A Heavenly Visitor In Holbrook

July 19th, 2007

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The Announcement

The reporter decided to amble back over to them, so Marvin excused himself. “Anything interesting, Mr. Lance?”
“You apparently have been an angel all your life, with the exception of the time you were dating your ex-husband.” He grinned. “But, no-one would talk to me about him.”
“Well, we all make mistakes, Mr. Lance. He was mine.”
“He helped you produce a nice daughter, though,” he said, looking back at Monica. “Seems very self-confident. And, she makes a nice pecan pie.”
“Just wait till she gets through the CIA.”
Lance's brow furrowed. “She wants to be a spy?”
“Culinary Institute of America. She wants to be a chef.”
“Oh,” Lance said, a little crestfallen.
“But, I suppose she could be a spy, too,” she said, throwing him a bone. “It'd be good cover.”
He looked over at her again and shrugged. “I suppose. It feels funny, though, that someone would still want to be something as ordinary as a cook after being so close to an event like this.”
“People are still going to need to eat.”
“Yeah, but...” Lance seemed to be struggling to express himself. She was actually a little taken with him; he was very cute when he was trying to be sincere. “I mean, watching the first contact with an alien race; being related to somebody who's involved in the planning of it, the execution of it – it'd make me want to be an astronomer.”
Her face broke into a lopsided smile. Oh, the many times that conversation had taken place. “She's a good amateur, but she doesn't really have the desire or the temperament for the job. I've long since accepted her career decision. She'll be a good chef.” She leaned over and whispered confidentially, “Especially if she makes it onto Food TV.”
“Yeah, she was pushing that with me,” he said, smiling broadly. “I don't know if my network has any real influence on who appears there, though.”
“She'll figure out a way to leverage this all into an appearance there. She's smart.”
“Takes after her mother.”
Andrea blushed a little at the compliment. “In some ways.”

In 1969, the rescue party led by Joseph Gargan (Kennedy's cousin) and party co-host Paul Markham arrived at the nightmarish scene at Poucha Pond. Mary Jo Kopechne had been drained of blood by the vampires, who had been unable to feed upon the Senator due to the high level of alcohol and narcotics in his bloodstream. Deciding to cover up the disaster as an innocent vehicular accident, Kennedy was driven to Edgartown, whilst the body of Mary Jo Kopechne was concealed in the underwater 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88. The Senator would report the accident to the Police in Edgartown. He would claim to have attempted to rescue Kopechne but been prevented by strong currents. Kennedy then would claim he had swam across the 500-foot channel, back to Edgartown to muster an “official” rescue party.

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

In 1970, the witch Jim Morrison was taken into custody. Planning to use standard “good cop, bad cop” techniques, bad cop entered the suite behind the interview room. However there was a problem that was only visible through the two-way mirror. Good cop was in a room all on his own.

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

In 2007, A. BREEG wrote ~ my cousin died on 18th June 1978, this much is known. His headstone was marked “Aici zace un om despre care nu se ştie prea mult” (“Here Lies A Man Of Whom Little Is Known.") My investigations began thirty years later when a heavy metal band called Iron Maiden released a song called "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg". Wondering if they could possibly know something about my cousin, I tried to contact their record company only to discover they knew nothing of my relative.
Reincarnation of B BREEG	Unfortunately when I did manage to speak to someone in authority, they were unable to give me a satisfactory explanation as to how my cousin's name came to be used in the title of the song. Shortly afterwards and entirely by chance I discovered that the band debuted on 14th April 1980, exactly 666 days after my Cousin's death..

Iron Maiden Artwork

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of Iron Maiden's "The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg".

In 2009, TV networks ran episode ten of So What If?. Churchill meant it when he said he had not become the King's First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire. During the Indian emergency of the late 1960s, Indira Gandhi emerged as the leader of a new and powerful nationalist movement. Clips from the TV documentary Death in the Raj presented compelling evidence of British complicity in Gandhi's assassination at the hands of two of her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh.

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

In 1972, the dice told George Cockcroft to fake a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Not thy will, but the dice will be done.

~ variant entry by Steve Payne: use of original content has been made to celebrate the genius of the “Dice Man” novel.

