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Prosecutors are working to bring more charges soon against Teresa Youngblut, the Zizian cultist arrested after a shootout that left Border Patrol Agent David Maland dead in northern Vermont.

Youngblut, 21, is not yet directly charged in Maland’s death. She has been held on gun charges since the January shooting. On Friday, United States District Court Judge Christina Reiss approved a delay in Youngblut’s case to give her legal team time to digest new evidence coming from prosecutors, as well as the new charges likely to follow.

“[Defense] Counsel also notes that the government has informed the defense that it is actively exploring additional charges,” Reiss’s order states.

Teresa Youngblut

Youngblut was the only survivor of the Jan. 20 shooting that erupted during a traffic stop. Maland was killed, as was Youngblut’s companion, German national Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt. 

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

The incident occurred in the Customs and Border Patrol’s Swanton Sector, which includes all of the New Hampshire border.

Both Bauckholt and Youngblut were armed with guns believed to have come from Michelle Zajko, 32, another member of the Zizian cult led by Jack “Ziz” Lasota. Lasota is considered a person of interest in the murders of Zajko’s parents, though he has yet to be charged in that case.

Lasota, 33, is the leader of a group of militant vegan-rationalist-transgender-techno cult who believe a super powerful artificial intelligence being, known as the Basilisk, is coming into creation to punish those who do not work to create it. 

Youngblut went to high school on the West Coast with another Zizian, Maximilian Snyder, and the two may or may not have been married. Snyder and Youngblut at one point took out a marriage license, but it is unclear if they followed through. Snyder is facing charges that he stabbed to death 82-year-old Curtis Lind in California. Lind had been scheduled to testify at an upcoming criminal trial of other Zizian cultists who tried to kill him in an earlier assault. Lind managed to fight them off and kill one with a gun he was carrying.

Bauckholt, for a time, shared a condo with Lasota in North Carolina. 

It’s unclear what Youngblut and Bauckholt were doing in Vermont. The pair was under surveillance and was seen walking around in black tactical gear carrying guns. Zajko owns a small piece of property in northern Vermont near the Canadian border. 

Some questions surrounding the Vermont shooting may start to get answered as prosecutors begin providing more evidence through discovery. 

Zajko is currently charged with federal gun crimes in Vermont and is being held in Maryland on other gun and trespassing charges. Zajko, Lasota, and Zizian Daniel Blank were arrested in February in Maryland. They all remain behind bars pending resolution of the Maryland charges.

Lasota began collecting young followers in California from the tech industry using “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality” as a holy book. The fan-fiction book is popular in the AI tech community and central to the quasi-scientific faith of Lasota and his followers.

Lasota subjected his followers to sleep deprivation as part of his attempts to unlock a separate personality in their brains. Typically, the “other person” is a different gender under Lasota’s regime. At least one reported suicide is linked to Lasota’s sleep deprivation techniques.

Lasota faked his own death in 2022, reportedly staging a boating accident in the waters between Alameda and South San Francisco. In 2023, Richard and Rita Zajko were murdered in their Pennsylvania home. Lasota, very much alive, was arrested and held as a person of interest in those murders for months before police let him go.

The Bow soccer parents booted from a game by school district officials for wearing pink, XX wristbands to protest biological males playing in girls’ sports are appealing their case.

Lawyers for Kyle Fellers, Anthony Foote, Nicole Foote, and Eldon Rash filed a notice of appeal with the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. Last month, United States District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe denied their request for an injunction against Bow’s SAU 67, ruling the school has the right to block protests if it finds their message “demeaning and harassing.”

“The message generally ascribed to the XX symbol, in a context such as that presented here, can reasonably be understood as directly assaulting those who identify as transgender women,” McAuliffe wrote in his April ruling. “Because gender identities are characteristics of personal identity that are ‘unalterable or otherwise deeply rooted,’ the demeaning of which ‘strikes a person at the core of his being,’ and because Bow school authorities reasonably interpreted the symbols used by plaintiffs, in context, as conveying a demeaning and harassing message, they properly interceded to protect students from injuries likely to be suffered.”

As a result, Bow schools are free to allow Pride flags and symbols while forbidding the XX wristbands.

Even before the parents could file their appeal, McAuliffe’s ruling got a double-take from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“I have asked my Civil Rights Division to examine this matter,” Bondi posted on Twitter/X. “This DOJ stands with women and their supportive parents.”

