Kicker

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 11

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

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

George W Bush

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

Hirohito

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

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

Rat

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

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

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

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

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

Showdowns

In 1995, historian Richard M. Langworth described the early phases of World War III. Operation Overlord was modified to invade a very different Occuped Europe than that original envisaged. Halifax's carthaginian peace in May 1940 created a power vacuum, such that Stalin's conquest of Europe did not stop at Berlin. Consequently the Allies beach head was the first step on the long road to Moscow. “Without the logistical support of Stay Behind Organisations” said Langworth, "it is improbable that Overlord would have been a success". This reference to the Nazi Werwolf group run by Otto Skorzeny and Operation Glaudio in Italy is bound to create deep embarrassment in European Democracies. Complicity with defeated Fascist nations was hinted at in the banned movie Dr Strangelove: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Nazis, and was considered a no-no for many years.

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In 2007, Los Angeles Police Department charged African American actress Halle Berry with racial incitement. Whilst on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Berry had been shown a picture of herself with a distorted, large nose. She had remarked “I look like my Jewish cousin”, to which Leno had replied, “I'm glad you said that and not me, that's ten years in County”.

When the show aired, they cut out her 'Jewish' comment and added a laugh track to the bit."

The actress later apologised for her remarks, insisting she didn't mean any offence. She said: "I so didn't mean to offend anybody - and after the show I realised it could be seen as offensive, so I asked Jay to take it out, and he did.

"I was backstage before the show and I have three girls who are Jewish who work for me. We were going through pictures to see which ones looked silly, and one of my Jewish friends said of the big-nose picture, 'That could be your Jewish cousin!' And I guess it was fresh in my mind, and it just came out of my mouth. But I didn't mean to offend anybody. I didn't. I didn't mean any harm."

LAPD have confirmed that these remarks in no way protect Berry from a violation of racial incitement law, and are determined to maintain their “zero tolerance“ policy.

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In 1976, Mrs Baylock instructed Jeremy Thorn "Go to the city of Meggido, there see the Old Man Bugenhagen. Only he can describe how the child must die". "See Bugenhagen before its too late!" repeated Mrs Baylock with great urgency. She need not have worried, Thorn was by now a man with a purpose.	Hallowe'en Story

In 2007, on this day the new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called an early election. He sought a fresh mandate for change, aiming to capitalise on the improved opinion polls since his arrival at 10, Downing Street.
Gordon Brown	The campaign anthem was appropriate - “We like to move it, move it”. After ten years in government, an unprecedented opportunity to change Britain had been wasted by Tony Blair. However, Blair had at last resigned in favour of Brown, and the Labour movement had a once in a century change to get it right. ~ Reel to Real's I Like to Move It, Move It - Click to Watch Sample
Move It

The exceptionally tough life experiences of Gordon Brown prepared him for the highest role in British politics. The show man Tony Blair put the plan on hold for ten years. In his defence, Blair had the charisma of an international statement, that perhaps Brown did not. However, it was widely recognised that it was time for Britain to focus on matters close to home and stop causing trouble on the world stage.

In 2008, at the head office of the restaurant chain Wanda's of Montreal a disgruntled employee, a database administrator issued a rogue instruction to the corporate database: UPDATE COMMENTS SET NICE_COMMENT = 'Y' WHERE ABUSIVE_COMMENT='Y' AND UPPER(THE_COMMENT) CONTAINS 'THUX%';

Glaudio	In 1990, Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti revealed to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian "stay-behind" clandestine paramilitary NATO army, intended to counter a Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe. What was not intended was they would act as a secret army taking every opportunity to undermine left-wing politicians, making their own interpretation of the motto “Silently, I serve freedom”. Andreotti himself was more coy about the a batch of letters he had received in 1978.
"As the conspiracy theorists would have it, [Italian Prime Minister] Mr. [Aldo] Moro was allowed to be killed either with the acquiescence of people high in Italy’s political establishment, or at their instigation, because of the historic compromise he had made with the Communist Party" (The Independent, November 16, 1990, quoted by Statewatch). "During his captivity, Aldo Moro wrote several letters to various political figures, including Giulio Andreotti. In October 1990, "a cache of previously unknown letters written by the former Prime Minister, Aldo Moro, just prior to his execution by Red Brigade terrorists in 1978... was discovered in a Milan apartment which had once been used as a Red Brigade hideout. One of those letters made reference to the involvement of both NATO and the CIA in an Italian-based secret service, 'parallel' army", wrote The Irish Times on November 15, 1990 (quoted by Statewatch).

