Tony Ortega's Blog, page 360

“We understand God because of the Devil; we understand this, we understand that. These are double data. The basic unit of the universe is two, not one. And we suddenly announce, ‘Theta has as its potentiality the location of matter and energy in space and time, and can, as well, create space and time.’ Well, once we say that, and the same time we say it has no wavelength, it — boy, we’re really describing a beast here. This thing couldn’t possibly have any position in the real universe. And sure enough, it doesn’t.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 14, 1956

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“I’ve been out of prison now for a week and it’s good to be back! The time I did was good too. I got to sleep in nearly every day and I read and watched a lot of things. It was quite an interesting holiday of sorts. I even got to have some scary experiences around crims which is great character and confidence building. Victoria’s lefty prisons are like summer camps. The powers that be like the crims because they make money off ‘punishing them and use their bad behaviour as an excuse to expand the police state’s power. The sentence I got was an absolute joke. The lefty justice system and Vic police just wanted an excuse to lock me up because I dared challenge their communist feminist agenda.”

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1997: Ray Randolph received email from Cartoonist Jim Berry, who was a target of Scientology for some of his cartoons about Scientology. “The subject of Scientology brought back upsetting memories. Years ago a reader sent me an article about Scientology that appeared in a northern Florida newspaper (Tallahassee?). It was about how the ‘church’ operated with respect to dealing with the people on their ‘enemies list.’ It seems I did one or two cartoons that they didn’t like. In the piece there was reference to ‘Operation Berry’s World,’ or some such title. It told about the leader of the church of Scientology urging all of its members to write and call newspapers across the country and complain about my feature — telling editors and publishers to drop ‘Berry’s World.’ This was an organized effort to kill my career and I had no idea that it was happening. It’s a wonder my feature survived the onslaught. I decline to write anything further about this subject.”

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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“Hubbard had it wrong from the very beginning. Man is an animal and nothing more. Detachment from the material world is one of the main reasons humanity is destroying the material world. Spiritualism is our get out of jail free card.”

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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 in January.
— 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 filed Oct 30.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6, motions to compel arbitration, awaiting ruling; 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. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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’s David Miscavige served again: This time in a sick case alleging child abuse
[TWO years ago] Records of Scientology leader David Miscavige’s speeding tickets contain a small surprise
[THREE years ago] Tonight on ‘Leah Remini’: L. Ron Hubbard gets the Russell Miller treatment
[FOUR years ago] At an early age, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard learned how to captivate the press
[FIVE years ago] Jeffrey Augustine: Just a friendly reminder — Scientology prices are outrageous
[SIX years ago] Classic Scientology shenanigans as class action lawsuit is filed against legal opponent NAFC
[SEVEN years ago] Jefferson Hawkins Drops In To See What Condition Our Scientology Condition Is In
[EIGHT years ago] Lawrence Wright’s Book on Scientology — Going Clear — Hits Bookstores January 17
[NINE years ago] Scientology’s Sales Pitch: “Pure and Simple Blackmail”

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Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,120 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,624 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,144 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,164 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,055 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,362 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,230 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,004 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,808 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,124 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,690 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,609 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,777 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,358 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,619 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,657 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,370 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,895 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 250 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,425 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,976 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,125 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,445 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,300 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,419 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,775 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,078 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,184 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,586 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,458 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,041 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,536 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,790 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,899 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 14, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 14, 2020 04:00

Valerie Haney takes fight against Scientology ‘arbitration’ to California Supreme Court

Valerie Haney told us that she was determined to fight Scientology’s attempt to get her into its “religious arbitration,” and court records show that she’s doing exactly that, taking her battle to California’s highest court in a new filing.

In January, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Burdge denied Valerie’s right to a trial on her allegations of kidnapping, stalking, and slander. The judge agreed with Scientology’s argument to derail her lawsuit because she had signed a contract as a church employee promising to take all grievances to Scientology’s own brand of “religious arbitration.” In August he upheld the decision after she filed a motion for reconsideration.

In September Valerie filed a petition with the state’s 2nd Appellate Division, asking for the right to appeal Judge Burdge’s ruling without first actually having to go through Scientology’s arbitration, but the appeals court denied her petition, calling it “untimely.”

According to the brief note the court issued, Valerie maintains the right to appeal Judge Burdge’s decision — but she would first have to go through the arbitration.

Valerie has likened that to crawling back to her abuser.

So instead, she’s taking her request for the right to appeal to a higher authority. Court records show that on October 30 Valerie filed a petition for review with the California Supreme Court.

We put in a message asking about her latest legal move, and we’ll let you know if she has anything to say about it.

Valerie’s lawsuit was filed in June 2019 to a huge media response. She had told her story in the premiere episode that started off the third and final season of Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath on the A&E network. A former Sea Org worker who had grown up in Scientology, Valerie had spent years as church leader David Miscavige’s personal steward, working in his private quarters at the secretive Gold Base near Hemet, California. She knew intimate details of Miscavige’s life (some of which she shared with us in an interview), and she was one of the last people to see Dave’s wife Shelly before she vanished in late summer 2005.

After Shelly disappeared, Valerie was moved to another post and ended up working at Gold Base’s video department as a casting director. She wanted desperately to leave the base, but knew that she would never be allowed to leave because of how much she knew about Miscavige and his private life. So she made her escape by hiding out in the trunk of the car of an actor who had been shooting a video at the facility. After her escape, Valerie went to work for Leah Remini as her assistant and they got to work on telling her story in the A&E series. Valerie described how she was then subjected to a ferocious “Fair Game” campaign by Scientology as it tried to intimidate her with stalking private investigators.

In her lawsuit, Valerie is suing for the way Scientology kept her against her will at the base, as well as for the harassment after she made her escape. But Scientology argued successfully that because she had signed an agreement when she left her job, she had promised not to sue the church and to take any grievance to its internal religious arbitration. Valerie’s attorneys tried to point out that the majority of what she’s suing over occurred after she had left her job, but Judge Burdge wasn’t persuaded, and ruled that she had to abide by the contract.

If Valerie goes through the arbitration and Judge Burdge accepts the results of it, she could then appeal his decision and an appellate court would be obliged to consider it. But she has said she does not want to subject herself to Scientology’s bizarre internal court and feels that she deserves an appeal of Burdge’s ruling without having to go through the arbitration. (Scientology’s religious arbitration is not like the independent arbitration that most people think of when they hear the term. It is a reworking of Scientology’s rules for its version of a court martial, and is heard by a panel of arbitrators who must be members of the church in good standing. Leah Remini has accused the courts of not understanding that Scientology ‘arbitration’ is a sham.)

The appellate court issued only a very brief statement saying that her petition was “untimely,” and it included a separate notation by Presiding Justice Laurence D. Rubin, who wrote “I would deny the petition only on the ground that petitioner has an adequate remedy on appeal.”

In other words, Valerie can appeal, but only after she’s subjected herself to the kangaroo court of her abuser, Scientology’s religious arbitration.

So Valerie must now convince the state supreme court that the appellate judges were in error when they didn’t consider her situation to be extraordinary. We don’t think there’s any question that her situation is extraordinary, but proving it to a state supreme court is a daunting task to be sure.

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Bonus items from our tipsters

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“It is interesting that the Tagalogs weren’t ever told that you were supposed to stop when you were hit by a bullet. So they would get hit with three or four bullets through the heart and one through the head and then run seventy-five yards and take a machete and whack off an American soldier’s head. This was disconcerting to our troops during the Philippine insurrection. So we sent a lot of people in and convinced them that when you were hit by a bullet you were supposed to die. They have never repeated this performance. That is an interesting datum. And yet there were lots of Tagalogs running around getting shot at during World War II and none of them put on this kind of a performance. What actually happened to them was mechanical.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 12, 1951

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“I’m not sure if a soul can be a spirit guide and reincarnate, but Ron is my #1 spirit guide. Been with me since birth. I’m a medium and talk to him all the time. I’m surprised Scientologists never hired a medium to talk to him. I only became aware this past August that I have abilities which is why I’m just now searching for answers. I just asked my reader if they can reincarnate and be guides. I’ll let you know. They cannot be spirit guides and reincarnate at the same time. So he has not reincarnated but lives on in spirit. If I’m not mistaken, Scientology has connections to the spiritual realm.”

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1998: The State of Florida this week charged Scientology with crimes in connection with the death of Lisa McPherson, who died in their care in 1995. From the Associated Press: “The Church of Scientology was charged Friday in the 1995 death of a member whose family claimed the church held her against her will for 17 days. Prosecutor Bernie McCabe charged the church with abuse or neglect of a disabled adult and practicing medicine without a license, both felonies.”

Advertisement

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SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“I’m bemused that ex-Scientologists still actively engage in magical thinking, not realizing that the number one reason that they got sucked into Scientology in the first place is because they were already engaged in magical thinking through a belief and interest in the supernatural and the paranormal which had already placed them on the slippery slope to cult hell.”

——————–

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 in January.
— 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 filed Oct 30.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6, motions to compel arbitration, awaiting ruling; 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. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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] Woman who fled Scientology after being lured in by Jason Dohring acting class goes public
[TWO years ago] AUDIO: Scientology fundraising throws in a little conspiracy-mongering for effect
[THREE years ago] Tonight on ‘Leah Remini’: Scientology’s front groups, including Narconon, get a special look
[FOUR years ago] Leah Remini schools us on what motivates Scientologists to toe the line
[FIVE years ago] Countdown to Room 174: Remembering, in real time, Scientology’s grimmest scandal
[SIX years ago] Scientology Photoshopping: Erasing L. Ron Hubbard’s second wife from ‘The RON Series’
[SEVEN years ago] Bruce Hines Joins Us As Claire Headley Keeps Us Moving Through Scientology’s OT Levels!
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Desperately Wants Your Children: The Cruise Ship Come-On
[NINE years ago] Scientology Seasickness: Commenters of the Week!

