Tag: cults

Netflix, the FBI, and a Federal Frame Job That Took Down a Wellness Company…

There’s a dangerous trend happening in this country that we’re all aware of—and it’s picking up speed. The federal government is using the justice system as a weapon. Not to punish real crimes, but to punish the people it doesn’t like. That’s what lawfare is, and it’s been the go-to move of the FBI and DOJ for years now.

Conservatives have felt the bitter sting of lawfare more than anyone. From Douglass Mackey to the January 6ers to President Trump himself, the feds have gotten really comfortable twisting the law into a pretzel to go after political enemies. But here’s the curveball—what happens when they start using those same dirty tactics on people or groups who aren’t categorized as Trump supporters?

That’s what makes the case against the California-based wellness company OneTaste so disturbing. Not because the group is conservative—far from it—but because their prosecution reveals just how brazen and far-reaching lawfare has become.

OneTaste started as a Silicon Valley wellness company, but over time, it started to be accused of being a “sex cult.” We’re talking taboo rituals, a tight rein on emotions, and a setup that felt more like a tribe than a business. Most conservatives would take one look at this group and say, “No thanks”—but that’s not the point of this story, as you’ll find out below. And that’s precisely what makes the case so important.

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Member of ‘Zizian’ cult facing murder charges disrupts court with outbursts about transphobia

At a court hearing in Fairfield, Calif. on Tuesday meant to set a new trial date for two trans Zizian members accused of murder, attempted murder and escape, one of the defendants was ordered to be ejected again from the courtroom after screaming repeatedly about transphobia.

“The jail has been hormonally detransitioning me for a quarter of a decade,” Alexander “Somni” Leatham yelled behind a mask while reading from a statement held in his shackled hands, which rattled loudly. During the outburst, Leatham, who stands at six feet tall, resisted and tried to break out of the grasp of two sheriff’s deputies. Leatham, 29, is a male who identifies as a transgender woman. His co-defendant “Suri Dao,” 24, is a woman who identifies as trans nonbinary. They are both members of an extremist transgender leftist “rationalist” vegan cult linked to at least eight deaths. The members follow the teachings of a trans anarchist named Jack LaSota, who uses the alias “Ziz.” The group is informally referred to as “Zizians” by outsiders, though they did not use that name to refer to themselves.

Defendant “Suri Dao” is the alias of Colorado woman, Tessa Berns.

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Alleged leader of cultlike ‘Zizians’ arrested in US as group linked to killings

The apparent leader of a cult-like group linked to multiple killings has been arrested in the US.

Police said Jack LaSota – known as Ziz – was detained on Sunday in Maryland, and faces charges including trespass, possession of a handgun in a vehicle, and obstructing and loitering.

Michelle Zajko, 32, and Daniel Blank, 26, were arrested on similar charges and all three are being held at a local jail.

“The Zizians” have been tied to the killing of US border patrol agent David Maland in January, as well as five other homicides in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California.

Mr Maland, 44, died in a shootout following a traffic stop near the Canadian border in Vermont.

One of LaSota’s followers, German national Ophelia Bauckholt, was also killed in the incident when a woman she was with, Teresa Youngblut, allegedly opened fire.

LaSota, 34, who uses she/her pronouns and said online she is a transgender woman, is a computer programmer and appears to be the leader of the Zizians.

According to the Associated Press news agency, the group appears to be made up of highly intelligent computer scientists, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who met online, shared anarchist beliefs, and became increasingly violent.

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings cover topics from gender identity, radical veganism and artificial intelligence.

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Police: ‘Trans Vegan Cult’ Linked To Multiple Murders Across The U.S.

The murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent has unveiled a possible link between a “transgender vegan cult” and a string of murders across the U.S.

Buckle up—this one’s a doozy.

On January 20th, Inauguration Day, U.S. Border Patrol agent David Maland, 44, and other agents pulled over 21-year-old Teresa “Milo” Youngblut and German citizen Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt in northern Vermont, near the Canadian border.

Youngblut quickly opened fire on the agents, and they all engaged in a back-and-forth shootout.

Maland and Bauckholt were killed in the incident, and Youngblut was injured in the crossfire.

The 21-year-old was finally arrested in Washington last week. She now faces one count of using a deadly weapon while assaulting a United States Border Patrol agent and one count of using and discharging a firearm during that assault. 

A judge recently ordered Youngblut to be held without bail until the preliminary hearing on February 7th.

Federal investigators have now expanded their focus to 32-year-old Michelle Zajko, who police say purchased the handguns used in Maland’s shooting.

Zajko, a biological man who identifies as a woman, is also believed to be a person of interest in the 2023 murder of his parents, Richard and Rita Zajko, who were both shot to death in their Pennsylvania home.

