Mark Bunker’s answer to an attack on his record opposing Scientology in Clearwater

 
TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: It’s always great to hear from Wise Beard Man, Mark Bunker, who is running again for a seat on the city council in Scientology-dominated Clearwater, Florida. Here’s what he sent us after an opponent took a shot at Mark’s record when he was previously on the council. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]

 
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Technology Cocktail

“It is quite remarkable that the various manifestations and ‘cures’ of native witchcraft and shamanism can be uniformly duplicated and bettered by a modern science like Dianetics. A comanome can bring about a mental hallucination (with a simple command like, “You can only listen to me!”) which gives a demon aspect. The individual containing such a comanome would be considered by a shaman to have within him a demon, for the demon is the only sonic memory the individual would
have. While Dianetics does not consider the brain as an electronic computing machine except for purposes of analogy, it is nevertheless a member of that class of sciences to which belong General Semantics and Cybernetics and, as a matter of fact, forms a bridge between the two. There can be as many comanomic commands as there can be words in a language and as many comanomic injuries as there can be illnesses and accidents. Therefore, it is no surprise that circuits can be set up in the brain which approximate any school of witchcraft, shamanism and religion known to Man. The Banks Islander sitting around talking to his deceased relatives and getting answers would be found, on examination, to have a fine array of comanomes and a very active reactive mind.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1950

 
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Source Code

“A few days ago I decided I would look young. Well, how do you look young? All you do is take flesh off certain planes of the face. This is what artists do in making faces old or young. So, I selectively ran incidents until the planes of the face were smaller. Oddly enough you run out tiredness also when you do this. You can actually select off certain pieces of flesh, and change your appearance. You have with this technique the power of changing your own physiological being. You go on up, theta line running, and you have another choice: You can change beings. You could! Of course you have been growing and nurturing this body, and you are somewhat attached to it. But it is just as much an object as this eraser, and your existence with this body is something like going around holding this eraser all the time, and saying, ‘I’m the eraser.’” — L. Ron Hubbard, June 24, 1952

 
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Avast, Ye Mateys

“TROUBLE: The fastest possible way for a senior to get into trouble is to fail to get in Ethics on a downstat junior. The US ‘solves’ all this with huge government pay offs and propitiation. And look at the upsurge of riots. Capitalism works only on the reward side. It takes two sides to make a game. If an I/C lets Ethics go out on his juniors he pulls the rug out from under himself — and slaughters the juniors also. A team is composed of teammates. Those who mess up the team aren’t teammates. The decline of the FSO and FAO WHY is really — the seniors let ethics go out on their juniors and sought to be ‘good fellows.’ This dumped the lot back onto me. The VFP of our 3 orgs is not juniors who think their seniors are good fellows. And it isn’t ‘good fellows’ either. Effective SO Members is one of our VFPs. We have some. We will have more.” — The Commodore, June 24, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“There have been big efforts to solve the mystery of the Third Parties on the independent field. The big outpoint has always been OSA’s false reports, false information and black propaganda furnished in bigoted websites. Indies resorting to those websites to attack other indies should be considered OSA collaborators.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1997: Reuters reported that tennis star Boris Becker has threatened legal action against Scientology for using his picture and comments on the Internet to criticize Germany’s tolerance of minorities. “The organisation, which Germany views as anti-democratic and has put under intelligence surveillance, has a picture of Becker and his black wife Barbara at the top of an article headed ‘The Trouble with Intolerance.’ A Scientology spokesman said it had not reported anything more than Becker himself said in an interview last year when he said he planned to move to the United States when his son reached school age. The article, with the sub-heading ‘For many minorities, living in Germany means living in fear,’ cited Becker as an example of someone who had suffered ‘years of intolerance and abuse, apparently owing to the fact that his wife is black.’ Becker’s Munich-based lawyers demanded Scientology withdraw all reference to the former Wimbledon champion and pledge not to use his picture again. ‘Boris Becker is in no way prepared to promote the aims of your organisation in any manner,’ the lawyers said in a letter addressed to the Church of Scientology International in London. Scientology spokesman Georg Stoffel said it had used the reference to Becker because it wanted to draw attention to examples of alleged discrimination in Germany — both against its own members and other people. ‘We campaign for the rights of all minorities,’ he said. ‘This was just one example.’ Becker’s lawyers said they hoped their letter to Scientology would have a positive outcome. ‘We would note now, however, that we reserve the right to take the necessary legal steps if this case is repeated,’ they said. Stoffel said he had not yet been informed about the letter and could not speculate whether Scientology would cooperate with Becker’s request. He said he thought the story had been blown out of proportion, adding: ‘It’s been raining for days in Wimbledon and I think the journalists are desperately looking for something to write about.'”

 
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Random Howdy

 
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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, oral arguments scheduled for June 25. 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. Now serving time in 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 June 19.

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, which is now fully briefed. Oral arguments hearing set for July 23.
— 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 upheld on appeal. Scientology expected to file additional petitions before case can return to Kalra’s court.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration. 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] Scientology documents: Church freakout over the Tom Cruise-Brooke Shields feud
[TWO years ago] Why Tom Cruise’s abandonment of Suri for Scientology is even worse than most realize
[THREE years ago] UNSEALED: Jane Doe 1 sues Scientology for sex assault at 16 by Sea Org groomer
[FOUR years ago] Scientologist scammer, long on the run, ends up murdered in Mexico
[FIVE years ago] His son may rule moneyed Scientology, but Ron Miscavige needs help to pay for his own funeral
[SIX years ago] Danny Masterson’s Scientology upbringing: An interview with his former stepdad, Joe Reaiche
[SEVEN years ago] YouTube permanently shutters channel that exposed Scientology’s bigotry
[EIGHT years ago] Coming soon, our collaboration with ‘Miss Lovely’ herself, Paulette Cooper!
[NINE years ago] Scientology watchers, one mile high: HowdyCon 2017’s big night is here
[TEN years ago] Scientology stealth opening: Tomorrow, David Miscavige will dedicate two buildings in Florida
[ELEVEN years ago] A rundown on the truth being delivered at the Toronto Scientology conference
[TWELVE years ago] UP THE BRIDGE: We finally reach ‘OT 8’ — but was its first version really a hoax?
[THIRTEEN years ago] Laura D to Scientology: It’s Too Late for a Protective Order in Forced-Abortion Case

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on June 24, 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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