Because it is November there are special Plenary Indulgences available.
Every year from Nov 1st (Today All Saints Day) through Nov 8th the partial indulgence for visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead becomes a full Plenary indulgence (under the normal conditions listed above). In addition to this tomorrow Nov 2nd (All Souls day) a Plenary indulgence can be earned by simply visiting a church.
Normally this indulgence returns to a partial indulgence after the 8th but Pope Francis has graciously extended the chance to earn a Plenary Indulgence for visiting a cemetery and praying for the dead for the entire month of November.
This is actually very similar to what he did when he declared a holy year (normally every 25 years) about a decade ago making the indulgences and graces of such a year available a full decade early. In my opinion this act, along with his warnings on the reality of the Devil they have been the highlights of his papacy.
So take advantage of Francis’ excellent extension of this annual grace to gain a Plenary Indulgence for a soul in purgatory and remember to take advantage of all the partial indulgences available on a daily basis.
Every once in a while you hear about a story where a burglar breaks into a home, is caught, and then sues the homeowner for damages after being shot. Here’s one example.
Getting shot is an understandable risk for a burglar. Under Trump sneaking into America had consequences.
Donald Trump promised a tough policy on illegal immigration and he followed through. Yes, Trump was very good about honoring his campaign promises. He said he’d enforce the law at the southern border–and Trump did so. It was called his “Zero Tolerance” policy.
Joe Biden ran for office as the anti-Trump and his presidency, besides pushing America kicking and screaming into socialism, has been about repudiating his predecessor. So much for “Lunch Bucket Joe” from Scranton being a unifier.
Illegal border crossings plummeted during the Trump presidency because the word got out that illegally crossing into America could you arrested and then sent back home. But not everyone got the message. Some migrants still entered America from Mexico, with their kids, and they were jailed. When you go to jail or prison you don’t bring your children with you.
Now the Biden administration, according to the Wall Street Journal, is considering payments of $450,000 payments to these lawbreaking family members who were separated from their kids. There have been some lawsuits filed on behalf of the parents. Not surprisingly the ACLU is involved.
Illegal border crossings are at a 21-year high. The message received in Mexico, Central America, South America, and Haiti is clear. The border is open. C’mon over! Construction of the wall at the southern border is has ended. Yeah, yeah, I know. Vice President Kamala “Cackles” Harris, who is in charge of the southern border, unconvincingly said to migrants. “Do not come.” Yawn. Oh, there is another caravan on its way up here. Probably more than one.
Now some people considering entering America from Mexico might make the trek north because they think that maybe they too will collect a $450,000 windfall. Hold on for one moment. I’m not saying parents want be separated from their children in exchange for cash, but it’s not just Americans who see a headline on their smartphones and then come to an inaccurate conclusion without bothering to read the accompanying story.
Meanwhile American citizens make do with a couple of $600 COVID-19 payments. Families of military members killed in the line of duty receive only $400,000.
When Viscount Slim was placed in charge of British forces in Burma, he inherited a mess, and his Army was forced to retreat from the onslaught of Japanese forces. While mobilizing his forces in the city of Sagaing, a small entourage of Burmese civil servants drove up to his tent, unrolled a neatly typed document, and demanded that Viscount Slim remove all forces from one of the nearby hills. The typed document was a decree from the Burmese governor, who had been assured that there would be no fighting near his capital city. When Slim replied that he indeed did not want any fighting near the capital, but that he doubted the approaching Japanese commander would see things his way, the small throng of civil servants simply stared at him in disbelief. The only question that came up was “Will we receive 6 months of advanced pay then?”
As humorous as this story is (recounted in the book Defeat into Victory), the U.S. military is rapidly approaching this same level of absurdity. The shift in priorities from fighting and winning our nations wars to completing mandatory training on domestic terrorism and transgender policy is pretty much complete. Nowhere is this more apparent than the Navy. It’s incredible, and frightening, to watch the military spend millions of dollars seemingly overnight to roll out domestic terrorism training while our ships rust at the pier without proper maintenance. Even in the bloated 3.5 trillion infrastructure proposal, there was no money allocated for increasing our ship building or repair facilities, which would have been an easy, bi-partisan allocation to make.
This insidious march has resulted in the advent of the administrative commander. We now have a host of officers in leadership positions that are simply unable to make hard decisions. They will toe the line on the increasing demands made by Secretary of the Navy instructions. Even the mundane instructions related to equal opportunity, sexual harrassment and whistleblower policy have become so strict that it becomes impossible to balance these requirements with operations. Commanders are expected to drop everything, including their primary military mission, in response to any complaint from any Sailor. If a Sailor complains about a supervisor, that supervisor must be instantly isolated, even if the ship is in the middle of an operation. We’ll fly out lawyer after lawyer to make sure everything is done correctly, because we can’t trust a commander’s intuition.
Worse still, if a commander tries to make a decision, he or she will get second guessed by an Admiral sailing a desk with a yellow flag thousands of miles away. That’s a guaranteed way to take a trip to Admiral’s Mast, where the rules of evidence don’t apply, and a punitive letter can quickly derail a career. Did you make waves trying to fix endemic issues and upset someone’s rice bowl? Be prepared for a number of equal opportunity and Inspector General complaints. Don’t worry, there will be enough so that SOMETHING sticks, because the yellow flag officer can’t not find someone guilty of something.
These yellow flags will drive out the warriors. There isn’t room for people trying to balance operations with personnel. Yellow flags don’t want independent thought. They don’t want warriors in the ranks that might take actions against the enemy, push the envelope and actually fix problems. Those people are dangerous, because they might violate section 4 of paragraph A of chapter 3 in SECNAVINST 6969.120E. Or is it 120F? Better make sure we get the up to date rules onboard our rusting ship!
There is no room for warriors, and once the warriors have been driven off, our administrative commanders will look just like the Burmese civil servants, wanting their advanced pay from their cushy post-military jobs in the military industrial complex while a resurgent China pushes America from its ivory tower.
This post represents the views of the author and not those of the Department of Defense, Department of the Navy, or any other government agency. I mean, duh, that should have been obvious from the material. If you want to support this author, try purchasing his book for yourself or a friend, since Christmas is coming soon!
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