Kicker

Jesus	In 1843, at the counting house Ebenezer Scrooge's Fred, entered to wish his uncle a "Merry Christmas" and invite him to Christmas dinner the next day. He is dismissed by his relative with "Bah! Humbug!" among other unpleasantness, declaring Christmas time to be a fraud.
Is Love

.

In 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary) appears in a manifestation to St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. In 1648 Miguel Sánchez, the author of the first Spanish-language apparition account said that

this New World has been won and conquered by the hand of the Virgin Mary

in a reference to the conversion of the Americas to Roman Catholicism with the notable exception of the Amish and Mormons.

.

In 2000, the United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore. Extreme pressure had been applied behind the scenes, but President Bill Clinton had greatest control of the executive and the judiciary. The comeback kid could grant pardons on his departure from the White House in a little over eight weeks time. The Bush family had been beated twice by the man from hope.

Reeve	"My epithet, 'the Just' derives from coinage. it concerns both the measure and the refinement of gold. When a coin contains the exact weight and purity of gold which it should contain, it it said to be 'just'. You should be aware, that the honesty of any man is revealed by the coin with which he repays his debts. ~ Reeve the Just In 2006, Tony Blair entered his final year of office. He was not sleeping well. On the previous night, he had suffered the phantasmagoric visit of Reeve the Just who had entered his study at 10 Downing Street. The conversation with the protagoniost was not what he wished it to be. His plans did not include any defense of himself: he meant to attack.
The Just

Just before he woke up screaming, Reeve had concluded - "You have confessed. I will go now and summon a magistrate. You will repeat your confession to him. Perhaps that act of honest will inspire you to confess as well the crimes you have committed upon the people of Iraq."

September 11

in 2000, the United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore. To unite the country, the Court proposes a joint inauguration followed by the candidates sharing the presidency with each serving a two-year term. Best practice had been established by an indecisive election in Israel during 1984 when Prime Ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres agreed to the same power-sharing formula. Without the luxury of a full-term to plan and launch an invasion of Iraq, the Bush camp fall upon a pretext for invasion during Gore's two-year occupancy. Plans for a terrorist strike on the World Trade Centre are started in earnest.

In 2003, on this day the compendium “A Collection of Political Counterfactuals” was published. Simon Burns' masterful sequel "What if Vladimir Arutinian had missed?" was a keynote contribution, considering the scenario of May 10, 2005: while Bush was giving a speech in the Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia, Vladimir Arutinian threw a live Soviet-made RGD-5 hand grenade towards the podium where he was standing and where Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and their two wives and officials were seated.

George W Bush

It landed in the crowd 18.6 metres (61 feet) from the podium after hitting a girl, but – incredibly – did not detonate because the red tartan (plaid) handkerchief wrapped tightly around it didn't allow the firing pin to deploy fast enough. Arutinian was arrested in July 2005 and admitted to throwing the grenade. He was convicted in January 2006, and was given a life sentence.

Hirohito

In 1941, India declared war on Japan. The decision was taken by British Imperialists acting falsely in the name of the people of the subcontinent. The Empire of Japan did not care, and dismantled the Raj during 1942 claiming a state of war existed between the two nations. Leaders of the Indian Independence Movement including Mahatma Gandhi were forced to re-evaluate their Quit India! Strategy which was now targeted at a wholly different kind of oppressor. Japan believed that it was creating a whole new order in Asia, and that required the displacement of American and European powers before further political development could be seriously considered.

In 2005, an Internet security attack is launched on the - Government's nuclear program from a $250,000 Windows 2003 Server Farm which is spoofed on the net as a PC133-style computer. Rat hacks into the hardened Fuel Enrichment Plant at 33°43′24.43″N, 51°43′37.55″E. Covering 100,000 square metres and built 8 meters underground, the plant is protected by a concrete wall 2.5 meters thick, itself protected by another concrete wall. The facility was previously considered impervious to Internet threats. The software for the fast breeder reactor core is subtlety modified by Rat. For a twenty-four period, Iranians are mystified as to the lack of enriched uranium and the output of garlic variant Texas Toast.

Rat

In 1893, quintessential movie bad guy Emanual Goldenberg was born in Bucharest, Romania. After coming to the United States as a boy, Goldenberg decided to become an actor, and won a scholarship to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He played a series of gangsters throughout the 30’s and 40’s, but his two most famous roles are as the slave foreman Dathan in The Ten Commandments and the elderly police assistant Sol in Soylent Green, both opposite leading man John Carter.

In 4629, chef Yuan Tseh Lee of the Hong Kong restaurant Sea Dragon Inn creates a small dessert treat to satisfy his clientele who needed something quick and not very filling. It was a small, crisp cookie that he folded into a knot. He personalized each one with an inspirational saying written on a scrap of paper stuffed into every cookie. The Fortune Cookie, as they came to be known, caught on like wildfire throughout the Chinese Empire, and Yuan was able to retire a very rich man.

In 1951, flash-in-the-pan conservative radio personality Rush Limbaugh was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Briefly famous after touting Ronald Reagan’s agenda in the 1980’s, his star plummeted back to earth with the triumph of Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election.

