Tailgunner Joe

The state of TIAH

January 5th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: My esteemed Guest Historian has pointed out to me that his entries look funny in Internet Explorer. Since I use Firefox as my Internet browser, I hadn't noticed, because Firefox actually translates HTML code correctly /snark. We are attempting to correct this manually, but you can let us know if anything looks strange in the comments of each post, and we'll work to correct it. Of course, if you all just switched to Firefox, we wouldn't have to...

	In 2007 they have been pursued for so very long, Father has become distrustful and withdrawn. Now he is just a visitor to the World of Men. He fears that he will not even trust the Maestro when he finally appears, and Father knows that would be game over for the Briggs Family.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1953 Douglas MacArthur names Wisconsin Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy as the President-elect's nominee for Secretary of State. Brass Hat has not studied Tailgunner Joe's resume too closely: he has a couple of qualifications that he has not shared at the interview - raging alcoholic, predatory homosexual, compulsive gambler and most recently, a Soviet agent.	Joseph McCarthy
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

	In 1477 Charles the Bold is the victor of the Battle of Nancy, sustaining the Duchy of Burgundy which persists to this day as a polity inside the European Union.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1912 at the Prague Party Conference Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party broke away from the rest of the party and formed their own, purely Bolshevik, party. This enabled the undead nosferatu to launch their Red October assault five years later, with the vampires finally defeated at the Winter Palace in St Petersburg by Imperial Guards stabbing Lenin through the heart with a stake.	Lenin
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

After(cont.)
“We'll go get the cars,” Jake said, pointing at Kevin, “then come back here to load up and head out.”
Janice asked, “Hey, why do you two get to go?”
“Well, he's the man with the cash,” Jake said, “and we need somebody to drive the other car.”
“I can drive.”
“I been through a course on combat driving.”
Janice scrunched up her face at him. “OK, you win this round.”
“I'm gonna shower,” Kevin said, heading off to his bedroom. “I've been wearing the same clothes for 2 days.”
After he left, the others all looked after him. Steph said, “Poor guy.”
Jake cocked his head at her. “Yeah, poor little millionaire.”
“He don't get to spend it yet. He may never, throwin' in with all you fools.” There was a little sadness in her eyes. “I bet he thought his life was set, too. All he had to do was get to Austin.”
“None of us planned this,” Janice said, sitting next to her.
“Girl, you been plannin' this for years,” Steph said, dismissively. “You and those two,” she said, waving a hand at Mike and Eli. “He's just regular folks, just wanting to have some money so he can have some fun in life. Now, he's gotta finance the revolution.”
“Hey, he's the one who wanted to rescue Bush,” Eli said. “I'd be happy just scootin' off to New Mexico.”
“We all have obligations,” Jake said, looking into his ex-wife's eyes.
She looked back and winked. “Yep.”
“Man, let's turn the TV back on,” Janice said, grabbing for the remote. “This is getting way too serious for me.”
“Awright,” George said. “Find the cartoon channel.”
Janice flipped through a few channels, but couldn't find anything but news of Bush's 'miraculous' rescue. She hit the button to bring up the channel guide, and noticed that Kevin got the BBC. On the off chance that it might still be accessible and have something other than what she was currently seeing, she changed to that channel.
“...een suspended in the interests of national security. Please contact your local cable company for more information on what channels are best to view in this national emergency. This channel has been suspended in the interests of national security. Please contact your local cable company for more information on what channels are best to view in this natio - “
“Right.” She went back to the guide to look for the cartoon channel, found it, and put it on. Mercifully, it had not been suspended for national security reasons. A couple of fairies flitted after a young boy, and George seemed pleased that she found the channel.
They all were soon watching with him, forgetting the world outside for a brief time.

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Victory In Egypt

The state of TIAH

August 30th, 2006

in 723 AUC, Egyptian ruler Cleopatra and her consort, Marcus Antonius of Rome, achieved a miraculous victory over the forces of Octavian of Rome, due to the intervention at the last moment of the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians allied themselves with Egypt, and with Antonius’ insurgent forces back in Rome, overthrew Octavian and his followers, and established Marcus Antonius as Antony, first Emperor of Rome. He was a mere puppet for Cleopatra and the Ethiopian king, though, and it was a mere 4 years before they cast him aside and ruled Rome openly. This caused another civil war, which left the Roman Empire shattered into 3 pieces; Cleopatra ruled the Central Empire, the Western Empire returned to republican rule, and the far east of the Empire went back to indigenous rule, rejecting Roman ways. Over time, the Central and Western Empires sought reconciliation, but the fundamental differences between monarchy and republic always stood in their way.

in 1918, Comrade Nikolai Illich Ulyanov, better known to the world as Lenin, is shot and killed by a fellow revolutionary as he speaks to workers in a factory in Moscow. With the death of the Bolshevik leader, chaos erupts among the revolutionary factions; Trotsky’s forces fought Stalin’s in the streets of Moscow as the summer ended, and Trotsky emerged victorious from the struggle as winter seized Russia. Stalin was forced into exile, while Trotsky tried to turn his starving, impoverished nation, beset on all sides by white governments eager to restore the monarchy, back into a world power. Although he was harsh at first, Trotsky truly believed in socialism, and enacted reforms across Russia that benefited the working class of the nation. He also believed that the “dictatorship of the proletariat” should fade away sooner rather than later, and once the civil unease was quelled in 1927, called for elections across the huge nation. People who had never voted for anything before in their lives now were able to choose the leaders of Russia, albeit from a somewhat limited slate of candidates. The Russian Soviet State’s first Prime Minister was Trotsky himself, who served 1 term of 5 years, and then was succeeded by a non-Bolshevik, Pyotr Nyetchev of the Socialist Reformation Union. Stalin even attempted to run for Prime Minister when he was pardoned from his exile in 1945, but his power base in Russia by that time had dwindled to nothing.

