TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: One of our readers reached out to us asking for help: His wife, he said, had been sent unwanted videos from Evan Dando that showed the Lemonheads frontman masturbating. We have the unsavory details. [...]]]>

 
TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: One of our readers reached out to us asking for help: His wife, he said, had been sent unwanted videos from Evan Dando that showed the Lemonheads frontman masturbating. We have the unsavory details. ALSO: Bijou Phillips needs a new kidney and is asking for the public’s assistance. [What is this Substack thing, anyway?]

 
——————–

Technology Cocktail

“When one is associating with or attempting to guide or handle a person, it is necessary to know something of the nature of a being. If a being were a single unit, separated from all other beings, conditions and current influences, the task of understanding him would be relatively simple and philosophers would have had it all worked out long before Dianetics and Scientology. A single unit being responds to the most elementary and simple rules and laws you will find in Dianetics and Scientology. Affinity, Reality, Communication and Understanding; the time track; mental image pictures; the earlier incident holding the later in place; responses to Matter, Energy, Space, Time, Form as well as force; and the axioms. On this you can rest assured. And one might even wonder why we need all the additional bulletins and cautions and provisions and lectures. The fact of the matter is that when one addresses a person, a human being ‘in the flesh’ one is not addressing a simple being.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1980

 
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Source Code

“I have a bit of a news bulletin, has nothing to do with the mental health empire that Mr. Kennedy is trying to create in the United States at 1.6 billion dollars, that isn’t news. The Federal government, of course, always has wanted the right to incarcerate any citizen for-without trial, and of course, immediately they get their Legislation passed, why, they’ll be able to do that. In other words, they’ll be able to incarcerate any citizen without commission-permission from his family, without a medical consultation and without a trial, and will be able to move him at any time without the consultation with the family or a hearing or a trial, and do anything to him they wish, such as electric shocks and prefrontal lobotomies. And of course that makes a very interesting political empire, and Mr. Kennedy is trying to create just that empire right this minute. So I think that’s very interesting.” — L. Ron Hubbard, February 12, 1963

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“D/G US Bob Thomas informs us Org personnel are safe and secure in the California Earthquake. We telexed back expressing our concern and appreciation.” — The Commodore, February 12, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“In the free field, are young Auditors being made? The scenario that I can see (and I hope I will be very wrong) is people in their 50s, 60s, or 70s training in some Freezone Orgs in the world, but I can not see young ones. I’m worried — is there going to be a new generation of Auditors at all? I´m not personally in the KSW protector position frankly, and I have always said that for me some things LRH discovered are just nonsense. But I have also said always that 80 or 85 percent of basic Scientology Technology is pure gold, so IMHO it needs to be passed to the next generation. I’m Grad V Auditor with four internships fully done and I have 39 years in; I’m single and looking for a girlfriend that has Auditor training (this last is a joke, bear with me). Do you know some specific things being done in this particular area, young Auditors in training anywhere in the world? Any of you know Auditors in their 20s or 30s?”

 
——————–

Past is Prologue

1999: Church of Scientology International President Heber Jentzsch was interviewed on the Danmarks Radio television network. “Hostess: Scientology is accused of brainwashing and compulsion – but there is nothing to it, says the president who has just been visiting Denmark. The religious sect Scientology is constantly criticized because of its methods. The president of Scientology has just been visiting Denmark, and we asked him to relate to some of the criticism. Heber Jentzsch: Did you realize that LRH has more than 120 million copies of his work out there in the hands of the public, and that it is growing all the time. ‘Dianetics’ alone has sold over 18 million copies and has been translated into 34 languages. No – Scientology is here to stay. Telephone interview with ex-Scientologist Birgitta Dagnell, Malmo: ‘First of all you are broken down by very little sleep and hardly any food. You are physically exhausted and very vulnerable in such a condition. All the time you are told you have no value. They have the so-called e-meter – a kind of lie detector that they use for interrogation. They scream at you that you have done worse things than you have told them. In the end you believe in it.’ You say that people come by their own free will. I have read many reports from people who say they were held isolated there in starvation, living in the same clothes for months and so forth. Heber Jentzsch: Absolutely not true! Because the American Internal Revenue IRS did the most exhaustive investigation of all these points, and looked them over completely because they had heard the same things you’re talking about, and found that Scientology definitely is a religion, that these things were unfounded. Reporter: But you tell me…why should all these people tell those horrible stories. What is their motive? Heber Jentzsch: Money! They are paid to do that. We have the affidavits to prove that. A number of them are paid to do that.”

