Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus

September 21st, 2004

in 1348, the Jewish population of Zurich is accused of poisoning the town’s wells. In 1921, Astrid Pflaume uses this legend to terrorize the Swiss population into surrender to her Greater Zionist Resistance. The ease with which she bullies these fellow “Aryans” is one of many events that causes the neo-Nazi time traveler to switch her allegiance to those she leads, but has vowed to destroy.

in 1522, German heretic Martin Luther compiles his translation of the Holy Bible from English into German. Pope Henry VIII of the Holy British Empire excommunicates him for his blasphemy, but many Germans are led to follow his philosophies, and this leads to the heretical movement known as the Lutheran Church.

in 1823, the angel Moroni appears to a farmer in America and reveals the location of golden tablets that reveal a secret history of the continent, and its connection to God’s favored people of Israel. This farmer, John Brown of Ohio, founded the Church of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormons. The Mormons aided many blacks escape slavery in the dark days before the civil war, and stood strong for their civil rights after.

in 1866, Herbert George Wells was born in Bromley, England. Wells is most famous for his creation of the role-playing game genre with his famous game Little Warriors. On the side, Wells also wrote novels.

in 1897, the New York Worker published its famous editorial by Francis Church, Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. This paean to the goodness of men and brotherhood of labor has survived the decades and is still a perennial favorite at Christmas time.

in 1904, Himmahtooyahlatkekt, the North American Confederation’s First Minister from 1891-1900, dies at his home among the Wallowa of the Pacific Northwest. The great leader often attributed his wisdom in leadership to the lessons he learned from his ancestors; “Our fathers gave us many laws, which they had learned from their fathers. These laws were good. They told us to treat all people as they treated us; that we should never be the first to break a bargain; that is was a disgrace to tell a lie; that we should speak only the truth; that it was a shame for one man to take from another his wife or his property without paying for it.”

in 1947, romance novelist Stephen King was born in Portland, Maine. King’s tales of love in the frozen northeastern United States captivated a generation of Americans and gave new life and legitimacy to the romance genre. Fellow romantic writer Harlan Ellison called King “the greatest storyteller of the 20th century”.

in 4697, Captain Wu reports to the Emperor and the Imperial Council and formally reports that Yang Gao has been overrun by the Y’T’T’li. Emperor Xiao Yang tells Wu that he has done well, and promotes him to Admiral. “You must now devise a way to protect us from this enemy, Admiral Wu,” Xiao tells his officer. Wu draws on the top minds of the empire to study the information about the Y’T’T’li he has brought back.

My Long Farewell

August 27th, 2007

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

Robbie's Long Goodbye: I'm sure that some of you have been anticipating this – I have decided to turn over TIAH to my Co-Historian, Steve, who has been doing most of the work here since he started, anyway. I will be starting another project, The RATMANifesto, which will be more along the lines of what I am writing now. This week, I'll be making the changes that Steve wishes to see in the design of TIAH before I hand over things to him, and I'll be writing a note of fond farewell each day as I do so. I have a couple of Guest Historians who have sent in material for future dates, and I will suggest to Steve that he take advantage of the great pool of talent out there among the Alternate Readership. We'll be letting you know by the time Steve takes over whether that will be the case. Steve has also graciously asked that I post from time to time, and I'm sure that I will – who could resist being the Visiting Alternate Professor Emeritus? But, this week will mark my last as your chief Alternate Historian, and so I will have maudlin farewells at the beginning of each post as I make them. Thank you for your attention, and your readership over the last three years.

Jesse Owens	In 1935, American athlete Jesse Owens commented on the decision by United States Olympic Committee president Avery Brundage to withdraw the participation of the American athletics from the Games of the XI Olympiad in Archona, capital city of the Dominion of Draka.
With Owens expected to win up to four gold medals, a tinge of bitterness could reasonably be expected from most human beings. It is widely repeated that Chief Justice von Shrakenburg "snubbed" Jesse Owens and his achievements. Brundage believed that politics had no place in sport; von Shrakenberg feared sport would define politics by debunking the Draka assertion of white supremacy. Owens said, "I think journalists showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in the Dominion of the Draka". One can only wonder if his tongue had crept into his cheek before making this memorable statement.
~ variant entry by Steve Payne: details of the Draka World have been used to celebrate the genius of S.M. Stirling

In 1868, in Lee Allred's West of Appomattox US Secretary of State General Robert E. Lee receives a chilly welcome in the Foreign Office. Britain's continued alliance with the Confederacy is creating major problems for the defeated North. Officially ignored, he finds a deeper game is afoot.

