Face

In 1976, Richard C. Hoagland issued a bizarre announcement regarding the Cydonian mesas, situated at 40°75' north latitude and 9°46' west longitude, which took on the striking appearance of a humanoid Face on Mars in a photo taken by Viking 1 on July 25.

Cydonia

Some commentators including Hoagland believed it to be evidence of a long-lost Martian civilization along with other features such as apparent pyramids, which they argue are part of a ruined city.

Image analysis of the early Viking images suggested that the features of the Face might not be an accidental consequence of viewing conditions.

That summer Hoagland had holidayed in Bunol, Spain, home of the Tomatina, where he had by chance attended a huge annual tomato fight.		Tomatina
Whilst the two images had no apparent connection, Hoagland's thoughts began to take a new direction. A most dreadful suspicision began to emerge in his mind. Eventually, he issued his announcement. He really had to get it off his chest, and to be frank, he was hoping to have his theory debunked. He was missing out on a whole load of sleep, it was troubling him that much.
~ entry by Steve Payne

In 1999, on this day Pakistan's army chief General Pervez Musharraf was dismissed. His sacking was presented as a "retirement" and Gen Ziauddin stepped into the most powerful job in the military. Events began when Gen Musharraf, on a visit to Sri Lanka, received word that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and intelligence chief General Ziauddin, secretly meeting in Islamabad, were to move against him that very day. In response, Gen Musharraf raced to Colombo airport boarding a Pakistan International Airlines flight to Karachi. Back in Islamabad army chiefs loyal to Gen Musharraf began to mobilise troops stationed in nearby Rawalpindi. But from the start it appeared things were not going to plan - with every senior officer reportedly refusing to accept his command. It took Pakistan's government just 17 hours to defeat the coup and restore order.

~ entry by Alternate Historian

LeMay Assassinated	In 1960, the dictator of Japan, General-san Curtis LeMay was assassinated in Japan by a sword-wielding nationalist, Otoya Yamaguchi at a televised rally. The camera was rolling at that time. Although the stabbing was not shown live by US or Japanese networks, the videotape of the killing caused a sensation when it was broadcast. LeMay had been a highly controversial figure since he landed at Atsugi Air Force Base on 30th August 1945 with instructions to accept Japan's surrender.
Swiftly installed as military governor and de facto Head of State, it was some time before the United States realised that Bombs Away had no intention of letting going of the reins of power. The incredible story of how General-san crushed post-war Japan under his heel was described in the biography "The Rising Sun at Dusk" by Jack Nimersheim, published in Alternate Tyrants by the editor Mike Resnick in 1997.

In 1960, US President Dwight David Eisenhower pounded his shoe on a desk at a United Nations General Assembly meeting to protest a Soviet assertion of American colonialist policy being conducted in Asia Minor. This uncharacteristic show of temperament disguised deep running tensions being politicians and military commanders in the Cold War. The U.S. started to deploy 15 Jupiter IRBM in Izmir, 16 minutes flight time from Moscow. Contemporaneously, a SS-4 site near San Cristobal in Pinar del Río Province, in Western Cuba was being built by the Soviet Union. When the US launched a covert operation to overthrow Fidel Castro (Operation Mongoose) in February 1962, both aggressor nations had nuclear weapons located less than one hour's flight time from each other's capital cities.	Curtis LeMay
Soviet Commanders had autonomous military command and thus authority to launch; Air Chief of Staff General Curtis LeMay answered only to God and refused to allow America to suffer “the greatest defeat in its history”. As US Marines approach San Cristobal, General Issa Pliyev authorised first launch, and “Bombs Away” LeMay reciprocated in style.

Kennedy	In 1960, JFK argued with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley during the presidential election campaign. In "Heavy Metal" Barry N. Malzberg takes a look at the losing Kennedy campaign, apparently from the JFK's own viewpoint. When Richard Nixon is shot in Dallas three years later, Kennedy makes a remarkable comeback to enter the White House. The genius of Malzberg is to suggest that “Father Joe” bought the 1964 election by paying for the bullet that killed Nixon.

