Alleged Leader of Roko's Basilisk Murder Cult Says She Did Nothing Wrong, and Would Appreciate Some Vegan Food in Jail
After being arrested in connection with a years-long, country-spanning string of murders, the alleged leader of a "Roko's Basilisk" cult is insisting she hasn't done anything wrong — and that she should be granted access to a vegan diet.
As the San Fransisco Chronicle reports, Jack "Ziz" LaSota spoke ramblingly during her Maryland bail hearing last week that occurred after two young alleged "Zizians" were apprehended for a pair of slayings that took place in California and Vermont.
"I haven't done anything wrong," LaSota told a judge during the February 18 hearing. "I shouldn't be here."
A militant vegan whose animal rights beliefs are at the center of her writings — as does the concept of "Roko's Basilisk," a hypothetical artificial superintelligence that would retroactively torture anyone who didn't help it come into existence — the 33-year-old former tech worker also begged Judge Erich Bean, the jurist presiding over her hearing, to give her food she could eat.
"I must... I might starve to death," Ziz told the judge. "I need... I need the jail to have a vegan diet. It's more important than this hearing is."
LaSota went on to claim that she was being starved and suggested that a jail chaplain had denied her request for a vegan diet as some form of religious persecution. As a result, LaSota contended, she was delirious from malnutrition, which was part of her argument for being granted bail.
"I think the idea that I [may] be mentally impaired for a month at proceedings because I'm in a state of starvation or that somebody with a particular majority religion would be deciding whether my religious beliefs are real... it's not right," she said.
After LaSota's imploring, the judge told her that her mother had managed to find a way to get her some vegan food while she awaits trial.
"I hope so," she replied. "I meant what I said about mental impairment. I'm in, maybe, a mild state of delirium."
LaSota is allegedly quite familiar with inducing delirium. On her blog, per Vox and other outlets, Ziz promoted what's known as "unihemispheric sleep" or UHS, a dangerous practice where one attempts to sleep with only one half of their brain, the other half remaining awake and alert. A lengthy explainer on the Zizians claims, per insider accounts, that the group's alleged leader uses UHS to manipulate people and induce in them a "vulnerable psychological state" — a useful tool for any aspiring cult leader.
Ultimately, LaSota's bail request was denied because, as Bean put it, the "circumstances are odd at best, concerning" — perhaps the biggest understatement of 2025 so far.
More on cults of personality: Tesla Owners Receiving Threats That If They Don't Sell Their Cars, They'll Be Vandalized
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Vox
4 days ago
- Vox
What slaughtering animals all day does to your mind
is a senior reporter for Vox's Future Perfect section, with a focus on animal welfare and the future of meat. In The Dying Trade, a forthcoming documentary film about slaughterhouse workers, a man named Tom describes a moment during his career that still haunts him many years later: the time he skinned a cow alive while she was giving birth. Tom worked at slaughterhouses across Europe from the late 1990s to the mid-2010s, and one of his jobs on the production line was to remove the skin from animals after they had been hung up, stunned unconscious, and bled out. That's how it's supposed to work in theory. But slaughterhouses operate at a rapid, hectic pace, with animals sometimes stunned improperly and butchered while still alive and conscious. If a cow remained conscious once they got to Tom — as was the case with this cow in particular, whose calf was partially hanging out of her birth canal — he was unable to stop the line to ensure they were properly killed. So, as the cow kicked at him, mid-birth, he had no choice but to skin her alive. The calf didn't survive. 'It takes 25 seconds,' to skin them, he said in The Dying Trade, 'but it stays with you for the rest of your life.' Tom, who calls himself a 'devout animal lover,' said that it's 'very difficult watching animals being killed.' But the job desensitizes you: 'You become a robot.' Other slaughterhouse workers have made similar remarks. Ducks hang upside down from a processing line as workers hang more animals on the line at a duck farm's on-site slaughterhouse in Portugal that also slaughters animals from nearby farms. Human Cruelties/We Animals To cope, Tom spent most of his slaughterhouse career as a functioning alcoholic, drinking as soon as he got off work until he went to bed. He took magic mushrooms on weekends to escape. He also dissociated at work, spending much of his time on the production line 'thinking I was on holiday…I would dream I was in Spain somewhere — just anywhere but what I was doing.' Now, he said, he lives like a hermit and still dreams about slaughterhouses six to seven nights a week. He also has violent thoughts of hurting people, which he had never had prior to working in meat processing. 