Scientology’s schmoozing with local politicians finally going sour, at least in one key place?

 
TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]

 
——————–

Technology Cocktail

“A group is composed of Theta and MEST. It has an analytical mind and a reactive mind. The Theta in the group consists of the ideals, rationale and ethic of the group. The MEST of the group consists, not of the minds, but of the bodies of the individuals of the group and the property and space and time owned by the group. The analytical mind consists of the adjudicated, fully comprehensive opinion of all the members of the group and their efforts and actions to activate and run this group. The reactive mind of the group could be considered to lie in the actions of those individuals set up for emergency status during emergency status, which is to say, the reactive mind is composed of the composite engrams of the group. The group will grow and prosper only insofar as it lacks engrams. It should not fear engrams; it should only fear the fact that the engrams may not be processed and run.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1951

 
——————–

Source Code

“Anderson, Q.C., Melbourne inquiry. Complete gibbering psychotic idiot. Up to the gills with R-6. ‘Scientology must be wrong, because we cannot explain where all the new bodies come from. All the new spirits. Where would all the new spirits come from if everybody had a spirit, why, where would all the new spirits come from, huh?’ Actually, what he didn’t realize, this silly ass — he was disproving Catholicism. Catholicism claims there’s one spirit per body, so he was asking some silly little kid question that is asked of his own religion, Catholicism. And yet he was busy hanging Scientology because it couldn’t… You get the irrationality of it? The man occupies a perfectly valid position. He’s looked on. He’s a Queens’ consulate. Actually he’s just a gibbering idiot. You probably couldn’t even catch him to get a straight jacket on him.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 9, 1968

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“SECURE THE PORT: We are very popular in this port. Were publicized heavily before arrival. Snap up the PR. Get out your white uniforms for watches and good clothes for the beach. Make a splash here. We’ll be here 3-4 days and will push to make it heavy PR.” — The Commodore, October 9, 1970

 
——————–

Overheard in the FreeZone

“I did some paranormal abilities training before knowing about Scientology. I remember one of the first paranormal detections I did many times about Scientology: I detected that it would degrade and degenerate; but I didn’t expect it would happen so soon. I’m glad that even though the Church of Scientology has been degraded, there are people outside the church doing sane and good Scientology.”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

