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 continues to see the pandemic as a public relations opportunity

 Scientology preaches social distancing on the web and in booklets it has produced. Members are taking extension courses at home rather than coming into their local org, which is a good way to prevent infection. But some members can’t resist making alliances with other groups, even if it means bringing people into close proximity. []

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Scientology’s desperate response to pandemic is to let us see just how creepy it really is

 It’s been almost a month since Scientology canceled its L. Ron Hubbard Birthday Event in Clearwater, Florida on March 13 and church leader David Miscavige put out his secret “bulletin” responding to the coronavirus []

Nurses in garbage bags, and no federal plan on testing: The nightmare continues

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

[Regarding this story: How Did the U.S. End Up with Nurses Wearing Garbage Bags?]

This goes deep into the whys and hows of the federal failure to assume a leadership, or practically any role on getting hospital workers the PPE equipment they needed []

Eleventh Circuit will hear oral arguments in key Scientology ‘religious arbitration’ case

[Coming this July: The Garcias and the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta]

We haven’t heard anything about the Garcias’ appeal at the Eleventh Circuit in a long time, but now there’s a significant development. The court has announced that it will hear oral arguments from both sides in Atlanta the week of July []

Social isolation across the pond, with ducklings and the pajama lifestyle

 Today I learned that COVID-19 stands for COronaVIrus Disease 2019. Who knew? Probably all of []

Bobette Riales’ house burned? Scientology: ‘Can’t sue us. Didn’t happen in California.’

[Bobette Riales and her dog Jet]

Scientology has filed a do-over demurrer against Bobette Riales, which it was compelled to do after Bobette and the other women suing Scientology and actor Danny Masterson filed an amended complaint and re-set the clock in their []

Trump is demonizing mail-in voting to get ahead of November

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

Trump is clearly signaling that he’d like November to look like yesterday’s disgraceful election in Wisconsin, which saw huge drop-offs in turnout as more people chose not to brave a []

With Scientology largely shut down by the pandemic, the few remaining members reminisce

[Ah, back in the day…]

We’ve been telling you for years that Scientology is in trouble. From a height of about 100,000 active members around the year 1990 (Scientology has never had the “millions” it’s always claimed), that number has steadily decreased until our most recent estimate from a recent high-ranking defector is fewer than 20,000 []

The uncertain consequences of coronavirus deaths being undercounted for lack of testing

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

[Regarding this story: Staggering Surge Of NYers Dying In Their Homes Suggests City Is Undercounting Coronavirus Fatalities]

I’ve seen numerous TV interviews with hospital personnel saying that they’re not even bothering to administer tests if the symptoms are obvious enough, and just treating []

Spencer Tracy helps us out with a mystery in the Land of Nod

 Australian fires. African locusts. Worldwide plague. Do we live in Biblical times or what? If the world really is ending, we thought it was time to prepare properly for Armageddon. By, you know, reading the damn thing. The Bible, that is. (Go back to the beginning []