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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When your ex is into Scientology, a custody battle can get cosmically worse

[Michael Creger with Mike Rinder in Clearwater]

Chris Shelton interviewed San Diego resident Michael Creger for a new video this week. Shelton and your proprietor have been communicating with Creger for a couple of years, and you may have run across him in one of the Facebook groups dedicated to Scientology []

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Happy Birthday, Miss Lovely! And look what Paulette Cooper gave herself for a gift

[Paulette and her husband Paul Noble, with the books they published this past year. Photo by Tina Valant]

On July 26, 1942, a remarkable life began in Belgium that has become a huge part of why we watch Scientology year and year out. And now that it’s Paulette Cooper’s birthday again, we couldn’t wait to check []

For once, a target of Scientology gladhanding did his homework and said no thanks

[Dr. Patricia Adelekan, at the 2016 grand opening of the South Coast Mission]

One thing Scientology counts on is that if you puff up your local police, politicians, and public advocates with enough praise, they will gladly pose for photos and accept small trophies and other []

Inside Scientology’s emergency San Fernando Valley confab, planning for US takeover

 On Monday, we heard from a Los Angeles reader that Scientology had done something kind of unusual, changing its annual “Maiden Voyage” schedule in order to create a last-minute “convention,” scheduled for this Saturday on L. Ron Hubbard Way, as well as an “IDEAL USA” confab that was held this past weekend at the Valley []

Hey, slacker, come on back to Scientology — things are peachy now!

[Working for Scientology is so much fun now!]

On Saturday, we posted a strange, one-line letter that a Church of Scientology subsidiary sent to Sylvia DeWall. The letter was creepy, but it was difficult to tell whether it was an intimidation attempt or a hapless recruitment []

Sudden change in Maiden Voyage events in Los Angeles a clue to Ideal Org problems?

[A 2016 Scientology staff recruiting ad]

One of our most reliable Los Angeles area correspondents, who has gotten into numerous Scientology events and reported on them for us, told us that they were struck by a sudden change in plans that they found pretty significant. []

Evidence that Scientology is adopting an anti-vaxx strategy, and with political aspirations

[L to r: Jonathan Lockwood, Renee Bessone, and Greg Mitchell, founders of Conscience Coalition]

There’s a new group of Scientologists and their allies calling themselves the Conscience Coalition. It doesn’t have the official blessing of the church yet, but there’s no doubt they’re well connected with OSA, the Office of Special Affairs, which is responsible for []

Scientology failed to destroy Sylvia DeWall, but its latest letter to her is simply bizarre

[Sylvia and Tim DeWall]

We hope you remember the stunning tale of Sylvia DeWall’s exit from Scientology, a story we’ve told a couple of times. “Declared” — excommunicated — because she dared to watch Leah Remini and Lawrence Wright on television, her expulsion was caught on an audio recording, which we think is one of the []

Fans feeling conflicted about Tom Cruise and Scientology after seeing Top Gun 2 trailer

[He’s feeling the need, again]

Twitter lit up yesterday with people agonizing over the new Top Gun 2 trailer showing Tom Cruise playing his old character Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, some 34 years after the first film was []

Miss New York organization changes course, ditches Scientology front group

[Meghan Fialkoff, right, with a then-current and former Miss New York]

We have some stunning news for you. Yesterday, we received an email that really took us by surprise. Former Miss Kansas Sloane Lewis, who co-chairs the Miss New York organization, sent us an email to inform us that Miss New York would no longer be []