Tony Ortega | The Underground Bunker

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]

Leaving the NBA for Jehovah’s Witnesses and more, on the Cult Awareness Podcast

[Darren Collison]

Darren Collison ditched his NBA career right when he had a chance to cash in on free agency. Why? He says it’s because he wants to dedicate his life to his work as a Jehovah’s Witness.

Our ex-JW host, TV actor Jerry Minor, discusses that decision, as well as some key ideas about JW shunning […]

Leah Remini’s ‘Aftermath’ nominated for another Emmy: Tell her your favorite scenes

[More honors for our dynamic duo]

The only problem with another Emmy nomination being announced yesterday for Leah Remini: Scientology and the Aftermath is that the news comes several months after the end of the third season, which seems like a long time […]

It’s not hard to figure out where L. Ron Hubbard came up with Scientology’s space cooties

[A couple of Burks covers]

After Ron Hubbard had sold the rights to Dianetics to Don Purcell in 1952, he had to create a new subject from whole cloth. Much of the “new” material that he now called “Scientology” came from Aleister Crowley — including the notion of “entities.” But entities proved unpopular, and would only […]

Jokes aside, has Scientology ‘Clear’ Joy Villa managed to ‘safepoint’ the White House?

Our longtime readers know that we’ve watched for years (at least as far back as 2013) as ‘Princess Joy Villa’ went from Scientology Celebrity Centre wannabe to Make America Great Again icon, Congressional maybe-candidate, and then fell from political grace almost as quickly as she […]

Is it time for Scientology to replace its cruise ship? If so, we’ve done the shopping.

[MV Freewinds]

With the opening of additional ‘Ideal Orgs’ in recent years Scientology claims to be experiencing rapid expansion. They have expanded their facilities at Advanced Orgs in Copenhagen and Sydney, and opened a new AO in South Africa. If this expansion in buildings is being met by an expansion in membership they should consider adding […]

Scientology’s targeting of children is only getting more blatant as the church struggles

This photo was posted very publicly on Facebook by the Scientology ‘Ideal Org’ in Sacramento, with the following […]

Scientology front group claims it fed an anti-psychiatry story to the L.A. Times

[Kenneth Kramer]

We’ve told you about Kenneth Kramer before. He’s a Scientologist and private investigator who operates PsychSearch.net, part of Scientology’s “psych busting” activities aimed at utterly destroying the psychiatric profession so it can be replaced by L. Ron Hubbard’s mental health […]

Nxivm judge isn’t in a mood to approve post-trial relief from convicted defendants

[Judge Garaufis and Nancy Salzman]

Judge Nicholas Garaufis has denied Nancy Salzman’s motion to have her ankle monitor removed and her curfew lifted as she awaits sentencing for her part in the Nxivm racketeering enterprise. According to the New York Post, the judge gave no explanation and simply wrote “Application Denied.” […]

Scientology and the FDA: The conspiracy that never was

[The FDA raid of Scientology in 1963]

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays an outsized role in Scientology’s roster of villains. On January 4, 1963, five US Federal Marshals, accompanied by an FDA inspector and an officer of the Washington, DC police department, raided the downtown row house of the Washington Scientology org, […]

When Scientology has you dividing up funerals because family never really matters

[Sunny and her grandparents]

“Wait, mom, you want me to do what now?” I asked her. She was sitting across from me, pen and paper at hand. I had been under 24 hours watch for three months. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was about to be let free. It was May […]

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