 
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Random Howdy

“If only we could take a ride in Mr. Peabody’s Wayback Machine to pre-1970 and that magical time before the 100 percent scientifically correct TECH turned into incomprehensible DRECK. The gods are cruel.”

 
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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 now fully briefed, waiting for 2nd Appellate District court to set a hearing date. 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 (eligible for parole in two to three more years). Awaiting transfer to 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 Feb 2.

Civil litigation:
— Leah Remini v. Scientology, alleging ‘Fair Game’ harassment and defamation: Some defamation claims were removed by Judge Hammock. Judge Hammock’s ruling is on appeal. Leah’s respondent’s brief is due February 11.
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ 15 days of arbitration completed, Val waiting for further word from the IJC.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson. Judge Upindra Kalra’s ruling denying Scientology’s motion to strike is on appeal. Appeal fully briefed. Motion to replace Jane Does’ AI-tainted brief denied by court. Awaiting a court hearing date.
— Jane Doe 1 v. Scientology, David Miscavige, and Gavin Potter: Case unsealed and second amended complaint filed. Scientology moves for religious arbitration, gets ruling to depose Jane Doe 1. Trial has been set for January 10, 2028.

 
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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?

 
——————–

THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Neville Chamberlin, 1947-2025: Exposed Scientology, as ‘Dart Smohen’
[TWO years ago] While Scientology tries to derail Danny Masterson victims, here’s more detail from them
[THREE years ago] Here’s the 2023 Scientology Super Bowl ad, this year’s ‘mystery sandwich’
[FOUR years ago] Chill EB? Joy Villa? Kuba Ka? All hail the next Scientology celebrity superstar: Wicked Witch!
[FIVE years ago] Danny Masterson accusers signal they’ll go to higher court to fight ‘religious arbitration’
[SIX years ago] The skateboard hero & the anti-Semite: Insider report from Scientology’s bizarre celeb event
[SEVEN years ago] ‘Scientology and the Aftermath’ shelved two episodes, delayed one in season three
[EIGHT years ago] How Scientology gamed Google to increase the effectiveness of its Super Bowl ad
[NINE years ago] Welcome to your Scientology nightmare, people of Clearwater, Florida
[TEN years ago] SCIENTOLOGY’S SPACE MAN: The newest defector from church management opens up
[ELEVEN years ago] Fact-checking Danny Masterson’s remarkable Paper interview about Scientology
[TWELVE years ago] This is Scientology today: Oregon 10-year-old celebrated for donating $100,000
[THIRTEEN years ago] Scientology Does Star Wars: That’s No Moon, It’s a Fundraiser!

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on February 12, 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, 1995-2024 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2024), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)

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

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast

 

Tony Ortega at Rolling Stone

Today we have a rare non-Scientology piece here at the Underground Bunker. But with August 13 rapidly approaching, we wanted to get the word out about an event taking place in Arizona that we think is very important. And your proprietor will be there in attendance.

Robert Burnham Jr — the [...]]]>

Today we have a rare non-Scientology piece here at the Underground Bunker. But with August 13 rapidly approaching, we wanted to get the word out about an event taking place in Arizona that we think is very important. And your proprietor will be there in attendance.

Robert Burnham Jr — the people who knew him called him Bob — would have been fascinated by the science coming out of the images from the James Webb Space Telescope.

But he warned that astronomers were doing a disservice to the public if they didn’t also encourage people to make their own connection to the night sky.

“I don’t see the universe chiefly as a huge heap of raw data waiting to be fed into a computer,” Bob wrote in 1982. “Collecting factual data is fine. I do it too. But the heart and core of astronomy, to me, is the direct experience of the universe.”

The people who search for that kind of direct experience — telescope users around the world — have relied on Bob to help guide them to the most interesting places in that universe.

His three volume, 2000-page ‘Burnham’s Celestial Handbook,’ completed in 1978, is to this day still a treasured possession for people who explore the cosmos from their own backyards.

A massive undertaking by a single person, the Handbook is part encyclopedia, part science textbook, and mostly a work of wonder about the heavens that begs its reader to discover those treasures for him or herself on the next dark, clear night.

And there is something else unique and essential to the Handbook: You can literally see the Herculean effort it took to put it together, since its tables and charts and essays were typed, page by page, by Burnham himself on first one typewriter, which broke down from the effort, and then from a sturdier IBM Selectric machine that allowed him to complete the large third, and final, volume.