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Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,118 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,622 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,142 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,162 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,053 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,360 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,228 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,002 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,806 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,122 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,688 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,607 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,775 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,356 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,617 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,655 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,368 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,893 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 248 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,423 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,974 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,123 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,443 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,298 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,417 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,773 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,076 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,182 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,584 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,456 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,039 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,534 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,788 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,897 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 12, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 12, 2020 04:00

Scientology still driving away talented people and ripping apart their families

In March Leah Remini announced that a couple that she had a family connection with were making public their departure from Scientology.

Julian and Katherine Wain, Leah said, had “disconnected from us all when we left Scientology (per Scientology’s teachings). It took over 6 years, but they finally left Scientology and reconnected with us.”

Julian and Katherine each made their own announcements on Instagram with the photo you see above.

“This decision was not easily arrived at. And, in fact, took several years of deep reflection and communication with one another. It was hard, scary and at times unbelievable. Then, as a family, we decided that this is what is best for us,” Julian wrote.

“We had countless hours of talking, working through our thoughts, ideas, and decisions. We had to take into consideration the repercussions of our decisions. Knowing that we will lose family and friends is not something we took lightly and is truly hurtful,” Katherine said at her account.

We reached out to them that day and heard back almost immediately from Julian. He said that he was interested in talking with us to help us understand what was going on, but he wanted to wait. We understood. And now, several months later, we’ve had a chance to talk with Julian to learn more about their remarkable story.

The first thing we wanted to understand, we told Julian in our conversation yesterday, was the precise connection that he and Katherine have to Leah.

“My wife’s brother William Kilmartin was married to Leah’s sister Shannon,” Julian explained.

Ah, William Kilmartin! We remember his appearing in Leah’s family reality show It’s All Relative, which preceded her A&E series Scientology and the Aftermath.

You probably remember: Kilmartin and Shannon filed for divorce in 2016, but then Leah’s parents legally adopted him after he’d been abandoned by his own family after he had left Scientology.

[A photo Leah posted to Instagram, showing Willam Kilmartin at the adoption with Leah’s mother Vicki Marshall holding the certificate]

Last August, Kilmartin remarried, and not only were Leah and her parents there, but so was Shannon, showing support for her ex-husband and his new wife.

Talk about a family that stands on love over disconnection, wow.

Anyway, Julian and Katherine made their announcement about leaving Scientology in March, so last August when Katherine’s brother William had that wedding, the Wains didn’t go.

“Katherine wanted to go. But we hadn’t left Scientology yet. I knew what a fiasco it would be with my mother and brother if we went to the wedding. So I asked Katherine not to go. Today, I realize what a horrible decision that was,” Julian says.

“What a regret to have,” he adds, shaking his head. “To let some blowhard group tell you that you can’t hang out with the people that you love.”

Julian explained that Katherine had grown up in the church and “she’s related to half of Scientology,” he laughs. (Melinda Brownstone is her half-sister, for example.) Julian himself had come in through the Delphian School, Scientology’s boarding school in Sheridan, Oregon.

“My mom was a serial cultist. She went from one cult to another. Eventually she was involved with the Chico mission. She was worried the public school was going to put her two sons on psychiatric drugs, so she moved us to the Delphian.”

Julian was 11. “Delphian is really a day care so parents can be full-time Scientologists,” he says. “By the time you finish there, you’re practically a pre-cadet in the Sea Org.”

For five years he was a boarding student at Delphian before he completed his final two years of high school at a related Scientology school, Delphi Academy in Los Angeles. By the time he finished school, he says, he was fully conditioned as a Scientologist. “I ate it up,” he says. “I would have protected the church over anything.”

His mother joined the Sea Org for a while, and Julian eventually went on staff at the Los Angeles Org. But during his tenure on staff, from late 2005 to early 2009, he began to have prohibited thoughts.

“Somewhere along the line I started to drift away from it. I almost got declared four times while on staff. I was no longer the poster boy for Scientology,” he says.

But by then, he was involved with another staffer at the org, Katherine Kilmartin. “When I came back from Flag training we started dating,” he says.

By 2009, they were ready for a change, and they moved to Oregon, where they remain to this day.

In fact, they live in McMinnville, where the recent city council election garnered a lot of attention.

After we revealed in a news story here at the Bunker that Brittany Ruiz, who was running for city council, had at one time been a Sea Org official and the Executive Director of the Advanced Organization of Los Angeles, and that she and her husband Javier Ruiz had connections to some remarkable and troubling Scientology stories including Leah Remini’s defection, a local newspaper in the area, the News-Register, referred to our story as it brought up Ruiz’s Sea Org past.

It also quoted Julian.

One former Scientologist, Julian Berceli-Wain of McMinnville, said he has concerns about Ruiz’s connections with Scientology and its requirements to raise money and spread its doctrine. He said he has known both her and her husband for more than 20 years.

“I was in that cult. I was raised in it. I escaped from it and now I’m a free thinker,” Berceli-Wain said. “It’s a multi-billion-dollar organization that’s fronted as a religion. It tries to put its fingertips into anything it can.”

Berceli-Wain, who attended the Delphian School in Sheridan, which is affiliated with Scientology, said he knows and loves Ruiz and her family, but does not believe she can successfully serve as a city councilor. He expressed concern about her ability to serve the community without bias because of what he described as church doctrine opposed to mental health professionals, psychiatry, vaccinations and modern medicine.

“The greatest danger in having her as a public servant is that she views the community’s needs through Scientology,” he said. “She is not an evil person, but she is misled by her beliefs.”

We were stunned that Julian turned out to be in McMinnville and has known Brittany and Javier Ruiz for so long.

“I’m super close with them. We’ve known them both forever,” he says. But he knew that he’d have to say something publicly. Because he’s likely been declared by the church since making his public announcement, Brittany would not be able to see him, a constituent, if she were elected, and he believed that disqualified her. So he approached the News-Register, and he believes the story had a significant impact. (Leah also tweeted about Ruiz and her candidacy, which made news.)

Brittany Ruiz lost the election by a sizable margin.

Since making their announcement in March, Julian and Katherine have each had family and friends disconnect from them. It’s been hard on them, but they knew it would be a consequence of coming forward.

The day before they made their Instagram postings, Julian told his mother Susan and younger brother Joseph the news that he and his wife were breaking from the church.

“My brother is probably the smartest person I’ve ever met, but when I told him I was leaving Scientology, I saw him throw that indoctrination at me,” he says. “I told him all the things I’d seen. I’ve seen horrendous things. At the Delphian and in Los Angeles I’ve seen horrific abuse of children. We knew lots of people leave and never say anything. But we didn’t want to experience that. I was ready to be declared and blacklisted.”

He told his brother that after they made their announcement he’d probably be pulled in and interrogated about it.

“Both my mother and my brother said, why don’t you be quiet about it? No, I’m not going to just be quiet,” he says. “I hadn’t done a lot of homework. I hadn’t seen the Aftermath or Going Clear, but I was angry at the how my wife was being treated by her own family. I didn’t know how brainwashed I really was until I watched my brother repeat the things Scientology wanted him to say. Scripted lines coming out of his mouth that we’d heard in Scientology videos. He was like a zombie. With no emotion. That’s what Scientology does to you,” Julian says.

Almost immediately after their public announcement and Leah’s posting, the stream of mail they were receiving from Scientology suddenly dried up.

“I must be declared, I realized.”

It hasn’t prevented the Wains from thriving. Julian works for Nike in Beaverton, and is working at home during the lockdown. He and Katherine have two young boys. Neither of them are Scientologists, he points out with a chuckle.

We talked with him about the presence of Scientologists and ex-Scientologists from Los Angeles in Oregon (which, if you know something about the relationship between Los Angeles and Oregon, is not really a surprise).

Julian says there is a strong connection in McMinnville to Delphian, not only because former students have settled in the area.

“Delphian has a bus route that picks up kids in McMinnville. I’ve thought of putting up a billboard on the road between Delphian and McMinnville. ‘Thinking about leaving Scientology?’ It’s the only road that connects them,” he says.

We think it’s a swell idea.

——————–

“Actually, you can exteriorize a dog. You can process them. It’s very peculiar, but you can. They exteriorize as a mass. Did you ever run a preclear who exteriorized with a theta body? Hm? Well, you will someday. You will say, ‘Be three feet back of your head,’ and the fellow is there in a black shape with claws, or something of the sort. And then you have to exteriorize him from that black shape. Well, you’re already into the field of demonology when you say ‘Be three feet back of your head’ and you’ve got something which is a black energy mass which the individual conceives himself to be. You can’t see him. He’s invisible to you with your naked eye. But he’s not invisible to you with your theta vision. You can be 18 feet back of your head, leaning up against the molding strip, something like that; you say to this fellow, ‘Be three feet back of your head,’ and you’re looking at a demon….I’ve exteriorized a dog, much to his surprise. And pushed him back in again. Something on the basis of reaching in, grabbing hold of him as a theta body, pulling him out, and pushing him back in again. I’ve also exteriorized a coyote the same way. Coyote body lay there deader than a mackerel, while this process was going on. He’d been in full flight, and I reached from three feet back of his head and pulled him out of his body. All right. This may sound like a fairy tale to somebody who’s nailed down very solidly in Dianetics and is practicing man for the betterment of man. In Scientology we’re not very much interested in the betterment or the worsenment, and that is something which people have not yet completely isolated or noticed, and I haven’t mentioned very much in the field of Scientology. Get the idea? Scientology is an understanding of. That’s not necessarily a betterment of. You follow me?” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 11, 1954

——————–

“It is clear that the ‘experts’ and ‘insiders’ on the secrets of this planet don’t have a f***** clue of what the real traps are in the Matrix that makes this a prison planet. Only those doing the Scientology advanced levels would know the most invidious traps of the R6 implant and could do something about it. And of course, only they can control, manage and govern the implanted R6 population here. The idea that advanced level Scientologists manage the planet was LRH’s idea. Either they do that or this rock in space will keep on being a ‘caveman’s paradise’.”

