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 SUPER POWER COUNTDOWN: Six Days to Blast-Off!

We’re still pinching ourselves that this Sunday, after all this time, Scientology’s “Flag Building” — better known as the “Super Power Building” — will be opening up, 15 years after it was []

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Scientology Attacks Garcia Filing; Marc Headley Schools Clearwater’s Mayor

Last week, Luis and Rocio Garcia responded to Scientology’s most serious attack on their federal fraud lawsuit with a harshly-worded court brief which also included a declaration from Luis Garcia himself.

On Friday, Scientology filed a new motion which is asking for Garcia’s declaration to be rejected. Why? Because Garcia is now alleging facts which contradict []

Luis Garcia Responds to Scientology’s Arbitration Scheme

If you’ve been following our coverage of Luis and Rocio Garcia’s federal fraud lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, you know that the lawsuit is facing a possibility of dismissal because of a question of jurisdiction. However, until that can be resolved, there’s another key issue the lawsuit must overcome if it’s going to continue []

The Tom Cruise Smear Machine: Accusations From His Deposition You Haven’t Heard

Hundreds of pages of court documents in Tom Cruise’s $50 million lawsuit against Bauer Media, publishers of In Touch and Life & Style magazines, were put into a public court file recently, and yesterday, RadarOnline pounced on a short excerpt from a deposition given by Cruise.

We have more pages from Cruise’s deposition than Radar posted, []

Statistically Speaking: Jefferson Hawkins Takes Us Into Scientology’s Numbers Fixation

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 []

More Questions About Scientology-Style Drug Rehab And Insurance — This Time in Michigan

We’ve been watching things deteriorate for Scientology’s closed drug rehab center in the Atlanta area — Narconon Georgia — whose employees are now being investigated for potential criminal charges following a raid by law enforcement in April.

Our readers will likely remember that documents pried out of Narconon Georgia during a wrongful death lawsuit inspired []

Luis Garcia Responds: We Don’t Trust Scientology’s Trustee Ploy

Yesterday, Luis and Rocio Garcia of Irvine, California filed their response to Scientology’s latest attempt to derail their federal fraud lawsuit in Florida. Attorney Scott Pilutik took pains to help us all understand the basic (if lesser known) legal concept of “diversity jurisdiction” that Scientology had put into question with its latest motion.

Scientology argued, nearly []

Claire Headley Takes Us OT! Here We Go with Scientology’s Operating Thetan Level ONE!

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 part in this []

Sunday Funnies: Roslyn Cohn’s One-Woman Show Set to Skewer Scientology

Los Angeles actress Roslyn Cohn’s sense of timing is impeccable. She’s debuting her one-woman show about Scientology, “diffiCult to Leave,” on November 25 in Los Angeles — right between the dates the church itself has set for events that seem like last-ditch efforts to stave off Scientology’s steady decline.

Scientology has announced to its members that []

Dates for Scientology Events Announced Last Night: Super Power in Two Weeks!

Multiple sources sent us several different internal church messages this morning which all claim that last night at Scientology graduation ceremonies the church finally announced dates for upcoming events to be held in its giant tent in Clearwater, Florida.

We can imagine that today, Scientologists around the country are scrambling to get flights and accommodations, because []