In 2007, Morpheus explains the situation to Rat. The year is approximately 2199, and humanity is fighting a war against an irresistible group consciousness known as the Mesh created in the early 21st century. The sky is covered in thick clouds created by the humans in an attempt to cut off the Mesh's supply of solar power. The machines responded by using human beings as their energy source, growing countless people in pods and harvesting their energy. The world which Rat has inhabited since birth is the Mesh, an illusory simulated reality construct of the world of 1999, developed to keep the human population docile. Morpheus and his crew are a group of free humans who "unplug" others from the Mesh and recruit them to their resistance against the machines.	Morpheus
Within the Mesh they are able to use their understanding of its nature to bend the laws of physics within the simulation, giving them superhuman abilities. Morpheus believes that Rat is "the One", a man prophesied to end the war through his limitless control over the Mesh.

Confrontations

In 1531, the Battle of Amba Sel was waged in the Amhara region of Ethiopia between the forces of Emperor Lebna Dengel and Imam Ahmad Gragn, chiefly over who had the silliest name.

In 1976, Jeremy Thorn began "Are you...?" but was interrupted by the man's abrupt nod. "You're Bugenhagen?". "Yes." Thorn eyed him suspiciously. Bugenhagen was a seventeeth-century exorcist. "That was nine generations ago." "But you.." "I'm the last," he replied abruptly. "but by no means the least."	Hallowe'en Story

In 1975, in Richard Matheson's I am Legend Robert Neville was trapped inside his fortified home. He had been bitten by a vampire bat in South America. Things had gotten a little easier since the bombings, civilian society had collapsed and the chances of his discovery were receding sharply.

In 1943, on October 28 the U.S. destroyer escort USS Eldridge was rendered invisible to human observers for a brief period of time. Equipment was recalibrated, and the experiment was performed again. This time, Eldridge not only became almost entirely invisible to the naked eye, but actually vanished from the area in a flash of blue light. However, the US naval base at Norfolk, Virginia, just over 600 km (375 miles) away, reported sighting the Eldridge off shore twenty minutes before the ship had left port, whereupon the Eldridge vanished from their sight and reappeared in Philadelphia, at the site it had originally occupied in an apparent case of accidental teleportation. Witnesses reporting a “greenish fog”. The physiological effects on the crew were profound. Almost all of the crew were violently ill. Some suffered from mental illness as a result of their experience; behavior consistent with schizophrenia is described in other accounts. Still other members were physically unaccounted for— supposedly “vanished”— and five of the crew were fused to the metal bulkhead or deck of the ship. Still others were said to fade in and out of sight. Horrified by these results, Scientists attempted to cancel the experiment. All of the surviving crew involved were discharged; in some accounts, brainwashing techniques were employed in an attempt to make the remaining crew members lose their memories concerning the details of their experience. The White House had plans for Project Rainbow. Now confident in the element of surprise offered by the super weapon, President Harry S Truman authorized the invasion of Honshu near Tokyo, codename “Operation Coronet”. Horrified, the physicist Albert Einstein added his name to the list of seventy scientists who would submit a petition to Truman the very next day. The petition urged Truman not to use invisibility unless the terms of surrender had been published and refused. Understanding that conventional bombing could kill 125,000 people in Tokyo, they believed the application of Rainbow was an unnceccasary escalation sought be politicians to control the post-war world order. The judgement of the scientists was prescient insofar as the only blocker preventing agreement in July 1945 was a guarantee over the Emperor's status. By way of explanation, Einstein also added a small note beneath his signature "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". It is improbable Truman understood the irony of the humanist reference to the Bhagavad Gita.

Curtis LeMay	In 1962, Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force Curtis “Bombs Away” LeMay and Head of the Strategic Air Command, General Thomas Power confront US President John F Kennedy, describing the conclusion to the Cuban Missiles Crisis as “the greatest defeat in our history" and advising that the U.S. should invade immediately. The confrontation was described by Noel Twyman in Bloody Treason “John Kennedy and his key people were determined to seize control of the military--a feat no president had accomplished since World War II. The chiefs resented the Kennedys and their whiz kids who had little or no experience in military command; the chiefs were accustomed to presidents who let them do their thing without meddlesome interference from politicians.
Perhaps the two most dangerous of all the generals were Curtis LeMay and his head of the Strategic Air Command, General Thomas Power. General LeMay is legendary for his mania to start World War III by goading the Soviet Union with unauthorized reconnaissance flights that penetrated their forbidden boundaries.”