——————–

1996: Andreas Heldal-Lund received a visit from Scientologists in connection with his Norwegian NOTs archive. “Today, two persons rang my doorbell. They asked to talk to me, I answered by asking who they were. They said they came from The Church of Scientology. I did not let them in but stood in the door asking what they wanted. My summary of the debate that followed is this: ‘Clam A: You are in the possession copyrighted material. If you do not delete them and hand over any hard copies you may have, we will sue both you and your ISP.’ ‘Me: These documents are public available on the net and can be ordered from Riksdagen i Sverige. I can see no reason for me to either hand anything to you or remove anything from my home page’.”

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——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“Sunny is definitely Bunker Hall of Fame material after this. As long as she doesn’t get caught doing ‘roids or shooting an associate down the road from her house, she’s a first ballot shoo-in.”

——————–

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 November 2.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6, motions to compel arbitration, awaiting ruling; 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. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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 snags an elected official (and JAG!) for its Central Ohio ‘Ideal Org’ ceremony
[TWO years ago] Michigan Catholic couple appears to open a Scientology drug rehab without a permit
[THREE years ago] ‘Scientology is dying’: John Brousseau on the decline of Int Base and fate of Shelly Miscavige
[FOUR years ago] Leonard Cohen: This awful year strikes again with the loss of a transcendent genius
[FIVE years ago] Under oath, Narconon official lets slip that drug rehab organized just like Scientology
[SIX years ago] Kim Poff fired by Oklahoma agency after stories (including ours) described Scientology dispute
[SEVEN years ago] SCIENTOLOGY SUPER POWER COUNTDOWN: Six Days to Blast-Off!
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: Tom Cruise’s Son Connor Fights the North Koreans!

——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,117 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,621 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,141 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,161 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,052 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,359 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,227 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,001 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,805 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,121 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,687 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,606 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,774 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,355 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,616 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,654 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,367 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,892 days.
Julian Wain has not seen his brother Joseph or mother Susan in 247 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,422 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,973 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,122 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,442 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,297 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,416 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,772 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,075 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,181 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,583 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,455 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,038 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,533 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,787 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,896 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 11, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 11, 2020 04:00

Trouble in the Scientology FreeZone! Even ‘Indies’ are suing each other

[An AOGP image representing Scientology’s Bridge to Total Freedom]

Since we started it more than a year ago, our “Overheard in the FreeZone” feature has become one of the most popular daily sources of commentary here at the Underground Bunker.

We have explained before that we appreciate the way that independent Scientologists — who for the most part are people who have left the Church of Scientology but continue to pursue independently the practices described by founder L. Ron Hubbard — are freer to discuss the subject than their counterparts still in the church.

In order to keep up on what “indies” are talking about, we browse numerous gathering places on the Internet to see what the latest wins and beefs are. (And there are a lot of beefs.)

One thing you can’t escape if you frequent the FreeZone are the slick ads put out by a man named Jonathan Burke for what he calls the “Advanced Organization of the Great Plains,” which he founded in 2011. Based in Kansas City, Burke is an auditor who, like other independents, seeks to make a living by practicing Scientology on his own.

And because he offers some of the more elevated auditing experiences on Scientology’s “Bridge,” he calls his operation an “Advanced Organization,” the way that the church itself refers to its high-level auditing factories in Los Angeles, Sydney, Copenhagen, and Florida.

And Burke certainly tries harder than his fellow indie auditors in the marketing department. Here are a couple of the sort of sample items he posts with regularity in various Indie locations…

Burke even found a bricks-and-mortar location for the AO-GP, and he seemed to be prospering. But, as is typical in the FreeZone, he was also the target of a lot of rumormongering and backbiting. Such is life as an indie proprietor, we suppose.

Then, recently, we saw a couple of references online to Burke losing a rather sizable court judgment to another indie, and we couldn’t help being curious about it. The references online were pretty cryptic, but we knew that Burke and the AO-GP were in Kansas City, so we went to the Jackson County, Missouri court website and very quickly hit paydirt: On September 23, Burke signed a consent judgment, agreeing to pay a couple $46,080 plus court costs.

Curious to find out what this was about, we contacted the court and requested a copy of the lawsuit. It showed that Burke had been sued by William and Mary Blackford, also of Kansas City, who said they had loaned Burke $40,000 and he had failed to pay it back.

We reached out to Mary, whose name we had seen in the past at ex-Scientologist Facebook locations.

She had lots to say.

The Bunker: We got a copy of the complaint, but it doesn’t really say anything except that you loaned Burke $40,000 at 15 percent interest and he wasn’t paying. But can you tell us why you were loaning him money?

Mary Blackford: Well, of course, this is about the biggest example of stupid in the universe, and we are embarrassed to have been All Kinds of Stupid (just so you know we’re embarrassed). I’d known Burke on Facebook for eight years and I considered us friends. In late August 2019, I had been working part time as the HES (Hubbard Executive Secretary) for the org. My husband and I had received upper-level NOTs repairs and auditing from him in the previous five months. Burke said the org was in a financial bind, and asked to borrow $40,000. He said that if he couldn’t get the loan, “there would be no org.” We had just moved from California, sold our house there, Bill had a new job in the area, I had a part-time job teaching writing and English at a community college, and we were flush. In retrospect, Burke had been “grooming” both of us (my husband and me) by asking for small loans in those past four to five months and paying us back immediately: $200 here, $300 there. Then when the org was getting physically established, he asked for temporary financial help getting furniture ($350), an infrared sauna ($1,300 from Bill), pay for some shipping on some “free, donated” books that arrived unexpectedly ($1,700 in shipping from me). I have receipts for it all. Bill and I were each told not to tell the other about the larger “loans,” and Jonathan always said he’d “pay us back as soon as he could” and that basically prosperity was just around the corner. Never happened, though. When he asked for that huge amount, we kind of trusted him. Bill and I talked this massive loan over without Jonathan present. You have to know that Burke is charismatic, persuasive, and talks a really good game. He knows his marks well, too. We did want the org to continue and expand and of course we wanted to help. Jonathan offered to sign a note (the only thing that saved our asses in court), offered us 15 percent interest, and also promised to do Bill’s L’s in return. He really made repayment seem generous. The loan was due on April 30. We thought it was doable for Burke. Bill figured we had a 50/50 chance of him repaying us. I told Bill that we didn’t have to do the loan, but Bill made the final call. So we agreed to loan him the money. Little did we know that Jonathan Burke has similar unrepaid loans with half a dozen other people before us. Since then, a lot more loans and undelivered services have come to light; the depth and breadth of Burke’s grift is breathtaking.

The Bunker: And how did he come up with the money to pay you back?

Mary: He hasn’t paid us a cent yet. I’m working on getting his bank accounts garnished (tough when you don’t know where he banks) because he has no regular taxable work. He gets paid under the table. He’s raking in money from PCs, though. He closed the doors to the on-ground org in June. It’s all online now.

The Bunker: Are you and your husband still paying for auditing now, with someone else?

Mary: My husband is “done with Scientology.” And Burke. I pushed this lawsuit along and am working to get his accounts garnished. I want justice. I felt so awful after the whole thing with Burke that I did pay for auditing with someone from whom I’d been receiving auditing before JB lured me away. It was worth the extra cost; I feel fine, and I’m all about getting justice done and stopping this guy from abusing anyone else.

We reached out to Burke for a comment on the judgment. He said he or his attorney would get back to us, and then he sent us this note:

Hi Tony,

The debt is a private personal one with Bill Blackford and myself, not his wife who was on staff as a volunteer only until her self determined and unplanned departure. The organization’s LLC is not part of the debt, which can be seen in the court documents and will be paid back over time once normalcy returns. Any statements not to that effect are mischaracterizations by Mrs Blackford. A payment settlement was offered, and ignored, It was offered due to the effects of the virus on life in general.

Our organization was before and is online now only until six foot social distancing regulations are not de rigueur, as are millions of other business implementing as a solution to the problem. Delivery continues normally for our public and has never missed a beat in our online courseroom since this all started in March.

We really appreciate and admire your continued efforts to expose the COS’s abuses and admire you greatly for your ongoing efforts to make them known and prosecuted for.

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Burke
And Lisa Kemsley
AOGP CO-Exec. Directors

We shared that response with Mary, who pointed out that the lawsuit was in her name as well her husband’s, and so it made no sense to call it a “private personal” debt with Bill Blackford alone.

As for the settlement that was offered he refers to, “He offered us $500 per month for five months, and the balance over 12 months, via attorney. We rejected that offer, because if we had signed that, we’d still never have seen a penny. (It wouldn’t have seen the court’s involvement, so he would never have paid),” Mary said.

Mary pointed out that lawsuits among indies is rare, but that she felt the church’s abuses were being perpetrated in this case. She shared with us an extremely detailed document she had put together, a Doubt Formula, recording the irregularities she had witnessed at the AO-GP.

We appreciated her candor, and we wish her luck as she continues to pursue justice in this case. And we hope Mr. Burke can find a way to pay the debt and that he perhaps reflects on whether Mr. Hubbard’s “technology” is as efficacious as he promotes, since it has failed so spectacularly for the Advanced Organization of the Great Plains.

——————–

Leah Remini podcast: Lloyd Evans

Says Mike Rinder: “It’s always a pleasure to speak with Lloyd Evans. He is so knowledgeable, articulate and even-keeled. He helped us put together the Jehovah’s Witness special on The Aftermath, and is a valued supporter of our efforts to expose the abuses in scientology, while he carries out his work doing the same with the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Listen to this week’s podcast here…

——————–

“Every man there is, is a universe. You talk about God: The most you will know about God for probably a long time to come is you. If you want to know what God is all about, or if you want to know what you’re all about, you want to know what the fourth dynamic is all about, you consult the essential elements of ‘you-ness.’ Not buried, unconscious, submotivated, libido-icated, bypassed symbolizations of the left hind ruddy rod, which we therefore graph and say, ‘It’s all mysterious and you can’t understand you, so therefore we can own you.’ We’re not running that operation.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 10, 1952

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——————–

“We have very good results with Skype processing. There are cases who work better by Skype, there are other cases which prefer processing in person. Wins of a PC is the only criteria of results of processing. What is really bad is when one person starts to make another person wrong for delivery processing, using Skype or not. And this is a real suppression. Skype processing formally is a substitute at havingness scale. It is not too low at this scale. And it WORKS good for many, many, many PCs.”

