

What a day it’s already been as the community at the Underground Bunker prepares for tonight’s big event. As we wait for Leah Remini’s interview with ABC’s Dan Harris, bits and pieces have leaked out, only whetting our appetite.

Apparently, during the interview Leah shows the “Knowledge Report” that Katie Holmes wrote about her after the problems at Katie’s 2006 wedding with Tom Cruise. ABC apparently blocked out the information on that KR, but earlier this week we gave you detailed information from other Knowledge Reports that were written about that wedding and then later, about Leah’s disaffection with Scientology.

On Good Morning America today, Dan Harris got everyone worked up by saying that we would hear from Katie Holmes for the first time — but it turned out to be only a brief statement put out by Katie’s press people, not an actual interview, and simply an apology to Leah, not anything about Scientology. (But that didn’t keep some news organizations from biting hard on the notion that Katie was coming forward. Oops.)

And maybe the best part so far, Scientology put out one of its hilarious public statements today, and tried to slam Leah ahead of the interview. We loved this statement in particular: “When her firing from The Talk erupted into a public embarrassment for her in 2012, we tried to help pick her up off the floor. But she treated everyone around her in a degrading, bullying manner. Her behavior was intolerable.” We don’t even know where to begin.


What other surprises await us? We’ll be relying on you, dear readers, because we’re sitting in a hotel room in Perth, waiting to head for the airport and our long journey home from Australia. We’re counting on you!



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Brussels update: Accusations fly

Our man in Paris, Jonny Jacobsen, has a brief update for us on the criminal trial of Scientology happening in Belgium…

At the Brussels trial of Scientology Friday, one of the senior lawyers on the defense team reported having received a letter containing death threats against him and his colleagues.

Maître Pascal Vanderveeren, who is defending the Church of Scientology Belgium against a range of charges, including that of being a criminal organisation, said he had found the letter at his offices.

It attacked him and his colleagues as “greedy vultures” and “scum” for defending the church, adding: “The next time around it might be with severed heads, that seems to be the language they understand. Warn all those Scientology bastards, we are on the move and too bad for the blood that will be shed.”

“That goes beyond simple anti-Scientology prose,” remarked Judge Vérimont.

Me Vanderveeren asked that a copy of the letter be entered into the record — which Judge Régimont readily agreed to — and added that he and his colleagues had not ruled out filing a complaint with the police and registering as plaintiffs.

His colleague, Maître Christelle Van Dorpe, described how she and some colleagues had been accosted by a group of anti-Scientology protesters outside the courthouse some time after an earlier hearing had finished.

One man had approached them and called one of their colleagues “a piece of shit”. She said she did not know what would have happened if the gendarmes guarding the building had not intervened.

One of the group had left a visiting card with the lawyers, saying that if they wanted to know the truth about their clients they should visit the website listed. Produced in court, it was black, with what looked like a skull embossed on it.

Judge Vérimont commented that he did not have any powers outside the court, but the incident was noted.

Another lawyer suggested that the anti-Scientology campaigners had been taking photos of the defendants in the courtroom, before Maître Xavier Magnée corrected her.

He explained that in fact one of the defendants had been taking photos inside the courtroom before the start of proceedings. One of the campaigners had objected and called in police officers in the mistaken belief that it was illegal.

— Jonny Jacobsen



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BOOK NOTES



We didn’t get a chance to include photos in our book, so we’ve posted them at a dedicated page. Reader Sookie put together a complete index and we’re hosting it here on the website. Copies of the paperback version of ‘The Unbreakable Miss Lovely’ are on sale at Amazon. The Kindle edition is also available, and shipping instantly.

Our book tour is concluded for now. We’ll let you know about future appearances. Previous events: Santa Barbara (5/16), Hollywood (5/17), Orange County (5/17), San Diego (5/20), San Francisco (5/22), New York (6/11), Chicago (6/20), Toronto (6/22), Clearwater (6/28), Washington DC (7/12), Hartford (7/14), Denver (7/17), Dallas (7/20), Houston (7/22), San Antonio (7/24), Austin (7/25), Paris (7/29), London (8/4), Boston (8/24), Phoenix (9/15), Cleveland (9/23), Minneapolis (9/24), Portland (9/27), Seattle (9/28), Vancouver BC (9/29), Sydney (10/23), Melbourne (10/25), Adelaide (10/28), Perth (10/30)



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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 30, 2015 at 20:15

E-mail your tips and story ideas to tonyo94 AT gmail DOT com or follow us on Twitter. We post behind-the-scenes updates at our Facebook author page. Here at the Bunker we try to have a post up every morning at 7 AM Eastern (Noon GMT), and on some days we post an afternoon story at around 2 PM. After every new story we send out an alert to our e-mail list and our FB page.

Learn about Scientology with our numerous series with experts…

BLOGGING DIANETICS: We read Scientology’s founding text cover to cover with the help of LA attorney and former church member Vance Woodward

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

PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | Scientology’s Private Dancer

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

Our Guide to Alex Gibney’s film ‘Going Clear,’ and our pages about its principal figures…

Jason Beghe | Tom DeVocht | Sara Goldberg | Paul Haggis | Mark “Marty” Rathbun | Mike Rinder | Spanky Taylor | Hana Whitfield