Current Affairs

  • Rise to Rebellion

    January 24, 2020 /
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    Darrell Castle talks about the rebellion of the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia to the new Democrat Governor’s and Legislature’s actual and proposed anti-self-defense laws.

    Transcript / Notes

    RISE TO REBELLION

    Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Today is Friday, January 24, 2020, and today I will be talking about the Rebellion of the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia to the new Democrat Governor’s and Legislature’s actual and proposed anti-self-defense laws.

    The people of Virginia recently elected Democrat majorities in both houses of the legislature, plus they also elected Democrat Governor Ralph Northam. The Democrats promised to move for stricter gun regulations, including possible confiscation for non-compliance, and once in office attempted to fulfill their promises. Senate Bill 16 would impose five years imprisonment on law-abiding citizens who possess some of the most common firearms in America. Under this proposed new law, people otherwise guilty of no crime, would be sentenced to five years in prison for doing something that is protected by and enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

    The rights listed in the Bill of Rights, as Mr. Jefferson told us in the Declaration, are given to us by God. The rights are inalienable meaning they can’t legally be taken, and we cannot legally cede them to others. Government is not the creator of these rights and therefore has no legal right to remove them from the people. Government is, in fact, required to protect those rights for that is the very reason that governments are instituted among men; that is, to protect our God-given rights.

    So, to carry Mr. Jefferson’s ideas one step further, we the people form governments because we know that power abhors a vacuum and that if we don’t, someone else will. We, therefore, make the government weak and divided, and separate the powers into separate branches so government cannot legally become tyrannical. We tell government that its primary reason for existing is to protect our God-given rights. The nature of government, however, is to grow and become more powerful, and to destroy the very rights it exists to protect.

    You may say that the people of Virginia elected this Democrat majority to their positions of lawmaker and therefore, majority rules, so they are entitled to what they voted for. However, that’s not the way it works in America. This is not a majority rules government but instead it is a republican form of government. The President is required to guarantee to the states a republican form of government. That term has nothing to do with political parties but instead it refers to representative government with minority rights.

    Minority rights are to be respected even above the collective because no majority is empowered to deny the individual rights enshrined in the Constitution. For example, Amendment Six grants criminal defendants the right to trial be jury, no matter what the majority says. Therefore, any new law criminalizing the right of the people to defend themselves violates the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions, and should not be enforced. The people have a duty to resist and to rise in rebellion against such a tyrannical act by government.

    Governor Northam is apparently quite serious about enforcing the new law, however, because he has asked the Virginia legislature for an additional $250,000 to fund the incarceration of Virginians who refuse to surrender their arms. The most alarming thing is that $4.8 million has been requested to fund an 18 member SWAT Unit to be dedicated to the forceful confiscation of arms, when necessary.

    I use the term arms instead of guns because I want to emphasize that the issue is not hunting but the basic human right of self-defense. The Virginia government apparently does not want its citizens to be able to defend themselves against the tyranny of armed criminals and against a tyrannical government. Jefferson told us that every 20 years there would have to be a rebellion, as government’s tendency would be to grow stronger and usurp the people’s rights.

    In this case, rebellion means that in 91 out of Virginia’s 96 counties sanctuary measures have been passed to resist the State’s new laws. Becoming a 2nd Amendment sanctuary means a locality will not use its law enforcement resources to prosecute the State’s new gun laws. In other words, the sheriffs and other law enforcement officials are planning to refuse enforcement of the confiscation law, if passed in its present form. The sheriffs have been threatened with arrest for their position, so perhaps we will see what happens when a SWAT team comes to arrest the County Sheriff.

    Last Monday, January 20th, there was a rally at the state capitol in which 22,000 people showed up to peacefully express their support for the 2nd Amendment. These people and the people in the sanctuary counties and cities are trying to send the Governor a peaceful message; back off and don’t push this because you are about to encroach on very basic and very personal territory, which we will not surrender without a fight. I hope the Governor of Virginia listens to them.

    As I said earlier this is not a proposed ban on hunting, it’s a ban on self-defense. It starts out as a ban on what the government chooses to label “assault weapons “and then gravitates to all semi-automatics, which is most handguns and rifles, followed inevitably by all guns. Making the right of self-defense illegal is a U.N. mandate and governments around the world from local to national are moving in that direction. Why would our own government seek to disarm us? That’s a very interesting and legitimate question. I offer just a few possible explanations, but you probably have many others.

