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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David Miscavige is 64 today, and what a gift Scientology cooked up for him!

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Over the years, on Scientology leader David Miscavige’s birthday, we have sought input from people who worked for him. But this year, as Miscavige reaches 64, we really couldn’t do better than a tribute []

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Val Ross: From Scientology spy to extreme drug withdrawal guinea pig

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Valerie Ross continues her deeply personal series about her Scientology past, from spying on the FBI to, this time, serving as a test subject for L. Ron Hubbard’s quack ideas about drug detoxification. [What []

Why doesn’t Scientology want you to see its wealthy donors, including Grant Cardone?

[Grant Cardone and the case of the missing donor trophies]

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Scientology is squawking again, demanding we take down images from its magazines with news value, including some that reveal the identities of its wealthy donors. []

Jane Doe, like Leah Remini, asks for judge in Danny Masterson lawsuit after Miscavige stunt

TODAY AT SUBSTACK: If you’ve signed up for free emails at Substack, you will receive today’s feature story at your inbox: Scientology’s David Miscavige had two judges removed with some clever lawyering, but Leah Remini and Jane Doe 1 are fighting back. Both of them, now, are asking for the judge who denied Scientology’s attack []

Scientology says that David Miscavige did attend the Paris opening

 Sunday morning, in our report of Scientology’s Paris Ideal Org opening, we said that we were still awaiting the church’s own press release about the event, but that our correspondents on the scene were reporting that David Miscavige was a no-show, only the third time the church leader hasn’t personally attended an Ideal Org grand []

Scientology denies that new law prevents Jane Doe being forced into arbitration

[President Biden signs EFAA, with Gretchen Carlson in attendance]

We’ve seen several lawsuits filed by former Scientologists get forced out of court and into Scientology’s own internal “religious arbitration” in recent years, and next week there’s yet another that is facing a showdown over this, in the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe 1, who alleges she []

Danny Masterson victims calmly answer Scientology’s latest whine in lawsuit

On Wednesday, a hearing is scheduled in the Bixler v. Scientology lawsuit, the one filed by Danny Masterson’s victims against the imprisoned Scientology celebrity and against the church []

Lawrence Wright weighs in on Scientology opening Austin ‘Ideal Org’ in his town

 This afternoon, in the fair city of Austin, Texas, Scientology leader David Miscavige is scheduled to resume his “Ideal Org” project with the first grand opening of a new facility in four []

Love, Scientology style: How hard can it be to find a Clear date?

 We want to thank Alex Barnes-Ross for bringing us this gem today.

“Apostate Alex” keeps his eye on Scientology social media, and found the following exchange at one of the groups were Scientologists interact with each []

Val Ross: Scientology draws you in so you don’t realize what it’s about until it’s too late

[Val at her desk back in the day, the Grade Chart on the wall]

The spring of 1972, I was 17 and in my senior year of high school. The school was in Grants, New Mexico, 12 miles away from where we lived. I only had one class to finish to graduate, and was taking courses []