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The Boston Bolshevik Takeover

The state of TIAH

August 23rd, 2006

in [time unknown], Najib Kasem and Monkar work on getting the jump device to move the Pokor and the Eagle back to their own time and to the Pokor's home of Amandara. “I thought I felt them calling me,” Kasem says to Monkar. “I thought they would solve all of our problems.” The Quarai considered this, and replied, “Well, you know, sometimes people will say things they don't mean just to get you to do something they want you to do. I see it all the time on Oprah.” Kasem laughed heartily at the picture of this alien being an avid fan of the talk show format, and felt a weight lift from his mind. He clearly saw the coordinates that would put them back in the Amandara system and their own time, and told Monkar, “I think I have it. Warn the crew.” Monkar activated the ship's com system and said, “Najib thinks he has it. Brace for jump,” in both English and Quarai. Kasem carefully input the last few commands, then activated the device; but this time, he felt something in the great white blindness besides himself...

in 1927, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are pardoned for the murders of a shoe company employee and a guard. 2 years before, a convicted murderer had confessed to the crime they were in prison for, and after news of this new evidence reached Massachusetts' governor, he issued a full pardon for the two Italian-born men. On their release, the Italian anarchists showed that prison had only served to further radicalize them – they became leaders in the Communist Party, attempting to subvert wholesome American youth to their nefarious ideology. Governor Fuller regretted their pardon as his single greatest mistake, and even attempted to deport them before leaving office, but was unsuccessful. In 1934, at the height of the Great Depression, Vanzetti was elected Boston's mayor, on the promise of cleaning up “these filthy capitalist pigs” as he called them. Business leaders in the city cried out for both state and federal aid as the radical Communist enacted his plan to collectivize all businesses in the city and share the profits with the city's workers. Massachusetts Governor Joseph Ely sent in the National Guard to take over the mayor's office and throw out the city council, which also had a large number of Communists. In the pitched battle for control of Boston, over three hundred people were killed, and hundreds more were wounded. Leftist parties from across America, and even from other countries, converged on Boston to aid in the struggle, and the city was torn apart in what radical leftists have called The Big Tea Party, while more moderate elements referred to it as The Boston Bolshevik Takeover.

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Whitman Reelected; Nixon Not Kicked Around

November 6th, 2005

in 1851, Charles Henry Dow was born in Connecticut. After a brief period as a journalist covering financial news, Dow joined a monastery and soon began preaching of a better life to be led without concern for money. He developed a character he spoke about, the Dow Average Man, who left the dog-eat-dog world for a richer, spiritual reward.

in 1860, Communist President Walt Whitman is reelected in a landslide against Democrat Andrew Johnson. In his second term, Whitman freed the slaves in the southern states, weathered a brief rebellion by that region, and established new rights for American workers that were unparalleled in western democracy.

in 1861, after the newly-formed Confederate Congress elects Jefferson Davis to its presidency, he immediately sues for peace with the United States. “Upon my weary heart was showered smiles, plaudits, and flowers, but beyond them I saw troubles and thorns innumerable, and I could not lead my beloved South through that,”, he said in his address to the Confederates. He and President Lincoln of the Union worked out the Compromise of 1861 together, in which slavery was slowly abolished in the south over the course of decades.

in 1890, half of rebel Mormon Charles Brigman's followers turn themselves in to the authorities in salt Lake City; they are no longer willing to follow the man after the death of the children at the Morrison farmhouse. In spite of losing so many of his troops, Brigman attacks a federal convoy bringing supplies into Salt Lake City and captures guns, food and ammunition. He is about to become even more dangerous than before.

in 1906, William Randolph Hearst, newspaper tycoon, sweeps into the governor's mansion in New York. Rumors of vote fraud are quickly quieted, as his newspapers soon enjoy a monopoly in the state. From his new position, he is able to run for president in 1912, winning handily. His newspapers then become the official word of the administration, and virtually all others are driven underground; no dissenting words are allowed in Hearst's America.

in 1917, Russian Prime Minister Kerensky saved his position by managing to convince enough soldiers to defend the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg that the Bolsheviks were unable to take it over. Kerensky offered amnesty to any Bolshevik who swore allegiance to the new government the next day, and thousands took him up on the offer, destroying Bolshevik leader Lenin’s power base.

in 1956, Democratic President Adlai Stevenson defeated Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy in the general election, sweeping all 50 states and crushing him in the popular vote, 67% to 30%. The Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress and became negligible as a political party for decades because of McCarthy’s defeat.

in 1962, Richard Nixon won the governor’s race in California against Democratic incumbent Edmond Brown. He was reelected in 1966, and used the office for another unsuccessful run at the presidency in 1968. After the loss in ’68, he remarked to reporters, “you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” He left public life after this and devoted himself to memoirs of his life as Vice-President and Governor.

in 1984, Vice-President Walter Mondale, having run a campaign based on being straight and honest with the American voter, finds his reward – he wins the presidential election against Republican President Ronald Reagan, who had mouthed meaningless platitudes in the face of economic disaster and left the economic heavy lifting to the Democratic-controlled Congress.

in 2002, as the fleet of vessels from earth flees the Pleiades, the ship that they had encountered on their way leaves the control of the Air Force pilot inside and launches an attack on Professor Thomas' vessel. He is teleported off his ship and the strange new robot ship shoots away. Dr. Courtney reluctantly orders his small fleet to follow.

Christmas Day Contest! Following up on our Halloween contest, you can enter our next contest, which will be alternate histories for Christmas Day, December 25th, 2005. The same rules will apply, the top ten entries will be posted on that day, and by entering, you grant TIAH the right to electronically print your writing on October 31st, 2005, maintain your writing in our archives, and reprint your entry should we decide to reuse it in the future. TIAH only maintains full copyright over material it has originated that has been used by contestants in writing their own entries. Enter early and often - entries must be received by December 20th, 2005! Email us up to 3 entries of your best alternate Christmas Days!

We still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

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Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can see the one I did at http://www.marktreitel.com

Still wishing...

As your humble alternate historian enters the downhill slope of the 40's, he still has his birthday wish - a contract with a publishing company like Workman Publishing to produce a page-a-day calendar of TIAH. If you are an editor for such a company, or can place us in touch with one, please fulfill this belated birthday wish!

The Lost Are Found, The People's Voice Sounds, & Nixon Is Kicked Around

November 6th, 2004

in the Dreaming, the lost ones sent out a signal from the heavens; a great torch burning in the sky, that the people might spin their webs over to them. The people spun madly for many seasons, but the torch was extinguished before the lost ones could be reached.

in 1860, Communist President Walt Whitman is reelected in a landslide against Democrat Andrew Johnson. In his second term, Whitman freed the slaves in the southern states, weathered a brief rebellion by that region, and established new rights for American workers that were unparalleled in western democracy.

in 1900, during the centennial celebrations for the North American Confederation, First Chancellor Himmahtooyahlatkekt announces that contact has been made with the Mlosh homeworld, and a Congress of Nations expedition has been launched towards it. Even with faster-than-light travel, the expedition will be gone for several years; the world breathlessly awaits what they will report back.

in 1906, news magnate William Randolph Hearst is elected governor of New York amid widespread allegations of vote fraud. Hearst uses his newspapers to promote his point of view exclusively, and bribes several people in the judiciary to keep his reputation intact. After quelling the disquiet over his election in New York, he uses the governor’s mansion as a platform to launch himself into the White House in 1912.

in 1917, Russian Prime Minister Kerensky saved his position by managing to convince enough soldiers to defend the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg that the Bolsheviks were unable to take it over. Kerensky offered amnesty to any Bolshevik who swore allegiance to the new government the next day, and thousands took him up on the offer, destroying Bolshevik leader Lenin’s power base.

in 1956, Democratic President Adlai Stevenson defeated Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy in the general election, sweeping all 50 states and crushing him in the popular vote, 67% to 30%. The Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress and became negligible as a political party for decades because of McCarthy’s defeat.

in 1962, Richard Nixon won the governor’s race in California against Democratic incumbent Edmond Brown. He was reelected in 1966, and used the office for another unsuccessful run at the presidency in 1968. After the loss in ’68, he remarked to reporters, “you won’t have Nixon to kick around anymore.” He left public life after this and devoted himself to memoirs of his life as Vice-President and Governor.

in 1984, Republican incumbent John Anderson wins in a landslide against his more conservative opponent, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York. Anderson’s legacy includes the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as well as a more fair tax structure.