——————–

2002: The St. Petersburg Times reported that three people were arrested for attempting to take a Scientologist to the doctor by force. “A man was arrested Tuesday and accused of enlisting two friends to help him tie up his wife so he could take her to the doctor. Largo police arrested Terry Ray Hemphill, 54, on charges of felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor domestic battery. Jamie J. Popa, 33, and Laurie Lynn Miller, 32, also were arrested on false imprisonment charges.”

——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“Past life Scientologists have to do the Basics all over again just like everybody else. Fair is fair, ya know?”

——————–

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 January 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing delayed for Fatico hearing in January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6, motions to compel arbitration, awaiting ruling; 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. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 at Netflix.

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 promotes its expensive propaganda TV channel one flier at a time
[TWO years ago] Bent Corydon on Scientology’s Sunday night massacre: ‘We all clapped at the right places’
[THREE years ago] If Trump is serious, he has a clear path to go at Scientology — through his Treasury Secretary
[FOUR years ago] L. Ron Hubbard on the run: When the Daily Mail was hounding Scientology’s founder in ’66
[FIVE years ago] Narconon is dead, long live Narconon! How Scientology solved its drug rehab addiction
[SIX years ago] Ryan Hamilton’s next move: Consolidating his Narconon litigation into one big case
[SEVEN years ago] Scientology Attacks Garcia Filing; Marc Headley Schools Clearwater’s Mayor
[EIGHT years ago] A Scientology Knockoff That Considers Children ‘Sexy’? Great Xenu’s Ghost!
[NINE years ago] Scientology Thursday Stats: This Week’s Roundup!

——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,116 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,620 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,140 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,160 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,051 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,358 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,226 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 3,000 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,804 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,120 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,686 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,605 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,773 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,354 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,615 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,653 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,366 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,891 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,421 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,972 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,121 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,441 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,296 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,415 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,771 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,074 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,180 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,582 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,454 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,037 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,532 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,786 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,895 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 9, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 10, 2020 04:00

How Scientology can prove us wrong about L. Ron Hubbard’s ‘sheep-dipped’ valor

What set off our longtime reader PickAnotherID about Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s military record (see part 1 and part 2) was not only the obviously faked document and medals that the church fed New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright for his 2011 magazine story “The Apostate.”

Pick, a 20-year military veteran with Air Force security experience, was especially galled by Scientology’s claim that the reason Hubbard’s heroism wasn’t reflected in his official records was that those records had been “sheep-dipped” in order to mask his work in military intelligence.

Scientology relied on the highly dubious figure of L. Fletcher Prouty for that assessment. (See historian Jon Atack’s thorough thrashing of Prouty, a notorious conspiracist for hire.)

Prouty’s proclamation that Hubbard was actually up to highly classified work for the military which had to be disguised in his military record is a touchstone for a lot of current and former Scientologists who want to believe that this midcentury science fiction writer was really onto the secrets of the universe or was a patsy for British intelligence or the CIA, or whatever deep state theory is burning up the Scientology interwebs this week.

But Pick wanted us to know that there’s a very simple way to debunk all that nonsense, and he hasn’t seen others refer to it. It’s simply this: In 1994, President Bill Clinton lifted the veil on WW2 records for the public — nearly 44 million pages of information — and if there were any “sheep-dipping” going on with Hubbard’s records, it would have become public after that date.

Here’s the text of Clinton’s Executive Order 12937, read it for yourself:

November 10, 1994
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1. The records in the National Archives of the United States referenced in the list accompanying this order are hereby declassified.

Sec. 2. The Archivist of the United States shall take such actions as are necessary to make such records available for public research no later than 30 days from the date of this Order, except to the extent that the head of an affected agency and the Archivist have determined that specific information within such records must be protected from disclosure pursuant to an authorized exemption to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552, other than the exemption that pertains to national security information.

Sec. 3. Nothing contained in this order shall create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by any party against the United States, its agencies or instrumentalities, its officers or employees, or any other person.

William J. Clinton
The White House

Pick tells us that there’s a way that Scientology can prove to us that Hubbard really did deserve the medals they claimed for him when they delivered that photo to Wright. We thought you’d like to see Pick’s detailed challenge for the church…

President Clinton’s executive order declassified all WWII documents (not related to atomic weapons development) that were not previously reviewed and declassified. In light of this, any so called “sheep dipping” any of L. Ron Hubbard’s military activities to be classified is no longer relevant.

Therefore, in light of the many claims made by Mr. Hubbard himself, and Scientology’s spokespersons regarding Mr. Hubbard’s military service, the following proof of that service is demanded:

1. Copies of all orders and/or citations awarding the various US Forces medals and associated devices claimed and the actions relating to each award.

2. Verification from appropriate French government authorities Mr. Hubbard was in fact awarded the Médaille commémorative de la Guerre de 1939-1945 and the action related to this award.
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3. Verification from appropriate Netherlands government authorities Mr. Hubbard was in fact awarded the Bronzen Kruis and the action related to this award.

4. Verification from the appropriate British government authorities Mr. Hubbard was in fact awarded the Star Medal 1939-1945 and the action related to this award.

5. Verification from the appropriate Philippine government authorities that Mr. Hubbard was in fact awarded the Philippine Defense Medal and the action either on land, at sea, or in the air related to this award.

6. Related to the claim of being awarded the Purple Heart:
a. The date, location and name of the ship where Mr. Hubbard was supposed to have been blinded and crippled after having picked up an unexploded shell that had landed on the deck of his ship. And any medical records related to these injuries.
b. The date, location and name of the ship where Mr. Hubbard was supposed to have had both feet broken due to concussions running through the deck of his ship during a battle. And any medical records relate to these injuries.
c. Medical records related to injuries after being machine-gunned in the back while escaping from the Japanese on Java. In particular any mention of how he survived peritonitis, septicemia, and septic shock due to ruptured intestines from such a wound.
d. Alternatively, if Mr. Hubbard wasn’t machine gunned in the back, medical records related to a fractured ankle suffered while escaping from the Japanese on Java.

7. Copies of any manifests showing he was flown to the U.S. aboard the Secretary of the Navy’s aircraft after the claimed wounds occurred.

It should be noted that no information related to the above remains classified since the Executive Order was issued. So there is no valid reason, unless the claims are in fact lies, not to produce the documentation to support Mr. Hubbard’s, and Scientolgy’s, claims regarding these matters. Without such proof, these claims will all continue to be considered “Stolen Valor.”

——————–

More Scientology social media madness

We figure you probably didn’t get enough of Scientologists and their wins in yesterday’s post. So we thought we’d give you another helping today.

First up, what are you doing to cut your havingness?

Considering a career change?

Yeah, this isn’t depressing.

Oh look, child abuse.

Dave has fans!

Can you reg a mark through Zoom? Special guest: Grant Cardone!

From tears to smiles!

——————–

“Auditing itself depends to some degree on miracle healing. And the longer you sit back waiting for the process to do it, and the longer you sit back waiting for Ron to do it, the less it’s going to happen. You’re not going to make Clears waiting for something else to do it. You’re going to do it. If you don’t do it — look, who else is there! There’s the pc and he’s been an aberree for the last 15 trillion, squillion years, hasn’t he? He’s been spinning ever since they pulled his last temple down on his head or whatever happened. Well, if he could get out of the bank just at a whoooo, he wouldn’t be your pc, so he can’t do it. And when you’re in an auditing room all by yourself with just the pc, you know, and a couple of chairs or couch or something, you look around real carefully and find out who else in that room is going to do it! Nobody going to do it but you.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 9, 1959

——————–

“US late night talk show host Jeffrey Daugherty has embarked on a path to deliver ‘White Dianetics’ to the world. I suggest the free Scientology community check out this project and interact appropriately with him. He is someone who is eminently amenable to factual discussion. It would be truly wonderful if someone from the community could come onto his show for an episode of discussing and laying out interesting stuff that could further show his quite open-minded audience what a wonderful technology LRH gifted humanity.”

——————–

1998: The St. Petersburg Times reported that the lawsuit against Clearwater by Scientology has been settled. “The federal lawsuit was filed in 1994. It was preceded by another legal battle that stretched from 1983 to 1995 over an ordinance that could have allowed the city to examine the financial records of Scientology and other churches. The ordinance was ruled unconstitutional in 1993, but a fight lingered for two more years over legal fees. Meanwhile, Clearwater police revealed in 1994 that they had been gathering intelligence on Scientology for 13 years, and they released the records to the Times.”

——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“How long did it take for the Shakers to cease to exist? As far as I’m concerned that’s the basic scenario we’re looking at here. The feds aren’t going to do anything about Scientology ever and there’s not going to be any Jonestown event (thank gawd) so what does that leave except a fade out to non-existence?”

——————–

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 November 2.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 hearing on motions to compel arbitration, awaiting ruling
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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] The Scientology-‘Ancient Aliens’ tie-in we just know you were waiting for
[TWO years ago] Someone is faking Lawrence Wright emails — and this one is about the Underground Bunker
[THREE years ago] French-kissing Wilt Chamberlain: Adventures of a teenager in the skeezy world of Scientology
[FOUR years ago] How a new independent ‘church’ is trying to wrestle away control over the word ‘Scientology’
[FIVE years ago] Scientology on the high seas: When L. Ron Hubbard was still making tech ‘breakthroughs’
[SIX years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: Kirstie Alley is now Super Powered!
[SEVEN years ago] Luis Garcia Responds to Scientology’s Arbitration Scheme
[EIGHT years ago] SHOCKER: Court Punishes Scientology For Acting Like…Scientology

——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,115 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,619 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,139 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,159 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,050 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,357 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,225 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,999 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,803 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,119 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,685 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,604 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,772 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,353 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,614 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,652 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,365 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,890 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,420 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,971 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,120 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,440 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,295 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,414 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,770 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,073 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,179 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,581 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,453 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,036 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,531 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,785 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,894 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 9, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 09, 2020 04:00

John Travolta crashes the Scientology social media feed as we dip back in for a look

Another Sunday has us diving into Scientology’s social media feeds, where Scientologists share their wins and try to convince each other that Scientology is still a going concern.