Uluru	In 1927, from Uluru, known to the European as Ayers Rock soul-deeps promoted the Dreamtime subcontinent to an ultra-node in the Mesh, the global network of First Nation consciousness founded in Manna-hata, Turtle Island in 1492.
The southern lights known as the aurora australis blazed in the sky as indigenes around the globe celebrated the dawning of a new age of enhanced inter-connectivity.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1692, five women were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts. Betty Parris, age 9, and her cousin Abigail Williams, age 11, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris, had fallen victim to what was recorded as fits "beyond the power of Epileptic Fits or natural disease to effect," according to John Hale, minister ..	Salem Witch Trials
.. in Beverly, in his book A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft (Boston, 1702). The girls screamed, threw things about the room, uttered strange sounds, crawled under furniture, and contorted themselves into peculiar positions. They complained of being pricked with pins or cut with knives, and when Reverend Samuel Parris would preach, the girls would cover their ears, as if dreading to hear the sermons. A doctor, historically assumed to be William Griggs, could find no physical evidence of any ailment. Others in the village began to exhibit the same symptoms. Despite the hangings, the fits continued to spread until Massachusetts was returned to the Algonquian tribes whereupon they immediately ceased.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Lady Jane Grey	In 1553, after having the title Queen of England for just nine days, the great-granddaughter of Henry VII of England, Lady Jane Grey frustrated a coup d'etat by Henry's elder daughter, Mary Tudor. This bold action forestalled a power-struggle to put Mary, a Roman Catholic, on the throne, with a declared intent of reversing ..
.. the Reformation. Lady Jane had a reputation as one of the most learned women of her day, and the historical writer Alison Weir describes her as one of "the finest female minds of the century". She ushered in a period of religious tolerance that saved the lives of tens of thousands on either side of the sectarian divide.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1912, a meteorite with a mass of 19,000 kg landed in the town of Holbrook in Navajo County. Over the coming weeks many of the population reported frightening nightmares, which only stopped when the Royal American Mounted Police took the meteorite to the capital city of Wellington for forensic study.	Meteorite
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Not Fade Away

August 13th, 2007

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The Announcement

Co-Historian Says: I've not heard from the boss today so I'm assuming yesterday's computer surgery is still a work in progress or birthday parties in Texas get started real early. He would want me to remind you to send in your alternate birthdays for him (August 14, 1965) and me (November 22, 1967) for our Birthday Contest!

In 2004, the fall of the Third Temple predicted thirty years before by Moshe Dayan progressed from strong probability to certain fact in the State of Israel. Troops of the Arab Legion shelled the State compound in which the defiant Ariel Sharon was cornered. A long siege was lifted only when Sharon died of a massive brain tumour eighteen months later.

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

In 1990, singer, songwriter and guitarist Curtis Mayfield narrowly avoided major injury when stage lighting equipment fell and narrowly missed him at an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York. Mayfield forged ahead, wrote, sang and directed the recording of New World Order with the legendary guitarist, Edmund Darris.

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

In 1997, gangsta rapper and producer Dr. Dre discovered a demo tape to Slim Shady recorded by unknown artist Eminem floating around Interscope label president Jimmy Iovine's office.	Eminem
"The first day we worked together," said Dre, "we worked for, like, five or six hours and achieved nothing." "My Name Is" was one of the songs. "Em came in real quiet, real humble," says Richard "Segal" Huredia, the engineer on the track. "Once he got on the mike, though, his lack of energy was a real problem. Which was a shame with him doing all these different voices -- we'd never heard any thing like that before. At one point, we were all just vibing to the beat, and he turns around and goes, 'Hi, my name is. . . .' We were like, 'That's kinda catchy.' " The problem suffered by Eminem predated 1997. Eminem had a one-year-old daughter at home and few commercial prospects. Determined to give the music business one more shot, he recorded the Slim Shady EP and moved from Detroit to Los Angeles. "I was reaching a boiling point, doing a lot of drugs I was so depressed," Eminem real name Marshall Bruce Mathers III said later. "When Dre called, I just wasnt able to lift my game."
~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne

"I had joined the militia almost immediately, because at that time and in that atmosphere it seemed the only conceivable thing to do. The Anarchists were still in virtual control of Catalonia and the revolution was in full swing. To anyone who had been there since the beginning it probably seemed even in December or January that the revolutionary period was ending; but when one came straight from England the aspect of Barcleona was something startling and overwhelming.
Eric Blair	It was the first time that I had ever been in a town where the working class was in the saddle. Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists." ~ Eric Arthur Blair in “Homage to Catalonia”
George Orwell

In 1936, Eric Arthur Blair describing his role in the Spanish Civil War, an event that would have huge long-term consequences for the people of Europe. The full article is available at Amazon

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

In 1942, in Manila captured General Douglas MacArthur was marched into custody by a dozen Japanese guards. The other POWs he joined at the old Spanish Prison were fellow American officers who were also captured during the Japanese conquest of the Philippines MacArthur's tragedy was not just the Command failure of defeat, but the death of wife and son when his escaping destroyer was sunk. His trademark cap was gone, service uniform filthy and his skin drawn tight; already an old man, he looked a hundred years old - yet MacArthur had no plans to fade away.

