"Are you a Peaky Blinder?"

It was a joke said by a grocery store checker, who actually reached back over another line I wasn't in, in order to make it.  The reference was, of course, to the newsboy cap I was wearing, which is depicted here.

I wear it all the time.

I've worn newsboy caps for a long time.  When I first looked for them to wear, they were really hard to find, this being in the pre Internet days.  For a while I wore Kangol touring (golf) caps, which are sort of similar, but which are not the same thing.  I had a really nice red wool Kangol golf touring cap that's around here somewhere, probably still.  But then at some point in the early 1990s I found a Hanna Hats herringbone tweed newsboy that I wore out.  Around the same time I found a great Pendleton blue newsboy that had a leather brim, which I unfortunately left in the Seattle airport.  The hat depicted is the replacement for the earlier herringbone tweed cap, and is also an Irish Hanna Hats newsboy.

When I started wearing them, they were unusual, but I don't like baseball caps for a lot of wear, and a newsboy folds up.  They're a great cap.

Now you see them around, and the British television series Peaky Blinders is the reason why.

This isn't the first time this has happened to me.  I tend to wear some really old classics, A2 flight jackets, Levis jackets, ankle high Munson last boots, beaver felt broad brimmed hats, really old-fashioned cowboy boots, B3 flight jackets, M65 field jackets, etc.  I like clothing that's practical, not fashionable, functional and which last a long time.

In many instances when I've gone to these styles, I was pretty much alone in wearing them, or it was uncommon, only to later have them suddenly roar into fashion prominence.  It's a weird experience.

And when that happens, logically enough, people figure you are adopting a new popular style.  Such is now the case with newsboy caps.

The television show Peaky Blinders is a drama focused on the real world late 19th Century and early 20th Century criminal gang, the Peaky Blinders.  IMDB summarizes the show as such:

A gangster family epic set in 1900s England, centering on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby.

In reality, the gang members did tend to wear newsboy or flat caps, which makes sense as pretty much every man in the urban working class did.

Thomas Gilbert, real world Peaky Blinder.

The real gang was on the decline by the 1910s, and so it wasn't the force depicted in the television series at the period of time in which it was set.  In the 1920s they disappeared entirely.  They were some really bad guys.

I've heard so much about the series, I decided to try to watch it.  I generally like British television and while I had previously tried to watch a snippet and failed, I teed it up to watch the first episode.

It's awful.

I can't give the entire series a fair review as I'm not going to watch it, but the first episode is just flat out bad and full of overdone British tropes.  You have your Irish Expats, and street Communists, and people mixing their faith with crime a la The Godfather, and of course Winston Churchill as a sort of government baddy, directing a police baddy.  It's not convincing on any of these items.

The haircuts are really weird too, but according to the British newspaper The Telegraph, that's accurate.  Enough people must have asked in order for them to write an article about it, in which they stated:

The Peaky Blinders haircut is historically accurate and has been a popular look since the 20th century, particularly amongst young working-class men.

The hair cut originated in interwar Glasgow, when the Neds (petty criminals), had a haircut which was long on the top and short at the back and sides.

In his book, My Granny Made Me An Anarchist, Stuart Christie details how the Glasgow Neds would use paraffin wax to keep the top part in place, despite the fire hazard.

Andrew Davies in his article Youth gangs, masculinity and violence in late Victorian Manchester and Salford explains members of street gangs in England also favoured the undercut hairstyle because long hair put them at a disadvantage during a street fight.

Well okay on the haircuts then, but overall, as to the series, ack.

And no, I'm not a Peaky Blinder.  I was wearing a newsboy before this series was ever thought of. 

Related threads:

Caps, Hats, Fashion and Perceptions of Decency and being Dressed.

Wednesday, January 13, 1943. Germany enters Total War.

Ehrenkreuz der Deutschen Mutter, looking a lot like the Blue Max.

Adolf Hitler decreed that the "Führer decree on the full employment of men and women in the defense of the Reich", bringing total mobilization into effect, but rather late, given that the war had been going on since 1939, and that the struggle with Russia had been going on since 1941.  