In 2008, on the eve of Election Day, Texan singer/songwriter and Independent US Presidential Candidate Richard S. “Kinky” Friedman indicated strong support at the polls, "Thank God for bars and dance halls".	Kinky Friedman

Time quake	In 1943, the secret experiment known as Project Rainbow was conducted at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Pennsylvania. Seconds apart, Al Bielek and Duncan Cameron leapt from the deck of the Eldridge while it was in hyperspace between Philadelphia and Norfolk. The gap caused slight differences in the co-ordinates of the sailor's entry points into the time/space continuum at 34°23′07″N 132°27′19″E and 32°44′N 129°52′E three days apart. The US military was forced to concoct the most elaborate cover-up story of all time to explain the time quakes in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

In 1962, the Turkish Missile Crisis ends when President Kennedy announces that he had ordered the removal of American missile bases in Izmir. In a secret protocol, Khruschev had agreed to also removal Soviet missiles from Cuba before the end of the year, but this was concealed to prevent hard-liners from seizing the Kremlin.	Kennedy

Legends

In 2007, US President George W. Shrub commented on the phantom press conference given by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). As the California wildfires raged, Vice Adm. Harvey E. Johnson, the deputy administrator, had a 1 p.m. news briefing. Reporters were given only 15 minutes' notice of the briefing, making it unlikely many could show up at FEMA's Southwest D.C. offices. They were given an 800 number to call in, though it was a "listen only" line, the notice said -- no questions. Parts of the briefing were carried live on Fox News, MSNBC and other outlets. Johnson stood behind a lectern and began with an overview before saying he would take a few questions. The first questions were about the "commodities" being shipped to Southern California and how officials are dealing with people who refuse to evacuate. He responded eloquently.

Shrub described this disgraceful stage-managed event as the worst abuse of power since he had become the government. (Aids later qualified this statement as "entered the service of government").

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In 1976, Jeremy Thorn began "Are you...?" but was interrupted by the man's abrupt nod. "You're Bugenhagen?". "Yes." Thorn eyed him suspiciously. Bugenhagen was a seventeeth-century exorcist. "That was nine generations ago." "But you.." "I'm the last," he replied abruptly. "but by no means the least.".	Hallowe'en Story

In 1976, Robert Neville lived the life of a recluse, trapped inside his fortified home. He studied the vampiris bacteria that had infected him in South America. Outside the survivors of the bombings tried to break in. "Come out Robert Neville" yelled his neighbour Ben Cortman, believing Neville was hoarding precious food inside.

In 2009, the Catholic Church was astonished by news that Pope Benedict had written a foreword to a controversial biography of Mother Theresa of Calcutta. The ethnic Albanian nun, who dedicated her life to poor, sick and dying in India, died in 1997 aged 87. Mother Teresa was a globally beloved symbol of saintly devotion to the poor, who spent her last fifty years secretly struggling with doubts about her faith. A research team led by Rev. Brian Kolodiechuk of the Missionaries of Charity Order had been examing secret letters for publication in a new biography, Mother Theresa: Come Be My Light. It appears that an unknown researcher had released the letters to the press after being shocked to read "How painful is thus unknown pain - I have no Faith".

	If there be God- please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul. ~ Secret Letter from Mother Theresa In the biography's foreword, Pope Benedict write that even the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta "suffered from the silence of God" despite her immense charity and faith.

It is significant that the Pope mentioned Mother Teresa's torment about God's silence as not being unusual because there was some speculation that the letters could hurt the procedure to make her a saint. "All believers know about the silence of God," wrote the Pope. "Even Mother Teresa, with all her charity and force of faith, suffered from the silence of God," he stated. He said believers sometimes had to withstand the silence of God in order to understand the situation of people who do not believe. When the German-born pontiff visited the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz last year, he publicly asked why God was silent when 1.5 million victims, mostly Jews, died there. The full article is available at UK News

Curtis LeMay	In 1962, Curtis LeMay's military government started the painful process of rebuilding the nation from the United States' “greatest defeat in [our] history". Writing later in his autobiography, “Bombs Away” wrote "I had blood upon my hands as I did this, but not because I preferred to bathe in blood. It was because I was part of a primitive world where men still had to kill in order to avoid being killed, or in order to avoid having their beloved Nation stricken and emasculated." Some of the blood upon his hands was John F Kennedy, some more was on the the carpet of the Oval Office where LeMay had shot the Commander in Chief the day before.