In 1951, Joe Dimaggio, possibly the greatest living Town Ball player at the time, announced his retirement from the New York Metros. Dimaggio had been the envy of other men in America just because of his sporting skills, but he increased that sense of envy when he married Hollywood beauty Norma Jean Mortensen in 1954.

In 1957, singer Jerry Lee Lewis arranges to marry his 13-year old cousin Myra Gale Brown, but is stopped at the alter by Jane Mitchum, whom he is still legally married to. Although Lewis was incensed at Mitchum’s interference, she probably saved his career; who would want to listen to records from a man married to a 13-year old?

A Reunion

August 23rd, 2007

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The Announcement

Don't forget - Birthday Contest for Steve – November 22, 1967. Send in an alternate birthday for him for us to post!

I went over to the alcove where she kept her holo equipment and plugged myself in. A woman's face appeared in front of me and asked, "Thank you for using TT of A. What number would you like to dial?"

"I'm not quite sure of the number. The name is Rosanto, Emilia Rosanto, and she lives on Set Lane in Thesylonica."

"Thank you. Hold for your call please." The woman's face was replaced with an image of a bell ringing gently every couple of seconds. After seven rings, Emilia's face popped up in front of me, her eyes bleary from lack of sleep. Since this was her normal state, I didn't think anything of it.

She grew immediately animated at seeing me. "Gabe! Oh my gods, it's so good to see you! You've got to come over, right away. Where are you?"

"I'm at Willie's. I wanted to get everybody together, see if we could maybe take a little trip out for a while. My last partner just found his paradise."

Emilia laughed and shook her head. "Everybody but you, huh, Gabe?" Her softly dark Mediterranean features were everything I've ever dreamed of in a woman, but Emilia refused to come with me to the Porno Universe. Some people just don't know what's good in life. "What was it this time? Gold raining from the sky? The hunter-gatherer world?"

"No, nothing so pleasant. Did you ever meet Patrice?" She shook her head. "He wanted the African world, where Europeans were slaves. I helped him make the European slaves realize that their condition was the will of God."

"So, you're feeling a bit slimy at the moment, is that it?"

"Basically."

"You poor thing." Her hand reached out and stroked me. I felt nothing, of course, but it was a nice gesture, nonetheless. "You want to come over? I have a guy here, but he's the understanding type." She winked at me. "A candidate for your dream world."

"You know I'd never refuse an offer like that, honey, but I need to call up the others. Are Sylvan and Moshe still living in Babylonia?"

"Well, Moshe is. Sylvan got carted off by a UFO almost three months ago."

"Damn it!" Sylvan and I had gone to grade school together. He was always one step ahead of the saucers. Until now, of course. "We're going to have to do something about the UFO's someday, Emilia."

"When you figure out what, you let me know, OK? Dartha and Inikia are here in Thesylonica, and I think Karlus moved to Roma, but I'm not sure. I don't think he's up to any more planewalking, though. You remember what happened last time?"

"It was just a small curse, and it stopped working once we got back to our home plane."

"The clap is hardly a small curse, Gabriel. Poor Karlus had to wear a diaper everywhere." She counted us on her fingers. "I think that's everybody. Two boys and three women - you'll practically be in your paradise, Gabe."

"If only. Can you let Dartha and Inikia know? I'll talk to Moshe and try to get hold of Karlus."

"He won't come. Trust me on this, Gabe. The man dripped for three weeks, he hates your guts."

"I'm very persuasive when I set my mind to it, Emi." I gave her my best evil smile. "And, if that doesn't do it, hypnosis works wonders."

"Some archangel you are. When and where?"

"Tomorrow night, and here at Willie's, I think. If she doesn't agree, I'll let everybody know, and we'll find someplace." I took a long look at her tantalizingly lovely features, framed by the black silk of her hair, and sighed. "It's been way too long, Emi."

"I'll get there a little early for the reunion." She blew a kiss at me. "See you tomorrow, love." Her face folded in on itself, and I was left alone with my fantasies.

I got hold of Moshe, but Karlus was simply not reachable. I guess the clap was a little more serious than I thought it had been. After hanging up on the third number suggested for a Karlus Maurelius in Roma, I gave up and went down to Willie's basement.

She was examining a huge painting, one that covered an entire wall, and whose subject reminded me of some of the more ambitious Italian works of the old masters. An alien was coming down from the clouds, bearing a chain in one hand and a UFO in the other. Various Asian figures were gathered about it, some in fear, others up in arms, but most bowing down to worship at the feet of the huge Arythiok. It was quite compelling. "Is this the new artist?"

"It's not his best, but it's certainly his most impressive. The subject matter is rather cliché, but the style makes up for it." She led me over to smaller, more unique pieces. "These present his talent much better." There were several statues scattered among a few framed works, and even a hologram. "Did you contact your friends?"

"Most of them. One of them was abducted, as you feared."

She shook her head in commiseration. "It is regrettable what some of my people do."

I stood between her and a spectacularly overdone wall-hanging. "Are you ever going to tell me why they take us?"

Her eyes became almond jades of embarrassment again. "Perhaps some day. But, I don't believe you're ready."