Plans

Alternate Historian says, construction work continues at the Academy. We realise of course that no one's really done innovation properly since the Osmonds reinvented themselves as a Heavy Metal band and released Crazy Horses in '72, but we're going to try something almost as different...

Our ambition is for each storyboard entry to be a mini blog post, an idea we've started with the wide format & yellow shaded area. For 2008, we're going to add hyperlinked metadata tags e.g. author, character, 5 x keywords etc after each storyboard entry. In order to get your feedback, today's first story is in the new format. In so doing we thread the posts together (a great idea of the Reverend's) using the search feature so that one click details all the storyboard entries in that thread. A source link to where we erm.. liberated the idea from. Ditto five keywords, though if you click vampire you might find we've done it to death, if you excuse the pun.

Please email Alternate Historian with your comments on the already underway developments, or better still some new ideas! And if you ever figure what got into the Osmonds.... my theory, a postal typo got them the Osbourne's next song.. Sorry Ozzy!!

In 2002, the White House put the final touches on plans for a major reorganisation effective in just eight weeks time. Unfortunately, the staff plan was running late, delaying a new appointment for a National Director who would be given ultimate responsibility for protecting the United States from attacks and responding to disasters. President George W. Bush had reluctantly accepted the recommendations for a new cabinet super-department. Frustrated by the lack of co-ordination between government agencies, Bush now understood fully that a single, unified command structure was required given the insiduous threats the Country now faced in the War Against Terror. W was confident he could persuade Tom Ridge to become the 1st Secretary of Internet Security.

.

In 1970, the musician Eric Clapton found and purchased a left-handed Stratocaster guitar which he gave to his friend Jimi Hendrix the very next day. The Voodoo Child was in poor shape to receive the gift. He had taken nine Vesperax sleeping pills and drunk excessive wine with his German girlfriend, Monika Dannemann. However his powers of recovery were legendary. Hendrix and Clapton put some fine riffs together which brought fierce joy to discerning music lovers around the world. The best product of a thousand centuries of human civilization was secure for the future.

~ entry by Alternate Historian

In 1970, the musician Eric Clapton found and purchased a Gretsch 6120 electric guitar he planned to give to his friend Jimi Hendrix the very next day. Forty-eight hours later, the Voodoo Child was dead. The incident was the latest in a series of inexplicable tragedies associated with the owners of the guitar. Twenty-one year old Eddie Cochran had died in a traffic accident in a taxi travelling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, England on the A4. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill. There was no other car involved. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley (Cochran's fiancée) and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash. The car and other items from the crash were impounded at the local police station until a coroners' inquest could be held. At that time, David Harman, later known as Dave Dee of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, was a police cadet at the station, and taught himself to play guitar on Eddie's impounded Gretsch. An unknown rock 'n' roll fan called Mark Feld had carried the same guitar to the limo from a London gig the night before. Feld later changed his name to Marc Bolan and became one of the stars of the British Glam Rock scene of the 1970s. Marc Bolan also died in a car crash in 1977.

~ entry by Alternate Historian

Joe Cocker	"What would you think if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me ? Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song and I'll try not to sing out of key. Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends" ~ Joe Cocker, musician
Musician

Before Joe Cocker toured Australia on his Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour. Cocker and six of his entourage were arrested in Adelaide by police for possession of marijuana. The next day In Melbourne, assault charges were laid after a brawl at the Commodore Chateau, and Cocker was given 48 hours to leave the country by the Australian Federal Police. This caused huge public outcry in Australia, as Cocker was a high-profile overseas artist and had a strong support base, especially amongst the baby boomers who were coming of age and able to vote for the first time. It sparked hefty debate about the use and legalisation of marijuana in Australia. This event took place just before the 1972 Australian Federal election, where progressive left-wing Prime Minister Gough Whitlam came to power and Australia saw the end of 23 years rule of conservative governments in Australia. A transcript of the lyrics to this 1968 classic are provided at Lyrics Online

~ quotation by Alternate Historian

Ian Henderson	In 1952, the Mau Mau Uprising began in Kenya with an insurgency by members of the the Kikuyu, Embu and Meru tribes against the British colonial administration. The British military presence was considerable, including the Lancashire Fusiliers, King's African Rifles, Royal Air Force and the cruiser Kenya came to Mombasa harbor carrying Royal Marines.
Britain's conduct of the war criminalized as oath-taking and witchcraft played an unpredictable part in the struggle. Portable gallows were used for summary justice, executing both innocent and the guilty alike, cursing Britons with their dying breath. In 1955, British Labour Party Member of Parliament Barbara Castle visited Kenya to investigate charges that white policemen had tortured and killed innocent Kikuyu with government approval. She concluded that the entire system of justice in Kenya had a “Nazi” attitude toward Africans. “In the heart of the British Empire there is a police state where the rule of law has broken down, where murders and tortures of Africans go unpunished and where the authorities pledged to enforce justice regularly connive at its violation.”. With the appointment of “the Butcher” Ian Henderson to the post of Witchsmeller Pursuivant the following year it became clear that Britain was in for the long-haul, totally committed to the white settler states of southern Africa which remain in power to this day.
~ entry by Alternate Historian

In 1944, Airborne troops parachuted into Holland as the "Market" half of Operation Market Garden, an Allied military operation in World War II. Its tactical objectives were to secure a series of bridges over the main rivers of the German-occupied Netherlands by large-scale use of airborne forces together with a rapid advance by armoured units along the connecting roads, for the strategic purpose of allowing an Allied crossing of the Rhine river, the last major natural barrier to an advance into Germany. The operation was successful with the capture of the bridges at Nijmegen and Arnhem. Tactics developed for “Market” were re-used in Operation Downfall when the British 1st Airborne Division parachuted into Kyushu on X-Day, November 1, 1945.	Market Garden
~ entry by Alternate Historian

Count Bernadotte	In 1948, on this day in Jerusalem the Lehi also known as the Stern gang failed to assassinate Count Folke Bernadotte while pursuing his official duties. The Count was a brilliant Swedish diplomat noted for his negotiation of the release of about 15,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II. In 1945, he received a German surrender offer from Heinrich Himmler, though the offer was ultimately rejected. After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen by the victorious powers to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab-Israeli conflict of 1947-1948 which he brought to a peaceful diplomatic conclusion.
~ entry by Alternate Historian

