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 Yesterday, Scientologists entered a new age. We’ve been learning lately that Scientology leader David Miscavige has hit upon a new strategy to wring out the last dollar from church members who have already given until it hurts for his “Ideal Orgs” building program.
He calls it “alliances,” and it involves convincing what few Scientologists remain to band together and, well, give even more. Yesterday, these alliances gathered in various places around the world in order to celebrate Miscavige’s notion that a dwindling movement just needs to open up shiny and empty new buildings in order to…well, we’re not sure what he expects will happen. Continue reading Sunday Funnies: The United States of Scientology
 Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He now has a new edition of the book out, and on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and rehashed in books, articles, and especially on the Internet.
Jon, what were L. Ron Hubbard’s intentions regarding Rhodesia, the country today called Zimbabwe? Did he really think he had a chance of taking it over to begin his worldwide conquest of the planet? Continue reading African Queen: The Man L. Ron Hubbard Thought He Was
Biographical notes on Tamerlan Tsarnaev, which our friend and attorney Scott Pilutik found at this 2010 photography slideshow about Tsarnaev, taken when he was a US Olympic boxing hopeful. Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police early this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts. His brother Djohar remains at large. The following captions were included with photographs of Tamerlan at a martial arts center, where he worked out. Disclaimer: We cannot verify the authenticity of these statements. Information about the Tsarnaev brothers is still just coming in. — Tamerlan Tsarnaev practices boxing at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts center. — Originally from Chechnya, but living in the United States since five years, Tamerlan says: “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.” Continue reading Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dead Boston Bomber Suspect: “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.” Advertisement
 Over the last several years, Scientology has been rocked by the revelations of former members describing what it’s like to work in the church’s “Sea Org” and at its secretive bases. Invariably, the church responds by saying that information revealed by ex-members is dated and no longer reflects what life is like in the church’s employ.
But now, we have dramatic new testimony from a young man who was working as a Sea Org member just six months ago — and Jason Barclay’s account reflects the same kind of hardships, and extortion, and human misery that so many others have told. Working with Karen de la Carriere for her new YouTube channel, Barclay is featured in three short videos that we are fortunate enough to debut for you today. We also spoke with Barclay, and we’ll intersperse what we learned with these moving video segments. Continue reading Jason Barclay’s Sea Org Adventure: A Fresh Scientology Escapee Details Abuse
 Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, Bay Area lawyer, blogger, and author Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Vance, in the chapter “Diagnosis,” L. Ron Hubbard gets down to specifics, instructing an auditor how to assess the preclear that he’ll be counseling. We were surprised when Hubbard suddenly started talking about hysterical blindness and hysterical deafness. Both are outdated concepts that became popular as diagnoses in the 19th century. Today, doctors refer to them as conversion disorder, but the idea of someone being totally blind or deaf from “hysteria” seems a dated idea. Continue reading Hysterical Hyper-Sight, and Other Lost Concepts of Dianetics
For years, she worked closely with Scientology’s leaders, David and Shelly Miscavige. And she was there when it all went wrong. By Tony Ortega  The RTC Building at Int Base Not only are most of the sources for our story not going to be named, neither are we going to identify the main subjects of this tale, a young couple working in Scientology’s “Sea Org.” Before writing about them, however, we obtained eyewitness accounts from multiple sources who each corroborated the others. It’s not our preference to use unnamed sources, but in this case we had no other way of telling this story, which we consider an important one about Scientology’s secretive International Base. — T.O.
The young woman had a front-row seat for the dispute between COB and COB’s Assistant. Advertisement
And when all hell broke loose, the young woman — and her marriage — became collateral damage. Continue reading Love in the Time of Miscavige
 Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first part in this series.
Last time, Claire introduced us to “study tech.” This week she’s got a huge amount of material for us. What’s this course called, Claire? CLAIRE: The Hubbard Qualified Scientologist course. This was my first official “hard course” in Scientology. I started this at age 12. The course took me about eight months to complete, and approximately 200 hours of study. Continue reading Scientology Means Never Having to Tell an Ashtray You’re Sorry
 The Underground Bunker is already largely fueled by its readers. Our worldwide tipster network keeps us informed of the latest breaking stories, and feeds us inside information that you can’t get anywhere else. For 17 years we’ve been writing about the world of Scientology, and since this time two years ago, we’ve carved out something unique: a daily blog that breaks Scientology news, analyzes stories breaking elsewhere, and brings together one of the very best commenting communities anywhere.
[BREAKING NEWS: See below for news about Oklahoma’s drug rehab bill] We owe a lot of that to you. And now, we’re asking you to help us out even more. Most of you are probably fully aware of how the journalism industry has been decimated by the Internet. But the ‘net has also given rise to amazing new opportunities, like this singular website. We’d like to keep it going, but in order to do so, and in order to make plans that will help us keep it going for the indefinite future, we have decided to post a Paypal Donate button. Continue reading We Need Your Help, Scientology Watchers
 Karen Black at last year’s gala The tuxes have been fitted, the limos have been rented, the speeches have been written, and the strange dances have been choreographed. And now it’s time to party the way only Scientology knows how! Well, we don’t actually know if this year’s Writers of the Future gala will feature odd interpretive dancing like last year, but we can only hope. Please join us as we watch the live Internet stream of tonight’s celebration — it’s the 29th annual contest celebrating talented new science fiction and fantasy writers and illustrators, with help from an illustrious list of established artists as well as Scientology celebrities! Continue reading Writers of the Future Live-Blogging! Black Tie Not Required
 We have so much for you today, we hardly know where to begin. On Sundays, we bring you the latest wacky Scientology fliers and mailers and other things that our worldwide tipster network has brought us during the week. And today is special — tonight, Scientology is holding its annual posh gala for science fiction writers and illustrators, and like last year, we’re going to live-blog the ceremony as it streams on the ‘net!
Please check back here later today for our live-blog entry, which we’ll post at around 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific (12:30 AM London/9:30 AM Sydney) to get the conversation started. The event itself begins at 9:30 PM Eastern/6:30 PM Pacific (2:30 AM London/11:30 AM Sydney). As for this morning, we have a great collection of weird stuff for you. Let’s start with the Writers of the Future contest itself… Continue reading Scientology Sunday Funnies: Buffalo Gals Go ‘Round the Outside, and the Return of DEDE!
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Yesterday, Scientologists entered a new age. We’ve been learning lately that Scientology leader David Miscavige has hit upon a new strategy to wring out the last dollar from church members who have already given until it hurts for his “Ideal Orgs” building program. 
![Tamerlan Tsarnaev [Photo copyright Johannes Hirn]](http://tonyortega.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Tamerlan_Tsarnaev.jpg)