Bondi’s tweet was in response to a post from women’s sports activist Riley Gaines, who was commenting on NHJournal’s coverage of the Bow High School case.

“A federal judge just ruled that two fathers can’t wear pink wristbands that say ‘XX’ to silently protest male inclusion in women’s sports,” Gaines tweeted, with a link to the NHJournal article. “The judge said the female chromosomes, XX, are a ‘demeaning and harassing assertion.’”

It’s not clear if Bondi has yet pursued the matter beyond her initial tweet. There’s been no confirmation of any official action being underway against either Bow school officials or McAuliffe.

Fellers and Anthony Foote were kicked out of a game in September for engaging in a silent protest by wearing pink XX wristbands. The district then banned both from all games and after-school activities as a result of their protest. McAuliffe initially overturned the school’s ban on their attendance, but left in place the district’s prohibition on any form of protest. 

The parents were protesting biological males playing during a game in which the Bow High School girls’ soccer team faced Plymouth High School’s team that featured transgender athlete Parker Tirrell. Tirrell garnered headlines for weeks before the game after successfully suing the state of New Hampshire over a law that bans biological boys from girls’ sports. Both Foote and Fellers claimed in court that they were not directing their protests at Tirrell.

Vegan-transgender-AI cult leader Jack “Ziz” Lasota and two of his followers are facing new charges in Maryland as one cult member denies being part of a Pennsylvania double-murder linked to the group.

“I didn’t murder my parents,” Michele Zajko wrote in a letter made available this week to the Associated Press.

Zajko, 32, Lasota, 33, and Daniel Blank, 26, all currently in jail in Maryland, are considered persons of interest in the 2023 murders of Rita and Richard Zajko. Zajko is now linked to the murder of Border Agent David Maland. Zajko was charged in the United States District Court in Vermont with providing false information to a gun dealer when she bought guns later traced back to Maland’s reported killer, Teresa Youngblut.

Youngblut and Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt shot at Maland during a traffic stop in Vermont near the Canadian border earlier this year. Bauckholt died in the shootout. Youngblut is being held on federal charges related to the shooting. Both Youngblut and Bauckholt are reputed members of the Ziz cult.

But Zajko denies the group is a cult, and blames the media for giving them that label.

“The little news I’ve gotten is enough to determine that my friends & I are being described as Satan’s lapdogs, the Devil, & the Manson family all rolled into one,” Zajko wrote. “My friends and I certainly don’t call ourselves ‘Zizians.’”

Lasota, Zajko, and Blank were arrested in Maryland in February and held on misdemeanor gun and trespassing charges. Before they could go to trial on those charges, their cases were transferred to Superior Court, and they were indicted on more serious counts. The new charges include carrying concealed and loaded handguns. The possible maximum penalties for each charge range from three months of incarceration for trespassing and up to five years for some of the gun charges. 

Lasota began collecting young followers in California from the tech industry using “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality” as a holy book. The fan-fiction book is popular in the AI tech community and central to the quasi-scientific faith of Lasota and his followers. Lasota reportedly believes in a coming AI apocalypse in which a super-AI being will destroy those who are not working to create it. Lasota also believes that not being vegan will mark people out for future torture by the AI being. 

Lasota subjected his followers to sleep deprivation as part of attempts to unlock a separate personality in their brains. Typically, that other person is a different gender under Lasota’s regime. There is at least one reported suicide linked to Lasota’s sleep deprivation techniques. 

Zizian cultists are also charged in the killing of Vallejo, Calif., man Curtis Lind, 82. Lind was set to testify against cult members after they allegedly tried to kill him a year ago when Ziz cultist Maximillian Snyder stabbed him. Snyder went to high school with Youngblut, and the two had a marriage license, though it is unclear if they ever married.

Angry parents turned out at Weare Middle School on Tuesday night to protest the school’s decision to allow a biological male student to use the girls’ bathroom — over the objection of girls who are being forced to share the space.

The situation came to light when the girls started complaining to their parents about the boy, who just recently began “identifying” as a girl. Katie LeRoy was upset when her daughter told her about the situation last week. The male student had switched from using a single-person bathroom to the girl’s room.

“That does make me feel uncomfortable, and others (are uncomfortable) as well,” LeRoy said.

But school board Chair Christine Heath insisted they were following state law.

“As of today, it is the law in New Hampshire that discrimination is prohibited based on gender identity in regards to bathrooms,” Heath said at the start of the Weare School Board meeting.

