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Legion of the Damned: Did Boudicca's curse cause 6,000 of Rome's fiercest warriors to vanish without trace? Over the course of its ...1,000-year history, Ancient Rome gave rise to many extraordinary stories which live on to this day. ...No wonder Hollywood has always loved Rome, whose ...sheer spectacle have given rise to great epic movies from Ben-Hur to Gladiator. Mystery: The unexplained disappearance of the 6,000 legionaires from Ninth Legion in Scotland is the inspiration behind two competing filmsYet the latest movies... comes not from the heart of Rome, but from a remote northern province...we now call Scotland, but which...

A principal goal of Stark Realities is to “expose fundamental myths across the political spectrum” — and few myths are as universally embraced as the notion that US participation in World War II lifted the American economy out of the Great Depression. This myth is dangerous not only because it leads citizens and politicians to see a bright side of war that doesn’t really exist, but also because it helps foster a belief that government spending is essential to countering economic downturns. That belief, in turn, has helped propel us to a point where the national debt now exceeds $34.6...

The Gods of Political Correctness dictate that all religions are of equal worth; that there are “…three great Abrahamic religions,” and “The Arabs are Semites too, so they can’t be anti-Semites.” All three of these sacred cow clichés need to be slaughtered on the altar of truth. While Christianity and Islam are both offshoots of the Jews and took from them the concept of having one’s own holy writ, their self-definitions as new faith communities were radically different. The Koine Greek language narratives that Christians append to their version of the Hebrew Bible purport to be a continuation of Jewish...

The far-left welfare queens at NPR are now claiming “conservatives” are spreading a “myth” about illegal aliens voting, even though Democrats are openly pushing to allow illegal aliens to vote. “Conservatives are warning about noncitizens voting. It’s a myth with a long history,” reads the NPR headline. Oddly enough, NPR fails to notify its readers of this NPR story published less than 15 months ago: “New York City will allow 800,000 noncitizens to vote in local elections.” That law was blocked (thankfully) in June. Nevertheless, “11 towns in Maryland and two in Vermont … allow illegals “the right to vote...

Propagation of myths has consequences. Let us examine a couple and see where they have led. Myth 1. The State of PalestineThis so-called state is like Brigadoon, with two exceptions: a. It never appeared. b. It refuses to go away. Neither a country nor a state of Palestine has ever existed. The Kingdom of Judah is named after Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. The Kingdom of Judah was formed after the death of King Solomon, when the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled against Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. The two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin, remained loyal to...

A coalition of 1,609 scientists from around the world have signed a declaration stating “there is no climate emergency” and that they “strongly oppose the harmful and unrealistic net-zero CO2 policy” being pushed across the globe. The declaration does not deny the harmful effect of greenhouse gasses, but instead challenges the hysteria brought about by the narrative of imminent doom. The declaration, put together by the Global Climate Intelligence Group (CLINTEL), was made public this month and urges that “Climate science should be less political, while climate policies should be more scientific.” CLINTEL is an independent foundation that operates in...

The film Oppenheimer has made a lot of noise in the run-up to the anniversaries this month of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — and not just from Christopher Nolan’s bombastic soundtrack. As happens every year, these anniversaries prompt debate over the the decision to use atomic weapons, and whether they were necessary to end the war with Imperial Japan.The film itself seems timed to influence those debates. As Axios reported over the weekend, it has at least stirred controversy in Japan, although perhaps not exactly as its producers intended:“Oppenheimer” has generated backlash in Japan, for what critics argue...

Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) said Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he was “angry” former President Donald Trump is putting the country through “angst and tumult” over his classified documents indictment. Romney said, “I’m angry. The country is going to go through tumult as a result of one thing, President Trump didn’t turn over military documents when he was asked to do so. All he had to do was hand them in. I’m sure his counsel told him, hand the documents in, particularly when the subpoena came. But for some reason, he decided not to. He held onto them. Why?...

The largest mob lynching in the South was of Italians.The 1891 lynching of 11 Italians in New Orleans, after a roundup of over 1,000 Italians, grew out of an internal conflict among Louisiana Democrats and was praised by progressives of the era.“These sneaking and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins,” the New York Times editorial board railed. “Lynch law was the only course open to the people of New Orleans.”Future Louisiana Gov. John M. Parker, who helped organize the lynchings, described Italians as “just a little worse than the Negro, being if anything filthier in habits, lawless, and...

We keep hearing about the need for a conversation about race, specifically a conversation about the misery the black community experiences from being oppressed by the systemic racism of the white people of the United States. The endless conversation hasn’t done much beyond harming race relations, but maybe there is some systemic racism in the United States. Let’s look at three examples of systemic racism that are oppressive to black Americans. The first is affirmative action for black students applying to college. Was there ever a time when it made sense to admit a student to an elite school based...