The act was designed to bring adult German women into the industrial work force, thereby relieving men to fight in the Wehrmacht.  It would only allow, however, for an additional 500,000 men to be mobilized, which in the context of the war was telling as that frankly wasn't that many.  The act had been designed to apply to women from age 16 to 50, but Hitler insisted on upping the lower age limit to 17.  Soon thereafter, the upper age limit was depressed to 45.

Deutscher Frauenarbeitsdienst service flag.

As perhaps that short history reveals, the Nazis were very reluctant to fully mobilize their adult population to the extent it required mobilizing women.  The party had always had the view that women's roles were solely familial and domestic, and had discouraged female employment and involvement in civil life in every fashion.  While exceptions occurred, women were not supposed to be allowed to join the Nazi Party.  Indeed, Nazi fascination with the female reproductive role descended right down to the perverse level in some instances.

With the arrival of the war, therefore, the Germans effectively sidelined its female population until forced to mobilize them due to the inescapable manpower needs of the war.

This contrasts dramatically with the Allied powers. The UK, US and Canada had all encouraged women to work in factories and fields since the onset of the war, and had taken women into non combat military service early on. The Soviet Union went one step further, not only taking women into service, but also allowing small scale use of female combatants.  The UK had required women by this point to register for some sort of war support service.

By this point in the war, of course, the Germans were resorting to slave labor for the same purpose.

Some interesting ones from Sarah Sundin for today's date:

Today in World War II History—January 13, 1943:Students at the University of Munich riot after a Nazi speaker blames the German army’s dire situation in Stalingrad on student malingerers.

 and

In “Sleepy Lagoon” case in Los Angeles, 17 Mexican-Americans are wrongly convicted of murder; convictions will be overturned in October 1944.

The wrongfully convicted upon being released.

I vaguely recall this story featuring in the movie Zoot Suit.

Saturday, January 13, 1923. The future Queen Mum says yes, the Reichstag says Nein.

 Secretary of War John H. Weeks receives polo cups won by U.S. Army.  Check out the spats.

The Reichstag voted to engage in passive resistance to the French occupation of the Ruhr.

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon accepted the third proposal of marriage from Prince Albert, the Duke of York.  Her name had just been announced as the fiancé, erroneously, of Prince Edward.

Bowes-Lyon had twice declined the proposal, as she did not wish to be subject to the restrictions imposed on royalty.  Ironically, she would become Queen Consort in 1936 when Edward abdicated.

The mother of Queen Elizabeth, she would live to be 102.

Harry Hong Hai Wong (王汉熙) was born on Gulangyu Island, Fujian Province in southern China. He became famous in the food industry, acquring the nickname the “Noodle King” by inventing the first instant noodles.  He died at age 96, in 2019, in British Columbia.

Hero

By Ksh.andronexus - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110096569

I am a soldier and get paid to protect citizens of this country. I could not sit back and watch as passengers were looted. I pulled out my khukuri and attacked the criminals. I succeeded in connecting with at least three of them. The blows were severe and they must have got themselves admitted to some hospital. By then, the criminals started fighting back. They fired a shot that missed me. At one point of time, the khukuri fell from my hand and I was overpowered. They picked it up and used it on me.

Fighting the enemy in battle is my duty as a soldier. Taking on the thugs on the train was my duty as a human being.

Bishnu Shrestha, in two different interviews, one from the Times of India, on his having gone into action on a train in Indian when he saw members of a party of robbers numbering over thirty begin to molest an 18-year-old woman with the intent to rape her.

He is a Gurkha. 

Tuesday, January 12, 1943. Landings at Amchitka, Operation Iskra.

The U.S. landed troops on Amchitka.  It was an unopposed landing, as the Japanese had chosen not to occupy it.  Weather was bad and unpredictable and the USS Wordon was swept into rocks and ultimately broke up.  Fourteen of the crew died and the commanding officer was swept off the ship, but survived, while it was being abandoned.  The Japanese learned of the landing several days later when weather cleared sufficiently for a scout plane to overfly the island.

USS Worden sinking.

The island was used as an airbase by the U.S. in spite of the horrible weather it experiences, and set the stage for the US assault on Kiska.