School Board Chair Christine Heath, Board Member Sarah Button, and Board Member Daniel Recupero listen to parents Tuesday night upset that a biological boy is using the girl’s bathroom in Weare Middle School.

State Rep. Ross Berry (R-Weare) attended Tuesday’s meeting to support concerned parents. He told NHJournal Heath’s claim the school’s hands are tied is spin, not fact. It’s true the state has yet to pass a law explicitly giving schools and other institutions the right to protect women’s spaces from biological males. The school could choose to do so right now.

“They are interpreting the non-discrimination statute in a way that conveniently fits their worldview,” Berry said. “I have no doubt the school board would vote to allow boys in girls bathrooms if they were explicitly given a choice.”

Resident Nancy Brennan, a public school teacher in another community, told the meeting she supported allowing the male student in the girls’ bathroom. According to Brennan, biological sex is complicated. She cited people who are born intersex to explain that transgender people have always been part of human history.

“The idea there is only male and female is not scientifically correct,” Brennan said.

Being born intersex is an extremely rare medical condition affecting an estimated .05 percent of the population. It typically refers to people born with both male and female sexual characteristics, such as having both male and female sex organs.

Nobody has suggested that applies to the male student at Weare Middle School.

State Rep. Lisa Mazur (R-Weare) said parents and girls should be able to talk about their concerns without being labeled as bigots.

“Having this concern for girls does not make us transphobic, and we’re not bullies for speaking up,” Mazur said.

Parents have been reaching out to Mazur to tell her the girls are uncomfortable sharing their bathroom with a boy, and some of them are refusing to use the bathroom at the school. Mazur said the school should allow male students “identifying” as female to use single-person bathrooms or staff bathrooms, but not the girl’s bathroom.

A bill keeping biological males out of spaces for women and girls is making its way through the legislature. If it passes, Gov. Kelly Ayotte is expected to sign it.

Weare resident and Republican candidate for Congress Lily Tang Williams said the school’s policy to allow the biological male into the girls’ bathroom is damaging the school and will be costly for the community.

“You’re going to push more children to homeschooling and out-of-town schools. You need to reevaluate this policy,” Tang Williams said.

Berry reminded the board Weare’s schools are underperforming, according to data.

In the latest standardized tests, 32 percent of students were proficient in English, 24 percent in math, and 22 percent in science. The district is spending more than $21,000 a year per student. The district’s also seen a 28 percent decline in enrollment since 2016, Berry noted. Perhaps academic performance should be their priority.

One Weare father, who had been considering putting his homeschooled children into the public school, predicted even more students are likely to leave. Not because there is a transgender student, but because the handling of the situation raises questions about how the school will teach science and biology.

“That 28 percent will climb if this goes the wrong direction,” the dad said.

The Bow School District was acting within its authority to kick two soccer dads out of a girls game for wearing pink “XX” wristbands as a silent protest against biological males playing on girls’ teams, a federal judge ruled Monday.

But one of the dads, Anthony Foote, told NHJournal he plans to keep fighting for what he sees as the rights of women and girls.

“What was our offense? Supporting girls’ sports and defending biological reality?” Foote said. “This ruling is a slap in the face to every parent who believes schools should be a place of fairness, not political indoctrination. The judge openly admitted that Pride flags are allowed because they promote ‘inclusion,’ but wristbands defending women’s sports are banned because they might ‘offend’ someone. That’s viewpoint discrimination, plain and simple — and it’s unconstitutional.”

United States District Court Judge Steven McAuliffe ruled against Foote, Kyle Fellers, Eldon Rash, and Nicole Foote in a 45-page order denying their preliminary injunction against SAU 67. The parents are being represented by the Institute for Free Speech, a legal nonprofit that promotes parents’ rights. Del Kolde, the senior attorney, said he is still considering his next steps in this case.

“We strongly disagree with the Court’s opinion issued today denying our request for a preliminary injunction. This was adult speech in a limited public forum, which enjoys greater First Amendment protection than student speech in the classroom. Bow School District officials were obviously discriminating based on viewpoint because they perceived the XX wristbands to be ‘trans-exclusionary.’ We are still evaluating our options for next steps,” Kolde said.

The crux of McAuliffe’s ruling is that while Fellers, Foote, and the others acted within their First Amendment rights to protest, venues like school athletic events are considered “limited public forums” and school officials acted within their legal authority to restrict what the parents said and did.