This week, a fan has the thrill of 76 trillion lifetimes by running into church celeb John Travolta. And there’s plenty more evidence that this planet will be cleared in no time.

But let’s start with one of our favorite Scientology realities that almost seems too good to be true: the Cause Resurgence Rundown at the Flag Building in Clearwater, Florida. We are not kidding, this is Scientologists paying thousands of dollars for the privilege to run around a lighted pole in a giant dimmed circular room for hours and hours at a time until they are so out of their minds with exhaustion they have hallucinations that they call a “cognition.”

We’re serious!

Jonny is rolling!

Yacelany is moving!

Rana’s life is complete.

Come on, people, read a book.

Calling all thetans with high duplication! Come jump into our baby when it’s born!

Annie’s chased off more space cooties and her life is back!

Another runner, this one with a thetan in the oven.

Anahys shows Latin America how to disagree with the physical universe.

The coolest religion on earth and the only one that works!

Bob, jumping into a baby near you soon.

Staff with certs. A constant Scientology theme.

Another success story. Scientology works like a miracle, people.

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Is anyone on staff in Dublin actually from, you know, Dublin?

If you say so.

The times we live in.

Waiting 31 years to go OT 5. OK.

——————–

“Down in Arizona they put an H-bomb nine feet below the ground and blew it up. Why? To find out if it’d lift dust? Well, it certainly did!….In 1947 it was very easy to run an engram. Even in early 1950 it was still fairly easy to run an engram, but it was a little harder. By the end of ’50 it was getting difficult to run engrams. In 1951 we had to beef up our processes like mad in order to run an engram cleanly. By 1952 we were beginning to run into nothing but whole track. 1953, we just had to look for other processes than engram running. And we had to look hard, and we looked into exteriorization. In ’54, in ’55 and in ’56 we have actually been researching further and further, into more and more powerful techniques. Why?….People haven’t changed, have they? Not at all. We even see a difference of techniques which, run two or three years ago, don’t work very well today. This fascinating panorama has just unfolded before my view as a distinct possibility. And it may or may not be true, but it is certainly a distinct possibility, and there is a coordination here between the amount of radiation in the atmosphere and the difficulty of auditing a preclear.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 8, 1956

——————–

“If a person comes to the freezone offering you to become a super OT that can now bend spoons with the mind and win the one million Amazing Randi Challenge for that, then you know for sure that that ‘tech’ is most probably Ray Mithoff’s reverse Scientology and black Scientology. If on the contrary, a person comes and offers you tech that is making it possible to achieve the abilities for OTs as described in the Philadelphia Doctorate Course Lectures of the Early 50’s, then you know that it is valid Tech based on the Scientology fundamentals. The right thing to do is to be trained on the technology so as to undo any black Scientology that the dark side wants to impose on us or the society.”

——————–

1999: CNN newsreader Greta Van Susteren is the subject of a story in this month’s issue of George magazine, including her relationship to Scientology. “Raised as a Catholic, Van Susteren apparently left the church after marrying Coale, who was already a Scientologist, and she converted to his faith. Both Van Susteren and Coale have reached senior levels in the Church of Scientology, having passed a stage called ‘The Bridge to Total Freedom’ some time ago. But for Coale, Scientology is not just a church; it is a business. He has represented fellow adherent Lisa Marie Presley in her divorce from Michael Jackson. His firm, Coale, Cooley, McInerney & Broadus, has employed Loretta Miscavige, the mother of David Miscavige, who is currently the head of the church.”

Advertisement

——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“Monsanto made everybody fat, TV made everybody stupid, and the Internet made everybody crazy.”

——————–

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 November 2.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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] Columbus going Ideal! David Miscavige to open 2nd Scientology cathedral in a week
[TWO years ago] Scientology’s weirdly detailed shrine to L. Ron Hubbard in Florida even has ocean sounds
[THREE years ago] Scientology plan to shut road through its secretive ‘Int Base’ in California foiled again
[FOUR years ago] It’s Election Day, but screw that — Chick Corea is finally superhuman thanks to Scientology!
[FIVE years ago] Up next for Scientology: Sending out Tom Cruise to put on a grand performance?
[SIX years ago] The Heinlein Letters: What L. Ron Hubbard’s close friends really thought of him
[SEVEN years ago] The Tom Cruise Smear Machine: Accusations From His Deposition You Haven’t Heard
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Excommunication: Documents the Church Usually Keeps Under Wraps
[TEN years ago] Scientology: The Now Religion!

——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,114 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,618 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,138 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,158 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,049 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,356 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,224 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,998 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,802 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,118 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,684 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,603 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,771 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,352 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,613 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,651 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,364 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,889 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,419 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,970 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,119 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,439 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,294 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,413 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,769 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,072 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,178 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,580 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,452 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,035 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,530 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,784 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,893 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 8, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 08, 2020 04:00

Scientology looking to force Danny Masterson’s accusers into ‘religious arbitration’ today

[Danny Masterson, Scientology soldier]

It’s another big day in court for Danny Masterson and the Church of Scientology as the church’s attorneys try to derail yet another lawsuit with “religious arbitration.”

If Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Steven Kleifield follows form, his ruling today is likely to be voluminous, detailed, and not immediately obvious. At least that was the situation the last time we got a ruling from him, when he denied Danny Masterson’s “demurrer” (in part, at least) at a hearing on October 6.

This time, it’s the Church of Scientology that is taking a swing at this lawsuit, hoping to put it on ice the way it has a couple of other recent lawsuits, by forcing the plaintiffs into its internal brand of arbitration that bears little resemblance to the independent arbitration most people think of when they hear the term.

A question we often see from readers is, how can Scientology convince a judge to allow rape charges to be handled through arbitration? But that’s not what’s happening, and so we wanted to help readers understand what is at stake today.

Chrissie Carnell Bixler, her husband Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Bobette Riales, and two women going by the names Jane Doe #1 and Jane Doe #2 filed this lawsuit in August 2019 alleging a campaign of harassment by Masterson, Scientology, and its leader David Miscavige. They say that the harassment was in retaliation for the women going to the LAPD in 2016 (and 2017 in the case of Riales) with allegations that Masterson had raped them in incidents between 2001 and 2004.

When the lawsuit was filed, the LAPD investigation had been going on for nearly three years, and in that time, they claimed they had been subjected to an ongoing series of incidents involving surveillance, computer hacking, intimidation, and even their pets being harmed. It’s that harassment which is the subject of the lawsuit, not the rape allegations.

Since they filed the lawsuit, however, the LA District Attorney’s office did, on June 16, charge Masterson with raping three of the women (Carnell Bixler and the two Jane Does) and after several delays the That ’70s Show actor is scheduled to be arraigned on January 6 facing 45 years to life in prison.

Masterson denies that he raped the women, and Scientology and Masterson have denied in court papers and public statements that they harassed them as a result of the LAPD investigation. But Scientology is also trying to derail the lawsuit with the same tactic that was successful in lawsuits brought in two other cases.

Carnell Bixler, Bixler-Zavala, and the two Jane Does were Scientologists at the time of the incidents, and so Scientology argues that the agreements they signed in order to receive Scientology services obliged them not to sue the church in the future, even after they left the organization. The church says that the agreements require them to take any grievances to Scientology’s internal arbitration, which must be carried out by a panel of three arbitrators who are members of the church in good standing.

Scientology was successful convincing Tampa federal Judge James Whittemore that Luis and Rocio Garcia, a California couple who had sued the church for fraud, had to follow these rules, and Whittemore stayed their lawsuit and even helped Scientology choose the arbitrators. The Garcias described the October 2017 arbitration as a joke and have been appealing Whittemore’s ruling for a couple of years at the Eleventh Circuit.

Earlier this year, Scientology prevailed again when Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Richard Burdge granted Scientology’s motion for arbitration in the lawsuit brought by Leah Remini’s assistant Valerie Haney, a former Sea Org worker who was alleging kidnapping and stalking. Burdge upheld his decision after a motion for reconsideration, and a California appellate court denied Haney’s petition for a writ of mandate. Like the Garcias, Valerie would actually have to go through the Scientology arbitration before she could appeal Burdge’s ruling.

These are major victories by Scientology, and they’re anxious to try the same tactic against Masterson’s accusers.

We’ve pointed out that Carnell Bixler’s attorneys seem to have made some strong arguments against Scientology’s arbitration gambit, and Judge Kleifield seems more conscientious and thorough than his LA Superior Court colleague Judge Burdge. But Scientology itself is obviously anxious to get this matter before the judge today, and is feeling confident after victories against the Garcias and Haney.

Unfortunately Jeffrey Augustine is unable to help us out today and can’t be in the courtroom. We tried to get access to today’s hearing via telephone, as we have in the past with Judge Kleifield’s department, but the Superior Court communications office turned us down this time. We’ll get you the results of the hearing as soon as we can, but it may take us a little longer than usual.

——————–

“Your thetan has to be able to tolerate three kinds of space in order to endure at all in this universe. This universe isn’t any savage beast sitting there. It’s just a sort of an inanimate boobytrap which we have made ourselves, really. And then we victimized ourselves with it, so we have all been betrayed. This universe couldn’t have had a better purpose in going forward so that everybody could be the, have the beautiful sadness of having been betrayed. And yet you look into it, the only person that can betray an individual is himself.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 6, 1953

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——————–

“It is not easy to stay afloat, especially now. Scientology doesn’t have a good reputation, so to make a decent living out if it is hard. Being somewhat Indie is easy, but to try it 100 percent for a living, that is hard.”