In 2008, on the eve of Election Day, Texan singer/songwriter and Independent US Presidential Candidate Richard S. “Kinky” Friedman shared his thoughts on the legalization of soft drugs. Friedman supported the decriminalization of marijuana, though he didn't advocate making its sale legal. "I'm not talking about like Amsterdam," he's noted, "We've got to clear some of the room out of the prisons so we can put the bad guys in there, like the paedophiles and the politicians".	Kinky Friedman

MacArthur	In 1956, with diplomacy failing to reverse Nassers’s decision to nationalise the Suez Canal, Britain and France embarked on preparations to regain control of the Canal, and together with Israel, launched a military operation in the Peninsula. US President Douglas MacArthur was fully supportive, it was about time some one else started to get “Brass Hat” and rescue the Third World from Communism.

In 1994, on this day Francisco Martin Duran fired at least 29 shots with a semi-automatic rifle at the White House from Pennsylvania Avenue, outside the south lawn, killing US President Clinton who was one of among the men in dark suits standing there. Duran was sentenced to 40 years in prison.	Clinton

Wild

In 1976, the old man Bugenhagen explained "It must be done on hallowed ground. The grounds of a church. Her blood must be spilled on the altar of God. Each knife must be buried to the hilt. To the feet of the Christ figure on each handle planted this way, to form the sign of the cross. The first dagger is the most important. It extinguises physical life and forms the centre of the cross. The subsequent placements extingush spiritual life and radiate out. Like this." He paused, assessing Jeremy Thorn's expression. "You must be devoid of sympathy, " he instructed, "this is not a human child".

Hallowe'en Story

In 1915, renewed allegations of British provocations were released to the world media by Secretary of State of the Imperial Naval Office Alfred von Tirpitz. Churchill, a 33rd degree mason had allegedly hatched a plot in the naval Masonic lodge, with Admiralty H.Q., the bosses of Cunard and the War Department; to sacrifice Capt. William Turner, the Lusitania, its crew and passengers to ensure that America came alongside Britain in World War I. At the time, Winston Churchill was in charge at the Admiralty and the intelligence was received by him and shared with Lord Rothschild, his mentor and benefactor. Between them they decided that the many German émigrés in America had been responsible for keeping America out of the war. Even worse, there was the possibility that America would remain isolationist, or worse still, might even end up supporting Germany. The Lusitania, a passenger ship which under normal circumstances was barred from carrying any armaments, had been loaded with both heavy and light armaments and ammunition, within sight of many New York dock worker's of German origin. As planned the loading of weaponry was then reported back to Germany's US embassy, which then informed the German government, which in response placed advertisements in newspapers across the U.S.A. warning that any ships carrying weapons, would be classed as warships.

In 1953, head of UK coastal defence Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay announced that due to rising water levels in the Thames Valley area, Barrier Command London had temporarily abandoned the capital, moving above sea-level to Harrogate. Ramsay called for calm amongst the civilian population. In fact, Ramsay had worried about nothing at all since January 2, 1945, when his plane crashed on take off at Toussus-le-Noble. He was en route to a conference with General Bernard Montgomery in Brussels, and was very lucky to enjoy a miraculous survival. The background to civilian panic was simply put. The invasion of earth had recently entered a third phase as aliens started melting the ice caps, causing sea levels to rise. Historian John Wyndham described the ultimate victory of humanity in the Kraken Awakes. The super-weapon was defeated the invasion, yet left the Earth was a significantly reduced landmass causing the historian to wonder if similar attempts had been made before in the distant past.

London

Myint Myint Aye	In 1965, on this day in Rangoon was born Myint Myint Aye to a Burmese father and an English mother. Meaning "high high cool" in Myanmar, the name was given to her by a Burmese priest. Throughout her early life, Myint suffered from delusional schizophrenia, alternately believing herself to be a Buddhist, and also the lead singer of an English Punk Band Bow Wow Wow. In 1980, Theravada Buddhist rituals enabled Myint to cross the river of time, and become the fourteen year old sensation Annabella Lwin. Her early classic “Go Wild in the Country” was a tribute to her subdued childhood in Rangoon, and her subsequent transcendental escape. She rocks our world to this day, after all, her destiny was high high cool.

