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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Scientology’s mystery sandwich: A ‘church’ where deception is a sacrament

 One of our readers forwarded an “FSM Newsletter” they received recently from the Church of Scientology. And reading it, we were reminded that Scientology is such a dishonest mess, we sometimes get inured to []

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Trump’s Roy Cohn just saved him the political headache of pardoning Michael Flynn

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

Attorney General Bill Barr — Trump’s Roy Cohn — just saved Trump the political headache of pardoning Michael Flynn by doing it himself. No attorneys other than the one Barr installed signed the motion to drop the prosecution. Perfectly []

Tom Cruise in orbit: Why it makes sense for NASA to launch Scientology’s space cadet

 What a welcome distraction it was yesterday as news spread that NASA, Elon Musk, and Tom Cruise were in talks to launch the Mission Impossible actor to the International Space Station in order to film scenes for an as yet unplotted []

Seniors seeing through Trump’s false choice that the economy more important than your life

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

[Regarding this story: Trump needs two electoral blocs to win. The pandemic is driving a wedge between them.]

Trump derives much of his support from finding boogeymen fashioned from our basest instincts to scare the shit out of the elderly, his primary constituency. []

Scientology has thrown millions at Ireland in recent years, and here’s the amazing result

 Thanks to a tipster we have another interesting look inside Scientology’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. []

We’ve highlighted the parts Danny Masterson wants removed from the Scientology lawsuit

 Service journalism! We aim to please.

Yesterday, we told you about the “demurrer” that Scientologist actor Danny Masterson filed in an attempt to remove himself from a lawsuit filed by four women who say that they’ve been harassed by the That ’70s Show actor and the Church the Scientology since they came forward with rape allegations []

Danny Masterson: Drop me from Scientology lawsuit if the ‘Jane Does’ won’t name themselves

[Danny Masterson]

In February Scientologist celebrity Danny Masterson responded to a lawsuit by saying the four women (and one man) suing him were merely seeking publicity and money. Since then, the five plaintiffs filed a new amended complaint which reset the case’s legal clock, and now the That ’70s Show actor has filed another []

History is going to be relentless and brutal about the Trump pandemic response

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

[Regarding this story: 34 days of pandemic: Inside Trump’s desperate attempts to reopen America]

This is mostly a recap of the last month or so since Trump agreed to extend social-distancing guidelines. If you’re paying attention there’s nothing especially new, but helpful in []

Scientology boasts about members keeping up online — and once again reveals its true size

 During the worldwide shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic Scientologists have been encouraged to enroll in extension courses — online courses that one pays for just as if they were studying in the orgs and missions. []

Georgia anti-psychiatry legislator goes even bigger for Scientology in the pandemic

 Remember Donzella James? We told you in January that mental health advocates were unhappy that the Georgia legislator, who made a speech at the Atlanta Scientology Ideal Org grand opening in 2016 and endorsed its quack anti-psychiatry efforts, was appointed by the state’s lieutenant governor to an important panel that is overhauling Georgia’s mental health []