“The question then becomes whether the School District can manage its athletic events and its athletic fields and facilities — that is, its limited public forum — in a manner that protects its students from adult speech that can reasonably be seen to target a specific student participating in the event (as well as other similar gender-identifying students) by invited adult spectators, when that speech demeans, harasses, intimidates, and bullies. The answer is straightforward: Of course it can. Indeed, school authorities are obligated to do so,” McAuliffe wrote.

For days before the Sept. 10, 2024, game, Anthony Foote and Fellers made it known to school officials that they were unhappy Bow High School was going to play a game against a girls’ team with a biological male player, Parker Tirrell. 

Days before the game, Tirrell made national news with a court victory against the state of New Hampshire’s law barring biological males from girls’ sports.

The dads went on social media to discuss various protest ideas, according to the evidence in the case. McAuliffe wrote that it is reasonable, given the context of the game, for SAU 67 administrators to be concerned that the potential protests would be interpreted by Tirrell as bullying and harassing.

And as such, the judge ruled, the school had the right to limit the dads’ speech.

“The message generally ascribed to the XX symbol, in a context such as that presented here, can reasonably be understood as directly assaulting those who identify as transgender women,” McAuliffe wrote. “Because gender identities are characteristics of personal identity that are ‘unalterable or otherwise deeply rooted,’ the demeaning of which ‘strikes a person at the core of his being,’ and because Bow school authorities reasonably interpreted the symbols used by plaintiffs, in context, as conveying a demeaning and harassing message, they properly interceded to protect students from injuries likely to be suffered.”

Fellers and Foote have maintained they were not targeting or harassing any particular student with their wristbands. McAuliffe ruled that, even accepting their stated intent not to harass Tirrell, the broader context for the game made the SAU’s actions reasonable and justified.

“While plaintiffs may very well have never intended to communicate a demeaning or harassing message directed at Parker Tirrell or any other transgender students, the symbols and posters they displayed were fully capable of conveying such a message. And, that broader messaging is what the school authorities reasonably understood and appropriately tried to prevent,” McAuliffe said.

Critics of the judge’s ruling say that it is clearly viewpoint discrimination and the judge’s view that “gender identity” is “inalterable” isn’t based on biological fact or in law.

McAuliffe has yet to rule on the permanent injunction. Fellers, Foote, and the other parents are seeking to allow them to protest at school games and other events. 

After Tuesday night’s League of Women Voters “listening session” in Peterborough devolved into an hour of angry White liberals shouting at the lone African American, Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D-Peterborough), some of the attendees now want answers.

In a letter to the LWV, leaders of the activists groups LGB Courage Coalition and Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender expressed their anger over the event, which has received tens of thousands of views over social media.

“You hold responsibility for this debacle. The March 25 event was a betrayal of trust and a squandered chance for meaningful dialogue,” wrote leaders of the activists groups LGB Courage Coalition and Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender.

Instead of a calm conversation about his recent vote in support of girls-only sports, Wheeler found himself in a room packed with people hurling insults and accusing him of killing transgender people. He was called a “fascist,” a “useful idiot” and — perhaps most shockingly for Peterborough state representative — a Republican.

Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D-Peterborough) takes questions at the Peterborough Town Library, March 25, 2025.

“In a room of about 200, Wheeler, a 22-year-old Black legislator, faced shouted accusations of ‘traitor’ and ‘fascist’ from a predominantly White, progressive crowd,” the letter states.

The letter, sent Thursday, demands answers from New Hampshire President of the League of Women Voters Liz Tentarelli as to why and how the event was allowed to spiral out of control.

Conditions inside the room were chaotic and unsafe, the activists wrote. Hundreds of people crammed the meeting room inside the Peterborough Town Library, and some of the pro-transgender audience members acted to intimidate members of the press and people there to support Wheeler. 

“The room became unsafe: you allowed late arrivals—angry, agitated non-supporters—to stand and block doorways, cutting off emergency exits … A journalist reported that her notebook was searched by Jane, the individual at the front of the room who used profanity towards Rep. Wheeler.”

Tentarelli disputes some of the claims in the letter, and blames groups like LGB Courage Coalition and Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender for causing the overcrowding problem. 

“The event was not intended as a platform for out of state groups to promote their views. The time for stating views is public hearings in the legislature,” Tentarelli told NHJournal in an email.

Tentarelli did not attend the event in person.

The journalist getting harassed and intimidated by Jane was witnessed by NHJournal, as were other instances of attendees expressing hostility toward members of the press. Tentarelli did not address the treatment of the press in her response.