Happening to come out at a time, the late 1970s, when there was a renaissance going on that allowed amateurs to own larger instruments for reasonable prices and even to build large telescopes themselves, the combination of the “Dobsonian revolution” in telescope ownership and Bob’s intriguing guide to the night sky changed many lives. My own included.

Twenty-five years ago this summer, I set out to find Bob and interview him about his masterpiece, and discovered that he had died a few years before, in 1993, and almost no one in the astronomical world was aware of it.

In part, that was because he had left Lowell Observatory, the place where he had worked for more than 20 years, in 1979, and the institution had, for the most part, ignored his legacy.

When I visited the observatory that summer of 1997 trying to piece together the life of such a unique man, there was little sign that he’d ever been there.

Now, 25 years later, the observatory is making up for that. Lowell has created a display about Robert Burnham Jr at its rotunda, and on August 13 it has scheduled an evening with some speakers that will include Bob’s sole living relative.

I’ll be there too. And I’m looking forward to seeing the new display because it will include an item that I gave Lowell to include in it.

Bob’s sturdy IBM Selectric typewriter.

It was on a long drive from Phoenix to Big Bear, California for a telescope conference that I first told Tom Polakis I had come up with a crazy idea.

I was working as a staff writer at Phoenix New Times, and my job was to find surprising and conflict-filled stories about politics, crime, courts, and other contentious stuff. But I had also pleased my editors by contributing a couple of pieces about local scientists, and Arizona was lousy with astronomical types, drawn to its dark skies.

I told Tom, one of those extremely competent Arizona dark-sky types, that out of curiosity I had tried to learn more about Burnham, the author of the set of books we found so useful, and discovered something interesting at the Phoenix public library. Looking through archives, I realized that the “Robert Burnham” who helped edit Astronomy magazine and was the author of several books was not the “Robert Burnham Jr” who had written the Handbook.

In fact, except for a single 1982 self-interview Bob had contributed to the magazine, I could find no other published work by him except for his massive 2000-page encyclopedia of the night sky.

What kind of person does that? Who taps out a Britannica of the heavens on his own typewriter and publishes almost nothing else?

While we drove to Big Bear, I told Tom about my search, and that I wanted badly to interview Burnham if I could track him down.

Tom pointed out that in the Handbook, when it was finished in 1978, Bob listed himself as a member of Lowell Observatory. He suggested that I call up Brian Skiff, an astronomer at the observatory Tom knew personally.

So I did. Brian said he’d heard something about Bob being spotted on the coast in California, and something about selling paintings in parks.

That didn’t sound promising. How would I find someone selling paintings in parks? But Brian also suggested I contact Norm Thomas, a retired Lowell astronomer who had worked with Bob for many years.

From 1958 to 1979, Bob Burnham and Norm Thomas had used the Pluto discovery telescope to systematically photograph the same sections of the night sky that Clyde Tombaugh had done 30 years earlier, so they could compare the positions of stars that had changed in that time. This “proper motion survey” was invaluable in a pre-satellite age and resulted in the discovery of many new asteroids and white dwarf suspects: degenerate stars with incredible densities.

It was Norm who first suggested to me that Bob might no longer be alive. But he didn’t know for sure. The only thing he could suggest was that he remembered that Bob had a sister in Phoenix. But he didn’t know her name.

He did remember, however, that when Bob’s mother had died in Prescott years ago, the newspaper’s obituary had carried the names of both Bob and his sister.

With some patience and luck, I managed to find the obituary, and that’s how I learned the name of Bob’s sister: Marguerite Viola Courtney.

That sent me to the county voter’s database in Phoenix, and to my astonishment, there were two Marguerite Viola Courtneys in the system. One of them was originally from Chicago, however, and I knew that’s where Bob had been born.

And so that’s how I tracked down Viola, who confirmed that her brother Bob had died in 1993. She and her daughter Donna then generously allowed me into their lives so that I could put together an 11,000-word biography of Bob for the Phoenix New Times in September 1997.

It turned out that Bob, a genius in things he cared about, but indifferent to practical matters, had endured various hardships in a life that ended with heart failure at only 61 years of age.

I knew that Viola had not been sure what to think of me or the project, but after it came out, she was grateful and we were both emotional about it. Bob had meant a lot to both of us.

