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.)
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Welcome to our ongoing project, where we blog a 1950 first edition of Scientology’s bible, Dianetics, with the help of ex-Scientologist, Bay Area lawyer, and writer Vance Woodward. Go here for the first post in the series.
Last week, we started with the book’s opening sentence, which appears in a ten-page synopsis. That’s followed by a […]
Just a quick afternoon post to acknowledge that Paul Thomas Anderson’s movie, The Master, garnered three acting Oscar nominations today. (But PTA himself, and his film, got snubbed for Best Director and Best Picture.)
Joaquin Phoenix was nominated for Best Actor for his role as Freddie Quell, Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated for Best Supporting Actor […]
If you’ve read Nancy Many’s memoir, My Billion-Year Contract, you know that she had one of the most amazing careers in Scientology — from working directly with church founder L. Ron Hubbard, to spying for the church on its enemies, to running the Celebrity Centre in Los Angeles, and to being sent to the Rehabilitation […]
Two great excerpts from Lawrence Wright’s upcoming book, Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief, have appeared in The Hollywood Reporter today, and they are predictably amazing.
The longer piece looks at Tom Cruise’s relationship with Scientology leader David Miscavige, and Cruise’s wavering relationship to Scientology itself. We’ve taken a stab at those subjects […]
Discovery Channel’s true-crime sister network, Investigation Discovery, is airing a 1-hour dramatization of Nancy Many’s amazing life in Scientology next week, at 10 pm on Wednesday, January 16.
Many has been very effective at keeping this a secret, but recently she let us in on it and now that she’s seen the final edit, she’s very […]
Scientology’s “pope” a foul-mouthed, violent bully?
A new book coming out today by BBC newsman John Sweeney makes use of secret electronic communications that portray Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige, berating his underlings in texts with phrases like “You Suck!” and “Counter-Intentional Cock Sucker!” and “You Suck Cock on Hollywood Boulevard!”
Sweeney is famous for blowing up in […]
Once again, our tipsters have come through and we have a fun collection of Scientology wackiness for you this Sunday morning.
We’re kicking things off with some news from Taiwan, where David Miscavige’s church has been making a major push in recent months.
We’ve seen the boasting about a new Chinese-language translation of Scientology’s essential texts (“the […]
From the Rainbow Canyon website
Scientology’s drug rehab facilities have been much in the news lately for several lawsuits that have questioned the way these “Narconon” programs treat adults who go to them seeking treatment for their addictions. Now, a Narconon center in Nevada is being sued by a family over the experiences of […]
How’s this for a bonus Friday afternoon post — John Sweeney and Marc Headley driving to Scientology’s Trementina Base in New Mexico, footage that Sweeney has put together as a trailer for his book, The Church of Fear: Inside the Weird World of […]
In 1950, L. Ron Hubbard published the book that changed his life, transforming him from a well known writer of pulp fiction into an even more well known leader of a worldwide organization that came to be known as the Church of Scientology.
That book was Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, and for some […]
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