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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Trump is drawing comparisons to L. Ron, but will Hillary favor Scientology as much as Bill did?

[Image by DonkeyHotey]

We hear it all the time. Doesn’t Donald Trump remind you of L. Ron []

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Who are the clergy Scientology convinces to attend its ‘interfaith’ farces?

Rod Keller keeps an eye on Scientology social media for us, and this week he spotted something he decided to dive into in more depth. Take it away, []

Atack: Why those who try to save Scientology from itself are doomed to failure

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 []

Gawker goes dark, but its impact on Scientology — and Tom Cruise — will never be forgotten

 We learned yesterday that next week, Gawker will shut down. For some of us who toiled in the trenches of New York journalism of a certain era, the news is hard to believe. Gawker had a big effect on the way online journalism is done (not all of it positive, some will tell you), and []

New Scientology financial disclosures reflect the dire state of its chief drug rehab

[David Miscavige visiting Narconon Arrowhead in the mid-2000s]

Contributor Jeffrey Augustine keeps a close eye on Scientology’s financial documents. And he has some new information today that backs up what we’ve been told anecdotally by our other sources — that Scientology’s flagship drug rehab center in Oklahoma, Narconon Arrowhead, is in serious trouble. Take it away, []

A rare gem from 1968: When the Daily Mail tracked down L. Ron Hubbard in Tunisia

Once again our great tipsters come through, and we just want again to express our gratitude. We’re deep into several big projects that we expect to turn into good things down the road, so for now we appreciate all the help we get from our great correspondents. (Speaking of big projects, these dog days of []

In 1951, L. Ron Hubbard’s fellow SF writers debated him about ‘badly-written’ Dianetics

 Underground Bunker reader Once Born, who runs the always informative blog, Scientology Books and Media, got his hands on a fascinating 1951 issue Marvel Science Stories that contains a three-part debate over Dianetics, L. Ron Hubbard’s invention that had been released the year before. In this piece, being released simultaneously here and at his blog, []

Former Scientology mouthpiece Tommy Davis is settling into his new role as Hollywood exec

[Tommy Davis as Scientology mouthpiece; his new BFFs in Hollywood, James Packer and Mariah Carey]

In May, we broke the startling news that former Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis had started a new job: He’s working for Australian billionaire James Packer, who at one time was Scientology’s richest customer. According to his LinkedIn profile, Tommy started his []

Got a Purple Heart? Scientology wants to exploit you

Rod Keller keeps an eye on Scientology social media for us, and this week he spotted something he decided to dive into in more depth. Take it away, []

Scientology’s fiery ‘Guardian’ before she hooked up with Ron, and other gems from our readers

 On Thursday, we had a special treat for you: A photograph of Diana Hubbard taken in 1982 that had sat in a photographer’s collection for 34 years before he dug it out and sent it to us. It was a stunning image of the daughter of L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology’s founder, and it produced a []