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]
FOLLOW ME ON
Daily Notifications
Sign up for free emails to receive the feature story every morning in your inbox at tonyortega.substack.com

Categories

Monthly Archives

Scientology once again confirms our estimates for its tiny size

 Oh, Dave, you did it again.

We want to thank the tipster who sent us the most recent issue of International Scientology News. In recent years, ISN has emerged as the biggest, glossiest snoozefest put out by the church as David Miscavige has turned it into the print version of his interminable event []

ADVERTISEMENT

SCIENTOLOGY BLACK OPS: Episode 2 spiked by Aussie network, ‘Witness X,’ is leaked online

 ‘Witness X,’ the second episode of ‘Scientology Black Ops,’ a special 7NEWS Australia investigation that was cancelled by the network in July, has been leaked to the []

Trump to pay $2 million in charity scam that is a lot like what he’s facing impeachment for

 Attorney Scott Pilutik wrestles with the news of the day, from a lawyerly perspective…

[Regarding this story: Trump ordered to pay $2 million to charities over misuse of foundation, court documents say]

Trump agreed to a $2 million settlement, essentially conceding that his charity was a scam, and then, hours later, delivered an all-caps “STATEMENT FROM PRESIDENT []

For $100, Scientologist sorcerer will share secret of living to 150 (and we have the secret!)

[Rey Robles on CNN’s Believer]

You might remember that we were not very impressed with Reza Aslan’s short-lived Believer series that aired in 2017 on CNN, in particular its dishonest episode about Scientology. Admitting that he had “a soft spot” for Scientology, Aslan pretended that the teeny tiny “indie” movement of Scientologists was so potent, it []

Scientology loses a whale: Major donor Michael Baybak dead at 77

[Michael Baybak in 2014]

The Church of Scientology has lost one of its all-time biggest donors, businessman Michael Baybak, who died last week at []

Joy Villa’s Scientologist husband shamed into dropping elephant skin bags from luxury line

[Thorsten von Overgaard and the photo dropped from his site]

The photography website PetaPixel is reporting that Thorsten von Overgaard, a wealthy Danish photographer, got into hot water with his fellow camera enthusiasts when he offered super-luxury camera bags made not only of alligator skin but also elephant []

Florida attempts sensible change to mental health law — so Scientology goes on attack

[CCHR Florida President Diane Stein]

Rod Keller keeps an eye on Scientology various front groups for us, and once again he’s got the drop on []

Scientology wastes no time making a move on the new president, but where does Trump stand?

[Then-candidate Donald Trump and Trish Duggan, during the campaign]

Back in August, we pointed out that while many people have noted similarities between Donald Trump and L. Ron Hubbard, at least in their personal styles (something we’ve acknowledged as well), we hadn’t really seen any substantial connections between the Republican candidate and the Church of Scientology []

Vote for Xenu! Scientologists are looking to L. Ron Hubbard for advice on the coming election

 Several weeks ago, we pointed out that a lot of observers are making comparisons between Donald Trump and L. Ron Hubbard. And while we understood why, we pointed out that it was Hillary Clinton who would actually bring more Scientology baggage with her to the White House. Now, Rod Keller, who keeps an eye on []

Trump is drawing comparisons to L. Ron, but will Hillary favor Scientology as much as Bill did?

[Image by DonkeyHotey]

We hear it all the time. Doesn’t Donald Trump remind you of L. Ron []