And that’s when she said she had a gift for me. I went to her north Phoenix house and she showed it to me: An enormous and heavy IBM typewriter. The typewriter. The machine that Bob had used to pound out his magnum opus.

For years, and through a dozen moves across the country, I lugged that thing with me as my most prized possession.

And over time, Lowell Observatory became more open to the idea of recognizing its former employee. In 2009, Tom Polakis’s wife Jennifer spearheaded an effort to put a plaque about Bob on a boulder along the walking path to the Pluto telescope. (Unfortunately, it was damaged during later construction at the observatory, but a new plaque is going to replace it.)

And then, in 2019, I happened to run into a man named Kevin Schindler at the Northeast Astronomy Forum, a telescope trade show that takes place in Rockland County.

Kevin was there representing Lowell Observatory, getting out the word that the place was changing. Long a top flight research institute, the observatory was trying to become more welcoming to visitors and to amateur astronomers, building new facilities where the public could get their hands on telescopes for observing.

When I told Kevin that I was the author of the story about Burnham, we discussed the possibility of Lowell doing more to highlight Bob’s contributions.

Several months later, I lugged the heavy typewriter to Kevin’s hotel room when he was in New York again on a layover, and the machine began making its way back to Lowell.

The ceremony to celebrate the new display was delayed for a couple of years because of the pandemic, but finally, Bob will be getting his due at a place that was a huge part of his life for so many years.

And among the people speaking that night, on August 13, will be Bob’s niece, Donna.

Her mother, Viola, died in 2013. She would have, however, been thrilled to see her brother honored at Lowell. I only wish she could have seen it.

 
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Technology Cocktail

“The mechanism of the Time Track can then be said to be the primary action in making a thetan solid, immobile and decisionless. For without a record of the past accumulating and forming a gradient of solidification of the thetan, the entrapment potential of the physical universe would be negligible and the havingness which it offers might be quite therapeutic. It probably requires more than just living in the physical universe to become aberrated. The main method of causing aberration and entrapment is therefore found in actions which create or confuse the Time Track. A thetan has things beyond Matter, Energy, Space and Time which can deteriorate. His power of choice, his ability to keep two locations separate, his belief in self and his ethical standards are independent of material things. But these can be recorded in the Time Track as well and one sees them recover when no longer influenced by the Time Track.” — L. Ron Hubbard, 1963

 
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Now available: Bonus for our supporters

Episode 6 of the Underground Bunker podcast has been sent out to paid subscribers, and it’s a conversation with Pete Griffiths about how he managed to run a Scientology mission after being declared SP. Meanwhile, we’ve made episodes 1 through 5 available to everyone, with Sunny Pereira dishing secrets of Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre, Bruce Hines on the crazy life in the Sea Org, Jeffrey Augustine on recent Scientology court cases, Claire Headley exposing Tom Cruise, and Marc Headley on what it must be like for David Miscavige living in Clearwater, Florida. Go here to get the episodes!

 
——————–

Source Code

“I was auditing a preclear one day that had a history of lesbianism and I learned this lesson but good. She was very sensitive about it and wanted to get over it. I knew this. I knew that this was a broken-up case. I mean the person was in bad shape. She was very spinny….You’ve got this individual sitting there as I had this lesbian and at the end of twenty-five minutes I suddenly realized that I was being ‘awfully nice.’ And I was getting nowhere….So I just broke out my Scientological scalpel and I said, ‘Women are nice, aren’t they? Particularly in bed.’ Dahhhhhhwwwwww! Wild needle slams and so forth. First lock of the Rock that came off of that case was being in charge, way, way back on the track, as the high priestess of the Vestal Virgins who weren’t virgin anymore, for which she was quietly and lengthily cooked over a slow fire, and which was making her avoid being a housewife because housewives have to cook. One of the innumerable computations that came off of this case.” — L. Ron Hubbard, August 1, 1958

 
——————–

Avast, Ye Mateys

“The VIII sessions being done by Belkacem Ferradj, Connie Broadbent and Quentin Hubbard are well above the Org VIII Course standard for consistency and fast case change. As soon as a couple more auditors qualify for full time Dianetic Qual assignment, Joan Robertson can join the full time Course to get her VIII. We do not have enough VIIIs coming up for the ship and the AOSH group so somebody better find the throttle on his study and begin to fill this gap. I’m told in the field an VIII is looked on like God.” — The Commodore, August 1, 1969

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Justin Craig made statements in a public YouTube video that ‘Scientology is dead’ because his version of Scientology has not been broadly accepted. This enturbulated the field and has brought great disrepute to the independent field and Scientology in general. The flap is now being propagandized in ‘tabloid’ websites.”