"You people always say something like that. You just don't want to tell me."

"That could be true, as well."

"You know, you could tell me anything. If you used to do it, you could tell me that. If you still do it, you could tell me. There's very little I haven't imagined as your answer to that question."

She fidgeted, and pointed at the hologram. "This piece represents Buddha under his tree, stylized into a technological image of a double helix. The displacement of the tree by a modern image creates a similar feeling of displacement in the viewer, don't you think?"

"All right, you don't have to answer me. You can stop being all uncomfortable now."

"Thank you." She brightened up right away.

"I needed to ask you if I could use your house to meet them all tomorrow night. Is that all right with you?"

"Of course." Her pensive look came back. "If I did tell you that I was one of the kidnappers, would that make a difference between us?"

"No."

"You answered that quickly."

I shrugged. "It's something I've been thinking about for a long time. It was the first thing that went through my mind when you wouldn't answer my questions." She smiled. "Are you going to answer them now?"

"No, but I think I'll have to soon. A pity. The mystery has been such an exciting part of our relationship."

"Naturally." I took her arm and led her over to some of the more esoteric offerings of her collection. "But, once we really know each other, don't you think that'll deepen our feelings for each other?"

"There is always that hope." She took a small statuette and handed it to me. "This was meant to be handled. Feel the astounding number of textures the artist has managed to place in a single piece? That's an Arythiok technique. Layer upon layer, appearing similar with one sense, showing an amazing complexity when experienced with another."

"That's an Arythiok technique, all right." She poked me, and I nearly dropped the statuette. "Careful, now. We don't want to add any more textures to this thing."

I put the statuette back in its place and we looked at the rest of the collection in silence. Willie's an impressive connoisseur, but art only captures me for so long, and then I go into sensory overload. Still, when you're a guest, it's best to play the appreciative ascetic when your host is. After the tour, she took me upstairs and offered me her bath.

"Am I that offensive?"

She turned black again. "No, no, I just thought that you might want to freshen up before dinner."

I sniffed at myself and agreed with her. "I'll just do that, then." I bathed slowly and luxuriously, enjoying it all. Willie has the most wonderful bubble bath you could ever hope to find. One of the fringe benefits of being a planewalker is finding all the places that are the best of everything.

"When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. So she said to Jacob, 'Give me children, or I'll die!' Jacob became angry with her and said, 'Am I in the place of God, who has kept you from having children?'

Aunt Lydia	"Then she said, 'Here is Bilhah, my maidservant. Sleep with her so that she can bear children for me and that through her I too can build a family.' " ~ Rachel, wife of Jacob Genesis 30:1-3
Handmaid

The sons of Jacob suspended the US Constitution and replaced Massachusetts with the theocratic Republic of Gilead. The birth rate had fallen alarmingly and radical measures had to be taken to rectify the situation. The full article is available at Manitoba University

~ quotation from Margaret Atwood: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1945, General-san Douglas MacArthur declined a reactivation order from US President Harry Truman who promptly fired him. Actually MacArthur had no ambition to receive the Japanese defeat. His Filipinos harriers were busy installing a rogue state in the Philippines, after all why else write the enigmatic message I will return?

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1956, Izear Luster "Ike" Turner, Jr moved the Kings of Rhythm to East St. Louis where he met teenage, gospel-trained singer from Nutbush, TN, named Anna Mae Bullock, and promised her a chance to sing with his band.

Ike Turner Revue	That chance kept failing to materialize, until one night Bullock simply grabbed the microphone and started belting. Turner made her a part of his revue, changing her name to Tina. Ike had other plans for Tina – he wanted to control her free spirit. Predictably, after Tina became pregnant by the band's saxophonist, Raymond Hill her prospects receded sharply.
A second and final chance appeared - and then disappeared. In late 1959, Turner's band entered the studio to cut a song called "A Fool in Love" for the Sue Records label. The scheduled male vocalist was running late. Tina was about to be pressed into service by Ike, who thought the vocalist had failed to show up for the session - when he suddenly appeared, full of apologies.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Tony Blair	"I am a modern man. I am part of the rock and roll generation—the Beatles, colour TV, that’s the generation I come from." ~ Tony Blair Pre-election speech at Stevenage, 22 April 1997
Bliar

Demonstrating he was living in a time warp by describing the modern world in terms of symbols from thirty years before.

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

She stared at him, He stared at her. No one said anything for ages. The clock ticked. Outside a large ship honked. No one said anything for ages. She stared at him. He stared at her. The tension at the whaleing station was palpable. "Sardines on toast anyone?" said Father at last. And so it goes.

