Tony Ortega's Blog, page 350
January 29, 2021
The Melania makeup plot: More QAnon prophesying as another key date looms!
Some links to Q-related items today…
Jake is willing to testify in the impeachment trial? Q-mendous!
A few people have tweeted asking me what's up now in QAnon land, so here's an update! There's still a lot of sadness and skepticism BUT many are very excited for the weekend because Jan 30th will be the end of the "Days of Darkness". Here's a handy Q-style chart as evidence! 1/ pic.twitter.com/UJx3XPGr0V
— Dr. Jen Golbeck (@jengolbeck) January 28, 2021
Do you dare get the jab?
Meanwhile, in Ireland…
This has a certain ring to it…
Yes, QAnon followers ACTUALLY disregarded the obvious Maya Angelou reference in Amanda Gorman's ring, instead using it to push the "save the children" narrative. pic.twitter.com/KPYRvIdywE
— Sara Aniano (@sara_aniano) January 28, 2021
It’s going down!
Marjorie for the ticket? Gulp.
Looking for some background on the QAnon movement? We recommend Travis View’s excellent recent article at New York magazine as a place to start.
————-
THE LOWDOWN is our blog for news, the QAnon phenomenon, and other subjects not related to our coverage of the Church of Scientology. If it’s our Scientology coverage you’re looking for, please use this bookmark for our latest stories.
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 29, 2021 at 9:25
Scientology anti-masker Leigh Dundas absconds to Mexico, Jan 6 video of her turns up
Last year we first told you about Scientology’s rising anti-vaxx anti-mask star, “human rights attorney” Leigh Dundas, and we showed you some of her fiery speeches as she terrorized Orange County officials who were trying to get people to wear masks during a global pandemic.
Leigh then showed up in DC on January 5, the day before the Capitol riot, and we noted that she gave a pretty fiery speech that contained these provocative lines…
“We would be well within our rights to take any alleged American who acted in a turncoat fashion and sold us out and committed treason, we would be well within our rights and take them out back and shoot ’em or hang ’em…”
And then on the day of the riot itself, January 6, Leigh recorded some videos showing that she had moved with the mob toward the Capitol, screaming “traitor, traitor, traitor!” at Capitol police.
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
In a since deleted FB live, Dundas states, “you have no idea what’s going to be in store for you the next time around.” But you know we got the receipts. pic.twitter.com/XfnvufywbE
— Cineaste_C (@Cineaste_C) January 11, 2021
And then video emerged which showed that Leigh had actually made her way upstairs and nearly to the door of the Capitol, standing not far from the iconic Q Shaman, Jake Angeli…
Hey look, she made it by the Capitol doors. @TonyOrtega94 pic.twitter.com/Rs73IBihmI
— Cineaste_C (@Cineaste_C) January 18, 2021
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
Now we have a couple of new developments. Video has emerged showing that after the 1 pm riot surge, Leigh hurried back to a nearby stage where she had been scheduled, she said, to give a 2 pm speech. In her stemwinder, she refers to “what you saw an hour ago with the patriots storming down the Capitol,” and she said “God bless everybody who had the guts to show up here today and the guts to storm the Capitol.”
And then she utters this screed, apparently still amped up after the experience of being a part of the mob on the Capitol steps. (Well, to be fair, Leigh is always pretty amped up.)
“Fight on! Fight for your country, fight for your president, fight for everything that is important to you and never forget that what you are fighting for is freedom.”
If she uttered these words a little after 2 pm, that was about the time that the first rioters were entering a broken window at the Capitol.
Does all of this add up to enough for Leigh Dundas to face federal charges like so many of her fellow rioters? We really don’t know. But it looks like Leigh is taking no chances…
This photo was posted on Monday to the Instagram account of the woman to Leigh’s left who goes by the name “Imani Mamalution,” and who was also at the January 6 riot with Dundas. Mamalution indicated that the January 25 photo was taken at Playa Troncones in Guerrero state on the west coast of Mexico, where they were taking part in something called “The Greater Reset,” and she refers in several places to it being a “sovereign” event.
Observers have noted that the QAnon movement is increasingly intersecting with “sovereign citizen” nuttiness, resulting, for example, in an outlandish theory that Joe Biden is an illegitimate president of an illegitimate “corporate” version of the United States and that Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the country’s 19th president on March 4.
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Well, whatever. Leigh is probably safe from nosy FBI investigators as long as she keeps cooling her heels south of the border.
——————–
Bonus items from our tipsters
——————–
Bobette Riales and the Danny Masterson lawsuit
On Tuesday we told you about today’s hearing in the lawsuit filed by Danny Masterson’s rape accusers. It’s a case management conference, and one of the things Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steven Kleifield will be dealing with is deciding about what to do about Bobette Riales.
Bobette is the only one of the women suing Masterson and Scientology who was not a Scientologist herself, and so she was not affected by Kleifield’s ruling to grant Scientology’s motions to compel the other plaintiffs into “religious arbitration.”
We’ll be doing our best to listen in on the hearing remotely.
——————–
“The entirety of physics and the natural sciences pursues from a degradation of the mind. Awfully broad statement, but a very true one. If every place you’ve ever been is related to where you are, you’ve had it. It says at once you never could have had, and promises that you never can have, another universe — which I think is very cute; it’s a total trap. Now, of course, Einstein only said that arrows moved in relationship to fixed points and positions and that the speed when it got so fast became infinite or nothing and that when you exceeded… This is the grandest boo-boo of all time. I wrote a novel on it, by the way, which made a lot of people very happy; made a lot of people very unhappy.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 29, 1957
——————–
“All semblance of anything that could be called ‘Hippiness’ must be eradicated for the next month. Better get started now on haircuts and beard off or trim. Be sure you haven’t only got miniskirts. The PRO mock up for your next month is very proper personal appearance. Clean cloths, clean braid, clean shirts for the officers. Lots of baths. Sleek personal appearance is the watch word for the next month. It fits in with why you are going on this cruise.” — The Commodore, January 29, 1970
——————–
“My life has transformed in just a year. I used to be timid, shy, scared to talk to people, and now I have a YouTube channel. I used to have anxiety and depression until I learned about suppressive people and environments. I used to struggle with decisions and often made poor ones because up until I was Clear, I made decisions based on reactivity instead of logic. I can go on and on but if you’re really interested in improving your life, take it from someone who used to try every other thing before Scientology: I was a Christian, I was meditating, I did yoga, I practiced CBT and DBT, affirmations, you name it, but Scientology IS the only thing that has lasting effects.”