'I suffer with PITS as a result,' Tom said, referring to perpetration-induced traumatic stress, a subcategory of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, in which the cause of the trauma is being a perpetrator of violence — in this case, slaughtering animals for food — rather than being a victim of it. Processing Meat A newsletter analyzing how the meat and dairy industries impact everything around us. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Physical injury rates are high in slaughterhouses, making it one of the more dangerous occupations. But much less is known about the mental and emotional toll of slaughterhouse work. Psychology researchers have difficulty accessing slaughterhouse worker populations, and so we're left with a handful of small studies. As a result, it's unknown exactly what share of the world's millions of slaughterhouse workers suffer from PTSD or other mental health conditions. But what's certain is that many do — surveys of slaughterhouse workers show high rates of anxiety and depression, and many have shared stories of mental health struggles with researchers and journalists. The problem is likely to worsen in the years ahead, as more and more slaughterhouses are built around the world to satisfy increasing meat consumption. Two years ago, the American Medical Association's Journal of Ethics even devoted an entire issue to the meat industry's effects on societal health, including its impact on workers. One article by social psychologist Rachel MacNair, who coined the term PITS, put the psychological toll of slaughterhouse work — and society's complicity in the problem — in blunt terms: 'Public demand for meat creates ongoing, present, and future exposure to trauma and continual retraumatization.' What we know about the psychological toll of slaughterhouse work The concept of PTSD stems from studies of combat veterans, research that accelerated in the post-Vietnam War era in the US. It was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association as a mental health condition in 1980. But it took time for psychologists to recognize that being the one who perpetrates violence — as opposed to experiencing or witnessing it — can also be highly traumatic, or even more so. In a 1998 study, MacNair told me, she observed that Vietnam War veterans who directly killed people had higher trauma scores than those who only witnessed killing. In 2002, she published the first book on the issue — Perpetration-Induced Traumatic Stress: The Psychological Consequences of Killing — which went beyond war and into other arenas of violence, including policing, death penalty executions, torture, homicide, and slaughterhouse work. The idea has since expanded how psychologists think about traumatization from violence. Slaughterhouse work can also deeply impact those who don't directly kill animals but still play a critical role in meat production, like David Magna, a former slaughterhouse inspector for the Canadian government. For six years, Magna worked at a major chicken plant, where one of his jobs entailed standing behind employees on the slaughter line — which operated at the breakneck speed of 180 birds per minute — to check for signs of disease and other issues. He also inspected crates of chickens as they were unloaded to be slaughtered; sometimes, hundreds would arrive dead from exposure to extreme heat or cold during transportation from the factory farm. After six years at the chicken slaughterhouse, Magna developed severe respiratory problems, requiring him to take time off (it's not uncommon for poultry workers to complain about the toxic, bacteria-killing chemicals used in slaughterhouses). Over the next decade, Magna went on to work as an inspector at other plants along with a desk job in which he reviewed animal welfare violation reports, including a number of disturbing cases. In one, a farmer branded some of his pigs a dozen or so times each with a hot iron all over their bodies, but was only penalized with a fine and was allowed to continue to raise animals for meat. In another case, a truckload of pigs froze to death after a driver fell asleep. One report involved a pregnant dairy cow who gave birth on a slaughterhouse-bound truck. Because the trailer was so crowded, the calf's head was smashed in by other cows. Pigs lie dying on a bloody slaughterhouse floor in Canada as a worker stands over them before pushing them into a scalding tank. Jo-Anne McArthur/We Animals 'I'm a shell of what I was when I walked in that [first] day,' Magna told me. Throughout his career, he'd try to improve conditions, but the deck was stacked against him: regulations are weak, violators face little to no penalties, and higher-ups often didn't take his concerns seriously. Like Tom, the slaughterhouse worker in Europe, Magna drank excessively to cope. He also had dreams in which he was a chicken packed in a crate and then slaughtered. His mother, who had briefly worked on the slaughter line, had similar dreams. Objects like a plate of meat or a truck can trigger flashbacks for Magna. He's dealt with suicidal ideation, and a few years ago, he was diagnosed with PTSD and bipolar disorder. Gathering broader data on the experiences of people who work in slaughterhouses