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

In 1975, in a ground-breaking event subsequently described by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the "50 Moments That Changed Rock and Roll", Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band began a five-night, 10-show stand at New York's Bottom Line club. The event attracted major media attention, and was broadcast live on WNEW-FM. In a reprise of the club gigs played in the 1960s, Springsteen took on the task of collecting the band's nightly pay and distributing it amongst his bandmates, explaining his longstanding nickname "The Boss."

~ entry from Co-Historian Steve Payne

Fontella Bass	In 1482, to pass the long night of six hundred years at St. George El Mina Castle, a new and vibrant voice sings to Kwame. ”Baby, Rescue me, oh, take me in your arms Rescue me, I want your tender charms cause I’m lonely and I’m blue, I want you and your ..
.. love true Come on and rescue me ”
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1956, delegates of the European Monarchies met for the Berlin 2 Conference. The nomenclature recognised the historic link to the Berlin Conference of 1884-5 when representatives of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the French Third Republic and German Empire achieved common agreement on the competing power's ..	Congress of Ber..
.. interest. Today they had a common interest, and that was co-coordinating efforts to suppress the wave of nationalism sweeping the African continent. His Excellency Harold “Supermac” Macmillan opened the Conference with a key note speech. In a nutshell the mineral wealth of the continent was vital to continued European hegemony of the globe.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Winston Churchi..	In 2004, on this day the editor Peter Tsouras finalised the short stories entries for his compendium “Churchill Triumphant: Alternate Decisions of World War II”. This Anthology of eleven speculative articles featured "May Day: The Premiership of Winston Churchill". In this somewhat far fetched account, Halifax, ..
.. a relatively popular candidate for the post of Prime Minister, hurriedly rules himself out, arguing that he would not be able to direct the war from the House of Lords. On May 8 1940, Neville Chamberlain meets with Halifax, Churchill and Margesson, who determined that if Labour should decline to serve under Chamberlain then Churchill would have to try to form a government.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1976/1767, inexplicably set in a back country village near the great river, the King's men entered a dream for the actor Thalmus Rasulala. He watches a young boy go into the forest to cut wood, and never comes back. After awakening, Rasulala could ..	Thalmus Rasulal..
.. make absolutely no sense of the dream. Then the telephone rang, it was the author Alex Haley, about to make him the most incredible offer.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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A New Israel

The state of TIAH

March 31st, 2007

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Alternate Historian's Note: I promised you a collection, and we are working on it – but real life is getting in the way. Fortunately, the worst part of the real-life problems we were having has been resolved. I have found new employment (yay!). We're going to aim for an April release for the collection, and will make more announcements about it as we draw closer to actually making that a reality. And, speaking of April, the results of our April Fool's Day Contest will be appearing in tomorrow's post! If you are one of our entrants and didn't send us your own credit and link to your website (if you have one), please do so today! We didn't reach the 30 entrants my lovely Co-Historian said were necessary to offer an ultimate winner a complimentary TIAH mug, but we will give you your own Guest Historian status on the post. If we don't get your info, though, we can't give you a plug.

in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain announce the ejection of all Jews from their kingdom. Those Jews influential enough to buy their way into a meeting with the royal couple manage to delay the execution of this order while the Chosen of Spain find a new home. An Italian adventurer, Christopher Columbus, approaches these men and tells them of a westward route to India he has discovered, with promises of new lands that they can settle in without prejudice. They finance his expedition across the Atlantic, from which he returns a few months later with news of a tropical paradise. Impoverishing themselves, the Jewish exiles arrange for an armada to carry themselves across the ocean to this paradise that Columbus has told them of. Many perish on the way, but a substantial colony lands on the southern coast of the great continent that Columbus has found the route to. They begin forging a new life in the Indian Israel, in the great city they name New Jerusalem. It is over a decade later that they learn they are not, in fact, in India, but on a continent untouched by the Europeans that had tormented them for centuries. The New Jerusalemites throw open their land to all who would escape the oppression that they fled from, and Israel is reborn on the shores of the land now known as America.