——————–
1999: The Providence Journal continued coverage of a trial in which a former receptionist claims her employer, a dentist, fired her because she would not take Scientology management courses. “Dentist Roger N. Carlsten took the stand in his own defense yesterday and reiterated that he never made the Hubbard Administrative Technology courses a contingency for receptionist Susan E. Morgan’s promotion. In fact, he said, he never even offered to promote her at all. Yesterday, when Carlsten was asked by his lawyer, Sandra A. Lanni, ‘once you knew [Morgan] objected on religious grounds,’ to taking the Hubbard courses, ‘why did you persist?’ ‘Because I knew intellectually and in my heart’ that the courses were not religious in nature and ‘so I was at a loss to think why’ Morgan believed they were, Carlsten replied.”
——————–
“Does anyone else here understand how hard it is to explain to a complete stranger that your relative is a Scientologist?”
——————–
Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to March 2.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
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: Status conference.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
——————–
SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks
The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Tom Cruise’s sister Cass the real superhero in the family, now with Scientology SUPER POWER
[TWO years ago] Accused rapist Danny Masterson hangs out with pal Ashton Kutcher at Scientology wedding
[THREE years ago] Joy Villa’s ex-manager on the ‘pro-life’ Grammys dress: We’re not fooled this time
[FOUR years ago] Scientology recruits a new ally — a real life ‘Forrest Gump’
[FIVE years ago] Scientology puts out a new ‘media guide’ that is as honest as you would imagine
[SIX years ago] How Scientologists are dealing with the buzz around Alex Gibney’s ‘Going Clear’
[SEVEN years ago] The best parts of Steven Mango’s ‘documentary’ on Scientology’s Celebrity Centre
[EIGHT years ago] More Signs of Scientology’s Armageddon as the Media Take Aim
[NINE years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: May the Force Be With You!
——————–
Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,196 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,700 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,220 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,240 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,131 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,438 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,306 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,080 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,884 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,200 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,766 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,685 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,853 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,434 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,695 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,733 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,446 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,971 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 326 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,501 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,052 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,201 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,521 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,376 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,495 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,851 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,154 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,260 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,662 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,534 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,117 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,612 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,866 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,975 days.
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 29, 2021 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
January 28, 2021
With QAnon in Congress itself, can JFK Jr finally come out of hiding?
Some links to Q-related items today…
Patriots wonder if Vladimir Putin has gotten a bad rap…
Just don’t start listening to your head, whatever you do…
Marjorie wasn’t hiding, y’all…
Unbelievable that Marjorie Taylor Greene’s QAnon support—reported over a year ago—wasn’t enough. Her conspiracy theories re mass shootings weren’t enough. Her 9/11 trutherism wasn’t enough. Now a few Facebook likes tip the scales? We’ve known who she is. https://t.co/UcmcuVJ0Sm
— Brandy Zadrozny (@BrandyZadrozny) January 28, 2021
Going back to Q’s roots…
If you've never seen @conspirator0's thread on the initial spread of QAnon from 4chan to Twitter, or if you haven't looked at it in a long time, you should.
It's great work and looking at it, it's almost hard to believe QAnon has come all this way. https://t.co/og8b9WLb6e
— Feminist Proper Gander (@dappergander) January 27, 2021
Oh sure, now the GOP wants to distance itself. Snowflakes!
Reminds me of when I emailed the NRCC for like a year abt whether they'd condemn Steve King, never getting a response, & then — after a poll showed King might lose — the NRCC chair suddenly decided King's racist comments were "completely inappropriate" https://t.co/g7qhZIzhGi
— Christopher Mathias (@letsgomathias) January 27, 2021
Looking for some background on the QAnon movement? We recommend Travis View’s excellent recent article at New York magazine as a place to start.
————-
THE LOWDOWN is our blog for news, the QAnon phenomenon, and other subjects not related to our coverage of the Church of Scientology. If it’s our Scientology coverage you’re looking for, please use this bookmark for our latest stories.
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 28, 2021 at 8:30
Scientology in Russia, a series by historian Chris Owen, part 2: The Putin years
For some time now we’ve been nudging historian Chris Owen to help us understand what is going on with Scientology in Russia. We’ve seen news reports about numerous police raids of orgs there, and we’ve read about a prosecution involving some real estate fraud, but what are we to think about it?
Thankfully, Owen has done the deep dive we were hoping for, and that he’s known for. Today, his series continues with part two of his examination, covering Scientology under Vladimir Putin’s reign. (See part one here.)
2. Scientology in Putin’s Russia: retreat and repression
Scientology enjoyed a rapid expansion in Russia through the Boris Yeltsin era in the 1990s. Under his successor, Vladimir Putin, it faced a much more difficult and dangerous environment, characterised by increasingly frequent police raids and eventual criminal charges against senior Russian Scientologists.
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Putin’s new regime appealed to nationalist sentiment, and in particular to the support of the Russian Orthodox Church. Opposition to foreign sects became an increasingly prominent issue for Putin’s supporters, and eventually for the Russian government itself.
Public demonstrations of opposition to Scientology have been closely linked to political actors. In September 2003, the 100,000-strong pro-Putin youth group Walking Together launched a coordinated series of demonstrations outside Scientology centers in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Volgograd, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaluga, with the support of Russian Orthodox youth groups and clergy. Another pro-Putin youth group, Young Russia, held similar demonstrations at Russian universities in 2008 to protest against Scientology’s efforts to recruit university students.
In 2009, the Russian Ministry of Justice established a national Expert Religious Studies Council, with anti-cult campaigner Alexander Dvorkin as its chairman, and gave it wide powers to investigate faith groups. Some of the council’s powers include reviewing religious organisations’ activities and literature and determining whether an organisation is ‘extremist.’ The council also advises the Ministry of Justice on whether a religious group should be officially recognised.
From the start, the council took an antagonistic line towards non-mainstream and foreign faith groups. Speaking in May 2009, Dvorkin said: “For a long time we’ve been saying that very many organisations got the status of religious organisations in the reckless nineties, but in fact are either not religious or are not doing the activity stipulated in their statutes.” He charged that such organisations were carrying out political and commercial activity, making extremist statements and conducting “persistent proselytism.”
The Scientologists attempted to push back by hiring Russian scholars to write pro-Scientology ‘expertises,’ funded by the International Association of Scientologists, and carrying out ‘humanitarian’ activities to obtain favorable publicity. However, unlike in the West the ‘expertises’ seem to have had little impact, likely due to a much less receptive political and cultural environment. While Russian academics may accept Scientology’s claims of legitimacy, they appear to have little influence on the attitude of the Russian state.
