We’re continuing to mark the 10th anniversary of a stunning series of events that changed Scientology watching forever.

On January 14, it was ten years since Mark Bunker first posted a 9-minute Scientology video interview of Tom Cruise to YouTube which went [...]]]>

We’re continuing to mark the 10th anniversary of a stunning series of events that changed Scientology watching forever.

On January 14, it was ten years since Mark Bunker first posted a 9-minute Scientology video interview of Tom Cruise to YouTube which went viral. When Scientology’s legal corps tried to get it yanked down, the Anonymous movement declared war on Scientology in an infamous 2-minute video of its own, posted on January 21. And six days later, Mark Bunker made a small bit of history again when he posted a video counseling Anonymous to drop its attacks on Scientology which were illegal or counterproductive. Bunker was dubbed “Wise Beard Man” for that wisdom, and Anonymous and its “Project Chanology” looked for more traditional ways to get its point across.

In fact, by the time Bunker posted his Wise Beard Man message, Project Chanology had announced on January 24 that it was declaring February 10 a day of protest.

Gabriella Coleman, in her excellent book Hacker, Hoaxer, Whistleblower, Spy: The Many Faces of Anonymous, describes what a heady time it was over those several days a decade ago…

As Chanology grew in popularity, its bustling IRC channels #xenu and #target became unsuitable working environments for the publicity stunts and outreach to which it aspired. Three people broke away and started an IRC channel #press. Soon after, it grew to include eight members who worked one evening until daybreak to create what still qualifies as Anonymous’s best-known work of art. (Eventually, the team grew in size, #press became chaotic and members split off yet again. They called themselves marblecake, after one of their own found inspiration in the baked item he was eating.)…. These Anons — tainted, somehow, by an accidental taste for justice — effectively catalyzed one of the most potent protest movements of our times. The accidental train of events went like this: The video unexpectedly sparked a debate as to whether Anons should hit the streets to protest the Church of remain faithful to their madcap roots in raids and lulz. The timing helped make the decision for them, tipping things in favor of street demonstrations.

And now, we’ve learned some additional details about how Anonymous and Chanology went from online activism and its memorable video, to the idea of holding demonstrations at Scientology facilities.

Delightfully, it turns out to have involved, at least in part, our old friend Tory ‘Magoo’ Christman.

Recently, we were talking with one of those Anons who was part of the group that eventually became marblecake. And she tells us that a key part of their decision to hold pickets was talking to Tory Christman the night Anonymous put up its famous video.

We hadn’t heard that story before, so we decided to ask Tory about it.

She reminded us that for her and Mark Bunker and some other old-time critics, their main motivation that January was to help promote Andrew Morton’s book about Tom Cruise, which was coming out January 15. As we explained in our story about the Cruise video, Patty Moher, who had obtained the DVD of the interview, wanted Bunker to get the video online so NBC could copy it and use it for their story about Morton and his book.

Tory tells us she was actually concerned when the video then blew up and Anonymous arrived on the scene. When Anonymous put up its manifesto on January 21, she admits that her first reaction was that it was taking away from Morton’s publicity, and she suspected that it was actually a Scientology plot.

She posted that suspicion online, and later that night, she was surprised to get a call with about five people on the line claiming to be from Anonymous. (Our acquaintance who was a member of marblecake tells us she was one of the people on the line.)

“I was scared shitless. I was in my bedroom!” Tory says.

She says that the group assured her that they were serious about taking on Scientology, and that their manifesto video was not a plot by Scientology’s dirty tricks department, the Office of Special Affairs.

They then told her their plans for further attacks on the church, but she told them what they had in mind was unwise (and just the kind of thing Bunker would warn them about six days later with his Wise Beard Man video).

When Tory told them they shouldn’t pursue their scheme, they asked her what they should do as an alternative.

“Let’s just do a picket,” Tory told them.

A few days later, Tory met with some Anons to show them where a picket might take place on Sunset Boulevard outside the “Big Blue” Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles, known as “PAC Base” to Scientologists.

“There’s video of me showing them where the picket should be,” Tory says. “And at the end of it, a 21-year-old kid said, we’ll see you on February 10 with 500 people here.” (You can see that video here.)

“I thought, sure they will,” she says.

On February 10, 2008, Tory met up with Mark Bunker and they took the new subway to get to Big Blue. On the subway there were a dozen or so young people with Guy Fawkes masks holding signs. “I thought, OK, that’s cool. Ten or 20 people is more than we usually get,” Tory says. And she spoke up to calm down the other subway riders that the protesters were peaceful.

They then walked over to the Scientology headquarters from the subway stop, and she was stunned to see that there were, in fact, about 500 protesters on hand — and protests were also going on around the world, from Sydney to Europe to other parts of the US.

“It was huge. It changed everything. A&E would never have done a show with Leah and Mike if it hadn’t been for Anonymous,” she says.

“Before Anonymous, there were only four or five of us the media could call for statements about Scientology. But after Anonymous, people like Marc Headley could speak out who were just posting things anonymously. At that first picket, Marc Headley walked up to me and said, ‘I am Blown for Good’,” she remembers. Headley had been posting amazing insider knowledge about the church with his anonymous handle. But now, he and others began to step out in the open. “It was safety in numbers,” Tory says.

Tory will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of that event with a protest tomorrow at the Scientology testing center a block east of Hollywood and Highland. If you head on down there, make sure you say hello from the Bunker.

 
——————–

Bonus items from our tipsters

Take your checkbook for a cruise!

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

Head over to our HowdyCon 2018 website to start making your travel plans!

NEW! Chee has new hotel information at the HowdyCon website. Book your trip today!

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on February 9, 2018 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes 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 book, 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, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
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

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten 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

 Ten years ago, at 2 in the morning on January 27, 2008, Mark Bunker uploaded a 9-minute video he’d made after a long day of work.

