Luke Ryan

Bedford, MA — The VA in Bedford, the Edith Nourse Rogers Memorial Veterans Hospital, was in need of some snow removal and some routine landscaping duties. Heather Garneau-Harvey worked at the VA, alongside her father, Dennis Garneau, and the two of them outsourced the work — to Mr. Garneau’s son’s contracting company. He charged $200,000 for the snow […]

In World War I, families who had one of their own serving in the military often hung a banner or flag outside with a blue star to symbolize their loved one. If that loved one were killed, the blue star would be turned to a gold one. I can imagine that in a war like […]

Warsaw, Poland — Poland’s President, Andrzej Duda, has signed a bill outlawing speech that blames Poland for Nazi Germany’s war crimes against the Polish in WWII. Though Duda has already signed it, it still has to pass Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal before it can take effect. The law permits authorities to imprison anyone for up to three […]

Heidingsfeld, Germany — A U.S. Army veteran, Elliot Montalvan, was working at a small casino last year in south-central Germany, near Würzburg, approximately halfway between Nuremberg and Frankfurt. Montalvan saw a robber toting a Batman mask enter the building, and heard him threaten someone in German, demanding money. His instincts kicked in and Montalvan, 35, attacked […]

This article contains minor spoilers — nothing you wouldn’t see from a trailer. Netflix has recently released “Altered Carbon,” a show starring Joel Kinnaman, set in a sort of dystopian future where minds are stored on small devices embedded in everyone’s necks. When they die, the device can be transferred from one body to the […]

He was not punished for his war crimes, he was not hung or condemned to the electric chair. He lived in hiding and on February 7, 1979 he drowned in a swimming accident off the coast of Brazil. He was 67 years old. Josef Mengele earned his title, “The Angel of Death.” He fully embraced […]

Major Hugh Seagrim is a western name known by many in the jungles of Burma. He was a British officer in the army during WWII and became a hero among the Karen people back then and remains one today. They called him “Grandfather Longlegs” when he fought alongside them, due to his tall, lanky stature […]

The United States has been mired in controversy when it comes to Confederate statues. Do we accept that the Confederate monuments are a part of our history? Does their removal threaten to erase history, preventing us from learning anything? Would that callously disregard the heritage and loss of life of those in the Confederacy, many […]

Just before the protests in late December and early January, an 31 year old Iranian woman by the name of Vida Movahed stood outside and waved her hijab on a stick in protest of the country’s hijab laws. Since then, more women have stood up in defiance of the strict dress code; 29 women have […]

Springville, Utah — It was 1:57 p.m. when a police officer (who has not been named) stopped to investigate a donation box used primarily to distribute food and supplies to those in need. A man named Paul Anderson got out of the box with his hands in his pockets. The officer directed the man to […]

“The greatest teacher, failure is,” said Yoda. Or if Winston Churchill is more your speed: “Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” When I was a gun team leader in the 3rd Ranger Battalion, I felt like I knew what I was doing. I struggled from switching from a position […]

The Burma/Myanmar government has officially denied the existence of the mass graves reported by the Associated Press recently. In a press release only accessible by the state-owned media organizations, officials said that they launched an investigation in Gutar Pyin and quickly found no such mass graves. Instead, the military says that they came into contact […]