Multiple murders in the US linked to a cult-like group known as Zizians

VorZakone

What would Kenny G do?
Joined
May 9, 2013
Messages
37,588
This story seems to be picking up pace lately in the mainstream media.

The killing of US border patrol agent David Maland near the Canadian border in January and five other homicides in Vermont, Pennsylvania and California have been tied to a cultlike group known as the Zizians.

The group, described as a fringe group of radical Berkeley pseudo-intellectuals, is believed to be behind the double homicide of a wealthy Pennsylvania couple, two knife attacks on a landlord in California and the shootout in Vermont that left one member dead.
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Four alleged members of the group are already in custody on murder charges while three are on the run, including Jack Amadeus “Ziz” LaSota, 34, who goes by she/her pronouns and is the group’s apparent leader. Some of the members have worked at the tech giant Google, and many have advocated for veganism and identify as transgender.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/15/zizian-group-killings

Taylor said Ziz adherents use the rationalist ideology as a reason to commit violence. “Stuff like, thinking it’s reasonable to avoid paying rent and defend oneself from being evicted,” she said.
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https://apnews.com/article/vermont-...sota-zizians-6541ebcefc2806efd105d7db99a24aaf

Their goals aren’t clear, but online writings span topics from radical veganism and gender identity to artificial intelligence.
At the middle of it all is “Ziz,” who appears to be the leader of the strange group, who called themselves “Zizians.” She has been seen near multiple crime scenes and has connections to various suspects.
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https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...5e831e-eb5a-11ef-969b-cfbefacb1eb3_story.html
 
This is, for those interested, tangentially related to Curtis Yarvin/Moldbug (and by extention Thiel, Musk and the Trump administration) by the route of Less Wrong/Elizier Yudowsky/"rationalism"/neoreactionism (Dark Enlightenment/NRx), and the whole Silicon Valley shitshow. Better use of your time to not be interested, though.
 
Between this and trans people winning the 100m every Olympics, I’ll be honest, I’m absolutely bloody livid.
 
NotThatSoph said:
This is, for those interested, tangentially related to Curtis Yarvin/Moldbug (and by extention Thiel, Musk and the Trump administration) by the route of Less Wrong/Elizier Yudowsky/"rationalism"/neoreactionism (Dark Enlightenment/NRx), and the whole Silicon Valley shitshow. Better use of your time to not be interested, though.
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Ah yeah, I'm aware of some of those words.
 
Cheimoon said:
Yeah, that sentence meant nothing to me either. :lol:
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That's good! However, without that the story is basically "some weirdos living together are accused of killing their landlord, and then a bunch of other people as things spiraled".
 
NotThatSoph said:
This is, for those interested, tangentially related to Curtis Yarvin/Moldbug (and by extention Thiel, Musk and the Trump administration) by the route of Less Wrong/Elizier Yudowsky/"rationalism"/neoreactionism (Dark Enlightenment/NRx), and the whole Silicon Valley shitshow. Better use of your time to not be interested, though.
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This post should be preserved for posterity and used to educate parents. Red flags your kids are probably spending too much time online…
 
moses said:
Yep, they're mad for kids
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This is how they lure them in (only sort of a joke, it's another cult leader from the same community):

lb4M6T7.png
 
Pogue Mahone said:
This post should be preserved for posterity and used to educate parents. Red flags your kids are probably spending too much time online…
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pretty sure you were recommending a podcast about yarvin recently! i guess yudkowsky/lesswrong is more obscure?
i actually knew of him when i was less online, because a college friend, *much* smarter than me, used to read and respond to his blogs.

i found the whole scene and the language they used irritating. never read more than a few paras.
but it was this madcap effort to quantify all sorts of things. the impression from all their posts was that 1.8 billion humans, preferably poor and nonwhite, should be sacrificed for a 43.7% chance of developing a superintelligent AI in 14 years which would lead to the future thriving of 13.5 billion humans living on 4.7 planets.
imagine if all football discourse was around xg.
 
berbatrick said:
pretty sure you were recommending a podcast about yarvin recently! i guess yudkowsky/lesswrong is more obscure?
i actually knew of him when i was less online, because a college friend, *much* smarter than me, used to read and respond to his blogs.

i found the whole scene and the language they used irritating. never read more than a few paras.
but it was this madcap effort to quantify all sorts of things. the impression from all their posts was that 1.8 billion humans, preferably poor and nonwhite, should be sacrificed for a 43.7% chance of developing a superintelligent AI in 14 years which would lead to the future thriving of 13.5 billion humans living on 4.7 planets.
imagine if all football discourse was around xg.
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Yarvin/Moldbug has exploded in the last couple of weeks, but before that he was more obscure than Less Wrong and Yudkowsky for sure.
 
I was always wondering how weak-minded one has to be to join a cult like that, but then again I voluntarily watch United week-in week-out so maybe I should not speak on this
 
NotThatSoph said:
This is how they lure them in (only sort of a joke, it's another cult leader from the same community):

lb4M6T7.png
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I doubt many cool people attend events that advertise "hey it's an event for cool people like you" :lol: my exposure to the Bay bubble is non-existent so it really seems like a thinly veiled joke
 
Red Star One said:
I doubt many cool people attend events that advertise "hey it's an event for cool people like you" :lol: my exposure to the Bay bubble is non-existent so it really seems like a thinly veiled joke
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Or want to be described as 'Duncan-adjacent'.
 
imagine when Trump finds out. His orange head will blow up. and he might even nuke vermont.
 
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.
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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.
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https://news.sky.com/story/alleged-...ed-in-us-as-group-linked-to-killings-13311735
 
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