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]
FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

Monthly Archives

Nxivm bookkeeper Kathy Russell gets traction with her dismissal attempt

[Kathy Russell and Judge Nicholas Garaufis]

A few days ago we told you that among the Nxivm defendants, bookkeeper Kathy Russell had a novel argument in her attempt to get charges against her dismissed ahead of the April 29 trial []

ADVERTISEMENT

LEAKED: Scientology’s secret playbook for world domination!

 When Tarpley Hitt at the Daily Beast asked us about Scientology’s front group Citizens Commission on Human Rights, we emphasized to her that what made CCHR Scientology’s most unhinged front group was that its mission is not simply to criticize psychiatry but to destroy []

Rhino horn isn’t Chinese Viagra — it’s for the hangover the next morning

 How do we get Chinese and Vietnamese cretins to stop treating their ailments with pseudoscience that is causing the decimation of whole populations of animals like rhinos and []

An ex-Jehovah’s Witness explains why the ‘Bottlegate’ video is so crucial

[Melissa Beckwith and Tony Morris]

Since Lloyd Evans posted video of Jehovah’s Witnesses Governing Body member Anthony Morriss III buying a dozen bottles of expensive scotch at 11 am on a Sunday morning and dubbed it ‘Bottlegate,’ we’ve been interested in all of the scenarios Witnesses are coming up with to excuse his []

Scientology policy is to investigate rape victims seeking help, 1963 document reveals

[Could an L. Ron Hubbard directive make a difference in the Danny Masterson investigation?]

An ongoing rape investigation involving an accused Scientologist perpetrator and his (then) Scientologist victims just received a shot in the arm, we’re told, and it has to do with this website and something we published over the []

NXIVM: Actress Allison Mack pleads guilty — ‘I was lost and wanted a community’

[Allison Mack leaves the courtroom today after pleading guilty. Photo by VillageDianne.]

Our correspondent VillageDianne was in the courtroom just now as Smallville actress Allison Mack pled guilty to two counts — racketeering and racketeering conspiracy — and broke down in tears twice as she did []

Jehovah’s Witnesses help only their own at disasters? A Witness counters with links

 We’re always very happy to receive replies to our stories from Jehovah’s Witnesses who want to present their point of view. Yesterday, we posted a story by ex-JW Michael Paddock, who talked about being instructed to sneak around Red Cross officials in order to locate and help only Jehovah’s Witnesses in the relief effort after []

Scientology admits in planning docs it expects only 6 walk-ins daily at new facility

 We have a great new report from our man Graham in []

Patriot games: Killing a rhino for the good old red, white, and blue!

 OK, so you’ve hunted down one of the most targeted species on earth and ended its life with some high-velocity projectiles from a safe distance. You have your trophy, and maybe you get an erection from it or []

Jehovah’s Witnesses at natural disasters seeking only their own: A first-person report

 A couple of times recently in our discussions with Lloyd Evans, the issue of Jehovah’s Witnesses and natural disasters has come up. Jehovah’s Witnesses are obsessed with the idea that a bloody, global apocalypse is imminent, and so we’ve wondered how the organization is dealing with the actual localized catastrophes that come up from time []