The Castle Report

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Darrell Castle discusses war once again because it seems that the more we are told a political solution has been reached, the more missiles and drones are fired at more targets. Then retaliation has to come so, no solution.

Transcription / Notes:

THE ENEMY GETS A VOTE

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 17^th day of July in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is war once again because it seems that the more we are told a political solution has been reached more missiles and drones are fired at more targets and then retaliation has to come so no solution.

The president is in a difficult position but it is apparently of his own making. He is not an Eisenhower with many years of experience commanding vast armies in some of the biggest campaigns in human history. He instead is forced to rely on his team of advisors and so they tell him where he should go and what the consequences will be. They must have told him that Iran was ripe for the taking and would fall just like Venezuela but Iran is different and any experienced military person should have been able to see that.

Power unhinges people and people who seek it are often unhinged to start with. That is part of the reason Mr. Jefferson told us that every 20 years or so we should have a revolution to reset things such as personal liberty. He reminded us that government agents are not saints or angels but they are instead ordinary humans with all the vices and weaknesses of other ordinary humans.

President Trump started rearranging his group of military advisors as soon as he was elected because having no real military experience himself I suppose he wanted people around him who would put the best spin on what he wanted to do. Do you think I can force Iran, a real and very large country, to surrender and concede its own desires using only naval and air forces. Oh yes, Mr. President, Iran will crumble when attacked and the people will rise up and overthrow the government and that will be it except that you will be an international conquering hero.

To get the team of advisors who would tell him that certain changes had to be made. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs who is supposed to be his top military advisor announced his retirement one month after the inauguration. The Secretary of Defense was changed which is normal for the new president but then the Department of Defense became the Department of War. I admit that is a more honest name and cuts out some hypocrisy but it sends a very bellingerite message.

So, this war, this attack against a country that was apparently no threat to the United States was supposed to resolve problems standing in the way of the Greater Israel Project but it had the opposite effect. Israel is much weaker and in a more tenuous position and Iran is much stronger and in a more commanding position because of the war. When I say Israel is weaker I mean that it literally has no friends except the United States and is for the most part hated around the world.

A nation that has sponsored terrorism through proxies across the Middle East is now seen as the heroic barrier to Israel’s genocide. The United States has suffered a humiliating defeat or at least it is unable to keep the Strait of Hormuz open with its navy. U.S. bases across the Middle East have been repeatedly attacked by Iranian missiles and drones as have U.S. allies in the region. Just the other day Jordan which has tried very hard to stay out of the struggle and says it has no foreign bases had 10 or 12 missiles fired at its bases and suffered considerable damage.

The bottom line for U.S, interests is that Iran has proven to the world, the U.S,. Israel and other allies that the promises of protection cannot be met. If one of the Gulf States, for example, responds to an Iranian attack it is swarmed by Iranian missiles and drones and much of their military bases have been severely damaged already. The bottom line for Israel, well let’s look at it.

Israel has no political way out of this that I can see. Israel’s goal from the beginning has been the destruction of Iran which would leave Israel in complete domination of the Middle East south of Turkey. Israel simply cannot accomplish its goals without the U.S. but its leadership acts as if it doesn’t care what the U.S. president wants. I can tell you what he wants with a fair degree of certainty. He wants out of this debacle before it creates a worldwide depression.

Bibi apparently cares nothing for the United States and its people or its survival. For example, last week reports are that Bibi and the president had a lengthy phone conversation and President Trump asked him to leave southern Lebanon so he could meet one of the Iranian demands before peace. Bibi has still not complied with that request and perhaps has no intention to comply and if so Trump has no way out.

Israel is not interested in peace right now, only war. Israel has not let go of its original goal and that was the complete destruction of Iran. Bibi said when it started that he had been waiting for this war for 40 years. So, let’s get this straight. The United States started bombing Iran because Israel wanted and demanded it. The bombing only hurts the U.S. and makes it weaker and it is now threatening the world economy with depression. Israel will not do the basics that would allow the U.S. to escape and so Trump feels trapped, blames it all on the Iranians and restarts the bombing on an even more massive scale.

Why would Donald Trump, an obviously proud and even vain man, put up with such shabby and embarrassing treatment by this ally of 9 million people which could not continue to exist without the U.S. That is the question of the day isn’t it. Could it be revelations from the Epstein files. Possibly, but I don’t think so because the Democrats had those files before his election and they didn’t use them. Could it be money. I’m sure there’s money involved but I don’t think its pure greed for Trump because he is already a multi billionaire.