Two weeks before, on January 14, Bunker had made a little history by posting another 9-minute video, one featuring Tom Cruise talking about what it was like to be [...]]]>

 
Ten years ago, at 2 in the morning on January 27, 2008, Mark Bunker uploaded a 9-minute video he’d made after a long day of work.

Two weeks before, on January 14, Bunker had made a little history by posting another 9-minute video, one featuring Tom Cruise talking about what it was like to be a Scientologist which had been leaked out of the church and ended up in Bunker’s hands. That video (which had actually been recorded in 2004) went nuts on YouTube, and the church reacted by trying to get it yanked down with various legal threats.

Offended by what they perceived as Scientology’s censorship of information on the Internet, the Anonymous movement then struck back with a video of its own on January 21 as DDOS attacks took down numerous Scientology websites.

Alarmed by some of the tactics that Anonymous was using in its sudden war with Scientology, Bunker decided to say something. The result was his message to Anonymous, which itself garnered a lot of attention and won Bunker a new nickname: Wise Beard Man.

Watching the video again for the first time in nearly ten years, we’re struck by how much has happened since then — this was before “The Truth Rundown” and Going Clear and of course Scientology and the Aftermath — but also how timely Bunker’s words still are.

He’s right: The best way to expose Scientology’s controversies and abuses is by spreading information, and doing so as forthrightly and honestly as possible. A lesson for us all.

So here’s the video, a transcript of it, and then some thoughts from Bunker himself.

Hi, this is Mark Bunker from XenuTV. I’ve been hearing from a lot of members of Anonymous and a lot of other people asking me, well, what do you think about Anonymous? And I thought it was kind of important to talk about this. First off, I think it’s incredibly exciting to have an army of young, passionate people wanting to do something about Scientology’s fraud and abuse. It really is exciting. However, I think you’re making some major mistakes that are going to hurt in the long run. They’re going to make you look bad, they’re going to get you in trouble, they’re going to get us in trouble — those of us who have been longtime critics of Scientology. Scientology is good at tar-and-feathering us with other people’s actions. Keith Henson was a critic of Scientology — he still is. A few years ago he responded to a post on alt.religion.scientology, the newsgroup. Somebody had made a joke about “Tom Cruise missiles” aimed at Scientology’s desert compound. Keith responded to that post. At the same time he was doing daily pickets of Scientology’s compound in Hemet, California. They got him arrested. They got him sent to jail. He just recently got out of jail. It may seem like fun and games, but Scientology is serious, and you have to be prepared. You can say, “well, we’re all anonymous they’re not going to get us, if they get one of us there’ll be ten others who stand up” — well, that’s good for you, but how about the ones who get caught? I am concerned about that. I’m mainly concerned because you shouldn’t be doing things that are illegal. You just shouldn’t. It’s not morally right, and it’s not right when Scientology does it, it’s not right when we do it. But there are some things that were on your website that thankfully are down now. I looked at your site the other day and I saw that there were suggestions that people go to the orgs and put bleach in the gas tanks of cars parked outside the orgs. Or cut the wires underneath the cars. Or go inside the building and flush rubber gloves down the toilets to plug up the sewer systems. These are just wrong, morally and legally. And it’s going to tar the entire group of you if you push for these type of things. And I see those particular tactics are down. But you’re still attacking Scientology’s website, all their websites. And can I see where that can be fun. I mean, for those people who are computer literate and can do this, I can see how it can feel satisfying in the moment. But it’s not right. It’s the type of stuff they do to us as critics. And we shouldn’t be doing it back to them. I’m not afraid of anybody hearing what Scientology has to say, or reading anything that Scientology puts out to read, including their attack website on me. They have a site called Religious Freedom Watch which you have shut down. And frankly, as critics we prefer to have it remain up because it is so wild-eyed and defamatory that no one can take it seriously. It does more damage to Scientology when it’s up than it does when it’s down. I don’t know how long you can keep attacking their websites and keep their sites down. You may be able to do it for weeks or months — you’re not going to keep them off the ‘net forever. But a better way to attack them would be try to get rid of their tax exempt status — that’s going to hurt them. How do you do that? Well, in my phone I have programmed my senators, my congressman, the White House, I can call them anytime I want to immediately and talk them about these things. They also have offices in your area. You can go to their office. Get a group of you together and go to visit your congressman or your senator. And take with them information, give it to them, and demand action. Now, if a whole lot of people do this, if you have 30,000 people out there who are doing this, maybe somebody will pay attention. I’m going to give you a link in the description of the video — just look up there, I think it’s up there — and you’ll see a link to Dave Touretzky’s page on IRS, Scientology versus the IRS. You can see how Scientology sued the IRS aggressively to get their tax-exempt status. And there are things about it that are worth a second look by our government, things that are just wrong. Things like the fact that field staff managers, FSMs, get a commission off of religious donations. When they bring somebody into Scientology and those people pay for courses, they get a commission from those courses. A commission off of a religious donation, and that’s tax-deductible someway? Let’s do something about that. Now I know that doesn’t sound anywhere near as interesting as attacking their websites. It sounds dull. But that’s going to hurt them. Going out on the street and protesting, handing out leaflets — I saw a couple people in a video in Manhattan the other day who were doing that. Wonderful. That’s wonderful. Speak out, be strong, and do it smart. Don’t do things that are illegal. Call up your local radio stations, everywhere, and say, we’d like you to talk about Scientology — why don’t you do an hour on that and book Tory Christman, who was in Scientology for 30 years. Or Professor Dave Touretzky, who is about the best around at explaining Scientology and all their various front groups. Or former members like Arnie Lerma. Or Jeff Jacobsen, who’s very knowledgeable. Or me. Call your stations, get them to talk about Scientology. The more people who talk about it the better. The more people who are exposed to the truth about Scientology the better. And that’s where you can really make a difference. It’s exciting when people can go out and just spread the word. Go to Andreas Heldal-Lund’s website, Xenu.net. And on his page, on his website there’s a page on how to support the fight. Click on that. He’s going to give you a lot of good ideas on how to take part in this legally, peacefully, and do it the right way. It’s very important. And this is going to sound incredibly self-serving and there’s no other way to do it — one other way you can help, buy my DVDs. I have a lot of my videos out on DVD. They’re cheap, they’re affordable. If all of you buy my DVDs, I’ll be able to raise the money to do a feature-length documentary really exposing Scientology. You don’t have to do that, of course. I’m not suggesting “stop doing what you’re doing and buy my DVD because I want to make money.” But this would be a good way to actually get the funding together to do a solid documentary that will really explore Scientology. For close to 10 years now I’ve been fighting Scientology on the Internet through streaming video. I’ve always given away my videos for free and I continue to do that, and I want you to take the videos that are on my website and spread them around to every place that you can. Get your friends together, if they haven’t watched “The Shrinking World of L. Ron Hubbard,” make them watch it. If they by some chance they haven’t seen South Park, they need to watch South Park. There’s lots of video from the decades past, showing you why people need to speak out about Scientology. Get those out there. Get the word out there. But do it peacefully, do it legally, please, and don’t tarnish your reputation. If you do this the right way, you can make a big difference. Taking down their websites right now is not going to do much except make Scientology really want to get to the bottom of who’s doing it, and it’s going to get you in trouble. I don’t know, maybe, I don’t know if this makes any sense to you or not. I wish you luck, and please, please, please, reform your group the way we want Scientology to reform their group, and life will be wonderful. Thanks so much. I’ll see you at Xenu.TV.

