The Underground Bunker Podcast

Yesterday evening, Alex Barnes-Ross joined your proprietor as we made our first experiment with Substack’s new live video feature. Paid subscribers got to watch it and comment and ask questions, and now everyone can see the result. We hope you’ll be interested in becoming a paid subscriber and joining us live for the next video. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

We had a feeling that Judge Barber was going to reject the motion for reconsideration by Valeska Paris and the Baxters. But that doesn’t make their situation any less infuriating. We thought we’d add a little more background and details to this morning’s news. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). E-mail tips to tonyo94@gmail.com. Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to a special podcast series… Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

We’re still reeling over what happened in a Los Angeles courtroom today, when Scientology managed to keep a ruling that was devastating for them from becoming final. How? By having David Miscavige send his personal attorney down to the courthouse to tell the judge he was off the case. How did he get away with that in a case that was filed last August? We explain how Miscavige is using his wealth and privilege to game the system, and US Courts are simply not equipped to deal with an organization like Scientology that only deals in bad faith. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). E-mail tips to tonyo94@gmail.com. Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series… Up the Bridge: A journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

What a week Phil Jones has had, with his stealth operation in Los Angeles to put up a billboard on behalf of the Aftermath Foundation, and then the controversy that then ensued. We wanted to ask him even more questions about what went down and how he’s feeling about it, and we hope you enjoy our conversation. As usual, you can listen to the podcast (above) or watch it at our YouTube channel, below… Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). E-mail tips to tonyo94@gmail.com. Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series… Up the Bridge: A journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

With a little more than a week before election day (and with early voting already underway), it was great timing for Mark Bunker that Tracey McManus revealed in the Tampa Bay Times this week that Clearwater police determined it was a couple of Scientologists who were caught stealing Bunker’s yard signs. So we checked in with Wise Beard Man about how the miscreants were caught, what they’re doing about it, and how his campaign has been going otherwise. We also brought up some other Scientology news to get his reactions, and of course that turned out to be a lot of fun. As usual, you can listen to the podcast (above) or watch it at our YouTube channel, below… Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). E-mail tips to tonyo94@gmail.com. Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series… Up the Bridge: A journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

We waited a long time for the four-year drought to end and for Scientology leader David Miscavige to start putting on his Ideal Org dog-and-pony shows again. But imagine how long the wait was for the poor saps who had been gouged for donations to pay for the thing as far back as 20 years ago! We were reminded of what those Scientologists were put through when Kat, a former Austin stand-up comic, returned to remind us that a few years ago she had helped us put together footage of those wild fundraising days after her own infiltration of the Austin org in 2017. She was curious about the Ideal Org opening last week, and when she went by she was stunned to hear David Miscavige actually making reference to that “Crazy Town” fundraising, and gave us a fun report about it. So we asked her to come on the podcast and reflect on all of it — her infiltration of the org, the people she met there, the crazy fundraising, and Saturday’s celebration of Miscavige’s ambition. As usual, you can listen to the podcast (above) or watch it at our YouTube channel, below… Mexico City goes Ideal! (Again) This morning Scientology released photos of its Ideal party in Mexico City last night as the church opened its second Ideal Org in that town. Once again, David Miscavige got the adulation he so craves. “Remember, the very essence and life force of an Ideal Org is, as our Founder envisioned, ‘An activity where people came to achieve freedom and where they had confidence they would attain it.’ That is what we celebrate today. It is the gift you are extending. And the vision made true by you, the heroes of this movement, in creating this Ideal Org. You want to see history in the making in this Latin American megacity? Well, the moment is upon us—right here and right now.” As for shills, Scientology managed to attract a Mexican congressman! First up, however, was Cristian Badillo, identified as “Director of the National Consciousness for Religious Freedom Foundation.” Sure, that sounds legit. He was there to heap praise on Hubbard’s little booklet of plagiarized moral sayings. “To realize the Mexico we want, the truth inside The Way to Happiness must be passed on, person to person, until it stretches from Baja to the Yucatán. I’ve been privileged to deliver the precepts into barrios and congregations of faith. I’ve delivered them into juvenile prisons. And, just as I personally experienced, I witnessed others have their own recognition of the truth. A truth as certain as the ground beneath one’s feet. At which point, it was undeniable: L. Ron Hubbard has written a universal language. And we owe it to humanity to tell people of every background, every faith, everywhere, ‘You can discover your own way to happiness!’” Next up was Congressman Luis Zamora Romero of the state of Nayarit. “I searched sky and earth for ways to show people their human rights—until I discovered you. We share the belief that human rights are not only a right, but a duty from one person to another. That’s why we have taught both the victims and those who violate them. We even hosted a national youth day celebration with over 7,000 in attendance. Working together, we arranged 9,000 Human Rights booklets on the ground to spell out ‘Know Your Human Rights’ and thus creating the longest such sentence in history. In so doing, we not only demonstrated our collective dedication, we set a Guinness World Record! And so, united we will soon set another world record as the largest movement on Earth.” Oh, brother. The congressman was followed by Fabián Aranda García, identified as legal advisor to the National Human Rights Commission. “The pursuit of justice is what drove my most important challenge—and thus my partnership with the Church of Scientology and CCHR. It was when a new law declared, ‘A doctor could lock an individual up and decide the person could no longer determine the future of their own health, their money, their education.’ Because, in the eyes of the law, they...