has proven difficult, but there is some. A few years ago, a literature review by psychologists Jessica Slade and Emma Alleyne at the University of Kent found slaughterhouse workers have higher rates of anxiety and depression, and a higher propensity for physical aggression. A small study of slaughterhouse workers in South Africa found that each had recurring nightmares, like Tom and David, and some workers have reported high rates of alcoholism in the workplace. But there's been no large-scale study investigating PTSD rates among slaughterhouse workers, and there's a good reason why: It would be hard to conduct such a study without cooperation from meat companies. And many slaughterhouse workers are undocumented immigrants who might be reluctant to share their stories, even if they were anonymous. 'This system oppresses everyone' Some people who live near factory farms, which produce vast amounts of animal manure that pollutes the air and water, call their communities 'sacrifice zones' for the meat and agricultural industries. In low-income and disproportionately immigrant communities, the meat industry has found its sacrifice populations — people with few economic opportunities who must kill animals for hours on end and suffer whatever physical or psychological trauma may come. 'It is unnatural and inhumane for someone to kill for hours every day,' Susana Chavez, a former slaughterhouse worker in Mexico, wrote in a 2022 op-ed. Former slaughterhouse inspector David Magna holding Peter, a rescued pig, at Dara Farm Sanctuary in Ontario, Canada. David Magna And as MacNair has noted, our high demand for cheap meat creates ever more trauma — trauma that is outsourced to these sacrifice populations. And killing isn't the only potential source of trauma. Employees can also experience physical or sexual violence from colleagues, something some women in slaughterhouses have reported, and experience or witness severe accidents among other workers. In The Dying Trade, Tom recalled a time when a coworker got stuck in a machine and was essentially cut in half: 'I can still hear him screaming.' Activism 'has given me a new lease on life,' he said. 'I'm fortunate; I got out of this system. For whatever reason, I'm here today doing this, and I think of the people that aren't so lucky.' He mentioned a former coworker, Maria, who had to get carpal tunnel surgery like many other slaughterhouse workers, due to intense wrist pain from making repetitive cuts to animal carcasses. When Magna asked her why she's still working at the plant, she told him that because she doesn't speak English, she doesn't have many options. She said she has to continue on to provide for her kids — that her own life doesn't matter. 'This system,' Magna said, 'oppresses everyone.'
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Yahoo
Ukraine hasn't won over Trump. But it might not need to.
President Donald Trump's seemingly infinite patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin may, in fact, have limits. 'Something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!' Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform this week, citing the massive recent airstrikes on Ukrainian cities and Putin's desire to conquer 'ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it.' Trump also took a vague shot at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ('everything out of his mouth causes problems'), and one could point out that Russia has been striking civilian targets in Ukraine and expressing a desire to snuff out Ukraine's political independence since the very beginning of the war. Trump followed up by telling reporters he is considering imposing new sanctions on Russia and posted, 'if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia,' but told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that he is holding off on new sanctions for now. So it's not as if Trump has had a full and sudden change of heart overnight. But consider that, at the end of February, Trump was publicly dressing down Zelenskyy in the Oval Office, blaming Ukraine for starting the war, and halting all US assistance to the Ukrainian war effort. By that standard, Trump's new tone is still one of several developments that add up to a welcome change of pace for Kyiv. Even if there are no new measures taken to either support Ukraine or punish Russia, and even if the US 'walks away' from efforts to negotiate a ceasefire, as Vice President JD Vance recently threatened, the events since February still amount to a remarkable diplomatic change of fortune for Ukraine — and probably about as good an outcome as Kyiv could reasonably expect from this administration. For Ukraine, where cities are still reeling from some of the largest airstrikes since the beginning of the war, and where supplies of much-needed air defense ammunition are running dangerously low, there's obviously no cause for celebration. Hanna Shelest, a Kyiv-based defense analyst with the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Vox that despite Trump's changing tone on Putin, his ongoing attacks on Zelenskyy (it's unclear exactly what remarks triggered Trump's ire) indicate that 'we are still in a