The Castle Report

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 19th 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 21st 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. The National Retail Federation (NRF) tells us that the average gift per person given to each father in terms of dollars is $196.23. Interestingly for this year June 21st is the summer solstice or the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere which means it is the day of maximum daylight. So, I guess we can spend more daytime at all those cookouts with our fathers. In this Report I will endeavor to make recognition of fathers something you can easily see as vitally important. Social scientists tell us that data overwhelmingly confirms that children born to their married parents have much better outcomes than children born to single mothers. The data indicates that children born to married parents are “significantly more likely to be on track” at every life stage than children who are born to unmarried parents. Children who are “on track” are those who achieve age-appropriate benchmarks for every stage in life. At the end of elementary school an on-track child has mastered basic math and reading skills, has behavioral competencies that predict later success, has a strong relationship with parents and is in good health.  From elementary school to adulthood the child born to married parents is more likely to be on-track and significantly so than the child born to single or unmarried parents. The report from which I am quoting said that even babies benefit greatly from married parents. A baby born to an unmarried mother is three times more likely to need Medicaid or other government assistance to pay for the delivery of the child and is twice as likely to have received late or no prenatal care. That child is twice as likely to be born prematurely and much more likely to be born at a low birth weight. That child is 14 times more likely to have been fathered by a man not identified on the birth certificate (29% versus 2%). This all serves to illustrate the importance of fathers involved in the upbringing and in the lives of their children but there’s a lot more. The data also shows many other problems which present themselves when a father is not involved in the raising of a child. The study shows that the absence of a father leads to children who report feeling abandoned, struggling with their emotions, and experiencing self-loathing, increased behavioral problems, poor academic performance, much higher rates of delinquency, youth crime, promiscuity, teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol abuse, and homelessness. If that were not all fatherless children are at greater risk of suffering physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and many times more likely to experience physical and emotional maltreatment with the risk of fatal abuse 100 times greater. The report from the Institute for Family Studies concludes that there is a growing list of disadvantages for children in households without fathers but the report concludes that current U.S. welfare policies tend to encourage fatherlessness. The current policies subsidize unmarried parenting by paying for prenatal care, delivery and postnatal care while allowing the men who fathered the children to escape accountability. The authors of the article conclude that as a society, and especially our churches we have to start recognizing the value of fatherhood again. Our education system in general seems to be failing right now and the belief is that our moral standards have fallen first and a large part of that failing is how we view fathers. The poverty rate in the black and Hispanic communities lowers by 80% when the parents are married. So, why wouldn’t fathers want to remain with the children they fathered. Why wouldn’t people want to get married and remain married if the statistics I just recited are true. That’s a good question but it seems that our society now sets up marriage to fail from the outset. There are many exceptions to that such as mine for example. I’m in the 49th year of my marriage and many people ask me how I do it because they recognize that lifetime commitment is unusual enough to deserve explanation. To continue the point of absent fathers and no marriage I reviewed a recent report done by The American Enterprise Institute in which the authors looked at the issue from a purely economic standpoint. The report was entitled; “Land of Opportunity: Advancing the American Dream.” From their report I learned that one of the chief things causing failure or at least lack of success is the gap between married and non-married Americans. In the middle of the last century and I mean the 1900’s, one in 20 children were born out of wedlock. Now it’s two in five. America has the world’s highest rate of children living in single parent homes: 23% in the U.S. against 7% internationally. Forty percent of millennials from intact, two-parent families graduated from college and 77 % achieved middle class incomes or higher. For those who didn’t grow up in intact families, only 17% graduated from college and 57% achieved middle class income. They are twice as likely to be incarcerated, even after other socioeconomic factors are considered. Quoting from the article for a moment. “Research using tax-return data suggests that neighborhoods with high rates of single parenthood cultivate lower social mobility, including among kids who themselves are not raised by single parents.”  The conclusion from the research is that absence of fathers on their offspring has very long-term negative effects on the well-being of children. This study concludes that among all races marriage protects against poverty. From a personal perspective I can say that for 46 years I counseled thousands of people in my law office and my conclusion has been that divorce especially for women and their children leads to a life of poverty. Married parents regardless of race and education suffer significantly less poverty than unmarried mothers. Another interesting thing about these reports is that the phenomenon is not happening evenly but it seems to have a self-perpetuating pattern. For example, from 1970 to 2018 marital births dropped by 29 points overall but they dropped 47 points for the bottom education group and just 6 points for the top. From the early 1960’s to the late 2010’s marriage rates fell by roughly 46 percentage points for the least educated young women compared with 17 points for the most educated which leaves those least able to bear the cost of single parenthood the most likely to experience it. Government, for whatever reason seems to be putting its thumb on the scale to tilt the outcome against marriage. The institution of marriage is obviously the most important factor in raising children and for income mobility, but that is not how the government views it apparently. For example, a couple with two kids, with each parent earning $30,000 receives around $5000 in earned income tax credits benefits if they remain unmarried. They lose all the benefits if they marry which is in effect a tax on marriage. Medicaid, housing vouchers and SNAP benefits all phase out and punish couples who get married whereas they do not if the couples live together without marriage. It seems that careful research keeps finding the same conclusion regarding economic success and opportunities for children despite efforts to debunk it. In conclusion, I would like to thank the occasion that is Father’s Day for the opportunity to be honored by my wife and our daughter. In addition, it gives me the opportunity to talk about something besides war and the opportunity to put into words something that I have observed over a very long legal career. Speaking of families, I have a family obligation next week so there is no Castle Report next week. Finally, folks, may God bless you and your families. If you can’t visit your father on Sunday, at least give him a call because he will be so glad you did. At least that’s the way I see it, Until next time folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.

