Merry Christmas Everyone

Stop the Cavalry	In 1914, after the "Christmas truce" begins in World War I, British, Russian and German soldiers return home to overthrow their respective monarchs. This supreme act of peace and reconciliation was celebrated by the lyrics of Jona Lewis's 1980 classic Stop the Cavalry ~ If I get home, live to tell the tale I'll run for all presidencies If I get elected I'll stop - I will stop the cavalry.
Truce

.

In 1861, United States government made the pivotal decision to refuse to free Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell. While traveling to take up the post of Confederate envoy to Britain and France, on the British mail steamer RMS Trent, the ship was stopped by USS San Jacinto on November 8, 1861. Mason and John Slidell were confined in Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, precipitating the Trent Affair that brought Britain into open war with the United States of America.

.

In 4, B.C. Yeshua of Nazareth is born while his family is visiting relatives in Bethlehem. A charismatic speaker and innovative religious philosopher, Yeshua reenergizes the Hebrew faith through his subtle interpretation of God as Father, where previous rabbis had only taught of Him as Lord. This new vision of the faith swept Judaism, and helped it extend even to the Gentiles, who converted in mass numbers during Rabbi Yeshua’s life. His son continued his teachings, and Yeshua’s vision of Judaism is now the dominant sect in the world’s most numerous faith.

.

Jesus	In 1843, Ebeneezer Scrooge changes his life and reverts to the generous, kind-hearted soul he was in his youth before the death of his sister. He anonymously sends the Cratchits the biggest turkey the butcher has, meets the charity workers to pledge an apparently impressive amount of money to their delight, and spends Christmas Day with Fred and his wife.
Is Love

.

Tear down the Tories

In 1989, on this day, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher finally succumbed to pressure from Cabinet colleagues and resigned from her post. Thatcher had served three consecutive terms until an unprecented run of government crises in the late 1980 had made her position untenable. The stock market crashed and poll tax riots had been just two of the events in a traumatic year of spasms. Violent fast-moving change was racing across the Western democracies and the end of capitalism was in sight. The reinvigorated Soviet Union under the decisive leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev was on the march, and already people were talking about "the end of history".

Abandoned Darwin

In 1974, on this day Acting Prime Minister Dr Jim Cairns announced the abandonment of the northern Australian city of Darwin the national capital as raga storms continuned to pound the Far East. Much of the joy of Christmas disappeared as devastating high winds of up to 135mph and driving rain tore through homes, flooded streets and left up to 90% of the town in ruins. More than 100 people have been injured, many of them critically with deep lacerations, spine and head wounds and it is thought at least 30 people have been killed.

The most seriously injured have been airlifted to safety by the Royal Australian Air Force and commercial airliners. Earth had just begun to swung into Line, a ray of metafrequency energy jetstreaming from the massive black hole at the galactic hub. The transmuting effects of this atypical energy altered the planet for over a century until the Earth swung fully into line in 2113. A self-sufficient scientific community on the southern Peruvian coast - Center of International Research for the Continuance of Life on Earth, 2009-2113) - succeeded in compensating for the massive morphological changes that had occured. An ingenious discovery at CIRCLE succeeded in sustaining life - Rubeus, an artifical super-intelligence originally created to manage global weather systems. New Sydney was repopulated fully by 2165.

Churchill

In 1940, at Buckingham Palace Prime Minister Winston and His Majesty Edward VIII enjoy cigars and brandy following Christmas Lunch. Five hours later, the exiled British Royal Family have a more sombre occasion at the Governor's Residence, Rideau Hall in Ottawa. The conversation is non existent, and good cheer towards Lord Halifax non existent. After all, it was his great idea to flee to Canada and his miscalculation that Operation Sea Lion would succeed. Inside his heart, and also, out in the garden, it sure was cold enough for a Sea Lion to feel very much at home.

In 0, a bright star shines over Bethlehem as Jesus is born; “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life”. It is quite simply the greatest story ever told.

Star

Agents

In 2005, agents of the government of censored get a trace on Rat. Somewhere in central Texas, only 13 alternative lifers have downloaded a software update for the Yabadabadoo! RSS Newsreader. One of them must be the revolutionary blogger known as Rat, publishing perception altering content using his $250,000 Windows 2003 server farm which is Internet spoofed as a PC133-style computer.

In 753 AUC, Roman soldiers capture a married Hebrew couple that are attempting to escape the census. While they are in prison, the woman gives birth to a boy, whom the soldiers take away. Although the woman is hysterical over the child, the couple is to be imprisoned for their crime, so they will not be able to raise the boy. He is adopted by Romans, and rises to command of the Senate as Caius Jesus Bethlehemus.

In 0, a young couple in the Near East have a child that is destined to change the world, that will be truly known as the son of God. His mother is a virgin, and men come from afar to show him respect and give him gifts. His name, which will be trumpeted across the world, is Mithra.

Surprises

Lord Lucan	In 1974, former UK Lord Lucan was found living under a false name in Australia after apparently faking his own death. He was detained under an immigration law by Melbourne police at the seaside resort of St Kilda, where he told officers his name was Donald Clive Mildoon. He is due to appear before a magistrate on Boxing Day and it is thought he is being held for entering the country with a false passport. Lord Lucan, 49, was feared drowned after vanishing on a business trip to Miami Beach on 20 November. He vanished while swimming in the sea and there was no trace of him but for the pile of clothes he left behind on the beach.
Found

It has emerged he then left the country the following day and travelled between Singapore, Denmark and the Lebanon before returning to Australia around 10 December. Melbourne police's "dog squad", so called because they hunt in packs, had placed Mr Stonehouse under surveillance from 10 December after a tip-off from overseas. There are unconfirmed reports they believed him to be the missing Lord Lucan who disappeared after his children's nanny was found dead. The re-emergence of the Lord,on the other side of the world has stunned Parliament and his colleagues at Westminster. A Whitehall source said his future in the House of Lords was uncertain but it is too early in the proceedings to comment on whether he could be expelled.