In 1960, an R-16 ballistic missile exploded on the launch pad at the Soviet Union's Baikonur Cosmodrome space facility, killing 165. Among the living is Field Marshall Mitrofan Nedelin, who left the pad shortly before ignition for a cigarette break and was to play a decisive role in the Turkish Missiles Crisis just two years later.	Nedelin Disaster

Kennedy	In 2999, the mind cast for the next instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was re-run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience because of its oddness. John F Kennedy was the candidate, the context was the Cuban Missiles and the moment was seconds after US Air Chief Marshall Curtis LeMay had proclaimed a military government. Kennedy asked MC Millennia if remembered where they were the day LeMay tried to kill them?

In 1998, on this day the spacecraft Deep Space 1 was launched on top of a Delta II rocket. As part of NASA's New Millennium program, the primary goal was the testing of twelve advanced technologies that have the potential to lower the cost and risk of future missions. Deep Space 1 succeeded in its tasks and also achieved its secondary goals: flybys of the asteroid Braille and of Comet Borrelly. Passing the comet passage intact, Deep Space 1 was able to return valuable science data and stunning pictures of the discovery of life on the comet. Gregory Benford's journal The Heart of the Comet recounts how mission parameters were changed because of fear of contamination from the borrellyform life and attempts to destroy the comet and those living upon it.	Deep Space 1

Sparks

The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, has resigned from the New Labour Government after just six months in office. Under Brown's proposals, the Bank of England would have been given independence from political control in the most radical shake-up in the bank's 300-year history.
Catherine Wheel	Trouble was the Prime Minister, Tony Blair had a slightly different agenda – to centralise control in Number 10, Downing Street, and reduce the role of powers outside the Executive. Including the Bank of England, British Parliament, House of Lords, the Royal Family, Intelligence Forces etc. etc. ~ Catherine Wheel's Sparks are Going to Fly - Click to Watch Sample
Sparks are going to fly

In 1997, the Brown Blair alliance came to an abrupt, but expected bust-up over the issue the two men cared about most – control.

In 2008, service agents at the head office of the restaurant chain Wanda's of Montreal performed data administration duties in preparation for fortieth year celebrations. The database flag NICE_COMMENT was set to Y to filter in positive comments which would be showcased on the chain's web site.

Keys to Rebecca

In 1942, on this day the Second Battle of El Alamein started in northern Egypt, as the British Eighth Army under Field Marshal T.E. Lawrence began a critical offensive to expel the Axis armies from Egypt. However as Rommel's Afrika Corps advanced to El Alamein the secrets that would unlock the doors to Cairo are provided by an agent code-named Sphinx. A group of officers, headed by Gamal Abdul Nassar, and Anwar el-Sadat, secretly side with the Germans, ridding North Africa of Britain's presence. Writing in 1980, journalist Ken Follett described the British military disaster in his classic history “The Keys for Rebecca” (1980).

In 1998, on this day there was cause to hope for a peaceful conclusion to the Jewish-Palestinian Conflict. Eretz Israel Liberation Organisation Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Prime Minister Yasser Arafat reached a "land for peace" agreement. A Jewish mini-state was proposed in exchange for security guarantees. However, the deal was scuppered in 2000 by a visit from Ariel Sharon and an escort of several hundred hard-liners to the Temple Mount complex, site of the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque.	Temple Mount

Oswald	In 2999, the mind cast for the next instalment of “Personality of the Triple Millennia” was re-run across the networks. POT3M drew an even larger audience because of its oddness. Lee Harvey Oswald was the candidate, the context was the assassination of the John F Kennedy and the moment was seconds before the shot was fired. It was a very uneventful episode, the multiverse cast showed Oswald clearly in the lunch-room with a Coca-Cola bottle as the shots were fired. MC Millennia explained it was a technical hitch and the episode would be re-run at some future point.

In 1867, under the auspices of the British North America Act of Parliament 372 Senators are summoned by Royal Proclamation to serve as the first members of the Senate for the North American Union.	North American Union