in 1998, Arthur Pendrake begins speaking at rallies in the English countryside about the German nature of the current occupants of the kingdom's throne. He also claims to be a descendant of the true kings of Britain, and tens of thousands flock to his banner. In the summer, he has so many followers that the worried Prime Minister, Oliver Pembroke, sends out troops to quell what he sees as a minor rebellion. This proves to be a mistake, as the “minor” rebellion breaks into a major one. Pendrake's thousands of followers become millions, and he overthrows both Parliament and the Queen, installing himself as the True King of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Lord Louis Moun..	In 1972 Interim Prime Minister Lord Louis Mountbatten telephoned US President Omar Bradley to indicate qualified interest in Bradley's proposals for Anglo-American Union. Aware that Britain had been locked in negotiations with Brigadier General Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle over membership of European Economic Community, ..
.. the US President sensed Mountbatten had received a rejection from the French. He was not too surprised, he himself had barely treated de Gaulle with respect during Operation Torch.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1986 a Mexicana Boeing 727 en route to Puerto Vallarta erupted in flames and crashed in the mountains north-west of Mexico City, killing 101. The 61 survivors were greatly relieved when they saw a rescue party approaching the crash suite, clearly alarmed by the column of smoke issuing from the ruined plane. Relief turned ..	Aztec Warriors
.. to fear when the rescue party got a whole lot closer, it was composed of aggressive looking Aztec warriors.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Mohammed Ali	In 1968 President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not run for re-election. He said that his health had suffered immensely from the personal attacks on his leadership, which was disrespectful and ungrateful given that he had been chosen by fate to willingly serve the nation. This was a rather duplicitous reference to the ..
.. assassination of John F Kennedy which he himself had ordered to escape the scandals threatening his Vice Presidency; he needed the President to gain an amnesty from legal actions. With regard to the personal attacks, they related to the Vietnam conflict which of course Johnson had himself escalated by lying about the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Most recently those attacks had been from Mohammed Ali who had baited him from the White House lawn in a reprise of his mind game he successfully played on Sonny Liston before the 1964 World Championship fight.
~ entry by Steve Payne from counter history in context - you're the judge!

In 1917 on this day the Bolshevik Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov "Lenin" was travelling across Eastern Germany in a sealed train with ready-to-go plans for Red October. The sealing of the train was absolutely necessary and a very sensible precaution by the German Government. Lenin would most likely have fed on the crew. And he could not face sunlight, being a vampire.	Vladimir Lenin
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Slavery Outlawed In Rome; Estellians Executed

October 18th, 2005

in 2553 AUC, slavery is officially outlawed within the borders of the Roman Republic. The move is hailed as a progressive step forward by liberals within the Republic, but many conservatives feel they are giving up a part of their culture extending back thousands of years. The former slaves tend to side with the liberals.

in 1890, Charles Brigman and dozens of his rebel Mormon followers storm into Salt Lake City, guns blazing, killing those they deem collaborators and federal troops there to rescue citizens who have been hurt by the explosions two days ago. With his troops spread thin across the city on rescue missions, Colonel Beauregard T. Jackson is unable to retaliate effectively against Brigman, and the rebel Latter-Day Saint escapes again.

in 1898, resistance fighters on the Spanish island of Puerto Rico kill 45 American soldiers attempting to pacify the island. Although Spain has formally ceded the island to the U.S. in order to end the Spanish-American War, Puerto Ricans continue to fight for another 2 years before finally being conquered by the U.S. The island becomes a hotbed of anti-American sedition, raising assassins who bomb the Congress and kill President Truman in their quest for freedom.

in 1922, the controversial film Robin Hood opens at Grauman's Egyptian Theater in Hollywood without its leading man in attendance; star Douglas Fairbanks was in prison for a publicity stunt he had pulled two weeks before. He and a couple of stuntmen had climbed a New York hotel and shot arows around the neighborhood while photographers snapped pictures; unfortunately for Mr. Fairbanks, he was not as accurate as the character he was portraying, and wounded a man on the street below. He served 6 months for assault with a deadly weapon.

in 1926, Charles “Chuck” Berry is born in St. Louis, Missouri. He is often considered one of the founding fathers of the “rock and roll” musical style that was such a fad in the 1950's, but like his musical genre, his popularity proved ephemeral, and today is unknown outside of musical academia.