Could it be something as simple as nuclear blackmail. That’s pretty horrible to contemplate but I suppose it’s possible. How would that work, who knows for sure, but maybe something like this. If you don’t help me destroy Iran I will do it myself with nuclear weapons. Or maybe we have planted dirty bombs all over Washington just in case. Let me be clear folks that I have no information at all to suggest that has happened I’m just wondering where the control comes from.

When Trump was campaigning in both 2016 and 2024 he ran on an antiwar promise. He said he would be remembered for the wars he didn’t start and that was a very appealing message to me. All I know for sure is that after the assassination attempt in Butler Pennsylvania he emerged a completely different man. First he ordered a halt to the investigation which raises all kinds of red flags. Why would you order the FBI and Secret Service to stop investigating an attempted assassination. He became close friends with super war hawks like Lindsey Graham and many others.

Trump is apparently trying to get a little distance from Bibi by using Turkey and putting the Turks forward as the next rising power which could replace Iran and hopefully control Syria and Lebanon which of course includes Hezbollah. Years ago, Turkey, although a NATO member agreed to buy S-400 air defense systems from Russia. NATO was outraged because that would give Russia inside knowledge of NATO aircraft, radars, etc. The U.S, congress sanctioned Turkey and delisted it from the F-35 program.

Now trump says despite the congressional ban he will sell the F-35 to Turkey as well as selling them or allowing their purchase of Taal engines for the new stealth fighter they are trying to build so if they have those engines they can make their own 5^th generation fighter. The U.S. congress is not the only group outraged by the deal. Can you imagine what Israel thinks about it. I’m pretty sure Bibi would want the U.S. to destroy Turkey after it destroys Iran but I’m just guessing folks.

This is not how diplomacy has been conducted in the past folks. One party never releases partial information about any deals until the paper is signed. In other words, there should be no release of information that we have a deal, the Iranians called me begging me to stop bombing, but that is what he has been doing. There is indeed something really weird about this war and the negotiations. I’ve lived awhile and I’ve been a student of history during most of that and I can’t remember the U.S. attacking a country for no obvious reason, not even a bogus one that could be used as cover, so it’s quite a departure from the American way.

Or maybe we were born from war. We fought wars of expansion and a war that freed enslaved people, wars to help out friends in Europe and now wars apparently to maintain military control over the earth so maybe it’s not such a departure.

In conclusion, since the enemy gets a vote as the generals like to say, and the enemy votes to continue the war one side can’t just make it all go away by proclaiming that it has. Ther is no political solution but there are a few military solutions one of which makes sense. Number one the U.S. and or Israel could destroy Iran with nuclear weapons. That would be the most catastrophic disaster in the history of man’s time on earth. Number two the U.S. could invade, conquer and occupy Iran with ground troops. That solution would be very bloody and costly in terms of human destruction but also would severely damage the world economy and would probably provoke a worldwide depression.

The only solution that makes any sense is the simplest one and that is to disengage. Not only from Iran but from the Middle East itself. Just come home from there and announce that the Project for a New American Century has been flushed. Announce that the U.S. will feed its own people, rebuild its own infrastructure, and bandage its internal wounds for a while.

Finally, folks, I see the Castle Report not as reporting the news which you have probably heard but just giving you my take on it. Ron Psul has been doing that for 30 years.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for Listening.

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Darrell Castle talks about the 4th of July and how Americans traditionally celebrate the independence of our country from England. For those who say they won’t celebrate because they are not getting everything they want from America, I say perhaps you don’t understand what the ideals of America really are supposed to be or perhaps it is because in your heart this is not your country.

Transcription / Notes

250 YEARS OF BEING AMERICAN

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 3^rd day of July in the year of our Lord 2026. Tomorrow is the 4^th of July when traditionally we celebrate the independence of our Country from England. To those who say they won’t celebrate because they are not getting everything they want from America I say perhaps you don’t understand what the ideals of America really are supposed to be or perhaps you don’t celebrate because this is not your country.