We asked Mark for his thoughts on this auspicious anniversary. And here’s what he sent us…

I just watched it again for the first time in years with a knot in my stomach at what I might have said and was relieved that there weren’t too many missteps. That video was shot at 2 a.m. after I came home from my night shift at XETV in San Diego. All week long the world had gone nuts over the Tom Cruise tape. It was everywhere. On every TV channel, every website, being talked about on the radio and by people in the streets all over the globe. On Friday night, I collapsed on my couch and as 20/20 started playing their opening credits and Cruise’s face appeared, it was only then that I took a moment to glance over at my desk and tell myself, “Damn, that tape came out of that computer,” and the enormity of it sunk in.

I made this video out of concern for the people in the orgs as well as for the members of Anonymous who might not know what they were getting into. I had little to go on for info on Anonymous other than one L.A.-based Fox TV news report which painted Anonymous as a dangerous terrorist group. I was worried that by addressing them, they might turn their wrath on me, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.

To my utter surprise, they understood my message. They quickly adopted me as a kind of Obi Wan Kenobi, dubbing me Wise Beard Man. I offered some further suggestions for peaceful protests; rules that Jeff Jacobsen had been advocating for years. When the media wanted to talk to someone from the group, they asked me to speak about them so they could remain anonymous. But it was very clear that they didn’t need my help. They very quickly got up to speed and set out to chart their own course, taking on Scientology in their own loopy but determined way. They mixed fun with facts and threw in some caek.

A few weeks into their efforts, they launched their first global picket and around ten thousand people turned out in cities across the world to peacefully protest Scientology. They built websites and spread fliers and gave speeches and scared the hell out of Scientology’s leaders who had no idea how to bully or intimidate a huge, amorphous, leaderless group of people with no names, all wearing the same Guy Fawkes mask. People had been protesting Scientology since Scientology was formed but never on this scale. And Anonymous added costumes and themes and brought street theater to their events.

As the months wore on, the numbers dwindled but that was to be expected. Some were in it just for the lulz. But others came to see that there was a real reason to take action and help those being abused by Scientology and they continued to protest, to flood the net with terrific videos and build websites and help the cause. I admit I am not an expert on Anonymous but I’ve met hundreds of them at pickets across the globe and talked to thousands in e-mail, on YouTube and elsewhere on the net. They come from all walks of life and while many are young, net-savvy students, Anonymous spans all age groups.

Ten years later, people still will address me as Wise Beard Man. For a brief spell I became a meme. Slogans popped up along with amusing images. Someone turned me into a puppet and created a bizarre series of videos featuring me, Tory Christman and Carol Channing. It was all very surreal. I was amused, shocked and proud to have played a tiny little part in this continuing saga.

Co-workers Google me and surprise me with a “Hi, Wise Beard Man.” There’s a little buzzing as the word spreads around. It gives me a chance to share more info on why those who came before me (and those who follow me) have good reason to speak out about Scientology’s fraud and abuse. I’ve slowed down some, others have picked up the slack. Such is the way of life. I’ve had my heart overhauled and have more energy and feel better all the time. And don’t worry, someday I’ll get the movie done.

So says WBM.

 
——————–

Jeffrey Augustine talks to Katrina Reyes, part 2

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

Head over to our HowdyCon 2018 website to start making your travel plans!

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on January 27, 2018 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes 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 book, 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, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
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

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten 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

 Ten years ago tomorrow, a nine-minute video of Tom Cruise was leaked to the Internet, and the Church of Scientology would never be the same.

It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since the infamous Cruise video showed up and then resulted in the Anonymous movement turning its sights on Scientology. For those of [...]]]>

 
Ten years ago tomorrow, a nine-minute video of Tom Cruise was leaked to the Internet, and the Church of Scientology would never be the same.

It’s hard to believe so much time has passed since the infamous Cruise video showed up and then resulted in the Anonymous movement turning its sights on Scientology. For those of us who had already been watching Scientology for some time, it was really something to see Scientology have to deal with so many new critics, and all at the same time. Then, a few weeks later, Anonymous began its real-world protests at Scientology locations around the planet — well, let’s not get ahead of the story.

