I think, but im not sure, he is showing what could have happened if the cuban missile crisis got out of hand. If you click on the time magazine link, it talks about a large amount sorties flown possibly represented by the aircraft in the 3rd picture. As for the lines going across the page, i cant zoom in i think they may be arrows of possible targets where the missiles would be aimed at, but eh im 16 what do i know :P just a guess
EDIT: Also, the odds shifted at another time, could refer to the fact that the odds all of a sudden turned against America when they found out that nukes where being stored on cuba. With the nukes all of a sudden so close to America, things started to get out of hand, and this is where the story begins.