Jesse P. Pollack: The Acid King ( Ricky Kasso )

Real stories. Real teens. Real consequences.

A murder in a small Long Island town reveals the dark secrets lurking behind the seemingly peaceful façade in this latest installment of the Simon True series.

On June 19, 1984, seventeen-year-old Ricky Kasso murdered Gary Lauwers in what local police and the international press dubbed a “Satanic Sacrifice.”

The murder became the subject of several popular songs, and television specials addressed the issue of whether or not America’s teens were practicing Satanism. Even Congress got in on the act, debating Satanic symbolism in songs by performers like AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne. “The country is in crisis!” screamed the pundits. After all, it was the height of the Reagan era and Nancy Reagan’s “just say no” campaign was everywhere. But what this case revealed were bigger problems lurking at the heart of suburban America.

Ricky Kasso wasn’t a bad kid, but he was lost. To feel better, he started smoking pot, moving on from that to PCP and LSD. He ended up living on the streets and thinking he had nothing to lose. Gary Lauwers went from being a victim of bullying to using drugs to fit in, and finally robbery—but then he made the mistake of stealing from Ricky, and from that moment on, his fate was sealed.

A few months later, Gary went into the woods behind the park with Ricky and two other boys. Only three of them came out.

The subsequent police investigation and accompanying media circus turned the village upside down. It shattered the image of an idyllic small town, changed the way neighbors viewed each other, and recast the War on Drugs.

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Adam Fishman
Yesterday

Adam Fishman used to work with Robert F. Kennedy jr, and has some contacts still within that organisation - although using the word 'organisation' in the same sentence as RFK jr might be said by some to be a little optimistic.

From dead bears to strapping whales heads to the roof of his car for a nine hour drive, Robert F. Kennedy can not be said to have lead a dull life.

Adam Fishman witnessed a lot of stuff. He now lives in Thailand.

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Janet Claire Phelan - Exile and Injunction Against CIA
4 days ago

Janet Phelan is an investigative reporter. Her articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the San Bernardino County Sentinel, Orange Coast Magazine, New Eastern Outlook, and elsewhere. She currently writes for Activist Post and has previously published an intelligence expose, Exile , and two books of poetry.

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Charles Strange: Seal Team 6 Deaths "Extortion 17" Osama Bin Laden Raid
Families suspect SEAL Team 6 crash was inside job on worst day in Afghanistan
uestions haunt the families of Extortion 17, the 2011 helicopter mission in Afghanistan that suffered the most U.S. military deaths in a single day in the war on terrorism.

The investigative file made available to The Washington Times shows that the helicopter’s landing zone was not properly vetted for threats nor protected by gunships, while commanders criticized the mission as too rushed and the conventional Chinook chopper as ill-suited for a dangerous troop infiltration.

Every day, Charlie Strange, the father of one of the 30 Americans who died Aug. 6, 2011, in the flash of a rocket-propelled grenade, asks himself whether his son, Michael, was set up by someone inside the Afghan government wanting revenge on Osama bin Laden’s killers — SEAL Team 6.

“Somebody was leaking to the Taliban,” said Mr. Strange, whose son intercepted communications as a Navy cryptologist. “They knew. Somebody tipped them off. There were guys in a tower. Guys on the bush line. They were sitting there, waiting. And they sent our guys right into the middle.”

Doug Hamburger’s son, Patrick, an Army staff sergeant, also perished when the CH-47D Chinook descended to a spot less than 150 yards from where armed Taliban fighters watched from a turret.

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DOUGLAS CADDY is an attorney in Houston, admitted to the Texas and District of Columbia Bars. He is a graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and New York University Law School. He is the author of six books, three published by the Texas A&M University Press. His biography appears in Who’sWho in American Law, Who’sWho in America, and Who’sWho in the World.

Memoir on Being the Original Attorney for the Watergate Seven
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=21500

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