We’ve told the tale of the Cruise video several times, and we went into a lot of detail about it to mark the demise of Gawker. Here’s the meat of that chronology, to remind you of what an important event took place ten years ago. In many ways, Scientology watching has never recovered…

Tom Cruise had gotten involved in Scientology through actress Mimi Rogers in 1986, just a few months after founder L. Ron Hubbard had died. Tom and Mimi were then married on Dianetics Day, May 9, 1987, and, as we explained in our lengthy story revealing for the first time what really happened to bust up that marriage, church leader David Miscavige managed to use Tom’s growing interest in Nicole Kidman to lure him away from Rogers. But then, after Tom married Nicole and she initially got involved in Scientology, by 1992 she had grown disaffected and the two of them pulled away from Scientology for the next eight years, when they broke up. And that’s when Miscavige made it job one to get Tom back into the fold. With the help of his top lieutenant at the time, Marty Rathbun, they were very successful, and by 2004 Cruise was the most enthusiastic L. Ron Hubbard fanatic ever. So that’s why Miscavige, at the October 2004 IAS celebration, decided to reward Cruise not with a Freedom Medal, which had been the usual high award given at those events, but to bestow on Cruise a special Freedom Medal of Valor.

And before he handed the tchotchke to Cruise, Miscavige amped up the crowd in East Grinstead, England with a 35-minute recorded tribute to Cruise, which included a 9-minute interview of the actor, in a black turtleneck, talking about how much he loved being a Scientologist.

But here’s what Miscavige may not have been counting on: The video and the medal ceremony actually backfired. Scientologists who had dedicated their lives to the “Sea Org,” and had signed billion-year contracts and worked for pennies an hour around the clock, considered it a slap in the face to hear from Miscavige that Cruise, a friggin’ actor, was “the most dedicated Scientologist I know.”

We’ve talked to numerous former Scientologists who were in the audience that night, and they all tell us they carried resentment over it for years. And that’s probably why, in 2007, an anonymous Scientologist decided to smuggle out a recording of that night’s event to a woman in Connecticut named Patty Moher.

Patty has told, at length, what subsequently happened with the DVD, and we’ll just pull out a few highlights. She had actually been in attendance at the 2004 event, and in 2007 when she received the DVD recording, she remembered it as an event she had personally experienced. She’s admitted that she didn’t really have any idea what a pile of dynamite she had in her hands as she began forwarding copies of the event to some of her close friends. She even showed it at a party at her house, swearing everyone to secrecy. (By 2007, Patty was out of Scientology but not publicly, and she was still considered in good standing by the organization itself.)

One of the people she shared the DVD with, Patricia Greenway, was working with writer Andrew Morton on his unauthorized biography of Cruise, which was scheduled to be released on January 15, 2008, and NBC was going to be promoting the book. Greenway told Patty it would help Morton if NBC had the footage of Cruise, which would help prove what Morton was saying about him. But NBC said it didn’t want anything to do with a DVD that had been smuggled out of the church. That was a lawsuit waiting to happen. What it could use, however, was video that had already been posted online.

Patty had no idea how to do that, but she knew that Mark Bunker, a longtime critic in Los Angeles who ran “Xenu TV,” was well aware of how to upload video to the Internet. She sent him the DVD and asked him to post it as a downloadable file so the people at NBC could grab it. On January 14, 2008, Bunker posted the nine-minute interview segment to a YouTube channel he created for it, believing it was set for private.

Bunker has said he was away from his computer for some time, and when he looked at it again, to his horror he saw that the video was proliferating like crazy. Tens of thousands of views in only a short time. Panicked by the thought of what legal action might come from the church, he yanked it down.

 
Going to Plan B, they turned to journalist Mark Ebner, who was well known for his 1996 expose of Scientology in Spy Magazine, and who had also worked on the epic 2005 South Park episode that poked fun at Scientology’s “Xenu” story. Bunker gave Ebner access to the Cruise segment on the private YouTube channel.

Ebner then offered it to Nick Denton at Gawker, who posted the video at 10:18 am on January 15, 2008. Denton pointed out that the video had been uploaded the day before, briefly, to YouTube (by Bunker), and had been picked up by Radar and Defamer — but that each of those copies had been taken down as Scientology’s legal team jumped into action. “Gawker is now hosting a copy of the video; it’s newsworthy; and we will not be removing it,” Denton wrote.

The video was a disaster for Cruise. After the actor had been recovered to the church by 2004, the next year he made a catastrophic attempt to become a more open ambassador for it in 2005, with his bizarre antics on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, for example, and his combative interview on the Today show with Matt Lauer. But it soon became obvious that the new strategy was blowing up on him, and he went silent again. Now, three years later, with the release of the black turtleneck interview that had been taped in 2004, the public for the first time got to see Tom in full Scientology mode — in a video that was never meant for outsiders to see.

Scientologists consider themselves to be superhuman, and better than the rest of us, and it was on full display as Cruise made bizarre comments about, for example, a Scientologist being the only person who could help at the scene of a car accident, or that Scientology would so completely take over the planet, its enemies — known as “SPs” — would only be read about in history books.

Cruise looked absolutely insane.

Meanwhile, the legal threats by Scientology to have the video yanked down didn’t go unnoticed by Internet activists who were sensitive about online censorship.

A loose group known as Anonymous began to stir…

 
——————–

Make your plans now!

 
——————–

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on January 13, 2018 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes 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 book, 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, 1995-2017 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Undergound Bunker (2012-2017), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
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

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten 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

The Underground Bunker has obtained court documents which describe a stunning attempt by a Milwaukee attorney to secure secret government-held documents that are potentially crippling to the Church of Scientology.

That attempt came very close to being successful.

In June of [...]]]>

The Underground Bunker has obtained court documents which describe a stunning attempt by a Milwaukee attorney to secure secret government-held documents that are potentially crippling to the Church of Scientology.

That attempt came very close to being successful.

In June of last year, the attorney, Jeremy P. Levinson, arrived at the West Allis, Wisconsin Police Department, demanding to see the department’s then chief, Charles Padgett. Levinson had with him a court order instructing the police department to turn over to him a trove of information that had been collected as evidence in a criminal investigation from a couple of laptop computers. Levinson said he wasn’t going to leave without the entire collection of evidence.

