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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Why Scientology Postponed The Super Power Event: Our Archeological Dig For Answers

Since the Tampa Bay Times broke the news Wednesday afternoon that Scientology had postponed indefinitely the October 6 grand opening of its “Super Power Building,” we’ve been digging for answers to why that decision was made, and what it might mean.

Formally known as the “Flag Building,” the massive edifice in Clearwater, Florida has been in []

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The Scientology Guide to Craigslist

On Sundays we like to reveal to you the mailers and fliers that our network of tipsters forward to us during the week.

This week we received something unusual and enlightening.

While we’ve been focusing lately on major crises gripping the top echelons of the Church of Scientology, it’s useful to remember there are still quite a []

FEAR: Jon Atack on Scientology’s Essential Ingredient

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 []

JENNA HILL RESPONDS TO BARBARA WALTERS ON SCIENTOLOGY EDUCATION

On Tuesday, Barbara Walters once again came to the rescue for Scientology, this time sticking up for the church’s “educational programs” on The View.

Whoopi Goldberg started the discussion by bringing up Jaden Smith’s infamous tweet, in which the 15-year-old actor encouraged kids to drop out of school. Jenny McCarthy then brought up Scientology, which the []

Scenes from Scientology’s Armageddon

We’re certain that Scientology will soldier on for years to come. But for now, we can’t help feeling that the End Days are upon []

MISCAVIGE BLINKS: SCIENTOLOGY POSTPONES SUPER POWER INDEFINITELY

Charlie Frago at the Tampa Bay Times has big news this afternoon. With the Church of Scientology facing a 5 pm deadline today to turn over more information about its scheduled October 6 grand opening event for its “Flag Building” (also known as the “Super Power Building”) the church sent word that the event would []

Scientology’s “Bridge:” Claire Headley Gets Us to CLEAR!

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 []

Jenna Miscavige Hill Talks to Us As Her Book Comes Out in Paperback

When Jenna and Dallas were in New York in February, we got to see the whole family

The paperback version of Jenna Miscavige Hill’s memoir comes out today, so we thought we’d give her a call to talk about several different things.

Back in February, when her book, Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology []

TOM CRUISE IN CLEARWATER: Scientology Gathering Big Names For Product Launch

Hey, Oblivion ‘s out on DVD!

After Tom Cruise made a disastrous decision to be more public with his involvement in Scientology in 2005, he’s been relatively low-key about the church, and he’s not been seen at many of its major events. Now, we have evidence of Tom’s presence at a surprsingly small-scale church []

Scientology Sunday Funnies: Texas Memories, Valley Whales, and Top Secret Plans!

We’re back in our underground bunker after a rather eventful trip to the Texas hill country.

The cats genuinely seemed happy to see us. The dog even came over for a rub.

We’re still in recovery mode, and we hope by tomorrow to be more caught up on the things going on in the rest []