The island is large by Aleutian standards, consisting of 116 square miles.  Not too surprisingly, given its size, it was historically occupied by the Aleuts but there has been no population on the island since 1832.  It's tectonically unstable.

Because of its uninhabited status, it was chosen by the US for underground detonation of nuclear weapons in order to test seismic detection, with nuclear weapons being inserted in bore holes in 1965, 1969 and 1971.

The parents of the Sullivan Brothers were informed for the first time that their sons, who had gone down in action in November, were missing in action.

In our last entry we noted the ship named in honor of the Sullivan brothers, the USS Sullivans.  Oddly enough, it was in the news yesterday after taking a huge haul of Iranian AKMs that were being shipped to Yemen.

Winston Churchill departed for Morocco to meet with Franklin Roosevelt, who had left the day prior.  Their departures were obviously kept secret.

The Soviets launched Operation Iskra aimed at breaking the German's siege on Leningrad.

Pierre Laval concluded a deal with Nazi Germany, allowing the Germans to administer the Departments du Nord and Pas de Calais.  France, under the arrangement, also pledged to provide 400,000 skilled workers to Germany and to essentially provide the remaining elements of its navy to Germany.  France retained the policing role in the German administered territories.

President Roosevelt addressed farmers for Farm Mobilization Day.

January 12, 1943

All over the world, food from our country's farms is helping the United Nations to win this war. From the South Pacific to the winter front in Russia, from North Africa to India, American food is giving strength to the men on the battle lines, and sometimes also to the men and women working behind the lines. Somewhere on every continent the food ships from this country are the life line of the forces that fight for freedom. This afternoon we have heard from some of the military and civilian righters who look to us for food. No words of mine can add to what they have said.

But on this Farm Mobilization Day I want to round out the picture and tell you a little more about the vital place that American farmers hold in the entire war strategy of the United Nations.

Food is a weapon in total war- fully as important in its way as guns or planes or tanks. So are other products of the farm. The long-staple cotton that goes into parachutes, for example, the oils that go into paints for the ships and planes and guns, the grains that go into alcohol to make explosives also are weapons.

Our enemies know the use of food in war. They employ it cold-bloodedly to strengthen their own fighters and workers and to weaken or exterminate the peoples of the conquered countries. We of the United Nations also are using food as a weapon to keep our fighting men fit and to maintain the health of all our civilian families. We are using food to earn the friendship of people in liberated areas and to serve as a promise and an encouragement to peoples who are not yet free. Already, in North Africa, the food we are sending the inhabitants is saving the energies and the lives of our troops there. In short we are using food, both in this country and in Allied countries, with the single aim of helping to win this war.

Already it is taking a lot of food to fight the war. It is going to take a lot more to win the final victory and win the peace that will follow. In terms of total food supply the United Nations are far stronger than our enemies. But our great food resources are scattered to the ends of the earth—from Australia and New Zealand to South Africa and the Americas- and we no longer have food to waste. Food is precious, just as oil and steel are precious. As part of our global strategy, we must produce all we can of every essential farm product; we must divide our supplies wisely and use them carefully. We cannot afford to waste any of them.

Therefore the United Nations are pooling their food resources and using them where they will do the most good. Canada is sending large shipments of cheese, meats, and other foods on the short North Atlantic run to Britain. Australia and New Zealand are providing a great deal of the food for American soldiers stationed in that part of the world. Food from Latin America is going to Britain.

Every food-producing country among the United Nations is doing its share. Our own share in food strategy, especially at this stage of the war, is large, because we have such great resources for production; and we are on direct ocean lanes to North Africa, to Britain, and to the northern ports of Russia.

American farmers must feed our own growing Army and Navy. They must feed the civilian families of this country and feed them well. They must help feed the fighting men and some of the war workers of Britain and Russia and, to a lesser degree, those of other Allied countries.

So this year, as never before, the entire Nation is looking to its farmers. Many quarters of the free world are looking to them too. American farmers are a small group with a great task. Although 60 percent of the world's population are farm people, only 2 percent of that population are American farmers. But that 2 percent have the skill and the energy to make this country the United Nations' greatest arsenal for food and fiber.