That is more than just a snarky, love it or leave it comment, because I have traveled and even lived abroad and when you do that you might like the country you are in but you don’t love it. To love a country, it has to be in your blood or your DNA. Terra Ferma or firm ground or the land under your feet is yours to live on and to defend with your life if necessary. It used to be that almost everyone felt that way so what happened.

Many things have happened but mass immigration from the Third World has had a profound effect on our culture and our politics. Now we elect members of congress who aren’t even American. Many other things happened of course but paramount among them was that our attitude and the attitudes of our politicians changed profoundly. For one thing the new media allowed us to finally get a glimpse at what the global ruling elite really are.

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Darrell Castle talks about Father’s Day, what it means, and why it is important to honor fathers.

Transcription / Notes:

FATHER’S DAY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 19^th day of June in the year of our Lord 2026. I previously did a Report on Mother’s Day and what it means so today I will be talking about Father’s Day, what it means and why it is important to honor fathers.

Yes, we are two days away from Father’s Day which falls on the 21^st of June this year. It is dedicated as a Federal Holiday falling on the third Sunday of June each year. The holiday was started in Spokane, Washington in 1910 by a woman named Snora Smart Dodd who was inspired by a Mother’s Day sermon and she wanted to honor her father in the same way.

Her father was a Civil War veteran named William Jackson Smart who was the father of 6 children. His wife died in childbirth and he raised his 6 kids alone. His daughter thought that he had lived his life with honor so she persuaded local authorities to set aside a day to honor her father and all the others. In1972 President Nixon made it a federal occasion and now we celebrate it each year by honoring or remembering our fathers.

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Darrell Castle talks about a bill currently working its way through the U.S. Congress which would, if passed, literally integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries and would put funding for the Israeli military on auto pilot. Will it pass and be signed by the President? Many people seem to think it will so he takes a look at it today.

THE ISRAELIZATION OF THE U.S. MILITARY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 12^th of June in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about a bill currently working its way through the United States Congress which would, if passed, literally integrate the U.S. and Israeli militaries and would put funding for the Israeli military on auto pilot. Will it pass and be signed by the President. Many people seem to think it will so we take a look at it today.

Yes, unfortunately it seems that certain members of the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States are now ready to complete the process of uniting the two countries militaries. The first bill introduced in the House would have literally combined the two. Many of the Israel first politicians are already dual citizens so why not complete the process and stop all the hypocrisy. Just go ahead and make the U.S. military the official enforcement arm of Israeli foreign policy.

The most egregious provision of the original bill is that the benefits due to American veterans like me, such as medical and educational benefits would have also been available to all Israeli veterans. That would have been a supreme insult to every American veteran who has ever served. The last time I checked there were about 15 million living American veterans so why not just insult them all while they are still alive. Just tell them all that “your service to this nation meant nothing” but certainly no more to America than an Israeli veteran meant to America.

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Darrell Castle discusses President Trump’s angry, profanity laced tirade directed at Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. Did it really happen and if so why did it happen and if it did not happen, why say that it did.

Transcriptions / Notes

TRUMP UNLOADS ON NETANYAHU

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 5^th day of June in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is war and as usual there is no shortage of war to talk about but today I discuss President Trump’s angry, profanity laced tirade directed at Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel. Did it really happen and if so why did it happen and if it did not happen then why say that it did.

Its no secret that Trump wants the U.S. role in the war against Iran ended and quickly. The war has placed the world’s economy in jeopardy and therefore its end is imperative. To that end Trump has been negotiating with somebody representing Iran while using Pakistan as the broker. Every time it looks positive and Trump announces that fighting has stopped it turns out to be a little premature.

Trump says we have a deal ending the war and fighting has ceased. In response gas prices in the U.S. come down and the stock market soars. The next step is for Israel to continue attacking in Lebanon as if there were no peace talks. Apparently Trump got tired of it this week and placed a call to the Prime Minister. The story, reported at first by people physically present for the call, and later admitted by the President himself went something like this.

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Darrell Castle talks about the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard from her position as Director of National Intelligence, and why she made the decision to resign. Was it because of her husband’s illness or something else.

Transcription / Notes

TULSI’S GONE

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 29^th day of May in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about the resignation of Tulsi Gabbard from her position as Director of National Intelligence, and about why Tulsi made the decision to resign. Was her decision because of her husband’s illness or was it something else.