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The case of the radical ‘Zizian’ vegan trans cult and the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent

The murder of a US Border Patrol agent near the Canadian border appears to be linked to a radical leftist trans militant cult accused of killings across the country.

Around a week before the Jan. 20 attack, federal law enforcement had been surveilling German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt and University of Washington student Teresa “Milo” Consuelo Youngblut.

Staff at a Lyndonville, Vermont, motel alerted authorities about seeing the duo with a firearm and black tactical clothing.

When law enforcement visited them, the pair claimed to be looking at property in the area and promptly checked out of the motel on Jan. 14, according to court documents.

Then, on Inauguration Day, Border Patrol Agent David Maland stopped their car in Coventry, Vermont.

Youngblut allegedly shot at Maland, who was killed, and border agents returned fire, killing Bauckholt. Youngblut is in custody.

Authorities now say the guns used by Youngblut and Bauckholt are owned by a person of interest in other murders — and connected to a mysterious cult of transgender “geniuses” who follow a trans leader named Jack LaSota, also known by the alias “Ziz.”

Bauckholt was a biological male who identified as trans and used feminine pronouns. He was an award-winning youth math genius from Freiburg, Germany, who later graduated from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.

Around 2021, he was hired as a quantitative trader at Tower Research Capital in New York. It is believed Baukholt was in the US on an H-1B visa. The Department of Justice says he was armed in the car and tried to aim his firearm before being shot dead.

Youngblut, who is accused of firing the surprise shots that killed Air Force veteran Maland, was injured by return fire.

Youngblut is a biological female who identifies as trans and lists having neo-pronouns as “xe/xem/xyrs” on social media. Youngblut was a University of Washington student studying computer science.

Youngblut graduated from the prestigious and woke north Seattle private institution Lakeside School, which Bill Gates also attended.

Youngblut’s family had reported her missing to Seattle police in May 2024. Her family said she was in a controlling relationship and cut off contact, according to the police report. Her social media account on BlueSky shows she followed some Antifa-aligned far-left accounts.

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Polygamous sect leader gets 50 years in prison in scheme to orchestrate sex involving children

A polygamist religious leader who claimed more than 20 spiritual “wives” including 10 underage girls was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Monday for coercing girls as young as 9 years old to submit to criminal sex acts with him and other adults, and for scheming to kidnap them from protective custody.

Samuel Bateman, whose small group was an offshoot of the sect once led by Warren Jeffs, had pleaded guilty to a yearslong scheme to transport girls across state lines for his sex crimes, and later to kidnap some of them from protective custody.

Under the agreement, Bateman pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit transportation of a minor for sexual activity, which carries a sentence of 10 years to life imprisonment, and one count of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, which is punishable by up to life imprisonment. He was sentenced to 50 years on each count, to be served concurrently.

The rest of the charges were dismissed as part of the agreement.

Authorities say that Bateman, 48, tried to start an offshoot of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints based in the neighboring communities of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. The fundamentalist group, also known as FLDS, split from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after Mormons officially abandoned polygamy in 1890.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Brnovich sentenced Bateman after hearing statements in court by three teenage girls about the trauma they still struggle to overcome. Although they gave their names in court, The Associated Press does not name victims of sexual crime, and some appeared to still be minors.

“You should not have the opportunity to be free and never have the opportunity to be around young women, “ Brnovich told Bateman, noting that for a man of his age the 50-year sentence was effectively a life sentence.

“You took them from their homes, from their families and made them into sex slaves,” the judge said. “You stripped them of their innocence and childhood.”

A short competency hearing that was closed to the public was held just before sentencing to discuss a doctor’s assessment of Bateman’s mental health. The defense had argued that Bateman could have benefited from a maximum of 20 years of psychiatric treatment behind bars before being released.

The girls told the court, sometimes addressing Bateman himself, how they grappled to develop relationships in high school, among other struggles. Now living with foster families, they said they had received much support from trusted adults outside their community.

After the sentencing, the teens hugged and wept quietly. They were escorted out of court by a half dozen men and women in jackets with the slogan “Bikers Against Child Abuse,” a group dedicated to protecting children from what it calls dangerous people and situations. A woman who sat with the teens said no one in the group would have a comment.

There was no one in the courtroom who appeared to be a supporter of Bateman.

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Inside America’s UFO Cults: A Look at Manipulation and Misinformation in the UFO Counterculture 

In the perplexing subculture of UFO beliefs, individuals with cult-like followings and frequent claims associated with dubious “whistleblowers” aren’t uncommon. But how can you separate genuine voices from those leveraging UFO lore for personal or financial gain?