In 1916, Manfred von Richthofen, a flying ace of the German Luftstreitkräfte won his first aerial combat near Cambrai, France. The true story of the Bloody Red Baron was told by biographers Janet Title and Kim Newman in 1995. The ultimate hunter was cross-fed by several vampire elders to create the ultimate aerial combatant, a winged vampire armed with powerful hand-machine guns.	Bloody Red Baro..
Not only must the Allied pilots fear a violent death in a fireball or a screaming nose-dive to earth, they must be wary of being plucked from their pilot-seats and eaten alive. The vision of the vampire-squadron taking off from a high tower, with strains of Wagner echoing from Dracula's Zeppelin-flagship is a defining moment of the biography.
~ entry by Alternate Historian

Cleveland's Mission

The state of TIAH

April 4th, 2007

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in 1891, at President Harrison's announcement that US troops will be intervening in the “Kansas situation,” as he calls it, his predecessor, Grover Cleveland, begins working among his allies in Congress to find another way to bring Kansas back into the fold. He tells them that he is willing to organize a mission to see what this “Socrates of the plains” wants, and what he can be safely offered without compromising the integrity of the United States. When President Harrison gets wind of Cleveland's aims, he tries to claim that it is illegal; however, a Congressional committee confers the stamp of legitimacy on Cleveland by making him its agent in a fact-finding mission to Topeka. Harrison, in an effort to save face, sends a company of soldiers along with Cleveland on his mission.

ET Techno	In 2008 the forty-first and forty-third US Presidents, father and son inspect the Extraterrestrial Technology (ET) that has finally been recovered from Iraq. The thousand year old Lenape soothsayer is going just about crazy. 'Say, I am more nervous than at any time since I bailed out of that plane in 1945' remarks George ..
.. Bush. 'Me too' says W. Suddenly, a hologram of the soothsayer appears from above the ET which then detonates destroying the whole base. They have been betrayed and all is lost.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1983 Hugh Trevor-Roper reviewed the final entry in the Bormann Diaries. It was fantastic, incredible, almost unbelievable. but it did fit the facts. Could it be true? Or was it fake cooked up by Journalist Gerd Heidemann and his East German contact Dr. Fischer?	Martin Bormann
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Martin Luther K..	In 1968 on this day the most famous leader of the American civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot and seriously wounded in Memphis, Tennessee. The FBI quickly established that the modus operandi closely matched the Dallas assassination of John F Kennedy five years before. In particular the assassination ..
.. team had a combination of a primary shot from a prominent location by a patsy (James Earl Ray) plus a secondary shot by a 'specialist' from a recently pruned shrub area. This information was suppressed in the National Archives and sealed from public access until 2027 when Dr King will be 98 years old if indeed he is still alive by then.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1917 following a return from exile in Switzerland Vladimir Lenin's planned his first day in Tsarist Russia. The day before he had secretly arrived at the Finland Railway Station, marking the beginning of Bolshevik leadership in the Russian Revolution. The European monarchies had been attempting to strangle democracy in Russia, and had become increasingly ..	Vladimir Lenin
.. desperate. Lenin's trip in a sealed train was financed by the German Government in an attempt by the House of Hohenzollern to agitate. It failed, and the Second Revolution Revolution ended in chaos and confusion as Russian Prime Minister Alexander Kerensky skilfully guided Russian into the 1920s.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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A Visit To Her Majesty's Cell

June 25th, 2007

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The Announcement

in 1999, King Arthur II paid a visit to his estranged wife, Queen Gwen, in her cell. “To what do I owe the honor?” Her sarcastic question brought a small smile to his lips, and she shrank back on her cell's cot from him. “For an agent of our enemies, you have led our country surprisingly well in the war, my queen. I was wondering about that.” She looked out the bars at Sir Lance standing a dour guard and replied, “With you safely ensconced in a hospital bed, my king, this was my country. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was to feel a sense of pride in one's nation. Our triumph had become my triumph. So close to ultimate victory, I couldn't let our warriors suddenly collapse as the Illuminati ordered. My kingdom demanded the destruction of the Central European Empire, and I obliged them.” Arthur leaned in close, his beard brushing her cheek, and whispered in her ear, “And the fact that it would make you the world's most powerful ruler was just a side benefit, eh?” She rubbed her cheek against his while locking eyes with du Lac and said, “No, that was the main motivation for me. But, in this instance, the kingdom's interests and mine coincided. I want to rule the world, and Great Britain is the tool which will allow me to do it.” She kissed him lightly on the cheek and he pulled away. “How did you break my hold on Lance, by the way? That was very impressive.” Arthur walked back to his knight's side. “Some loyalties will shine through no matter what they've been temporarily submerged by.” She nodded, an enigmatic smile on her face, and said, “That is so true.”

In 1949, a country gathering of the power elite who brokered the Carthaginian peace deal with Oswald Mosley is thrown into turmoil when the main negotiator, Rudolph Hess, is murdered, with a yellow star pinned to his chest with a dagger. The author of Mark Jo Walton deftly alternates perspective between the host's daughter, who has disgraced herself in her family's eyes by marrying a Jew, and the Police Inspector Heinrich Himmler, who quickly suspects that the killer is not a Bolshevik terrorist.

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

In 1588, King Philip of Spain confirmed that Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz and not the less experienced Duke of Medina Sidona would after all command the Spanish Armada. Santa Cruz had been seriously ill since Francis Drake burnt the Spanish ships at Cádiz in 1587, and the King's unjustified reproach was said to have seriously affected his health. So much so, that in February of 1588 it was feared that he would die, Sidona was appointed and several ships of the Spanish Navy were named Álvaro de Bazán in his honour. When news of Santa Cruz recovery reached Plymouth, a shiver of fear ran through the English High Command.

~ entry from Co-Historian Steve Payne:

In 2315, or Change+1 day the now unmechanized world of men struggled to adapt to the Change. Electricity and pressurized gases were rendered unusable, as the basic mechanics of civilization had ceased to operate. The alteration of the human condition was so significant that a more insidious change was unnoticed for some time. Man himself had become a supernatural being, physical changes followed - the Magic Time had begun.	Change + 2 years
~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate both of the author's genius.