Public relations fiascos and corruption scandals inflicted damage on Scientology’s reputation. In September 2004, over 300 people were killed when Chechen militants seized a school in the North Ossetian town of Beslan. Scientologist Volunteer Ministers went to Beslan after the siege to set up a ‘Center for Spiritual Assistance.’ According to the newspaper Izvestia, they received a hostile response from psychologists working with traumatised Beslan residents in the aftermath of the siege, who complained to the local authorities. The chairman of the city council, Mairbek Tuayev, kicked the Scientologists out of town with the words: “Twenty-four hours from now, you’re going to be giving psychological assistance to each other somewhere up in the mountains, not in our district, is that clear?” The word “Scientologists” reportedly thereafter became a derogatory term in the area, used to describe all uninvited preachers.
An increasing number of orgs ran into problems with regional Russian authorities for carrying out what were deemed to be illegal or unauthorised activities. Several Dianetics/Scientology centers were closed down by courts for engaging in “medical activities” (i.e. the Purification Rundown) and educational activities without a license, and running an illegal business operation. In 2008, the St Petersburg org was raided by local police after a former Scientologist complained that it was holding onto his personal data from auditing sessions, which he feared could be used against him.
Many orgs and missions were refused permission to register or re-register as non-profit organisations. Scientology challenged the refusals in court and in several cases obtained the backing of the European Court of Human Rights. However, the Russian Constitutional Court refused to comply with the ECHR’s ruling regarding the Moscow org on the grounds of “newly discovered circumstances” cited by the Moscow district court.
The Scientology org in the Siberian city of Surgut was the subject of a particularly damaging court ruling in June 2010. After a consignment of L. Ron Hubbard’s works destined for the local org was seized by customs officials, the local Transport Prosecutor’s office sent it to the regional governor’s Religious Studies Council for evaluation. Similar councils exist across Russia at regional and national levels; they are intended to “obtain opinions of competent persons on the presence of signs of extremism in the activities of various organisations.” The views of the Russian Orthodox Church tend to be a strong influence on the councils.
An assortment of 29 Scientology and Dianetics books, pamphlets and lectures (see the list here was condemned in Surgut as containing “both explicit and implicit calls for social and religious discord, for the propaganda of exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of a person on the basis of his social and religious affiliation and attitude to religion, calls for obstruction of the legitimate activities of state bodies, in particular, judicial and law enforcement, to committing crimes motivated by ideological and religious hatred.”
Hubbard’s works were deemed to be “unacceptable for dissemination, as they undermine the traditional spiritual foundations of the life of citizens of the Russian Federation.” As well as being banned by the regional court, the Russian Prosecutor-General’s office added the works to the federal list of extremist works and banned them nationwide. Although the Surgut court eventually reversed its verdict, the Russian government kept the works on its banned list.
A similar ruling was made in Shchyolkovo near Moscow in 2011, regarding seven Scientology works that included the book What is Scientology? and the PTS/SP Course lectures. Experts who conducted a “psycholinguistic study” of the works concluded that “the Church of Scientology is trying to form a separate social group from its adherents and oppose them to the rest of the world, to destroy all other social groups as such.” They found that the works contained “negative assessments, negative attitudes and demeaning characteristics towards people in accordance with their social belonging.” The works were added to the federal banned list.
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});The crackdown on Scientology was part of a wider simultaneous move against foreign faith groups. Between 2009 and 2012, over 1,200 Jehovah’s Witnesses were reportedly detained, some of whom were subsequently indicted on charges of extremism, and at least 68 JW works were added to the federal banned list.
As well as facing charges of extremism, Scientology’s close involvement with the notoriously corrupt world of Russian business inevitably meant that it would find itself linked to financial scandals. A former senior church executive recalls that there was much “hand-wringing and consternation” among the US leadership about the financial activities of some of those involved with Scientology in Russia. They were right to be worried, as it has proved to be a major vulnerability for the church.
The financial crisis of 1998 had led to Russian companies turning to Hubbard’s ‘Management Technology’ as a way to overcome their economic problems. By the end of the following decade, however, that wave had petered out; some companies had gone bust, others had changed management and many of Scientology’s supporters in government had retired. A second wave of new members joined the Russian arm of the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (WISE) after the 2008 financial crisis. By this time, the business culture had changed. Companies now pursued ‘get rich quick’ business plans, particularly corporate raiding, and sought ‘magic pills’ rather than long-term development strategies. WISE and other management schemes were able to capitalise on the demand for quick solutions.
WISE members were implicated in a series of corruption cases during the 2000s and 2010s. In June 2006, Boris Shalimov, a former Russian MP and the education chief for Skovorodinsk region in the Russian Far East, was convicted of embezzling $20,000 of public money and spending it on Scientology training for his subordinates. He joined WISE in October 2002 and made his subordinates study Hubbard’s works and undergo Scientology testing. Another WISE business leader, Alexander Kislitsin, was arrested after allegedly being “caught red-handed” giving a bribe to the head of his region’s Road Safety Administration.
In Lipetsk, a police raid on a machine tools company suspected of embezzling over 200 million rubles ($2.7 million) from a state defence procurement order found that the firm was being run using Hubbard’s management principles. Its top executive, according to media reports, was a member of WISE. The subsequent investigation, according to the FSB, found that the firm was supposed to have bought new equipment to fulfil the order. Instead, old equipment was refurbished and passed off as new. The money thus saved was allegedly “transferred to the needs of the Church of Scientology.”
The head of the Olimp group of housing and construction companies, Ekaterina Zaborskikh, became the target of a criminal investigation after she was reported to have embezzled investors’ money and donated it to Scientology. She was eventually convicted of having embezzled 160 million rubles that were supposed to have been used to construct housing units and was sentenced to eight and a half years’ imprisonment. The amount said to have been stolen was ultimately put at around 800 million rubles ($12.3 million). This case had particularly significant consequences, as it led to police raids and ultimately criminal charges against members of the St Petersburg Scientology org.
Scandals, bad media coverage and government pressure took an increasing toll on WISE, which has experienced a marked shrinkage in attendees at its annual conferences. Companies became increasingly wary of any association with Scientology. Business trainers no longer advertised the ‘Hubbard method,’ even if they still used it, because of the likelihood that their clients would refuse to have anything to do with it.
Even as Scientology faced increasing pressure from the Russian authorities and media, and protested to the Russian and European courts that it was facing religious discrimination, leaked documents indicate that it was trying to destroy the rival independent Scientology movement (known as the Freezone) in the former USSR.
According to a memo posted by former Religious Technology Center head Marty Rathbun, OSA International’s investigations chief ordered the Moscow OSA branch to systematically attack the Freezone in the CIS countries. It was a continuation of a campaign that had been ongoing for at least two years, in which OSA had sought to spy on CIS Freezoners, get them into trouble with the authorities, threaten them with legal action, covertly stir up “defeatism and disaffection” between them and falsely label the Freezone as a German intelligence operation.