 
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Past is Prologue

2001: The St. Petersburg Times reported that Dr. David Minkoff has been suspended as a doctor and fined for his treatment of Lisa McPherson, who died as a result of her care in the Fort Harrison Hotel in 1995. “Florida’s Board of Medicine has sternly sanctioned Clearwater physician David I. Minkoff, finding he improperly prescribed medicine for a patient he had never seen – Scientologist Lisa McPherson. Minkoff, also a Scientologist, prescribed Valium and the muscle relaxant chloral hydrate at the behest of unlicensed Church of Scientology staffers who were trying to nurse McPherson, 36, through a severe mental breakdown. When they failed after 17 days of isolating her, Minkoff was recruited again. This time, he pronounced McPherson dead. For his role in the 1995 episode that Minkoff himself calls a ‘fiasco,’ the 53-year-old doctor will lose his medical license for one year and then be made to practice under probation for two more years – unless he appeals and wins a reversal. He also was fined $10,000.”

Random Howdy

“Go to the Icke message board and search ‘Scientology.’ They think the Church of Scientology is either part of the NWO/Illuminati/Reptilian conspiracy or that the Scientologists are crazy. Ha!”

 
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker

Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Trial scheduled for October 11, pretrial conference August 17.
— ‘Lafayette Ronald Hubbard’ (a/k/a Justin Craig), aggravated assault, plus drug charges: Last hearing was on January 18, referred to grand jury. Additional charges also referred to grand jury after January 5 assault while in jail.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay sentenced to 9 years in prison. Jeff’s sentencing to be scheduled.
— Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Readiness hearing scheduled for August 22 in Los Angeles
— David Gentile, GPB Capital, fraud: Next pretrial conference set for September 19.
— Yanti Mike Greene, Scientology private eye accused of contempt of court: Found guilty of criminal and civil contempt.

Civil litigation:
— Baxter, Baxter, and Paris v. Scientology, alleging labor trafficking: Complaint filed April 28 in Tampa federal court, Scientology moving to compel arbitration. Plaintiffs filing amended complaint on August 2.
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Selection of arbitrators underway. Next court hearing: February 2, 2023.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Appellate court removes requirement of arbitration on January 19, case remanded back to Superior Court. Stay in place, next status hearing October 25. Scientology petitioning US Supreme Court over appellate ruling.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Third amended complaint filed, trial set for December 6.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: New trial ordered after appeals court overturned prior ruling.
— Chiropractors Steve Peyroux and Brent Detelich, stem cell fraud: Lawsuit filed by the FTC and state of Georgia in August, now in discovery phase.

 
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THE PROSECUTION OF DANNY MASTERSON

We first broke the news of the LAPD’s investigation of Scientology celebrity Danny Masterson on rape allegations in 2017, and we’ve been covering the story every step of the way since then. At this page we’ve collected our most important links, including our four days in Los Angeles covering the preliminary hearing and its ruling, which has Danny facing trial and the potential sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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 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] If this video doesn’t convince you Scientology is the world’s coolest religion, nothing will
[TWO years ago] Two years after filing their appeal, why there’s hope for the Garcias against Scientology
[THREE years ago] Scientologists in Texas neighborhood battle turn out to include Lori Hodgson’s daughter
[FOUR years ago] Scientology TV is the best thing to happen to television — says Scientology
[FIVE years ago] Clearwater Baptist pastor reflects on his message about Scientology, stands by it
[SIX years ago] Scientology opened a new ‘Ideal Org’ in Harlem, and we weren’t made to feel very welcome
[SEVEN years ago] When Jesse Prince sec-checked David Miscavige: A Scientology interrogation for the ages
[EIGHT years ago] Kirstie Alley ‘disconnects’ from not one but two men over their friendship with Leah Remini
[NINE years ago] Leah Remini Retaliation? Suddenly, Scientology “Fair Gaming” Of Critics Is Way Up
[TEN years ago] Watch Mimi Faust Talk about Losing Her Mother to Scientology
[ELEVEN years ago] Benjamin Ring, LA Sheriff’s Deputy, Under Official Inquiry for Endorsing Expensive Scientology Services

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on August 1, 2022 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, 1995-2021 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2021), 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

 

Tony Ortega at The Daily Beast

We’re still reeling from yesterday’s ruling by Judge Steven Kleifield denying three of Danny Masterson’s rape accusers the right to trial in their lawsuit alleging harassment for coming forward with their allegations of sexual assault.