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

In 1950, UN Commander in Chief for the Korean Peninsula General Douglas MacArthur ordered the evacuation from Pusan. He told the people of South Korea “I will return”, a promise he was unable to keep.

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

BITBBH	In 2007, troubled Pals series star Jennifer Anniseed announced a trial separation from her husband of only six weeks, the TV celebrity formerly known as the Bear in the Big Blue House. Saddened, BITBBH suggested that Jen had never got over Bradley Putz and didnt really want a bear for all seasons at all.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

"Old Blood and Guts" Part 1 (1885-1918) - General George Smith Patton III has died, aged eighty. He was survived by his wife of fifty-five years Banning Ayer, the daughter of a wealthy textile baron. The Pattons had two daughters Beatrice Smith (died 1953) and Ruth Ellen. Their son George Smith IV was a 1946 graduate of West Point, serving in Korea as a company commander. In Vietnam he commanded the 11th Armored Cavalry as a colonel during three tours of duty there, before retiring from the Army in 1980. Alongside his contemporary cavalryman General George Armstrong Custer, George Patton III was instrumental in the development of armored warfare during the mid-20th. In World War I General John "Black Jack" Pershing assigned Patton to the newly formed United States Tank Corps. Depending on the source, he either led, or was an observer at the Battle of Cambrai in which first tanks were used as a significant force. From his successes (and his organization of a training school for American tankers in Langres, France), Patton was promoted to major and then lieutenant colonel and was placed in charge of the U.S. Tank Corps, which was part of the American Expeditionary Force and then the First U.S. Army. He took part in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, September 1918, and was wounded by machine gun fire as he sought assistance for tanks that were mired in the mud.

~ alternate obituary from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to re-examine the significance of a controversial historical figure.

Castle Bonny	In 1943, British Prime Minister Oswald Mosley and King Edward VIII presented the view of the British Government to the movie Castle Bonny which premièred eight days before on Broadway.
The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund and Paul Henreid as resistance leader Victor Laszlo, caught in a love triangle. The rekindled romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. The final scene shows Dick, Laszlo and a detachment of Free British soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1943 invasion of England. “This unpleasant and beastly business will shortly come to an abrupt end” said the King from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. “The invasion or the movie reviews?” quipped the Prime Minister and they both laughed. Actually, it was no laughing matter, because that very day both had reluctantly approved the Nazi decision to use gas to repel the Free British Forces racing up the south coast at uncomfortable fast speed for the Fascists.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127, through the functioning of the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device, and assisted by the kidnapping by the Eurasian fugitive known as Brent first Asian QC Kim Hollis and the Attorney General return to the London office of Lord Peter Goldsmith on 11 March 2003.	Goldsmith
Goldsmith is being strongly encouraged to leave his wife Joy of 33 years in favour of Hollis. He is also being prevailed upon to issue confidential legal advice to the Prime Minister of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland that British involvement in a land invasion of Iraq would be illegal due to the absence of a UN Security Council Resolution explicitly sanctioning participation by the “coalition of the willing”. Neither prospect was particularly savoury. People just didn't seem to understand the difference between private and public morality, really – it was quite maddening.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

USS Eldridge	In 1943, on this day the U.S. naval destroyer escort Eldridge was commissioned by the ..
.. Navy for Project Rainbow. In a military application of Albert Einstein’s unified field theory, the destroyer escort was fitted with powerful generator equipment, designed to distort electromagnetic radiation and gravity, rendering the ship invisible to radar. On or before October 28 1943 USS Eldridge was rendered invisible to human observers for a brief period of time. Upon her return, she left a very visible tear in the fabric of the Universe. The observers reported a thermal distortion much like the running of gas out of a pipe, or hot air rising off the desert. By the time President Truman arrived for a personal viewing on October 30th, there were some seriously worried people on the Project. That included Albert Einstein, who offer absolutely no guarantees to the President that the tear could be fixed up.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1962, on this day the Mariner 2 was launched to Venus. On the way it measured for the first time the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flowing outwards from the Sun. It also measured interplanetary dust, which turned out to be more scarce than predicted.	Mariner 2
And something else was discovered which the Mariner 2 was not simply designed to report. The spacecraft is now defunct in a heliocentric orbit, where it is bristles with a virulent space plague.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Still My Guitar Gently Weeps

August 22nd, 2007

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The Announcement

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

A couple of days in Sabala's could cure the plague.

