TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Val Ross is back with another account of how she survived being a Scientology spy who infiltrated the FBI — and learned to thrive away from this organization! [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“Group Dianetics is almost an accomplished fact. Worked on for the past three weeks, it has taken very sharp form. It is integrated from earlier work, but the new facts demonstrate that cleared individuals are not necessarily the immediate necessity of the cleared group. The group and the individual, as to engrams and processing, are different things. This is good news, since it means that we may have a chance against the anarchistic social orders of the world which, ungoverned as a group of nations and over governed as states, seem fatally inclined to get into another war.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1950
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“If it isn’t written it isn’t true. The only orders that affect transfers, functions, programs in an org must be issued as Executive Directives, OODs or FSOs or FBDLs or AIDES ORDERS, CBOs or FOs to be legal…Therefore if anyone tells you to change post or duties or that a function is changed on the Org Bd and cannot show it to you in a policy letter or FO or CBO, it is not true. Furthermore to follow such an unwritten or illegal order is to risk a Comm Ev for accepting illegal orders. It would be just as bad to follow an order to violate an HCOB and run some upsetting process. The reason is very plain. Policy, followed, results in a productive, comfortable post and policy not followed with verbal orders only in effect makes a cat’s dinner.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 16, 1971
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“As I’ve had some upsets and checked to find others have from noise in sessions I think it’s best if we have DOC figure out a ‘Ship Noise’ period when we can have all hands chipping and any banging and E/R compressor charging. A couple hours of this scheduled when Qual is NOT auditing would be a great help. New recruits or new members aboard are apparently unaware of areas where they shouldn’t bang and chatter. This should be part of their ship info. DOC should work this out.” — The Commodore, August 16, 1970
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“Have been visiting three Church of Scientology places around Copenhagen over the last few days. All of them dramatize the Corona Insanity. All staff go around inside and outside with masks and gloves. When we walked into one place we were told we would be given masks and gloves, which we refused. Then they refused entry. The receptionist said that all Churches of Scientology internationally had the same rules.”
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2001: Martin Poulter and Dave Bird reported a protest at a What is Scientology exhibit in London. “Yesterday from 12:30 to 15:30 there was a picket of the Scientology exhibition at the QE2 Conference Centre, adjacent to Westminster abbey. It was a successful and eventful picket (one Jive Aces band member went a bit berserk towards the end). Present were Dave B, John R, Hartley P, Jens T, myself, I. P. Freely, Duke the Dog, two placards, many hundreds of leaflets, the portable public address system and a helium canister to inflate our ‘Xenu loves you’ balloons. The Jive Aces band were doing their thing in the square in front, and
there were many body routers enthusiastically handing out leaflets and urging the public to go inside. The square was busy with tourists, so hundreds of pro- and anti- leaflets were taken. A large proportion of the public reacted very negatively to the Scientologists and shouted encouragement to us. We saw very few public actually go into the exhibition, and I.P. Freely did a scout mission just before the picket and saw that the visitors were greatly outnumbered by Scientologists. A lot of the public who did go in to the exhibition collected leaflets from us on the way out. The Jive Aces were their usual plastic, smiley selves through much of the picket. As they were packing up the band’s trombonist Alex Douglas went nuts, charging up to Jens and shouting in his face, literally nose-to-nose. Others from the band came and pulled him away. John remarked over the sound system that this guy’s repeated shouting of ‘Wanker! Wanker! Wanker!’ was not a good advert for Scientology and maybe he should re-take his communication course. Douglas ran back and did his yelling routine in John’s face, eventually backing away, pointing at John and yelling ‘PEADOPHILE! PAEDOPHILE! PAEDOPHILE!’ Huge crowds of tourists, many in guided tour groups and speaking mainland European languages or Japanese, were doing five minutes at the abbey then five minutes at parliament. They had zero interest in a ‘What is Scientology’ exhibition. Our people who went inside say it was practically empty. The Jive Aces played their hearts out, and the clams sent furious amounts of people to come out and handle us or counter leaflet – maybe eight at any time, with some rotation? – we had their entire attention. They did not seem very happy. The Spanish twit from London Org seemed to think I wanted a gift of washing powder and would be photographed with it. A fat girl with a Scots accent asked for a couple of balloons then burst them. I was feeling tired, but if they wanted to be nasty to us that increased my resolve to stick out the full 2 1/2 hours and not leave till they had. The Spanish twit held a leaflet in front of our videocam, until I reached out for the leaflet and she withdrew it. Another shorter skinhead type with identical cropped blond hair turned up and started to drag him off. These, I gather, are JIVE ACES MUSICIANS. Three of us stood on the corner and watched until the band’s white van drove away. Then we wandered off along Victoria Street and found a pub nearer Victoria to celebrate on the way back.”
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“That’s it, I’m joining Scientology tomorrow.”
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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] Why doesn’t Scientology icon Tom Cruise want to be a Kennedy Center Honoree?
[TWO years ago] Scientology finally finds the right formula in stunning new video
[THREE years ago] Scientology said her father was dead. He’s alive, at its secret HQ. But can she see him?
[FOUR years ago] EXCLUSIVE: Danny Masterson’s attempt to delay trial over baseball gambit is DENIED
[FIVE years ago] Danny Masterson’s nutty lawsuit involving his house loan is finally kicked out of court
[SIX years ago] VIDEO: Portland unrest inspires $250,000 donation from Scientology lifer
[SEVEN years ago] Here’s the lawsuit against Scientology and Danny Masterson. Let’s dive into it.
[EIGHT years ago] Stanley Clarke turns out to be as deep into Scientology as we feared, all these years later
[NINE years ago] Mirriam & Saina from ‘Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath’ — The LAPD has let us down
[TEN years ago] In 1951, L. Ron Hubbard’s fellow SF writers debated him about ‘badly-written’ Dianetics
[ELEVEN years ago] Passion of the Heist: The Scientology hucksters who have made this summer unforgettable
[TWELVE years ago] After a year’s delay, Mary Sue Hubbard’s house is on the market for $2.5 million
[THIRTEEN years ago] Scientologists Say the Darndest Things In Their Disconnection Letters
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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 3,722 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 4,226 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,732 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 4,282 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,658 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 3,153 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,459 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 5,108 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 4,326 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,880 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 5,221 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,792 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,708 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,875 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,461 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,720 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,468 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 4,037 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 2,348 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,523 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 5,205 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,542 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,395 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,511 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,873 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,672 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,556 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 4,131 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,632 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,892 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 15,996 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 16, 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