The new campaign was intended to “terminatedly handle” (destroy) the Russian and CIS Freezone, break its international connections and “get the CIS groups engaging in internecine feuds that shatter the network to its core.” It also sought to covertly take control of the groups’ online communications and use them to splinter the Freezoners, as well as portraying their leaders as “as criminal fraud[s] and get them under official investigation.”
‘Resources’ — apparently volunteer Scientologists – were to be used to infiltrate Freezone groups and gather evidence that could be used for legal action. A private investigator was also to be hired to “locate evidence of the crimes committed by the leading squirrels.” The campaign was to be carried out in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, where Freezone groups were active.
Scientology’s own survival was becoming increasingly tenuous as the Russian government stepped up activity against so-called ‘totalitarian sects.’ This was an initiative led by Putin personally. He started his third term as president in 2012 with a stronger emphasis on Russian nationalism and Orthodox Christianity, with the backing of the Orthodox Church. Following his election victory, he called for stronger laws to combat groups such as Scientology: “This is what poses a particular threat to society, to people, this is not only a hunt for souls, this is a hunt for people’s property.”
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});In the wake of the mass protests against election-rigging that started in 2011 and continued into 2013, a raft of new laws was passed that curtailed many freedoms. They were strengthened by further laws passed in 2014 to suppress dissent following Russia’s interventions in Ukraine. A new national police unit, known as Centre E, was established to counter extremism.
The Moscow and St Petersburg orgs were subsequently raided several times in 2015 by the police and FSB. They found what they called “illegally installed audio-video items, consisting of acoustic microphones and video cameras, belonging to the category of special technical means designed to secretly obtain information” — in other words, devices used to record auditing sessions. No further action seems to have been taken.
Following the raid, the Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit arguing that the registration of “Scientology” as a trademark violated the law on freedom of religion. The ministry had argued that a religion can be only promoted by a religious organisation, not a commercial partnership. This was something of a catch-22 for Scientology, as the ministry had not permitted the Moscow Scientologists to re-register as a religious organisation. The court heard expert evidence from a sociologist who concluded that Scientology’s activities were of a “clearly pronounced social nature,” rather than being religious. This view was strongly contested by Russian religious studies scholars.
According to the St Petersburg journalist Alexander Ermakov, the high-profile embezzlement case against Ekaterina Zaborskikh may have provided the FSB with a reason to step up the pressure on Scientology after her arrest in 2014. Up to this point, the authorities had been stymied by their inability to find significant legal grounds to go after Scientology. The earlier raids on the Moscow org had been what Russians call a “mask show” — a raid by uniformed officers in balaclavas to intimidate the target, without legal cause.
At the time, the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department had told one enquirer that the issue of Scientology “can be resolved only through the State Duma” – in other words, it was a political rather than a law enforcement problem. However, the ongoing investigation into Zaborskikh appears to have provided the FSB with a solid justification to pursue Scientology on serious criminal grounds.
A further raid took place in June 2016 when regional FSB and OMON (paramilitary riot police) officers raided the St Petersburg org. They arrested a number of org staff and seized financial records relating to the Zaborskikh case. In the same month, the Russian Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s decision to dissolve the Moscow org. The Russian Orthodox Church praised the ruling as proving that “the very activity of this organisation is an outrage against human freedom as such.” Despite the ruling, the Moscow org managed to continue operating by rapidly reestablishing itself under a new legal identity – a tactic Scientology had also used in Greece when a court had ordered the Athens org to shut down.
Further FSB raids took place against the St Petersburg org in June 2017 and again in March 2018 as part of the same investigation. Both the Moscow and St Petersburg orgs were raided in March 2019 under an investigation into defrauding investors, related to the Zaborskikh case. Although details were not given, it is likely that the raids sought to find out where the embezzled money given by Zaborskikh to Scientology had gone. Notes accidentally disclosed by prosecutors indicate that they were seeking to establish a link between the two orgs, which are separately incorporated.
— Chris Owen
In part three: Coming up to Present Time.
——————–
“Parents are supposed to raise children so that children can grow up and become parents; there is a basic law in operation. So one day this little kid is standing there and his parent turns around, picks him up by the heels and bashes his brains out against a tree. This is unexpected, unusual. If you don’t think that incident is on record — anybody here want a headache? You have had your brains dashed out one way or the other. But we don’t necessarily have to turn these things on, because you are handling that. After all, what is getting one’s brains dashed out? But getting one’s brains dashed out by a parent would be some kind of a problem; that would be a bit of a problem, wouldn’t it? A parent is supposed to raise you and take care of you; you are supposed to be nice to the parent and yet the parent kills you. Well, it would be very upsetting. But of course, the funny part of it was the parent thought you were a wild animal and you rushed out from behind the rock, and you never got this equation at all because your brains were dashed out at the time. Sounds pretty wild, doesn’t it?” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 28, 1952
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
——————–
“”The only trouble with Scn orgs is that they are not promoting, selling and delivering. Seems so elementary. Possibly they think we are asking for something strange or fantastic when we say ‘Raise your GDSes.’ Possibly org boarding and hatting does not seem complicated enough to produce a result. Possibly raising GDSes does not seem to be the result of recruiting, org boarding and hatting. Whatever it is the task is so simple that one gapes when it is not done. Although New York is doing better, its troubles are just failures to recruit, org bd and hat and then promote, sell and deliver. In NY they actually think they have an HGC but are only selling ‘Interiorization Rundowns and Life Repairs.’ That’s like walking up to a candy bar and asking to buy some candy and being told ‘Oh, we just sell the wrappers.’ Student training is going better. But I never was able to run an academy where students were co-auditing without selling and delivering an awful lot of Reviews and grades. It’s best to stress training in an org but not to the extent of not running a busy HGC. NY has ‘low pay.’ They probably lose about $20,000 a week in unpromoted unsold undelivered potential. That’s the loss in an org, not the wasted paper clips. The answer is recruiting org boarding hatting and thus promoting selling and delivering. I trust our FEBCs going back there learn this lesson well. That’s why they’re here.” — The Commodore, January 28, 1971
——————–
“Scientology is for people that want to increase their IQ, decrease mental impediments, increase their understanding of the world or universe. These do not necessarily result in agreements as to how things are or should be. Even people at the top may not agree as to how this universe was created.”