What a messed up way for a messed up year to end.

But to start [...]]]>

We’re still reeling from yesterday’s ruling by Judge Steven Kleifield denying three of Danny Masterson’s rape accusers the right to trial in their lawsuit alleging harassment for coming forward with their allegations of sexual assault.

What a messed up way for a messed up year to end.

But to start off 2021, we wanted to step aside from our Scientology coverage for a moment to think about a person we have come to admire greatly for his work exposing the controversies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Lloyd Evans has been featured here at the Bunker numerous times, and he was also a prominent figure in an episode of Leah Remini’s A&E series, Scientology and the Aftermath. He has a large audience that appreciates his skillfully-edited YouTube videos carving up JW leadership on its obfuscations and hypocrisies.

What not everyone may realize is that although Lloyd is obviously a Brit by origin, he lives in Croatia, where he has a home studio he refers to as “the Bunker.” And he was in his bunker working when a magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit Tuesday morning and devastated many of the structures in his vicinity.

Lloyd has kept his followers up on the latest at Facebook as he described getting his family out of their shaking house and then off to a town in another district to keep away from aftershocks…

When the 6.4 struck I was in my “bunker.” Everything began shaking violently so I ran outside in my socks without pausing to put on my shoes. From the garden I could see my house jolting violently as the ground moved beneath me – a very distressing experience especially when you know your wife and two children are inside!

I ran to the steps to pick up Jessica as she emerged with her grandfather. At about the same time Dijana came down the stairs holding Julia as the tremors began to subside. We all stood outside stunned for a while before deciding to move over the road to an asphalt communal space – a safe distance from the buildings in case of aftershocks.

We spent the next hour or so camped out in the car trying to assess the situation. A neighbor kindly made a makeshift repair to our chimney, part of which was left hanging precariously. A nearby house was less fortunate as a huge chunk of exterior wall collapsed completely.

Gradually news came through that neighboring Petrinja had been decimated and Sisak severely damaged. We live equidistant to both. It’s stressful to make decisions with the adrenaline still pumping but I asked Dijana to pick a spot anywhere in Croatia where she thought we might be safer. She chose Istria, so I booked us an AirBnB and we drove the 180 km through heavy rain. (Incidentally they felt the quake here too but obviously not as violently.)

We checked in with Lloyd last night. He said that he had convinced his in-laws to join him and his wife and get out of the damaged town. We asked him if there was anything the readers of the Underground Bunker could do, and he gave us a link to his PayPal, if you would like to help the family pay for their AirBnB while they decide what to do.

At 3 pm Eastern Lloyd will be going live to give us some updates. You’ll then be able to see him here…

 
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Source Code

“There’s lots been doing lately and there’s lots of road ahead. If there’s ever been a point where we jumped off this is it. You know, we jumped off in 1950 — something on the order of the Christians going into the Roman arena. And those psychiatrists were very hungry lions; they were very hungry, very hungry — very proud, very proud lions, beating their paws against their somewhat mangy chests, saying, ‘We are the bosses of this here arena.’ That’s what they thought. And today I hope that you will get information which will permit, in another year, a Scientologist to say, ‘Scientology processes more psychiatrists in any given year than any other psychotherapy.’ That’d be fun, wouldn’t it? Nice ad in The Saturday Evening Post.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 1, 1960

Avast, Ye Mateys

“OLD 1970: So Good-bye 1970. It was a tough year on the world. But it was a great year for development. Both tech and Admin research results were the greatest since 1950. All the years contributed but the payoff was 1970. So Happy 1971, AD21. Let’s make the new tools take the world.” — The Commodore, January 1, 1971

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Being aberrated in an aberrated society actually raises your survival potential in the SHORT TERM (not the long term) and that’s what I’m having a hard time overcoming right now in my journey with Dianetics and Scientology. I’ve taken on the valence of a rat who hides and sneaks around trying to use and steal things for his own benefit without being detected and sadly, its working.”

