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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Claire and Bruce Take Us Into the Bizarre World of Scientology’s Operating Thetan Two!

How many trillions of years back can you go?

Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom []

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The Oiliness Table, For Real! A Look Inside Scientology’s Super Power Building

Our thanks to the eagle-eyed researchers over at WhyWeProtest.net, who have been scouring Facebook to find photos taken by Scientologists who were at this weekend’s festivities in Clearwater, Florida.

We’ve been posting some images taken by church members of the parties that began on Friday. And now, one Scientologist in particular appears to have broken the []

EXCLUSIVE: First Interview with the Principal of Will & Jada Smith’s Shuttered Scientology School

In 2007, Jacqueline Olivier was hired by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith to turn their home-schooling experiment into an actual bricks-and-mortar institution. A year later, the New Village Leadership Academy opened its doors as protesters showed up to picket the school — by then, it was known that the Smiths had asked Olivier to []

LIVE OVER CLEARWATER: Watching Scientology from an Eye in the Sky

A helicopter just lifted off carrying former Church of Scientology members Mike Bennitt and Mike Rinder, who are headed for downtown Clearwater to film and report on Scientology’s big Super Power Building opening today.

Bennitt’s carrying a couple of different cameras for filming and still shots, and after they touch down in a couple of hours, []

Scientology Super Power Sunday Funnies! Let’s Get Oily!

The big day is finally here, and we can hardly stand it. This afternoon, Scientology’s $200 million white elephant epic cathedral is going to open for tours (Scientologists only), and before long, one assumes, wealthy church members will be making their way to the fifth floor for their Super Power Rundowns.

All weekend, the parties have []

Jon Atack: Did Mary Sue Hubbard Doubt Scientology’s Key Experience?

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 on Saturdays he’s helping us sift through the legends, myths, and contested facts about Scientology that tend to get hashed and []

Judge James Whittemore Reins In the Garcia v. Scientology Case

Judge James D. Whittemore

If you’ve been following our coverage of Luis and Rocio Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, you know that there have been quite a few motions and responses and declarations filed in the last few weeks.

We were in Tampa to see Judge James Whittemore deny an attempt []

Jefferson Hawkins Drops In To See What Condition Our Scientology Condition Is In

Jefferson Hawkins was once the top marketing executive for the Church of Scientology and helped it reach its greatest extent with the famous “volcano” TV ads in the 1980s. He’s told his tale of getting into and out of the church with his excellent books Counterfeit Dreams and Leaving Scientology, and he’s helping us understand []

LISA MARIE PRESLEY ON SCIENTOLOGY: “CRAZY CRIMINAL PEOPLE”

Lisa Marie Presley is inching ever closer to speaking publicly about leaving Scientology. And yesterday, she seemed to take a pretty big move in that direction.

In April of last year, we first pointed out that a new song by Lisa Marie contained words a Scientologist in good standing would never use. The song was “You []

Bruce Hines Joins Us As Claire Headley Keeps Us Moving Through Scientology’s OT Levels!

Bruce Hines

Claire Headley is taking us on our journey to train as Scientologists. She and her husband Marc were Sea Org workers who escaped from Scientology’s International Base in 2005. She spent years working with Scientology’s “tech,” and was trusted to oversee the auditing of Tom Cruise. Go here to see the first []