A big thanks to attorney Graham Berry for giving us a head’s up that at Scientology’s website right now there’s a slick new online slideshow that’s long on the kind of glitz and glam that church leader David Miscavige loves, especially when he’s busy congratulating himself.
Miscavige just can’t get enough of his own accolades about how he had Scientology pounce on the pandemic as a public relations opportunity last spring, and we’ve already seen him package that self-congratulation in, for example, the slick pages of International Scientology News magazine.
And now he’s put it into a new medium, an interactive slide show at the website. Here are just a few screenshots to give you some idea…
In other words, it’s the usual rah-rah about handing out booklets with basic hygiene advice for combating a virus that Miscavige himself characterized as a “planetary bullbait” in a secret briefing, in other words, a hoax.
But what did interest us was that Miscavige then revealed that three new “Ideal Orgs” are finished and just waiting for grand openings when people can gather in crowds again:
Chicago, Austin, and Mexico City. This is consistent with the account we published of someone who witnessed Miscavige’s New Year’s Eve speech at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida:
He also said that he fulfilled his 2020 New Year’s promise to complete three Ideal Orgs. They are Chicago and Austin, and he showed the video from the newest completed Ideal Org – the former ODD Mexico City, now called Scientology del Valle. It is the second Ideal Org in Mexico City, which is the largest Spanish speaking city in the world.
That person also said that Miscavige claimed that Ideal Orgs were also nearing completion in Oslo, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Aarhus, Port Elizabeth, Florence, and Paris. So expect Miscavige to hit the ground running with his building program once this health crisis is over.
New buildings might be on the way, but how is membership? It might be a while before we can tell how Scientology has really weathered the pandemic. But Miscavige certainly wants to give the impression that he has taken on the bullbait and hasn’t flinched.
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Leah Remini podcast: Jon Atack
We want to give ourselves a little credit here. Back in 2012 Jon Atack, the great historian of Scientology who had been an OT himself, was pretty much out of the business of Scientology commentary, and we did our best to drag him back in. He began writing a series of insightful pieces for us here at the Bunker, and he then moved on to produce his own videos about Scientology and other groups. Most recently he had a terrific interview with Mike Rinder about his early days on the Apollo. And now Rinder, and Leah Remini, pay him back by having him on their podcast, which you can listen to here…
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“You know girls are pretty high-toned ordinarily. You can never quite tell about a girl. You’re liable to meet her on Wednesday and her name is Elizabeth, and you’re liable to meet her on Monday and her name is Jessie, see. She changes her name very easily. Not only that, they get married and change their names. They do change their names. We do know that. Girl, up to the time she’s seventeen, has been very, very well — nicely known as Clarissa, you see, and she didn’t like that and you meet, next time you meet her she’s twenty-two and she calls herself Butch. There’s no telling what’s going to happen on it. Women do this, probably which accounts for their ability to hold on to a better-looking mock-up than men, because men become factually themselves. At whose assignment?” — L. Ron Hubbard, February 9, 1956
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“We are auditing now at a volume higher than that of any org in the world with a completion rate far in excess of any other 3 orgs. The bruised elbows in getting lines in, the bruised tempers, the hard work is really paying off with the finest auditing ever done anywhere. We are also averaging two or three Clear OTs a day! Come on, other departments and divisions. You’re only expected to be the greatest division or department of your kind anywhere in the world. So fly, you guys, fly!” — The Commodore, February 9, 1971
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“There’s a distinction between the person’s ideas about the body or the planet and the person’s objective awareness of the body or planet. That’s the 1st point of distinction here, the distinction between the subjective reality and awareness of mind and the objective awareness and actuality of existence. And therefore integral to the rehabilitation of awareness is the distinction between direct theta perception and perception via the body, again by running objective OT drills and exercises on the PT Environment both directly and via the body, as distinct from think and figure type subjective processes which simply address the Mind and the person’s ideas about existence.”
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1996: Anonymous poster Rogue Agent sent his final posts to a.r.s this week. He is leaving for personal reasons. His last posts contained the complaint made against him to Northeastern University by Annette Ross, Legal Officer of the church in Boston. “I am the Legal Officer for the Church of Scientology in Boston, and I am requesting help from you in trying to locate a person at Northeastern University. This person I have been investigating has been engaged in harassment of staff and executives of my church via the Internet from Northeastern University computer system. He may also have sent a virus to another computer system. What I know about him is that for several months he has been sending harassing messages via e-mail to top executives of my church. This could be characterized as a hate crime.”
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“The difference is real religions admit their beliefs are based on faith, whereas Scientology claims nothing in it is based on belief or faith, but is based on 100 percent proven scientific fact.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to March 2.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Charged in Brooklyn federal court on February 4.
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District. Petition for review by state supreme court denied Dec 11.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Dec 30, Judge Kleifield granted Scientology’s motions to compel arbitration. March 8: Status conference.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks
The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.
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’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] One sure sign a new Scientology ‘Ideal Org’ is on the way: the Central Files mayhem
[TWO years ago] Thinking of leaving Scientology? Jefferson Hawkins has your roadmap.
[THREE years ago] Tory ‘Magoo’ Christman, and how Anonymous went from online war to in-real-life pickets
[FOUR years ago] We have your invitation to Scientology’s holiest celebration of the year!
[FIVE years ago] Scientology’s thug life, documented: Aaron Smith-Levin shares a record of Sea Org violence
[SIX years ago] Mark Ebner finds Scientology’s rubbish again as Narconon International vanishes!
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology’s continuing plans for its Super Bowl ad, and more Sunday Funnies
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Mythbusting with Jon Atack: Original Spin
[NINE years ago] Scientology, Deep in the Heart of Texas: The Voice at the Debbie Cook Hearing
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,207 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,711 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,231 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,251 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,142 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,449 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,317 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,091 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,895 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,211 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,777 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,696 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,864 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,445 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,706 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,744 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,457 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,982 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 337 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,512 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,063 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,212 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,532 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,387 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,506 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,862 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,165 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,271 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,673 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,545 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,128 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,623 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,877 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,986 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on February 9, 2021 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, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), 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