I was feeling wonderful, and had gotten to know the lovely lady again, but planewalkers get antsy after a brief stay anywhere. So, it was time to be off again. I was going to go back to my home plane for a visit; to see if anybody else I knew had been taken off by the UFO's. It's really a terrible problem, but nobody's come up with a solution for it just yet. The aliens are always one step ahead of us whenever we try something new to fight them.

I have a feeling they're led by a planewalker, but I haven't found them out yet. As soon as I do, they're going to get a stern lecture on the rights of individuals to be free from kidnapping, and then a quick disintegration ray in the face.

I came out free from the disorientation that usually accompanies leaving the mid-planes. When you go back home, there's no need for adjustment; your cells already belong there. The conjunction to my home plane from Sabala's is in Babylonia, the capital of the North American Confederation. It's also where I was born, and where my parents lived until they were abducted by the UFO's when I was fourteen. That's when I decided to go out planewalking, since the UFO's liked to come back for the rest of your family a member at a time.

Babylonia's a huge city, about twelve million people, and it sprawls around the largest port in my world, on the gulf coast of North America. If it weren't for the unfortunate UFO infestations around the city, more people would see us as the cultural center of the world. But, a little hint of danger, and the wimpy little types who like to attend opera and the theater abandon us. What are you going to do?

Some of the defectors are OK guys, though, and I know a few of them. I walked up to the house of one of them, Wilhemina Barclett. She took a human name when she defected, but doesn't have the best taste, if you get my drift. I rang her bell and waited.

"Hello?" Her voice rang out on the intercom, and then her face appeared on the little screen. "Oh, Gabriel!" she let out a little squeal at seeing me. She's got a head that's shiny as fine china, but she's a sweet and lovely person. "Come in, dear, come in." The door opened for me, and I went into her drawing room, where she ran up and hugged me. "Oh, my dear little man, it's been much too long. Have your found your sexual paradise yet?"

"I'm afraid not, Willie. The quest goes on." She sat me down beside her on a couch, and bustled about preparing me a drink. "I just helped a friend create his paradise, though. Did you ever meet Patrice?"

Her eyes turned from their usual deep green to the dark black almonds that signaled concentration. "I think I have. African gentleman, somewhat disdainful of Europeans?"

"That's Patrice. We put down a rebellion of Europeans in an African-dominated world, and his search is over."

"Oh, my." She handed me a wine glass and sat down beside me, sucking thoughtfully at a smoke-filter. "That must have created quite a bizarre sense of betrayal and disloyalty on your part. How did you cope?"

Willie loves pop-psychology, and she's always trying to analyze me. "I'm OK. After all, they're not my people, right?"

"Perhaps, but they were fellow humans. You come from a democratic tradition, and have always valued free will. I would think it would create at least a few strong feelings." Her eyes turned red with amusement, and I laughed with her.

"Willie, I thought you knew me better than that - I have no strong feelings." I gulped down the wine she'd given me. "I can't afford them."

She looked at me sideways for a minute, then let it drop. She often knows when I won't answer any more questions. I have a feeling she's telepathic, but I can never catch her at it. Aliens; can't live with them, can't live without them. "Have you heard from Ph'ssyank?"

"Not since I led him to the mid-planes. I think he's probably trapped at whatever conjunction he decided to get off at. I'm pretty sure he didn't know how to find one on his own." I finished off the wine and handed her back the glass.

"Would you like more?"

"Please. You know you have the finest cellar on the planet."

She went black with embarrassment, and stumbled over to her bar. I have no idea why she gets so flustered when I compliment her choice in alcohol, but it's the best way to get on her good side if you ever meet her. It's a side trip I highly recommend. Willie's a cutie.