——————–
1998: Scientology again leafletted Bob Minton’s neighborhood this week. From the leaflet: “ROBERT MINTON, OF 137 FREMONT ROAD, SANDOWN, NH HAS GIVEN $1.25 MILLION TO COMPLETE STRANGERS TO DESTROY A RELIGION WHILE HIS MOTHER LIVES ON SOCIAL SECURITY. HE EVEN PUT A LIEN ON HER HOUSE AND CHARGED HER 10% INTEREST AS THE PRICE OF A LOAN. WHY IS HE SO MEAN AND CHEAP TO HIS OWN FAMILY WHILE SHOWERING RICHES ON RELIGIOUS BIGOTS TO FUND THEIR HATE CAMPAIGNS? LIKE MANY HATE MONGERS, HE HAS A HISTORY OF PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS. BUT A TROUBLED PAST IS NO EXCUSE FOR LEADING KKK-STYLE RALLIES AND SPREADING POISON ON THE INTERNET ABOUT A PEACEFUL RELIGION KNOWN FOR ITS HELPFUL LITERACY AND DRUG REHABILITATION PROGRAMS.”
——————–
“Sometimes people in official positions ask me if I have any living relatives and I’m yeah, but…then I feel sad.”
——————–
Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to March 2.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
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: Status conference.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
——————–
SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks
The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Scientology TV premieres episode about legendary Saint Hill Manor to… total silence
[TWO years ago] Scientology wants you to bring your kids to its creepy ‘mecca’ in Florida — it’s an adventure!
[THREE years ago] Sunday Scientology sermon: L. Ron Hubbard on freeing kids from their bodies
[FOUR years ago] Move over, Xenu: Scientology’s other great space opera figure, the Duke of Chug
[FIVE years ago] Scientology, in forced-abortion case: We treat people no worse than the Catholic Church does
[SIX years ago] Scientology secrets in government docs: Did the feds have a chance to stop ‘Snow White’?
[SEVEN years ago] Drug flashbacks from one million years B.C.? It’s time for Scientology’s New OT 4!
[EIGHT years ago] Lawrence Wright’s Scientology Book Gets Some Thrashing from Cult Expert Steven Hassan
[NINE years ago] Scientology Half-Cocked: Commenters of the Week!
——————–
Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,195 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,699 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,219 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,239 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,130 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,437 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,305 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,079 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,883 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,199 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,765 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,684 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,852 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,433 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,694 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,732 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,445 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,970 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 325 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,500 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,051 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,200 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,520 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,375 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,494 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,850 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,153 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,259 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,661 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,533 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,116 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,611 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,865 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,974 days.
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 28, 2021 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
January 27, 2021
QAnon patriots wrestle over whether Joe Biden actually died last week or last year
Some links to Q-related items today…
Patriots think the Onion might be on to something.
The Army knows!
a popular Q conspiracy is that Biden is not the legitimate president because he didn't get the official 21-gun salute with 3 second intervals at the inauguration. lmao and this guy……….called the army pic.twitter.com/dHVY7fEjAw
— grace spelman (@GraceSpelman) January 26, 2021
How deep does the conspiracy go? Um, yikes.
But even so, Donald is a fan!
Looking for some background on the QAnon movement? We recommend Travis View’s excellent recent article at New York magazine as a place to start.
————-
THE LOWDOWN is our blog for news, the QAnon phenomenon, and other subjects not related to our coverage of the Church of Scientology. If it’s our Scientology coverage you’re looking for, please use this bookmark for our latest stories.
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 27, 2021 at 9:10
Scientology takes boards down after Inauguration riots failed to materialize
In December, we noticed something odd: Many of Scientology’s orgs across the United States were boarded up like they were going out of business.
Theories abounded about why this would be the case. Sure, some of the orgs had boarded up in the summer because of riots in the wake of George Floyd’s death, but this was months later and some Scientology facilities that had been sealed up were in places away from foot traffic where it was unlikely that riots would occur.
Others wondered if the effects of the pandemic had resulted in Scientology boarding up orgs as a way to save money. But that didn’t make sense: Scientology orgs were largely empty before the lockdown, so why would they try to save money now?
We tried to keep in mind a rule we learned a long time ago: With Scientology, the answer is usually much stupider than one would assume. And in this case, that turned out to be prophetic. One of our readers, Missionary Kid, got a staff member in San Diego to admit that the orgs were boarded up because Scientology anticipated there would be riots when the new president was sworn in on January 20.
We’ve pointed out numerous times that individual Scientologists tend to be conspiracy fans in the Alex Jones mold, and they tend to lean right, as founder L. Ron Hubbard himself did. (Hubbard was a classic midcentury reactionary, an apartheid supporter, and he told the prime minister in South Africa that Scientology was a “rightist” organization). That carries through to today, with actual evidence of how Scientologists tend to vote. But even though we’ve long known about that, we are not used to seeing church leader David Miscavige himself falling for the nutty conspiracy stuff, as he apparently did this time.
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});But now that Inauguration Day has come and gone, and with no widespread rioting, voilà, the boards are coming down!
We’ve now heard from readers who previously reported on the orgs being sealed up that they are now board-free in places like Detroit, Dallas, and Buffalo. And Monday night, Missionary Kid happened to catch workers taking down boards in San Diego and sent us these photos.
“I happened by the org and saw that they were taking down the chipboard. They were nearly done when I happened by, so the building was all lit up because plywood no longer covered the glass in the front. I asked one of the guys taking down the boards if he was a staff member, and he said yes even though he wasn’t in any sort of uniform – probably because he was a part of the work party. There were five or six guys total that I saw out there at one time or another. He said there were 100 on staff, adding that it was in 2 shifts. That seems to be a stock answer.”
Meanwhile, on the Scientology social media feeds that we monitor, there hadn’t been a peep about the orgs being boarded up or why. But now, suddenly, they’re chatting about the orgs opening up again…
Well, C.O.B. (Chairman of the Board David Miscavige) may be asking for it, but nothing has really changed with the pandemic and Scientologists ought to stay away from the orgs for now, even if plywood is no longer covering up the windows. (Remember, Dave, your public stance that you actually care about that little health crisis we’re having?)
What’s that? Scientologists don’t listen to our advice? Well, what can you do.
——————–
35 years ago today, the Hubbard death announcement
On January 27, 1986, at the Hollywood Palladium, Scientologists got the stunning news from a pipsqueak most of them had never met or even heard of, Sea Org official David Miscavige, then only 25 years old, that their founder L. Ron Hubbard, who had been in seclusion for several years, had died three days earlier, on Friday, January 24.
From the reaction you hear in the audience, it’s pretty clear that they understand what Miscavige is telling them, but the cover story that Dave tells them is that Hubbard had voluntarily left his 74-year-old body in order to pursue “researches” that he could only do unhindered by physical form.
Soak up the drama, and let us know if you were in the audience that night.
