PODCAST: Apostate Alex helps us deconstruct David Miscavige's recent speeches

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 2023We 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 spoke out in sworn declarations. The pandemic arrives and cancels the L. Ron Hubbard birthday event. Mark Bunker gets elected to city council in Clearwater. We got our hands on David Miscavige’s secret briefing for Scientologists calling the pandemic a “planetary bullbait.”A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2019: R.M. Seibert made the entertaining Scientology-US Government-NY Yankees connection. Evidence that Tom Cruise and John Travolta both attended the LRH Birthday event. Sunny Pereira remembers when Lisa Marie Presley brought Michael Jackson into the Celebrity Centre. The London Org sends out an auditor training success story by Isabella Cruise. Man (later identified as Brian Statler) is shot dead at the Inglewood Ideal Org.A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2018: Scientology TV finally debuted, and featured David Miscavige in a short monologue. That same night, Leah Remini asked ‘Where’s Shelly?’ on the Aftermath. Arnie Lerma shot his wife in the face and then turned the gun on himself. And we learned that Kirstie Alley had achieved OT 8.A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2017: Scientologist actor Danny Masterson was under investigation for multiple rapes. Joy Villa mulled a run for Congress. We caught Marty Rathbun helping his old nemesis, the Church of Scientology, in a court case. We traced Marty’s dramatic arc from Scientology critic to Scientology attack dog. Leah Remini turned out to have helped finance the Scientology/NOI dance. Kuba Ka charmed us in a lengthy interview. And Reza Aslan laid an egg.A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2016: Attorney Ken Dandar dodges a million-dollar bullet. Tabatha Fauteux’s boyfriend tells us what really happened in her death while training for Scientology’s Narconon network. Belgium blows its prosecution of the church. And the saga of former Scientology helper cop, Skip Young.A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2015: Federal Judge James Whittemore hamstrung the Garcia fraud lawsuit with a stunning ruling, we dug up even more evidence that L. Ron Hubbard used the threat of “R2-45” to intimidate former church members, Paul Haggis gave us his thoughts as Alex Gibney’s Going Clear debuted on HBO, and we got to hear Sylvia DeWall being declared an SP while it was happening,A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2014: John Travolta mangled Idina Menzel’s name at the Oscars. We interviewed Russell Miller as his book Bare-Faced Messiah came back in print after 27 years. Jillian Schlesinger told us her gripping story of escape from the Sea Org.A LOOK BACK AT MARCH 2013: We had fun with SMERSH Madness. We leaked Sea Org life histories. Narconon Arrowhead CEO Gary Smith lost his professional certification.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 [email protected], 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 historyAvast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at seaOverheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a timePast is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientologyRandom Howdy: Your daily dose of the CaptainHere’s the link to today’s post at tonyortega.orgAnd 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