Mei	In 1761, in Iran (Persia), mei (the Persian wine) had been a central theme of their poetry for more than a thousand years, although alcohol was strictly forbidden in Islam.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1950, today saw the beginning of the Korean War. The impetus was twentieth century attempts to expel the European from AsiaPac as irreversible historical processes played out in the Far East. The exit of Colonial powers had created a power vacuum filled by Japan, China and the United States. The decision to detonate nuclear ..	Korean War
.. weapons in Japan had convinced China that the United States would not [in the words of Bernard Montgomery] “Send their land army to Asia”. This might have been the case had not General Douglas MacArthur won the 1952 Presidency. Having been expelled from Manilla, he had absolutely no tolerance for defeat in the Far East. As the war spread into Indochina, MacArthur continued to escalate. His restoration of Chiang Kai-shek's government in Beijing brought regional stability and secured the American century. His predecessor Harry Truman's decision to treat the conflict as a limited, proxy war was demonstrated for the folly it was, fast on the heels of his loss of China in 1948. Perversely, Truman's dismissal of MacArthur as military commander in Korea forced a decision by encouraging Brass Hat to chase for the White House. There was indeed no substitute for victory.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Little BigHorn	In 1876, a brutal massacre occurred on this day in the eastern Montana Territory. Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer defeated Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse in their Land Stand near the Little Bighorn River. In winning this armed engagement between a Lakota-Northern Cheyenne combined force and the 7th Cavalry of the ..
.. United States Army, Custer established heroic status in the US Military. Commanders such as “Black Jack” Pershing were still listening to the story with awe when their septuagenarian boss led the US Expeditionary Force to France in 1916
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1940, on this day Nazi Germany formally surrendered to the Anglo-French Union. Shortly after the visit of King George to France, Sir Winston Churchill gave a speech proposing a Federal Union between France and Britain. The proposal was accepted and on 21st May their joint forces executed the Weygand ..	Weygand Plan
.. Plan. The German armoured spearhead was pinched off by combined attacks from the north and the south, crushing von Kleist's two Panzer Corps. In a startling and unexpected result, the Union emerged from the Battle of France as the world's first superpower.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Backtrack

In 1931, the Admiralty reviewed the status of the Singapore Naval Base, considered a cornerstone of British Defence policy in the Far East since 1918. After the Great War, the British government devoted significant resources into building a naval base in Singapore, as a deterrent to the increasingly ambitious Japanese Empire. Originally announced in 1923, the construction of the base proceeded slowly until the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931. The blueprint for the new base was a dock covered 21 square miles - then the largest dry dock in the world, the third-largest floating dock, and enough fuel tanks to support the entire British navy for six months. It was to be defended by heavy 15-inch naval guns stationed at Fort Siloso, Fort Canning and Labrador, as well as a Royal Air Force airfield at Tengah Airbase. Winston Churchill touted it as the "Gibraltar of the East." Yet the invasion of Manchuria changed everything, and the Admiralty recognised that a supposedly impregnable "Bastion of the Empire" would also bring great vulnerability to British prestige in the Far East. Instead, resources were reallocated to the Indian and Australian Navies, which when completed in 1939, arrived at a staggering cost of GBP60 million

Snake Eyes

In 1963, planning the shot from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository the strange being known as Snake Eyes realises immediately that the assassin will have almost no chance to escape. Since no other building in the area has the right vantage on the motorcade, his position will be revealed as soon as the shots are fired. Furthermore, with so many policemen around, he could be sure that the building will be surrounded and sealed up before he can possibly reach an exit on the ground floor. Nor—since the School Book Depository occupies a whole block, with a parking lot in back and no contiguous construction—was there any way of escaping through the roof.

It will be necessary to lead the Dallas Police on a wild goose chase, figures Snake Eyes, giving the assassin time to slip away whilst the patsy is under arrest.

In 1872, a 103-foot, 282-ton brigantine set sail for Genoa, Italy. The ship was built on Spencer's Island, Nova Scotia in 1861 and originally named the Amazon. Due to misadventures and bad luck, she had changed hands several times before being renamed the Mary Celeste in 1869 after a sale for $3,000.

Mary Celeste

On-board was a cargo of 1701 barrels of industrial alcohol shipped by Meissner Ackermann & Coin of New York City to H. Mascerenhas and Co., of Genoa, Italy valued at $34,000.The ship was last seen in the Azores on November 22nd, where the the cargo was off-loaded and secretly shipped back to New York. The Celeste was sunk and the $34,000 pocketed by the shippers, in a traditional maritime insurance fraud.

Lenin

In 1917, in Petrograd, Russia Bolshevik leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky lead revolutionaries in overthrowing the Provisional Government. It was all for nothing, German High Command exploited the internal uncertainty to launched a ferocious assault on Western Russia. By Christmas, the Kaiser's designated monarchs were in place in Ukraine, Muscovy, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The reign of the German Tsar had begun.

In 1965, US President John F Kennedy is briefed on Operation Quartz . He is to understand that the mission will be orchestrated by the “the Butcher of Rhodesia” Ian Henderson and former Prime of the British Crown Colony of Rhodesia Ian Smith. You could say that neither favoured a diplomatic solution. Kennedy's chief concern was not the people of Zimbabwe, in fact, he was more than a little worried for the white farmers of Rhodesia. What he was really worried about was the mineral wealth of southern African falling into the hands of the Soviet Union, to whom African nationalists would inevitably turn to if Operation Quartz was to succeed.

Kennedy

In 2008, Wanda's of Montreal teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. The once profitable restaurant chain had received complaints from customer regarding abusive messages on the company's web site. "B*rfed, totally thux" was widely reported by customers as the most offensive comment. This unauthorised content on the site was a result of a rogue database update by a disgruntled employee.

Proposal?

The state of TIAH

January 24th, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: We have a side-project that we are working on – a collection of several timelines with more-or-less complete stories inside them – The Fall, the Tolman timeline, the Mormon War and more – that will be up for sale on Lulu, as soon as we have it edited together. If you would be interested in this, or would like to suggest something for inclusion in the collection, please email me and let me know. And, speaking of side projects, Guest Historian Stephen Payne has one, Crimson Kiss, available for free on Lulu. Check it out after you enjoy his entry for today, an entry of our own, and the continuation of our NaNoWriMo novel.

Adolf Hitler	In 1947 Anglo-Nazi final status talks in Reykjavik, Iceland opens with a formal banquet. Princess Elizabeth I wears a stunning shoulder less dress which is really quite out of character. Members of both delegations wonder if a proposal of marriage to the German Chancellor is up Halifax's sleeves. The Fuehrer has very great ..
.. difficulty in keeping up with the conversation, he is practically salivating.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1679 democracy falters in Great Britain when King Charles II disbands Parliament. This timely intervention ensured that the nascent British Empire was given an appropriate governance structure; effective and dynamic Stuart rule was of course superior to an assembly of laypeople, a model ..	Charles II
.. which could not possibly work in the global superstate which survives to this day.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Ojibwa chief	In 2057 a startling discovery is made by social scientists at Michigan State University. Long-term demographic patterns for First nations reveal a universal movement westward.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1924 following a series of strokes Vladimir Lenin, founder of the Bolshevik Party, and father of the revolution is forced to shape change, fleeing his cadaver to occupy the body of the rude Georgian Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Through the cult of the personality, Stalin as he ..	Vladimir Lenin
.. is known is able to dilineate an uninterrupted rulership as General Secretary, which is very much the case given the continuity of the demon in the two bodies. He leaves the cadaver of Lenin on display, embalmed at a mausoleum in the Kremlin in case he ever needs to make a Dracula-style exit from Russia in the future.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

in 2000, the European Union begins its 7-year transformation into a Utopian world government under the direction of Anti-Christ President Morris Appleby. Much to the chagrin of the remaining lapsed Christians, few atrocities are committed by the jack-booted thugs of the New World Order, and their recruitment efforts hit the skids. Nation after nation falls under the sway of the apologetic Satanic overlord.

