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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Witness to ex-JW activists: You say you love us, so why try to change us?

[Going door to door. Credit: JW.org]

Ex-JW activists, you have been called out! We noticed this tweet recently by a gentleman we don’t know, Floyd Butterman, and we wondered what our readers might say about his []

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Scientology ‘body-routing’: When no one wants what you’re selling

[Hunting game in Burbank]

Our correspondent with photography skills is back, and we really enjoyed the story he told us along with his new []

And then there were four: Lauren Salzman joins her mother and pleads guilty in Nxivm case

[Lauren Salzman and her mother Nancy]

There it is in the Nxivm court file, the confirmation of what we’d heard earlier, that Lauren Salzman was among those Nxivm defendants deciding to plead guilty before trial is scheduled to begin next []

Clare Bronfman’s attorneys want Nxivm judge to lay off about Mark Geragos and his troubles

[Clare Bronfman arriving at court yesterday. Photo by VillageDianne]

We hear that today’s hearing regarding Seagram heiress Clare Bronfman and any potential conflicts regarding her attorney, Mark Geragos, was not nearly as eventful as yesterday’s, when Clare fainted in the courtroom. She collapsed yesterday after Judge Nicholas Garaufis had brought up the stunning information that indicted []

Scientology’s Narconon drug rehab expansion plans DENIED in Maryland and Michigan

 Frederick County, Maryland officials tell the Underground Bunker that a court settlement has ended the efforts by a Scientology subsidiary to get a zoning change so that it could build a 16-bed Narconon drug rehab center at the Trout Run land parcel, a contentious battle that has been going on for four years. Researcher Mary []

Bentley-driving, sword-wielding man killed by police officers in Scientology org

This story is getting stranger by the minute. We just saw Dave Lopez reporting for KCBS Channel 2, who said that the sword-wielding man who was shot dead by police officers today at the Inglewood Scientology org had arrived in a white Bentley.

A white Bentley? []

NXIVM CHAOS: CLARE BRONFMAN FAINTS AFTER JUDGE BRINGS UP MICHAEL AVENATTI

[Clare Bronfman leaves the courthouse with Mark Geragos. Photo by VillageDianne]

Wild times in the Nxivm case today as Clare Bronfman collapsed and paramedics were called. According to our court observer and others who were present, the Seagram heiress fainted after Judge Nicholas Garaufis asked whether disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti had secretly been negotiating a plea []

Nxivm: Judge calls emergency hearing as case thrown into chaos over Mark Geragos news

[Judge Nicholas Garaufis and Mark Geragos]

Judge Nicholas Garaufis has called for a 3 pm emergency status hearing today in the Nxivm case with just 24 hours notice, and has only called in two of the defendants: Nxivm leader Keith Raniere and Seagram heiress Clare []

The Mike Rinder bobblehead: Turning the tables on Scientology’s smeary harassment

In November, we pointed out that Scientology had responded to the start of Leah Remini’s third season of Scientology and the Aftermath with a typically smeary video taking swipes at Leah, her costar Mike Rinder, and guests on the []

If Jehovah’s Witnesses only benefit their own believers, why are they subsidized as a charity?

 Lloyd Evans has a really interesting new piece today at the website of Britain’s National Secular Society. And while the tax exempt or charity status of churches in the UK and the US are not exactly the same, we think our American readers can benefit from reading some of the questions Lloyd raises in this []