When he was told that it would take time for so much material to be gathered, he said he would be back the next morning.

But by then, the West Allis Police Department figured out what was going on, and told Levinson he was getting nothing.

What almost happened, we’re told, would have led to the possible destruction of damaging information about the way the Church of Scientology carries out elaborate and sophisticated spying operations — information that has not been seen in public, and may never be.

And the people we talked to for this story tell us that the audacious operation to get that information out of the government’s hands could only have been masterminded by one outfit — and that’s the Church of Scientology itself.

 
Tonight, a new episode of A&E’s hit series Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath will focus on the rise of David Miscavige, who took the reins of Scientology after the death of its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, in 1986.

And to help explain David Miscavige’s rise, Leah will talk to David’s father, Ron Miscavige, who escaped from Scientology in 2012 and earlier this year published a memoir titled Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me.

One of things that motivated Ron to write his book was the shocking realization in 2013 that he was being stalked by private investigators hired by his own son.

On July 30, 2013, two Florida men, Dwayne Powell (41 at the time), and his son, Daniel, 21, were stopped by West Allis police officers after they had been reported acting suspiciously in a residential neighborhood. When police searched their car, they found a small arsenal of rifles, handguns, and ammunition, as well as a collection of phones, computers, and other electronic devices. Most importantly, among Dwayne’s possessions there was an item made out of a 25-inch length of PVC tubing that he said he used with a rifle during target shooting. It was a homemade silencer — the possession of which was a serious violation of federal law.

With Dwayne facing ten years in prison, he and his son proved willing to give lengthy interviews to the police, which were recorded and later released to the media. (The full police report of the arrest was also made public.) The Powells told detectives that they were private investigators who had been hired by the Church of Scientology, and were being paid $10,000 a week to follow Ron Miscavige, who was now living in West Allis. For more than a year, they said, they had been tailing Ron, following his movements by attaching a tracking device to his car, for example. They said that they were instructed to recruit people to befriend Ron and his wife, Becky Bigelow, to get information from them. And above all, they were to stalk Ron and Becky without giving away their presence.

 
At one point, when the Powells were watching from a distance as Ron walked across a parking lot, Ron, who was 77 at the time, clutched at his chest and seemed to stumble. Ron was actually fumbling with a smartphone in his shirt pocket, but the Powells thought they were seeing an older man have a heart attack. They called their handler, a private investigator in Florida, but they were soon patched through to David Miscavige himself. When they asked whether they should blow their cover and provide aid to Ron, David said, “If he dies, he dies,” and he told them to stay back.

Those statements, made to police in recorded interviews, were released to Ron Miscavige himself by the West Allis detectives, and eventually, the public got to hear them as well. But the vast majority of the evidence seized from the Powells was never released to anyone, including Ron Miscavige.

“The police told me that Dwayne Powell had two laptops,” Ron tells us. “One of them was tracking me and Becky. On the screen, it showed our location. And that laptop, they said, would hold all the historic data of the tracking that they’d been doing of us.

“The second computer, though. That’s the one that really matters. On that one, Powell said to the cops that he kept the reports he was making to Scientology about what Becky and I were doing. Those documents spell out the day by day spying operations like nothing else.”

We asked former Scientology spokesman Mike Rinder how significant the information on Dwayne Powell’s laptop would be if it were made public.

“Nobody gets documents like that. The last time documents like that got out was after the 1977 FBI raid. I mean, they’re that significant,” Rinder says, referring to what was the largest raid in FBI history up to that point, resulting in the seizure of more than 100,000 documents and the prosecution and sentencing to prison of 11 top Scientology officials.

“I think that they could be as damaging as what was found in the FBI raid, seriously. Nobody has seen that kind of documentation since then,” Rinder says.

And then something really interesting happened to that evidence.

 
West Allis police told Ron Miscavige that at first, the Powells were very cooperative. Perhaps because of the seriousness of the charge that Dwayne faced, they gave police their consent to have their equipment thoroughly searched.

A couple of weeks later, Powell had hired an attorney out of Chicago, and the police were notified that Powell had changed his mind about that consent. By then, however, the data from his laptops had been downloaded. The police had access to all of his information, they told Ron, but they couldn’t do anything with it.

Then, on June 24, 2014, Dwayne Powell cut a very favorable deal with his prosecutors. His attorney, Mark Rotert, had worked out an agreement with Assistant US Attorney Lisa Wesley that would defer prosecution. In the agreement (which we obtained, and we’ve posted below), Powell admitted that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, but Wesley would dismiss the charges against him without prejudice — meaning that the charges could be refiled if he broke any law over the next five years.

In other words, if Powell kept his nose clean over the next five years, the matter would be dropped.

But there was an additional wrinkle, spelled out in the last of the 16 points covered in the agreement:

16. The parties acknowledge, stipulate, and agree that the United States, and particularly ATF and the West Allis Police Department, shall keep and maintain all the evidence seized and secured from the defendant on July 30, 2013, for future use as evidence in the event of a violation and breach of this agreement. If there is no violation of the agreement, the defendant is entitled to have the property returned at the end of the approximately 5 year period.

So for the next five years, the West Allis Police Department would hold — but not be allowed to look through — documents from Dwayne Powell’s laptop that were potentially explosive. After those five years, the laptops and their data would be returned to Powell.

But then, Dwayne Powell did something that seems incredible for a man who had managed to escape a ten-year prison sentence scot-free.

Powell somehow decided to risk jeopardizing that agreement, and putting himself in prison, because he couldn’t wait five years for his laptops and their evidence.

 
In April 2015, the story of the Powells’ arrest and the secrets they had spilled about being Scientology spies went public with an exclusive story in the Los Angeles Times, as well as items at TMZ and on NBC in what appeared to be a coordinated effort.