1999: An affidavit by Scientology leader David Miscavige was posted to a.r.s this week. It was filed in the Wollersheim case, in which Lawrence Wollersheim is attempting to have Scientology pay a multi-million dollar judgment, even after bankrupting the Church of Scientology of California. Some excerpts: “A great deal has been made of my role and authority in the Scientology religion because of my position as RTC’s Chairman of the Board. Let me emphasize that I am not ‘Chairman of Scientology.’ It is RTC, as a whole, that is responsible for the orthodoxy of the Scientology faith. It then follows that as Chairman of RTC, its most senior executive, I am entrusted with the ecclesiastical position that has the highest scriptural authority within the religion. My authority derives exclusively from that position and extends no further than RTC’s mission. In summary, my job is to ensure RTC carries out its function of assuring the orthodox and proper use of the Scientology religious ‘technology.’ My duties are completely unrelated to, and I do not participate in, the ecclesiastic governance of the many churches of Scientology around the world. That function is performed by Church of Scientology International. As Chairman of RTC, I am not the ‘successor’ to L. Ron Hubbard. Plaintiff attempts to mislead the Court regarding Mr. Hubbard’s and my role in the religion. Mr. Hubbard was the Founder of the religion and the sole Source of its Scripture. In that capacity, he will never have a ‘successor.’ A primary and fundamental doctrine of our faith is that the teachings be kept pure and that the only source of those teachings is Mr. Hubbard. When plaintiff and his witnesses say I am ‘just like L. Ron Hubbard,’ that is the highest compliment one could receive in the Scientology religion, if their intention were to communicate that I am keeping the religion true to his teachings. Of course, their statements are accompanied by an inaccurate and negative description of Mr. Hubbard’s character and role in the religion. But even if that were not the case, I would still reject their compliment as I simply am not and never will be what Mr. Hubbard was to the religion. By way of analogy, consider an apostate Roman Catholic claiming, in the context of litigation, that the Pope is ‘just like Jesus Christ, and assumed his role after Christ’s death.’ Needless to say, this would be offensive to any Roman Catholic, as a matter of religious belief. The Pope may be the keeper of the Roman Catholic faith, but it would be heresy to say he was, in any manner, Christ himself. I do not disregard the corporate lines of authority, responsibility or control of any church of Scientology. Contrary to the allegations of Wollersheim’s declarants, lines of corporate authority in RTC, and its relationship to other churches of Scientology, are firm and I see to it they remain that way. Because of these allegations, the IRS review of RTC and all other churches of Scientology, had as a primary focus of investigation the corporate and financial integrity of those churches. After the most exhaustive review of any non-profit organization in history, the IRS found such allegations to be without basis, not only with respect to Mr. Hubbard’s relationship with the churches of Scientology when he was alive, but with respect to the relationship and integrity of all Scientology churches since that time. Most offensive to me are the allegations that I or any church has taken any steps to harass the plaintiff or his witnesses. It is I and others in the Scientology religion who have been, and currently are being harassed in the most despicable manner possible. I am aware that as a member of a new and minority religion, what I am experiencing is nothing new in history. Indeed, any prominent member of society is subject to attack and scrutiny. As such, I do not respond to every allegation or threat leveled at me. If I did, it is highly likely I would spend my entire life responding to charges such as those in this case. One of the most frequent and most inflammatory allegations civil litigants have made is to allege that ‘Fair Game’ is being practiced today on the basis of what the GO did in the 1970’s, dredging up their illicit activities and falsely ascribing them to those responsible for the GO’s eradication. Since 1981, 1 have heard allegations of ‘Fair Game’ at least a thousand times, but I had never heard the term in my life until I encountered it in civil litigation. To this day, I have never heard the term used inside the church. No real Scientologist would ever condone or even consider such conduct. Wollersheim, along with his declarants, has resorted to making such generalized ‘Fair Game’ allegations by falsely ascribing GO-like conduct to the people who are responsible for ridding Scientology of the GO. He has done so not for the purpose of substance, as there is none to such allegations, but rather for the purpose of stigmatizing my religion and me. As a final outrage, Wollersheim’s attorneys – Charles O’Reilly and Leta Schlosser – allege that I threatened them in the courthouse elevator. The exact circumstances are these: While waiting by the elevator, I was
standing with another Scientologist. Mr. O’Reilly and Ms. Schlosser were accompanied by a very large body guard. When the elevator doors opened, I stood waiting for Ms. Schlosser to enter first, out of common courtesy. O’Reilly’s body guard said loudly, ‘Let the midget go first,’ in reference to my size (56″). 1 ignored his comment and rode down the elevator in silence. This incident was memorable to me given the circumstances of having just heard Mr. O’Reilly speak about my religion in the most offensive manner possible and about what a victim his client was due to church ‘abuse’ and having those claims followed almost at once by the
astounding act of rudeness I have just described. This case is not merely about Larry Wollersheim attempting to collect a judgment he achieved against CSC. The instant action is brought as part of his anti-Scientology crusade. Wollersheim, acting through FACTNet Inc., his corporation which supports anti-Scientology litigants, has engaged in a pattern of virulent attacks directed at me by exploiting a hate-filled, anti-Scientology Internet news group. I give but just a small sampling of some of this harassment: The anti-Scientology Internet news group – ‘Alt Religion Scientology’ (ARS), was created with a posting to which my name was forged as the author. In 1993, I was accused, in a case in which I was not even a party, of having murdered my mother-in-law. The coroner established that the death was not a homicide. The personal impact of such an outrageous lie was immense for both my wife and me. In 1997, as part of his defense of the FACTNet litigation, Wollersheim accused me of having murdered Mr. Hubbard to obtain control of his Estate and the churches of Scientology. He attempted to contact Mr. Hubbard’s family, telling them that they had been deceived by me into giving up their legacies since Mr. Hubbard donated his copyrights and wealth to the religion. This was not
only harassment of me, but of Mr. Hubbard’s widow and children who remain devout Scientologists. Yet Wollersheim, a well known Scientology hater purports to care about their husband and father’s legacy. Wollersheim’s financial backer, Robert Minton, has posted my face on the Internet for use as target practice, has threatened to burn me in effigy in front of church buildings, and, spurred on by Minton, other anti-Scientologists then spoke of ‘forgetting the effigy and just doing it
for real.’ Prince has protested in front of our spiritual Mecca, threatening ‘Tell David I’m coming with a dick so big I’m gonna knock his goddamn spine out.’ Wollersheim has repeatedly threatened to have me sent to prison and his attorney announced the formation of a club to have church leaders ‘buggered [sodomized] before breakfast’ every day.”

 
——————–

Random Howdy

“This place is nuts, but not half as nuts as YouTube. It’s just a little bit more serious and astute and friendly.”

 
——————–

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.

 
——————–

 
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?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] LRH 2.0 tells ‘Expedited Scientology’ fans he’s mulling 17-year plea deal
[TWO years ago] All the Scientology allowed by Riley Keough in her mother Lisa Marie Presley’s ‘memoir’
[THREE years ago] It’s spooky season, and Scientology doesn’t want to miss out on the recruiting opportunity!
[FOUR years ago] How a major Scientology donor family is caught up in the Danny Masterson case
[FIVE years ago] He was Scientology ‘I/C’ — ‘in charge’ — of Paulette Cooper’s harassment. And now he’s dead.
[SIX years ago] SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS, Episode 10: Bryan Seymour wraps up his series axed by Seven News
[SEVEN years ago] CLEARWATER APOCALYPSE! No, not really. But let’s help Scientology run its new board
[EIGHT years ago] What it was like last night at Scientology’s Los Angeles TV ‘season’ premiere party
[NINE years ago] BLOCKBUSTER EXCLUSIVE: It turns out the National Enquirer is blowing smoke again
[TEN years ago] EXCLUSIVE: Recent deaths of Scientology rehab staffers points to ongoing problem
[ELEVEN years ago] The Scientology-Ireland connection that propelled Cathriona White to Hollywood
[TWELVE years ago] Ryan Hamilton files two more federal lawsuits against Scientology’s drug rehab network
[THIRTEEN years ago] Anonymous and Craigslist: Proof that Scientology Knows It’s Under Attack

 
——————–

 
——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on October 9, 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)

Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates.

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast

 

Tony Ortega at Rolling Stone