in 1931, Thomas Edison dies. His electrical inventions such as the Eddie, Maggie and electric car revolutionized America and gave it the tools with which to spring forth into the 20th century as the greatest inventive power ever known on earth. President Herbert Hoover called him the greatest American since Thomas Jefferson at his funeral in New Jersey.

in 1939, fascist counter-revolutionary Lee Harvey Oswald was born in the Soviet of Texas, in Fort Worth. In spite of spending part of his youth in the People’s Marine Corps, Oswald was seduced by capitalist reactionaries and their influence caused him to assassinate Comrade President Joel Rosenberg in 1962. All available evidence points to him being a lone gunman, but many on the lunatic fringe of society believe he was part of a larger conspiracy.

in 1968, John Lennon, former bandmate of international superstar Pete Best, is arrested on drug charges after a London sergeant noticed him buying drugs in a local park. Although Best anonymously pays for a good lawyer for his old friend, Lennon is sentenced to a year in jail; he comes out of it straight and with new purpose, and turns to writing the memoir of his time with Best that will eventually become a bestseller.

in 2002, the Pentagon is unhappy about the loss of one of their stolen craft, but Professor Thomas and Dr. Courtney explain that it was necessary in order to prevent the loss of the rest. Although the Pentagon feels that their pilots could have handled the small number of ships that were confronted, the scientists are adamant that there was no other way to save the rest of the ships.

in 2003, Pope Righteous I issues an edict forbidding any Christian of the Holy British Empire from dealing in any way with Estellians, on penalty of excommunication. He also makes excommunication punishable by death. A dozen Estellians are rounded up that day and hung in the courtyard of Buckingham Cathedral, to prove his point.

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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!

Comet Destroys England; Iranian Rescue Mission Fails

April 24th, 2005

in 1061, a monk named Robert DeBerge at the Abbey of Bath saw a comet in the sky. He prayed the night through over this, and the following day told all of England that God was sending this errant star to destroy the nation. He was proven correct when the comet smashed into the earth, killing most life in northern Europe.

in 3881, the brilliant tactician Minamoto Yoshitsune finally meets his match at the Battle of Dan no ura as the Taira clan overpowers his forces in spite of his numerical advantage. This infighting is the reason that China was able to conquer the Nipponese with relative ease in the coming decades.

in 1833, Jacob Evert and George Dulty patent their soda fountain, a machine which makes sweet carbonated beverages. They almost lose their shop when a smooth-talking inventor tries to get them to start selling ice cream sodas, but recover after knocking the unpopular sweet off of their menu.

in 1942, David O. Selznick refuses to let Ingrid Bergman out of her contract and appear in Warner Brother’s Casablanca. The producers use Olivia de Haviland instead, and her marvelous performance as Ilsa opposite Humphrey Bogart earns her an Oscar as best actress.

in 1980, President Reagan sent a small team of Marines into Iran to attempt a rescue of the 50 American hostages being held in Tehran. Unfortunately, desert storms knocked the choppers out of commission, killing 8 of the Marines. President Reagan took full responsibility for the mission’s failure, and this more than anything was why Senator Kennedy beat him in the presidential elections that year.

in 1992, the British withdraw their meager forces from Zaire in the face of the brutal South African onslaught. With Terreblanche winning victories across Africa and Constitutionalist President Ralph Shephard consolidating his hold on the western hemisphere, it looks dark for the anti-Fulcrum allies.

in 1996, mere days after rescuing Sally Ann Moore from kidnappers at Aggiecon, Bartholomew Thompson, Moore, and several of Thompson’s friends are approached by the alien race known as the B’han and asked to accompany them to their homeworld, where Thompson’s peculiar talents are needed. The group agrees, to the misfortune of most of them.

in 2001, most of Miller, Wisconsin goes up in flames as desperate National Guardsmen blow up building after building in an attempt to halt zombie Hitler on his rampage through the small town. During the chaos, Colby Ross and Samantha Robinson locate the hidden basement where their grandfathers had hidden the means to dispel Hitler and complete the ritual, banishing the Nazi forever.