Just as bad as the conduct inside the room was the pornographic and racist material flooding the Zoom feed for people who wanted to watch the “listening session” remotely. 

“Hackers flooded the feed with pornographic, racist, and bestiality images, music, and noise, disrupting Wheeler’s remarks. Your failure to secure the platform with basic measures—muting participants or requiring authentication—was inexcusable, and when it crashed, you abandoned it,” the letter states.

Tentarelli acknowledged the problem with the Zoom feed, and she said there are plans to avoid that issue for the next “listening session.”

“The shameful behavior of an unidentified entity who disrupted the Zoom call was appalling. As a result, future listening sessions will likely be recorded for later viewing, rather than be on Zoom,” Tentarelli wrote.

The LGB Courage Coalition and Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender letter accuses Tentarelli and the League of Women Voters of using the event to shame Wheeler and drive him out of office. 

“These failures suggest more than negligence—they point to intent. You set a trap, not a forum,” the letter states.

But Tentarelli disputes that accusation as well, saying she and the League of Women Voters are strictly non-partisan.

“The League of Women Voters never supports or opposes any party or candidate,” Tentarelli said.

Also on Thursday, the University of New Hampshire released a new poll showing 71 percent of Granite Staters support Wheeler’s position backing a ban on males who identify as female competing in women’s sports. Just 21 percent oppose it.

The LGB Courage Coalition and Democrats for an Informed Approach to Gender want Tentarelli to commit to a new listening session with Wheeler that actually allows for a civil conversation. That means competent technicians operating a live Zoom feed, a safe in-person environment in which members of the press will not be harassed, and a balanced panel of moderators to steer the conversation. 

Democrat Jonah Wheeler stood alone before a capacity crowd in the Peterborough Town Hall as critics, leaders in his own party, and even some childhood friends railed against the 22-year-old state representative’s vote for legislation deemed “transphobic” by progressive activists.

Wheeler (D-Peterborough) was unapologetic during Tuesday night’s question and answer session sponsored by the Peterborough League of Women Voters as he explained why he broke with his party and voted for HB 148. The bill protects the right of local institutions to keep biological males out of women’s locker rooms and bathrooms.

“Nobody should be discriminated against because of who they are,” Wheeler said. “We can respect trans women, and we can respect the rights of women who object to having trans women in their spaces.”

“You can do whatever you feel like, but your rights end when the rights of another begin. Government is about the balance of rights,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler explained that some biological women had approached him asking that he protect their spaces. “What was I supposed to do — ignore these women?” Several people in the crowd said, “Yes! Yes!”

“For some of you, the answer is ‘yes.’ For me, it’s ‘no.’ I’m not going to ignore these women,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler said he’s been getting angry calls, emails, text messages, and even death threats since he voted for the bill. The overflowing meeting room in the Peterborough Town Library was packed with people angry with Wheeler, as well as many supporters thankful for his heterodox vote.

New Hampshire Democrats have repeatedly and publicly accused Wheeler, who is Black, of supporting “Jim Crow” policies by supporting women’s-only spaces.

At one point, the League of Women Voters’ video stream of the event was hijacked, replaced with graphic images of sex, along with a racial slur. The stream had to be shut down.

HB 148 does not impose a blanket ban on transgender people, but allows local institutions and local sports authorities to set their own policies they deem appropriate. Wheeler refuses to consider the women who spoke to him in favor of the bill as somehow bigoted or transphobic.

“I voted the way I did because I did represent my constituents,” Wheeler said.

As attendees vented their anger at Wheeler, he maintained his composure throughout. When an attendee shouted, “How do you sleep?” Wheeler responded, “I sleep just fine, having done my research and having voted on the bill as it was written.”

Wheeler is one of two Democratic representatives to vote for HB 148, and both are from Peterborough. Rep. Peter Leishman was not at Tuesday night’s event, leaving Wheeler to face the angry throng alone.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill, the lone Democrat on the council, stood up to condemn Wheeler’s vote, saying the bill is part of the “racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic” Project 2025 movement pushed by Republican President Donald Trump.

“I’m very sad to think New Hampshire is rolling back civil rights protections for Granite Staters,” Liot Hill said.

Executive Councilor Karen Liot Hill (D) denounces Rep. Jonah Wheeler (D) at an event at the Peterborough Town Library.