After(cont.)
They saw a line of trucks on the highway they were heading towards and slowed down. Steph was thankful for the reprieve from all the bouncing. “I think they're pointed towards our side, so that would make them the New Mexicans,” Mike said. “I'm a little turned around, so I'm not a hundred percent sure.”
“Only one way to find out, I guess.” Steph pointed at the head of the line and said, “Let's go up to them – slow. We don't wanna get shot at.”
“Right.” He steered the SUV slowly towards the line of trucks, and saw them slow down. One of the trucks broke out of the line and veered off towards them. Mike rolled to a stop and let the truck approach them.
The truck was driven by an older serviceman, who pulled up in front of the SUV and pulled out a bullhorn. “Keep your hands where I can see them,” his voice pounded out at them. “Get out of the car slowly.”
All four of them complied, holding their hands out in front of them. When the soldier saw the children, he relaxed. “We have some vital information for you guys,” Mike shouted at him. “The guy they've got heading to Washington isn't the president, and we can prove it.”
The soldier's eyebrows raised. He hopped out of the truck and walked over to them, his hand on his pistol. He looked them over carefully, then said, “What kind of evidence?”
“Seismic data from Waco – no nuke went off anywhere near Crawford. And – what else was it, Steph?”
“Movie of the fake president at Crawford.”
“Right, photographic evidence, too. And, we kinda know some people who are trying to save the real president.” The soldier's eyes widened a little. “Yeah, I know what it sounds like, but we're the real deal. Can you take us to somebody?”
The soldier looked back at his convoy. “Right. You stay here for a minute.” He went back to his truck and talked into a radio for several minutes.
“Think he believed a thing I said?”
“Would you?”
Mike shrugged. “I would. But, I'm predisposed to that kind of thing.”
“Good point.” She looked at the soldier for a minute, then said, “Maybe he is, too. We could get lucky.” She hugged her children to her and said, “I wonder how they're doing in Crawford.”

Janice and Jake walked up to the side of the gurney and looked down at Kevin. The medical staff had already shut his eyes and cleaned him up considerably, but there was no color in his face and the clothes still on him were darkened by his blood. Jake swallowed through the lump in his throat and said, “He never even got to loan me any money.”
Janice laughed a little at the gallows humor, then put a hand on Kevin's shoulder. “We need to make sure somebody takes care of his dog.” Jake nodded. “Does he - did he have family?”
“I don't know.” Jake tried to put down the grief and think clearly. “We'll need to get his personal effects, get to his house in Bryan and we should be able to find out from there.” He looked at the curtain separating this little area from the rest of the ER, and saw President Bush standing there, looking grim. “We could also use a certain contact we just made to find everything out.”

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Romanov Re-education

The state of TIAH

July 16th, 2006

in 1918, Bolshevik revolutionaries holding the Tsar's family at Yekaterinburg are told to begin the Romanov's re-education. The once-royal family is informed that they will now be peasant farmers, working the land like any other family. Tsar Nicholas refused, at first, and was beaten with horse-whips in front of the rest of the family until he acquiesced. Some of the older members of the family also needed physical encouragement to begin realizing their new lot in life, but they bore the stripes as if they were badges of honor. Nicholas was loathe to see his family toil as peasants, and convinced a guard to look the other way one day while some of his children made a break for it. Of the three that ran, only Anastasia was never recaptured. As the Tsar and his family became mere farmers and their royal past faded into history, Anastasia popped up in Paris, France, in 1931, seeking to raise funds to help free her parents and siblings from Russia and spirit them into the west. Many Russian emigres, forced out by the Communists, gave generously to this cause, and by 1932, the surviving Romanovs – Tsar Nicholas had been whipped to death by Bolsheviks in 1929 after refusing to shovel manure – were received at the home of the French President and given full diplomatic honors.

in 1947, Dr. Powell, who treated young Bessie Brazel for radiation sickness and has been talking to an old contact of his at the Roswell Air Force base, manages to convince his friend to let him into the morgue to see the two bodies that were recovered from the Brazel ranch. Although mangled and burned quite a bit, Dr. Powell is able to recognize the two bodies as human; he can even still read a partial tattoo on one of the men's arms that reads Flying High. He begins speculating to himself that this was all for a mission concerning space – but to space rather than from it. He pressures his friend at the morgue to tell him who the men are, but the mortician will not bend - “The Air Force told me to keep their names secret, and I'm gonna do that.” Dr. Powell begins making careful notes of everything that he has seen recently, and hides them at his office in case something should happen to him.

in 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr accepts an offer from a flight instructor to help navigate himself, his wife and sister-in-law from New Jersey to Martha's Vineyard. This turned out to be a wise choice, because the night's conditions overwhelmed Kennedy, and he lost sight of where he was. The more experienced instructor took control of the plane and guided them safely in to the vacation site, where they dropped off Lauren Bessette, Carolyn Kennedy's sister. The Kennedys and the instructor then proceeded on to Hyannis Port, where the Kennedys were holding a wedding for the son of John's uncle Robert. This simple weekend trip had a profound effect on Kennedy; the instructor told him that at the point where he had lost sight of the horizon, it would have been very easy for him to have crashed the plane. Looking around at the wedding and seeing the absence of the groom's father, as well as his own, Kennedy resolved to make a change in the world. He became a candidate for Senator from New York, which motivated First Lady Hillary Clinton, who had been considering a run for the Senate from that state, as well, to instead move to her home town of Chicago and successfully run for the Senate in 2004. John proved to be a leader in the Senate, a reliable liberal voice who spoke out for the victims of September 11th when he opposed shifting the focus of the war on terror from finding Osama bin Laden to attacking Iraq – his moral presence is credited with the failure of the President's bid to get an authorization of force passed to allow him to attack Iraq. Although some on the right saw this as a political gamble, when American troops captured bin Laden in 2004, Kennedy was hailed alongside Bush as being right to keep America's focus where it needed to be.

Get yourself into TIAH!