Readers have been raving about the pieces that Val Ross has been writing for us lately, so we thought it would be fun to have a conversation with her for our latest podcast episode. Wow, we were not disappointed as Val goes into some really striking moments from her life as a Scientologist. After we recorded it, however, she let us know that she had some things a bit mixed up on her chronology, and asked us to post this errata… Back when all that was happening with Mark it was so chaotic for me. My brother and I worked out the correct timeline of the events, so if you could add this errata for the listeners.On my birthday in 1983 was when my mom died of a stroke at age 49, I was still with Mark. My brother remembers that because after my mom died, he dropped out of college to take care of my dad and was there when my dad was on the phone trying to talk me into staying with Mark because being alone was the worst thing in the world. So when Mark beat me up it was my birthday in 1984. I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer February 1984, my dad died Easter Sunday 1984. As usual, you can listen to the podcast (above) or watch it at our YouTube channel, below… Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

Well, we’ve done it again. We’ve gone and collaborated with Apostate Alex and we think you’re going to like the result. Over at his website, Scientology Business, we have a fun piece about some emails Alex obtained with a records request that help explain the shenanigans Scientology that was up to with the help of local officials to try and squelch the IAS protest last November. We also talked about Dave’s Ideal Org mess and more. As usual, you can listen to the podcast, above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, below. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

November 1966. February 1995. December 2021. Those are the three epochal turning points in a remarkable life that is the subject of this week’s podcast. Last week, we were in Los Angeles to cover a couple of hearings in Leah Remini’s lawsuit. After the first one, we got a message from a surprising source. It was someone, a legend really, whom we had admired and written about for many years. It was Dennis Erlich, inviting us to lunch. This was the “OG” we mentioned in the Group Therapy podcast over the weekend, that we were so excited to meet, finally. For the newcomers: In 1995, a spectacular battle occurred between Scientology and the Internet as the church and David Miscavige attempted to strangle an information revolution as it was just beginning. The first and most shocking battle in that war broke out on February 13, 1995 when Scientology agents, accompanied by police, raided Dennis Erlich’s Glendale, California home and seized his computers because he had been quoting Scientology policies in online debates. More people were raided later that year in the US and Europe as Scientology tried to kill the discussion of its secretive policies on the early Internet. Scientology lost that war, and we all owe Dennis a debt of gratitude that he went through years of legal battles so that the rest of us, nearly 30 years later, can write freely about Scientology’s controversies and abuses on the web. But as you’ll learn in today’s podcast, Dennis has influenced our culture in other ways as well, which we talk about as we discuss the three epochal eras of a fascinating life. November 1966. February 1995. December 2021. We hope you are as enlightened and moved as we were to discuss this with such an important figure. As usual, you can listen to the podcast, above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, below. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

Alexander Barnes-Ross continues to produce results, and this time he has a remarkable update: His meddling with Scientology's affairs has resulted in an MP calling for an investigation of the Church in Britain. We're in California and yesterday we took a cycling excursion to visit a favorite aunt, but we managed to do a Zoom call with Alex on our phone. Alex tells us that he had written to his Member of Parliament, a woman named Diane Abbot, and she stunned him with the letter she sent… “I have written to HMRC, who brought the case against the Church of Scientology for ruling that their ‘chapel’ was a place of worship, urging them to look again at options to appeal this decision and also to more broadly investigate the church's finances for fraudulent activity. I will share with you any response I receive.” Wow. That seems pretty significant. Please watch the video and let us know your reaction. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to special podcast series Group Therapy, our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

