Some personal news from Tony Ortega, the Underground Bunker’s proprietor

Hey, gang. I have some personal news that I wanted to share with you.

In October 2021, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Fortunately, we had caught it very early, and so my doctors put me on a regimen of active surveillance, with regular visits to monitor the situation.

Then, this past March, a biopsy confirmed that the situation had advanced so that surveillance was no longer enough and we’d have to make some decisions about treatment.

But recovering from a biopsy takes time, and so I had one question for my doctor: Can I go cover a trial in Los Angeles in the meantime?

He gave me the green light, and so in April and May I got the chance to cover the second trial of Danny Masterson like I had the first, bringing you rapid reports from the courtroom multiple times a day, which was a tense but thrilling experience. The massive amount of feedback I received from you, the readers of the Bunker, really made the crazy work of trying to type up what was said in the courtroom all worth it.

And on May 31 I had the surreal experience of seeing the verdicts read, and watching Masterson handcuffed and led away to custody. And again, I want to thank you for the feedback I received. It was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my reporting career. And I’m grateful that I was able to report from the scene, even though I knew that I had some medical issues to deal with when I got home.

Later this month, I will be going in for surgery, and my doctors are very encouraging about my future chances of living cancer-free. And although there will be some interruptions here at the Bunker, they tell me I should be back at work on a normal schedule fairly quickly.

However, there will be a period when I will not be able to travel. And as a result, I will not be able to go to Los Angeles for Masterson’s September 7 sentencing.

This is a great disappointment for me, but I am sure that the Bunker will still be able to provide coverage of that day with the help of our correspondents.

I knew that if I didn’t go to the sentencing there would be questions, and I wanted you to hear this news directly from me.

Thank you again for the great support you have given to this enterprise for the past 12 years, and I am hoping to keep it up for a long time yet.

In fact, I’m already banking on my recovery: Jim Underdown, my old friend at Center for Inquiry West, has booked me for a speaking engagement in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 19.

I am looking forward to it, and I’m hoping some of you will come out to share a few laughs at David Miscavige’s expense.

— Tony Ortega

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Jane Doe 1 hearing moved to November

Yesterday, Jane Doe 1 and the three institutional defendants she’s suing — Church of Scientology International, Bridge Publications, and the Religious Technology Center — filed a joint stipulation to the court asking that today’s hearing be moved back to October 30 or later. The court docket, meanwhile, indicates that the next hearing in the case has been moved back to November 6.

The lawsuit was filed in late December but not unsealed until June 7, at which time the defendants were served for the first time. They point out that they have until September 18 to respond to the amended complaint, and so they were asking, with Jane Doe 1’s agreement, to move the next hearing in the case back until they’ve had a chance to submit those responses.

There’s no mention, in the stipulation that was filed yesterday, about the other two defendants that Jane Doe 1 is trying to locate and serve, Scientology leader David Miscavige and Sea Org recruiter Gavin Potter. Attorney Graham Berry had told the court that they have been unable to locate either of them, and are seeking to bring them into the case through substitute service, which was going to be one of the things today’s hearing would have addressed. We’ll presumably have to wait until November to learn more about that issue.

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Chris Shelton is going Straight Up and Vertical

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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).

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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

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