——————–

1996: Golden Era Productions set off a bomb this week during the shooting of their new movie “Man the Unfathomable.” From the San Bernardino Sun: “The Church of Scientology blew up a replica of a downtown Los Angeles building early Tuesday at the former Norton Air Force Base, shaking people awake as far away as Redlands and Highland. The movie is about misunderstandings between people that ultimately turn violent, said Hilary Dezotell, a Golden Era spokeswoman. The scene with the explosion is about an agent who infiltrates a group and winds up blowing up a building.”

——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“I understand where you’re coming from but the bottom line is that Scientology is a con and conning people is illegal, regardless of whether the victims are dupes and suckers.”

——————–

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 January 6.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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] Kansas City gets its first Scientology wedding: We solicited some advice for the young couple
[TWO years ago] Juliette Lewis wants on ‘Red Table Talk’ — and here’s what Jada Smith should ask her
[THREE years ago] Tracking Scientology’s claims about membership — a new digital project with Jonny Jacobsen
[FOUR years ago] After Scientologist is outed, leaders he fooled still stick up for his quack drug theories
[FIVE years ago] SCIENTOLOGY DENIED: APPEAL SHOT DOWN AFTER YEARLONG WAIT
[SIX years ago] RIFFER MADNESS: Scientology leader David Miscavige goes smeary in new court filing
[SEVEN years ago] More Questions About Scientology-Style Drug Rehab And Insurance — This Time in Michigan
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology and the Presidential Election
[NINE years ago] Scientology Sunday Service: Your Open Thread For Worship (Or Whatever)

——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,112 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,616 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,136 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,156 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,047 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,354 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,222 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,996 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,800 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,116 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,682 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,601 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,769 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,350 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,611 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,649 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,362 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,887 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,417 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,968 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,117 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,437 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,292 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,411 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,767 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,070 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,176 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,578 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,450 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,033 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,528 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,782 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,891 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 6, 2020 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, 14 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

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on November 06, 2020 04:00

The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 9: The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office

Where is Shelly?

That’s one of the most frequent questions we get about the Church of Scientology, referring to Michele “Shelly” Miscavige, the wife of church leader David Miscavige, who has not been seen at a Scientology function in a little more than 15 years.

We’ve written extensively about her disappearance since 2012, and through multiple lines of evidence we have come to believe that during that entire time, since the late summer 2005, she’s been held at a secretive small compound owned by a Scientology subsidiary known as the Church of Spiritual Technology which is in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles.

The CST compound is in a lovely spot, not far from Lake Arrowhead and a mile or so from the small mountain town of Crestline. A tiny hamlet nearby is known as Twin Peaks, and that’s how people usually refer to the compound itself.

Last year we went with an Australian news team to Twin Peaks, walked around the compound, and even rang the bell on the gate. We got no answer. Mike Rinder also went up there for the Aftermath series to show how private investigators are stationed across the street. He also spoke with a private investigator who claimed to have been stationed there, and said that Shelly is watched by armed guards to make sure she doesn’t escape.

So if Mike Rinder and your proprietor know where Shelly is, and we’ve both been up to the outside gate, why can’t law enforcement go in there and check on her?

Leah Remini attempted to do something about that when she filed a missing person report on Shelly with the Los Angeles Police Department in August 2013. A few days later the LAPD told reporters (after we had broken news of Leah’s move) that her report was “unfounded.” LAPD Lieutenant Andre Dawson told us that two of his detectives had visited Shelly and that she declined to make a statement. He didn’t confirm where the meeting took place, and when we asked him if the meeting had taken place in the presence of other church officials, he quickly responded “that’s classified” and wouldn’t say anything more.

Leah went to the LAPD because the address she had for the Miscaviges, the place where she was told to send cards and letters as a church member, was in Hollywood. But the CST compound in Twin Peaks is not in LAPD territory. It’s actually in nearby San Bernardino County.

In 2016, we heard from a branch of Shelly’s family that is not involved in Scientology. They asked us for some advice about what to do, saying that they at least wanted to make sure that Shelly was all right. We pointed out to them that the CST compound is not in Los Angeles, and so they approached the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, asking that a welfare check be done on her.

They were told that the Sheriff’s Department would require evidence that Shelly was at that location, and the department did nothing.

Surprised by that response, we sent our own letter to the Sheriff’s Department, explaining the evidence that Shelly was located at the compound, as well as a recent possible sighting of her in the town of Crestline itself. We received this response…

Hello Tony,

Concerning the welfare of someone within the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s department, any call for service we receive will be appropriately addressed and handled accordingly.

We encourage anyone with information regarding a crime, or potential crime, to contact Sheriff’s Dispatch or their local Sheriffs station to report it so the matter can be investigated and resolved.

Thank you,

Adam Cervantes, Deputy Sheriff

San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Dept.
Public Affairs Division

So, the LAPD claims it checked on Shelly in 2013 but won’t provide any details about it, and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department says it doesn’t have enough evidence that she’s at the CST compound to go check on her.

Is Shelly even alive? We see this suggestion a lot on social media, that Shelly is already dead or has been killed, and there’s a good reason why we tell people it’s probably not true.

Scientology may be very effective at keeping Shelly out of sight, but covering up a death is another matter entirely. Consider the case of Anne Tidman, for example. Also known as Annie Broeker, Tidman was one of the last people to see L. Ron Hubbard alive, and she was also kept out of sight at a Scientology compound for years. When she developed cancer and then became very ill, she was moved to an apartment in Hollywood, where she died in 2011. Scientology was able to keep news of her death quiet for several months, but eventually her family was told about it, and that’s how we became aware of it. If Shelly died, we think the news would get out even more quickly.

Also, Scientology’s attorneys, in reaction to Leah Remini’s episode, made claims to the media that they had either personally seen Shelly or communicated with her. Scientology attorneys may be unpleasant human beings, but they aren’t going to risk their law licenses and claim that a dead woman is alive and well.

Shelly is alive.

She is at the CST compound near Crestline, California, the same place she’s been for 15 years. (We have amazing drone footage of the place, and a former employee there even pinpointed where he thinks Shelly is living and working there.)

She is now 59 years old, and if claims of a recent sighting in the town of Crestline is correct, she may be in ill health.

And yes, she may be resigned to her fate.

But why can’t her family spend time with Shelly Miscavige? Why can’t she speak for herself? Why can’t we ask her to explain, in her own words, why she can never leave?

One major reason is that the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office refuses to do anything about David Miscavige banishing his wife to a tiny mountain compound for the last 15 years. And for that alone, the law enforcement agency finds itself on this list.

The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology
9: The San Bernardino Sheriff’s Office
10: Political shills
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11: Gary Soter
12: The city of Clearwater, Florida
13: Google and other tech titans
14: The Los Angeles Times
15: Jeffrey Riffer
16: James Packer
17: Louis Farrakhan
18: Mark “Marty” Rathbun
19: Wally Pope
20: Gensler
21: Parents who subscribe to ABCMouse
22: Graham Norton and other celebrity strokers
23: The apologist academics
24: Rebecca Dobkin and other low-level PI grunts
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25: DirecTV and filmmakers buffing Dave’s channel

——————–

“Just this morning I am in correspondence with the Atomic Energy Commission on some material and have been for the last year and a half. We have some answers in mathematics in which they’re very interested, and so forth…If a man is burned today, he’s going to suffer because of it. There isn’t much going to interrupt the course of that fission burn except Scientology…Atomic radiation isn’t actually too hard to handle on an alleviation basis — on an assist basis — if your boy is not in too bad condition, if preclear is not too bad condition.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 5, 1956

——————–

“What is so remarkable about Ron is he treated us as ‘adults,’ as the thetans we really are. He didn’t treat us as victims. He gave us the straight poop. It was like ‘hey, here is some incredible stuff and if you want to really go free this is how you do it.’ And one big way is to take responsibility for your own actions. Then you have some who started on that path, but because they didn’t step up to higher responsibility levels, or more accurately didn’t use tech to really come clean, are like little kids blaming Ron. And then you dig further and find out they have major crimes! Real criminals. And boy, these guys are the biggest ‘victims’ on the planet!”

——————–

2003: The New York Daily News reported that comedian Denis Leary raised money recently to allow New York firefighters to undergo Scientology’s purification rundown. “Denis Leary is denying allegations that he’s being used by Tom Cruise to spread the word of the controversial Church of Scientology. Leary raised $720,000 for firefighters this past week at his third annual Bash for New York’s Bravest, attended by Robin Williams, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McEnroe, among others. Leary said recently that Cruise wants to build the smoke-eaters ‘a steam and sauna place on Long Island [to help] their condition’ – which, he said, Cruise is funding privately.”

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——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“Goodnight everyone and get your rest because tomorrow we travel further up the McSavage River into the Heart Of Darkness.”

——————–

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 November 2.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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] AUDIO LEAK: You’re invited to a Scientology TV watch party at the Portland org!
[TWO years ago] Jada Pinkett Smith reconciles with Leah Remini and puts herself in Scientology’s crosshairs
[THREE years ago] Shakeup at Narconon Arrowhead: Former worker dishes fresh intel on Scientology’s rehab flagship
[FOUR years ago] An enduring myth in Scientology — that L. Ron Hubbard actually read your letters
[FIVE years ago] Can the tabloids ignore this photo of Tom Cruise getting his Scientology on?
[SIX years ago] Ken Dandar files another court appeal to get out of Scientology’s million-dollar noose
[SEVEN years ago] Luis Garcia Responds: We Don’t Trust Scientology’s Trustee Ploy
[EIGHT years ago] Dianetics Read Aloud: Let Ron’s Wisdom Wash Over You
[NINE years ago] Scientology Dyspepsia: Commenters of the Week!