Darrell Castle talks about the continuing saga of Jeffrey Epstein and what that saga means for the relationship between the global ruing elite and the people. Transcription / Notes EPSTEIN AND THE DESTRUCTION OF TRUST Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 20th day of February in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about the continuing saga of Jeffrey Epstein and what that saga means for the relationship between the global ruling elite and the people. Yes, folks we are faced with a moral dilemma today and that dilemma is what to do when we find out that the ruling elite of the West, not just America but the West has completely abandoned the moral bedrock upon which the whole system is based. Western Civilization also known as Christian Civilization is based on a system of moral principles and if those principles are adhered to by everyone the system works and we can pass it on to our offspring. Now that entire belief system has been turned upside down and destroyed and that is of great concern to me. The elite, and I will call them that for lack of a better word, but hopefully you know what I mean by that term. The elite know that their power is also based on moral authority which they don’t even believe exists. Their goal is to keep us from learning of their complete moral depravity because that might mean the end of their privileged and protected lives. The elites understand that once their complete amorality is understood by the masses, the West, and especially America, loses its façade of moral superiority that has always anchored our lives. Their fear is that if they have no moral authority and we know it why should we have any. When that cynicism flows downhill and infects the general population there is nothing left to hold us together. The sad and destructive part of all this is that we know for certain that it is not just a few very sick individuals as we have been led to believe but it goes much deeper than that. No, this pedophilia, to use a polite word, is a systematic, organized, and ritualized practice. These networks could only exist when backed by deep institutional protection. Political, police, judicial, and media, all cover for and protect them on a global scale. These recent revelations have led people to believe that the entire system is rigged against them. They see their lives as akin to a sporting event in which the refs play for the other side and the goalposts are constantly moved. They believe their country and the West have been stolen by a few super rich individuals who get further and further ahead because they have gamed the system while the rest of us fall further and further behind. This all paints the picture of a rupture between the ruling elite and the people. People have seen the level of horror that the files have revealed so far and they know that is only about half of it. They know in their hearts that elections will no longer solve their problems if they ever would. The level of distrust and anger among the people is and should be bipartisan. I am not the only one to see this picture because the ruling elite understand it as I do and they are a little afraid right now. Their reaction is foot dragging, redactions, and lies about the files. The other day Pam Bondi said that we have seen the final release and there won’t be anymore and so we are moving on from this. Well, no Pam we are not moving on from this no matter how much you would like to. If you are ordered to redact the files and keep them hidden then honor, if there is any left, requires you to resign. I also heard the DOJ say that if these files were released unredacted it might cause the collapse of the system. Well, that’s a chance I am willing to take to clean the system because allowing it to continue as is simply cannot happen. The administration seems to be taking the approach of trying to say OK folks we’ve been transparent and there’s nothing else to see here so move on. This is just a few sick individuals but we know them so that’s it. Humpty Dumpty, in other words as in the old nursery rhyme. I don’t think it will work here any better than it did hundreds of years ago. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again. No, this system is broken and everybody knows it. The distance between the ruling elite and the people grows wider each day. In recent decades the economy has been changed or rigged if you prefer toward a debt-based financialized economy at the expense of the American dream. This has happened across the West as the system after the fall of the Soviet Union believed the thousands of years of nation states was at an end. From 1991 on the world would be a globalized trading bloc based on commerce rather than war and defense. It didn’t work and all it seemed to accomplish was to destroy the poor and hollow out the middle class who were the backbone of the American dream. Just base everything on debt and worry about the interest later but huge cracks appeared in that system. Off shoring of manufacturing left nations dependent for critical resources such as antibiotics in the complete control of adversaries. Now, after seeing the total depravity in the files we realize who our leaders really are. How can we be really sure of anything anymore. What is so fantastic is or was the belief that it can’t be believed or so depraved would never have happened. Would you believe me if I told you that Epstein was murdered by the very people on whose behalf the blackmail was committed. What if I told you that he is still alive as a lot of evidence points too. Jimmy Dore on his podcast the other day put forward a lot of evidence that he is still alive. Evidence such as a guard saying a transport van took him away on a day they normally didn’t move prisoners and a day before he supposedly died. What about the director of the FBI and his top assistant telling Congress that he committed suicide when there is a lot of video evidence that he didn’t. Is it hard to believe that people who would rape a six-year-old child and worse commit murder to cover it and to allow their sadistic and depraved circle to continue. We have some important names worth mentioning such as Les Wexner, founder of Victoria’s Secret, Bath and Body Works, Abercrombie and Fitch, and La senza among others. He is also suspected of connections with Massad. He gifted Epstein a $70 million mansion in Manhattan and a 7000 plus acre ranch in New Mexico among other things. He is now an unredacted co-conspirator but he said he was conned and just didn’t know. Richard Branson of Virgin Group (catchy name huh) which has Virgin Records, airlines, trains and other things. He once emailed Epstein and said he could be there if Epstein brought his harem. Too many other horrific things to mention but a lot and I mean hundreds of emails with code words such as beef Jerky, pizza and grape soda, Tinkerbell which is the name Jes Staley former CEO of Barclay’s Group used for one of his victim. Oh, and I forgot Snow White, another big one. U.S. prosecutors are looking at Staley for rape and causing great bodily harm. Andrew Windsor, the former prince was arrested yesterday so perhaps those who are facing prison will talk about the rest, we’ll see. Finally, folks, we know some of who they are and some of what they have done and they know that we know but they also believe they are protected in their satanic ritual attacks on our children. From Hollywood to boardrooms to the great capitals, they seem to be corrupt, demonic, and satanic in ways we just couldn’t comprehend until now. At least that’s the way I see it, Until next time folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.