And later, we learned that that’s exactly what it was. It turns out that Ron Miscavige has a close relationship with Lisa Marie Presley, who had made her own journey out of the Church of Scientology and was also interested in exposing the secrets of David Miscavige. It was Lisa Marie who told Ron that the information about the Powells and their arrest shouldn’t come out for the first time in his book but instead should first come out in the press. So she hired an attorney who fed the story to the L.A. Times and TMZ.

It was a brilliant media strategy, and resulted in a wave of negative press for Miscavige and his church.

Two months later, on June 9, 2015, a hearing was held in a Wisconsin state circuit court in Milwaukee. A local attorney named Jeremy Levinson had filed a petition on behalf of his client, Dwayne Powell, asking Judge M. Joseph Donald for a court order that would instruct the West Allis Police Department to turn over Dwayne’s evidence to him. (The court’s docket indicates that Dwayne Powell himself did not attend the hearing.)

Specifically, Levinson was asking for…

(1) all electronically stored data (including the downloaded contents of Mr. Powell’s iPhones, camera, and possibly other devices); (2) data storage devices taken from Mr. Powell; and (3) documents (including photographs) taken from Mr. Powell

Was Levinson unaware that his client, Dwayne Powell, was at the time under a federal criminal deferment, and did he also not realize that he was asking a state court judge for an order to seize evidence in direct violation of a federal agreement with the US Attorney’s office?

 
We reached Levinson by phone Monday, and explained quickly what we were asking about, that his petition pitted a state judge against a federal agreement, and that the state judge had apparently not realized what was going on.

“I barely recall it,” Levinson said, but then he seemed to remember something about it. “I recall generally the situation. But I couldn’t possibly comment on a client matter,” he said.

We then told Levinson that several legal experts we’d consulted told us that what Levinson had done could have serious consequences. One appeals attorney who has handled federal cases told us that if Levinson had known about Powell’s federal agreement when he filed the petition in state court, it could even result in disbarment.

“Is that a question?” he asked.

We told him that we were just wondering if he’d heard about potential trouble over the incident from either the court or the state bar association.

“My license is in good standing,” he replied, and added “I’m going to hang up now” before we got a chance to ask him if the Church of Scientology had been involved in his hiring or the filing of the petition.

Meanwhile, why didn’t Judge Donald realize that he was being asked to issue a court order that would violate a federal prosecution deferment agreement?

Ron Miscavige supplied a possible answer. He said that the West Allis police explained to him that because Dwayne Powell had been charged under federal law, his records wouldn’t be accessible by the state court computers used by Judge Donald.

“Someone really thought this through,” Ron says the West Allis police later told him.

At the June 9, 2015 hearing, Judge Donald granted a court order, instructing the West Allis Police Department to hand over Dwayne Powell’s evidence to him. And the scope of the court order was somewhat stunning…

The City of West Allis shall forthwith return to Powell’s exclusive possession all property (including any and all copies) without disclosing or providing such property to any third-parties and without retaining any copies of same. In doing so, the City of West Allis shall confirm in writing that it and any third-parties or its agents who had been given access to The Property retain no copies of the above-described property.

Ron Miscavige says the police he talked to about it pointed out to him that the language of the order seems to indicate that it would be used not only to get the police department to turn over its evidence, but that the news organizations that had received copies of the police report and the audio recordings of the Powell interviews would be asked to return their copies as well.

After being handed the court order, Levinson moved quickly to have it fulfilled. Ron says police told him about the scene at the chief’s office, as Levinson seemed in a big hurry to get the evidence turned over to him, and wouldn’t leave until it was. But he was eventually told to come back the next day. And during that time, word got to officers in the department who actually knew what was going on with Powell and his deferment agreement.

Lisa Wesley, Powell’s prosecutor, was notified, and she sent out an email that Ron Miscavige received a copy of.

“Please see paragraph 16 of the executed [deferred prosecution agreement]…The parties agreed the government would maintain all seized property as evidence until such time as the [agreement] expires,” Wesley wrote. “Accordingly, the government is not turning over the requested materials per the court order. Thanks for your attention to this matter.”

Levinson didn’t get the documents. And to this day, that material from the Powell laptops is still safely being held by the West Allis Police Department.

Ron Miscavige tells us that police were livid over what they saw as a blatant attempt to back-door the federal agreement and fool a local judge into issuing an order that would allow for the release of potentially explosive information about the Church of Scientology.

“I must say it was rather cunning. They must have done their homework to find that back door,” Ron says.

But why would Dwayne Powell risk his deferred prosecution to have evidence turned over to him that he was entitled to receive a few years later?

“Powell gains nothing from this petition. And yet he risked everything. Why?” Ron asked us.

We tried to ask Powell himself. After his 2013 arrest, he returned to Florida but then moved to Tennessee, getting involved in a series of small restaurants in places like Waynesboro. We called several phone numbers associated with places he had lived and restaurants where he had worked, but got through to him on none of them. We’re going to keep trying, and we’ll add to this story if we succeed in talking to him.

Ron suspects — and he says the West Allis police agree with him — that Scientology was likely involved in convincing Powell to go along with the court petition.

We didn’t get a chance to ask Levinson about that in our phone call. And an email we sent to Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw was not answered.

Ron even believes the church still expected to get its hands on the evidence even after the June 2015 attempt failed.

A few weeks later, on July 1, 2015, the Hollywood Reporter wrote a piece after Ron’s forthcoming book had been announced. Asked for a comment about the “If he dies, he dies” remark attributed to David Miscavige, an unnamed church representative told the publication, “No such conversation with Mr. Miscavige ever took place and any claim that one did is provable bullshit.”

The phrase, “provable bullshit” was so odd, and out of character even for Scientology’s salty press statements, it made an impression.

“When they said ‘provable bullshit,’ I think what David was counting on was them getting hold of this evidence and destroying it,” Ron says.

Instead, it still sits in a Wisconsin evidence room.

 
Which brings us to our final point in this story, which is an appeal to our fellow journalists.

The Underground Bunker is one man in New York with very few resources. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, we manage to make some trips when reporting calls for it. But we don’t have the backing to take on what this story calls for.