transactional situation. We have still not been able to dramatically change the approach of the US president.' Trump, for all his current frustration, clearly still views the conflict in a way that is much more sympathetic to Russia's interests than Joe Biden or many members of his own party. But in terms of actual material support, not much has actually changed since Trump took office. Because of the time it takes for those contracts to be negotiated and fulfilled, weapons that were ordered in 2022 are only being delivered now. He has frequently suggested he'd be willing to lift sanctions on Russia as part of a ceasefire agreement, but he has not done so, and in fact, has signed executive orders extending the sanctions that Biden imposed. Many of these sanctions could not be lifted without congressional approval. As Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently put it, 'When Vladimir Putin woke up this morning, he had the same set of sanctions on him that he's always had since the beginning of this conflict.' Aside from a week-long pause following the contentious Oval Office meeting, US weapons shipments to Ukraine have continued. In fact, the rate of weapons deliveries actually increased in the early weeks of the Trump administration because of moves the Biden team made to rush aid out the door before leaving office. The intelligence sharing vital to Ukraine's targeting systems has also continued, as has — despite Elon Musk's threats — the Ukrainian military's access to SpaceX's Starlink satellite network. Congress has allocated two types of funding for aid to Ukraine: The first pays for weapons to be transferred to Ukraine for US military stocks. That aid has been almost exhausted, experts say. The second provides funds for Ukraine to buy its own weapons from American manufacturers. Because of the time it takes for those contracts to be negotiated and fulfilled, weapons that were ordered in 2022 are only being delivered now. The last items from contracts signed in 2024 might not be delivered until 2028. The upshot, as Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, puts it, is that 'the overall military aid being delivered is relatively high and will stay there for quite a while.' This White House and this Congress are very unlikely to allocate new funding for aid to Ukraine, but perhaps others could fill the gap. European governments are reportedly warming to the idea of purchasing weapons from American manufacturers. So far, these governments have preferred to buy from their own companies, but there are a number of systems — such as the all-important Patriot air-defense missiles — that only the US can provide. Ukraine's defense industry is also more self-sufficient than it used to be. The drones that are now inflicting the majority of the casualties on the front lines in Ukraine are increasingly produced in-country by the country's booming autonomous weapons industry. It's even possible that Ukraine may benefit somewhat from a more hands-off American approach. For all that the Biden team made clear it would back Ukraine's war effort for as long as it takes, Ukrainian officials sometimes bristled under what they saw as micromanagement from a White House concerned about the risks of conflict escalation with Russia, particularly when it came to long-range strikes into Russian territory. But according to an announcement from German Chancellor Friedrich Merz this week, allies including the United States have agreed to lift range restrictions on weapons headed to Ukraine, allowing the Ukrainians more freedom to strike targets deep within Russia. The two main shifts in US policy that have taken place under Trump have been the US-Ukraine minerals deal and the direct negotiations with Russia. Both have proven less disastrous for Ukraine than they initially appeared. The original version of the minerals deal presented to Ukraine reportedly required the country to hand over hundreds of billions of dollars in revenue from the mining of its critical minerals as repayment for past military aid. The deal Ukraine eventually signed drops that requirement and while it doesn't include the explicit security guarantees Ukraine was hoping for, it at least gives this transactionally minded administration a financial stake in Ukraine's future. As for the ongoing ceasefire talks, Trump overturned two oft-stated principles of the Biden approach: that Russia should be diplomatically isolated and that there would be no negotiations 'about Ukraine without Ukraine.' But ultimately, Ukraine's political position may have been strengthened by the process. Putin has rejected a proposed 30-day ceasefire after Ukraine agreed to one, was a no-show at talks in Istanbul, where Zelenskyy had proposed meeting face-to-face, and has rejected Trump's proposal to have talks mediated by the Vatican. It's much harder for even the most skeptical to argue, as Trump has previously, that the war is only continuing because of Zelenskyy's unwillingness to make a deal. Even Trump has been forced to wonder if Putin is merely 'tapping me along,' engaging minimally in the diplomatic process without abandoning his end goal of subjugating all of Ukraine, not just the disputed regions, by force. Trump has clearly moved on from the notion that he can end the war in 24 hours and seems to be losing interest in the peace talks entirely. Or as Vance put it, 'We're more than open to walking away.' Much depends on what exactly 'walking away' means. If it means an end to weapons shipments, intelligence sharing, and sanctions on Russia, that would be disastrous for Ukraine, though not necessarily fatal. 