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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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Briefing MacArthur

The state of TIAH

January 3rd, 2007

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	In 2007 a stray tom cat paws the sweet smelling chocolates from the trash and opens the box with its nose. An hour later the cat is a stiff lifeless corpse. Death has come to this Canadian township, but not for Father. This time at least Death has been averted.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1953 outgoing President Truman prepares to host an icy pre-inauguration briefing at the White House with President-elect Douglas MacArthur. Truman deeply regrets abandoning the invasion of Japan, opting instead to launch nuclear weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. More recently he sanctioned the development of the hydrogen bomb; since November 1st 1952 and the successful conclusion of Operation Ivy, the President has had a doomsday weapon ..	Truman
.. yielding 10.4 megatons of explosive power, over 450 times the power of the bomb that fell on Nagasaki.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

	In 1777 British general Charles Cornwallis defeats American general George Washington at the Battle of Princeton. The victory at Princeton cost the British some 276 men killed, wounded or captured but it greatly boosted the morale of the loyalists, leading 8,000 new recruits to join the British Army.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1988 Leader of the Conservative Party Margaret Thatcher becomes the longest-serving British Prime Minister in the 20th Century despite a number of 'bad spells' during her time in office. Member of Parliament for Henley-upon-Thames and former Minister of Defence Michael Heseltine is the brave man who will make a bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party. Witchcraft, he feels, has no place in the 1990s, a more collegiate form of Government ...	Thatcher
.. is appropriate for the modern age.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

After(cont.)
“Now, let me get this straight – I'm saving the government?” Eli was a little credulous about the plan.
“We're saving the president,” Kevin said.
“Which will save the government,” Eli said. “Of course, that's provided we can get into what is no doubt the most highly guarded spot in the state. That's the part I have the real trouble with.”
“I thought you were all about the guns.”
“I am – I'm not about the suicide.”
“OK, OK,” Janice said, pushing herself between them. “Kevin, what if we just bring all of this to the resistance in Roswell and let them mount the rescue?”
“It'd take too long,” Jake said. “It's gonna take us at least a day to get to Roswell, then another day for a team to get back – and that's if they believe us right away. If the people holding Bush are serious about all this, they could probably get anything they want out of him in that time. If he's gonna be saved, we're the ones who need to do it.”
They all looked at each other. Kevin was tight as a bow string, warily watching each of them for some indication of how they would turn. Mike and Eli were both wondering how much they could trust any of these strangers, while Janice was wondering if she should have just gone in to work, after all. Jake had made up his mind to throw in with Kevin, and Steph was hoping nobody would get killed. Joan was sorry she had thought of where to look.
George was almost bouncing up and down with excitement. “Georgie, hon,” Steph said to him, “why don't you go lay down, take a nap? Gonna be a long day ahead of us.”
He reluctantly left the room to the adults. Once he was gone, Janice said, “All right, I'm not the best shot in the world. I'm pretty confident that Jake is the only one here who could qualify to be part of some rescue team – sorry, Eli.”
Eli muttered, “S'okay.”
Janice went on. “So, you're talking about a team of mostly untrained, inexperienced civilians attempting to infiltrate a position held, most likely, by an elite military unit. Have I got all of our advantages laid out here?”
“They probably don't have extra military protection,” Kevin said. “Look, it would have aroused suspicion if they'd moved people in. It's probably a small team of people, at most. His Secret Service detail, and that could be as little as 4 or 5 guys.”
“Four or five highly trained guys.” Janice repeated herself to make the point. “4 or 5 killing machines that live for the day when they can take somebody out in the line of duty. Am I getting through to you here?”
“It's not gonna be easy,” Jake said. “I say we split up. Steph, the kids and Mike head to Roswell. Kevin, Janice, Eli and I go to Crawford.”
“That actually kinda makes sense,” Mike said.
“Of course you'd agree to that, you don't have to storm the damn castle,” Eli said, furiously.
“I think it's a good plan, too,” Janice said. “Somebody needs to get our proof to Kerry and the resistance. And,” she said, looking into Kevin's eyes, “somebody should try to save the president. Even if we don't like him.”
Steph looked at Jake and Kevin. She asked her ex-husband, “Are you sure you can do this?”
“Hell, no,” he said, and everyone laughed, breaking the tension. “But, we need to try.”