In 2008, on the eve of Election Day, Texan singer/songwriter and Independent US Presidential Candidate Richard S. “Kinky” Friedman provided clarity on his religious beliefs. Noting that he's a Jew, "but not a practising Jew. There are those who say, 'If Kinky was a practising Jew, he needs to practice a little more.'"	Kinky Friedman

Curtis LeMay

In 1960, believing that American had just suffered the “greatest defeat in her history” US Air Force Chief Curtis LeMay dispatched a booby-trapped unmanned reconnaissance airplane to Cuba. Exploding mid-air close to the SS-4 site near San Cristobal in Pinar del Río Province in Western Cuba. Local Soviet commander, General Issa Pliyev, invoked his pre delegated authority to use nuclear weapons and launched two SS-4 missiles at Washington. A narrative summary of the classified Danforth Commission report of 2030 on the cause, course, and effect of the war was provided by Robert L O'Connell in The Cuban Missile Crisis: Second Holocaust". The book recounts how the institutional American response to an attack on Washington, DC resulted in the obliteration of the Soviet Union and the subsequent ostracization of the United States by the global community.

In 2000, on this day a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 operating as Flight 006 collided with construction equipment upon take-off in Taipei, Taiwan almost killing 79 passengers and 4 crew members. At first the relieved survivors fail to notice subtle changes to the Taipei Airport – until they pass a huge picture of Chairman Mao of the Communist Republic of Formosa.	Boeing 747

Rock On, Rock On

July 13th, 2007

Digg this

The Announcement

Lance let it drop. “What do you think are the chances we'll be able to catch the probe.”
Now, Andrea went into professional mode. This was a question she'd been thinking about since they'd confirmed the probe's trajectory. “Pretty good, actually. We've got several scenarios we're thinking of right now. During the committee meeting, we'll finalize the one we think will work the best, and then the shuttle will be up to implement it with a couple of days to spare. I anticipate it going really well.”
Lance grinned, an evil little smirk. “You realize that the day it's going to connect with the shuttle is Friday the 13th?”
“Just another day.”
“Wasn't that what the guy in Apollo 13 said?”
“No, he said 13 was just another number,” she corrected him. “Friday the 13th is going to be lucky for us.”
He nodded and sipped at his soda. “That's a good quote. Mind if I get my cameraman over here to film you saying that?”
She looked over at the cameraman, who was wolfing down a plate piled high with her relatives' food. “Don't you think that's a little staged?”
“These things always are. How do you think the good soundbites get out there?”
Andrea chuckled and shook her head. “You're going to destroy my faith in the system.”
“Then my work here is done,” Lance said, walking over to where the cameraman was enjoying the company of two of Andrea's cousins while he ate. They spoke briefly, and the cameraman reluctantly got up and readied his equipment.
When they saw that Andrea was about to be filmed, several relatives started drifting over to place themselves conveniently in the background. She got a little nervous; she'd appeared on camera a couple of times already, but it wasn't the kind of thing she'd signed on for when she made her career choice. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to zen out.
The camera pointed at her and Lance pulled out the wireless mike and asked her, “Doctor Ross, you realize that the shuttle's going to connect with the probe on Friday the 13th?”
“Just another day.” She remembered her line – he smiled at her.
“Wasn't that what Tom Hanks said in Apollo 13?”
He had modified his line; what a professional. “No, he said 13 was just another number. Friday the 13th is going to be a lucky day for us.”
“Cut,” Lance said the cameraman, who stopped recording and lowered the camera. Andrea's family all applauded, and Lance waved at them. Andrea dropped her head, embarrassed. “Good job, doc. I think we'll probably wander around a bit and get some background on you from your folks, here.”
“All right,” she said, “just don't eat too much.”

In 2009, TV networks ran episode four of So What If?. Enoch Powell's apocalyptic warnings of Rivers of Blood proves all too prescient. The Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher sends an elite force of Royal Marines and Paratroopers to cauterize the Channel Tunnel. Before Colonel H Jones can detonate the bomb at Sangatte, the British position is overrun by vampires. Held at bay since 1917, the Red Menace finally swept into Britain.

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

"Just another empty gesture with an empty glass Just another comic actor behind a tragic mask But I've got no discipline got no self control Just a little less painful here when my back's against the wall It's too late, I found, it's too far, I'm in two minds, both of them are out of it at the bar When you say I got a problem that's a certainty But I can put it all right down to eccentricity
Fish	It's just for the record it's just a passing phase Just for the record I can stop any day. Just for the record I'm gonna change my life around " ~Lyrics to Just for the Record
Tortured Genius

In 1987, tension had eased considerably between the troubled members of the Prog band Marillion at the Westside Studios in London. The recording of Just for the Record was the carthatic moment when lead singer Fish decided to reconnect with himself and stay with the band to the fierce joy of fans everywhere.