——————–
“There was a tribe of Indians in the United States, some say before the arrival of white men, but they should re-classify that and say before the arrival of Pilgrims — before 1602, or something on that order, 1608, whenever they arrived — because that whole coast was in good communication with Europe for many centuries. Fishing boats from northern Europe used to come over to the grand banks all the time. As a matter of fact, the fishermen called it America, and we read a big fog about Columbus and all the rest of it. I’m sure Columbus came over, but Columbus never got to America. But anyhow, this is all very confused, but that’s history.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 27, 1954
——————–
“CONDITIONS: Arthur Hubbard is assigned N/E for being non-existant on cleaning stations for the last 3 days.” — M. Spence, for W/O Des Popham, January 27, 1970
——————–
“I know a top Ron’s Org Scientologist auditor who has fallen for the QAnon scam. She clearly isn’t showing any superior knowledge, which I thought Scientology courses could deliver her. QAnon is a false anti-communist movement designed to mislead pro-Trumpers and get them to commit terrorist attacks so that the gov can then ban right wingers, lock them up and ban Trump from using social media. An intelligence agency runs Q, probably the FBI. Now if Scientology courses and auditing worked then people who have done them shouldn’t fall for intelligence agency operations.”
——————–
1997: CNN aired a show about the continuing controversy over Scientology in Germany. “HEBER JENTZSCH: People who come into Scientology do pay for services. They received counseling, they study the religion of Scientology. And you know people’s IQ’s increase in Scientology. They find they are more capable. We have done Sociological studies and have shown people being more able in Scientology….First of all, why is there so much attack in Germany? I can’t explain that. Why there was so much attack upon the Jews? There was no foundation for it. We take a look at this, if I were just to change the word here, instead of Scientologists and insert the word Jew. If we read a news article saying that in Bavaria, yesterday, a six-year-old child was kicked out of school because his parents were Jews. Or yesterday in Germany a person was dismissed from work because he is a Jew. Or we were to say that a person was not allowed to vote because he — or not allowed to be a member of a political party — because he is a Jew.”
——————–
“Ever read any of the crap the conspiracy cult followers believe in? And they number in the millions, not tens of thousands. Remember in The Mist where the people trapped in the supermarket immediately start their own cult ? That’s how most people think.”
Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to March 2.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
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: Status conference.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
——————–
SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks
The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Scientology clown Joy Villa got glowing press again, and here’s what it left out
[TWO years ago] Oh, come on: Scientology ‘detox’ quackery now being touted for miraculous cures
[THREE years ago] His words are wise, his face is beard: 10 years ago, Anonymous got some good advice
[FOUR years ago] Scientology, why are you keeping a cancer patient from seeing his only daughter?
[FIVE years ago] 30 years ago today: ‘L. Ron Hubbard discarded the body he had used in this lifetime’
[SIX years ago] Why Alex Gibney’s ‘Going Clear’ is scaring the crap out of Scientology
[SEVEN years ago] More fallout in France: Scientologist who asked for damages ends up paying instead
[EIGHT years ago] Sunday Funnies: Africa is Done!
[NINE years ago] Scientology on the High Seas: Wild Breakthroughs on OT 8!
——————–
Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,194 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,698 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,218 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,238 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,129 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,436 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,304 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,078 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,882 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,198 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,764 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,683 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,851 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,432 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,693 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,731 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,444 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,969 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 324 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,499 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,050 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,199 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,519 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,374 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,493 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,849 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,152 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,258 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,660 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,532 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,115 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,610 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,864 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,973 days.
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 27, 2021 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
January 26, 2021
Two investors apply for ‘Trump News Network’ trademark, offer a ‘No comment’ about it
We reached Leo Abbe this afternoon at the private equity firm Iroquois Capital, and asked him about an application he and Richard Abbe, Iroquois’s managing partner, made on January 20 to secure the trademark “Trump News Network.”
We asked him if he and Richard were actually connected to the former president, or if they had merely snagged the name before Trump could.
“No comment,” he said, and told us Richard would be similarly uninterested in talking about it.
One of our readers, Eivol Ekdal, noticed the new listing at the US Patent and Trademark Office. Dated last Wednesday, when Trump left office, it has a pretty generic look as far as trademarks go…
Here’s that description of the Trump News Network, but less shouty: “Providing news in the nature of current event reporting; providing current event news via a global computer network; news reporter services in the nature of news analysis and news commentary; providing an Internet news portal featuring links to news stories and articles in the field of current events.”
The Abbes also, on the same day, registered “Patriot News Network.”
Hey, that’s clever.
Here’s how Richard describes himself at his website:
“Having been on Wall Street for over two decades, Richard traces his love for investing back to his teen years. This passion, which was birthed out of conversations with his father, would eventually lead him to receive his undergraduate degree from Hobart University, where he currently serves on the Investment Committee for Hobart & William Smith Colleges Endowment. Prior to co-founding Iroquois Capital, Richard co-founded Vertical Ventures, LLC. Other positions include working in Equity Middle Market Institutional Sales at Lehman Brothers, Senior Managing Director at Gruntal & Company, and Founding Partner at Hampshire Securities. Richard Abbe is drawn to investing for a few reasons, one of them being his love of helping promising businesses in the early stage of their life grow. Excited by new beginnings, Richard likes being a part of a prospective new business to help supply the funds needed to seed a great idea.”
Certainly, growing something called the Trump News Network could be a great beginning, now that the former president has made it plain that he will continue to be a force in American politics.
Abbe was in the news about a year ago when a lawsuit against him filed by the founders of the airport spa company, XpresSpa, was dismissed by a federal district judge. The XpresSpa founders had claimed that Abbe was among a group of investors who had made false statement in order to take over the business in a merger, but the judge decided the lawsuit lacked merit and ended it.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Richard Abbe made a $250 contribution to the Biden for President campaign in August, and Leo Abbe made three contributions last year to Act Blue totaling $150.00.
We’ll be interested to see whether the new network actually takes off.
————-
THE LOWDOWN is our blog for news, the QAnon phenomenon, and other subjects not related to our coverage of the Church of Scientology. If it’s our Scientology coverage you’re looking for, please use this bookmark for our latest stories.
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 26, 2021 at 15:40
Fox News hosts start pushing against QAnon bashing as patriots yearn for March date
Some links to Q-related items today…
Sure that’s just a Q-tip they’re shoving up your nose, patriots?
Trump announced that he’s opening up an “Office of the Former President” in Palm Beach, and that’s not sitting well with QAnons.
As you no doubt saw in the comments yesterday, Joy Villa’s pal Brandon Straka has been arrested.
The spoilsports at Rolling Stone weigh in…
New from me: QAnon believers on TikTok are pushing the belief that Trump will be sworn into office as the 19th president in history on March 4. Guess what? They're wrong! https://t.co/0i1g2MFhP2
— Ej Dickson (@ejdickson) January 25, 2021
Meanwhile, at Fox News, the push against QAnon criticism has begun.
cool cool cool https://t.co/Nlu7tC5UgB
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) January 26, 2021
Looks like Tucker isn't the only one feeling QAnon curious tonight.