    The Democrat Party has been infiltrated and conquered by radicals such as AOC and Ilhan Omar, as well as old line Soviet-style socialists such as Bernie Sanders. They are completely devoid of any concern for individual rights and private property. They care nothing for your liberty and property, only their own. They have the globalist world system in mind and desire the collectivization of all rights and property. In order to achieve their objective completely they need their opponents to be disarmed and defenseless. This Party and its views have come very close, and perhaps already has reached, permanent majority status. If it has not, then it inevitably soon will. About 52% of the population now receives some government benefit each month and about 6% of the population works for the government so that’s 58%.

    The ruling class has evolved to the point where it is now an entirely separate society with its own rules. It has its own moral code and feels no need to recognize ours.

    In opposition to this group we have Republicans who are basically nihilists who don’t believe in anything except power, money and how to get them and keep them. They will allow the Democrat destruction of our civilization to happen, but they would prefer that it go more slowly. Of course, you also have a few radicals who would prefer a return to the Constitution and the Rule of Law.

    Why do we need to be armed, or why are guns so important to us that we would resist confiscation with armed force? Arms are symbolic of a free people. Free people are armed, but slaves are disarmed. It recalls images of the defeated army marching by the conquering general to stack their arms in front of him. We also need guns to defend ourselves against armed criminals so that we are individually accountable. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN), one out of six women will be raped or have rape attempted sometime in their lives. There are 433,648 victims of sexual assault each year and about 90% are female. The most alarming statistic is that there are about 130,000 actual rapes committed in America each year.

    Wouldn’t it make sense for Governor Northam to tell the women of Virginia: look ladies this is terrible, and I feel your pain so arm yourselves and train, train, train with your weapon until using it is second nature. The State of Virginia will give a tax credit if you take a course from a certified instructor. I cannot put a police officer beside you 24/7 but you can take responsibility for your own safety. Individual responsibility is the key to this because rapists aren’t looking for a gunfight, they are looking for a victim so don’t give them one.

    Instead Governor Northam says I want to send all he rapists a message; the women of Virginia are fair game so help yourselves. He seems to have the same mentality as many of the European government leaders and bureaucrats, which won’t even defend their own children from rape and abuse. You ladies just go on back to the Democrat plantation and leave the thinking to us because you know we will empower women so they can overcome.

    People who attend rallies such as the one I just mentioned are usually referred to by the press, and especially the Democrat press, as racist, white supremacist, homophobic, xenophobic, toothless hillbillies, etc. but the truth is quite different. The attendance at Virginia was apparently quite diverse. I saw interviews with several black people who had signs saying “Black Guns Matter”. Those people are committed to defense of their dignity and their person because if they don’t defend it who will? Oh yes, now I remember, the government will do it. The government’s armed officers will be there a little after you are raped or murdered to clean up the mess so just go on back home and leave the thinking to us.

    A favorite tactic of the anti-self-defense media and government is to publish reports of incidents of gun violence in which innocent people are killed, but they ignore the incidents in which law-abiding people defend themselves with guns and thus avoid injury and death. According to the NRA, which keeps statistics on self-defense incidents, there are from 500,000 to 3 million incidents of successful armed self-defense in America each year, and about 40,000 firearm deaths each year. In most cases the gun is not even fired, because its mere presence is enough.

    I’m not advising anybody to break the law and risk arrest but surrender or resistance is always the choice before us. I ask myself from time to time which side will the police take, what about the National Guard, but the real question is whose side will the U.S. military be on? Will they obey their masters and bear their swords against their own people? If they do, then all is lost, but if they don’t then we can prevail for a while.

    Virginia is a test case for the new America because it is symbolic, as well as majority Democrat, at least in the law-making bodies. The home of Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, it was the cradle of liberty. Virginia serves now as a canary in a coal mine for the rest of us. If the people of Virginia surrender others will follow quickly like lemmings off a cliff.

    What can ordinary people do? First, we’re all ordinary, and self-defense cuts across all political divides, all races, and all genders. In other words, we are all in this together and the faster we start to see government for what it really is, the better off we will be. Sanctuary for the 2nd Amendment groups are springing up across the country everywhere. Go on social media and find one in your area and join it and participate. It’s a start and the growing numbers will send the correct message to the Ralph Northam’s of the world.

