The mysteries of Antarctica are buried by paperwork more than anything else. 🇦🇶🧵
“Hey Conan, I’m launching an expedition to Antarctica. We’ll hire a ship and trek into the wastes, settle this once and for all! You in?”
Whoa, slow down there Anon—do you have all your permits?
“What do you mean permits? Anyone can go to Antarctica. It’s a myth that you can’t go there. Don’t be paranoid.”
They do say that, but is it REALLY true?
I, your expert on Fringe Law, looked into what our expedition it would take…
Antarctica is governed by international treaty. Specifically, the Antarctic Treaty of 1961.
The stated reason for this treaty is to keep 🇦🇶 from becoming a military theater and to promote scientific study. See Art. 1 of the Treaty.
The Treaty is the basis for governance of 🇦🇶, so any limitations will flow from that. Let’s look at some key provisions.
Note first how focused are the Preamble and Art 1 on scientific endeavors.
Next, note the obligation created by Art 7 to inform all Parties to the Treaty of all expeditions. Finally, look at how Art 10 gives a broad power of enforcement in form of duty to each Party.
This all boils down to two main rules.
1) Your government has to know about your expedition to 🇦🇶 so they can inform everyone else, and
2) you can’t do anything that undermines your country’s “scientific” efforts there.
Those tour companies that take you on a cruise from Ushuaia? They offer limited access because they operate on pre-approved advanced notice with the government. Those are all strictly under government approval.
But we don’t just want to walk around on a beach for an hour. We want to know what’s going on. Ice wall? Endless wastes? Buried civs? Nazi bases? Hollow earth?
To launch our own private expedition, we’ll need to file an Advance Notice with the State Dept, attached.
The fine print here is interesting:
1) US is reserving the right to say “kick rocks punk”
2) This isn’t just for Antarctica, it’s to even GO SOUTH OF 60th PARALLEL. You can’t even sail close to 🇦🇶
On top of that, we’ll need to complete an Environmental Impact Assessment (attached).
This process gives ALL parties to the Treaty the ability to weigh in on our expedition and if you read it, it’s clearly written to give countries the right to say “GTFO”.
Oh and make sure you have a plan to pack your literal shit out to comply with “Annex III To The Protocol On Environmental Protection To The Antarctic Treaty: Waste Disposal And Waste Management”
And do NOT wander into a Specially Protected Area under Annex V !!
This is all just the scratching the surface too. Peruse this 300 page manual if you want to fall into a rabbit-hole. And they’ll shut you down or yank you out for any of this.
Nah. Because the US keeps both Marshalls and various military there (Operation Deep Freeze). You CAN have military there under the treaty, as long as they’re just helping with the science ofc ;)
Like I said. Read between the lines and you’ll see they’ll take any excuse to snatch you outta there. They sent the MIB down there just to cool a little scuffle.
The point of all this is for them to be able to say you can go.
You can go. You just have to say exactly where you’re going, what you’re doing. And they’ll say no if they don’t like it. And they’ll remove you if you try to do it anyway. Why?
August Critic Jeffro Johnson recently said people don’t actually read Tolkien. I’ve said similar things many times. I really believe LotR/Tolkien has become a hyperobject with very little direct relation to the word on the page.
Recently I mocked one set of thin arguments people inherit and regurgitate about LotR. I’m completely right but the point is that these arguments don’t come from people actually reading and comprehending the words on the page.
Therefore it’s all very predictable and easy to mock. You can just see over time who heard what quippy tard argument from whom and merged it with their dim memories of the films.
I speak now to all the unwelcome right wingers polluting the Tolkien Fandom.
I will address the matters of Racism in Tolkien once and for all.
Tolkien was racist, but Black People aren’t Orcs. I will explain:
1/
Yes he was racist, sorry Fascists, but by reading the Tolkien Extended Universe in the light of modern understandings of these issues and by including new voices, much of this Franchise can be redeemed.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to stop saying Black people are Orcs.
We Tolkien Scholars watched with grave disappointment as the Nazis and Chuds masquerading as Tolkien fans try to justify the professor’s errors. It is important to bring it into the light and stop pretending. So without further ado, let’s get into the man flesh of the matter.
There’s a real elegance to the structure of Mulan. I see it as a good lesson in how to tell the story of ‘the exception that proves the rule’.
The movie is full of these adept Shakespearean symmetries. Maybe the most obvious is reprising the ‘Make A Man Out Of You’ theme from the Training Scene (Mulan masquerading as a man) during the Palace Rescue (The soldiers masquerading as women).
There’s the symmetry of Captain Shang’s line after Mulan’s deception is discovered as a result of her destroying the Hun army: “A life for a life—my debt is repaid.”
You guys wanna know what it means to play for keeps in politics?
Let’s check in on what the Dems are doing to lawyers who supported Trump’s election challenges in 2020.
John Eastman is under the gun right now.
Lurid headlines notwithstanding, Eastman is a heavy hitter in the legal world. He graduated Chicago Law and clerked for Justice Thomas. Among other things, he taught Con Law at Chapman, serves as a Senior Fellow at Claremont, chairs a Federalist Society practice group, etc, etc.
Nevertheless, California is trying to yank his legal license. Just out of pure desire to crush enemies. You see, Eastman was the author of certain documents Dem circles refer to as the ‘Coup Memos’
Miguel from El Dorado is an interesting character given how the setting and plot references pre-contact Mesoamerica. He comes In Persona Christi and offers a tenderer perspective on how Christianity changed the New World.
Ok, In Person Christi is a big claim. But Miguel is presented as the innocent soul, unlike Tulio the schemer and cynic. It’s no accident that it’s Tulio who hooks up with the too-sultry Chel (herself a La Malinche figure).
During the Ball Game, it’s Miguel who says “We need a miracle!” And Tulio who says “No, we need to cheat!”
Observe the Reenchantment of life in the current era.
Things you thought would die out have instead gained ground.
There is a new generation of Sovereign Citizen hedge wizards carrying the flame of cultural magical practices.
You know about SovCits? It’s hard to give a short and correct definition because it’s a very schizo and dispersed phenomenon. It’s a cult, a school of magic, and it’s grown bigger than ever in the last decade.
SovCits think they have a choice about whether to accept the Federal AND State governments as sovereign. They only accept Common Law. This idea manifests in various weird ways: