TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Yesterday, we posted tributes from Alex Gibney, Spanky Taylor, Tracey McManus and others, but the messages keep coming with memories of Mike Rinder that we knew you would want to see, from author Lawrence Wright, journalist John Sweeney, Claire Headley, and more. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“Quite often an injury or illness will miraculously clear up before one has run all the steps possible. If this is the case one should end off any further assist. All auditing of injured or ill people must be kept fairly light. Errors in TRs (such as a bad TR 4), errors in tech rebound on them very heavily. An ill or injured person can easily be audited into a mess if the processes are too heavy for him to handle and if the auditor is goofing. Very exact in-tech, good TRs, good metering sessions are all that should be tolerated in assists. An auditor has it in his power to make pcs recover spectacularly. That power is in direct proportion to his flawlessness as an auditor. Only the most exact and proper tech will produce the desired result. If you truly want to help your fellows, that exact skill and those results are very well worth having.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1972
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON
We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links as Danny faces a potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison. NOW WITH TRIAL INDEX.
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THE PODCAST: How many have you heard?
[1] Marc Headley [2] Claire Headley [3] Jeffrey Augustine [4] Bruce Hines [5] Sunny Pereira [6] Pete Griffiths [7] Geoff Levin [8] Patty Moher [9] Marc Headley [10] Jefferson Hawkins [11] Michelle ‘Emma’ Ryan [12] Paulette Cooper [13] Jesse Prince [14] Mark Bunker [15] Jon Atack [16] Mirriam Francis [17] Bruce Hines on MSH
— SPECIAL: The best TV show on Scientology you never got to see
[1] Phil Jones [2] Derek Bloch [3] Carol Nyburg [4] Katrina Reyes [5] Jamie DeWolf
— The first Danny Masterson trial and beyond
[18] Trial special with Chris Shelton [19] Trial week one [20] Marc Headley on the spy in the hallway [21] Trial week two [22] Trial week three [23] Trial week four [24] Leah Remini on LAPD Corruption [25] Mike Rinder 2022 Thanksgiving Special [26] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part One [27] Jane Doe 4 (Tricia Vessey), Part Two [28] Claire Headley on the trial [29] Tory Christman [30] Bruce Hines on spying [31] Karen de la Carriere [32] Ron Miscavige on Shelly Miscavige [33] Karen de la Carriere on the L’s [34] Mark Bunker on Miscavige hiding [35] Mark Plummer [36] Mark Ebner [37] Karen Pressley [38] Steve Cannane [39] Fredrick Brennan [40] Clarissa Adams [41] Louise Shekter [42] John Sweeney [43] Tory Christman [44] Kate Bornstein [45] Christian Stolte [46] Mark Bunker [47] Jon Atack [48] Luke Y. Thompson [49] Mark Ebner [50] Bruce Hines [51] Spanky Taylor and Karen Pressley [51] Geoff and Robbie Levin [52] Sands Hall [53] Jonny Jacobsen [54] Sandy Holeman [55] Mark Bunker [56] Trish and Liz Conley [57] Trish Conley [58] Alex Barnes-Ross [59] Alex Barnes-Ross [60] Alex Barnes-Ross [61] Alex Barnes-Ross [62] Alex Barnes-Ross [63] Alex Barnes-Ross [64] Tory Christman [65] Tammy Synovec [66] Dennis Erlich [67] Alex Barnes-Ross [68] Valerie Ross [69] Kat in Austin [70] Mark Bunker [71] Phil Jones
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“There is nothing more simple than for a fellow to duplicate himself any place in the universe because he isn’t any place in the universe because he is every place in the universe. Any one of you immediately, any one of you immediately answers up to the definition that has been given the anthropomorphic itself entitled God. Any one of you, because you’re everywhere on omniscient and omnipresent, and on the bus, and everything.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 7, 1954
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“ETHICS: JOHN and DORA HANNIDES are assigned a Condition of Treason for leaving the SO under false pretenses. They may not be audited or trained until they have fully applied the formula. They may not be communicated with. Their only terminal is an Ethics Officer in a Continental Liaison Office or S.O. ship.” — Flag 3rd Mate for L. Ron Hubbard, Commodore, January 7, 1971
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“The Satanic cult of the Elite have many names, they go by Deep State, Illuminati, Globalists, the Cabal, and many others. Their front organizations include the Fed Reserve, UN, CIA, FBI, IRS, CNN, ABC, NBC, BBC, Hollywood, Planned Parenthood (mass murderers), Disney, CONcast… they own and control nearly all of the Main Stream Media including nearly all newspapers and TV. They own all the Central Banks, they own all railroads, all energy companies, most of the great manufacturing, they own and control all the drug cartels. They formerly owned and controlled North Korea, Iran, China… all of the terrorist states, all terrorist organizations. They were responsible for all the school shooter events, all false flag events including 9-11, Last Vegas shooting, the California fires, Pearl Harbor, you name it. They created WWI, WWII. They created Socialism, the NAZIs (a Socialist party), Fascism, Communism. They owned and controlled the Democratic party and until recently also the Republican party. Every US President was one of [them] with the exception of JFK whom they murdered, and Regan whom they tried to murder, and Donald J Trump who is beating them all with the help of Patriots in the US Military. The Cabal owned/controlled almost everything. And literally everything we thought we knew about how the world worked was wrong just like everything some of us once thought we knew about Scientology was wrong. How could anyone bring down the Church of Scientology as long as Big Brother had the CoS under their wing? It was hopeless. The correct target to end CoS corruption was to bring down the Deep State so I shifted my support to that end. Incredible strides have been made.”
