| The Underground Bunker

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]

Why does the media go along with the GOP’s ridiculous moving of goalposts?

Attorney Scott Pilutik wrestles with the news of the day, from a lawyerly perspective…

Smart rethinking of the ‘goalposts’ metaphor in this set of […]

The impeachment will be imperiled if Dems actually pay attention to GOP clowning

Attorney Scott Pilutik wrestles with the news of the day, from a lawyerly perspective…

[Regarding this story: This Impeachment Won’t Be a Legal or Political Battle. It Will Be an Information War]

Everything Dahlia Lithwick writes here is spot-on, but I’m reminded of the words of many coaches I’ve had through life, and that’s to clear your […]

Nxivm defendant turned witness: Lauren Salzman on being Keith Raniere’s ‘slave’

[Lauren Salzman and Keith Raniere]

Our correspondent Dianne Lipson was again in court today, and gave us a riveting account of defendant-turned-witness Lauren Salzman as she described being Keith Raniere’s slave — while Raniere never took his eyes off of […]

In Colombia, Scientology’s ‘Casa Hubbard’ has a pretty interesting neighbor

Regular correspondent Jeffrey Augustine has a rather startling discovery to share with […]

David Palter, 1952-2018: Remembering a Scientologist who became a steady critic

[Gregg Hagglund, Nan McLean, and David Palter watch Anonymous in 2008]

We’ve written before about Scientology’s battles with its critics in Toronto. We obtained documents that described how one Scientologist did his best to harass Gregg Hagglund, a church critic who may be the main reason Scientology has never attained charitable status in Canada. […]

Clearwater Baptist pastor reflects on his message about Scientology, stands by it

[Pastor Willy Rice, during his July 23 sermon]

Pastor Willy Rice of Calvary Church in Clearwater, Florida told his congregation that the church would host a “public forum” about Scientology on July 22 with Leah Remini and Mike Rinder which would be filmed as an episode of their A&E series, Scientology and the Aftermath. But after […]

Leah Remini’s ‘Troublemaker’ will become a Lifetime movie: Who plays Tom Cruise?

It’s Leah Remini’s world and we’re all just living in it. The King of Queens actress continues to surprise us after she defected from the Church of Scientology in 2013, wrote a bestseller about it in 2015 (Troublemaker: Surviving Scientology and Hollywood), and then rolled the dice last year with an A&E television series, Scientology […]

Scientology in hot water again for cutting down trees without permission

What is it with David Miscavige and trees? He seems to be in such a hurry to pave over the world in the name of Scientology, the church leader is in hot water again for cutting down trees without […]

An enduring myth in Scientology — that L. Ron Hubbard actually read your letters

Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than three years he’s been helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend […]

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