~ from Sardine-House-Five, a thrilling new pschyo novel by Kod Vongutfish

In 2002, in RM Muleuch's Twelve Legions of Angels Air Marshall Hugh Dowding returns to 1940. Without the distraction of his loving family he will make a success of Big Wing and win the Battle of Britain. He will delay German invasion until the autumn when the English Channel would be too hostile for the Kriegsmarine's landing craft. Trouble is the ghost of Keith Park dispatched Dowding to a 1940 that really needs him. The rescue flotilla heading towards Dunkirk has been decimated by Stuka Dive bombers. Dowding somehow must buy the Royal Navy another two weeks whilst the British Expeditionary Force fights for its life against the Wehrmacht.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1914, the British Army begins withdrawal from the Battle of Mons. It was in the period of this hectic retreat, when the British troops would have been so vulnerable to a pursuing enemy, that something extraordinary occurred. British troops claimed that they had seen an apparition in the sky of three angelic figures who appeared to ward off the attacks of the enemy. The retreat was successfully accomplished and the British troops lived to fight another day. The story of the Angel at Mons spread like wildfire through Britain. It became the subject of many articles and even artistic productions. After the war, Harold Begbie published a book on the phenomenon, On the Side of the Angels, in which he quoted some who had witnessed the apparition first-hand. One lance-corporal recalled: '"I could see quite plainly in mid-air a strange light which seemed to be quite distinctly outlined and was not a reflection of the moon, nor were there any clouds in the neighbourhood. The light became brighter and I could see quite distinctly three shapes, one in the centre having what looked like outspread wings, the other two were not so large, but were quite plainly distinct from the centre one. They appeared to have a long loose-hanging garment of a golden tint they were above the German line facing us." The Angel of Mons was in fact the entity known as Aiwass, summoned by Aleister Crowley at the request of a desperate British Government.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

1973, seven years as Simon Templar earned Greatest living Englishman Roger Moore enough popularity (and credibility) among fans of detective fiction to earn him the role James Bond despite the inevitable comparisons to Sean Connery. Due to redrafting errors at the contract office at Eon Productions, Moore was offered a contract for life. His latest movie, Golden Years features a dramatic hand of the card game patience with "Jaws" at the Moonbase. Wikipedia reports - "The satire show Spitting Image once had a sketch in which their latex likeness of Moore, when asked to display emotions by an offscreen director, does nothing but raise an eyebrow. Moore himself has stated that he thought the sketch was funny, and took it in good humour. That series later featured a Bond movie spoof, The Man With The Wooden Delivery, with Moore's puppet receiving orders from Margaret Thatcher to kill Mikhail Gorbachev, and many other comedy shows of that time ridiculed Moore's acting, Rory Bremner once claiming to have had a death threat from an irate fan of Moore's, following one such routine. "

~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne

Castle Bonny	In 1943, movie critics give a varied response to Castle Bonny which premièred four days before on Broadway. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund.
The rekindled romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. Rudy Behlmer emphasises the variety in the picture: "it’s a blend of drama, melodrama, comedy [and] intrigue". The other characters, in Rudy Behlmer's words, are "not cut and dried": they come into their goodness in the course of the film. Ronald begins the film as a collaborator with the Nazis, who extorts sexual favours from refugees and has Ugarte killed. Dick, according to Behlmer, is "not a hero, ... not a bad guy": he does what is necessary to get along with the authorities and "sticks his neck out for nobody". Even Ilsa, the least active of the main characters, is "caught in the emotional struggle" over which man she really loves. By the end of the film, however, "everybody is sacrificing".
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127, Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani returns from a truth and reconciliation visit to the eastern seaboard of Turtle Island that being the continent renamed after the Italian merchant Amerigo Vespucci during the western epoch c1492 to 2081.	Brent
As part of his Peace and Brotherhood jihad he has embarked on a fact-finding mission by visiting the centres of the fallen Western Civilisation. On-board his light aircraft is a Eurasian stowaway, Brent. The plan that Brent has hatched is straight out of Rafsanjani's book, not that he would appreciate it himself.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Chiang Kai-Shek	In 1839, the United Kingdom captured Hong Kong as a base as it prepared to war with Qing China during the First Opium War. Just over one hundred years later, Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai Shek sought refuge in the Colony. Having arrived with the entire gold and foreign currency reserves of China, he joined British imperialists ..
.. in building a thumb-your-nose at Communism show case in the middle of Guangdong Province. Just as a small impurity can cause great stomach upset, Hong Kong created greater and greater problems for the Chinese Communist Party until it collapsed entirely in 1967. Thereupon the Kuomintang returned to Beijing, and set about building an even more powerful city than Hong Kong, a mission that was completed by the end of the century.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1952, on this day the charter of the Arab League went into effect. Head quartered in Cairo, Egypt, the League's charter states that the League shall co-ordinate economic affairs, including commercial relations; communications; cultural affairs; nationality, passports, ..	Anthony Eden
.. and visas; social affairs; and health affairs. This predecessor organisation to Nasser's United Arab Republic (UAR) greatly alarmed governments in London and Paris. Four years later, led by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, Anglo-France forces joined with Israel to strike the Suez Canal Zone, being forced to back down by President Eisenhower. Following the enlargement of the UAR to Saudi Arabia in 1980, official biographer Robert Rhodes asked, "who can now claim that Eden was wrong?"
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Our Lady