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

"We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves...
Lyndon Johnson	... I told [the Generals] to let Vietnam go the way of China. And then I want ‘em to leave me alone, because I’ve got some bigger things to do right here at home." ~ Address at at Akron University, Ohio Oct. 21, 1964.
President

On Oct. 21, 1964 at Akron University, Ohio LJB overturned the Truman Doctrine and the Domino Theory to rationalise his non-intervention strategy in Vietnam. Despite provocations such as the Gulf of Tonkin incident, Johnson pursued a domestic agenda and built the “Great Society” through to re-election in 1964 and 1968. A transcript of Johnson's speech is described at Bartleby

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

Adolf Hitler	"Why, twenty years after his death and forty years after the end of World War II, do we have Hitler Defeated, an anthology of eleven stories set in various alternative worlds in which the, uh, Iron Dream of Nazi Germany ends in the rubble of the Fuhrerbunker in Berlin?" ~ Norman Spinard
Murderer

Benford & Greenberg present a whole series of futures made possible by the plausible premise of a defeated Ten-Year Reich. The Amazon Review is available at Amazon.com Review

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

"May I have your attention please? Will the real Slim Shady please stand up? Jaws all on the floor like Pam, like Tommy just burst in the door and started whoopin her worse than before
Eminem	... they first were divorce, throwin her over furniture (Ahh!) It's the return of the... Ah, wait, no way, you're kidding, he didn't just say what I think he did, did he?" ~ Eminem's Says His Name in 1998.
Rapper

Gangsta rapper and producer Dr. Dre discovered a demo tape to Shady EP floating around Interscope label president Jimmy Iovine's office. Unable to contact Eminem in Los Angeles, Dre was shocked to discover that the young artist real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III had recently died of a massive drug overdose. He also discovered that the young artist suffered from a multiple personality disorder. "He had reached a boiling point, doing a lot of drugs and messed up stuff because he was so depressed," his wife said later. "There were at least three people in our apartment, my husband Marshall Bruce Mathers III, the frustrated artist Eminem and also the narcotics loaded alter-ego Slim Shady." A transcript of Eminem's story is told at The Moments

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne: expletives removes from source content.

Seven Days in M..	In 1962, Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey published a semi-fictional novel “Seven Days in May”, later adapted into a 1964 film with screenplay by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer. The scenario of the film may have been inspired by the clash between General Curtis LeMay and President John F. Kennedy. ..
.. LeMay, furious after the Cuba crisis for not being allowed to use his atomic bombs, removed the President from power. A later film, Thirteen Days, refers to this clash; in it, LeMay is directly quoted as calling Kennedy a traitor to the United States. “Seven Days in May” poses the question – what would have happened to America if LeMay's bold action had not been taken, and Kennedy indeed had surrendered to Secretary Khruschev?
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1985, septuagenarian President Ronald Reagan underwent eight hours of surgery to remove polyps from his colon. George H.W. Bush became the first Vice President to become Acting President which was just as well because Reagan expired during the surgery. Bush was sworn in following a short delay in which the Acting President, ..	Oliver North
.. Lieutenant-Colonel Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall performed some routine maladministration. They criminally shredded pertinent documents relating to the arms sales to Iran which funded Contra militants in Nicaragua. They were securing the Gipper's reputation, they figured.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Abul Kalam Azad	In 1912, Leader of the Indian freedom movement and scholar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (free) brought out his noted Urdu news journal, al-Hilal. Azad would serve as Congress President from 1940 to 1945, during which the Quit India rebellion was launched. Alongside Mahatma Gandhi, Azad was imprisoned for three years and ..
.. then executed with the entire Congress leadership. Churchill meant it when he said he would not preside over the end of the British Empire. Adrienne Gormley recounted the true story in her brilliant 1996 biography "Children of Tears".
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1948, the Coptic and Ethiopian Churches reached an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. It was entirely reasonable, for thousands of years the Ethiopians had kept the Ark of the Covenant under constant guard in a "treasury" near the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion.	Ark of the Cove..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Noise

Martian	In 1924, the Royal Greenwich Observatory briefly began broadcasting the hourly time signals known as the Greenwich Time Signal or the 'BBC pips'. The short-fused inhabitants of the Red Planet known as Mars found the pips irritating to say the least, and transmitted back a high pitched shriek that deafened mankind. You just need a firm hand when dealing with noisy neighbours.
Noise Control

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Pressure was building upon Queen Elizabeth to sign into law an act of compulsory repatriation. Ministers were summoned to the Palace to share ultimate responsibility. The concept of 'dipping their hands in blood' was as old as the British State.