Tulsi never seemed to fit into Washington like a typical Washington politician. She never seemed willing to lie and cheat her way to the top as is typical of Washington. From the beginning of her prominence, she seemed a little too honest and too forthright for Washington politics. Nevertheless, she was a politician having served as a Democrat in congress from the state of Hawaii.

She left congress and ran for president as a Democrat but lost in the primary to Joe Biden. She became disenchanted with the Democrat Party and decided to back President Trump in his run for that office. President Trump appointed her Director of National Intelligence, in theory the most important national security position in the country. The U.S. now has 18 intelligence agencies or departments if you count their various components and they all report to the Director of National Intelligence, but once in the office I imagine that the DNI found out who holds the real power in the intelligence world.

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Darrell Castle talks about President Trump’s recent summit with Premier Xi in China and points out the similarities with President Nixon’s summit in China in 1972.

Transcription / Notes

NIXON WENT TO CHINA TOO

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 22^nd day of May in the year of our Lord 2026. President Trump just completed a three-day historic summit with Premier Xi in China. He is not the first President to visit China since President Nixon made that trip in 1972 when China was a far different nation than today as it was in the throes of suffering through the Maoist revolution.

This is the Friday before Memorial Day when we pause to remember the fallen and for most it is the start of a 3-day weekend, but for Joan and I it is a different sort of anniversary to remember. Forty-nine years ago, on this date we saw each other for the first time because we were introduced on a blind date with mutual friends. So, we met forty-nine years ago on this date and we have been together ever since but our actual anniversary, the forty-nine will be in December.

This Memorial Day falls 81 years after the end of World War ll, seventy-seven years after the end of the Korean War, and fifty-one years after the end of the Vietnam War. I guess the other wars, the desert wars, are still going on. Since we are into a little nostalgia this week and to prevent burying the lead it was 54 years ago that Nixon made his historic trip to China. It was historic because China and the US, although friends in World War ll had been bitter enemies for 23 years or since the Maoist revolution.

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Darrell Castle returns to the discussion of war by talking about a war not spoken of so much since it has been driven from the headlines by the war against Iran.

Transcription / Notes

VLADIMIR PUTIN, DONALD TRUMP, AND THE DECLINE OF EMPIRES

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 15^th day of May in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is once again war but we visit a war not spoken of so much since it has been driven from the headlines by the war against Iran. Yes, we don’t hear much about Ukraine these days but it continues to cost lives, and resources and it continues to threaten the global geopolitical order.

I’m sure you remember, if you are a long-term sufferer of these Reports, that back in 2014 in the eastern provinces of Ukraine the people voted overwhelmingly to become or remain part of the Russian Federation but that decision didn’t sit well with Victoria Nuland who was the U.S. State Department representative there. She helped instigate a revolution that replaced the pro-Russian government with one more pro Europe and that led to a Russian invasion and the current war.

Mr. Putin, like President Trump, has found that sometimes wars are easier to get into than they are to get out of. I remember from the war archives reading the discussions from the Japanese general staff when they were planning the battle of Midway. The admiral who was to command their carriers said this will work if the Americans do exactly what we expect and want them to. Well, the Americans didn’t do what the Japanese expected and the Ukrainians haven’t done what the Russians expected.

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Darrell Castle doesn’t talks about war today, but about mothers and Mother’s Day.

Transcription / Notes

MOTHER’S DAY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 8^th day of May in this the year of our Lord 2026. I am so happy today because my beat is not war but mothers which will make most people happy and uplifted because after all who doesn’t like and respect mothers and stories about them.

Mother’s Day as a national holiday had kind of a dual start or I guess you could say dual founders. Both of the women who started the day as a way to honor and support mothers did it because of the severe rural poverty and resulting infant mortality in their native Appalachia. In 1887 Mary Towles Sasseen from Henderson Kentucky led her class since she was a teacher, in what is believed to be the first observance of Mother’s Day. Mary traveled around Kentucky and Ohio trying to have the day recognized as a national holiday but she died in 1906 before that happened.

Schools in several states adopted the idea and in 1926 the Kentucky legislature passed a resolution officially recognizing Mary as the founder of the day. The creation of Mother’s Day as a national holiday is usually attributed to three women Ann Reeves Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe, and Ann’s daughter Anna M. Jarvis. Ann, known as “Mother Jarvis,” was an Appalachian homemaker who taught Sunday School lessons.