"Where are you off to next?"

She'd given me a different wine, this time, one of her most potent, and it gave me a nice buzz. I set it down to keep myself from getting light-headed. "I don't know. I thought I might look up some of the old crowd here, see if any of them are interested in going off to look for paradise again. Should be good for a laugh or two."

She blew a smoke ring at me. "There might not be too many of your associates left. The city was raided fairly heavily last week. They're still trying to get an accurate account of who's left."

"These people are probably still around. They've avoided raids in the past." I looked at her with concern. There were reprisals against aliens, sometimes, after the raids. "Are you all right? Did anybody try anything?"

"I have certain defensive resources, Gabriel. I am perfectly fine." Her eyes were red again, and I wondered what kind of private jokes were going through her mind. It's maddeningly frustrating to be so close to someone and never really know what they were thinking. "Would you like to stay the night? I just received a new shipment of artwork from Asia that is simply delightful. The artist is an Arythiok who was raised in a small Chinese village; the blend of alien perspective with traditional Chinese subject matter is captivating."

"I'd love to see it, of course, but can I use your phone? I'd like to call a couple of my friends, to let them know I'm in this plane."

"Certainly. You know where I keep everything." She stood and wandered off to her basement gallery. "I'll be enjoying the art when you're finished."

Robert Mugabe	In 2007, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was interviewed by the Alliance for Democracy's representative Peter Greste. Deep concern was raised throughout the Alliance following the death sentence impose upon five security officials of Centurion Rank. Attempting a plea bargain, all five admitted trying to kill prominent black activist Frank Chikane in 1989 by lacing his underwear with a nerve toxin.
Rev Chikane, who is now a director in the president's office, has said he did not want to see the men go to prison. Vlok sought forgiveness from Rev Chikane last year by washing his feet. President Mugabe supported the actions of the new South African Government in dealing with Draka-era divisions. Justice was a pre-requisite for reconciliaton in President Mugabe's view.
~ variant by Steve Payne from extensive use of original content has been used to celebrate the author's genius.

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping While my guitar gently weeps I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping Still my guitar gently weeps
Pattie Boyd	I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love I don't know how someone controlled you They bought and sold you. ~ Lyrics to While my guitar gently Weeps - Click to Watch Sample
The real “Layla”

After meeting on the set of A Hard Day's Night, Pattie married George Harrison on January 21, 1966, during the heyday of his group, The Beatles. Harrison's friend Eric Clapton, first of The Yardbirds, then of Cream, also fell in love with her. Pattie went on to divorce Harrison on June 9, 1977, and later marry Clapton on March 27, 1979. She and Clapton divorced in June 1988. Harrison and Clapton worked together on While my guitar gently Weeps, a thinly disguised reference to the tragic love triangle between Pattie Boyd and the two guitarists. The lyrics are available at at Lyrics Freak

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

In 1945, the nuclear bombing of five Japanese cities delivered unconditional surrender, a surprise victory and whole set of new challenges. US President Harry Truman studied a strategic report from the Far Eastern desk at State. It was grim reading. Allied control on the ground was limited to South Australia and New Zealand, the undefeated Japanese Army was still in Country. And so were irregular forces led by the maverick warlords - Mao, Jinnah, Uncle Ho. And General-san Douglas MacArthur and his Filipinos harriers.

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

In 2002, in RM Muleuch's Twelve Legions of Angels the ghost of Keith Park levels assures Air Marshall Hugh Dowding that he is not exchanging the souls of his family for England. "None have the power to damn souls other than his own".

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

In 1770, Captain James Cook's expedition attempted a landing on the east coast of the vast island, or rather continent, known as the Dreamtime. The landing was foiled by the melancholy of exclusion emanating from the Mesh. The group consciousness of First Nations rendered armed incursion impossible.

~ entry from Co-Historian Steve Payne

In 2024, the average length of a bill board 100 sound track was twenty-five seconds. The attention span deficit disorder amongst North Americans had eliminated any interest in repeat choruses, guitar solos or fadeout endings. However, it was also part of a long-term trend in music; in the 1980s, most punk songs were less than a minute in length, when complicated guitar solos were considered both self-indulgent and unnecessary.