The state of TIAH

December 12th, 2006

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Alternate Historian's Note: Stephen Payne takes up the slack for us as we head down to the conclusion of the first half of our NaNoWriMo novel. We hope you are enjoying this change in format – let us know how you feel about it in comments or by emailing us. This will be the format of TIAH throughout the holiday season, unless we receive a great outcry about it. Speaking of the Holiday Season, keep in mind those who need help year-round and keep yourselves safe and happy, as well. And, should you feel generous inclinations towards our guest historians, you can visit the sites of those who have separate ones from TIAH; generosity towards us here at the Academy is always appreciated, too, and you can find ways to help us out all over the site. Right now, we'd appreciate a lead on a good day job, but my lovely Co-Historian could also some more memory on her PC, if anyone feels generously inclined. (It's PC133-style – yes, it's an old machine). Any good wishes you have towards us can be emailed here.

in 0, Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani is starting to believe his abduction plan will succeed. Delivering Jesus to the post-jihad year 2126 and frustrating the ministry will deliver a heroes' welcome, surely? -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe (the Virgin Mary) appears in a manifestation to St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City. In 1648 Miguel Sánchez, the author of the first Spanish-language apparition account said that "this New World has been won and conquered by the hand of the Virgin Mary” in a reference to the conversion of the Americas to Roman Catholicism with the notable exception of the Amish and Mormons. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

in 2000, the United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore. To unite the country, the Court proposes a joint inauguration followed by the candidates sharing the presidency with each serving a two-year term. Best practice had been established by an indecisive election in Israel during 1984 when Prime Ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres agreed to the same power-sharing formula. British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown calls Gore to strongly advise him not to accept the proposal. After all he had made a similar agreement with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1994 and he was still waiting. Dismissing Brown's advice as a counsel of bitterness, and being a gentleman, Gore invites Bush to serve first – whilst he occupies the Senate Presidency as agreed. For two years they fight tooth and nail over 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, tearing the country to pieces. -entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!-

Before(cont.)
“What is it?” Steph didn't think she really wanted to know, judging from the way Jake sounded, but wanted to get it over with.
“I need to come back to your place, all right? And I'm afraid I'm gonna be bringing Specialist Bradley and a couple of other people with me.”
Steph was confused. “Why?”
“Are you on the cordless phone, Steph?”
That was a weird question. “Yeah.”
“I'll email you, OK? It's not something that I can talk about over the line.”
That just scared her. “Are you sure you need to come here, Jake?”
“Yeah, Steph, I really am.”
She wanted to tell him no; she and the kids had been through so much in the last 2 days, and she didn't like how mysterious he was being. But, if he really needed her help... then she had to give it. “OK, Jake. When are you gonna be here?”
“I'll tell you in the email. See you soon, Steph.”
The receiver went dead and she hung up. She walked over to the computer, where Joan was chatting with some of her friends. “I need to use the computer, Joanie.”
“Just 5 more minutes, OK, mom?”
Steph didn't think Jake was hitting 'Send' right then, so she said, “All right. But not a minute more.”
“OK.” Joan typed furiously, giggling a little at something that somebody had just messaged to her. Steph felt good that Joan was in a better mood than the previous day. She wished that she could toss all of her cares away that easily. George was happily watching his Justice League DVD's, without a care in the world. All the adult stuff was still a little unreal to him.
It felt a little unreal to her, too. She pulled a chair up next to the computer, making Joan a little uncomfortable. “Don't read over my shoulder, OK?”
“Don't write anything you feel like I shouldn't read, then,” Steph told her, smiling. She didn't read what her daughter was typing; she felt that the threat that her mother was close enough to read what she was writing was enough to deter the girl.
It obviously made Joan uncomfortable, because she wrapped up the conversation and turned the computer over to her mother. “There ya go, mom,” she said, getting up and walking over to the TV to torment her little brother.
Joan brought up her email program and signed in. Spam drifted in quickly, and she scanned through it until she found one from Jake. “Steph,” it read, “you need to delete this email as soon as you've read it, and empty your trash folder after doing that. There's more that Bradley told me you need to do, but we'll explain it when we get there. We've found out something here that kind of threw us for a loop, and we need some time to think about our next move. We won't stay there long, but we need a place where we can meet up with a couple of people before moving on. If you can't let us stay there, don't reply to this email. Instead, post a message to the forums at www.jcconspiracy.com saying S cannot help J. It's really important, though, babe. If we don't see that post before 3PM, we'll assume that you agree. Thanks.”
She looked at the clock in the corner of her computer's desktop. It was 2:14. That gave her a little time to think about what she had just read. She deleted the email and emptied the trash folder, then opened up her Internet browser and went to the mysterious www.jcconspiracy.com. It was one of those nutjob conspiracy sites, with all kinds of 'proof' that Bush was behind 9/11, or aliens were being pumped for information at Area 51, or JFK was killed by the CIA; another real estate agent at her firm believed that stuff and tried to talk to her about it all the time.
She saw the link to the forums, and clicked on it. There were several somewhat cryptic postings; she guessed that people this paranoid needed someplace they could post things anonymously. A huge number of these postings were from today and yesterday; the nutjobs were out in force. What was Jake doing telling her to go here? He didn't believe any of this crap.
The clock had flipped to 2:33 while she had been wading through all the craziness on the forums. Joan had also gotten bored with torturing her brother and was now seated next to her. “What's with all the whoo-whoo stuff, mom?”
Steph closed the browser. “Nothin', Joanie. Your father and some friends are gonna be here tonight. Help me get the place straightened up.”

