In 937 AD, on this day at Brunanburh a great northern force of Norse-Celtic warriors defeated the national army of Æthelstan King of England in the greatest battle fought since the Saxons set foot in the British Isles over five centures before.

Olaf III Guthfrithsson wins the Battle of NationsAmong the carnage was buried the corpes of no less than five kings and seven earls, but perhaps more significantly, the romantic dream of a united Britain ruled by the house of Alfred. Instead, the result was the establishment of a federation of English, Norse, Welsh and Celtic Kingdoms, bitter enemies whose war-bands had fought in separate units under a "conflict of banners" and united only in their opposition to the English saxons.

The architect of this catastrophe was Æthelstan himself. His false pledges of friendship to Owen and Constantine II respectively the native Kings of Strathclyde and Scotia had been rejected. When the Saxons declared war, they turned to the Norse Kings of York, Dublin and the Hebrides. Then Olaf III Guthfrithsson (pictured) emerged as the victorious military leader, following up the famous victory at Brunanburh with an all-out invasion of the Danish-settled East Midlands.

In 1977, on this day at his Addis Ababa headquarters in Ethiopia the iconic leader of the Semitic-African Resistance Nesta Robert (Bob) Marley learnt the dreadful truth that his days of running like a fugitive were numbered.

Protocols of the Elders of Zion
Tuff Gong takes a final bowThe discovery of a type of malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes was a terrible, double tragedy because the lesion was primarily caused by an injury during a soccer match with street kids. The wheel of destiny was surely turning for Marley that day because he only narrowly avoided being shot by Sherriff John Brown, the hated collaborator who led a Nazi Death Squad to the game on the Hope Road.

"Rise up this morning, Smiled with the rising sun. Three little birds pitch by my doorstep singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true"
Click to watch the videoAfter the doctors had taken their leave, he fell into a deep reverie. Moses-like, he stood at the top of a huge mountain whilst his African-Semitic peoples entered a new Israel, located right here in Ethiopia. Fading into a second dream where he was performing his music to an ecstatic mixed audience quite unimaginable in the racially segregated New Reich.

Startled awake at dawn, he noticed that three little birds had pitched on his doorstep. Then the telephone rang, a strangely calm man called John Lennon was calling from a city well known to Marley and his diaspora. The former slave port of Liverpool.
Part one of the novel can be downloaded here and continues as a thread on this site.

In 1983, Betty Hamilton, onetime chief stewardess on Steve Burton's old flight crew, testified before a Congressional science sub-committee concerning her experiences with the time-space rift described by Alexander B. Fitzhugh in his account of the so-called "land of giants" incident.

Giant Surprise Part 6Ms. Hamilton's testimony gave further insight into the nature of the rift and was used as a guide for writing the mission profile for the first manned flight of Project Spindrift.

A transcript of the hearing was subsequently forwarded to European Space Agency director Jason Webb, who flew to Cape Canaveral a week later for further debriefing. Webb would eventually come to be more closely associated with Project Spindrift than anyone other than Burton or Fitzhugh.

In 1861, the Parliament of Great Britain passed by a majority of twenty three a bill that committed Britain to war for the Confederacy in exchange for the transfer of California to the British Empire.

The Scrooge Contribution Part 2Though he lacked a majority, Benjamin Disraeli was pleased with the response he had received from the House. "By bowing and doffing our hats to our paymaster," Disraeli lectured, "we have shown that we favor cash over any moral priciple, assuming we even recall what a moral principle may be".

"Caliifornia is a pleasent end, a good outcome that might be arged to justify many things. But the attachment of California to an act of reenslavement upon four millions of Negroes in the South can never justify that cruelty, that terror!"

That evening, Disraeli was the host of Ebenezer Scrooge, who had gone privately to the chambers of the Opposition Leader to his plan. "You know that Lincoln does not count emancipation as a war aim. Lincoln's repeated call is for Southerners to submit to his authority and if that happens, he will befriend them slavery and all".

"Mr.Lincoln's failure to embrace emancipation as an outcome of this war proves he lacks imagination and spirit,"" agreed Disraeli. "The important thing is that he has never conceded that his adversaries are right in any of their behaviors, and, through his silence, he reserves the right to call on better principles to rally men in the future.

With the news of Parliament's decision speeding around the world, Vice Admiral Sir Alexander Milne, commander of the North American, West Indies Squadron, took some housecleaning measures. The first step was to eliminate those Union ships on blockade assignment before such ships could retire to safety.