Darrell Castle talks about what is going on in Minneapolis as well as the state of Minnesota — what is going on there, does anyone care, and what about fraud. Transcription / Notes MINNESOTA IS A STRANGE PLACE Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 6th day of February in the year of our Lord 2026. Although I am a little late for the party I will be talking about what is going on in Minneapolis as well as the state of Minnesota. What in the world is going on there and does anyone care about the violence and death, and also what about the fraud. Was a 37-year-old ICU nurse really a threat to the ICE agents in Minnesota? Do Americans who film such agents as they try to do their jobs belong on government lists. Should the presence of ICE agents in Minnesota be eliminated since the politicians and the people apparently are violently opposed to their presence. The answers to these questions, unfortunately, almost always depend on one’s political party affiliation. Republicans back ICE in its deportation efforts while Democrats stand with Alex Pretti. Sometimes these positions require members of both parties to abandon the principles they once held dear. The struggle this time around has often centered on the real culprit, the ruling class. Everything seems like a diversion or distraction. When you see the Minnesota politicians parading around talking about the demonization of the Somali community one might wonder if they are just trying to distract attention away from the billions in fraud from which they allegedly received hefty amounts. When the administration doubles down on its hardline response by sending in more and more agents even after people have been killed one wonders if this is in reality an effort to distract us from the coming stupid pointless war against Iran. Yes the U.S. sent another carrier battle group into the Persian Gulf as an obvious threat to attack at the moment of Trump’s or Netanyahu’s choosing. Yes, Bibi has or soon will be coming to America for the 6th time in the Trump presidency perhaps to deliver to the president his strike options for the coming attack on Iran. A diversion for our attention is therefore a welcome side benefit thanks to the violence of the protesters in Minneapolis. I can’t help but wonder why the president has made no effort to explain to the American people why an attack on Iran is in their best interest. He seems to go from one reason to another as one justification is erased, another takes its place. He first gave us the nuclear threat or weapons of mass destruction we have heard many times before. Then, we are told the nuclear enrichment sites were obliterated in a previous American attack. Then CIA, Mossad, and who knows how many others, allegedly launched a violent protest movement directed at regime change. When the Iranian regime put down the uprising with extreme violence that became another excuse for an attack. The sides are talking now about a way to avoid war but I get the impression it is simply a brief delay for some reason or another. A similar delay is going on in Minnesota as the sides are talking and Mr. Homan has agreed to withdraw 700 agents. Could the agreement be this, look Governor Waltz if you will stop inciting this violence and let us at least arrest the murderers and rapists among you then you can keep the millions you stole from the American people. I don’t know if that is true but it sounds plausible to me. What about fraud? Let’s talk about that for a moment. The fraud conducted by the “Somali community” escorted into the country by Barack Obama and Joe Biden and grouped together in Minnesota so they could have political power and even elect their members to congress to lecture us about racism. We are expected to concentrate on the seeming insanity of the ICE protesters and ICE agents instead of the money and where it goes. The last figures I have seen reveal that Somali welfare fraud in Minnesota is estimated at $9 billion. That is $9 billion of Medicaid and other welfare stolen from people who work and from people who need the help and shuffled off to various fraudulent enterprises run by the Somali community. That is just the amount found to have been stolen in Minnesota. It’s predicted to be even worse in California, Illinois, Maine, New York, and perhaps other Democrat states. Who knows how many billions of dollars of your labor have been stolen. Well, Elon Musk says he knows the various forms of fraudulent payments given away by the federal government amount to $1.5 and $2 trillion per year which is about 25% of annual government spending and which coincides almost exactly with the deficit. In other words, if these figures are correct that $2 trillion the government spends over what it takes in is all fraud. Almost all this fraud goes to perpetuate various deep state programs and to line the pockets of Democrat voters and especially their politicians. That’s why they fight so hard to make us ignore it and to detract us from investigating it. Now, let me say a few words about the killing of Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Mr. Pretti apparently was killed when the agents first disarmed him of his legally possessed handgun, then threw him to the ground and shot him in the back many times. The object he was waving in his hand was a cell phone and to say they thought it was a gun made no sense because he had been disarmed by them. It does remind one a little of the bad old days of Democrat presidents when conservatives feared the Feds rather than supporting them. I’m thinking specifically of the incident in which Vicki Weaver had her head blown off by an FBI sniper named Lon Horiuchi while she stood in her cabin door holding her child. Agents also killed the Weaver’s 14-year-old son by shooting him in the back. I knew Randy Weaver quite well back then as we had met at many speaking engagements and he was often at gun shows where I campaigned for office. The government today says there is no comparison with Vickie and Alex Pretti because she was unarmed. The truth is that Vickie had a .380 handgun in a holster under her dress just as Pretti had a legal gun in his possession. Once again they, the ruling elite that is, distract us from the real enemy. I’ve seen and heard Mr. Pretti described as a beloved ICU nurse and a peaceful man. I have no argument with the beloved description since I have no evidence to dispute that but the peaceful part I definitely dispute. To me, he appeared to be a man so fanatical in his system of beliefs that he was out of control and violently so. He was a nurse, which is a profession of the most noble among all if it is practiced correctly. Who can’t tell stories of heroic nurses sitting with the dying or helping one through some of the most trying moments of life. Well, there was another nurse whose name goes unmentioned, but not