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Enochian Code

June 12th, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1891, the Farmers Council meets for the last time in Topeka, Kansas. Thaddeus Elridge is more than ready to dissolve the council and return to fight in the south. “This man has promised us Heaven and given us only Hell,” he thunders at 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson. “It is high time we stopped listening to his golden words and started fending for ourselves. I, for one, will deal with the Union.” He led about half of the council out of the chamber, a dissolute Simpson weakly calling after them to “hang together, lest we hang separately!” His invocation of Benjamin Franklin does nothing to sway Elridge's faction, and even those left in the council with him, with a couple of exceptions, withdraw their support. The Kansas rebellion has broken.

in 1999, through a spy in Prime Minister Kay Ector's staff, Queen Gwen learns that the prime minister is making contingency plans to get rid of her. She truly admires Ector's abilities, and doesn't want to just kill him. She decides to utilize the aid of her recently acquired ally, Walton Ray Thermopolous, whose specialty in the Illuminati had been turning liabilities into assets. Thermopolous accompanies Sir Kay on a brief junket to Greece, where he traps the prime minister in a small villa for some extensive brainwashing.

In 1994, the Envoy's crew of eight married scientists began a two hundred and fifty eight day space flight. Captain Michael Brant M.S., Cmdr D.F. Reserve was in Command and his primary objective was to found a human colony on Mars. His secondary objective involved Mary Jane Lyle Smith, a power technician who required anti-nausea medication for the later phase of the journey.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1945, in the devastated city of Tokyo an apparition of the Virgin Mary appeared to the peace and reconciliation mission led by General-san Douglas MacArthur. Alongside the Blessed One was the ghost of a burnt Japanese child; a teddy bear's arm trailed on the scorched ground.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1999, Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Sir Michael Jackson reluctantly complied with an order from his boss General Wesley Clark. Dubbed "Macho Jacko" by the British tabloid press, NATO troops blocked the runways of the Russian-occupied Pristina Airport, to isolate the Russian troops there. By complying with General Clark's order, there was a chance the British troops under his command could have come into armed conflict with the Russians; doing this without prior orders from Britain could have led to his dismissal for gross insubordination. On the other hand, defying Clark would have meant disobeying a direct order from a superior NATO officer (Clark was a four-star general; Jackson only a three-star). Reputedly saying "I'll start World War III for you", the point became irrelevant when the American government prevailed upon the Hungarians, Romanians, and Bulgarians to prevent the Russians from using their airspace to fly reinforcements in.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Caucasian Map, ..	In 1760, medical science could safely be described as primitive throughout the post-pandemic world. The twenty-fourth century scientists who finally answered the Caucasoid question (CQ) were greatly advanced by comparison. Less than one hundred years later, CQ would become a routine academic examination question for ..
.. fifteen year-old molecular biology pupils. Put simply to those kids, the question was thus. a) Where did the Yersinia pestis enterobacteria originate? b) Why was Europe the only continent to be depopulated? c) What was the great secret that enabled the seven stowaways to survive the plague, and resettle the continent? During the 2498 matriculation examinations in New Rome, 98% of fifteen year old pupils answered all three questions correctly. After all, the answer was obvious. Once you knew it. For those seven stowaways who only had to consider part c) it was not necessarily obvious. Had they not of had days of nothing else to do, adrift in the Atlantic, they might never have seen the common sense answer for themselves. Things would have turned out a little different had they not.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King receives a most unusual telegram from the British Government in Exile. It is a diplomatic request for entry into Canada for medical attention to be given to the former British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain who was dying of cancer in South Africa. King sends ..	Mackenzie King
.. a message through diplomatic back-channel at the German embassy. How would Herr Hitler respond to acquiescence for such a request?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Guest Historian	In 2126, passengers of the London Underground train number AEJX57B arrived on the last leg of their world tour, in Sydney Shanty Town. The fallen Western Civilization that had emerged out of the post-Jihad epoch of the late twenty-first century was truly shocking to these late twentieth century commuters. They were witnessing ..
.. a degree of suffering they had only seen on Bob Geldorf's televised tours of Africa, and this time, the starving were their fellow Europeans.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, at Chequers the British Heads of State and Government were simply unable to accept the repulsion plan proposed by Aleister Crowley. Sensing this, Minister of Defence Winston Churchill adopted a different tactic to gain acceptance. Naval Intelligence Officer Ian Fleming and others proposed a disinformation plot in ..	Ian Fleming
.. which Crowley would help an MI5 agent supply Nazi officials with faked horoscopes. Those horoscopes based on the Enochian Code would suggest false information about an alleged pro-German circle in Britain. This proposal really troubled British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley and King Edward VIII. Even after an endless supply of cigars and brandy the night before they still had not managed to achieve a state of mind where they could authorise the plan. And what if it was a trick to bring a pro-German circle to power?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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The Pillar Of Britain

June 13th, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1891, Kansan resistance crumbles before the combined onslaught of Union soldiers and state militias crossing the border to attack them. The southern region of the state, led by former Farmers Councilor Thaddeus Elridge, defects to the Union side in exchange for a promise to leave their homes intact. Elridge's betrayal opens the way for a huge combined force to target Topeka, where 'Sockless' Jerry Simpson is desperately gathering as many troops of his own as he can.

in 1999, Queen Gwen announces that Prime Minister Sir Kay Ector is taking a brief holiday in the Mediterranean, and that she will personally handle the affairs of state while he is recouping his strength. “As the women of Britain know, the men of our kingdom often depend upon us to be the pillars that they may lean upon when their own abilities flag. We stand ready to be the pillar for the United Kingdom, and we shall lend our strength to all those who weaken, and all may lean upon us and know that we shall hold them up.”