After playing a clip of a Dem saying "we can’t stand by and see people in uniform law enforcement or military have QAnon patches on," Laura Ingraham exclaims:
"This is absolutely poisonous for the country!" pic.twitter.com/hpQ2TINFvo
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) January 26, 2021
Travis View points out that he predicted the anti-anti-QAnon move more than two years ago!
Struggling to understand what the QAnon movement is? We recommend Travis View’s excellent recent article at New York magazine as a place to start.
————-
THE LOWDOWN is our blog for news, the QAnon phenomenon, and other subjects not related to our coverage of the Church of Scientology. If it’s our Scientology coverage you’re looking for, please use this bookmark for our latest stories.
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 24, 2021 at 9:45
Danny Masterson says he intends to take part in Scientology ‘arbitration’ with alleged victims
Scientology loves to twist the knife, and now that it has won its motions to force Danny Masterson’s rape accusers into “religious arbitration,” it’s looking for ways to further weaponize its position in the civil lawsuit filed by the alleged victims of sexual assault.
Another hearing is coming up in the lawsuit this Friday, and attorneys for both Scientology and Masterson filed new briefs to make their positions clear to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steven Kleifield.
Originally, the January 29 hearing was scheduled to hear a request by Masterson to put discovery in regards to himself on pause, but he’s dropped that request. Now, the hearing will be used to figure out what to do in regards to Bobette Riales, the one Masterson accuser who is suing him who was never a Scientologist.
Can she continue with the case if her fellow plaintiffs are stuck in arbitration? Should she be put on hold while they go through it? Masterson and Scientology wanted the judge know where they stood on the matter.
Chrissie Carnell Bixler and two women going by the names Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 went to the LAPD in 2016 with allegations that they had been raped by Danny Masterson in incidents between 2001 and 2003. All three of the women had been members of the Church of Scientology at the time, as is Masterson. Riales joined the investigation in 2017, but she had never been a Scientologist. In August 2019 the four women, and Chrissie’s husband, rocker Cedric Bixler-Zavala, filed a harassment lawsuit against Masterson, Scientology, and Scientology’s leader David Miscavige, claiming that they had been subject to years of surveillance and intimidation for coming forward to the police.
Advertisement(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});But on December 30, Judge Kleifield ruled that the four plaintiffs who had been Scientologists (Chrissie, Cedric, and the two Jane Does) had signed agreements while they were in the church that obligated them to take their grievances not to a civil court but to Scientology’s internal arbitration, which was actually a reworking of court martial rules and that is not a form of independent arbitration. Also, we pointed out, Kleifield made the rather stunning decision that Masterson himself could take part in the arbitration if he wanted to. (We expect that Chrissie’s attorneys will shortly file a petition to a state appellate court for a writ of mandate and the right to appeal Kleifield’s ruling, an appeal which the state is not obligated to grant.)
Last week, Chrissie’s attorneys sought an emergency hearing in order to put the entire case on hold. They pointed to Masterson’s criminal case, which is moving along and last week saw the actor file a not guilty plea as he was arraigned on three counts of forcible rape. He’s facing 45 years to life in prison, and the three alleged victims — Chrissie and the two Jane Does — are under a protective order preventing Masterson from contacting them. But even with the criminal case progressing, Judge Kleifield turned down their request for the emergency consideration of a stay in the civil lawsuit.
And what about Bobette? She was never a Scientologist and so she won’t be drawn into arbitration. Judge Kleifield indicated that he would make some decisions about the case regarding her at Friday’s hearing, and so Masterson and Scientology have submitted the new filings.
Most interesting to us, Masterson has responded to Judge Kleifield’s ruling that he can take part in the arbitration by making it clear that he definitely intends to.
As the Court recognized in its Order, Plaintiffs’ claims against Masterson are predicated on the theory that Masterson is an agent of the other Defendants, who are parties to arbitration agreements with Plaintiffs (except Plaintiff Riales). Accordingly, Masterson is entitled to enforce the arbitration agreements vis-à-vis those Plaintiffs…In light of the Court’s Order, and subject to Masterson’s constitutional rights and protections, he will participate in the arbitration proceedings with Plaintiffs Chrissie Carnell Bixler, Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Jane Doe #1, and Jane Doe #2, as well as the other Defendants.
So now, this lawsuit has gone from alleged rape victims hoping for some justice after they claim to have been subject to years of harassment, to now facing the prospect of a kangaroo court put on by the organization that harassed them, and with their alleged rapist in the room.
As for Bobette, Masterson and Scientology both indicated that they would not object if Judge Kleifield ruled that her part of the case should be put on hold while the others are in arbitration. But if he decides that her part of the case should continue, Scientology indicated that it will then file an anti-SLAPP motion against her.
As we’ve pointed out in the past, it’s really rich for Scientology to use anti-SLAPP statutes, which originated in part because of Scientology’s ruthless history of scorched-earth litigation techniques. The anti-SLAPP motion allows a defendant to prevent a large, well-heeled bully from suing them into silence. But in this case, as in the Rathbun lawsuit nearly eight years ago, Scientology will argue that Bobette Riales is the bully and it’s Scientology that is being silenced.
Also, because Riales is in Indiana (the others are in California), if Kleifield allows her case to continue, Scientology says it will argue that she should be separated from the rest and then face the anti-SLAPP motion, which if granted would come with monetary penalties.
It’s clear that Scientology and Masterson both want to make these women pay dearly for daring to stand up for themselves.
We can hardly wait to see what Kleifield says on Friday.
——————–
Leah Remini Podcast: Valeska Paris
In 2010, we interviewed Valeska Paris about her eleven years as an indentured servant on Scientology’s private cruise ship the Freewinds. She says that she was being kept on the ship away from her mother, who had spoken out publicly about the church. That interview was the most-read story we did at the Village Voice, and we’re still amazed by what Valeska was put through. We’ve featured her here numerous times at the Bunker, and we’re glad that she has joined Leah and Mike for their latest podcast episode.
——————–
On the air with Jim Paris
Your proprietor had another fun conversation about, well, Scientology.