In a new documentary, Dark Alliance: The Inside Story of the Cosmic Con, filmmaker Darcy Weir dives into one section of the UFO counterculture, narrowing in on two well-known figures: David Wilcock and Corey Goode, presenting them as case studies in manipulation and the spread of misinformation within the UFO community and its associated areas of belief. 

In Dark Alliance, Weir takes his viewers on a journey of exploration into how these two controversial figures came to fool not only the community they serve, but also some of the people who brought them to the top.

However, the cautionary tale Weir presents is far from new: the events he chronicles echo the actions of cults and similar groups from over the years, many of which bear a resemblance to some of today’s alleged UFO whistleblowers, self-proclaimed insiders, and cult leaders.

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South Shore cult ‘elder’ guilty of child rape to serve at least 30 years in prison

A leader of a South Shore religious sect will spend at least 30 years in prison after he was found guilty last month of raping and abusing two girls in the “tribe,” officials said.

Nehemyah Smith, 37, was convicted of all 25 charges last month, including 12 counts of aggravated child rape and multiple counts of indecent assault and battery. 

Smith was sentenced in Fall River Superior Court Wednesday to 13 to 18 years in prison for rape and child rape charges. He will then serve 17 to 22 years for aggravated child rape charges with a ten year age difference, according to the court clerk.

Smith, of Plymouth, was a “trusted elder” within the Twelve Tribes, an international religious organization led by men where families give up their possessions and live communally, according to court records. The known abuse took place between 2016 and 2020. 

The Twelve Tribes has communities in Milton, Raynham, Hyannis, and Plymouth, where members run a restaurant called the Yellow Deli. Smith’s victims were abused in all of those towns except Plymouth, according to court documents.

The group’s website describes it as “an emerging spiritual nation” whose members aim to live like the early disciples and follow the Old and New Testament. 

An investigation from the Denver Post in 2022 described the Twelve Tribes as a cult that exploits members, pushes racist, misogynistic, and homophobic teachings, and fails to protect children from sexual abuse.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit advocacy group, said Twelve Tribes is a white supremacist cult that extensively beats children who misbehave and believes that homosexuality should be punished by death.

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Feds, city to crack down on animal sacrifices in NYC’s Jamaica Bay after dog-carcass with snapped neck, wounded pigs found

City and federal parks authorities are beefing up resources near Jamaica Bay in Queens following The Post’s expose last week of surging animal sacrifices in the area. 

The National Parks Service promised to install a pair of mobile lights by the Addabbo Bridge in the federally-managed Spring Creek Park to ward off people torturing and killing animals under the cover of darkness, Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) announced.

NPS spokeswoman Daphne Yun said the agency would also provide additional parks police patrol in the area, where animal rescuers said at least eight animals were found dead or maimed since late July.

These have included five wounded pigs, a near-dead baby rat stuffed in a bag with chicken bones, and a dog carcass with its neck snapped. 

The city’s Parks Department also pledged to increase overnight patrols in Sunset Cove Park, Broad Channel, where gruesome animal remains also have been found, Ariola’s office said.

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Former Mormon reveals how she was trained to be the ‘perfect trad wife’ from age 12

An ex-Mormon has lifted the lid on the unusual lessons she was taught at the church when she was just 12 years old so that she could be the ‘perfect’ stay-at-home wife.

Alyssa Grenfell, 31, grew up in an ultra-strict household but fled from Utah to New York in 2017 – and has since been focusing on reclaiming her body following the move in her late 20s.

The former member of the Mormon church has recently been sharing tidbits about her transformation and her journey to freedom.

Most recently, she took to YouTube to unveil the various teachings that were told to the children of the Mormon church – adding that they were prepped to become wives from a very early age.

She admitted that she was forced to learn how to cook, clean and sew – while also being forced to remain abstinent. 

Alyssa captioned the video: ‘Brainwashed Mormon Mommies?’ 

In it, she discussed the rise of ‘trad wives’ – a term used to describe women who choose to live a tradition lifestyle that seems them spending their days cooking, cleaning, wearing modest clothing, and being submissive to their husbands. 

Trad wives have become increasingly visible in recent months as many women boast about reverting to the traditional roles of housewives, largely practiced in the fifties and sixties.

‘I was trained to be a wife and mother when I was about 12,’ Alyssa said at the beginning of the video. 

She then explained that the women within the community were forced to learn how to become the perfect wife – beginning with cooking. 

Alyssa noted that as women they were taught to make spaghetti and told to serve it to the boys. 

She explained: ‘This is the bread and butter of what I was raised on. It reminds me of how many different times I would go to young women’s activities and the boys would be playing basketball and having a great time and the young women would be learning a skill like cooking or sewing. 

‘I have one distinct memory where we learned to plan a meal and we made spaghetti and the boys were playing basketball.

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