In 1995, from the Envoy Captain Michael Brant M.S., Cmdr D.F. Reserve radioed a message back to the Earth - We will land at 1200 tomorrow GST just south of Lacus Soli. No further message was received. A further manned expedition would have been mounted, but the Second Gulf War intervened causing war and delay. Thirteen years passed.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 1983 following delays Hitsville 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever was broadcast on NBC as a television special. Produced by Suzanne de Passe, the program commemorated twenty-fifth year of Hitsville U.S.A.'s existence.	Michael Jackson
Ironically many of the performances featured hits from other labels. Among the show's highlights were a Temptations/Four Tops "battle of the bands", Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of "What's Going On", a Jackson 5 reunion, Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean", and an abbreviated reunion of Diana Ross & the Supremes, who performed their final #1 hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. Michael Jackson's dancing performance received significant applause from the audience, especially when Jackson executed his trademark moonwalk for the first time. However, Otis Redding stole the show with a powerful rendition of I've Been Loving You Too Long. A transmutation of gospel, rhythm & blues and funk, Big O compressed twenty five years of music into a classic piece of climaxing anticipation that was all waiting.
~ story by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1945, in the devastated city of Tokyo an apparition of the Virgin Mary accompanied by a Japanese child appeared again. Turning away, a mirage of the nuclear mushroom cloud drew the blessed pair plus a hundred thousand shrieking souls from the blasted ground.

~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Margaret Thatcher	I think we've been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it's the government's job to cope with it. 'I have a problem, I'll get a grant.' 'I'm homeless, the government must house me.' They're casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It's our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour. People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations. There's no such thing as entitlement, unless someone has first met an obligation. ~ Margaret Thatcher talking to Women's Own magazine, October 31 1987
UK Prime Minister

Five years before Margaret Thatcher's fourth election victory in 1992 which removed any vestige of self-restraint in dismantling the British Welfare State.

~ quotation presented by Steve Payne

Phoenix Chromos..	In 2387, at a cost of 184 trillion new guineas, the Caucasoid question (CQ) was finally answered by scientists in New London. Perhaps twelve people in the resettled world fully understood the conclusion in its entirety. We shall simplify CQ thus, and let us label these twelve people CQ12 in order to reduce a 286 pica ..
.. byte project of five thousand man years into one paragraph. Some ethnic groups have higher rates of certain diseases or respond less well to certain medicines. If two people of any ethnic group are selected at random, only between 1 in 1,000 and 1 in 1,500 of their DNA will differ. Chromosome, the basic units of DNA are generally shared between populations, but their frequency can differ widely. The CQ Scientists found the Phoenix Chromosome Frequency Reaction (PCFR), so-called because it enabled the Caucasian to rise up from the ashes of a depopulated Europe. CQ12 might well of provided a working Joe explanation over a beer. If they got out that often, which they did not. Basically, PCFR kicked the Yersinia pestis enterobacteria in the butt.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, Adolf Hitler received a covert communique from Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King. Hitler was being asked to approve entry into Canada for medical attention to be given to the former British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain who was dying of cancer in South Africa. Chamberlain had famously mistaken ..	Chamberlain
.. Hitler for a butler, and passed the Fuehrer his coat on arrival for the Munich Conference in 1936. The Fuehrer blazed with anger at the thought of this humiliation. He constructed a non-ambiguous reply to King. Acquiescence to the request would be considered an act of war by Nazi Germany and would invite immediate action from the Kriegsmarine currently moored off the east coast of Canada.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Liverpool St	In 1994, London Underground train number AEJX53B pulled smoothly into Liverpool Street Station at 10 a.m. The doors open and the returning passengers of the London Underground train number AEJX57B burst out onto a quiet platform. Having taken a world tour of the fallen Western Civilization that had emerged out of the post-Jihad ..
.. epoch, they have an incredible tale to tell. But will anyone believe it? Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani certainly believes so, he also hopes the revelations will force a change of attitude towards Islam that will avert the War on Terror.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, you could safely say that history had taken an unexpected turn. Britain had emerged from World War I as the military victor. Yet this victory had disguised an accelerated national decline, throwing the British ruling class into a state of denial. General Strikes, Financial Crises, Depressions inter alia were the ..	Chequers
.. traumas of the post-war era. By 1936, British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley and King Edward VIII held the positions of British Heads of State and Government. The sense of national crisis was acute, and they were determined to reverse it with a new imperialism. The trouble was this. By forcing the abdication and execution of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918-9, the British had transformed what would otherwise have been a sympathetic Germany monarchy into a rabid Fascist power. And now Nazi troops were massing in Northern France, as plans for the D-Day Landings on the South Coast of England further advanced.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Monstrous

In 388, a ten year old boy named Cyrill died in the Roman City of Alexandria. His Uncle Theophilus discovered strange alphabet formations in the dwelling. Soon he too would be victim, but of a more powerful force - Nestorianism which was spreading like wildfire out of Constantinople.

