Tony Ortega is a journalist who was formerly the editor of The Village Voice. He's written about Scientology since 1995, and in May 2015 released a book about Scientology's harassment of Paulette Cooper titled 'The Unbreakable Miss Lovely.' He continues to monitor breaking developments in the Scientology world from an undisclosed location in an underground bunker he shares with four cats and one of them wrinkly Shar Pei dogs. Despite his super-secret security protections, you can still reach him pretty easily by sending him a message at tonyo94 AT gmail.com (Drop him a line if you'd like to get an e-mail whenever a new story is posted.) [Header image courtesy John Rickard]
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Danny Masterson done with appeals before Oct 11 trial? Can Scientology allow it to happen?

[Danny Masterson and el jefe, David Miscavige]

We have some updates on some of the legal cases we’ve been watching, and thought we’d collect them in a single piece. First, we are kind of surprised to find that Danny Masterson is apparently not trying to appeal his most recent defeat in his criminal rape []

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PODCAST: Sunny Pereira spills secrets of Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre

 One of our favorite correspondents here at the Bunker has been Sunny Pereira, a former Sea Org member who served in the Hollywood Celebrity Centre. She’s written devastating pieces for us not only about what happens there, but also how her own family was ripped apart by Scientology’s toxic []

Is Scientology key to solving a young woman’s disappearance? Police want to know.

[Yolanda Klug]

What a treat it was this week to speak with Ursula Caberta, someone we haven’t heard from in several years. Longtime readers will remember that Ursula was a political figure in Germany who spearheaded a state-sponsored effort to expose Scientology abuses in that []

While the planet melts: What Scientology predicted about climate change

 The dog days are really on us now. Some serious heat enveloped New York yesterday, and we know that some of our readers are in places that are going through unprecedented heat waves. Scotland, for example, had its hottest day in recorded history on []

Scientology fundraising is soaring to new heights! Scientology says so!

 We’re trying to get our heads around what is revealed in a new flier that one of our great tipsters sent us. It purports to describe a fundraising event held in Atlanta, but for the purpose of raising money for an as-yet-unopened “Ideal Org” in Philadelphia. And in order to get the Atlanta folks into []

Scientology: Valerie Haney has no choice but to submit to the church’s authority

 On Thursday, we told you that Valerie Haney’s attorneys submitted a 5-page declaration to prepare the new judge in her case for this Friday’s hearing. At that hearing, both sides will be explaining to Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gail Killefer why, more than two years after her predecessor Judge Richard Burdge forced Valerie’s lawsuit []

We have your invitation to Scientology’s holiest celebration of the year!

 Bunker readers! If you were never a member of Scientology but always wondered what it was like to get tracked down and sent invites to the next big church event, we have you []

L. Ron Hubbard’s daughter — the one he wanted to disappear — surfaces online

[L. Ron Hubbard and the daughter he turned his back on, Alexis]

What a surprise we got late last night when longtime friend to the Bunker Laurie “Chocolate Velvet” Harness posted some fascinating photos she had tracked down. []

The odd and slightly troubling thing Elon Musk and L. Ron Hubbard have in common

 We don’t keep a very watchful eye on Elon Musk and what he’s up to, so forgive us that we missed an interesting little news item about him last year which, once we were made aware of it, sort of knocked us for a []

For 30 grand or so, Scientology will let you into its shrine to L. Ron Hubbard. Here’s a peek.

 Thanks again to reader Rasha, we have a first look at another entertaining Scientology publication today, in this case Source magazine, the publication of the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida. []