Editors in Milwaukee or Chicago or, hell, New York. There is an incredible treasure trove of crucial information that, the facts in this story suggest, someone with a lot of money is willing to go to some pretty impressive lengths to get their hands on. They wouldn’t do that if that information were not radioactive.

If you’ve ever wanted an opportunity to mount a legal challenge to get some records unsealed, this is a fat, juicy target. The prosecution of Dwayne Powell is deferred. It is not an open investigation — the West Allis police can’t even look through the evidence they have.

Perhaps there’s a smart and enterprising media lawyer out there who can convince a federal judge in the Milwaukee area that Dwayne Powell’s laptop contained information that the public has a legitimate interest in seeing.

It’s worth a shot, isn’t it?

 
The Documents:

1. The deferred prosecution agreement, signed in June 2014…

Dwayne Powell Deferred Prosecution Agreement by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
2. Judge Donald’s court order of June 9, 2015…

Powell: Order to Return Evidence by Tony Ortega on Scribd

 
——————–

Go here to start making your plans.

 
——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on December 20, 2016 at 07:00

E-mail tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes 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 book, 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 about the book, and our 2015 book tour, can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of L.A. attorney and former church member Vance Woodward
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

Other links: Shelly Miscavige, ten 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 | Scientology’s Private Dancer | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | Scientology boasts about assistance from Google | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…
Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield

 Recently, we got a story tip from a man named Edouard Ravel. The name didn’t ring a bell, and he had to explain to us that he was better known as “sue.”

As in the guy who owns and runs WhyWeProtest.net, the Internet home of Project Chanology, the anti-Scientology arm of Anonymous? Indeed, it was.

It turned [...]]]>

 
Recently, we got a story tip from a man named Edouard Ravel. The name didn’t ring a bell, and he had to explain to us that he was better known as “sue.”

As in the guy who owns and runs WhyWeProtest.net, the Internet home of Project Chanology, the anti-Scientology arm of Anonymous? Indeed, it was.

It turned out that Ravel had revealed his real identity nearly two years ago, but the news hadn’t reached us, and we hadn’t seen anything written about the man. So we thought it might be fun to have a talk with the guy who operates one of the more fascinating locations in cyberspace.

Ravel said he was chatting with us from France — he was born there, but also grew up in the Netherlands. He’s about to turn 29, he told us, and he got his screen name from the Johnny Cash song, which his father loved.

The following is the transcript of our chat, with some editing for clarity.

 
The Bunker: What were you doing when things went crazy at the beginning of 2008?

Ravel: I had just come out of a certification course as a system and network administrator. I had spent a few years in the Netherlands for employment but had returned to France.

The Bunker: And how did your involvement in Anonymous begin?

Ravel: I’ve been a computer enthusiast since an early age and grew up with the Internet. I’ve had some mischievous years and strong affinities with both the hacker and freedom of speech cultures. When the call to action came I didn’t bat an eye and pretty much uttered “let’s do this.”

The Bunker: So how did “doing this” start out for you? What were those early days like?

Ravel: I used some Google-FU and found the IRC [Internet Relay Chat] network(s) where the initial online attacks were orchestrated. I must say the sight was gleeful, the chaos and mayhem were very exciting to observe — but I felt there was much more to be done than causing site outages. I must admit Mark Bunker’s video came as a godsend, as it was exactly what was necessary for a change in tactics. After talking in the main channels my amateur web design background led me to #pr and #website [specific channels at IRC]. Little did I know that I was about to commit to many hours a day.

The Bunker: How was WWP born?

Ravel: It was born in #website. Essentially there were a dozen individuals who agreed it would be a good thing to formulate and present an introduction to Anonymous’s goals and objectives. All the while also educating the public of what lies underneath the surface of the Scientology organization. Someone had registered whyweprotest.com. A few, myself included, provided mockups and proposals for site designs. To our irritation at the time, the WWP.com holder could not formulate his expectations vis-a-vis presentation. Half a dozen proposals and two weeks later I called it quits and registered both the .net and .org extensions, and worked with two individuals to make the first iteration of WWP. This was done within days. Meanwhile, as I had done my end of the work, I was approached and became part of the (unduly) infamous Marblecake collective.

The Bunker: You’ll have to fill us in on that.

Ravel: To date it has been the most organized group I have collaborated with online. I wouldn’t exaggerate when saying the quorum of participants spent over 70 hours a week working on media projects, planning, PR, and brainstorming. It served both as think tank and production studio. Meetings were held near daily, assessments were made, notes kept and so forth.

 
The Bunker: And these meetings and assessments, these were about planning protests and so on? And what about the site, how was it developing as a forum?

Ravel: The WWP site at the time did not serve as a forum or communication platform. Its sole purpose was to explain “why we protest.” Yes, meetings included local organizers, polling for local opinions, and discussing strategy. A lot was being proposed and often the “throw and see what sticks” approach was taken, and so we occasionally had two distinct projects running and whichever ended up getting taken up by the protesters would live.

The Bunker: It was a chaotic time, but fascinating.

Ravel: Shortly after the WWP website went online one of my parents died in an accident. Needless to say this made a great impact. I translated this anger and frustration into action wherever I could. Sometimes, I wonder whether I would have backed out were it not for those events. For quite some time I considered carrying on with this project as an homage — how twisted and odd it might seem.

The Bunker: And how soon after things got going did you realize that there might be risk — that the church might use private investigators to figure out who was behind the screen names?

Ravel: This was quite quickly clear. I was relatively diligent and always used multiple combinations of proxies, identities, and pseudonyms. I’ve very rarely let details slip on accident including in “social contexts.” There have been many people who tried to identify me in the past years. Utimately I weighed the pros and cons of leading multiple lives and decided that remaining anonymous provided a form of leverage over me. In other words, the potential of being outed could be seen as threatening. So that’s why I decided to sign off with my own name. It was liberating and to this day carries benefits. I don’t lie awake concerned that someone might find out my identity. It’s out there and it was no thanks to anyone who hated my guts.