for me. I say her name and I hope her parents are not offended by that but I feel compelled to speak for her because she really was peaceful. Her name was Laken Riley and she was peacefully jogging on her Georgia college campus when she was assaulted, raped, and murdered by an illegal criminal invited into this country by Joe Biden. Why, I ask, do none of the protesters care about Laken. She goes unmentioned by Democrat politicians and their protesters because I guess she just doesn’t fit their political agenda. Laken’s benevolence, her altruistic pursuits, her many accomplishments, her hopes and dreams count for nothing because she did not meet the Democrat politician’s definition of someone they should care about. Sadly, Laken went out for a jog and she didn’t come back the same fate has happened to literally dozens of women and girls at the hands of criminals whose cages were opened by Joe Biden. Just to name a few Sarah Root, Rachel Morin, Jocelyn Nungaray but there have been countless others. Jocelyn is of particular importance to me but I don’t say much about her because she was a 12 year of child when she was very brutally murdered by five of Joe Biden’s criminal invaders. No one speaks for her I suppose she is an embarrassment to the entire spectrum of what the ruling elite are trying to accomplish in this country and this world. That’s probably enough about the women who have been murdered but there is one more and very recently. In Illinois recently a man named Joe Abraham has gained attention because he has had the audacity to speak for his 20-year-old daughter Katie, killed while stopped at a traffic light by a drunk illegal named Julio Cucol-Bol. Mr. Bol fled the scene but Katie was killed instantly. At least she didn’t have to endure the torture that Jocelyn did. This case reminds me of that most appealing argument that to deport criminals would be forced separation of families. Well, the Abraham, Riley, and Nungaray families among countless others were certainly separated. None of these women are ever spoken of by Democrats and there have been no protests or demonstrations objecting to the government’s policy of inviting violent criminals to walk among us. I suggest that when we see and hear the violent protests about ICE we try to remember the real victims who for Democrat politicians and their supporters remain nameless but for their families the loss is never ending. In Conclusion, I want to conclude by recommending a book that was just released and which I had to get an early copy to read. Peter Schweizer’s “The Invisible Coup, How American Elites and Foreign Powers Use Migration as a Weapon.” That book opens for you the war that has been prosecuted against us by people who hate us and intend to destroy us, and unfortunately that often includes our leaders. Finally, folks, what in the world does this all mean? That’s a topic for another day perhaps next week, we’ll see. Remember the nameless fallen ones and pray for peace here and abroad. At least that’s the way I see it, Until next time folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.

Darrell Castle talks about Iran today and exploring the possibilities for changing the regime there from one run by Islamic fundamentalists to one run by the ex-Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi. Transcription / Notes REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 16th day of January in the year of our Lord 2026. I will be talking about Iran today and exploring the possibilities for changing the regime there from one run by Islamic fundamentalists to one run by the ex-Shah’s son Reza Pahlavi. What does the US want in Iran and what is it willing to do to have it. Yes, it seems that revolution is in the air once again in Iran but this time it seems to be different. Every few years people grow weary of the Ayatollah’s strict laws, its moral police, etc. and they take to the streets to protest. This time it seems to be different for several reasons. The protests are much more massive and widespread this time and the people are showing great courage because the last report I saw showed more than 2500 dead and 10,000 arrested so not just protests but war in the streets it seems. The Iranians don’t waste much time on niceties such as a fair trial either because they arrest a protester one day and publicly hang him the next as a warning to others. Another reason why this time might be different is that the US President is clearly fully supporting the protesters with his words and promises of military action. The primary reason, however, is that this time there are real reasons other that the resistance to fundamentalist Islam. The last large-scale protests happened when a young woman was arrested by the moral police and she ended up raped and murdered in their custody. The regime is apparently then made up of very bad people and that is always involved in the unrest. This time, in addition, there is a critical, life threatening nationwide water shortage caused or at least made worse by the regime’s misuse of water facilities, reservoirs, etc. The water shortage is so bad that the capital city of Tehran is threatened with water rationing. For a city of 9 million that would be catastrophic. The final straw in this round of unrest has been the skyrocketing inflation and destruction of the purchasing power of the Iranian rial. The rial has been devalued so much that Iranian reports now express inflation in terms of dollars. It has lost 60% of its value since last June. So, the regime is bad and the people are courageous. Hundreds killed and thousands arrested which for many is the same thing. The US, through its chief executive, threatens to “hit them very hard.” The US currently has about 2000 troops next door in Iraq and all US bases in the region are on high alert. The US Central Command and certain regional partners have opened a new Middle East Air and Missile Defense command center at the US airbase in Qatar. Reports yesterday said that US troops are now being evacuated in expectation of an Iranian attack. If you have any doubt about whether the US considers itself to be responsible for policing the world and making it right in the US President’s eyes those doubts should be erased. When one country has regime change fostered on it quite often it makes a lot of other countries mad and this situation is no different. The US announced a 25% tariff on countries that do business with Iran and that has made the Chinese very angry, Iran is a key part of China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative and they desperately want the Mullahs to stay in power. So, the US is, in its own eyes, the policeman of the world. The Iranians seem genuinely disturbed this time unlike all the other times. Their repressive tactics don’t seem to be working as well this time. I guess all the Mossad and CIA agents on the ground in Iran encourage the people to carry on. Reports coming out of Iran are that many in the regime want to talk diplomatically with the US this time to avoid a US attack. Talks were scheduled but when Trump heard that people were being killed and hanged he canceled the talks. My opinion is that the regime wanted talks not to diplomatically agree to reforms but to preserve their power. The other problem with talks is that if the US held talks and agreed for the regime to stay in power with US blessing then the US administration would lose its standing. Right now, the people protesting, undoubtedly with Mossad and CIA encouragement, are literally dying and risking their lives to bring about the downfall of the Ayatollah’s rule and they expect the US to refrain from diplomatically supporting it. We now have about four decades of diplomatic efforts with Iran without any noticeable results except to make the situation worse so I suppose talking to them and sending them money is pointless. It makes sense to me to stop business and encourage our allies to stop business with a regime that commits such human rights abuses as long as it’s universally applied. That’s the problem though isn’t it. The concept of isolating human rights abusers is not universally applied and everyone knows it including the Iranians. It’s hard to stay on the moral high road under such circumstances. Iran, ever the implacable adversary, as usual is talking tough. Would a sensible leader threaten war with an adversary many times stronger when that leader has what appears to be a weakened or destroyed armed forces. The Ayatollah is doing just that but I don’t think he is insane, no, he is living out the Islamic book as he perceives it. It tells him seek death instead of life and wash the cities of the world with blood and constant war until the 12th Imman, the Mahdi comes and makes the world into what the books tells him it should be and will be. Rather than insanity he really does literally believe the words in the Islamic Holy Book written almost 1400 years ago. Western leaders don’t understand that because they believe nothing. Religion, whether Christianity or anything else is just a ruse they use to get elected. They really believe nothing and worship only the god of power to which they are utterly addicted. This man, the Ayatollah, the unbending foe is different. He will pretend to negotiate for a better deal but when his gullible adversaries in the West deliver he will not comply because he believes the words in that book and nothing else matters to him. He warns the US, through his foreign minister, that he is ready for war if Washington wants to test it. I’m sure he is ready and he apparently doesn’t mind how much his people suffer. Why doesn’t he get them some food and especially water. I guess it’s because he doesn’t know how and besides the book doesn’t tell him to do that. Why won’t he make a deal with the great Satan for water technology and resources, well the answer to that question is obvious by the name of his adversary. The foreign minister said if the US wants war like it did before, Iran is ready for it but he hopes the US will choose the wise diplomatic option. The other way leads to criminal war like the abduction of Nichalos Maduro did. He hopes the US will negotiate rather than make war for Israel’s interests. There is a man here in the US who has been very vocal in support of the protestors on social media. That man is Reza Pahlavi, the son of former Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, who has been living in exile in the US since the ouster from power of the Shah in 1979 Islamic Revolution. He has been very active with international media appearances as well as social media and the other day he met with Trump’s chief Middle East negotiator, Steve Wittkof. Some of the demonstrators in Tehran shout long live the Shah. My guess is that they are too young to remember what life was really like under the Shah. Pahlavi, to my knowledge, has not stated his true intentions with respect to Iran but he is scheduled to travel to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump as well as to deliver a speech at the Jerusalem Prayer Breakfast. Very interesting indeed because that makes me think of the real reason for all this. Who are the American politicians who favor the interests of a foreign country over that of the American people. Just about all of them it seems. Last Tuesday, the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said there is no room in his party for those who do not support regime change wars. He said all should be in on overthrowing the Iranian government allegedly on Israel’s behalf. There are many polls which show the Ambassador is dead wrong (no pun intended) about that. Polls show that far more Americans support my position of come home and mind your own business rather than the Ambassador’s position of fighting for greater Israel in the Middle East. Did Trump commit an act of war against Iran when he sent stealth bombers a few weeks ago. The real question is not was the attack an act of war but was the attack at the bequest of a foreign leader and if so will that same leader request or demand another attack on Iran this time. My conclusion is that yes, he will do it despite the undeniable fact that the American people are sick of foreign wars that have nothing to do with them but are beneficial to foreign nations and their leaders. Meanwhile, in Iran the regime has shut down the internet across the country in an effort to prevent people from organizing meetings and protests. Elon Musk has provided his Starlink system and anyone in Iran can access it without charge he says. There are rumors that the Chinese have provided technology to Iran to disable Starlink. Anytime it is so obvious that an entire people group is not free it causes anger and outrage here in America. In response the Iranians have threatened to assassinate President Trump pledging that “this time we will not miss.” Well, a regime that murders and hangs its own people and which is mired in a water crises and inflation might want to consider a more low-key approach especially when that regime’s past performance against the US air force is considered. For now the ISW reports that protests have been suppressed by security forces but could erupt again at any time so we will see. Finally, folks, to close this Castle Report here is an interesting quote from Paul Craig Roberts. “The United States is a strange place. Americans pledge their allegiance to the United States of America, but their government pledges allegiance to Israel. President Trump parades around as if he is master of the world, but he is not even master of his own country.” At least that’s the way I see it, Until next time folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.