 
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Past is Prologue

1999: MSNBC reported on the lawsuit against Scientology by Michael Pattinson: “Former Scientologist Michael Pattinson is claiming that he paid the church $500,000 to ‘cure’ him of his homosexuality. It didn’t work, he says. Among the eye-popping allegations in the suit: that Travolta’s plane was used to ‘kidnap’ a member of Scientology, that Pattinson and others
were forced to work in ‘a robotic slave-like work force’ to service Scientology celebrities like Travolta, Tom Cruise and Kirstie Alley, and that Pattinson ‘reasonably relied upon’ Travolta’s marriage to fellow Scientologist Kelly Preston as proof that ‘Scientology processing and courses would ‘handle’ my own homosexuality.'”

 
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Random Howdy

“In the 1980s Scientology had 100,000+ members. Today, it has 20,000 or less, plus the more competent members have left. In the 70s & 80s there was Operation Snow White, Operations Daniel and Dynamite (Paulette Cooper) etc. Today, It’s Squirrel Busters, Freedumb Magazine and smear sites no one sees. We have THEM running scared. OSA is a joke.”

 
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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’s demurrer denied Oct 19, arraignment delayed to Jan 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed for ‘Fatico’ hearing on Jan 19.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Jan 12 in Los Angeles

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; Jan 29, Masterson’s request to stay discovery pending the criminal case
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Nov 18: Feshbachs indicated they will enter into consent judgment to pay the debt.
— 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.

SCIENTOLOGY: FAIR GAME

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] Mike Rinder: What the Church of Scientology has coming in 2020
[TWO years ago] Tonight, Leah Remini exposes the crazy grift of Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs’
[THREE years ago] Scientology watchers, start making your plans for HowdyCon 2018 in the Windy City!
[FOUR years ago] Five years later: Debbie Cook’s indictment of Scientology under David Miscavige, annotated
[FIVE years ago] Scientology watchers, we’re kicking off the new year by revealing the poster for HowdyCon 2016
[SIX years ago] A Scientology untold history special report: ‘My lunch with Quentin Hubbard’
[SEVEN years ago] BUNKER SPECIAL: David Touretzky on L. Ron Hubbard, Mark Twain, and Mary Baker Eddy
[EIGHT years ago] Another Indie Goes All the Way: Simi Valley Ditches Scientology For Good
[NINE years ago] Scientology Rocked By Allegations of Greed in E-mail to 12,000 Church Members

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on January 1, 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, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), 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

Tamerlan Tsarnaev [Photo copyright Johannes Hirn]

Tsarnaev was killed in a shootout with police early this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts. His brother Djohar remains at large. [...]]]>

Tamerlan Tsarnaev [Photo copyright Johannes Hirn]

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.”

— Tamerlan, 196 lbs, will represent New England in the heavyweight category at the National Golden Gloves competition in Salt Lake City, Utah.

— Tamerlan, who studies at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston and wants to become an engineer, took the semester off from school to train for the competition.

— If he wins enough fights there, Tamerlan says he could be selected for the US Olympic team and be naturalized American. Unless his native Chechnya becomes independent, Tamerlan says he would rather compete for the United States than for Russia.

— Tamerlan fled Chechnya with his family because of the conflict in the early 90s, and lived for years in Kazakhstan before getting to the United States as a refugee. [This appears to be in error. The Tsarnaevs are apparently ethnic Chechens from Dagestan who then moved to Kyrgyzstan before coming to the US.]

— Tamerlan stops to answer a phone call while walking from his Mercedes to the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts center, where he practices boxing.

— Tamerlan says he loves the movie “Borat,” even though some of the jokes are a bit too much.

— “When you start kicking, it gets dirty. That’s what I think,” Tamerlan says. Of kickboxers, he says: “They don’t know how to move.”

— Tamerlan says he doesn’t usually take his shirt off so girls don’t get bad ideas: “I’m very religious.”

— Tamerlan says he doesn’t drink or smoke anymore: “God said no alcohol.” A muslim, he says: “There are no values anymore,” and worries that “people can’t control themselves.”

— Tamerlan says his girlfriend is half Portuguese, half Italian, and converted to Islam: “She’s beautiful, man!”

— Tamerlan demonstrates a way of walking to strengthen the ankle muscles at the Wai Kru Mixed Martial Arts center. A native of Chechnya, Tamerlan says: “In Russia, we used to train like this. Here nobody does it, I don’t know why!”