On March 18, the New York Times published a bombshell story . In the article, Peter Baker, the New York Times's chief White House correspondent, detailed how Ben Barnes, a Republican political operative, undertook a secret trip in fall 1980 with his political mentor, former Texas Gov. John Connally, to the Middle East. They met with the region’s leaders in an attempt to contact the Iranian government, which was holding over 50 Americans hostage. The message that Connally wanted to convey to Iran was simple — that Iran should delay releasing the hostages until after the presidential election. Keeping the...

On March 17, people throughout the world celebrate St. Patrick’s Day as a festive occasion. There are parades, singing, dancing, and toasting, yet how many of the celebrants know why we pay tribute to the man behind the big event?Each month we receive a publication from The Voice of the Martyrs ministry that educates people on persecuted Christians. Why do they feature someone like the legendary Irishman? Why do they mention uncomfortable words like “slavery, suffering and smuggling of children” in connection with this famous figure?In these exciting days of history when reports of revival are surfacing as we repent...

In the middle of the 19th century, an archaeologist discovered fragments of multiple clay tablets in what is modern-day Iraq. Translated, the cuneiform writing on these and other tablets subsequently found revealed the “Enuma Elish,” the Babylonian account of the creation of the world. The Enuma Elish starts with formless chaos and water. The waters divide into a god and a goddess, who have children who are also gods. War breaks out between mother and father, and between mother and children. Ultimately, the offspring of the first two gods create human beings to be their servants. Other ancient cultures have...

The “Ghost of Kyiv” is a myth, Ukrainian officials admitted over the weekend. After several news outlets last week identified the legendary, mysterious, hero fighter pilot as a 29-year-old dad recently killed in battle with the Russians, military officials acknowledged Saturday that there was no such person. “The ghost of Kyiv is a superhero-legend, whose character was created by Ukrainians!” Ukraine’s Air Force Command wrote on Facebook. The reputed hero had been credited with taking out as many as 40 Russian aircraft until he was shot down March 13 while battling an “overwhelming” number of enemy forces, the Times of...

The Ghost of Kyiv was a Ukrainian fighter pilot. A lone warrior in the aerial defense of Ukraine’s embattled capital city in the early weeks of the Russian invasion. Deftly maneuvering his 30-year-old, twin-engine MiG-29, the Ghost jealously guarded the sky over Kyiv. Fighting against the odds with antiquated weaponry, he shot down 40 Russian warplanes before finally succumbing to enemy fire three weeks into the war. The Ghost of Kyiv, real name Stepan Tarabalka, died in the cockpit of his trusty MiG on Marchth 14, The Times reported. Just one problem. The Ghost of Kyiv legend isn’t true. Even...

The mysterious Ukrainian fighter pilot hailed as the “Ghost of Kyiv” after reportedly shooting down dozens of Russian aircraft has been killed in battle, an outlet said Friday. The death of the much-celebrated enigmatic pilot was reported by The Times of London, which for the first time also publicly identified Major Stepan Tarabalka, a 29-year-old father of one, as the war hero. Tarabalka was credited with taking out as many as 40 Russian aircraft until he was himself shot down March 13 while battling an “overwhelming” number of enemy forces, the UK paper said.

A grandpa’s haunting Thanksgiving ghost story appeared to help two brothers uncover a near 200-year-old “murder mystery.” Bill and Frank Watson were told a chilling tale about 57 Irish immigrants who died at a railroad site in Pennsylvania during the cholera epidemic in 1832. The area is now known as “Duffy’s Cut” as the rail workers’ boss was named Philip Duffy. It is a stretch of tracks located around 30 miles from Philadelphia. The brothers were told the chilling tale by their grandpa – a railroad worker – every Thanksgiving. They believe the rail workers died violently and not from...

In the current political climate, arguing against free college and student-loan cancellation doesn’t make you very popular among a particular crowd.But one thing that’s clear is that many people are upset about loans but don’t know how they work. Multiple misconceptions surround student debt and college finance that make people more upset than they need to be, which can lead to poor decision-making when it comes to education or finances.So let’s clear up a few things.Student debt isn’t an inescapable life sentence.The political discourse surrounding student debt would have you believe that unaffordable student loans are inescapable, but that’s pretty...

Last week, I debunked three myths about capitalism. Here are four more: Myth No. 4: Capitalism creates unsafe workspaces. "Greedy capitalists" will risk workers' lives to increase production if government, through agencies such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, doesn't stop that. It's logical to assume that government regulation saves lives. Workplace deaths dropped after the OSHA was created. Government officials like showing a graph of the decline. But if you bother to also look at data from (SET ITAL)before(END ITAL) the OSHA's creation, you see that deaths fell at the same rate before regulation began! Why?...

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) called the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol an “insurrection against the Constitution,” while other Republicans downplayed the riot’s significance. Romney’s comments came as several Republicans, including Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Rep. Jody Hice Norman (R-GA), minimized the violence or made false claims about the attack. Clyde said during a House Oversight and Reform Committee hearing Wednesday that calling what took place on January 6 “an insurrection” was “a boldface lie.”