In spite of the handicaps under which American farmers worked last year, the production victory they won was among the major victories of the United Nations in 1942. Free people everywhere can be grateful to the farm families who made that victory possible.

This year the American farmer's task is greater, and the obstacles more formidable. But I know that once more our farmers will rise to their responsibility.

This farm mobilization is the first day ever dedicated by a President to the farm people of the Nation. I know that the whole country joins with me in a tribute to the work farmers already have done, in a pledge of full support in the difficult task which lies ahead for farmers, and in a prayer for good weather to make farmers' efforts more fruitful.

Our fighting men and allies, and our families here at home can rely on farmers for the food and other farm products that will help to bring victory.

Friday, January 12, 1923. Fallout from intervention.

British newspapers criticized the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, which had started the day prior. The U.S. declined to act on a German protest of the matter, noting that it had done all it could do, and that doing more would entail "more trouble" than the US was prepared to take on.

Italy's Grand Council of Fascism was formed.

Ready To Wear.

Racks of ready to wear clothing, Lord & Taylor, New York.  1948.

We recently had a big item on sewing.

Well, sort of. We had this item:

"Government Housewives". Sewing, sewing and seamstresses.

American soldier in Cuba in 1898 doing a sewing repair.

That entry, concluded with this:

So here we have an interesting trend, or rather several trends.  

And one of them again has to do with the division of labor.  Back in an era when clothes were more expensive, mending them was more common, and while both sexes did it, it fell more to women than men.  This wasn't part of the "patrimony", it had to do with the tightness of resources.

But more than that was going on, and to we really need to take a look back even further to really appreciate the change.

Which we'll do next. . . 

Which brings us to this.

Prior to the early 19th Century, pre manufactured clothing didn't exist at all.

This is something that's difficult for us to really imagine now.  We don't think of our daily clothing being homemade, or anything of the type.  Indeed, this is so much the case that we pass right over the references to it on the rare instances in which they occur. For instance, in the song House of the Rising Sun, which we discussed here recently.  In the classic Eric Burdon version, we hear:

My mother was a tailor

She sewed my new blue jeans

My father was a gamblin' man

Down in New Orleans

And as we know from the lengthy discussion the other day, in the original version we find:

My mother she's a tailor

Sews those new blue jeans

My sweetheart, he's a drunkard, Lord God

He drinks down in New Orleans

What?  Sew blue jeans?

Now, in fairness, my mother, who had learned to sew and wasn't bad at it (although she doesn't compare in that category to my mother-in-law, who is a true and very talented seamstress) actually did sew some trousers in the 70s that I can recall, right about the time that women started to wear trousers.  As we've also discussed here in the past, women didn't really wear trousers until the 20th Century, or didn't wear them much, and it was the combined impact of the First and Second World Wars that really started to open that up.  Contrary to popular myth, the Second World War did really move women into the workplace, but it did certainly help move them into trousers.  As part of that my mother sewed some jeans, and they truly had really long wear as I can remember her wearing them into the 90s. They weren't blue jeans, however.

And they were bell-bottoms.

But I digress.

Royal Navy sailors, 1850s.

Bell-bottoms are a good place to start this discussion, in fact, as before the American Civil War the only pre-made ready to wear clothing of any kind for civilians was made for sailors.  Sailors were their own rootless class, and they didn't often have wives and sisters at home to make clothes for them, particularly if they shipped out of an English port and wore their clothes out prior to returning to it, but they stopped in an American port, or any version of that you might imagine.

Interestingly, the only other group for whom ready to wear clothing were made, at least in North America, was for slaves.

Port towns had ready to wear clothing made in a single size.  Most sailors were pretty good with a needle and thread as it was necessary knowledge for the age of sail, and they or a member of the crew had to tailor what they bought to fit after they bought it.