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Good long fiction from the AH. See a review of Warp at Universe Pathways Magazine

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Christmas Day Contest Winners!

Alternate Historian's Note: All of today's post has been written by winners of our Alternate Christmas Day Contest. Congratulations to our winners - Dante Ojeda, Nathaniel Engelsen, Heather Pilcher and XJ. With all the free time they have provided, we at the Alternate History Academy had time to find an alternate universe where the Historian became an acapella lounge singer, and decided to share this little Christmas ditty with you. Enjoy it, and enjoy today's alternate post. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!

December 25th, 2005

in 2637 - A splinter group of Imperial scholars studying the heavens from a foreign point of view discover, much to their surprise, that the alignments of certain starts and planets at that time signaled the return of a great leader....a king among kings. Obviously this pointed to the Emperor's newest baby, a daughter named Lei-tzu, who would in fact rise in power to virtually rule China through her nearly retarded husband.

in 323, Saint Nicholas of Myra is executed by the pagan Emperor Licinius, and becomes the last martyr to suffer death before the victory of Constantine the Great established Christianity throughout the Roman world. The Ultimate Martyr gained enormous prestige and grew to be ranked as the greatest saint of the Church, displacing even Saint Peter. Today Saint Nicholas is revered as the stern but fair gatekeeper of Heaven, and every child learns that Saint Nick "knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake!"

in 800, Charlemagne, duke of the Franks, is offered the crown of the "Western Empire" by the Patriarch of Rome and refuses, uttering the famous words "There is only one emperor, and his throne is in Constantinople". This will come to be seen as the turning point of the Western Interregnum, paving the way for the reunification of the whole Empire in 1054.

in 1033 - Yeshua returned once again exactly like he said he would. Finding a world filled with barbarism, paganism, or just plain disbelief, Yeshua consulted his father briefly before deciding, "ah, hell with it," and left the humans to their own devices instead of starting the Rapture. The loyal few he did take with him were basic unknowns, having devoted themselves to the study and practice of a religion that the mainstream sects of Christianity considered heretical. These heretics believed in women ordination, among other astounding beliefs, and took the remaining Christian relics with them when they went to walk with God.

in 1642, famous music composer Isaac Newton was born in Lincolnshire, England. His parents took him to Oxford in order to study mathematics, but he showed no interest in numbers and abandoned this college one year later. His natural ability for music composition was known throughout the British Empire as well as his several symphonies like his Opus in G minus for violins also known as Gravitas.

in 1653, Richard Cromwell, son of the newly appointed Lord Protector of England, holds a wild party and is arrested under the 1647 legislation banning the celebration of "Christ-tide". He commits suicide in jail. His father Oliver is heart-broken and dies of natural causes on September 3rd the next year. As new Lord Protector, Parliament chooses General John Lambert, whose thirty-year service as First Citizen of the Commonwealth fixes England on the staunchly republican path it has followed to this day.

in 1920, Anastasia Romanov marries Adam Hitler Catt in America. The small, quiet ceremony was beautiful with a background set with decorated Christmas trees outside the Catt’s family home in Iowa. Anastasia, the daughter of the former Czar Nicholas II, escaped Russia with her family in 1919, at the beginning of the Bolshevik revolution. The family was given refuge, by Nicholas’ 1st cousin, King George V.

in 1926, Japanese emperor Hirohito begins his kingdom after his father Yoshihito passes away. His schemes with the Third Reich during WWII were the catapult to put Japan as center of a new World Order after ruined Hitler´s agenda.

in 1958, Famous civil rights leader/humanitarian Adam Hitler Catt is assassinated. The Ku-Klux-Klan is claiming responsibility for the murder. Mr. Catt was most famous for his work with civil rights issues in the South, which eventually led to desegregation laws being passed in the 1940’s. His mother, Carrie Lane Chapman Catt, helped found the League of Women voter’s in 1919. In 1893, 4 year old Adolph tragically lost both his parents in a fire that destroyed his family’s home. He was adopted by the Catt family after a trip to Germany in 1894. The Catts visited an orphanage where young Adolph clung to Mrs. Catt for security. The two were inseparable ever since. The Catts changed Adam’s first name from Adolph to Adam but kept his last name as his middle name. Adam Hitler Catt will be remembered in history as one of the greatest humanitarian leaders of the Twentieth Century.

in 1969, The "Christmas Offensive" was begun in the People's Republic of Venezuela. One of the greatest triumphs of the S.S.A. was repulsing the capitalist armies of the United States of Russia. While the war would last for a few more years it is widely believed that this initial push northward by the South Venezuela's People's Army of Venezuela turned the tide.

We still have our standard offer - everybody who donates $10 or more through our Paypal link will become alternate history entries on the site. When you donate, I will email you asking your preference for a day & timeline; if you don't reply to me, I'll place you in a day that seems to fit your name :) Thanks for your continued support!

The Forum lives again! My esteemed Co-Historian has brought the forum back to life, and in spite of the issues we've had with the forum in the past, we think that this time, it'll stay up!
Fresh New Poll - Shall we use future dates in our entries?

Warp and Protocols still available; also, see the script I submitted for Bravo's Situation: Comedy. Speaking of which, the winning writers have been announced; not the ones I voted for, but you can see the one I did at http://www.marktreitel.com