The Bunker: Wasn’t there some time when you went away from WWP?

Ravel: There have been several times when, for personal reasons, I have retired from the daily goings on at WWP. That said I’ve always remained available, but with a certain distance, were there some sort of emergency.

The Bunker: So let’s talk about WWP today and how it’s doing. We hear from people who say there’s a pretty heavy (and clumsy) OSA presence these days, particularly in the afternoons. Does that concern you at all?

Ravel: I am not in the least concerned, nor entirely convinced it’s OSA. WWP — or much rather I — have acquired a handful of detractors over the years. The patterns of bad behavior are incredibly predictable and use the same methodologies. When I say bad, it’s in all truth sad. I feel sorry for people that let themselves be consumed by hate and stoop to these kinds of levels.

The Bunker: What would these detractors say about you? We don’t know much (or care) about WWP’s internal fights, but is there a specific complaint your critics have about you, and how would you answer it?

Ravel: I don’t think there’s a particular complaint. Essentially anything that can be said to dehumanize or discredit can or has been said. I don’t bother responding to any of it, much less pay attention to it. I’m of the opinion people are free to believe what they want to believe and that no matter what is said, convincing them otherwise, besides impossible, is also not my duty. I guess you could say I don’t seek anyone’s approval or acceptance. I do what I do because I believe it’s the right thing.

The Bunker: It’s been a long time since 2008 and I imagine you feel like you’ve seen it all. But are there still things being posted that get you fired up?

Ravel: I think I am far from having seen it all. However, I normally try to isolate myself from conversations or what happens on the site and stick to reports from moderators. I have found that doing so resulted in less immediate — and thus less emotion-driven — action. I often hear about something that was a big deal after the fact. I stick to computer terminals, e-mails, and development, and only step in when the team feels an executive decision or guidance needs to be made or given.

The Bunker: You fundraise to keep the site going, right?

Ravel: Correct.

The Bunker: And WWP’s future is secure? We know nothing on the ‘net is forever, but for now, it looks good?

Ravel: It will keep going for the foreseeable future, yes. One of the less appreciated dilemmas I face is cutting between longevity and exclusivity. Over the past years as other initiatives were brought up on WWP, some felt as if it were somewhat of a disloyalty to Chanology. My main concern has been that it is inevitable for movements to reduce to a dedicated core, lowering the amount of those who can contribute financially to keeping communication infrastructure going. I have tried to diversify to allow for a broader audience to support the infrastructure. Which means Chanology would be less out of pocket. Unfortunately, this wasn’t always well received. All this aside, I’ve done 5 years. I can do 10.

The Bunker: Has WWP had direct legal threats from church attorneys?

Ravel: Never, nor will David Miscavige e-mail me.

The Bunker: Yeah, he doesn’t send us e-mails either. Is there anything else? What would the users of WWP wish we’d asked you?

Ravel: Interesting question, for that I’d have to try and place myself into their shoes. Well, I can imagine some are under the impression that this position is the most awesome thing in the world, or that it’s a great deal of power, or what else have you. To which — with some evil laughter — I’d say their tears are delicious. (I kid, I kid.) From my perspective it’s none of those things. Or they might ask whether I’d give them up, which I think my continued perseverance and dedication should speak for itself. The above being said, I would like to say managing this project has proved to be invaluable, experience wise. Especially on a personal level.

The Bunker: Thanks. We can’t wait to see what a couple of assholes they call us over at WWP for this stupid chat. It’s how it works.

 
[Jon Atack will be back next week with another episode of Scientology Mythbusting.]

 
——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on June 22, 2013 at 06:30

E-mail your tips and story ideas to tonyo94@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. Here at the Bunker we try to have a post up every morning at 7 AM Eastern (Noon GMT), and on some days we post an afternoon story at around 2 PM. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

If you’d like to help support The Underground Bunker, please e-mail our webmaster Scott Pilutik at BunkerFund@tonyortega.org

We attended, and had a great time watching We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists. Director Brian Knappenberger was on hand to answer questions afterwards, as were some of the New [...]]]>

Friday afternoon, we heard from the local Anonymous folks that the theatrical debut of a documentary featuring several of them was showing in town.

We attended, and had a great time watching We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists. Director Brian Knappenberger was on hand to answer questions afterwards, as were some of the New York Anons featured in it: Vendetta, SethDood, and PokeAnon, who we have frequently seen at protests on 46th Street across from the Scientology org.

Poke announced that night that there would be a “raid” on Scientology the following night, Saturday. But we had other plans and couldn’t go. Someone who did appreciate Saturday’s demonstration turned out to be comedian Lewis Black, who announced on his Facebook that it was the “Best. Protest. Ever.”

Whoa!

Black was starring in an eight-night, one-man show at the Richard Rodgers Theatre across from the local Scientology church. (Sadly, that Saturday night was the show’s last before he took it on the road).

Earlier today, he posted on Facebook a photo of the Anonymous protest with the words “Best. Protest. Ever.” and then another photo with these words…

Another one…these guys were hilarious and spot on. Happy to have them outside the theater.

Black, of course, has little patience for religion of any kind, so it’s not a surprise that he appreciated the efforts of the NY Anons, who are still going relatively strong after protests in front of the org began more than four years ago, in February 2008.

We Are Legion features that initial New York demonstration as it tells the larger history of “hacktivism” in a compelling feature-length documentary. The New York Anons particularly distinguish themselves.

We could have used some footage of the really clever Anonymous protests that have happened in places like SF and Germany, and, frankly, we could have used a little less of writer Barrett Brown, who needs to dial back on the Tom Wolfe affectation.

But in all, We Are Legion was put together well, and featured intriguing interviews with people like Gregg Housh (who helped create the 2008 Anonymous video, “Message to Scientology“) and professor Gabriella Coleman of McGill University.

Knappenberger indicated that We Are Legion will be available in several formats, so order a copy today!