The Castle Report

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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.

Mother Jarvis saw the extreme poverty and lack of education among the Appalachian rural poor which resulted in a high infant mortality rate and a high rate of the death of mothers during childbirth. She set out to educate and help the women who needed it the most and she was eventually joined by the other two women. Anna, Ann’s daughter, led the fight to honor her mother and to have the day become a national holiday and at her church the year after Ann’s death a service was held on May 10^th to honor not just Ann but all mother’s. In 1948 Anna died in what was then called a sanitarium from dementia.

Yes folks I am happy to have something to say that is not about war and what better subject than Mothers. Oh, I could bring war into it of course by talking about the mothers who are photographed holding their starving babies perhaps for the last time. I could even tell stories I have personally seen concerning mothers in war-torn countries who would do literally anything for enough money to feed their babies but I will not do that today and instead I will report on stories of mothers right here in America.

Speaking of mothers right here in America many of my friends who are a little less conservative politically than I am, are very concerned about the plight of mothers. They are particularly concerned about infant mortality the same as what those women I mentioned who started national recognition of mothers and that came to be Mother’ Day.  I wonder so I ask them why they care so much about infant mortality. I point out to them that one day they advocate for “a mother’s right to choose” and the next day they are fighting to save infants from mortality so what gives.

OH, wait I get it now those infants still inside their mothers are not really babies but just protoplasm or more generously just part of the woman’s body. If so, then killing the child is not really murder because we have defined the child out of existence. I guess its like the war powers resolution which unconstitutionally gave the president the power to make war on his own without congressional involvement. He is required to report to congress within 60 days but when that is over he just says no the war is over and we won and this is a new war with a new 60 days. My point is that murder is murder but homicide is a legal term awaiting interpretation.

Anyway, we all have or had mothers at some point but for many our mothers are long since dead and we have only the memories. Joan and I were both blessed by God with very good mothers who cared for us and loved us to the end. It sounds like a cliché but there is nothing like a mother’s love for her child. She will sacrifice to the point of giving up her own life for that child.

Let me give you an example from the animal kingdom. In my home office I have a bay window with my desk right in front of it. There are a few azalea bushes right outside the window and sometimes birds nest in them, especially cardinals which like to nest close to the ground. A couple of years ago I was working at my desk when I noticed a nest with a cardinal sitting in the nest. I didn’t know it but she was sitting on her eggs to hatch them. I watched her for a few days and she would sit there through rainstorms with the rain pounding down on her and through wind that looked like it would blow away her nest.

The male would come by from time to time just to check on her I guess. One day the eggs hatched and she had to feed the babies so she would go away and get worms for them and sometimes the male would contribute but the mother acting on instinct would give her life up for those babies. When they were at an age instinct told her was right she threw them out of the nest and said fly or die trying. They either fly or a cat eats them.

We humans have developed a more humane way of dealing with our young than the animal kingdom but there are similarities. The cardinal mother would never think of killing her young for some always good reason but our humanity has allowed us humans to do that. When our babies are a certain age we still know that it is time for them to leave the nest. Sometimes we call that time graduation and sometimes it’s marriage.

“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Genesis 2:24

That verse becomes more and more clear as we age because the child means everything especially to the mother. She would literally take a bullet for that child and then one day the father takes his daughter’s hand and gives it to her husband and she has a new family which is now her first love as it should be. For the mother that child will always be her child but for the child which probably now has children of her own it’s different.

Well, that’s about enough glorification of the role of mothers for one day and one Castle Report.

Finally, folks, visit your mother this Sunday for Mother’s Day. If you just can’t get there at least give her a call because I promise you she wants to hear your voice.

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 provides some options to end the war that Washington is currently fighting against Iran.

Transcription / Notes

OPTIONS TO END THE WAR AGAINST IRAN

Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 1^st day of May in this the year of our Lord 2026. Yes today is May Day but my beat once again is war. This time I am looking for options to end the war that Washington is currently fighting against Iran.

Donald Trump began the U.S./Israel war against Iran apparently because he wanted to deny Iran the chance to build its own nuclear weapon. That was at least the stated reason for starting the war. Suppose you are Iran and the U.S, demands that you dismantle and cease your nuclear weapons development program. Would you have any reason to comply with that demand considering what has happened to other countries in the Middle East.

Acquiring nuclear weapons might be the only way left to prevent becoming a victim of a regime change war. Think about it like this for a moment. Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Venezuela, Russia and North Korea have all been demonized by the U.S. in one way or another this century. The only two that remain uninvaded, Russia and North Korea have nuclear weapons and the others do not. The leaders of those countries who do not have nuclear weapons are dead or locked in prison.

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Darrell Castle talks about the war against Iran and the efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for the commerce of the world along with the unexpected results being felt around the world.

Transcription / Notes

SOME UNEXPECTED RESULTS OF WAR

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 24^th day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking again about the war against Iran and the efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for the commerce of the world along with the unexpected results being felt around the world as a result of this war.

Let me start with a brief refresher regarding the history of the U.S. war with Iran before I get into unexpected results. The U.S. government back in 1953 started this long conflict by its overthrow of Mosaddegh who was popularly elect and his replacement with the Shah who was always seen as a U.S. puppet. If what I just said is true and I obviously believe that it is, then the U.S. has been in this conflict for 73 years. In 1953 the Korean War was just shutting down so maybe a new conflict was needed in the Middle East to feed the war machine, who knows.

Fast forward to today and we find that often history does repeat but barely is it noticed because it will always be different this time. We have lots of propaganda coming out of the war from both sides and unlike propaganda in earlier wars today’s propaganda reaches the whole world instantly through social media. In World Wars, for example, propaganda was designed only for the home populations of each side. Don’t worry we are winning etc. Except for the Tokyo Rose broadcasts to the U.S. Navy and the Axis Sally broadcasts to the U.S. bomber crews the propaganda was primarily to keep the population’s backs in the war effort.

I am a little tired of war and that is all there is to talk about this week. So, I am taking a break and will look forward to talking to you again next Friday.

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Darrell Castle talks about whether or not the United States should leave NATO and whether that decision would bring about a new U.S./Iran order in the Middle East.

Transcription / Notes:

THE END OF NATO

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 10^th day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is once again war but I am so tired of war each week that I have decided to carve a niche out of the unexpected results of our current war and that is NATO and its possible end for the United States.

I’m sure you all know what NATO is but as a refresher it is a treaty (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) in which the U.S. along with the other members agreed to come to each other’s aid if attacked. The purpose was to prevent and protect against a Soviet attack in Europe like the NAZI’s had done.

Everything worked fine when there was a Soviet Union to fight and to protect against. The cold war justified the massive defense spending by the U.S. which allowed Europe to rebuild from the war’s devastation and to provide generous welfare benefits to its citizens. The fall of the old enemy, the Soviet Union, triggered a crises in NATO because there was no longer a justifiable reason for its existence.

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Darrell Castle turns his attention away from the pressing issue of war and looks at Christians and Christianity as we near the end of Holy Week.

Transcription / Notes:

THE RESTORATION OF LIBERTY

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 3^rd day of April in the year of our Lord 2026. I’m very happy that I have something to talk about besides war today. This is in fact Good Friday and in honor of that date and with Easter Sunday just a couple of days away I turn my attention away from the pressing issue of war and look at Christians and Christianity as we near the end of holy week.

First, I want to say a few words about the title of this Castle Report and where that title comes from especially since we are currently in the 250^th anniversary year of America. My argument is that the founders rather than trying to build a utopian perfect world were seeking the restoration of liberties they once had. The Declaration, written by Thomas Jefferson but inspired by the thinking and writing of John Locke and by the life and words of Jesus Christ as expressed by Jefferson as nature’s God reflect that desire for the return of liberty.

They had witnessed the excesses of the French Revolution and the results of mob rule or what we today might call democracy and they sought to build something based on the rights of the individual rather than the collective and that is what for individuals is called liberty. They sought a way to protect the lives they had built in their world and the lives they fought for from the reach of foreign imperial rule. That is one reason why I cringe when America today goes abroad to impose its will on others especially when there seems to be no provocation.

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Darrell Castle talks about war and the President’s statement that it is basically over and we won. Is that statement true and what are the most recent developments in Iran.

Transcription / Notes

THE WAR HAS BEEN WON

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 27^th day of March in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about war today and the President’s statement that it is basically over and we won. Is that statement true and what are the most recent developments in Iran.

What is war but the most horrific thing in which a country, a people, can engage. It is killing on an industrialized scale and from the carpet-bombing campaigns of WWll to the guided munitions of today it is about killing. It is the young men of a country being ordered by the old men of that country to kill the young men of another country but they kill everybody, men, women, little schoolgirls, everybody. Unless done for purely defensive purposes it is immoral and unconscionable. Was Iran an imminent threat to the U.S. No case for that has been made as far as I know. Joe Kent, Counterterrorism Director said there was no imminent threat and his boss, Tulsi Gabbard, refused to state under oath that she knew of such a threat.