[Video that is posted at a web page of Djohar Tsarnaev, Tamerlan’s brother and the suspect who is still at large this morning. The video appears to be Djohar — and that’s how he himself spells the name — but the longer we look at it, the more we wonder if the man in video is actually his older brother, Tamerlan…]

 
And now we have a rough translation of this video, courtesy of our Russian language department. Its title is “Accents of the Caucasus.” In the video, he is being asked to imitate different types of people in different languages and with different accents. Here’s what we could get, at least the parts that were in Russian…

[Voice off camera: “Give me Armenian…”]

My brother we arrived to see you in Moscow…what kind of settling of debts are you talking about? Show us that man and we’ll tear him apart. Here, look at this knife. This is a knife I got from my grandfather. We’ll cut him and cut him and cut him again.

[“Give me Georgian…”]

My girl, go with me and we’ll have some skewers and drink some wine — romance, romance…

[“Now Dagestanian…”]

(Not in Russian)

[“Now give us a Chechen…”]

(Not in Russian)

[“Now give us an Ossetian…”]

Let’s talk one on one, like men. What, are you not a man? If you’re an all right guy, you’ll acknowledge your guilt, then I’ll break you a couple of times and then we’ll just sit and eat some pies, we’re very hospitable…

[“Now Ravshanov…?”]

This is fucking amazing! My salary, my work! Boss, I was at a resort, they turned on the music…and then the pressure started…

[“Now Kabardian…”]

Go fuck yourself!

 
Our Russian department has now translated for us a statement put out by Ramzan Kadyrov, the Russian-backed leader of Chechnya…

Tragic events took place in Boston. As a result of a terror attack, people were killed. Earlier, we expressed our condolences to the residents of the city, and the citizens of America. Today, as reported by SMI, a person named Tsarnaev was killed during an attempted arrest. It would have been logical, had he been arrested and an investigation would have taken place, to ascertain the level of his guilt and the circumstances. It appears that special forces were needed to achieve a result at any cost, in order to calm the population. Any attempts to make contact between Chechnya and the Tsarnaevs, if they are guilty, went in vain. They grew up in the United States, their opinions and convictions were formed there. One needs to look for the roots of evil in America. The entire world needs to fight terrorism. We know it better than anybody else. We wish a speedy recovery to all the victims and share the feeling of mourning with all Americans.

 
Our Russian department is telling us that Russian television is playing down the Chechen connection of the Tsarnaev brothers, pointing out that they actually came from a neighboring region, Dagestan, before they moved to Kyrgyzstan as children. However, our translator points out that the Tsarnaevs are ethnic Chechens, and it feels like the Russian TV effort is a bit untrustworthy on this point.

 
Still keeping an eye on Russian-language television: “Interfax reported that they spoke to a person who presented himself as the father of the Tsarnaev brothers. He expressed the view that the brothers were framed by the special forces, because they are practicing Muslims.”

 
Some tweets from Djohar Tsarnaev’s feed @J_tsar….

I don’t argue with fools who say islam is terrorism it’s not worth a thing, let an idiot remain an idiot (Jan 15)

I meet the most amazing people, spent the day with this Jamaican Muslim convert who shared his whole story with me, my religion is the truth (Dec 31)

Brothers at the mosque either think I’m a convert or that I’m from Algeria or Syria, just the other day a guy asked me how I came to Islam (Dec 24)

I kind of like religious debates, just hearing what other people believe is interesting and then crushing their beliefs with facts is fun (Nov 29)

Free Palestine (Nov 28)

This night deserves Hennessy a bad bitch and an o of weed the holy trinity (Nov 17)

#in3rdgrade I didn’t speak a word of english (Nov 12)

my dad’s reaction to rap music on the radio always made me laugh #imissthatman (Nov 8)

Idk why it’s hard for many of you to accept that 9/11 was an inside job, I mean I guess fuck the facts y’all are some real #patriots #gethip (Sep 1)

15 billion was spent on the olympics, imagine if that money was used to feed those in need all over the world. I’m saying #endworldhunger (Aug 16)

my bro left these christian missionaries second guessing their own religion (Aug 10)

@therealAbdul_ boston marathon isn’t a good place to smoke tho (Aug 10)

i wish i could apologize to the kids i bullied at a young age #iwasonsomefuckery i’m talking like first/second grade though. I’ve changed! (Aug 8)

my moms tryina arrange a marriage for me aha she needs to #chillout i’ll find my own honey (Jul 12)

changed majors, boutta try to become a nurse (Jun 26)

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 19, 2013 at 08:32

Normally, we cover the world of Scientology at this blog, but felt this breaking news story was worthy of coverage. 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.