TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Mounting evidence suggested to us that Scientology hid Tom Cruise’s attendance at its Aug 1 ground-breaking in Clearwater. Now, we have hard proof that one or more people were removed from the church’s official photos of the event. Could it be Tom? Give it a look. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“If an auditor finds at the beginning of processing that the child he is working with is in need of constructive things to do (and this will be customary rather than unusual) it is sometimes a good thing to set up a definite program of acquiring skills for the child. These should be primarily bodily skills. This program can be used as a means of shifting his environment slightly away from most of the restimulation he is getting. Let the child pick his own program. Help him in setting it up, but if it is specifically designed to be his program do not in any way insist on its being carried out. The child needs very little education in Dianetics, or in the dianetic viewpoint toward children. These things are natural for him. He will quickly come to look on his processing as an interesting game if the auditor builds the situation up in this way.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1950
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“I was in a hospital one time and my stomach wall wouldn’t heal. Been messed up. And so they kept feeding me custard. And after about the 465th custard, I just had some kind of an inkling I was coming around a little bit. Actually, what was wrong with me was I was utterly exhausted. I’d just been in combat theater after combat theater, you see, with no rest, no nothing between. And it sort of came to me that this was not the sort of a diet that I myself would select of my own free choice. So I used to slide out with a good-looking nurse, and — beg your pardon, she was a WAVE. And she knew where there was a wonderful Chinese noodle parlor. And so after I’d eat my custard, she would come in and we would go out the back gate and we’d go down and I’d have several egg foo yungs. And you know, soothing things like sweet and sour pork, you know, and so forth. I started to feel better, started to get back on my feet again. And it was those custards — I kept telling the doctors, you see — those custards were absolutely marvelous, particularly when served in Chinese restaurants under some other name. you weren’t supposed to eat anything else, you see. So then finally, finally, through the connivance of a couple of hospital corpsmen and several pals in the Marine, why, I got the wrong meal ticket issued to me, and there was a special diet table where they fed people nothing but steak! So I do know where all the steaks went that the civilians didn’t get, because they were all served at that table. Huge piles of steaks would come in, you see, and I’d demolish four or five of these steaks and feel much better. The medicos never found out about this. And I finally got restored to duty, ‘Certified for continental limits of the United States only. To stay where a proper diet and ration and adequate rest are assured.’ And of course, the next piece of paper back of that says, ‘Ordered to the Fifth Amphibious Force,’ you see.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 30, 1961
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“HATS: Lack of hattedness is what makes an activity look inefficient. It’s what makes lines rough. HASs and HCO are responsible for hatting. Full and competent Hatting makes an org efficient and easy to work in.” — The Commodore, August 30, 1971
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“It’s NOT ENOUGH to just be Scientologists or going up the Bridge. The World has gone crazy and it will only get worse. The Church of Scientology is nowhere on sight. Scientology has gotten a bad name. Not enough auditing is occurring not to say anything about making auditors. You want more? There is ONE more thing that is even worse: AI is coming, artificial intelligence and that will put even more Automaticity in life. People believe they are soulless bodies or even animals. That’s rather grim. Only a strong group of people who can work together can do something about it and be heard. I don’t see any other way.”
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2001: Excerpts from the latest Freewinds Magazine were posted to a.r.s this week, with a summary of events at an OT summit. “ED INT, Guillaume Lesevre gave the stats for the past year. Nearly 8,000 new people taking their first step on The Bridge. 240 million people reached through radio, TV, print media and dissemination programs. 824,000 people introduced to LRH tech – highest ever. A cumulative total of 3000 events and seminars held which contributed to helping more than 10,000 Scientologists on to their next step on The Bridge. The number of Clears taking their next take on The Bridge increased by nearly 5 times – highest in history. OT Ambassadors receive OT Achievement Awards. This years Awardees are: Wendy Ettricks and Joanne Schnitzer both from LA, as a team put 250 Scientologists on to their next service. That’s more than 40 Clears and 200 + pre OT’s. Sheila Atkinson-Baker and Claire Taylor, both from LA, have 1800 people currently auditing on New OT 7 in the LA area. Sandy Adair, assisted 130 Clears in enrolling on their Solo training and another 150 to start their next step on The Bridge and another 94 Scio’s to arrive on the Freewinds. All told, she single-handedly got 1059 people onto services in orgs. Senior C/S Int, Ray Mithoff presented a new OT hatting course entitled ‘The Command of Theta: This course includes tapes from a Nov. 1952 lecture series given by LRH to the London Professional Course. WDC Chairman, Marc Yager announced the newest org to achieve the size of Old Saint Hill is ASHO FND. The first Foundation Org to achieve this. And with ASHO FND now being Saint Hill size, we now have every Sea Org service org to the size of Old Saint Hill.”
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“The trigger for the OT 8 cognition is the line ‘the Pilot says: I’m mocking this up.’ The desired End Phenomena is ‘Now that I know what I am not, I am ready to find out what I am’.”
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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 founder L. Ron Hubbard’s depravity — the audiobook version
[TWO years ago] Leah Remini announces divorce in the most Leah Remini way possible
[THREE years ago] L. Ron Hubbard 2.0 still awaits trial, but the Freezone is buzzing about his origin story
[FOUR years ago] Freezone news: LRH 2.0 indicted by grand jury, new center opens in Buenos Aires
[FIVE years ago] Scientology wants your toddler on the cans, and here’s evidence of it
[SIX years ago] Danny Masterson presses for Jane Does suing him to identify themselves as hearing nears
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard has some ideas about your ‘eternity’
[EIGHT years ago] Kiosk-Gate: LAPD told Masterson accuser its Hollywood site was compromised by Scientology
[NINE years ago] DOX: L. Ron Hubbard’s son called him a junkie and sex pervert in FBI’s Scientology files
[TEN years ago] Scientology petitions California Supreme Court over disqualified judge in forced-abortion case
[ELEVEN years ago] ‘Miss Lovely’ in London: Paulette Cooper writes another chapter in her amazing story
[TWELVE years ago] Scientology training includes how to physically pull cash away from a reluctant patsy
[THIRTEEN years ago] BBC Tracks Down Audio of 7-Year-Old Scientologist Neil Gaiman
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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 3,736 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 4,240 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,746 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 4,296 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,672 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 3,167 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,473 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 5,122 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 4,340 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,894 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 5,235 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,806 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,722 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,889 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,475 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,734 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,482 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 4,051 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 2,362 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,537 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 5,219 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,556 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,409 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,525 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,887 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,686 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,570 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 4,145 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,646 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,906 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 16,010 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 30, 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
