TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: With a new Alex Gibney film in select theaters, you’ll forgive us for waxing nostalgic about our own Gibney experience in ‘Going Clear,’ his documentary about Scientology. We were thinking of those days as we set out on a journey to see Gibney’s new movie, ‘Musk.’ [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“Whenever an individual begins to misalign himself with other dynamics, he is influenced by too much MEST which, entangled as in engrams, is mistaken by him to be Theta when it is actually the force of MEST. Hence the individual will seek to rule himself by force or handle himself by force rather than by reason. Additionally, he will seek to own and conquer his children rather than set them up as points of conquest for the future. In the group he will seek, if he is very aberrated, to consider the group itself as MEST and conquer the group, which of course is intensely resisted by the individuals of the group since conquest of them drives them toward the dwindling spiral to death. Likewise, mankind’s efforts can be disrupted whenever an individual amongst mankind is so thoroughly influenced by MEST and so enturmoiled by MEST that he considers mankind as MEST, or any group of mankind as MEST, and so conquers some portion of that group. Additionally, the conquest of MEST, as in the fifth dynamic, is primary purpose but it is also possible that MEST itself can be so entered into the individual or the group or mankind that MEST does not conquer MEST but merely produces more chaos. The conquest of MEST must be in harmony with the laws of MEST itself and can only be done with due observance to the laws of MEST. Thus MEST cannot be thrown into a more chaotic state and man expect to conquer that more chaotic state since he has rendered that more chaotic and less conquerable.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1951
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“I was asked to study the physical universe. I was being asked to study nuclear physics, atomic, and molecular phenomena, all sorts of odds and ends and incomprehensibles, and they had not basically resolved the most fundamental things they had to resolve, which are: space, energy and time — what are these things? They’re psychological phenomena. That’s all they are. And the whole science of physics, then, is entirely dependent upon the mind. You want to know why, then, did a nuclear physicist ever go into the field of the mind? Why did we ever get Dianetics and Scientology? Why did I become interested in it? Well, I became definitely interested in it because the smallest unit of energy I could find must be a mental unit of energy.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 13, 1954
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“I have an annual stat of major programs (C/S Course, Target Packs, Data Series, Personnel Series, Expanded Lower Grades to name some of those of 1970). This stat is shooting into affluence this year since 1967. Having gotten Power redone into ‘New Power’ as a Tech Advance and developed tested (by Flag Qual) and issued OT VII I am now working out OT VIII and have made several breakthroughs on it in the last 10 days. If comparable work on Flag Income and production and Flag Org on GDSes and Bureaux on operation will now follow in we can book this rather quickly. Orgs are teams and all of Scientology is a team. It takes team work and back up to make things go right and stay right.” — The Commodore, October 13, 1970
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“Wise Scientologists are adopting the advice of Captain Bill Robertson regarding this civilization, that is, ‘Do not support the Old Civilization.’ They just need to take the next step. That is to ‘Support the New Civilization.’ Captain Bill Robertson already set an admin structure and definitions for that New Civilization. Examples: The monetary standards is going to be the value of an auditing intensive. Note: It should be noted that Donald Trump, just like Ronald Reagan before, does not fit into the parameters of the Old Civilization.”
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1996: Correspondence was posted between the operator of the Huge Cajones anonymous remailer and Helena Kobrin, Scientology attorney. “I represent Religious Technology Center, the owner of the confidential Advanced Technology of the religion of Scientology, and the holder of exclusive rights under the copyrights applicable to the Advanced Technology materials. Someone posting as ‘nobody@huge.cajones.com’ has sent several messages through your remailer which contain copyrighted works belonging to my clients. The postings were made in a code, which we have determined is called rot13 cipher. It is described in an Internet posting as ‘a simple-minded scheme that replaces each letter of the alphabet with the letter that is 13 places ahead or behind it. We are therefore requesting the following: Send out a cancellation of these messages. Preserve all information related to the posting which is on your system. This is imperative because it relates to litigation which is in progress, and in which preliminary injunctions have been issued prohibiting posting of these works.” The administrator replies: “I can’t do that. My service does not post directly to USENET, and as such, is not responsible for placing the article onto usenet itself. To send out a cancellation, I would have to forge one, which would violate the Terms of Service of my upstream provider, which could get me removed from the net. You need to talk to the person who runs the mail to news gateway that posted this. Now, if I were keeping logs, it wouldn’t be a very anonymous remailer, now would it? As soon as a message has left my system, I no longer have any details about it. I can’t identify the sender, the recipient, or even the text of the message. Sorry.”
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“I’m not here to change anybody’s mind. I’m a soldier.”
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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] IAS set for Halloween (boo!), but was once held on Scientology’s spooky cruise ship!
[TWO years ago] Parents learn the hard way how bad Scientology is for their kids
[THREE years ago] Report: Scientology Sea Org women forced to get IUD inserted before they can marry
[FOUR years ago] Confirmed: Lisa Marie Presley, Marty Singer on witness list in Danny Masterson trial
[FIVE years ago] 13,046 DAYS: David Miscavige goes ahead of L. Ron Hubbard as leader of Scientology
[SIX years ago] The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 12: The city of Clearwater, Florida
[SEVEN years ago] Just what Panama City needed, a new Scientology ‘Ideal Mission’!
[EIGHT years ago] A queer story about Scientology, gender, and L. Ron Hubbard’s sweet pile of Swiss cash
[NINE years ago] After pausing to reflect, Marie Poulin takes on Scientology’s attack of her ‘Leah Remini’ spot
[TEN years ago] Attempted murder, a fancy lawyer, and the long path to healing: A Scientology life, exposed
[ELEVEN years ago] Back in London for the next Scientology summit, featuring Russell Miller!
[TWELVE years ago] Kelly Preston finally blows away the last of her Scientology space cooties!
[THIRTEEN years ago] Sunday Special: Remembering Some People Who Mattered
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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 3,780 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 4,284 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,790 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 4,340 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,716 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 3,211 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,517 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 5,166 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 4,384 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,938 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 5,279 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,849 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,766 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,933 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,519 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,778 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,526 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 4,095 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 2,406 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,581 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 5,263 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,600 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,453 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,569 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,931 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,730 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,574 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 4,189 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,690 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,950 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 16,054 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 13, 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, 1995-2025 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