Dan Grosz, with the Peterborough Democratic Executive Committee, read a statement on behalf of the party condemning Wheeler and Leishman’s vote. 

“We must express our deep concern and disapproval over your recent voting records,” Grosz

read. “While we respect your right to vote your conscience, our conscience compels us to publicly voice our opposition to your actions.”

Wheeler noted neither Grosz nor anyone else from the local party had reached out to speak to him about his vote before issuing the condemnation. Instead, Democrats turned out to call him a “fascist” and “useful idiot” at Tuesday’s event.

“The moral line of the party that’s been drawn by the Democratic Party is why this party has atrophied so much in the last 25 years,” Wheeler said.

The party in New Hampshire is dominated by affluent, White progressives who have little tolerance for differing views, Wheeler said.

“There’s so much fervor on the left that if you bring up one counter opinion from the orthodoxy, then you’re shouted down, screamed down. People don’t respond well to that,” Wheeler said.

Things got personal for Wheeler as childhood friends stood up to condemn him for his vote.

“You stabbed me in the back,” said Jane, a transgender woman who grew up with Wheeler.

Even Wheeler’s former grade school teacher, Mary Goldthwaite, tried to put him in a time out.

“I proudly voted for you, and I am ashamed of what you have done out in the world,” Goldthwaite said.

After the event, Wheeler told NHJournal the problem with the New Hampshire Democratic Party isn’t having representatives who vote their own way. It’s that the party leadership that is adrift and ineffective.

“The state party is failing,” Wheeler said.

Wheeler also decried the Democratic Party’s reliance on corporate donors.

“Look at the donors of the Democratic Party nationally. Look at the donors of the Democratic Party statewide. Why is Ray Buckley still our state chairman? We’re living with a corrupt party,” Wheeler said.

Jamie Reed, a former Missouri pediatric gender clinic case worker turned whistleblower who identifies herself as a “lifelong Democrat” was at Tuesday’s event. She said the way Wheeler was treated by the League of Women Voters and the moderator “shows they are not a nonpartisan organization. They had an agenda from the start.”

She also recounted a conversation she had with Dan Grosz, during which she pointed out that the vast majority of Granite Staters support Wheeler, not the extreme position his party is pushing.

“Are you familiar with events in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s?” Grosz responded.

Asked about his comparison to Nazi Germany, Grosz said, “The pattern of autocratic movements is to first pick on the weak and marginal parts of society and normalize discrimination against them first.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Mr. Grosz’s name and add his responses.

With spring sports starting soon, the parents suing the Bow School District over their silent protest want a ruling before players hit the field.

On Wednesday, attorneys representing the parents filed a request for an expedited decision on their request for a preliminary injunction keeping the school district from banning future protests. And, their lawyers told the court, if a ruling is delayed so long it keeps these parents sidelined, they will consider that a denial of their request for relief and pursue an appeal.

Anthony Foote, Kyle Fellers, Nicole Foote, and Eldon Rash were forced to end a silent protest — the wearing of pink wristbands marked with “XX” on the sidelines of the high school soccer field — by angry school administrators last September. They were protesting the fact that their girls team was being forced to compete against a biological male. 

After Foote and Kyle Fellers were slapped with “no trespass” orders from the school, orders enforced by the local police, the parents filed a lawsuit against the Bow school district.

The parents are being represented in court by legal nonprofit organization the Institute for Free Speech.

The lawsuit was filed in September, and United States District Court Judge Stephen McAuliffe has already conducted two days of evidentiary hearings and been fully briefed by both sides in the lawsuit, attorneys for the parent’s said.

But the court has yet to act on their request for a preliminary injunction protecting their First Amendment right to bring their wristbands to games during the upcoming spring sports season. In their view, it’s literally a case of justice delayed being justice denied.

“Spring sports season is the last chance for Plaintiffs to silently express their sociopolitical views at a Bow event this school year, and—because one of Plaintiffs’ children is a high-school senior—the last chance to ever express their views at one child’s events,” the motion states.

“Parties completed their post-hearing briefing on Dec. 17. No decision on the injunction has yet been issued. The winter sports season has now ended, and the Bow schools’ spring sports season begins March 24, with games commencing April 14.”

Two biological males who have been playing on girls sports teams are currently suing in federal court to block a New Hampshire state law protecting girls sports. When President Donald Trump issued an executive order doing the same thing, they added the president to their lawsuit.

One of those players, Plymouth High School’s Parker Tirrell, was on the team Bow was competing against during the previous silent protest.