——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,111 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,615 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,135 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,155 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,046 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,353 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,221 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,995 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,799 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,115 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,681 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,600 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,768 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,349 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,610 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,648 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,361 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,886 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,416 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,967 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,116 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,436 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,291 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,410 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,766 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,069 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,175 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,577 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,449 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,032 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,527 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,781 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,890 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 5, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 05, 2020 04:00

L. Ron Hubbard’s stolen valor: A new breakdown of his bogus medals by a military veteran

Longtime Bunker reader PickAnotherID revealed to us recently that he’s actually a 20-year military veteran with an expertise in military records and decorations. He told us that he’s been frustrated at L. Ron Hubbard’s “stolen valor” that was promoted by the Church of Scientology, and he says that some of the critics of Hubbard’s military record have also failed to give an accurate telling of just what he was entitled to. We think you’ll be impressed by his thorough examination of Hubbard’s war documents as he attempts to set the record straight, finally.

For his 2011 New Yorker story about Paul Haggis, “The Apostate,” Lawrence Wright requested clarification from Scientology regarding claims made by L. Ron Hubbard regarding his military service that were not supported by his actual Naval records. In response, church spokesman Tommy Davis sent Wright documentation and pictures of Hubbard’s awards that were supposed to support those claims.

Davis later sent me a copy of what he said was a document that confirmed Hubbard’s heroism: a “Notice of Separation from the U.S. Naval Service,” dated December 6, 1945. The document specifies medals won by Hubbard, including a Purple Heart with a Palm, implying that he was wounded in action twice. But John E. Bircher, the spokesman for the Military Order of the Purple Heart, wrote to me that the Navy uses gold and silver stars, “NOT a palm,” to indicate multiple wounds. Davis included a photograph of medals that Hubbard supposedly won. Two of the medals in the photograph weren’t even created until after Hubbard left active service.

Wright obtained his own copy of Hubbard’s complete record from military archives in St. Louis, and it contained no mention of war wounds. It did contain a “Notice of Separation,” but it was different from the one Davis had sent him.

There is a “Notice of Separation” in the records, but it is not the one that Davis sent me. The differences in the two documents are telling. The St. Louis document indicates that Hubbard earned four medals for service, but they reflect no distinction or valor. In the church document, his job preference after the service is listed as “Studio (screen writing)”; in the official record, it is “uncertain.” The church document indicates, falsely, that Hubbard completed four years of college, obtaining a degree in civil engineering. The official document correctly notes two years of college and no degree.

Scientology’s explanation for the difference between the seperation document they provided and the official document was the official one had been “sheep dipped” — purposely made misleading to protect what Hubbard had actually been up to because of his involvement in “intelligence work.”

As a military veteran with over 20 years of service, the repeated false claims to these awards by Scientology really irritate me. Also, almost a quarter of my service was with the USAF Security Service. I have to say the “sheep dipped” claim is one of the most outlandish statements I have ever heard. Instead, I would point out that Scientology’s bogus separation document and award display were prepared by total incompetents who knew absolutely nothing about military separation documents, medals, awards and qualification badges. While there are other areas in the bogus separation document that point to its being a forgery, I intend to focus on the “Stolen Valor” medal claims within it and the decoration picture provided to go along with it.

These claims dishonor those who actually put their lives on the line to rightfully earn them. It should be noted over the years there has been a lot of commentary spread around explaining why these award claims are bogus. Some of that commentary is accurate, some is not, and it’s generally scattered across a number of different forums, which makes trying to figure out what’s correct and what’s not a bit of a pain.

One of the most common mistakes in these commentaries is referring to the separation document as a ‘DD-214.’ Although similar, it’s not. It’s a “Notice of Separation From Naval Service, Naval Personel (NAV PERS) Form 553, Revised August 1945 (8-45).” For this discussion I will just refer to it as the ‘Separation Document”.

I am pulling together all the bits and pieces I can find, along with my own research, and putting together an explanation of exactly what’s wrong with Scientology’s picture of Hubbard’s awards. This will include a picture of each award, the criteria for each, devices used with the award and why Hubbard would, or would not, have been eligible for each one.

1. The fake separation document…

The genuine separation document (SSN redacted):

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The ‘Remarks’ section enlarged for easier reading:

The Medals and Ribbons: Photo provided by Scientology. Note the ribbon block is upside down. With our notations…

Note: Because the Ribbon block is displayed upside down, it means the stripes on R5 (which is the only one not symmetrical) are in the opposite order as shown. Correct way up, R5 visually identifies as the (British) STAR Medal 1939-45 and not the The War Medal 1939-45 (British), which has a completely different ribbon. In either case, Hubbard did not earn it.

KEY to above photo: R=Ribbon. M=Medal

R-, M# = No corresponding ribbon for medal shown
R#, M- = No corresponding medal for ribbon shown

Authorized award or badge identified on official separation document
Unauthorized award or device from fake separation document

R1, M1 = Navy Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon & Medal (Expert ‘E’ device missing)*
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R2, M2 = Navy Rifle Marksmanship Ribbon & Medal (Expert ‘E’ device missing)*
R3, M- = Médaille commémorative de la Guerre de 1939-1945 (French)
R4, M- = Bronzen Kruis (Bronze Cross – Netherlands)
R5, M- = Star Medal 1939-1945 (UK Commonwealth)
R6, M6 = Philippine Defense Medal (+3 silver stars)
R7. M7 = Armed Forces Reserve Medal
R8, M8 = National Defense Service Medal
R9, M9 = World War II Victory Medal (US) (Dec 1941-Dec 1946)
R10, M10 = European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (+ 2 Bronze stars)
R11, M11 = American Campaign Medal (+2 Bronze stars)
R12, M12 = Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (+2 Bronze stars)
R13, M13 = American Defense Service Medal (+ 1 Bronze star)
R14, M- Organized Marine Corp Reserve Medal
R15, M15 = Naval Reserve Medal
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R16, M16 = Purple Heart (Gold star shown on Medal but not ribbon)
R17, M17 = Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal (+1 Bronze star)
R-, M18 = Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal

2. The Pistol and Rifle Marksmanship Ribbons and Medals

Authorized or Unauthorized? The answer is yes. This has been a longstanding area of confusion ever since Lawrence Wright’s article came out in 2011. Even Chris Owen in his excellent book, “Ron the War Hero” has this to say about the marksmanship issue:

Rifle, Pistol Exp.

This presumably refers to the Navy Expert Pistol Shot and Navy Expert Rifleman medals. Both are awarded on attainment of rigidly prescribed marksmanship standards established in the Navy Landing Party Manual. The National Archives version of the notice of separation indicates that Hubbard was awarded these medals. Curiously, though, the Navy’s official summary of his war record omits them.

The majority of this confusion comes from people not understanding the marksmanship ribbons, which replace the metal marksmanship badges, are classified as ‘Qualification Badges’ by Naval Regulations, not medals. This is spelled out even today in ‘United States Navy Uniform Regulations NAVPERS 15665I’ (Emphasis and notes added):

5310. MARKSMANSHIP AWARDS (BADGES)
1. General. Listed below in order of precedence are the only marksmanship badges authorized for wear on naval uniforms:
U.S. Distinguished International Shooter Badge
Distinguished Marksman Badge
Distinguished Pistol Shot Badge
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National Trophy Match Rifleman Excellence in Competition (Gold)
National Trophy Match Pistol Shot Excellence in Competition (Gold)
Interservice Rifleman Excellence in Competition Badge (Gold)
Interservice Pistol Shot Excellence in Competition Badge (Gold)
Navy Rifleman Excellence in Competition Badge(Gold)
Navy Pistol Shot Excellence in Competition Badge(Gold)
Annual Rifle Squad Competition Badge (Gold)
Fleet Rifleman Excellence in Competition Badge(Gold)
Fleet Pistol Shot Excellence in Competition Badge (Gold) (National, Interservice, Navy and Fleet Badges in silver and bronze)
Rifle Qualification Awards
(1) Expert Rifleman Medal (Note: Created in 1969)
(2) Navy Rifle Marksmanship Ribbon (Note: Created in 1920)
Pistol Qualification Awards
(1) Expert Pistol Shot Medal (Note: Created in 1969)
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(2) Navy Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon (Note: Created in 1920)

Qualification badges are listed on Separation documents. They are not normally listed in the ‘Awards’ section of an individuals personnel records, they would be noted in the ‘Qualifications’ section. Which would explain the apparent discrepancy between Hubbard’s official NAV PERS 553 Separation document and the ‘Awards’ section of his personnel file.

The basic marksmanship ribbons are awarded for attaining ‘Marksman’ status. An ‘S’ device is attached if Sharpshooter level is obtained. And an ‘E’ device is attached if Expert level is reached. The requirements for each level when Hubbard served are laid out in ‘US Navy Force Landing Manual 19-62, 1938 Edition, Revised 1941’. Whoever put together the ribbon block for Scientology’s picture left the ‘E’ off both marksmanship ribbons, even though both the fake and official separation documents show he fired ‘Expert’. A mistake not even a Navy basic trainee would make.

The marksmanship medals shown in the picture provided by Scientology were not created until 1969, long after Hubbard had left the Navy. They are provided to those qualifying as ‘Expert’, along with the ribbon, for wear on the Dress and Mess Dress uniforms when medals rather than ribbons are required. Even though they are called medals, officially they are still classified as ‘Qualification Badges’. and only issued to those firing Expert.

So the answer is yes, both marksmanship ribbons are valid, although the should have an ‘E’ device attached. And no, the marksmanship medals were not earned by Hubbard and fall in the ‘Stolen Valor’ category.

The pre-1920 marksmanship badge:

Clasps were added for each year and individual qualified and for each level qualified for. For career personnel this could lead to badges reaching six inches or more in length, which is why it was discontinued and replaced by the pistol and rifle marksmanship ribbons in 1920.