This, by the way, was a pretty common male role.  In addition to civilian sailors, and slaves, soldiers also had ready to wear clothing issued to them, and it too tended to be altered by a member of the company, which in the case of cavalrymen at any rate, was usually a saddler, who had to be particularly adept with needle and thread.  Interestingly, this role carried through all the way to the end of the horse cavalry and artillery and was picked up by parachute riggers for the airborne during World War Two, who likewise were good with needle and thread and who heavily altered the uniforms issued to U.S. paratroopers.  Modern riggers should be envious of their Second World War predecessors skills.

Clothing for slaves was advertised as "Negro Clothing", for what it's worth.  It was produced by seamstresses working for low pay, better than that for slaves, which was nonexistent, but hardly a wealthy class.  Singer, the sewing machine company, actually noted in its advertisements that its sewing machine was particularly suitable for making "Negro clothing".

As an example of the operation of Yeoman's Fourth Law of History, it was the Civil War itself that really got ready to wear clothing rolling.  Military clothing, unlike that for sailors and slaves, was sized.  What it wasn't, prior to the war, was massed produced. The war took care of that.

While we don't tend to think of military clothing of being readily adaptable to civilian wear, in facts it's an old maxim, which had broad truth to it, that all men's clothing comes from war or farming, although in recent years some of it seems to have come from toddler departments.  While the uniforms of Civil War ear soldiers don't look immediately close to civilian wear, particularly as the war went on, they were much closer than we might at first imagine.  In terms of clothing, the soldier wore wool undergarments (an unpleasant thought) wool trousers, a cotton shirt, and a wool coat year around, unless for some reason he chose to strip himself of the coat in hot weather, which was rare, or to equip himself with some civilian clothing that could be worn under the wool trousers and coat.

Mass production of Army uniforms lead to post-war mass production of clothing in general.  The entire industry exploded after the war, as clothing was really expensive in general, and this offered a cheaper way to obtain this basic need.  By the 1920s, ready to wear clothing had so expanded that it had taken over the female clothing market in addition to the male.  

As mass production clothing rose, it had a leveling effect.  Finely tailored bespoke clothing had a much different appearance than "home spun".  It was easy to tell the difference from a wealthy person, or an in town professional, and a farmer or rural person simply by this fact.  When mass-produced clothing came in, it not only represented a cheaper option, it was frankly also generally better looking than homespun was likely to be.  That upgraded the appearance of people of more modest means, and over time it also caused those of middle class income to opt for the cheaper option as well, and even some wealthy individuals did.  It's no wonder then that when we look at scenes of the 1920s through the early 60s that so many people we know to be of modest means were "well-dressed". While still a significant expenditure, they were able to "dress up" to a higher standard, while those of middle class and even wealthy means would "dress down" to it.  There were, of course, exceptions.

This didn't mean that everything was off the rack, and particularly with more dress wear, some tailoring was needed.  If a person bought a suit, for example, it would often need alternation by a tailor. The same was true for dresses, with it often being the case that more was required for women's wear.  Still, there's a big difference between going into Brooks Brothers, for example, and buying a suit that's finished by a tailor, and going into a tailor to have a suit made.

For much in the way of daily wear, however, ready to wear really took over by the early 20th Century.  People generally don't have, for examples, shirts made, J. Gatsby not with standing.  Most sizing problems, even with suits, have long been adjusted with belts and suspenders.  Nobody has their "new blue jeans" sewn by a seamstress, and only a few would ever have them tailored.

Which gets us to a claim I saw the other day that "everything now is poorly made".  Is it?  We'll take a look at that.

Sources:

Much of this entry relies upon the excellent:

A Brief History of Mass-Manufactured Clothing

Sofi Thanhauser on the Early Days of Ready-to-Wear

By Sofi Thanhauser

Monday, January 11, 2023. A generally violent day.

Life Magazine was out with a black and white cover of children in uniform, and a story on "Kid's Uniforms".  Both were Navy style.  No doubt, with the war being so overarching in everyone's life, this resulted in this style for children.

The United States and the United Kingdom signed treaties with the Republic of China renouncing extraterritorial privileges.  Both nations had exercised them since the 19th Century, along with other powers, with the same being a major insult to Chinese sovereignty.  Indeed, this sort of extraterritorial claim had been the primary cause of the Boxer Rebellion.