    Finally, folks: When you give up your arms you are no longer free, and you have become the property of the one to whom you surrendered your weapons.

    At least that’s the way I see it,

    Until next time folks,

    This is Darrell Castle,

    Thanks for listening.

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  • The Crash of Flight 752

    January 17, 2020 /
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    Darrell Castle talks about the crash of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752, as well as the desperate conditions inside Iran.

    Transcript / Notes

    THE CRASH OF FLIGHT 752

    Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Today is Friday, January 17, 2020, and today I will be talking about the crash, or more accurately, the shooting down, of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752. The flight took off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, and just about five minutes later, the Boeing 737-800 exploded in flight. No one argues about that, but what caused the explosion and crash, people do argue about.

    Initially, the Iranian government claimed the crash was an accident due to engine failure, so the first reaction of the Iranian Regime was to lie. I suppose the lie was to avoid international criticism, but also perhaps because that’s just what governments do. The minute I heard about it I was certain of the cause. The Iranians shot it down by mistake and as an overreaction to fears of an American attack.

    By week’s end the Regime admitted that the airliner was shot down by an Iranian air defense missile mistakenly fired due to “American adventurism”. The aircraft contained 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, 4 Afghans, 3 British and 3 Germans, and there were no survivors.

    Just a few hours before the crash, the Iranians had launched missile attacks from the area near the crash at bases containing U.S. troops in Iraq. Intelligence reports indicated that about 25% of the missiles failed to ignite or misfired in some other way. Usually in these types of attacks entire missiles are located when they fail to reach the target and fail to explode. That is what happened in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields earlier last year. That tells us that the hype about Iranian missile technology may be a bit exaggerated.

    According to media speculation, growing pressure from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and from President Donald Trump, forced the Iranians to admit that they shot the aircraft down. Whether that was the reason or not, they did admit it, and fairly quickly, and furthermore they admitted to originally lying about the cause and they apologized for that.

    So what really happened here, I mean why would the Iranian government would shoot down a defenseless airliner that was no threat to anyone? Speculation and guesswork are the only things we have, but I can think of a few possible reasons. The most plausible is the answer the regime gave, and that is, that it was a mistake due to a heightened alert status  because of an expected American attack.

    That answer seems plausible to me and makes logical sense. The Iranian armed forces had fired several missiles at American forces in Iraq, so they were obviously on high alert. They were quite forthright in their admission and their apology, which is unusual and unexpected. How could such a mistake happen? That’s an easy one to answer. Untrained or inexperienced launch officer or missile troops could have panicked when he or they saw the airplane on his or their tracking target radar. It could have been a mistake in command which released the weapons to fire without proper confirmation.

    Remember a few years ago when the United States guided missile destroyer Vincennes accidentally shot down an Iranian airliner with 277 people on board? When tensions are high and threats are going back and forth you create a perfect environment for a fatal mistake.

    Another possible answer is that the Iranians deliberately targeted someone, or some group of people, on the airliner and simply used the American dispute as cover. Perhaps there were several Canadians that they thought were espionage agents or were spying on their nuclear program in some way. That possibility seems rather remote to me and it doesn’t make as much sense as the simple mistake theory.

    The final explanation didn’t surface until yesterday, at least that’s the first I heard of it, and that version is that an American Cyber attack caused the Iranian computers to lock on, track, and kill the airliner and everyone on board.

    In any event it’s been a tough couple of weeks for the Iranians. They exchange bluster and then attacks with the Americans, and part of the bluster was the Ayatollah telling Donald Trump “there is not a damn thing you can do.” The Ayatollah learned an important lesson, and that is, that hellfire missiles carried on whisper silent drones are up there and they are watching anyone they want to watch.

    Such a missile killed top Iranian General Soleimani at the Baghdad airport along with an important Iraqi. That attack led to a series of retaliatory strikes, and then what appeared to be a ceasefire or stand down agreement, but further attacks and threats led to a buildup show of force in the Gulf region by the Americans and British.

    Dozens of B-52 bombers, B1 and B2 bombers along with the most advanced stealth fighter aircraft were sent to the region. The Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean were filled with warships to the extent that some were apparently close to colliding, as the Russians tried to intimidate American captains. Politicians in America, especially Democrats, were screaming World War III at the top of their lungs, and Nancy Pelosi even persuaded the House to pass a toothless, non-binding resolution restricting the President’s ability to attack Iran. None of them seemed to understand that his authority to make war on his own decision is already restricted by the Constitution.