Well, last weekend the President said he had quite enough of the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz and its impact of the world’s economies, it’s rapid increase in the price of fuel and the price of everything here in the U.S., and its downward effect on his poll numbers. He gave the Iranians 48 hours to open the Strait or he would destroy their power system by attacking power plants.

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Today, Friday, March 20, 2026, Darrell Castle talks about the resignation of Joe Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center and especially about the ramifications of the letter he publicly released explaining his resignation.

Transcription / Notes:

GOODBYE JOE

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. I will be talking about the resignation of Joe Kent as Director of The National Counterterrorism Center and especially about the ramifications of the letter he publicly released explaining his resignation.

Yes, Joe is gone and I for one will miss him in government because he was not afraid to ask questions and to encourage legitimate investigations into things which didn’t make sense from the official government explanation. First, let’s take a brief look at who he is and how he became Director of Counterterrorism.

He was born April 11, 1980, so next month he will be 46 years old. He enlisted in the U.S. Army after 9-11 and made it through Ranger School where he served with the 75^th Rangers. He requested special forces where he spent his 20-year army career. He served 11 combat tours in the Middle East wars. In 2018 he left the army and became a paramilitary operative for the CIA. He was married to Shannon and they had two children. She was also a military officer and a navy cryptologist and in 2019 while serving in Syria she was killed by a suicide bomber.

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Darrell Castle talks about the fact, proven over centuries, that war is easy to start but hard to get out of and if one gets out, the continuing effects exist long into the future.

Transcription / Notes

THE SHELF LIFE OF THE IRANIAN WAR

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 13^th day of March in the year of our Lord 2026. Once again my beat is war and Friday the 13^th seems like a good day to talk about something so unpleasant. I will be talking about the fact, proven over centuries, that war is easy to start but hard to get out of and if one gets out the continuing effects exist long into the future.

Yes, this is Friday the 13^th once again and we are only two days from the Ides of March which was the date of Julius Ceasar’s assassination on 15 March 44 BC. He was born in 100 BC so by my rough calculations that would make him 2126 years old today. Why talk about Ceasar more than 2000 years after his death, because he has been the gold standard for leaders who became emperors since then. Emperors in Rome, for example, continued to be called Ceasar after his death and today we ask as did Shakespear, upon what meat doth this our Ceasar feed that he has grown so strong.

Our Ceasar today has certainly grown strong. But I submit that his meat is money and especially oil. Reports say that the U.S. has borrowed more than $50 billion per month for the last 5 months and that this war is costing in excess of $1 billion per day. The more important problem is oil and how much does it cost. The price of oil at the pump for the American consumer is what will determine if the U.S. can stay at war indefinitely or will have to declare victory and come home. It’s really hard to just come home when you have demanded unconditional surrender in an undeclared war.

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Darrell Castle talks about the war, declared by President Trump, against the nation of Iran. Does he have Constitutional authority to declare war; why would he do so; and what does it mean?

Transcription / Notes

PRESIDENT TRUMP DECLARES WAR AGAINST IRAN

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 6^th day of March in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat is war today and war is obviously the most important story in the world right now as President Trump, unilaterally it seems, decided to make war against a nation that apparently had not harmed the U.S. and was not a threat to the U.S.

Why then did President Trump do it. I’ll give my thoughts on that but first let’s look at what he did. The U.S. spent a few months building up forces in the Middle East region while negotiating or pretending to negotiate a settlement. The U.S. demands became increasingly more difficult for the Iranians to comply with including give up the use of peaceful nuclear power except for medical purposes. Surrender all enriched uranium that you currently possess and allow international inspection. Give up all offensive missiles and drones. Cease all support for your terrorist proxies across the region. Finally, you must change your head of state and give up your oppressive theocratic government.

Well, those are some bitter pills for a sovereign country to swallow and some people believe they were designed to lure the Iranians into complacency while a serious attack was always the plan. The battle forces assembling in the region would have said to me were I head of state in Iran, prepare for serious war. I would have made defensive preparations such as moving my leadership and especially myself to a safe area. Iran didn’t do that and with the Ayatollah’s rejection of the peace proposal on Friday, he was dead within 24 hours.