TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Leah Remini scored a big victory in her lawsuit against Scientology this summer, but the ruling was ‘unpublished.’ Now, the California Supreme Court has also denied her request to change that. ALSO: A mystery about press coverage of the Danny Masterson appeal. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]
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Technology Cocktail
“Have you ever noticed that in the vicinity of an accident, other accidents happen? Some foolish traffic department someplace started the practice of putting up crosses wherever a highway death had occurred. All of a sudden, the crosses would just pile right up there in that one spot, one after the other. They did away with the crosses, quick. The cross was a suggestion that there was death. Anybody coming by with one of these things to trigger said, “Yep! Here’s my chance.” Another cross. That’s one level. If you’ll notice too, the observance of a sudden accident will cause other people in the vicinity of the accident to make mistakes immediately afterwards.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1951
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“The fellow who has voices talking to him inside of his head is much better off than the fellow who has voices talking to him from way outside his head. Odd that psychiatry classifies people quite in reverse. People who have voices talking to them from the outside are sane and those who have voices talking to them from inside of their head are very often classified as insane. As a matter of fact, I read a paragraph in one of their innumerable, contradictory books which had to do with just that. It said that one could always tell whether or not a person was psychotic, because the spoken voices – the speaking voices and so forth – were invariably inside the person’s head if the person were psychotic. Couldn’t they face the idea that these voices very often come from outside?” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 29, 1953
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“In the early days of the ship the entire crew consisted of only 79 to 90 people. When the ROYAL SCOTMAN became an AO, students crowded aboard and the ship was forced into cope in order to handle them. Spaniards made up the bulk of the stewards and cooks. A non SO chief steward, who later blew, kept the Department in, for him, a suitable state of chaos. After the AO was moved to Alicante, the Stewards Department did well when Mary Sue was Captain and afterwards began to have its ups and downs.” — The Commodore, October 29, 1971
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“Lawrence Wright is a regular ol’ average human being. He considers he is ‘Lawrence Wright,’ that body, with one life, in that body, living on a lone planet that spontaneously brought about that one life, in that one body, from a sea of ammonia, sometime in the last billion years or so, evolving along until one day, carbon and oxygen and hydrogen and a bunch of chemicals gave rise to his ‘consciousness’ as ‘Lawrence Wright.’ One day that will die and that’s the end. He’s convinced – or at least he’s pretty sure. In order to grasp Scientology, Lawrence would have to attain an awareness level that would somehow approach, at least to some degree, being able to conceive a Static. Scientology is unreal to Lawrence Wright. That’s why he can’t describe it, write about it or comment on it in any meaningful way. He cannot conceive a Static. Lacking this level of awareness, this cognition or degree of understanding, the subject eludes his grasp.”
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1998: Graham Berry posted a description of an encounter between Ursula Caberta of the German government and Kendrick Moxon, attorney for Scientology. “I took Ursula Caberta down a floor to where Scientology lawyer Moxon and OSA employee were inspecting documents. I shook Moxon’s hand. He then wiped his hands saying ‘can’t be too careful’. To Ursula he said, ‘You didn’t bring her down here just to show her boxes. Where is your uniform? She said it is casual day and uniforms are for the Sea Organization. Moxon then said ‘I mean your Nazi uniform’. He then snapped to attention and gave her the Nazi salute repeatedly! ‘Sieg heil’. When he did not cease his strutting, heel clicking and offensive saluting we left. Later, Ursula told the press that he could have been prosecuted for criminal conduct had he done this in Germany.”
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“You kids need to look around before you start posting comments willy-nilly.”
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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 heard and submitted, waiting for ruling. 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. Scientology’s attempt to gut the case failed, and appeals court upheld. Back to trial court in December.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ 17 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. Case returning 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. Hearing on arbitration motion set for March, 2027.
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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 still irate about Mike Rinder, Claire Headley affidavits in Leah Remini lawsuit
[TWO years ago] How a Scientology recruiter gets kicked out of a country
[THREE years ago] All the parts of Leah Remini’s lawsuit Scientology wants the court to strike
[FOUR years ago] PODCAST: Looking back at the second week of testimony in the Danny Masterson trial
[FIVE years ago] After a year and a half, Scientology’s cruise ship finally sails — to Curaçao drydock
[SIX years ago] Truths about Nxivm leader Keith Raniere that his loyalists still refuse to face
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology threw its annual IAS party on L. Ron Hubbard Way, and once again we had a mole
[EIGHT years ago] Ahoy, matey: We have Scientology’s new Sea Org application!
[NINE years ago] In Canada, Scientology does not get the welcome it might have been expecting
[TEN years ago] Amassing the real history of Scientology has been a long and dramatic relay race
[ELEVEN years ago] Hey, tabloids: Tom Cruise once again attends Scientology gala as its poster boy
[TWELVE years ago] Scientology’s ‘Mecca’ awaits: More tantalizing glimpses of Hubbardian Heaven on Earth
[THIRTEEN years ago] Claire Headley Gets Us Ready to Go Solo: More Prep for Scientology OT!
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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 3,796 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 4,300 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 4,806 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 4,356 days.
Klaus Büchele has not seen his daughter Jasmin in 5,732 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 3,227 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 6,533 days.
Marc Headley has not seen his mother Trudy in 5,182 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 4,400 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 5,954 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 5,295 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 13,865 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 9,782 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 5,949 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 5,535 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 5,794 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 4,542 days.
Marie Poulin has not seen her mother June in 4,111 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 2,422 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 3,597 days.
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 5,279 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 5,616 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 10,469 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 5,585 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 3,947 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 4,746 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 4,590 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 4,205 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 4,706 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 4,966 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 16,070 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 29, 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
