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TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Sprayberry then and now] We’ll admit to enjoying the Michael J. Fox version of Teen Wolf when it hit theaters in 1985, but we didn’t manage to catch MTV’s Teen Wolf series that aired from 2011 to 2017. And for that reason, we’ve been essentially unaware of the career...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: We have a tale of two cities for you today. Or, two Scientologists at two of Scientology’s most important cities. On the one hand, there’s Catherine, who is rocketing up the OT (“Operating Thetan”) levels at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England, formerly home to...

In March, Scientology leader David Miscavige announced a new initiative aimed at children to a standing ovation by Tom Cruise and John Travolta. As a reminder of that, today in Clearwater, Florida — the town that once again bowed down to Miscavige’s desires — kids will be on the menu...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Tom Cruise and former East Grinstead Mayor Frazer Visser] We’ve heard from a lot of people who were astonished and frustrated at the votes in Clearwater, Florida and East Grinstead, England as local political councils abandoned reason and handed Scientology leader...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Dave can celebrate another win over local pols] As expected, the Mid Sussex District Council voted yesterday — 8 to 1 with 2 abstentions — to ignore the warnings from environmentalists and other nonprofit organizations and to allow Scientology to pave over some...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: One of the things we do here at the Underground Bunker is to actually examine Scientology’s “scripture” — the millions of words left behind by its founder, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986). Scientology is a fundamentalist movement, and its members are...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: We’re always glad to hear from Wise Beard Man… Christopher Kuo wrote a solid piece that I’m certain introduced Clearwater’s struggle with Scientology to a new audience. There were a couple of things that jumped out at me. The first was some details about David...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Councilman Mike Mannino gets some pub for his deal with Dave] It’s always interesting when the national press decides to take a look at Scientology’s actual doings in places like California or Florida, and what a fine job writer Christopher Kuo does for the Wall...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: It’s a pretty rare opportunity to talk to someone who has been on the cover of Scientology’s Celebrity magazine. But back in 1993, that’s exactly where Mitch Brisker was, appearing on the cover of Celebrity’s “Major Issue 268,” being celebrated for directing new...

Hubbard: Kitchen facilities. Dincalci: Kitchen, yes. Hubbard: Motels are not usually very posh. Dincalci: That’s true, especially on the beach. People go there for a vacation. Hubbard: We don’t want to be on the beach. Go inland if you can. Dincalci: OK. Hubbard: Go on the beach, you can...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: It’s Independence Day once again here in the United States, and a happy Fourth to one and all! Sure, we’re seeing a lot of worry about the state of this republic as it reaches the mighty age of 250 years old, but we choose to have some confidence that this ship of...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Randolph Jackson and the Delphi Academy in LA] We first told you in October 2024 about a lawsuit filed by a former student of Delphi Academy, a K-12 Lake View Terrace Scientology school, accusing the school of not protecting the student, who is going by John Doe, from...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Dave’s plans for Saint Hill appear to be going through] We have so much admiration and respect for a former London Scientology staffer by the name of Alex Barnes-Ross. He has made so many inroads in the UK educating media and politicians about the abuses he saw in...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [The Commodore and his forthcoming namesake] We’ve noted in the past how fundraising for Scientology’s project to build “L. Ron Hubbard Hall,” a 3,500-seat auditorium in Clearwater, Florida, has its own gamified levels of giving. Last year, for example, we learned that...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: Alex Barnes-Ross is keeping us in the loop about Scientology’s development plans at its UK headquarters, Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England. It was Alex, a former London Scientology staffer, who first pointed out that Scientology had not asked for necessary...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: Wide receiver and return man Rashid Shaheed is coming off a magical NFL season. In November, after coming back from a knee injury, he was traded by the New Orleans Saints to the Seattle Seahawks, and was a key part of the team’s journey through the playoffs and a win...

[Clearwater councilman Mannino is clashing with the Latvalas over Flag] Tampa Bay Times reporter Colbi Edmonds had another great piece about Scientology in Clearwater, this time about some surprising sniping going on between local politicians there. It’s in the wake of the city council’s...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [What a mix: Scientology, John Kucera, Danny Masterson and AI errors] We told you recently that we could understand why Scientology was asking California’s Second Appellate District what had happened to sanctions for a troubling set of AI blunders that had turned up in...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Leszkay and Gardner battled over Masterson] We hope you had a chance to join in with us yesterday as we watched, live, the oral argument hearing in Danny Masterson’s criminal appeal that was streamed online at the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles. It was a...

TONY ORTEGA Excerpt: [Justices Chavez, Goorvitch, and Richardson] On May 31, 2023, we were in the courtroom and heard the guilty verdicts and watched as Danny Masterson was cuffed and taken into custody. Now, more than three years later, Masterson gets his day in court as his appellate...