The British intercepted a telegram from SS Major Herman Hofle to Adolf Eichman noting the murder of 1,274,166 Polish Jews in 1942. The telegram was held with secret status by the British until 2000.

On the same day SS Major General Heinrich Müller began the deportation of 45,000 Polish Jews to munitions factories including 30,000 from Bialystok, Poland, 10,000 Theresienstadt, 3,000 from the Netherlands and 2,000 from Berlin.

Germany and Romania entered into a secret treaty providing for German bases in Romania in exchange for gold and Swiss francs.

President Roosevelt sent a budget message to Congress seeking $16,000,000,000 in new taxes or "compulsory loans" to meet the $100,000,000,000 needed for the war effort and $9,000,000,000 for other purposes.

Radical Italian American Socialist and labor leader Carlo Tresca, an opponent of Communism, Fascism, and the Mafia, was gunned down in a drive by shooting in Manhattan. While theories abound, nobody was ever arrested by the murder and nobody really knows who committed it, although the Mafia seems like the strongest candidate.

Thursday, January 11, 1923. The French and Belgians Occupy the Ruhr

In one of the most condemned moves of 20th Century history, French and Belgium troops (the Belgians are often forgotten as having a role in this) started their occupation of the Ruhr by crossing into Essen into 0445.

French troops in Dortmund.

100,000 French soldiers were in the Ruhr by the end of the week.

Forgotten in this is that the French were a far more stable political entity at the time than the Germans, and the Germans had breached the Versailles Treaty.  If the French had shown similar backbone in 1936, they would have stopped Hitler cold, caused him to lose the chancellorship, and he'd have been luck to have not ended up in the ground that year.

The Germans get a lot of sympathy here they really don't deserve.

Hitler did use the occasion to attack, in a speech, the German republican government.

Secy. of Labor Davis delivering the opening address at first meeting of the Nat'l Industrial Women's Conference, Jan. 11, 1923, at the Nat'l Museum.

Greek King Constantine 1 died in Italy in exile at age 54.  He reigned, and abdicated, twice, losing his second regnum due to the war with Turkey.

Very oddly, his successor, two intervening kings in between, Constantine II died yesterday at age 82 in Athens.  He was Greek's last king.

And here we go.

Yeah, how I feel about how things are going, and yes, I'm repeating the poster.

A classic by Butter Bob.

Kevin McCarthy

@SpeakerMcCarthy

·

10h

🚨 House Republicans just voted unanimously to repeal the Democrats' army of 87,000 IRS agents 🚨

This was our very first act of the new Congress, because government should work for you, not against you.

Promises made. Promises kept.

Bob Beck

@butterbob

·

46m

Replying to 

@SpeakerMcCarthy

Good for you.  Now that you’re loose, how about voting for something that might actually pass congress?

There's going to be a lot of this feet stamping nonsense this Congressional session.

Why, I wonder, is the party of fiscal responsibility encouraging tax irresponsibility.

Welcome to the 2023 GOP House of Representatives Hootenanny.

Addendum:

CSPAN

@cspan

NOTE: C-SPAN cameras are no longer in the House chamber. We have resumed using the feed from House/government-operated cameras.

3:03 PM · Jan 9, 2023·

2.2M

Views

Sunday, January 10, 1943. The final assault at Stalingrad begins.

The Soviets commenced the final assault on Stalingrad.

Sarah Sundin notes, for the same day:

Today in World War II History—January 10, 1943: US launches major offensive on Guadalcanal. Off New Britain, Japanese destroyers and aircraft sink giant submarine USS Argonaut.

The USS Argonaut was a V class submarine launched in 1927 which was in fact of a class that was the largest non-nuclear submarines ever built by the US, with the V-4 being the absolute largest.  It was designed primarily for laying mines.

USS Argonaut.

The American First Party was formed in Detroit by Gerald L. K. Smith.  It should be noted that this is just one of several parties that have used this name.

It was a hyper isolationist party that nominated Smith in 1944 for the Oval Office and then went down in spectacular defeat.  It was thereafter merged into the Christian Nationalist Party.  Indeed, Smith, a Protestant minister, had founded the Christian Nationalist Crusade the year prior.  He had at one time been a major supporter of Huey Long, which brings to mind once again Shepherd's piece on fanatics.  Among other things, Smith was quite antisemitic.