Darrell Castle ushers in 2026 by talking about the world as he sees it today along with some year-end thoughts about the past, the present, and the unknown future. Transcription/Notes BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is the 2nd day of January in the year of our Lord 2026. In this Castle Report I will be talking about the world as I see it today along with some year-end thoughts about the past, the present, and the unknown future. “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” Those are the words of the Prince of Peace whose birth we just celebrated, and his words have been the bed rock of Western Civilization for over 2000 years. The decorations, gifts, and celebrations are just one of our connections to a Christian culture that has held Western Civilization together throughout its history. My thanks once again for Dr, Ron Paul’s recent Liberty Report where he so eloquently sets these concepts out. Somehow it all seems different now. The mayor of New York City has been sworn in on the Quran rather than the bible. The nation itself with debt having surpassed $38 trillion Continues its enforcement of the Wolfowitz Doctrine which is part of the project for a new American century. Paul Wolfowitz put his name on a policy that still seems to drive the American government even under the America first president. Simply put, that doctrine says that American hegemony will dominate the world and no competitor which threatens that policy will be allowed to rise. The U.S. military will be used to destroy any competition. In practical terms, it means that the U.S. government will continue to use its military to bankrupt the country while exporting misery and suffering to others in pursuit of a global military empire on the framework of ancient Rome. My argument for you today is that this policy places the U.S. government in direct opposition to the title of this Castle Report. This year marked the first time the Defense budget item has surpassed the $1 trillion mark. Congress was so enthusiastic about it that they voted more money than the president asked for. The $1 trillion doesn’t include interest on the defense related debt, veteran’s affairs such as hospitals and lifetime care for the wounded and components of other agencies and departments with items related to defense so it is much larger than the published amount. Those who are responsible for such things probably still have a chance to save the economy if they did the responsible thing but instead they repeatedly do the opposite of the right thing. President Eisenhower was the last president to recognize what was happening and to refuse its allure. He also warned President Kennedy who tried to heed the warning but he died for those efforts. I paraphrase President Eisenhower’s famous speech from 1953 entitled “The Chance for Peace” each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families.” The new National Security Strategy document recently released by the Trump administration has set off a firestorm among those who favor warfare to solve every perceived problem. The document seems to be a reversal of the foreign policy doctrine that has existed since the end of World War ll. That policy included the formation of NATO with the US as the unofficial guarantor of military security. The US would accept responsibility for the defense of Western Europe and ensure that the Soviet Union was held intact. In return the US would have reserve currency status and would through that status control the world’s economy. Reserve currency status ensured that the US would have the means through the accumulation of debt to fund its military in all circumstances. This was also a recognition by Europe that it was free to devote virtually all of its resources to rebuilding and to the welfare projects that would keep its citizens comfortable and thereby avoid revolution. The new strategy document seems to refute that policy and it appears to place Europe in some responsibility for its own defense. The Europeans don’t like the policy shift at all but they are at least verbally adjusting to it. They came up with a way to obtain loans of up to $100 billion for Ukraine to continue the war to the last Ukrainian. The last few years have seen them trying to provoke a new war with Russia and this new policy might have a chilling effect on that desire. The US also included $800 million in the defense bill for Ukraine. Joan and I were talking about all this over breakfast the other day and she pointed out that people are starting to see fraud despite media refusal to discuss it. Some of those things like the fraud of the Somali community in Minnesota and the election fraud in Georgia now freely admitted are obvious. We also have the American people seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and an economy declining because it’s burdened by debt. People are becoming aware of all this more and more as they see their country committed to the defense and foreign policy of a country far away. The people have come to realize that if they express criticism of that country’s foreign policy the argument requires them to defend a charge of antisemitism instead of the policy. The same is true of the billions of fraud in Minnesota because the Governor of that state said that criticism was white supremacy so the argument is a defense of that charge instead of the fraud. Joan’s position is that people are not ignorant despite media’s refusal to report and investigate they are aware of what is going on. My response to her was yes, you are right but that puts us in the most dangerous position possibly ever. People see rampant crime and theft by government and they see government saying America first but its foreign policy seems to put another country’s interest first, and that creates a dangerous, revolutionary atmosphere. I’m afraid that people are becoming aware that one of the founding principles which helped make America great is being erased and that principle is the empowerment of the individual over the power of the collective to demand obedience and compliance. In the American culture the individual counts and I’m afraid many are losing sight of that. The individual can take a stand against injustice without fear of reprisal from government. When governors have no argument against fraud except those who uncover it and point it out are white supremacists, and when senators have no response to pointing out the foreign policy faults of another country except to accuse those who object of antisemitism it means thee government officials have lost the argument because they have nothing to say. The real problem happens when government loses the argument as it has currently, which makes fraud and waste obvious to anyone. People try to change the system through voting but they see that it does not change very much. The worst frustration is that the dangerous revolutionary civil war tension is created when people see it, understand it, but nothing is ever done. They see fraud costing billions and they know that is just the tip of the iceberg. They see their money taken by the IRS to fund the wars in favor of other nations. They see fraud at every level and yet they are struggling to get by and they cannot get by without accumulating debt, which becomes unpayable. They know the difference between their debt and government debt is that they actually have to answer for theirs.  