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Balrog	In 1892, the scholarly giant of modern England, John R. R. Tolkien, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. His escapist fantasy writing was greatly influenced by combat tension suffered as a Second Lieutenant in 1916. Whilst Tolkien was with the eleventh battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers, this tension reached a new and frightening level of intensity for Tolkien as his imagination was over-stimulated by the horror of the Somme. At night, he saw that most frightening of creatures charging across no-mans land. A creature of the imagination which he would never speak directly. Only W.H. Auden would guess at the depiction of the 1916 apparition. Later in the year, Tolkien was invalided with trench fever. And it was as this time he was gripped by the epic struggle, as Gandalf battled a Balrog, an ancient demon creature, and fell into a deep chasm under the Mines of Moria, apparently to his death.
Tolkiens Phantasm

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In 1967, Jack Ruby's cancer went into remission, allowing him to be placed on trial for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald. From the stand, Ruby spun a story of conspiracy, deception and treason, and the judge was forced to place a gag order on news from the trial. When the courtroom blew up the next day, it was blamed on a “gas leak” under the courthouse.

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In 1521, German monk Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Henry VIII of the Holy British Empire. Brother Martin was disgusted with the corruption of the British Papacy, and nailed a series of theses on his local church door, enumerating and protesting the wickedness of the English Church. Pope Henry, who had never been one to tolerate protestants, excommunicated then executed Brother Martin.

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In 2006, International Visit Today In Alternate History Day receives the unwelcome attention of most security agencies in North America. In a deft manoerve, Reverend Rattie reports that “Apparently, when you post before turning off your feed, your post appears on the feed anyway. So much for our vaunted computer skills.” Within the CIA, older hands suspect that Rattie was attempting to understate the real number of online alt-lifers.

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In 1892, the scholarly giant of modern England, John R. R. Tolkien, was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. At Oxford, Tolkien penned some of the greatest literary criticisms of the 20th century, delving into the mythic roots of Beowulf, the legends of King Arthur, the Germanic and Celtic influences in English literature, and dozens of other subjects. In recent years, his son Christopher published a few of the bed time stories Tolkien wrote for his children, of which the most famous are his Father Christmas stories. There has even been talk of making a movie of these stories, although no one really expects they would be very popular.

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In 4620, Egyptologist and adventurer Luo Gan discovers the ancient tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamen, and its hideous curse. Over the next five years, he and the twenty members of his team die gruesome deaths. Although most dismiss this as mere coincidence, the Imperial Ministry of Antiquities has forbade further digging into ancient Egypt’s past.

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In 12-17-10-5-15, Pachacamac, Incan musicians famed throughout the Empire, give their first performance before the emperor at Oueztec City. The music of the sweet mountains of their birth lofted throughout the court, bringing smiles and tears to the assembled courtiers. The emperor himself is so moved by their performance that he ennobles them all.

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In 1977, the number one computer company in the world, Apple Computers, was incorporated by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in California. From humble beginnings as a machine for hobbyists, Apple computers soon made their way onto desktops in businesses and homes around the world with the introduction of the Macintosh line of computers. They might have stumbled in the 80’s when IBM’s operating system supplier, Microsoft, made a graphical interface to match the Macintosh, but a successful lawsuit against the company crushed that dream.

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Silmarillion	In 1914, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien began working on the Middle-earth stories. A good deal was written while Tolkien, then a British officer returned from France during World War I, was laid up in a military hospital and at home with trench fever. Truth be told, Tolkien's imagination was over-stimulated by the horror of the Somme. In escapist fantasy writing, Tolkien's inner hero struggled to restore his own dissipated life force.

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In 1947, the pederast Thomas Edward Lawrence was exposed in the Times newspaper following evidence of an inappropriate relationship with a fourteen year-old Arab boy, Selim Ahmed in 1914.

A clue was carefully hidden in Chapter 2, of Seven Pillars of Wisdom which describes homoerotic behaviour "quivering together in the yielding sand, with intimate hot limbs in supreme embrace." The book itself is dedicated to "S.A." with a poem that begins: "I loved you, so I drew these tides of men into my hands and wrote my will across the sky in stars To gain you Freedom, the seven-pillared worthy house, that your eyes might be shining for me When I came.", which had previously been considered a reference to Saudi Arabia, the chosen name of Abdul-Aziz bin Saud's Republic that was eventually founded in 1932.

Shortly afterwards, Lawrence was stripped of meritous awards that he had received after the war - Companion in the Order of the Bath, Distinguished Service Order, French Légion d'Honneur and Knight Commander of the British Empire which he received in October 1918.

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