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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Giuliani pals plead not guilty, and by invoking privilege may bridge impeachment gap

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

[Regarding this story: Giuliani Associates Parnas And Fruman Plead Not Guilty, Raise Executive Privilege Concerns]

Recently indicted Parnas and Fruman are threatening to invoke privilege because they were (a) working for Giuliani on behalf of the president; and (b) had retained Giuliani as []

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Scientologist defendants plead not guilty as Medi-Cal fraud trial scheduled for Nov 21

[Hanan Islam at the Oct 7 preliminary hearing, sketch by Mona S. Edwards]

Yesterday at Los Angeles Superior Court, four defendants were arraigned and pleaded not guilty to charges that they ran a sophisticated scheme at a Scientology Narconon rehab clinic, defrauding the Medi-Cal insurance program of almost $4 []

Ambassador Bill Taylor’s testimony makes a liar of Gordon Sondland and is bad for Trump

[Bill Taylor]

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

As expected, ambassador Bill Taylor’s testimony today was bad for the White House and Trump. It was expected because, if you recall, Taylor was the one who texted Gordon Sondland that he felt it was “crazy to withhold security assistance for []

HBO appeals in ‘Leaving Neverland’ fight with Michael Jackson estate over a 1992 contract

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

[Regarding this Hollywood Reporter story: HBO Taking Michael Jackson ‘Leaving Neverland’ Dispute to Appeals Court]

This is pretty interesting. Michael Jackson’s estate wasn’t happy with HBO’s “Finding Neverland” documentary, so it looked to the boilerplate non-disparagement and arbitration clauses in a wholly unrelated []

DAVID MISCAVIGE, YOU HAVE BEEN SERVED

 Just checked the court file in the lawsuits brought by Valerie Haney and Chrissie Bixler, et al. (the lawsuit against Danny Masterson), and what do they both []

Jehovah’s Witnesses say you should join because the Bible is so ‘harmonious’ and consistent

 In a new short video, ex-JW activist Lloyd Evans takes on a Jehovah’s Witnesses tract that includes this precious []

These are reasons the Founders included the Emoluments Clause Trump calls ‘phony’

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

Trump: “You people with this phony Emoluments Clause”

If it feels like “Emoluments Clause” is a phony thing cooked up to box Trump’s presidency in, know a few things []

What’s causing Christianity to dive in the U.S.? Um, seen Europe lately?

[Dreher used this image for his column. Oh boy.]

Thanks to our friend Roy Edroso, we have long enjoyed the columns of conservative writer Rod Dreher, but perhaps not in the way Dreher intended. (That’s just our way of plugging our friend Roy — you should really read him if you don’t already — and to []

Four dead in Bangladesh over a Facebook post that offended Muslims

 Police in Bangladesh say they had no choice but to open fire on demonstrators who were threatening their lives. Four people were killed in shooting by the police, and many others were injured, photos posted by CNN []

David Miscavige at Scientology’s IAS event: What he claims, and what’s really going on

[Dave, still wearing the wedding ring.]

Last night, Scientology posted its photos from its 2019 IAS event that was held a week ago at Saint Hill Manor in East Grinstead, England. The usual week-long delay occurred so that Scientologists in other parts of the world had a chance this weekend to see video of the event []