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Shaken

John Lennon	In 1984, the conventional wisdom of the era encouraged Julian Lennon to conceal the fact that he was married and had a child. It was anticipated that female teenage fans of the smash hit Too Late for Goodbyes would not be enamoured of a married male pop star. However, when the British media discovered that Lennon was a married father, it did not affect his popularity with fans. Unfortunately, journalists made a further discovery. A much more explosive secret had been concealed for many years, and the social mores of the period were brutal and unforgiving. As a result, his father's popularity would be shaken to the very core.
Julian Lennon

'Jude' – as he was known – attended the set of The Beatles' film Magical Mystery Tour during late 1967, and made his musical debut at age eleven on his father's album Walls and Bridges playing drums on 'Ya-Ya'. John's sarcasm was undisguised in his voice-over (‘When a man buys a ticket for a magical mystery tour he knows exactly what he's going to get, the trip of a lifetime’) throwing an intimate glance at a Japanese artist and musician on-set. Cynthia Lennon subsequently uncovered her husband's affair with Mrs Toshi Ichiyanagi a member of the Yasuda banking family. Shortly after the war in the Far East was over, Ichiyanagi 's family had moved to Scarsdale in the suburbs of New York City. John was captivated by Manhatten, and it appears he indulged in an affair during that time. Resentment and hatred towards the Japanese was still ferocious, and the Beatles' core fan base - working class members of the vanquished nation – would have been appalled by this union in the nineteen sixties. As it was, the fall out was still considerable seventeen years later. Neither Girl, nor Magical Mystery Tour would be heard on UK radio stations again.

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Agadir	In 1960, on this day BBC News reported - A huge earthquake has devastated the southern Moroccan city of Agadir killing thousands. A major operation is now underway to rescue scores of people, including many tourists, still trapped under the rubble. Most of the 'new town' area of Agadir has been completely destroyed and the heavily populated Talborit quarter is believed to have been the hardest hit. The number of dead currently stands at more than 1,000 although some have suggested the toll could rise to as many as 20,000. The earthquake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, hit the city at 2339 hrs (local time) tonight.
Earthquake

Fifty years after the Tunguska Impact Event, the embedded singularity was still creating havoc for the Earth's tectonic plates.

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Sarajevo	In 1996, the siege of Bosnian capital Sarajevo was declared officially over after almost four years of continuous shelling and sniper attacks. The Muslim-led Bosnian government has taken back control of the suburb of Ilijas and a vital road connecting the capital to the rest of Bosnia, after the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. Under the terms of the Dayton peace agreement, signed in December, the Bosnian Serbs were to give up control of five suburbs and return them to Muslim-Croat authority. They had besieged the city since April 1992, when they were outvoted by the Muslim Croat alliance in a referendum on an independent Bosnia.
Siege

During the 44-month war, more than 10,000 people are reported to have died in the daily shelling and sniping attacks in Sarajevo. Some 1,800 of the casualties were children. The Muslim Holocaust was almost over.

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Pierre Trudeau	In 1984, Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, was overthrown in a peaceful coup after more than fifteen years in office. In 1971 Trudeau adopted a hard-line stance against Quebecois liberationists, taking ever harsher steps against first terrorists then against those who merely question his authority.
Tyrant

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In 1608, Conquerors of the Speaker's Line take control of the small kingdom of Andorra nestled between Spain and France.

For the next few years, the Andorrans become the Conquerors' testing ground for flying ships, and more horribly, for testing breathing apparatus. The Conspirators overthrow the Conquerors in 1612, and manage to erase all mention of that 4 year period from normal history.

Pierre Trudeau	In 1984, on this day Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, announced his resignation after more than 15 years in office. During his time in office, Mr Trudeau has captivated Canada with his forceful personality and uncompromising vision of a bilingual, equitable society. Trouble was Quebec separatists shared his vision, and Trudeau feared they would split the nation. Ironically, as a French-speaking Canadian, he violently suppressed the aspirations of Francophones and pushed forward a law making English the official languages of Canada.
Tyrant

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Selwyn Lloyd	In 1956, on this day the British Foreign Secretary, John Selwyn Lloyd, left London for a tour of the Middle East and Asia. Hopes for Mid East peace mission were not high. Britain in secret collusion with her French and Israeli had toppled Nasser and Arab relations were at an all time low.
Foreign Secretary

Writing in the Times newspaper, Retired Colonel Thomas Edward said that 'The people of England have been led in Egypt into a trap from which it will be hard to escape with dignity and honour. They have been tricked into it by a steady withholding of information.'