    Meanwhile, in Tehran and other Iranian cities, tens of thousands of people were in the streets risking their lives by screaming not death to America but “Death to the Dictator” and “Death to Liars” as well as “Khamenei is a Murderer.” The national unity that appeared briefly after the killing of General Qassim Soleimani disappeared as fast as it arrived.

    Police, uniformed and plain clothed, as well as Iranian military, deployed in force to curtail the protests. They even arrested the British ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, and charged him as “an unknown foreigner in an illegal gathering”. Once his identity and status were confirmed they let him go but it is not a very safe time for non-Iranians to be out in the streets of Tehran.

    The bad news got even worse, however, because at General Soleimani’s funeral at least 56 attendees were trampled to death and more than 200 injured. So it’s been a bad couple of weeks for the Iranians, and even before that, about a month ago some 1500 protesters were killed and many more arrested, so they have been under continuous pressure for some time. The severe economic sanctions imposed by the Trump Administration have left the regime with problems even supplying the population with enough food.

    Middle East Eye reports Iranians on the street as saying “God has turned his back on us”. I don’t know why no positive thing occurs in Iran. We are frustrated by all the bad news we are hearing. Some people were quoted as saying they were “fed up” with living under sanctions and angered by the way the government has handled the problems. It’s interesting to me that the Iranian people seem to be blaming their own government for the sanctions rather that the government, which actually imposed the sanctions.

    A report done by the website Numbeo, which monitors conditions in Iran, reported a growing dissatisfaction within the country due to economic stress. The average after tax wage is U.S. $318.53, so a monthly survival budget with basic food such as white rice and eggs, along with rent and utilities comes to $345.22 so it’s easy to see the cause of dissatisfaction.

    According to official government data, food price inflation was 28% year on year at year end. Medicine is another problem as much of it cannot be found in pharmacies. Reduced consumption takes a toll on efforts to have a normal family life. According to the Tehran Times, the number of babies born in Iran fell by nearly 25% between 2015 and 2019. That is an unprecedented decline outside of wartime, especially since the number of women of child bearing age actually increased over the same time frame.

    Iranians cannot sell their only valuable resource, oil, on the world market. Sanctions enforced by the U.S. Navy, have basically closed off the Persian Gulf to Iranians. Since no money of any consequence is available to the government,  the government cannot provide food and medicine distribution which has led to desperate conditions inside Iran. Desperate conditions exist in Iran if you believe the reports coming out from various international agencies and the people are starting to rise up and express themselves even if it means risking their own lives.

    Another problem  the Iranian people face is water resources and what the Journal of Asian Affairs called government mismanagement of it. About 97% of the country is currently experiencing drought conditions. It is one of the worst water conditions among industrialized nations and it is forcing the abandonment of outlying villages as people move into the cities.

    Not many nations have been willing to endure this level of deprivation without full war mobilization. I suppose war would be an excuse and a cover up for the mismanagement and misuse of the nation’s resources. The Iranian President, not the Supreme Leader, but the President Hassan Rouhani recently appeared on state run television to say the U.S. and especially E.U. troops in the Middle East are in danger and will be targeted. He used the word “insecure” to refer to them.

    I wonder if he is suicidal himself or whether he is just willing to risk it for the people of his nation. The regime seems to be more unstable with each passing day and apparently that’s the way the U.S. President wants it. Why would the U.S. government want to see an unstable Iran? It’s anybody’s guess but I will give you three possible reasons:

    1. The stories and accusations about Iran are true and it is the world’s terrorist center. General Soleimani needed to be killed because as American General Petraeus said, “he was responsible for providing explosives, projectiles, arms and other munitions that killed well over 600 of our soldiers.”

    2. An unstable Iran helps Israel and keeps Israel’s most hated enemy from regaining strength and otherwise occupied.

     3. The Project for a New American Century. The PFANAC is a doctrine set out several years ago as a determination to build an American headed uni-polar world for this century. In order to accomplish that goal, the nations of the Middle East should be destabilized and those not conquered should be kept in a state of chaos. Economic sanctions and other methods would be used to weaken enemies and keep them unstable.

    Finally folks, choose one of these three or think of your own but as for me I’ll take the Project for a New American Century.

    At least that’s the way I see it,

    Until next time folks,

    This is Darrell Castle,

    Thanks for listening..

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