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 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 []

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Former workers file EEOC complaints saying Grant Cardone forced Scientology on them

 We’ve been talking to Florida attorney Richard Celler about the religious discrimination lawsuit he filed on behalf of a man name David Bunting who is suing a Tampa medical services CEO, Vick Tipnes, for allegedly forcing Scientology courses on him, and firing him when Bunting refused. We told Celler how much Tipnes reminded us of []

Never-before-seen photo of Diana Hubbard, daughter of Scientology’s founder

 This has been a great week for tipsters here at the Underground Bunker. We’re very fortunate that so many people think of us when they find interesting news and documents about Scientology. In today’s case, however, it was something a photographer had been holding on to for more than 30 []

Scientology’s richest couple buys ‘Holy City,’ a California ghost town and former cult site

 Bob and Trish Duggan are the proud new owners of a pretty spectacular 142-acre parcel in California near Los Gatos, and we can’t wait to find out what they plan to do with []

The dapper CEO’s detailed response: Scientology wasn’t forced on disgruntled employee

 On Friday, we told you about Vick Tipnes, CEO and founder of Blackstone Medical Services in Tampa, who is being sued by a man named David Bunting. According to the complaint filed by Bunting in federal court, Tipnes pushed him to get involved in Scientology, and threatened him with “financial penalties” if he didn’t comply. []

Whale watching update: Your 2016 mid-year guide to who’s propping up Scientology

 Our thanks to Artoo45, who procured the newest Impact magazine and let us know what was in it. We love Impact, the official publication of the International Association of Scientologists, because it reveals who has been lavished with praise for increasing their donations and propping up Scientology in its latter []

Scientology’s sneaky anti-psychiatry front has found a new way to target kids in Florida

 It’s time again for Rod Keller’s Scientology Social Media Review. He’s made a specialty of hunting down the odd and wonderful things Scientologists post to the ‘net. He’s a chronicler who piece by piece builds a highly detailed assessment of what Scientology is doing around the world, and this is what he found for us []

So much for all that: Attempt by Garcias to revive Scientology lawsuit shot down by judge

 Well, so much for that. Tampa federal Judge James D. Whittemore has denied the latest motion by Luis and Rocio Garcia, who were attempting to revive their fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology and avoid struggling any further with the church’s Kafkaesque internal []

Florida man sues medical sleep testing company after its dapper CEO forced Scientology on him

[Blackstone Medical Services CEO Vick Tipnes]

Another lawsuit against an employer accused of forcing Scientology on an employee was filed this week, this time involving a Florida man who alleges that the CEO of a Tampa medical company harassed him and ultimately fired him because he wouldn’t subject himself to Scientology []

Nancy Cartwright’s ‘defense’ of Scientology is the saddest thing ever

 You may have seen the short clip put out yesterday by the Associated Press which features voice actress Nancy Cartwright — who plays Bart on The Simpsons — talking about her unhappiness with Lawrence Wright’s 2013 book Going Clear and the 2015 documentary that filmmaker Alex Gibney made from []