Smith died in 1976, but the Christian Nationalist Crusade went away in 1973.  The Christian Nationalist Party was its political wing.  It's also only one of several parties that have used that name.

Wednesday January 10, 1923. The Klaipėda Revolt.

 Delegates to the Near East Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, voted to accept a Turkish proposal to "exchange" the Greek and Turkish populations of the two countries.

This would result in the expulsion of 600,000 Greeks from Anatolia, where they had been since ancient times, and in which the Turks were originally an invader, for 450,000 Turks in Greece.  An exception was made for 200,000 Greeks in Constantinople, a city identified with the Greeks since ancient times, and 300,000 in Western Thrace.

Irrespective of the inequities, and even barbarism, of the Greek advances in Anatolia following World War One, the result was inhumane and effectively completed a process that the Ottoman invasion had started centuries ago.  Greek overreaching following World War One was responsible for a lot of what occurred, but it's a tragedy by any measure.

Only about 2,500 Greeks remain in Turkey today.

The French staged near Essen in preparation for intervening in the Ruhr.

Participants in the revolt.

Lithuanians rebelled in the Klaipėda Revolt in Memelland.  Lithuanian troops intervened in support of the insurrection.  The goal of the revolt was to join Memelland to Lithuania, and it met with little resistance from German troops, stationed on what had been German territory, and French occupation forces.

Both the French and the Germans had other things to worry about on this day other than Memelland.

The population of the region was about 45% German. The remaining population was Memellandish and Lithuanian.  Having said this, the ethnic composition of Memelland was complex in every fashion, with Memmelandish being a dialect of German, and the Lithuanian population of the region being predominantly Lutheran, whereas in Lithuania the vast majority of the population was Roman Catholic, a trait they shared with the Poles.  It was a mixed border region, in other words, but the border had been stable since 1441.

President Harding ordered U.S. troops withdrawn from Germany.

From Reddit's 100 Years Ago Today.

This was, of course, because it appeared that France was about to enter the Ruhr, which in fact it was.

From Reddit's 100 Years Ago Today.

Sultan Said bin Taimur of Oman was compelled to sign an agreement with the United Kingdom to provide for pre-approval by the British High Commissioner in India of any contracts between oil exploration companies and Oman.

The Sultan Said was born in 1910 and had attended Mayo College at Ajmer in Rajputana, India.  Following that it was suggested that his education be furthered in Beirut, but it was not as his father feared he'd be influenced by Christianity.  He remained in power until 1970, when he was deposed by his son.

His technical rule of the country, arranged by the British, did not happen until 1932.  He died in the United Kingdom in 1972 at the age of 62.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming, and Montana, Legislative Session. When Freedom can be another name for things you'll lose.

We noted an item yesterday on this thread about Big Sky Country:

Lex Anteinternet: The 2023 Wyoming Legislative Session. The Waking ...: June 18, 2022 Oh no . . . isn't this a bit early? Why yes, but we already have bills circulating, including Wyoming Stablecoin, again. W...

That being:

January 9, 2023

Montana's far right legislators have also formed their own Freedom Caucus.

A comment on this story on Montana Public Radio states:

"Farm subsidies up to $4 million. PPP up to $443,906.09. There are 6 out of 14 Montana Freedom Caucus members receiving subsidies." --From reporter @TomLutey on Twitter:

This doesn't surprise me at all.

For some reason, hardly anyone recognizes their own subsidies as existent.  

In the west, we hardly grasp this at all.  Coal is mined on the public domain subject to a leasing law that favors exploration, and whether that's recognized as a subsidiary or not, it is.  The same with oil and gas production.

And highway construction?  That's subsidized by the Federal Government and, further, is basically a subsidy for the trucking industry (and the tourist industry).  But for that, Americans would ship, and to a surprising extent, travel by rail.

We could go on, but we've noted this all before.  Basically, people don't think these things are subsidies as it doesn't fit their Weltanschauung, which doesn't mean that they aren't subsidies.