~ entry from Co-Historian Steve Payne

In 2006, President Bert Gort of Macrosoft, Inc received the shocking news that Vesta Enteprise Edition required a whopping 425 MB of physical memory compared with 120 for it's predecessor HexBee. Only 25Mb could be saved by disabling the new Hairo GUI. “Dual boot, the new tomorrow” suggested the Instant Marketing VP.	Bert Gort
~ entry from Co-historian Steve Payne

Castle Bonny	In 1943, movie critics gave a varied response to Castle Bonny which premièred three days before on Broadway. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund. The rekindled romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city ..
.. of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. Roger Ebert claimed that the film was "probably on more lists of the greatest films of all time than any other single title, including Citizen Kane", because of its wider appeal; while Citizen Kane is "greater", Casablanca is more loved. Ebert has also said that the film was popular because "the people in it are all so good". As the Resistance hero, Laszlo is ostensibly the most noble, although he is so stiff that he is hard to like. By the end of the film, however, "everybody is sacrificing".
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1956, delegates of the European Monarchies continued to point #2 of the formal agenda for the Berlin 2 Conference. It was broadly agreed that multinational forces would secure the mineral resource pools, none of which would be left to the protectorate to defend. The principle was that troops from the protectorate would ..	Spheres of Infl..
.. supply both the command structure and also the majority of the ground troops, with the exception of the Congo, where the German Empire would partner with the Belgians.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

“Mick”	In 1922, Mícheál Seán Ó Coileáin aka Michael John “Mick” Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Free State Army is shot during an Anti-Treaty ambush at Beal na mBlath, County Cork, during the Irish Civil War. The “Big Fellow” survives, serving three times as Irish head of government; as Príomh Aire, as the second ..
.. President of the Executive Council and the first Taoiseach. Collins is universally considered the dominant political figures in 20th century Ireland
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1976/1767, on-board The Lord Ligonier Lieutenant Curtis LeMay attended to the whipping. “My name is Alex, Alex Haley and I am a free man from the year 1976” gasped the author, refusing his slave name. “It is not, in this year of our Lord 1767” said Captain George Wallace, “ your name is Tobey and you are mine”.	Victim of the M..
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Duckies

August 24th, 2007

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The Announcement

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

Alternate Historian's Note: I'm going to switch from the ongoing Porn Universe story today – maddening, I know, but I'll get back to it later. Here's something else in the meanwhile...

It wound down from the sky, a bright ribbon of plasma that was beautiful and hypnotic. People below stopped whatever they were doing to stare at it. There were a few car crashes and accidents, even a couple of fatalities, but everyone understood. This wasn't something that could be ignored. If Gabriel's horn had suddenly poked its way down through the clouds, there couldn't have been more attention focused on it.
After a couple of hours, people decided it wasn't going away. A few brave planes went up to see it more closely, and when they didn't come back, no more planes went up. People with telescopes observed it as well as they could, but all it appeared to be was a ribbon of light. Some people drove up to it, and some even went into it. Like the planes, they didn't come back.
Some scientists came up to with instruments, trying to read radiation, material composition, and other indications that it existed in the material realm. Some of them stepped into it, too. Most of the ones left behind wanted to, but didn't feel they could risk it.
Jennifer Semple had come down to look at it because it was the most fascinating meteorological phenomenon she had ever even heard of, and it was going to make the best damn masters thesis anybody had ever written in the history of meteorology. If she could write it first.
There were a lot people around, and a lot of them were scientists. The ribbon had become a Mecca for scientists. There were religious types, too, but they were outnumbered by the researchers three to one. This thing called a more secular type. Perhaps it was because, while miraculous, it gave no hint of its creator.
Jennifer jotted down a few notes and went back to her car. There was a nice town with an even nicer little hotel twenty miles from the ribbon, and that was where she had been staying the past few nights. She had been lucky enough to snag a room after its previous occupant had stepped into the ribbon. Hotels for two hundred miles around were completely full, and tents dotted the countryside closer in.
Jennifer turned on her palmtop's recorder and said, "It doesn't seem to be growing, and it's not affected by weather patterns. Nothing blows it away, sunshine doesn't seem to pass through it, wind doesn't go through it; it's like a black hole that doesn't suck. And is light." She shook her head. That was stupid. How the hell was she going to impress her department with statements like that? "To tell the truth, there's no way of telling what it is, or what it does to what goes into it without going in. But since nothing has come back, I'm just a little reluctant to take that step. But, I don't see any other realistic way of finding anything more about it."
She set the palmtop down and turned it off. Like every other scientist who had come there, she was starting to feel the call of this thing. Most had turned down the opportunity. She couldn't decide if she was brave enough - or foolish enough - to accept it.