——————–
“One time there was a fellow I knew. He was a mining engineer. A good friend of mine. He was an educated classmate at GW. And then went out west and took a post graduate course at Boseman. And this boy was kicking around the mining camps, and all due respect to womankind at large, the better women do not hang around mining camps. But he decided to get romantic and he got married. And he married a woman straight out of the cribs. That is to say, she was, for sale, and had been for years. But, what do you know? Fantastically enough, she made him a good wife and everybody was very fascinated with this. They went up in the mountains, he did a lot of prospecting for Anaconda Copper and they, looking over old properties and so on, and oh, it went along all right. He was living a rather rough life and a lot of privation in it and a lot of loneliness and so forth, so everything was OK. He finally quit Anaconda Copper on the thought that there were some lodes that went out from a very famous mine which had been closed down, which might still be active. Well that was a very lonely part of the country, too. And he went down there with this woman and he prospected around and by golly, he uncovered the most enormous quantity of five dollar rock. And away he goes. Well boy, he’d exceeded her rate of havingness. Bang! And you talk about a mess. He was in more trouble in less time than he’d been for years. Interesting, oh she went completely haywire. Just went off the deep end. Well what had happened there, he’d all of a sudden become well off. He had about a half a million dollars in the bank. He all of a sudden was driving Cadillacs and she was able to wear fur coats and that sort of thing. That was just the end. Just went completely to pot. Went out, slept with anything that came along. Just stole money, did anything.” — L. Ron Hubbard, January 26, 1954
“OVERBOARDS: BOB SEWELL is assigned overboard blindfolded for not returning to work until 1100 hrs, after he had gone Overboard at 07.55 hrs. He did not give me an explanation and was reported to me as eating cookies and drinking coffee while he was supposed to be working and still in a condition of Non Existence.” — W.O. Alex Sibirsky P.P.F. I/C, January 26, 1969
——————–
“Those first days were the best. I remember when I was doing my Comm Course. We had about 14 students on the coffee break. There was a hole in the floor and the place was pretty grotty. But we all had a cup of tea or coffee and we were laughing, celebrating what we were calling the ‘Year of Scientology.’ This was 1977.”
——————–
1996: Ted Mayett posted a description of gambling in the cult this week. Ted was formerly on staff at the Las Vegas Org. “Over the years Jim and other visiting OT’s and Sea Org executives would discuss how they won at the casinos. I quickly determined that on the whole they won as often as the tourists did. They did not always have a tale to tell of winnings. This was because they won only as often as probability predicted they would. No more, no less. When I would get hotels for visiting Sea Org and others I would see these people playing video poker. I learned quickly that they did not want any advice. Not when they had postulates. In all the years and all the rooms I got for them only one guy asked me what would be the best gamble for a twenty dollar bill. This was an older Sea Org boy. Somehow he got the bright idea that as I had put 12K on the Bridge I must know what I’m talking about.”
——————–
“Miscavige is downsizing the corporation, cutting his overhead to the barest minimum and consolidating his forces in his last two strongholds, L.A and Clearwater. It makes sense. In Pyongyang most of the office buildings and hotels are empty except for a skeleton staff to make it look good for the occasional tourist or journalist they let in. They’re also there to turn the faucets on occasionally and keep the boiler running. It makes the Generals and the Kims happy, and that’s all that really matters.”
——————–
Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Masterson arraigned Jan 20. Next conf to set prelim, March 24.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed to March 2.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Trial scheduled for May 20 in Los Angeles
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: Status conference.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Dec 17: Feshbachs sign court judgment obliging them to pay entire $3.674 million tax debt, plus interest from Nov 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
Concluded litigation:
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, Cannane victorious, awarded court costs.
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
——————–
SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks
The Australian Seven News network cancelled a 10-part investigation of Scientology and its history of dirty tricks. Read the transcripts of the episodes and judge for yourself why Tom Cruise and Tommy Davis might not have wanted viewers to see this hard-hitting series by journalist Bryan Seymour.
After the success of their double-Emmy-winning, three-season A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath,’ Leah Remini and Mike Rinder continue the conversation on their podcast, ‘Scientology: Fair Game.’ We’ve created a landing page where you can hear all of the episodes so far.
LEAH REMINI: SCIENTOLOGY AND THE AFTERMATH
An episode-by-episode guide to Leah Remini’s three-season, double-Emmy winning series that changed everything for Scientology watching. Originally aired from 2016 to 2019 on the A&E network, and now on Netflix.
SCIENTOLOGY’S CELEBRITIES, from A to Z
Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!
Other links: Scientology’s Ideal Orgs, from one end of the planet to the other. Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society. Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in a weekly series. How many have you read?
——————–
THE WHOLE TRACK
[ONE year ago] Scientology says it’s ‘partnering’ with Miami police for Super Bowl anti-drug quackery
[TWO years ago] Lucas Catton: ‘Narconon and the Church of Scientology are committing fraud daily’
[THREE years ago] Clearwater city council candidate gets ringing endorsement from a Scientology front
[FOUR years ago] The new ‘disconnection’ billboard on Sunset Blvd is going to be a Valentine to Scientology
[FIVE years ago] Bryan Seymour challenges Scientology’s ‘Freedom’ magazine to show itself
[SIX years ago] Scientology hits back at Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear’ with predictable smears
[SEVEN years ago] Sunday Funnies: CCHR’s annual gala — time, place, form, and event!
[EIGHT years ago] Kima Douglas, 1942-2013
[NINE years ago] The Decline and Fall of Scientology? Skeptic Magazine Makes the Case
——————–
Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,193 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,697 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,217 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,237 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,128 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,435 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,303 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,077 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,881 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,197 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,763 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,682 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,850 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,431 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,692 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,730 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,443 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,968 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 323 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,498 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 6,049 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,198 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,518 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,373 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,492 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,848 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,151 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,257 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,659 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,531 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,114 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,609 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,863 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,972 days.
——————–
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 26, 2021 at 07:00
E-mail tips to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We also post updates at our Facebook author page. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.
Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2020 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2020), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 15 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
January 25, 2021
Fighting despair, QAnon patriots wonder if it was all too ‘fantastical’
Some links to Q-related items today…
That Hawaii Republican statement about coddling QAnon? Yeah, it’s having repercussions.
Edwin Boyette wrote an apologetic Facebook post to note his resignation and to say "the discussion of the Q-Conspiracy was an error of judgment" https://t.co/5y2x352s9n
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) January 25, 2021
Would any of this be happening if people weren’t desperate to get more likes and shares?
Maybe it’s time to give up the “fantastical” theories?
412Anon has been in the Q milieu for a *long* time and streams like every day, so this is pretty bleak for him.
What I wanted to point out though is even as he flirts with the idea that maybe The Plan will all turn out to be a bust, the alternative isn't, you know, reality… pic.twitter.com/NZzcbhHkzz
— My Name is Philip (@sallutephilipe) January 25, 2021
Struggling to understand what the QAnon movement is? We recommend Travis View’s excellent recent article at New York magazine as a place to start.
————-
THE LOWDOWN is our blog for news, the QAnon phenomenon, and other subjects not related to our coverage of the Church of Scientology. If it’s our Scientology coverage you’re looking for, please use this bookmark for our latest stories.
Posted by Tony Ortega on January 24, 2021 at 9:45
Tony Ortega's Blog
- Tony Ortega's profile
- 19 followers