Rifle (3 vertical stripes) and Pistol (2 vertical Stripes) Marksmanship Ribbons and Devices (Created 1920)

(Ribbon with no device = ‘Marksman’; ‘S’ device = ‘Sharpshooter’; ‘E’ device = ‘Expert’)

Rifle (3 vertical stripes) and Pistol (2 vertical Stripes) ‘Expert’ Marksmanship Medals (Created 1969):

Since they are only given to an individual qualifying as ‘Expert’ with the rifle or pistol, and so state on the medal itself, no device is attached to the suspension ribbon. These medals are only worn on the Dress, or Mess Dress, uniform when wear of actual medals is directed. They may not be worn if miniature medals are used.

The story goes, since the Navy’s marksmanship ribbons cannot be worn with medals, the ‘Expert’ medals were created to quiet Naval personnel who complained about their Marine Corp counterparts being able to wear their metal marksmanship badges with Dress and Mess Dress uniforms. Officially, it’s, “No comment.”

IN PART TWO: Hubbard’s bogus foreign medals and a final tally of his real and bogus awards.

— PickAnotherID

——————–

Former Sea Orger goes down to defeat

Brittany Ruiz, former Executive Director of the Advanced Organization of Los Angeles, failed in her attempt to be elected to the McMinnville, Oregon city council yesterday. The incumbent council president, Kellie Menke, outpolled Ruiz 65-34 in a contest that drew 5,000 votes.

In a couple of stories, we explained how excited we were to discover that a former Sea Org official like Ruiz was actually running for office, especially one who was connected to some of Scientology’s most intriguing stories. Her husband, Javier Ruiz, was actually named in Laura DeCrescenzo’s lawsuit against the church, and she described him as the “supercargo” whose job it was to discipline her for feeling homesick (she was 12 years old at the time). And Javier also figured in Leah Remini’s famous story of leaving Scientology. She told us that Javier turned her in for daring to ask questions about the disappearance of his wife Barbara Ruiz, a friend of Leah’s who had run Scientology’s “Writers of the Future” contest. After Javier turned her in for asking about that, it helped convince her to leave the organization.

Brittany and Javier weren’t interested in discussing Leah Remini or Laura DeCrescenzo, and complained that it was “religious bigotry” that their Sea Org pasts were being asked about, which is a typical Scientology strategy.

Voters, however, had plenty to think about, especially after Leah tweeted about Brittany, urging McMinnville residents not to vote for her.

That appears to have done the trick.

——————–

“We’re not trying to make superman here, because after you’ve done that is when you start to work to really make superman. Now you really have to get clever. Of course, a thetan in real good operating condition can make himself visible. It would be the shock of somebody’s life to suddenly realize that he was visible. And it would ruin this whole society and put us squarely in the hands of Bishop Shenanigan if you were to start doing this. Because you as a MEST body would never be able to explain fast enough to tell him you really weren’t Christ. They’ve been looking for him to come back — with blood in their eyes. You know, they only got a few nails in that guy last time.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 4, 1953

——————–

“I am very disappointed in the decline of civilization as a whole during the last 120 years. I place the blame primarily on the widespread use of drugs and chemicals, and the increase in population in urban areas in relation to rural population. People are generally more restimulated in heavily populated settings and develop or agree with more socialistic philosophies. When you are forced to confront and handle the physical environment, you tend to be more in present time. When in a heavily populated environ, there is more contagion of aberration.”

——————–

1995: Jeff Jacobsen provided a summary of the Cult Awareness Network Conference held last week in White Plains, NY. “About 270 attended and about a dozen Scientologists hung around the hotel bugging people. Early Friday morning Snipe and I set up his computer in the book sale room and gave an Internet demonstration during the day. I think we made several converts to the net there.”

——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“The way things are going evidence-wise and if DM is required to appear in court, I think Monique could demand an 8-figure deal without an NDA, without any contention.”

——————–

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 November 2.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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] David Miscavige and a slate of local shills welcomed the new Kansas City ‘Ideal Org’
[TWO years ago] Scientology is pulling out all the stops for its next gleaming Clearwater landmark
[THREE years ago] Read the police report for the 17-year-old injured at Scientology’s ‘Flag’ building
[FOUR years ago] Trouble for Scientology in 1966: When the Daily Mail called L. Ron Hubbard’s degrees ‘bogus’
[FIVE years ago] Hey, Mark Bunker, what’s taking that film of yours — ‘Knowledge Report’ — so long?
[SIX years ago] Scientology’s own plans show it paid $37 million for a building to serve only 87 people
[SEVEN years ago] Claire Headley Takes Us OT! Here We Go with Scientology’s Operating Thetan Level ONE!
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology Sunday Funnies: The Road to Clear!
[ELEVEN years ago] ‘Tom Cruise Told Me to Talk to a Bottle’: Life at Scientology’s Secret Headquarters

——————–

Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,110 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,614 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,134 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,154 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,045 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,352 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,220 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,994 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,798 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,114 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,680 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,599 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,767 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,348 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,609 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,647 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,360 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,885 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,415 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,966 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,115 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,435 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,290 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,409 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,765 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,068 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,174 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,576 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,448 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,031 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,526 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,780 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,889 days.

——————–

Posted by Tony Ortega on November 4, 2020 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, 14 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

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Published on November 04, 2020 04:00

Luke Catton still being ‘Fair Gamed’ years after he exposed Scientology’s rehab racket

When we saw Mike Rinder announce that he and Leah Remini were talking to Lucas Catton for their podcast this week, we reached out to him for an update on how things have been going for him.

Our readers have heard less lately than we used to from Luke, who at one time was president of Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility, Narconon Arrowhead in Oklahoma. We first met him when he came to New York in 2013 to film an episode of Rock Center about Scientology’s deceptive rehab racket. And he was a key source for us on a lot of Narconon stories over the years.

That same year he was on Rock Center he put out a book and later pulled it from circulation (and then put out another book), but we hadn’t heard much from him recently. And we sure weren’t prepared for this update from him…

“The police were called on me over Labor Day weekend to do a welfare check on my kids. Obviously there wasn’t any reason for it, and I was confused and furious and had to find out who did it. I was eventually able to get a copy of the records and traced it back to a Scientologist in Clearwater who had called. To me that was a clear sign that there is still a lot more work to be done, and now they’ve kicked this hornet’s nest again.”

Yes, once again we have an organization calling itself a church falsely calling in government agencies on former members to try and get them in trouble over their parenting. No big deal. Doesn’t every church do it?

Scientology did the same to Jason Beghe and Marc Headley. It’s a favorite tactic of their dirty tricks department.

And now they’ve tried it on a person who hasn’t said much about them in a couple of years.

Genius tactics.

Anyway, we’re glad that Leah and Mike have talked to Luke for the podcast. You can listen to it right here…

——————–

Another fun round with Jim Paris

Although your proprietor and radio host Jim Paris come from different political backgrounds, we sure have a lot of fun coming together over the subject of Scientology. Sunday night we had another fun time with Jim, and we hope you enjoy it as well…

Advertisement

——————–

“People look all the way through books of philosophers, the Bible, life, to find something that will agree with them. At first glance, they’re trying to look for something to agree with. Nah, they’re not looking for something to agree with, they’re looking for something on which they have sufficient experience to establish a certainty. And you go down and you get a book — old Will Durant’s book The Story of Philosophy — whenever you get it out of the library you’ll find page after page, underscore, underscore and an underscore here and an underscore there and exclamation points over in the borders and it’s all marked up, old copies of it. Libraries have to replace it every time they turn around. Because people in their great enthusiasm will underscore ‘God is good.’ Here these rather clever statements one way or the other which are quite profound and quite interesting of which somebody could be certain and then they pick all the way through. The thing they find ‘God is good.’ Fine.” — L. Ron Hubbard, November 3, 1953

——————–

[Indies doing OT TR Zero over Zoom.]

——————–

1997: The New York Times reported that a German Scientologist has been granted asylum in the United States. “A federal immigration court judge has granted asylum to a German member of the Church of Scientology who claimed that she would be subjected to religious persecution had she been required to return to her homeland, the woman’s lawyer and a Scientology official said Friday. While few details of the case were available, it is believed to be the first time the United States has given asylum protection to a Scientologist. The Church of Scientology has been waging a highly public international campaign against what it considers discrimination against its members by the German government.”

——————–

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Tom Cruise and dirty tricks

“Opus Dei wields more political influence around the world than the Church of Scientology could ever dream of.”

——————–

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 November 2.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing set for October 29 in White Plains, NY delayed to January.
— 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 a writ of mandate denied Oct 22 by Cal 2nd Appellate District.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Nov 6 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Oct 19: Feshbachs still considering further appellate relief.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.

Concluded litigation:
— 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.

——————–

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.

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 coming November 1 to Netflix.

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] Add ‘The Last Samurai’ to Tom Cruise movies Scientology uses for themed fundraising
[TWO years ago] Never public: L. Ron Hubbard Jr.’s devastating 1972 takedown of his father and Scientology
[THREE years ago] EXCLUSIVE: DA’s office asked Leah Remini not to air episode about Danny Masterson
[FOUR years ago] Scientology strikes back at Leah Remini as publicity for her upcoming series explodes
[FIVE years ago] Ten years ago, ‘South Park’ rocked Scientology in a way it’s never recovered from
[SIX years ago] Dani Lemberger, who led a breakaway Israel mission, sues Scientology for libel and fraud
[SEVEN years ago] Sunday Funnies: Roslyn Cohn’s One-Woman Show Set to Skewer Scientology
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology’s Policy of “Disconnection”: A Mother’s Open Letter to Her Children
[NINE years ago] Tom Cruise and Baby Suri Embarrassed? This is Scientology, So Someone Has To Pay

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Scientology disconnection, a reminder

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 2,109 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,613 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,133 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,153 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,044 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,351 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,219 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,993 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,797 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,113 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,679 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,598 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,766 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,347 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,608 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,646 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,359 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,884 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,414 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,965 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,114 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,434 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,289 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,408 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,764 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,067 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,173 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,575 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,447 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 2,030 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,525 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,779 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,888 days.

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Posted by Tony Ortega on November 3, 2020 at 07:00

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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, 14 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

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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