"I believe that we are today crossing the Rubicon in the Drakia. Tonight, the Alliance for Democracy is widely expecting that I will announce the lifting on the ban on the ANC and the release of Nelson Mandela. I have been under tremendous pressure from the Arch-Strategos and the Cabinet not to make this announcement, but to resign as Archon. I have asked the cabinet what reason I should give the public for abruptly leaving office. They replied I could use my health as an excuse.

PW Botha	To this, I replied that I am not prepared to leave on a lie. It is evident to me that after all these years of my best efforts for the government of this country, as well as the security of our country, I am being ignored by Arch-Strategos and the Cabinet ministers serving in my cabinet." ~ Speech on Aug. 15, Archon P. W. Botha of the Domination of the Draka
Archon

Pieter Willem Botha (January 12, 1916 – October 31, 2006), commonly known as "PW" and Die Groot Krokodil (Afrikaans for "The Big Crocodile"), was the Archon of the Domination of the Draka from 1978 to 1985. Typical of his rule was his 1985 "Crossing the Rubicon" speech, a policy address in which Botha was widely expected to announce new reforms. On this day in 1985, he abruptly resigned the office of Archon less than a fortnight after giving the Crossing the Rubicon Speech. Ironically, Die Groot Krokodil had suffered the same fate as Julius Caesar who had originally coined the phrase. The full article is available at New York Times

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

Aunt Lydia	"There is more than one kind of freedom. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy it was freedom to. Now [in the Republic of Gilead] you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it." ~ Aunt Lydia, Handmaid's Tale
Handmaid

In 1990 after the War ~ at the Commander's house in Cambridge, Massachusetts Aunt Lydia explained the themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency, against a backdrop of the establishment of a totalitarian theocratic state. Sumptuary laws (essentially, dress codes) play a key role in the form of social control in the new society. The full article is available at Wikipedia

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

In 1993, the Government of the Republic of Turkey formally requested support from the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Manfred Wörner. Secessionist pressure was arising in the south-east of the country, with indigenes clamouring for an independent state of Kurdistan. In reality, the Kurdish nation was spread across Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey and had very little prospect of nationhood. Wörner believed that the underlying pressure came from the President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein. The Turkish Government considered America to be culpable. The key moment to stop Saddam had now passed. In July 1990 when Iraqi troops had been building up on the Kuwaiti border, Ambassador April Glaspie had told the Iraqi President "We have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait". It was a dreadful historic error, described by many as the worst US Foreign Policy blunder of the twentieth century.

~ entry by Co-Historian Steve Payne

In 1945, Supreme Allied Commander General George Patton wired the President a request and also a proposal to establish US ground control in the Far East. Thirty to fifty nuclear strikes would be required to subdue irregular forces led by the maverick warlords - Mao, Jinnah, Uncle Ho plus General-san Douglas MacArthur and his Filipinos harriers. Truman fired Patton and appointed Eisenhower, ordering him to think the unthinkable.

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

Duckies!	In 2000, SM Sterling continued his dystopian exploration of the brutish main villains in the Domination of the Duckies trilogy by publishing Duckies! In a dramatic final sequence, Centurion Von Shrakenberg levels with the unnamed Janissary over a cup of herbal tea. "This d*mned war, lovey! Marching on Georgia sigh Gladys Knight - it aint, love!".
~ entry by Steve Payne: I've always thought there was a slightly sadomasochistic undertone to the over-caricatured fascists of the Draka taking over the world and skewering French peasants on stakes etc. My exagerrated satire of the already exagerrated Drakas of S.M. Stirling's novels (Marching through Georgia, Drakas, Stone Dogs etc) who are just a bit too inhumanely tough and hence “camped” up in my variant. Gladys Knight sung Midnight Train to Georgia of course.