Tammy Synovec’s tale about sitting down next to a Scientologist on a flight out of Los Angeles generated a big reaction. For three hours, she had an opportunity she’d been hoping would happen for a long time: To talk to a current Scientologist about the problems she saw when she was a member. We’ve been talking to Tammy behind the scenes for some time now, and we know that her experiences in Scientology are heartbreaking. We’re fortunate that she wanted to tell that story in our latest podcast episode. We did our best to keep things to an hour, which means she couldn’t go into every detail, but we think you’ll see that Scientology put her into some pretty impossible situations as yet another family was ripped apart by David Miscavige’s organization. As usual, you can listen to the podcast, above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, below. Help for Mark Plummer’s family We’re still stunned that we’ve lost Mark ‘Warrior’ Plummer, who died unexpectedly this week at 72. We heard from his daughter Alisha, who says that she and her brother have a couple of issues they’re dealing with now. First, expenses related to their father’s passing. And second, what to do to secure Mark’s massive collection of Scientology materials. Go here if you’d like to help Alisha out with those expenses, and for inquiries about Mark’s collection, drop us a line. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

In August 2022, we talked to Andreas Heldal-Lund about his diagnosis with terminal cancer, and the brave way he was facing the end of his life. So his death this week was something we had sadly been anticipating, but it hit us hard nonetheless. We came to know Andreas in 2001 because of the way he helped Tory Christman leave Scientology, and the kindness and wisdom he displayed. We had been a big admirer of him ever since. In our podcast episode, Tory tells us again that amazing story with new details we hadn’t heard before, and we get a chance to celebrate, once again, this man of integrity who did so much to help expose the abuses of the Church of Scientology with one of the most important sites on the Internet, Operation Clambake (xenu.net). As usual, you can listen to the podcast, above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, below. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

Twice now, we’ve partnered with “Apostate Alex” Barnes-Ross to bring you the speeches of Scientology leader David Miscavige. On November 3, Dave addressed the IAS gala under the big tent at Saint Hill in East Grinstead, England. And last Saturday, he gave a stemwinder to the audience at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Both times, those speeches were leaked to us, and Alex put out the audio track while we posted the full transcripts. Dave made lots of claims in those speeches, and so we thought we’d discuss that with Alex, and also catch up with him on what else he’s been up to. As usual, you can listen to the podcast, above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, below. Continuing our year in review: The stories of March 2023 We checked in on Dani and Tami Lemberger at their independent Scientology mission in Haifa, Israel. It was sad and surprising to hear that former Scientology Sea Org member Jenny Burpee, who had played such an important role in Kat White’s life, had died at only 39. Scientology tells Judge Gail Killefer that it has assembled an arbitrating panel for Valerie Haney’s case, but it won’t tell Valerie which people have been chosen. And for good measure they say they want $107,000 in sanctions from Valerie. (They didn’t get it.) What a treat: For our podcast, we interviewed ‘Q: Into the Storm’ figure Fredrick Brennan, who turns out to be very knowledgeable about Scientology! Clarissa Adams joined the podcast to tell us how Scientology continues to rip families apart to the present day. Clearwater’s mayor, Frank Hibbard, suddenly resigned, and we talked it over with Mark Bunker. What a strange move. We figured it was time to tell you about John Blosser, Scientology’s latest reporter shill, who had begun targeting Graham Berry, but who has been targeting your proprietor, Mike Rinder, and Leah Remini for years. A disgraced former reporter for the National Enquirer (and imagine how hard you have to work to become disgraced from that job), he sometimes admits that he’s working for Scientology’s Freedom magazine, and other times keeps quiet about it. What a job. With all of the recent action in Valerie Haney’s case, she agreed to an interview about it which we placed at Rolling Stone. Nearly four years after filing her lawsuit, she was facing the prospect of having to submit to Scientology’s “religious arbitration.” On March 28, Judge Olmedo made a series of important rulings ahead of Danny Masterson’s retrial, which included the great news that she’d be allowing Claire Headley to testify as an expert on Scientology. Then, on the last day of the month, a devastating setback in the labor trafficking lawsuit filed by Valeska Paris and the Baxters: Saying his hands were tied, Judge Thomas Barber granted Scientology’s motion to force the case into “religious arbitration. Incredible. A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2022: Valerie Haney’s motion for reconsideration is turned down, and she’s still stuck in arbitration. Jane Doe 1’s 2004 letter to Scientology’s IJC requesting permission to report Danny Masterson to the LAPD. The latest roster of wealthy whales keeping Scientology afloat. We were shocked to learn of the death of Ginger Sugerman. Will Smith’s fateful slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars naturally aroused curiosity about Smith’s involvement in Scientology. And we were stunned to learn that Hanan Islam, still under indictment, had died of cancer. A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2021: First new footage of Shelly Miscavige in years, from a 2001 event. Steve Fishman got out of prison years early. Scientologist-owned ‘Real Water’ turned out to be poisoning people. ABC Mouse honcho Doug Dohring forked out another $10 million to Scientology and its “LRH Hall.” Rizza Islam named one of the twelve worst sources of online antivaxx disinformation. A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2020: Grant Cardone pushing pushing bogus stem cell cures. David Miscavige was briefly scheduled for a deposition. Danny Masterson’s accusers...