The USS _Hartford_ was scuttled after a fierce battle between the New Orleans blockading detachment and a squadron of the Royal Navy commanded by Commodore Dunlop. Persistant to his death, American David G. Farragut died in that Battle of New Orleans when he blew up a ship entangled in a fight.

The US ship _Kearsarge_ encountered three British vessels near Ireland and left all of them ransacked and on fire in July and August 1861. That ship was sunk by the _Warrior_ on August 6 and ts crew taken into captivity.

On November 8, 1861, the American warship _San Jacinto_ boarded the British mail ship _Trent_ and captured two Confederate diplomats who were passengers on that ship. The _San Jacinto_, at speed, evaded the British Navy and made port at Boston, where their exploit was some consolation given the news of the British blockade.

In 1980, on this day in Detroit, Ronald Reagan made a late night dash from his hotel room to the Republican Convention Floor at the Joe Louis Arena to quosh speculation that George Bush might be nominated for vice president.Co-Presidency Part 3: Dutch Courage

"I know that I am breaking with precedent to come here tonight and I assure you at this late hour I'm not going to give you my acceptance address. But in watching the television at the hotel and seeing the rumors that were going around and the gossip that was talking place here. It is true that a number of Republican leaders . . . . feel that a proper ticket should include the former president of the United States, Gerald Ford, as second place on the ticket. . . . I then believed that because of all the talk and how something might be growing throughout the night that it was time for me to advance the schedule a little bit. . . . I have asked and I am recommending to this convention that tomorrow when the session reconvenes that Gerald Ford be nominated for vice president" announced Reagan.

"Reagan, the lowly Dixon, Illinois kid whose determination brought him success, seems to have a visceral distaste for Bush, the Eastern Establishment blueblood of a different ilk"Few members of the convention were surprised. Because as early as July 16, a joint edition of the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press had reported that "Ronald Reagan is being pushed by moderates and other Republicans interested in mending the party's left and right factions to select Bush [for Vice President]" now reporting that Reagan had already negotiated a power-sharing deal under which Gerald Ford would be his co-President. In fact a rift had developed between the two [Reagan and Bush] during the "long and bitter" campaign for the Republican nomination. "Reagan, the lowly Dixon, Illinois kid whose determination brought him success, seems to have a visceral distaste for Bush, the Eastern Establishment blueblood of a different ilk," reported the Detroit News.

Contemporary accounts said Ford was represented by former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger and others. But at a 2000 conference of former White House chiefs of staff, Dick Cheney disclosed that he had been deeply involved. He recalled an intense debate about how to shape expanded lines of authority in a job often ridiculed as largely ceremonial. Ford "made a number of requests in terms of his influence over the budget, personnel, foreign policy, et cetera," Cheney said. "I can remember sitting in a session with Bill Casey, who later became CIA director. Bill had a list of items that in fact the Reagan people were prepared to discuss. They went a long way to accommodate President Ford".

The former President was a controversial choice for the second place on the ticket, Ford's announcement of September 8, 1974 that Richard Nixon would be subjected to the full force of criminal law had received an overwhelmingly positive response from the American people. And yet the trial had dragged on throughout the two years of his Presidency, preventing Ford from ending America's long national nightmare. Instead the trial itself turned into a nightmare, with Nixon manipulatively choosing insanity as a defense plea. The chaos in the Republican Party had gifted the 1976 election to "The Georgia Giant", Jimmy Carter who had promised "I will never lie to you". And yet during the co-presidency, Ford's own integrity would be questioned as details of his involvement in the Warren Commission came to light, ironically through the reporting of Woodward and Bernstein.

