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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Scientology’s biggest lie: That it will teach you to take control of your own life

Jon Atack is the author of A Piece of Blue Sky, one of the very best books on L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology. He has a new edition of the book for sale, and for more than three years he’s been helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend []

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Trademark lawsuit against Scientology’s drug rehab network settles weeks before trial

[Federal Judge Ronald A. White]

 What started out as a major lawsuit against 82 defendants connected with Scientology — including its leader, David Miscavige — has ended suddenly and will not be going to []

Scientology finally uses trillions of years of wisdom for something useful: The perfect burger

 A couple of our great tipsters alerted us to the amazing new brochure that Scientology has put out in the Los Angeles area, and we wanted to share some highlights from it with you. Because now, more than ever, there’s every reason to get your billion- and trillion-year traumas exhumed at Scientology’s main Los Angeles []

Our story last week about Narconon deaths kicked up a fuss — and news of two more deaths

 Rod Keller’s story last week about former staff members of Scientology drug rehabs dying produced some fascinating results. Here he is to follow []

Scientology’s latest drama in Russia: The mystery woman who infiltrated an org

 Our thanks to Danil Tylevich for making us aware that numerous Russian media outlets are carrying stories about a woman named Darya Varnovskaya, who spent more than a year working at Scientology’s St. Petersburg org in order to secretly gather information about []

Older than Pythagoras, and guaranteed to raise your IQ: What Scientology promised in 1954

[L. Ron Hubbard, circa 1954]

Previously, our tipster who searches through old newspaper clippings found for us a rare interview of L. Ron Hubbard that took place in Tunisia in 1968. One of our favorite revelations in that interview was that Hubbard didn’t deny that he’d claimed to have made trips to “Heaven.” []

Attempted murder, a fancy lawyer, and the long path to healing: A Scientology life, exposed

 This week Chris Shelton finishes his series about Larisa Smith with a disturbing conclusion — so prepare yourself. Here’s how Chris has chosen to introduce this final episode in his []

DRONE FLYOVER FINALE: Getting a close look at Scientology’s secret New Mexico compound

 And here we are, at the end of our weekly series of dramatic footage shot by an anonymous drone pilot who has flown over Scientology’s most secret []

Louis Theroux’s movie comes to Oregon, and Jefferson Hawkins is there to talk Scientology

 Jefferson Hawkins sent us this dispatch from the great state of Oregon after he attended a screening of My Scientology Movie there. If you’ve seen the film, you know that Jefferson provides some of the most sobering words about the state of Scientology and the role its enforcers played. We’re glad to hear that Jeff []

One of Scientology’s new Narconons got inspected — and turned up one surprising result

 On September 5 last year, the Church of Scientology opened a Narconon drug rehab center in a country that it had forsaken several years earlier. Narconon United Kingdom was formally opened on that day at its East Sussex location with the usual fanfare — a fancy backdrop, some confetti, and a few speeches. []