Some of the things which have changed the lifestyles of the American people since the end of the covid confinement are really startling for the American families. Since covid, gas for utilities up 48.8%, car maintenance and repair 48.8%, car insurance 56.1%, coffee 46.1%, electricity 40.4%, meat 38.1%, used cars 33.6% bread 29,4%, milk 24.1%. I could go on and on with these numbers but just ask yourself if your income since covid has increased by anything close to these numbers. So, we can see the elements of an explosion building and smoldering. Couple this to the knowledge people have that they must send their children to schools which are run by people who hate them. Their children will be indoctrinated by teachers who hate them so their children will become like those who hate them and look to people who have caused the problem for the answer thus the inauguration of the mayor of our greatest city on the Quran. I know what you must be thinking, it’s not everyone of them and there are some officials who really do care. Yes, I know about those people, but the truth is that the ones who claim to care make some angry speech to that effect and then go on about their business as if nothing happened. That is the demoralizing truth that we face here in the first month of 2026. In conclusion, whether we know it or not, we are all beneficiaries of the religion created by the one who is the author of the title of this Castle Report. The moral doctrine created by that religion has curbed power and defended the weak and helpless for over 2000 years. When you lay aside those moral principle you have power unleashed, enforced through force, and not limited by anything, to paraphrase Lenin. Finally, folks, as we start 2026 I close with another quote from President Eisenhower or at least I paraphrase him,” the people of the world are so desperate for peace that sooner or later the governments will have to step aside and let them have it.” At least that’s the way I see it, Until next time folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.

Darrell Castle talks about the economy in general as well as the United States economy specifically, and why American families are struggling financially. Transcription / Notes IT’S THE ECONOMY Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 21st day of November in the year of our Lord 2025. I will be talking about the economy in general as well as the United States economy specifically. You probably remember when Democrat policy advisor James Carville told then candidate Bill Clinton, “it’s the economy stupid.” He was correct and the advice is still correct today.  Remember that next week is Thanksgiving so there will be no Castle Report. I will join you again on Friday December 5. Carville was a very effective political operative in those days and was apparently able to convince Mr. Clinton that the people who would elect him or his opponent cared more about their standard of living than they did about any foreign policy issue. They should have cared more about donating their children to the foreign policy whims of whoever was in office but when push comes to shove everyone has to eat. A family of four, and those relationships used to exist, is acutely aware of what food and gasoline cost. I’m a layperson in economics in the sense that I’m not trained in economics but I do have a family with the same economic needs as everyone else. Most importantly I have been a bankruptcy attorney for 46 years which has kept me in the forefront of the economic needs of ordinary people. Tens of thousands of people and businesses have told me about their struggles in cities all over the country and I have helped them find a way through their economic troubles. With all that said let’s look at some of the economic facts that trouble the country right now. When I say, as I do from time to time, that an economic catastrophe is coming with the only question being when it will arrive, why do I believe that. Not much makes sense these days since America is the hottest economy attracting trillions in capital but inflation is still present and it seems that almost weekly another major corporation announces layoffs or store closings. Last week the fast-food chain, Wendy’s, announced that it would be closing 400 restaurants. Amazon announced that it would be replacing about 30,000 employees with robots. The economy depends on federal spending and that is now completely out of control. My fear is that so many irreversible commitments have been made that the federal government is not capable of living within its means and if true that would signal eventual disaster. Fiscal year 2025, which ended on September 30 of this year posted a deficit of $1.8 trillion. Deficit means that the government spent $1.8 trillion more than it received in revenue. It’s simple if you think about it from the standpoint of your family. Suppose you make $75 thousand per year but you spend $100 thousand and you do that year after year. You know what is going to happen eventually and that means you will be in my office to consult about bankruptcy. You can keep the plates in the air for a while by borrowing, pay day loans and the like, and by using one credit card to pay another until there is no more credit limit left on any cards. You can last for a while by just making interest payments on the cards but then you can’t even do that. This problem gets worse and worse until it becomes unfixable and bankruptcy results. That is exactly what the federal government is doing to manage its spending. One of the major warning signs of impending trouble that economists always warn us about is when interest becomes the biggest item in the budget. It doesn’t exceed medical expenses or social security yet but this year, ominously, interest was higher than the massive defense budget. Just as you do with your credit cards