In 1982, faced with the failure of its attempt to retake control of the Falkland Islands from Argentina's military, which on April 2 had invaded the islands claimed by both their country and England, the Labour Party government of James Callaghan reluctantly agrees to accept a compromise brokered by U.S. Secretary of State Alexander Haig (pictured).Falklands Emergency Part 6 - Callaghan's Surrender by Eric Lipps
Under the terms of the agreement, which (somewhat hypocritically, considering the often hostile attitude of Haig's superior, President Ronald Reagan, toward the United Nations) cites UN Resolution 502 calling for a negotiated solution to the Falklands conflict, the islands will remain under the British flag and will retain, officially, their British name rather than the Argentinean 'Islas de Malvinas,' but Argentina will be de facto sovereign. Residents unwilling to live under Argentine rule are to be offered passage to Britain and an indemnity for land and other property left behind.
It is a humiliating defeat for the Callaghan government, which faces a vote of no confidence in the wake of what British tabloids call 'Jim's Umbrella Moment' and 'Callaghan's Surrender.' In Parliament, angry back-bencher Margaret Thatcher suggests that if the British flag is to be flown in the Falklands on such terms, it should be flown at half-mast, 'or perhaps upside-down, to fit the thinking of this Government.'
Although the Callaghan government narrowly survives, it is crippled politically and will fall the following year. Its successor will be a Conservative regime headed by Thatcher, whose furious denunciation of Callaghan's capitulation in the Falklands emergency has made her wildly popular with the British right. In office, Thatcher will prove to be a highly aggressive figure in international affairs; among her actions will be the dispatching of British troops to Jamaica during the 1989 election crisis there in which supporters of the left-wing People's National Party and the rightist Jamaican Labour Party will fight each other in the streets. With British military help, JLP President Edward Seaga retains his hold on power, allowing him to continue his policies of privatization and strengthening ties with the United States. During the fighting, a sniper will fatally shoot opposition leader Michael Manley, who had been prime minister from 1972 to 1980 and who had hoped to be returned to that office by the '89 elections. Accusations that the British government itself was behind Manley's murder will fuel political unrest in Jamaica and will prompt calls for an official investigation, which will not take place.
To be continued..

In 1976, Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy receives the Democratic nomination for President.

Ted Kennedy NominatedAs in 1972, he names Senator Henry M. Jackson as his running mate. Once again, liberals are disappointed; they had hoped he would choose George McGovern, a sentimental favorite on the left, Arizona Rep. Morris K. Udall, who had mounted a surprisingly strong presidential campaign of his own, or even former Georgia governor James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, who had won several Southern primaries.

There is speculation that Kennedy's choice of Jackson, with whom his relations have soured during this campaign, is the result of a political deal worked out to avoid the brokered-convention scenario which had been rumored to be in the works among Jackson, Udall and Carter.

Critics argue that even in the post-Watergate political atmosphere, it makes poor sense for the Democratic Party to run the same ticket Nixon had defeated four years earlier. Kennedy cousin Sargent Shriver, however, replies, "And where is Nixon now?" He goes on to note that even in that pre-Watergate election, Kennedy and Jackson had been defeated only by the narrowest of margins.

In 1921, in an event inexplicable by science at the time, the successful activation of the Ghost Machine at the Menlo Park Workshop of Thomas Edison triggered a series of random incidents across New Jersey.

Menlo Park Story
Part 1 by Ed, Jeff Provine & Eric LippsIn the October 1920 issue of The American Magazine Edison announced that he had "been at work for some time building an apparatus to see if it is possible for personalities which have left this earth to communicate with us".

One of history's most prolific inventors, he held a staggering 1,093 U.S. patents. He and his workshop were responsible for the creation or development of many devices that changed the way people lived, including the electric light bulb, the motion picture camera and projector, and the phonograph.

But this time, Edison had miscalculated, irresponsibility creating a Frankenstein machine that thinned the time stream.

Within days, residents of Menlo Park would be disquieted by the unexplained arrival of letters from the Republic of Texas. Or to read in the local newspaper about President Pershing's progress at the Paris Ceasefire Talks. The terrified Edison quickly switched off the apparatus hoping that these aftershocks would subside. But as he soon discovered, IT had only just begun. Somehow, he would fix it, but he had absolutely no idea how.
To be continued

In 1789, for two days since the dismissal of Jacques Necker, the Third Estate had been on the warpath through Paris. Soldiers (many of whom were foreign) had been organized in Versailles by the king, which only increased stresses with peasants fearful of a mercenary force enslaving the people in their own land.

Storm at the Bastille Leads to Calm in France After the Gardes Françaises infantry had sided with the rebellious populace, the nobility did not know whether to trust the rest of the soldiers. They left Paris to boil in its own juices, which would only allow leaders to rise to the top.

Rioters became organized, and the people began to plunder stores of food, guns, and ammunition. Some 30,000 muskets were seized the Hotel des Invalides, and more than 600 rebels now headed for the Bastille, a large medieval fortress used as a prison, often known for its duties as a political prison. At the time, there were only seven inmates, and it was scheduled to be shut down as overly costly in the tough economic times. Mainly, it was used as storage for gunpowder.

A new story by Jeff ProvineEighty-two invalides (wounded veteran soldiers) served as the garrison, and they had been reinforced by 32 Swiss. Attackers arrived at mid-morning, calling for surrender. Negotiations began, but the crowd rioted after hours of waiting and began to storm the fortress. When the gunfire began, the already mad mob turned madder in a seemingly unending onslaught. Mutinous soldiers and deserters joined in the fight on the side of the populace, adding skill to the weight of the attack, only lengthening the ordeal. Governor de Launay, commander of the Bastille, began to suspect complete massacre and then to contemplate surrender to spare the lives of his men as well as the poorly armed people they cut down.

