s liable to start smoking cigars. You know? And in order to exteriorize her, you’d have to exteriorize her out of the body of a young man before you could exteriorize her out of the body she’s in. Now she doesn’t want to be in the body she’s in, so she’s not really in the body she’s in, and you just don’t have a dog’s chance of exteriorizing her out of that body. You say, ‘Be three feet back of your head.’ She’s not in it. So the whole command misses. You see that?” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 19, 1956
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“1969 was the year of Out-Ethics. In 1970 I trust all SO members will wear their ethics hats. Every SO member has one. Every time we ease up or drop Ethics we get horrible problems and stats. It can be plotted on the Int GI. Fact is Ethics is madly out on the planet. Definition of some Earth wog leaders — somebody who is trying to get even with everybody else. Definition of psychiatry: the government’s method of getting even with the insane.” — The Commodore, January 19, 1970
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“Imagine that you are strong enough to instantly destroy in absolute agony anyone who offers you the slightest offence. Once you have destroyed them then it is done. You cannot reverse it. Might you postulate inability in yourself after destroying a loved one who admired another’s body when they thought you were not looking? We do not trust ourselves to become OT again until we have learnt to control our destructive impulses. The latest OT rundown is not a solution. The solution is spending thousands of hours studying LRH tech and fully understanding and applying it.”
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1996: From Biased Journalism, a report on the film plans of actor and cult member John Travolta. “Word is that scientologist superstar John Travolta is pushing Miramar Productions to do Revolt in The Stars, a story directly based on OTIII. Miramar HATES the script. And thinks the movie will DIE on the vine, so to speak. Travolta is pushing Miramar to do the movie as part of his contract renegotiations, so it is difficult for them to say no.”
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“OT 7 is just sitting in a room talking to yourself and seeing if the needle reacts. You’d think after a couple of years of doing that they would just say ‘fuck it!’ and tell the case supervisor ‘The belfry is bat-free’.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: 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] Becky Bigelow, 1962-2025, escaped from Scientology with Ron Miscavige
[TWO years ago] We’re back in court today as Leah Remini’s lawsuit faces early hurdles
[THREE years ago] Tonight: Our conversation with Mike Rinder on ‘A Billion Years’ for Mark Twain House
[FOUR years ago] SCIENTOLOGY ARBITRATION DENIED: Appeals court revives lawsuit by Masterson accusers
[FIVE years ago] Danny Masterson accusers want emergency halt on ‘religious arbitration’ to protect rape case
[SIX years ago] Georgia puts legislator who promotes Scientology anti-psych efforts on mental health panel
[SEVEN years ago] New Sea Org escapee says that Scientology still forcing abortions, decade after practice exposed
[EIGHT years ago] More Scientology news is here: You won’t believe how fast this planet is being cleared!
[NINE years ago] Scientology in hot water again for cutting down trees without permission
[TEN years ago] When the feds tracked down L. Ron Hubbard’s boast about getting rich by creating a religion
[ELEVEN years ago] Earache my eye: A Scientology official’s excuses why he can’t fly for deposition in fraud suit
[TWELVE years ago] Sunday Funnies: For the second year in a row, Scientology will have an ad in the Super Bowl
[THIRTEEN years ago] We Told You Jamie DeWolf Would Blow Up!
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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 3,513 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 4,017 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,523 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 4,073 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 3,063 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,449 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,944 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,248 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 4,899 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 4,117 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,671 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 5,012 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,583 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,499 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,666 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,248 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,507 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,259 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 3,824 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 2,139 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,314 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,996 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,333 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,186 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,302 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,664 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 4,075 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,463 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,347 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,912 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,423 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,683 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,787 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 19, 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