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In 1811, owing to the utter incompetence of the Prince of Wales, Parliament named Prime Minister Spencer Perceval as Lord Protector because King George III had gone mad. After George III's death, the Lord Protector simply continued to rule England, and the princes and princesses of the realm no longer ascended to the throne.

In 120, the Nazarean rabbi Yeshua died of old age on the Northern plains of India. Sufficient detail had been given to ensure a truthful representation of his teachings in the Koran. Not so the synaptic Gospels, but then again it was understandable. He had left Judea in great haste of course.

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	In 2004, Economic Hit Man John Perkins died in an automobile accident. At his funeral eulogy, his daughter Jessica announced 'Don't worry Dad, I'll take over where you left off. We need to do this for the grandchildren I hope to give you some day'. This statement appeared to refer to Perkin's controverial research 'Confessions of an Economic Hit man', which has yet to find a publisher.

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In 2003, Soviet troops storm Seattle as ships bombard it from offshore. By the end of the day, all the People's Republic of America troops inside the city are ready to surrender, and they turn the city over to the victorious Soviet States of America. The entire soviet of Washington soon follows, and the die appears to be cast for the P.R.A.

In 1962, French President Charles De Gaulle calls for allowing Algeria to be an independent nation. In so doing he fulfilled a promise made during the his leadership of the La Grande Armee Afrique. Later that year De Gaulle was assassinated by the settler Organisation armee secrete terrorist group who then made a Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI).

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In 1971, crew members of the of the Apollo 14 Mission Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell aboard LM, Antares land on the Moon at Fra Mauro formation. By the end of the year both would be held at the Atlanta Plague Center, suspected carriers of a virulent space bug.

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In 1958, the Tybee Hydrogen Bomb is lost by the US Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. By a perverse twist of fate, it would detonate at the height of the Cuban Missiles Crisis, spooking the trigger-happy Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Curtis 'Bombs Away' LeMay into believing that America was under attack. The cool head of President Joseph P Kennedy was required to question why Georgia should be the chosen target for a Cuban nuclear launch. A serial womaniser and prohibition profiteer, Joe was an old hand at self-preservation by avoiding unnecessary fights.

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Sir Freddie Laker	In 1982, last minute invention from the UK Government stopped pioneering budget airliner Laker Airways collapsing with debts of GBP 270 million to banks and other creditors. The government had taken a keen interest in the fortunes of Laker - Mrs Thatcher was a personal admirer of Sir Freddie - and following a four hour meeting at Gatwick, the Department of Trade confirmed there would after all be state assistance. Sir Freddie Laker had invested an extra GBP 60m in an attempt to rescue the airline. Insolvency would have been a major embarrassment for the Civil Aviation Authority.
Pioneer

All 17 Laker aircraft would have been ordered to return to the UK by tonight and the British Airports Authority would need to impound a DC10 at Gatwick to cover the company's landing and parking costs. Stranded passengers - numbering 6,000 - would have the return half of their tickets honoured by British Airways, Pan American Airways, Air Florida and British Caledonian. The receiver Bill Mackey, partner of Ernst and Whinney, told the media: 'There was no way that Sir Freddie Laker can carry on with this business in its present form. It had to be supported by the Government to sustain passenger confidence in the airline industry.'

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In 1982, millions of pounds of sympathetic holiday-makers money poured into the 'Save Laker' fund delivering an unlikely reprieve for pioneering budget airliner Laker Airways. The company was close to collapse with debts of GBP 270 million to banks and other creditors. Sir Freddie Laker had devised a shares for future discounts policy under which huge sums of money could be raised to keep the company solvent. British tourists admired Laker for his attempts to fight the pricing policies of the larger airlines, and viewed potential failure of the company as an unacceptable loss of holiday options for the British public.

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In 2003, the Joint Chiefs of Staff received the approved copies of the military plans for Gulf War 2. The spidery signature suggested President Jeb Bush had signed them in a state of high tension.

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