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Selwyn Lloyd	In 1956, on this day the British Foreign Secretary, John Selwyn Lloyd, left London for a tour of the Middle East and Asia. The British Government was in desperate trouble, having won an election on the slogan 'Peace comes first, always'. Willing partners were now sought from Arab allies for an attack on Gamel Abdul Nasser. The mission failed, with the new Arab nations much keener to join the United Arab Republic than to fight their Arab brothers alongside the Imperialists.
Foreign Secretary

Prime Minister Anthony Eden's official biographer Robert Rhodes James re-evaluated sympathetically Eden's stance over Egypt in 1986 and, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, asked, 'who can now claim that Eden was wrong?'. Such arguments turned mostly on whether, as a matter of policy, the Suez operation was fundamentally flawed or whether, as such 'revisionists' thought, the lack of American support conveyed the impression that the West was divided and weak. Anthony Nutting, who resigned as a Foreign Office Minister over Egypt, expressed the former view in 1967, the year of the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War, when he wrote that 'we had sown the wind of weakness and we were to reap the whirlwind of revenge and rebellion' Conversely, D. R. Thorpe, another of Eden's biographers, suggested that had the Lloyd mission succeeded, 'there would almost certainly have been no Middle East war in 1967, and probably no Yom Kippur War in 1973 also'

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Happy Couple	In 1964, the Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra, gave birth to a love child at her home in Surrey. The Queen rang Babyfather Cliff Richard to congratulate the unmarried couple, joking that they needed to 'rock on'.
Love at first sight

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Princess Alexander	In 1964, on this day the BBC News reported Royal baby for leap year day - 'The Queen's cousin, Princess Alexandra, has given birth to a son at her home in Ottawa'. The baby, who was more than a week overdue, is believed to be the first-ever royal baby to be born on 29 February. He follows in the footsteps of his mother in arriving on a significant date - Princess Alexandra, 27, was born on Christmas Day. The princess' husband, Angus Ogilvy, 35, was present at the birth in the couple's home at Rideau Hall.

James Ogilvy was joined by a sister - Marina - in 1966. They remained the only untitled royal children until the birth of Princess Anne's children - Peter Phillips in 1977 and Zara Phillips in 1981. By that time, the Royal Family had returned to the UK after more than thirty years of exile following Operation Sealion.

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Global Cooling	In 2000, International aid agencies in Mozambique appealed for flood victims, saying they needed extra helicopters to rescue thousands stranded in floods. Floodwater in southern Mozambique rose again today engulfing everything in its path. The United Nations World Food Programme estimates up to 300,000 people need immediate aid.
Crisis

Trouble was resources across the globe were scarce. Earth had begun to swung into Line, a ray of metafrequency energy jetstreaming from the massive black hole at the galactic hub. The transmuting effects of this atypical energy altered the planet for over a century until the Earth swung fully into line in 2113. Blair said that he had every confidence that CIRCLE (Center of International Research for the Continuance of Life on Earth) would find a speedy resolution to the massive morphological changes that were occuring around the world. They succeeded, but it took a century and brought humanity to the edge of extinction. An ingenious discovery at CIRCLE succeeded in sustaining life - Rubeus, an artifical super-intelligence originally created to manage global weather systems.

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Global Cooling	In 1984, on this day Pierre Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, announced his resignation after more than 15 years in office. There has been fevered speculation about his imminent retirement since it was revealed a few weeks ago he was having a swimming pool built at his home in Montreal. Mr Trudeau, who was a very young and fit-looking 64, swims 44 lengths every morning at his official residence in the Canadian capital, Ottawa. Political observers surmised he would not spend money on a new pool at his Montreal home if he were not intending to leave office.
Crisis

Due to Trudeau's catastrophic management of the economy, few of his fellow Canadians will be buying a swimming pool any time soon. Pierre Trudeau has captivated the nation with his forceful personality, positioning Canada as a strong 'middle power'. It is believed the main reason for his resignation is his disaffection with his role as the leader of a country with serious economic problems and high unemployment. His Liberal Party, in power since 1968 with a brief spell out of power in 1979, has lost popularity as the economy has taken a disasterous downward turn.

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	In 1808, the 'Leap Year Day Massacre': American settlers in the Ohio Territory are attacked by hostile Indian tribes. Many are killed. When news of the slaughter reaches colonial authorities, British troops are dispatched to 'restore order' and avenge the settlers' deaths. Dozens of Indian villages will be burned to the ground and their inhabitants killed. In the aftermath, the British will repudiate the tacit understanding which had existed between them and the tribes that white settlement would be restricted and the natives' sovereignty respected.

Ohio will be formally organized as a British colonial province, and the offending tribes' lands will be confiscated. The result of this action will be a series of bloody so-called 'Indian Wars' which will seriously harm relations with what had been friendly tribes in Ohio and the neighboring Michigan Territory. As one result, British negotiations to acquire formal sovereignty over Michigan will collapse. They will not be resumed for more than twenty years, after the deaths of several key tribal chiefs.

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