the government has to borrow just to pay the interest. In other words, the government is paying debt by incurring more debt which drives the debt and next year’s payments even higher. This all means that annual interest, which now exceeds 20% of tax revenue will continue to increase. The debt is purchased primarily by foreign governments, central banks, large corporations, commercial banks and individual investors. Recently, in an ominous trend, those foreigners have been net sellers of U.S. debt. That means that the financing of the debt falls to domestic investors meaning you and me. People individually, through retirement accounts or through purchase of some investment fund, finance government debt with their savings. It is necessary that individual Americans do well because they have to save to invest in U.S. debt. Unfortunately, this year net savings is on track to be less than $1trillion, the lowest figure in many years while the deficit is on track to be roughly $2 trillion. This all means there are not enough foreign buyers and not enough domestic savers to finance the debt so the only option is for the banking system, i.e., the Federal Reserve, to create the money to pay for the excessive spending. I say excessive because if you spend more than you make with no plan to pay it, I call that excessive. When you get yourself into that cycle you have to stop, to reverse course before it is too late. It’s almost like alcoholism or some other addiction. You can stop for a while, but then it’s too late and you can’t stop on your own. Inflation is the result when money is created and pumped into the economy without any corresponding increase in production. Energy, it is estimated, is about 50% of the cost of producing everything. When you make energy decisions on a national level that cut back available energy and add to the costs, everything increases in price across the economy. When politicians of one party or another decide to put on their virtue signaling act by refusing to allow domestic production it costs everyone. Everything families use, food, fuel, autos, and clothes for individuals cost more and the products necessary for business from machinery to microchips increase as well. There is no corresponding increase in wages for people so their standard of living is diminished. If a person usually pays $2.75 per gallon for gas and uses 20 gallons per week that is $55 per week so if it goes to $3.00 he just took a $5.00 reduction in his standard of living. People see this happening and they circle the wagons by cutting back on spending. When people reduce spending huge corporations such as Walmart and Amazon cut back as well which means jobs are lost and the process gets worse and worse. Lay-offs are becoming common and technology such as AI along with robotics makes reducing the workforce easier to do. As I said earlier, Amazon has announced plans to replace 30,000 workers with robots. Those machines never have sick days, they take no vacations, they do not get pregnant, and they don’t worry about retirement.  Bad policies from the federal government and most policies are bad, make our lives more complicated and more expensive. For example, Obamacare was called The Affordable Care Act but it has made the cost of healthcare much higher and the cost of insurance is skyrocketing. There are several indicators that can be followed to track the status of the economy. The first and most obvious is shipping records. The giant container ships that you see pictures of and view on television represent the health of the population economically. Timber is another indicator and prices are lower this year. That’s good for consumers because it means things made from timber are also lower but it also bodes ill for the overall health of the economy. Lower demand for timber means lower demand for new houses. Builders aren’t building as much and that means the housing market is slow.  Not many are looking to build a new home because they can’t afford it. Instead, people who have low-interest rate mortgages are sitting tight which means fewer homes on the market and higher prices. The young suffer because they don’t have a lower interest rate loan and houses are rising so they can’t afford to move out of their apartment to have a family. Most people who start a family want a place with a yard for their kids to play in, I know I did when my daughter was born. High home prices mean that for the first time in U.S. history, the average age of first-time home buyers is above 40. The president sees all this as well as I do and he is very conscious of the fact that his tariffs have added to the cost of everything whether he admits it or not. A tariff is a charge whether we call it a tax or not, it is a fee we charge foreigners for the privilege of having access to the American market. The result when it ripples through the economy is more money burning a hole in the government’s pocket and higher prices for individuals. The president sees that and he hears the crying so he comes up with a plan to send $2000 to each American below a certain income. I’m opposed to it for many reasons but the primary one is that it will fuel more inflation and make everything cost more and be self-defeating. Who wouldn’t want an extra $2000 he hasn’t earned but in the long run it will not help. My local newspaper, which is owned by the USA Today group and therefore is an almost exact copy of the New York Times, except the sports coverage is not as good, said in an article I received last Wednesday that the cost of it “could be $600 million” while the tariffs have brought in only $300 million. So, the cost could be this or that but I assume everything in the article is slanted and a lie so you can’t depend on it for information. Instead, the paper should say, look folks, this country is $38 trillion in debt and on track to spend $2 trillion more than it takes in so to have some chance to avoid a catastrophe use the money to at least reduce the deficit. Finally, folks, is there any way to restore the system and avoid what I have called a looming catastrophe? Sure there is, just see the results Javier Milieu has achieved in Argentina in only two years. Cut spending and stop only tying excessive spending to fraud. Just say we can’t afford it anymore. Close overseas bases and stop fighting other people’s wars. Come home and mind your own business. Wasteful programs, and that is almost all of them, will have to go. So that is the obvious formula but will we attempt it, no I’m certain we will not. At least that’s the way I see it, Until December 5th folks, This is Darrell Castle, Thanks for listening.