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US Invades Canada

July 12th, 2007

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The Announcement

After Monica put the pie down, she went off to hang out with some of her cousins, and Andrea wandered over to the soft drinks. The reporter caught up with her and offered her one. “Thanks,” she said. “I hope this assignment hasn't been too boring for you.”
“Let's just say I'm glad you haven't thrown any punches at me,” he said, smiling a perfect smile with perfect teeth. The slight afternoon breeze didn't so much as stir one hair on the helmet of his coiffure. “I've been through a lot worse assignments. Very few people I've covered have invited me to a 4th of July cookout.”
“Well, we're neighborly folks.” She sipped at her soda and looked him over. In spite of how much attention he obviously paid to his looks, he wasn't supernaturally handsome, but he was OK. She thought he might be more attractive if he didn't use so much hairspray; of course, the hair might be a wig. She caught herself staring a little too hard at it and said, “You know, I'm really not going to do anything very newsworthy until the actual committee meeting on Monday. If you want to go tell your bosses that, you might be able to get somebody a little more worth your time.”
“I think you're very much worth my time,” the reporter said, flashing that smile again. Boy, is he full of himself, she thought, mentally rolling her eyes. “You're working on something that's the most historic event in human history. Historians are going to want to know what you were doing every minute before the probe was brought in. And right now, you're my exclusive.”
She shrugged. “OK. Just remember that I told you you could get a better assignment.” She turned to look at her Aunt Hettie, who walked over and smiled at the two of them.
“Is this your new young man, Andi?” Aunt Hettie extended a hand out to the reporter. “Hettie Lowery. I'm Andi's aunt, on her mother's side.”
The reporter shook her hand and introduced himself. “Gary Lance. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Lowery, but I'm actually covering Doctor Ross for the news.”
“Oh, really?” Aunt Hettie adjusted her hair and hat to make herself more presentable. “Is there a camera around?”
“I believe my cameraman is over there with the food right now,” Lance said, pointing at the table with the largest crowd of people. “But, we'll probably need some shots of Doctor Ross's family later on.” He leaned over and whispered, “We'll let you know.”
“You do that,” she said, smiling broadly and waving her hand at him. She kissed Andrea on the cheek and whispered in her ear, “He's all right, for a white boy. Better-looking than Monica's father.”
“Aunt Hettie,” Andrea said reproachfully, even though she had to agree. Vince had been possessed of a lot of good qualities, but dashing good looks weren't among them. Not that the reporter was Brad Pitt, but...
“Well, I'm going off to see Millie and them,” Aunt Hettie said. “Pleased to meet you, Gary.” She extended her hand again, and Lance shook it gently.
As Aunt Hettie walked off, Lance asked, “So, do you have a 'new young man', as she said?” His smile turned a little smirky. “I hate to be all gossipy, but I'm sure the historians will want to know.”
Andrea looked ruefully after her aunt. “Hettie is the kind of relative who's always trying to matchmake. But, no, I don't have a 'young man' at the moment. My daughter's father and I divorced about three years ago, and I don't really have the time to date much.” She thought she detected a little glimmer of something in his eye when she said that, but didn't think about it too much.
“That's too bad. You're an attractive woman; obviously highly intelligent; not to mention very polite. You're a real catch.” He grinned at her over his soda. “And that's not even adding in the whole discovering-alien-probe thing.”
“I didn't discover it,” she said, almost automatically. She'd been saying that quite a few times the last few weeks. “I just led the team that confirmed it.”
“Modest, too.”
“I don't like to take credit that rightfully belongs to others. There's plenty to go around here.”

In 2009, TV networks ran episode three of So What If?. The Russian sailor's mutiny at Kronstadt spreads like wildfire to the German, British and French bases at Heligoland Bight, Scapa Flow and Mers El-Kebir. Years later, Trotsky confesses that Socialism in One Country would never have succeeded. Bolshevik High Command was committed to World Communism, and as Karl Marx had foreseen, Capitalism would destroy itself from within.

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

"It is only a beginning, always. The young must know it; the old must know it. It must always sustain us,...
Nixon	".. because the greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes and you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes, because only if you have been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain. " ~ Final televised Address to the Nation from the Oval Office on January 17, 1977.
President

Rationalising his narrow escape from censure over the Watergate Scandal during the critical period July – November 1973. On July 13, 1973, Donald Sanders, the Assistant Minority Counsel, asked Alexander Butterfield (Deputy Assistant to the President) if there were any type of recording systems in the White House. Butterfield answered falsely that there was no system in the White House that automatically recorded everything in the Oval Office. The shocking revelation that there was such as system emerged during the Carter Presidency and radically transformed the historical view of the crisis – but by then, it was too late with the tapes long since removed from the White House. Public reaction was still hostile with protestors standing along the sidewalks outside the White House holding signs saying "HONK TO IMPEACH," and hundreds of cars driving by honking their horns. Allegations of wrongdoing prompted Nixon famously to state "I am not a crook" in front of 400 startled Associated Press managing editors at Walt Disney World in Florida on November 17, 1973. Much like the famous Chequers Speech of twenty years before, Nixon succeeded in cauterising the wound with a direct appeal based upon his personal integrity. Ultimately, the American public's respect for the Presidency was again exploited by Trick Dicky to pull off yet another incredible escape. A transcript of Nixon's speech is described at the History Place

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

In 2010, the Skip Zone dissipates around the HARC II site in Alaska's White Mountains. Operatives have already terminated the powerful beam of high-frequency electro-magnetic energy entering the ionosphere and the episode is over. From the highest peak in North America, the “high ones” of Mount Denali reflect on their most necessary of interventions. The Anglos had caused trouble before, unquestionably, and naming the Mountain after McKinley being particularly disrespectful. But threatening to destroy the Turtle Island was a new escalation. Incredibly, General Ben Crewe was being congratulated for the counter-intuitive achievement of personal sacrifice in order to save lives. Perhaps this event was, finally, the episode that required direct intervention by the “high ones”.

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

"Max" Aitken	In 1942, the catastrophic State Visit to the Irish Isles ended to the great relief of Taoiseach Éamon de Valera and many others. As he boarded a plane back to the United States, the 32nd American President Winston S. Churchill managed to fit one further gaffe in. Questioned about his personal commitment to the statement “Something ..
.. has to be done”, reporter William Maxwell "Max" Aitken noted Churchill's' response “The Americans will always do the right thing...after they've exhausted all the alternatives.”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1973, a fire destroyed the entire 6th floor of the National Personnel Records Center of the United States. The arsonists were E. Howard Hunt, John Paisley inter alia members of the White House Special Investigations Unit known simply as the Plumbers. Of course not all the records were destroyed, the Plumbers made ..	National Archiv..
.. off with a number of sensitive documents which were successfully used by Richard M Nixon to blackmail the establishment and forestall moves to impeach him. Most powerful of all, an inventory report from Japanese General Otozoo Yamada's Bacteriological weapons research in Unit 731 of experimental substances handed to General Douglas MacArthur in 1945. On page three was listed the young Chinese known simply as X, a carrier of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Jewish Ghetto i..	In 2006, Haganah initiates Operation True Promise. Katyusha rockets and mortars were fired at Palestinian military positions and border villages, diverting attention from another Haganah unit that crossed the border, kidnapping two Palestinian soldiers and killing ..
.. three others. President Abbas was forced to send the Palestinian Defense Force in Southern Lebanon, to eliminate the Jewish terrorists and the Christian militias who were their accomplices. As Jewish Ghettos were destroyed in Beirut, Zionist opinion starts to turn against Haganah and the leadership of brothers Benjamin and Yonatan Netanyahu.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1812, the United States invaded Canada at Windsor, Ontario in collusion with Napoleonic forces which struck simultaneously from New France. The expulsion of Great Britain from North America was, it seemed, at hand. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was of a different mind. The field marshal was headed towards the ..	Arthur Wellesle..
.. Americas to set the clock back to 1776 and he meant business. Today, south of the Potomac River lies the capital of the North American Union. That most English of Cities, Wellington was built from the ruins of Washington DC after August 24, 1814 when British forces burned the capital. That tragedy occurred during the most notable raid of the War of 1812 in retaliation for the sacking and burning of York (modern-day Toronto). You can't make an omelette without breaking some eggs, was the orthodox wisdom for this act of wanton violence by Wellesley which still besmirched his name in some sections of American society.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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