In late afternoon, the order finally went out to the Royal Army on the Champs de Mars to intervene. Soldiers formed ranks and marched against the rioting people, and the bloodbath was ended. Seeing that troops were still willing to carry out commands, the king called for order in the streets, and the soldiers at Versailles were put to organize curfew and end the rioting.

On the morning of July 15, the air in Paris was clear. People returned to their homes, taking the Bastille as a symbol of the fastidiousness of the royal order. The king set about clearing the National Assembly and forcing the Estates General into solving the country's dire financial situation. He threatened to remove the protection of his soldiers from estates in the countryside of uncooperative nobles, which would allow the Third Estate to loot as they pleased. Gradually, the country came back to order.

Through the next few decades of peace, Europe would grow and spread their colonial powers. The United States of America would have a second war with Britain over border disputes, and the mother country would take back its wayward colonies in a brutal war. Though the experiment of republicanism had failed, new ideals would cause of the 1848 revolutions, which weakened the stranglehold of absolute monarchists but could not defeat it. As technology flourished, the people became more educated and desirous of justice, leading to the great upheaval of the Workers' Rising in 1899 that would cause an end to nearly every kingdom and empire in Europe. The resulting new social order would have its share of birth-pains, but fair socialism would finally spread throughout the world.

In 2010, as part of a package of austerity measures intended to reverse the unstoppable progress of the giant "debt clock", Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced on this day that a multi-billion dollar consortium of investors led by the Australian-born businessman Rupert Murdoch had purchased "Supercorp", a merger of the near-bankcrupt nation's electricity, gambling and liquor corporations.

Canadian Debt Clock Ticks AwayThe Scheme had raised a host of accounting issues which had been forceably set aside in favour of expediency as the economy entered the second phase of a double-dip recession. Harper's controversial action had been prompted by the frightening growth of the country's national debt which had reached 500 billion dollars earlier in the year, a ten-fold increase over the last fifty years.

In 1993, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation commissioned the construction of a giant debt clock - 12 feet long by 8-and-a-half feet high - with changeable faceplates for the federal and each provincial government. The clock displayed the per-second increase in debt along with the share for each Canadian family. The clock was toured around the country. The clock went into temporary retirement once the federal government balanced the budget in 1997 and began paying down the federal debt.

In fiscal 2008-09 the debt clock climbed by $183.92 per second, taking federal debt up to $463,700,000,000. After April 1, 2009, the clock, and the federal debt began growing by $1,772.57 per second, which is the equivalent of $106,355 per minute, $6.4-million per hour, or $153-million each day.

In 1933, all political parties except the Communist Party, known formally as the National Socialist German Workers' Party, were outlawed by order of Chancellor Ernst Roehm (pictured). A cowed Reichstag - soon to be renamed the Volkstag - signed off on the measure despite the fact that it meant that body's reduction to a puppet in the hands of a dictator.

Roehm's triumph had been a long time coming.

Roehm's Germany by Eric LippsIn 1919, Roehm had met Adolf Hitler, another ambitious founding member of the NSDAP. The two men had developed a stormy relationship, and in 1921, after Roehm had been made head of the party's storm troopers, the Sturmabteilung or SA, he had staged a coup, in the course of which Hitler was "accidentally" killed. Reoehm's rise thereafter was relentless, and by 1929, he had become head of the National Socialist movement, which by then had been transformed from an organ of the extreme right to one of the far left, absorbing previously existing Communist groups, and was receiving substantial aid in arms and funding from the Soviet Union. In 1930, he had solidified his grip on power within the Party by ordering the assassination of his chief remaining rival, Ernst Thaelmann.

The Great Depression was made to order for extremists like the Nazis, as the National Socialists casme to be known for short. And in late 1932, a series of nationwide strikes set the stage for the Nazis to take power. The aging and befuddled President of the Weimar Republic, Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, reluctantly agreed to name Roehm chancellor in exchange for his promise that he would use his influence with the labor movement to end the unrest paralyzing the national economy. It was no secret that Hindenburg would have greatly preferred a man of the political right, but no such figure existed who had sufficient national creibility; the closest would have been business magnate Alfred Hugenberg, but in the climate prevailing by the fall of '32 Hugenberg had simply not seemed viable. Hindenburg would remain as a figurehead president until his death in 1934, after which Roehm would assume the presidency along with the chancellorship of the by-then-renamed Deutsches Volksrepublik, the German People's Republic.