McAuliffe previously overturned the Bow School District ban against the parents attending games and after-school activities. But he has not yet lifted the ban on wristbands or other forms of silent protest.

As the calendar progresses toward the new sports season and the final season for at least one of the girls, Feller, Foote, and the others want a decision now.

“Plaintiffs have been prevented from silently protesting at Bow School District extracurricular events during both the fall and winter sports seasons. Everyday that passes magnifies Plaintiffs’ injury. Unless they receive injunctive relief from this Court, they will not be able to express their viewpoint during the spring sports season as well, including all of one daughter’s remaining games as a high-school student,” the motion states.

“If no ruling occurs by April 14, Plaintiffs will understand this Court to have constructively denied the injunction, and pursue interlocutory appeal of that denial.”

McAuliffe has acknowledged there is nothing bigoted in the parent’s beliefs that biological males who identify as female should not play full-contact sports with biological girls.

“You’re entitled to your viewpoint, a lot of people hold it,” McAuliffe said.

In fact, polls show a solid majority of Americans support protecting girls sports from biological males. But Bow Superintendent Marcy Kelly doesn’t agree, and she told the court that expressing that view is offensive speech that should be banned.

“XX is a pretty well-known anti-trans symbol,” Kelly said on the stand.

Other controversial symbols, such as the LGBTQ “rainbow flag,” would be welcome, however.

“It’s inclusionary, it’s not targeting or harassing anyone,” Kelly said.

Two Granite State high school girls are so frustrated at having to compete against biological males in all-girls sports competitions that they want to join the ongoing federal lawsuit to defend New Hampshire’s women’s sports law, as well as the two executive orders issued by the Trump administration that protect women’s sports.

“Because I work so hard, it is frustrating and disheartening when it feels like the rights of female athletes are being sidelined or ignored,” one girl said in her court motion. 

Two New Hampshire girls, K.D., and B.W., filed motions along with other female athletes and the organization, Female Athletes United, this week to join the lawsuit brought by biological males Parker Tirrell and Iris Turmelle. The latter two are suing the State of New Hampshire and President Donald Trump for the right to compete in girls-only sports competitions.

Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing Female Athletes United, an association of female athletes, filed a motion Friday with the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire to intervene in the Tirrell v. Edelblut lawsuit.

The lawsuit was first filed in response to New Hampshire’s law, signed by then-Gov. Chris Sununu. But the lawsuit was expanded to include Trump after he signed an executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

“With this executive order, the war on women’s sports is over,” Trump said at the time.

Schools are required to comply with Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex for programs receiving federal funding. The Biden administration issued a rule change declaring an athlete’s sex as “gender identity,” reversing decades of precedent.

The Trump order returned to the recognized biological definition of sex as determined by biology.

Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney with the legal non-profit Alliance Defending Freedom, said the case boils down to whether there’s a physical, biological difference between men and women. For Scruggs and the female athletes, it’s clear men and boys are different from women and girls.

“Biological difference is the obvious matter, and that’s why we’ll win,” Scruggs said.

However, the presiding judge in this case, United States District Court Judge Landya McCafferty, previously wrote in an initial ruling that neither Tirrell nor Turmelle have any physical advantage as biological males.

“Neither Parker nor Iris have undergone male puberty. Neither of them will undergo male puberty. Both have received hormone therapy to induce female puberty, and both have developed physiological changes associated with female puberty. It is uncontested that there is no medical justification to preclude Parker and Iris from playing girls’ sports,” McCafferty wrote.

But K.D., who is from Bow, says in her motion that Tirrell had a definite advantage when she played against him, and he knocked her to the ground several times during game play. She described Tirrell as being larger and more muscular than the girls who were competing. The two played against each other during games in an indoor soccer league 

“In this league, I played against Parker on multiple occasions. Because I was scoring a lot, Parker was assigned to defend me, so we often came into physical contact with one another while playing. On several occasions, Parker knocked me down. It felt noticeably different than when I have run into a female when playing. Parker is sturdier, more muscular, and overall just built differently than a female,” K.D. said in her motion. “I was angry and upset that a male was playing against me and knocking me down. It felt inappropriate and unfair that something like this was happening and that no one in charge seemed to recognize what I and the other girls were going through in having to play against a male.”

Scruggs said K.D.’s experience shows that the popular talking point among activists — that ‘transgender’ players do not have any size or strength advantage over women and girls, is just wrong.