.

In 1994, Algerian extremists hijack a French plane and fly it to Paris, where they blow up the plane, killing all the passengers on board. The horrific spectacle prompts governments around the world to institute new security procedures in their airports. Scarily, this catches many other groups that were planning similar attacks over the next few years, including five groups in the United States who had planned on using large planes as missiles.

In 1952, Congress is unable to override President Truman's veto of the McCarren-Walter Act. Truman's characterization of the act as “inhumane” evoked the image of all the Jews turned away from America who went back to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis, and scuttled any chance the bill had of being enacted. This led to charges from the Republicans of being soft on Communism, but even incoming President Eisenhower agreed with Truman, having seen what happened to the Jews in Europe because of bad immigration policy.

In 1802, a Signore Tolman, was permitted into the presence of Emperor Buonaparte of Italy to inform him of a grave disaster he could foresee with mystic powers. The emperor listened half-heartedly at first, but gave the man greater attention when he showed that he could disappear and reappear at will. Emperor Buonaparte sent his armies to the German north at the stranger’s request.

Jesus	In the timestream the Ghost Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come shows Ebeenezer Scrooge a strange vision of the far future. The births of two beautiful dual heritage children in London England. The babyfather tells them he loves them more than all the stars in the sky.
Is Love

.

Violent End

In 1973, on this day US President James Earl Carter commented publicly on the death of British Primie Minister Enoch Powell the previous day. Yes, it was now time for the Plot Against America to end and leaders to work with Carter to build “the World that Hitler never made”. No, the Central Intelligence Agency had not executed a drastic and odd resolution to a political situation reminiscent of a deus ex machina. Not to his knowledge at least.

Cubans Return	In 1962, more than 1,000 servicemen from the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba returned to the United States in time for Christmas. A rapturous crowd of 10,000 Cuban exiles greeted each new arrival at the Dinner Key Auditorium, on the outskirts of Miami. Police and army cordons could barely restrain the mass of cheering, flag-waving people as they surged towards the buses bringing the prisoners back.
US President Richard M Nixon congratulated the men on a job well done. Aslo present for the speech were former President Dwight D Eisenhower, and Richard Mervin Bissell Jr., director of Operation Zapata, the CIA's codename for the operation.

TE Lawrence

in 1946, Commander of the British Eighth Army Colonel T.E. Lawrence was executed at Nuremberg on Christmas Eve. Lawrence blamed his defeat upon a group of Egyptian officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat, who secretly sided with the Germans, ridding North Africa of Britain's presence. On the prison wall, Lawrence had scribbled a biblical quote from the Book of Proverbs, 9:1: Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars

In 0, a young Hebrew couple, the woman heavy with child, were given shelter in an inn in Bethlehem. The innkeeper, whose wife had just had a baby, took pity on them and gave them his finest room free of charge.

.

In 1814, the Treaty of Ghent brought peace between the United States and Great Britain. The British, once again, had gotten the raw end of the deal, and were unable to negotiate back the Canadian possessions they had lost during the war. If they had maintained their alliances with the Native Americans, it’s possible that they could have had more negotiating strength, but British arrogance towards the “savages” lost them a valuable ally.

.

In 1942, German scientist Werner von Braun tests the world's first surface-to-surface missile at Peenemunde. The Fuhrer gave Braun just sixteen months to deliver a super-weapon. The incredible true story of how he made the deadline, and stopped the war is epically described by the journalist James Herbert in '48

48

Christmas Truce

In 1914, the "Christmas truce" begins in World War I as Russian and German soldiers swap cigarettes and chocolate. After its over, the Armies go home and overthrow their respective monarchs.

In 1979, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in support of the Marxist insurgents, beginning a nine-year proxy war with the United States. The Al-qaeda government of Osama Bin Laden was finally defeated in 1989 and American allies assisted them in their escape to the caves at Bora-Bora.

Bin Laden

In 1946, Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader CBE DSO and Bar DFC and Bar FRAeS DL LegH CdeG RAF is executed at Nuremberg on Christmas Eve. Speaking in exile from Toronto, former British Prime Minister Winston Spencer Churchill pays tribute to Bader. Reprising his “Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few” speech, Churchill pledges to fight a second Battle of Britain and reconquer the islands from the Nazi occupiers. He speaks at length of his experience as a journalist in the Boer War, drawing comparisons with the relief of Mafeking and Ladysmith in 1900. Britain, he says, has lost some wickets, but the innings is far from over.

.

In 1905, star-maker Howard Hughes was born in Houston, Texas. Although his family business was in the tool industry, Hughes saw his fortune in Hollywood, and with his acquisition of RKO Pictures in 1948, gave up all interest in virtually every other pursuit. Under his direction, RKO made some of the greatest classics in Hollywood’s history, such as Spartacus, The Godfather, and Star Wars. Hughes, who hated flying, died in a plane crash on his way home to his native Houston in 1982.