'It's not as if we pulled the plug tomorrow, that Ukrainians would just immediately cease to exist, which I think was the administration's assumption when they came in,' said Jeffrey Edmonds, a former White House and Pentagon Russia adviser. 'They thought they had a lot more leverage than they did over both Ukraine and Russia.' (A spokesperson for the White House national security council did not respond to Vox's request for comment.) If Trump merely maintains the status quo — keeps the sanctions that are already in place, continues shipping the weapons that have already been paid for — that might be enough for the Ukrainians to hold the line for at least the coming months. It's true that Russian troops continue to slowly advance, but the rate of advance is already slowing this year, and it loses dozens of casualties per square kilometer. According to one recent estimate, it would take Russia 80 years to conquer all of Ukraine's territory at the current rate. Ukraine's bigger concern may be recruiting enough troops to man the front lines, though its efforts have improved somewhat, US commanders say, and low morale among both troops and civilians as the war drags on with no end in sight. Russia has manpower woes as well as increasing signs of economic distress as it continues to pour money into Ukraine. Trump's tariffs have had the unexpected side-effect of slashing the Russian state's oil revenues. Before Trump took office, Ukrainian leaders expressed some cautious optimism that despite Trump's fondness for Putin and skepticism about the value of supporting to Ukraine, they'd be able to appeal to his transactional nature and turn him to their side. That was overoptimistic: Trump seems unlikely ever to be a strong backer of Ukraine. But he at least appears less likely to be a strong backer of Russia. For the moment, they may be the best they can hope for.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Yahoo
Woman confronts catalytic converter thieves in Santa Clarita
A woman confronted a pair of catalytic converter thieves as they targeted her vehicle outside her home in Santa Clarita. Ozie Vox said the incident happened early Sunday morning on May 25, around 7 a.m. A home security camera captured the suspects pulling up in a black sedan as they spotted the victim's older model Honda Odyssey minivan parked on the street. Two male suspects wearing hoodies and ski masks stepped out of the car, jacked up the van and sawed off its catalytic converter within minutes. Vox and his wife were at home and witnessed the theft as it happened. His wife stepped out to confront the two thieves while filming the incident on her cell phone. She's heard calling for her husband to come outside. The men stared in her direction as she yelled, but they eventually fled the scene. Vox said the men appeared to be professionals as the entire theft 'took them under three minutes.' Authorities say catalytic converter theft has become prevalent across the nation because the devices contain precious metals, are relatively easy to steal and lack identifiable markings. Vox and his neighbors said they're frustrated over the growing problem. He hopes that by sharing his story, he's able to keep other residents alert. He would also like to see a heavier law enforcement presence with more frequent patrols through his community. 'The sheriff told us there were more incidents that day, as well,' Vox said. 'I know, at least in our area, there were a few cars [the suspects] hit. They explained to us that these guys could go around and knock out a dozen cars in 30 minutes.' Vox said it'll cost him around $2,500 to replace the catalytic converter, which is more than his work van is worth. Some ways drivers can protect their vehicle from catalytic converter theft include: Installing a theft prevention device on your catalytic converter – A licensed auto shop can install a protective plate, shield, clamp, cage, strap, or other device to secure the catalytic converter Marking your catalytic converter – Engraving or etching the converter with your vehicle identification number (VIN) or license plate number may deter theft. It may also alert a reputable scrap dealer that the device is stolen and can help to identify the owner Adjusting your vehicle's alarm – A well-calibrated alarm can detect vibration and alert you or scare thieves away Parking your vehicle in a safe location – If you have a garage, use it. Consider installing motion-sensitive lights if you park in your driveway. Park close to a building entrance or in a well-lit and high-traffic area when parking in a public lot Anyone with information on the theft can call the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station at 661-260-4000. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