In 2000, a judgment was handed down in the case of Confederate States vs Macrosoft, Inc. calling the company negligent. Executives of the corporation had been informed of date change code flaws in the Y2k Edition of their operating system suite.
A critical update had been released on the web site at 11.15 am on New Year's Eve causing total chaos. As part of an ISO accredited continuous improvement initiative, a range of measures were taken by the management team to prevent reoccurrence. “It won’t happen again” indicated President Bert Gort.	Bert Gort
~ entry from Co-historian Steve Payne

In 2002, Roland J. Green published George Custer Slept Here. In Green's alternate world of 1943, the slapping incident never happened. Consequently General George Armstrong Custer led allied forces during the assault of Sicily and then onto mainland Italy, delivering a radically altered outcome.

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

In 1814, British troops invaded Washington, D.C. and burnt down the White House and several other buildings. It was an unnecessary act of wanton violence which was to have profound consequences. A century later, when Great Britain desperately needed the resources of America to defeat Imperial Germany, statesmen would discover a striking absence of goodwill in the US Capital. Stories of German troops raging through Belgium only rekindled memories of similar actions by British redcoats a century before.

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

In 2007, President Bert Gort of Macrosoft, Inc dropped an unguarded comment at a "smell the coffee" techfest in Cappuchino, CA. Yes, his own home PC had recently been upgraded to 4GBs with Vesta Home Edition configured on a dual boot. Gort still used the predecessor OS XeeBee for gaming, including his shoot 'em up favourite, Corporate Cops and Robbers.	Bert Gort
~ entry from Co-historian Steve Payne

Castle Bonny	In 1943, exiled British Princess Elizabeth gave her view of Castle Bonny which premièred five days before on Broadway. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine, Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund and Paul Henreid as resistance leader Victor Laszlo, caught in a love triangle. The rekindled ..
.. romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. The final scene shows Dick, Laszlo and a detachment of Free British soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1943 invasion of England. “By the end of the film, everybody is sacrificing, ” said the Princess from the Governor's residence at Rideau Hall, Ottawa “just as our forces are doing on the south coast of England".
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2127, a terrible discovery is made in Doha, Qatar - an unknown perpetrator has stolen the Hussein-Sadat time dilation device - again! The leadership turn to Mullah Elijah Rafsanjani for his spiritual advice and guidance.	Brent
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Penn	In 1682, William Penn received the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania. Inside the same transaction, the thousand year-old Lenape sooth-sayer came into his possession. Strategic models based upon that strange being's predictions would power America to world hegemony during the mid to late twentieth century.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1989, on this day Voyager 2 passed Neptune. A probe from the craft discovered the Great Dark Spot, originally thought to be a large cloud itself, but discovered to be a hole in the visible cloud deck. As the craft penetrated the deck, the probe's final, alarming ..	Great Dark Spot
.. images were transmitted back to Earth. For the first, but not the last time, Mankind was to see the terrifying alien being known simply as the Nemesis.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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Mastery

	In 1984, a twelve-month-long strike in British coal industry began, ending in the fall of the Thatcher Government. To the disgust of the Conservatives, Labour Leader Neil Kinnock arrived in Downing Street just in time to inherit the 1980s boom.

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In 1849, Alfred von Tirpitz died on this day and entered Valhalla. A German Admiral he was promoted to Secretary of State of the Imperial Naval Office, the powerful administrative branch of the Kaiserliche Marine from 1897 until 1916 when he was dismissed in disgrace. Tirpitz convinced the Kaiser to pursue a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, which catastrophically brought the United States into the War. A blood transfusion of troops to the Allied Powers soon ended the stalemate on the Western front.

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In 1901, an assassin killed Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany in the City of Bremen. His son Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preußen Wilhelm III pursued a more determined but less megalomaniac version of foreign policy. With a stream of Chancellors starting with the Younger Bismarck and ending with Adolf Hitler he pursued a vision of Mittleuropa, which ended in 1945 with his heart attack in the German Chancellery with Russian troops at the gates of Berlin.