“We’ve seen this kind of false narrative on this subject for some time,” Scruggs said. “The fact is someone’s gender identification is not relevant to athletic performance, biology is.”

B.W., a Gilmanton girl, wrote in her motion that she was apprehensive when her team played against a high school team that included a large biological male as goalie. B.W.’s motion does not name the athlete, but stated she considered the male player’s presence a concern.

“Although we won, it still felt like a violation of the rights of female athletes to have a sports team designated for girls. Especially, because as the male student is the starting goalie, that student was taking a place on the field that would otherwise have gone to a female athlete. If a male student joined my team, I would strongly consider no longer playing for my school. I think it is unsafe and unfair for a male to take a girl’s spot on the girls’ team,” B.W. stated.

Both K.D. and B.W. illustrate the core problems with transgender athletes in girls sports, Scruggs said. 

“It’s a matter of fairness and safety,” Scruggs said. “These have real-world consequences.”

Scruggs said if actual biology is taken into consideration, then Tirrell and Turmelle’s lawsuit ought to be dismissed. 

The man behind the Zizians — a violent AI-vegan-rationalist-transgender cult linked to six deaths — has been arrested in Maryland. 

Among the deaths involving members of the Zizian group is the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Maland near the Vermont-Canada border.

Ziz, also known as Jack Amadeus LaSota, 33, was arrested last weekend in rural Allegany County, Md. after spending months on the run. Along with LaSota, police also arrested Michelle Zajko, 32, and Daniel Blank, 26, both linked to the bizarre group.

Zajko, along with LaSota, is a person of interest in the double murder of her parents, Rita and Richard Zajko, in Pennsylvania. Zajko is also believed to have bought the guns Ziz cultists Teresa Youngblut and Felix “Ophelia” Bauckholt used during last month’s shooting in Vermont.

Maland and Bauckholt both died as a result of the shooting. Youngblut is currently being held on federal charges connected to Maland’s death.

Daniel Blank

It isn’t clear what led to LaSota’s capture in Maryland. He’s charged with suspicion of trespassing on private property, obstruction, and gun possession. Both Blank and Zajko are charged with trespassing and obstruction, and Zajko is charged with having a gun on her person, according to reports. VTDigger reports police in Maryland were unaware of the cult and its connection to the other murders when they arrested LaSota, Blank, and Zajko.

All three are due in court Tuesday for their first appearance on the Maryland charges, though it’s likely other law enforcement agencies will be intervening now that LaSota has been captured. 

LaSota started the cult in the California Bay Area after years of struggling to break into the AI tech field. He attracted followers initially through his blog in which he wrote about artificial intelligence, rationalist philosophy, veganism, and transgenderism.

At one point, LaSota lived on a dilapidated tug boat where he brought his followers together and forced some into sleep deprivation techniques. A reported aim of the sleep deprivation was to unlock a subject’s transgender persona, according to multiple reports. 

The group started living in specially outfitted box trucks that contained hidden living areas, food, water, and power generators. The trucks enabled them to move undetected through urban environments, and were entered through hidden openings in the bottom of the truck, according to reports.

In August, 2022, while facing criminal charges in California, LaSota faked his own death. The ruse did not work long, as he was reported as having been seen alive by law enforcement in November 2022, according to court records. 

Michelle Zajko

LaSota spent months in a Pennsylvania jail in 2023 on charges of obstruction and disorderly conduct in connection to the investigation into the murders of Rita and Richard Zajko. LaSota, Zajko, and Blank were all questioned about the murders. LaSota was eventually released on bail after five months and soon disappeared along with Zajko and Blank. 

Zajko reportedly owned property in Vermont close to the Canadian border, and is believed to have supplied Youngblut and  Bauckholt with guns and ammunition. 

The area where the shootout occurred is part of the Border Patrol’s “Swanton Sector,” which also includes the New Hampshire-Canada border. Officials reported a massive surge in illegal crossings in the sector during the Biden presidency.

When the Biden administration cut federal funding for border security in the region, then-Gov. Chris Sununu created the Northern Border Alliance Task Force to provide resources to backstop federal efforts. Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s budget includes continued funding for the effort.

Zizian cultists are also charged in the killing of Vallejo, Calif., man Curtis Lind, 82. Lind was set to testify against cult members after they allegedly tried to kill him a year ago when Ziz cultist Maximillian Snyder stabbed him. Snyder went to high school with Youngblut and the two had a marriage license.