Alex Barnes-Ross, a/k/a ‘Apostate Alex,’ continues to be on a roll. Fresh off of his success with his three days of protest at Scientology’s IAS weekend, he dug into one of the details of the third day, the Sunday charity concert. Images showed that East Grinstead’s mayor was there to pick up a large charity check, and then later at Twitter he defended his cozy relationship with Scientology. In particular, the mayor pointed to Scientology’s large presence in town. But Alex crunched the numbers and showed that Scientology’s percentage of the population in East Grinstead is well less than 1 percent. So why is the mayor going out of his way to keep Scientology happy? We discussed this, as well as the upcoming event in Los Angeles, and once again we found Alex a delight to have on the podcast. Either listen to the podcast above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, embedded below. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s new This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

Alex Barnes-Ross, the former London Scientology staffer who goes by ‘Apostate Alex,’ just can’t stop getting into trouble. After the triumph of last week’s protest he planned at Scientology’s IAS gala in East Grinstead, he and Jeff from Canada, a/k/a YouTuber ‘PTS for Life,’ who had come over for the demonstration, made a side trip up north. They decided to swing by the Scientology org in Sunderland, and wow, did they get a surprise. The two of them tell us all about it in today’s podcast. And here are some images they took that go along with the tale they tell. Once again, choose your poison. Listen to the podcast (above), or watch the video version from our YouTube channel, below. Want to help? Please consider joining the Underground Bunker as a paid subscriber. Your $7 a month will go a long way to helping this news project stay independent, and you’ll get access to our special material for subscribers. Or, you can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

On Friday, we had a great time checking in with Alex Barnes-Ross after what turned out to be a very successful day protesting Scientology’s IAS gathering at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England. But what really seemed to catch Scientologists by surprise is that Alex and some of the other protesters came back for more on both Saturday and Sunday, which they found was not the case in the past. On Saturday, a smaller crowd of church members arrives dressed in black tie for the Patrons Ball, and on Sunday the locals are invited for a charity concert. But things really got interesting this time, Alex told us, when they stumbled upon the Scientologists holding an Ideal Org-like grand opening for a new “Qual” building on Sunday. We think you’ll enjoy hearing Alex explain the strange things that happened next! Take your choice: Listen to the audio podcast, above, or watch the video version at our YouTube channel, below. Want to help? You can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

Yesterday we told you that Alexander “Apostate Alex” Barnes-Ross had succeeded at getting the main road to Scientology’s UK headquarters shut down for his planned protest and march, making it a challenge for the Scientologists to get to their event, which begins on Friday. We also had some fun with the news that Scientology celebrity and Dharma and Greg actress Jenna Elfman will be emceeing the Sunday night charity concert. But last night we figured we better get on the horn with Alex again after he told us there was some troubling news: He was getting conflicting reports about whether Scientology had managed to use some leverage with local officials to get the protest’s road closure shut down. Doesn’t that sound just like Scientology? Well, we thought you’d like to see our conversation as we got the latest from Alex. You can listen to the podcast above or watch the video version below at our YouTube channel. Want to help? You can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe

We’ve really enjoyed working with Alexander “Apostate Alex” Barnes-Ross lately, and we’re pretty thrilled by the idea that he’s planned a major protest to greet Scientologists on their way to the IAS gala in East Grinstead, England this coming weekend. We recorded this conversation before Alex got the news that his request for a march in East Grinstead had been approved. (Read about that development here.) We had a lot of fun talking about the big impact he’s made in a short amount of time, and we hope you enjoy it too. As usual, pick your poison: Either listen to the podcast (above), or watch the video version at YouTube, below. Want to help? You can support the Underground Bunker with a Paypal contribution to bunkerfund@tonyortega.org, an account administered by the Bunker’s attorney, Scott Pilutik. And by request, this is our Venmo link, and for Zelle, please use (tonyo94 AT gmail). Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features: Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain Here’s the link for today’s post at tonyortega.org And whatever you do, subscribe to this Substack so you get our breaking stories and daily features right to your email inbox every morning. Paid subscribers get access to two special podcast series every week… Up the Bridge: A weekly journey through Scientology’s actual “technology” Group Therapy: Our round table of rowdy regulars on the week’s news This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tonyortega.substack.com/subscribe