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1997: Jeff Jacobsen received a mailing from the New CAN, also known as Scientology. “I got ‘Information Series #2 from the Cult Apologist… er, Awareness Network, titled ‘Fact vs. Fiction – Scientology: the inside story at last’. What bogus junk. ‘All denominations are welcome in Scientology.’ Ha. It’s just a short summary of the basic public mumbo jumbo the church puts out. So, it appears that CAN is now promoting religions! Strange, you wouldn’t think another organization would be needed to promote some religion, but there it is.”
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“Phew, I’m just getting back after sitting in the alley for 2 hours with the cats after some asshole in the building tried to set some other guy’s door on fire. The firemen said we were very lucky the ornament that the asshole tried to start the fire with went out otherwise we would have all been toast. Isn’t life grand?”
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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 brief due by December 23.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Grand jury indictments include charges from an assault while in custody. Next pretrial hearing January 13, 2025.
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, convicted of fraud, awaiting sentencing.
Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to arbitration.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson. Judge Upindra Kalra’s ruling denying Scientology’s motion to strike is on appeal.
— 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.
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After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: 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] Judge is fed up with sniping between legal teams for Scientology and Leah Remini
[TWO years ago] PODCAST: Karen de la Carriere says former president of Scientology is in a nursing home
[THREE years ago] Scientology celebrates the sheer competence of a superpower OT 8, and so will we
[FOUR years ago] Eyewitness: David Miscavige presided at New Year’s Eve party at Scientology’s Flag Land Base
[FIVE years ago] Henning Heldt, 1945-2020: Scientology’s 1970s spymaster went to prison for L. Ron Hubbard
[SIX years ago] A Scientologist on trial for double murder: A story the church is very nervous about
[SEVEN years ago] When two political longshots spar over Joy Villa and Scientology, everyone wins
[EIGHT years ago] Phil and Willie Jones launch a new effort for billboard about Scientology disconnection
[NINE years ago] AUDIO: Hear Scientology boast about the $5.7 million it got from Google in free ads
[TEN years ago] The new Scientology ad running on TV — and maybe for the Super Bowl
[ELEVEN years ago] See Scientology’s new TV ad before it’s released — and more IAS gala video!
[TWELVE years ago] John Sweeney Talks The Church of Fear, Which Comes Out Today
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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.
Tammy Synovec has not seen her daughter Julia in 3,137 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 3,632 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,147 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 3,697 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 2,687 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,073 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 2,568 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 5,872 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 3,743 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,295 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 4,636 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,203 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,122 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,290 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 4,872 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,132 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 4,168 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 3,884 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 3,448 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 1,763 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 2,938 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 4,620 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 4,957 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 9,811 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 4,926 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,288 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 7,591 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 3,697 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,095 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 3,971 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 3,536 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,047 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,303 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,411 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 7, 2025 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now 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, 1995-2023 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2023), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast