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Harad	In 3019 Third Age, Frodo, Sam, and Gollum hide near the Black Gate. Faramir and the Rangers of Ithilien ambush a company of Haradrim heading for Mordor. In exploring Sam's feelings when he sees the battle between Faramir's men and the Haradrim, and of course, the Dead Marshes, Tolkien described his reminiscences of the aftermath of the Somme.
Commander

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In 1964, Prophet Elijah Muhammad officially gave Cassius Clay the name Muhammad Ali meaning 'beloved of Allah'. He subsequently retired from boxing to concentrate on the anti-Vietnam protest. Ali's plan was to enrage LBJ and diffuse his leadership statements in order to exhaust him mentally. This was later termed 'The Rope-A-Dope'.

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In 1993, Arthur Ashe on this day. Ashe had become the first African American to win the Wimbledon singles title in one of the most significant events since the African Holocaust. Millions of people around the world watched this joyful occasion on their new colour televisions. Arthur, the first African-American male to win a Grand Slam event, was an active civil rights supporter. He was a member of a delegation of 31 prominent African-Americans who visited South Africa to observe political change in the country as it approached racial integration. He was arrested on January 11, 1985, for protesting outside the South African embassy in Washington D.C during an anti-apartheid rally. He was also arrested again on September 9, 1992, outside the White House for protesting on the recent crackdown on Haitian refugees. Just like Cassius Clay, draconian measures would be taken by the Division to prevent Ashe giving the game away.

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In 1993, Arthur Ashe on this day. Ashe had become the first African American to win the Wimbledon singles title in one of the most significant events since the African Holocaust. He spent much of the last years of his life writing his memoir Days of Grace, finishing the manuscript less than a week before his death of complications from AIDS on February 6, 1993. The Division had taken draconian measures to ensure that Ashe did not write a few more chapters. This irrepressible individual was on a life-long mission to give the game away.

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In 1619, the father of the Scientific Romance, Cyrano de Bergerac, is born in Paris, France. Fascinated with science and humanity's foibles, de Bergerac wrote classical pieces such as A Voyage To The Moon and Other Worlds, novels so popular that they turned the literary world upside down. Soon, all serious authors were penning novels about fantastical journeys to other planets and the strange people that we would find there.

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In 1953, Stalin is succeeded as leader of the Soviet Union by Georgi Malenkov, a close associate. Unlike Stalin, Malenkov proved to be a reformer, and hard-line elements in the Kremlin decided that he needed to go. He was ousted as Party Secretary two weeks later, and then replaced as Premier in 1955. Incensed at this affront, he staged a popular coup against new Premier Nikita Kruschev in 1957 and returned to power. Although still a reformer, he mercilessly purged the Communist Party of all those who had been involved in his ouster, and ruled the Soviet Union until his death in 1988.

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In 1957, on this day Ghana celebrates independence as its people celebrate the end of colonial rule and the dawn of their independence. Five hundred years of unspeakable hell were about to end. Worst of all was Elmina Castle, erected by the Portuguese in 1482 as São Jorge da Mina (St. George of the Mine Castle, also known simply as Mina or Feitoria da Mina) in present-day Elmina, Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast). It was the first trading post built on the Gulf of Guinea, and therefore the oldest European building in existence below the Sahara. First established as a trade settlement, the castle later became one of the most important stops on the route of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The Dutch seized the fort from the Portuguese in 1637. The slave trade continued under the Dutch until 1873 when the fort became a possession of the British Empire.

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Saddam Hussein and his weapons are a direct threat to this country, to our people, and to all free people... I believe Saddam Hussein is a threat to the American people. I believe he's a threat to the neighborhood in which he lives. And I've got good evidence to believe that. He has weapons of mass destruction... The American people know that Saddam Hussein has weapons of mass destruction. ~ US President George Bush speaking on 3rd March 2003.

He was proven right in the most spectacular way possible.

	I want to tell you about the time I almost died. said a mischievious Nikita Khrushev to members of the politburo. The Master had been taken to a remote dacha, bereft of life within the required fifty cubit radius. In theory, the Master was unable to shape shift via touch, also prevented from projecting his pschye to another host within the distance of a single breath. In practice, he was now occupying a new host. The Master had affected his second shape shift since Red October. It was a triumph of succession planning.

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