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]
FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

Monthly Archives

Lawsuit heading for trial shows Trump’s appeal to the easily scammed

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

In less catastrophic times this might have gotten more attention than it’s getting now, so I’ll just mention that a lawsuit against Trump and his family filed by scammed investors survived what is probably the last hurdle before []

ADVERTISEMENT

Leah Remini to Jane Doe after dismissing suit against Scientology: ‘You let no one down’

 We’re still stunned that one of the three big lawsuits filed against the Church of Scientology and its leader David Miscavige last year was suddenly dismissed, as we reported on Monday. []

Mark Bunker wants to get the FBI looking at Scientology in Clearwater

 [Make sure you’ve seen yesterday afternoon’s breaking news about Jane Doe’s lawsuit being []

JANE DOE DROPS CHILD SEXUAL ASSAULT SUIT AGAINST SCIENTOLOGY AND DAVID MISCAVIGE

[David Miscavige]

The Underground Bunker has learned that on Friday, a day after she learned the Clearwater Police Department was closing a criminal investigation of her allegations against the Church of Scientology, the woman going by the name Jane Doe instructed her attorneys to drop her lawsuit that was based on the same allegations against the []

On the wearing of masks and personal responsibility, from a legal perspective

[Learned Hand, 1872-1961]

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

Learned Hand (yes, that’s his name) was perhaps the most famous US judge never to ascend to the US Supreme Court. He was revered as an eloquent writer and was widely cited — probably the most cited non-SCOTUS judge in []

A shocking glimpse inside Scientology’s floating cathedral: ‘All I hear is desperation’

[Valeska Paris and Criceida Leon]

We’re still knocked out by the amazing leaked conference call that Rod Keller brought us yesterday. Sharron Weber, commanding officer of Scientology’s private cruise ship the Freewinds, was recorded giving marching orders to Australian “Field Staff Members,” exhorting them to sell more Scientology courses amid the obstacles of the coronavirus []

Leaked audio of Scientology ship commander giving marching orders during the pandemic

 We have an unusual leaked conference call from Scientology’s private cruise ship the Freewinds. It was intended to be heard only by Scientologists in the ANZO continent (Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania). []

He was the drummer in a rock ‘n’ roll band: Eddie Stratton’s Scientology story

[Eddie Stratton, on the far left in this One Minute Silence lineup]

Jon Atack introduces us to yet another former Scientologist today, drummer Eddie Stratton. What a treat.

In 1996, I received a hilarious 11-page hand-written letter from Eddie Stratton detailing his experiences in Scientology. I responded and received a 20-page letter by return of post. It []

NXIVM: Keith Raniere objects to pandemic plan of being sentenced by video on June 23

[Judge Garaufis, Keith Raniere]

Former Nxivm sex slavery cult leader Keith Raniere was found guilty last June of crimes that could put him away in prison for the rest of his life, but numerous delays have put off his actual sentencing while he sits in jail in []

It’s 2008 all over again, this time with commercial real estate, says whistleblower

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

[Regarding this story: Whistleblower: Wall Street Has Engaged in Widespread Manipulation of Mortgage Funds]

Whistleblower describes the same pattern that led to the 2008 crash, only with commercial mortgages instead of residential mortgages: systemic overvaluing of properties, which garbage numbers are packaged and []