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The Castle Report

The Castle Report

Written by: Darrell Castle
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Defending Western CivilizationDarrell Castle Political Science Politics & Government
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  • Aircraft Carriers Headed in the Wrong Direction

    Aircraft Carriers Headed in the Wrong Direction
    Oct 12 2026
    Darrell Castle discusses the deployment of a 3rd U.S. aircraft carrier as well as a 2nd marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East region. Transcription / Notes AIRCRAFT CARRIERS HEADED IN THE WRONG DIRECTION Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Due to technical difficulties this report is dated Monday, the 12th day of October in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat is war again as I will be discussing the deployment of a 3rd aircraft carrier as well as a 2nd marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East region. From the title you may deduce that my view is that the other two should be heading home rather than sending a 3rd to join them. Yes folks the USS Theodore Roosevelt has departed its home base of San Diego and is on its way to join the George HW Bush and the George Washington in the Middle East conflict zone. Sailing with the Ted as the sailors call the Roosevelt is the USS Makin Island which contains a 2nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MAU). The USS Boxer already on station contains a MAU which brings the total number of Marines to around 11,000 or that’s the number being reported. Since the war against Iran started President Trump has deployed about 120 strike aircraft to the region including F-35 stealth attack fighters, F-22 air superiority fighters along with old standbys the F-16 and F-15 Strike Eagles. These troops currently deployed will be joining the roughly 50,000 already there deployed on ships and on bases across the region. The U.S. maintains 19 bases in the Middle East with eight of them permanently located in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates. I’m opposed to all this for many reasons as the title to this Castle Report indicates and one of the chief reasons is the U.S. Constitution as the supreme law of the land does not permit it. That supreme law requires an incoming president to take an oath to it or to the law if you will. The oath is not to a country and certainly not to any person. No one is above it including the President. Let me share the very short oath the incoming president takes from Article II, Section 1, Clause 8. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Just 36 easy to understand words but if the Presidents obeyed that oath what a difference it would make. He’s not the only one violating the oath because virtually every elected official in the country takes a similar oath. When asked by the press if he thinks it’s necessary for him to obey the Constitution he usually refers the questioner to his team of brilliant lawyers who tell him he is legally OK or not. The founders wrote the words as they did to make the document readable and understandable by ordinary people so no team of lawyers is necessary to explain the oath to him or to tell him ways to avoid its words. It seems that he believes that he has the legal authority to take the nation to war without permission from congress or he just doesn’t care what congress thinks. The oath that government officials and military personnel take to the Constitution is what makes America, America. The document grants to Congress, not the President the power to declare war. In other words, before the U.S. military starts shooting and bombing, Congress, acting as the representatives of the people must give permission. This happened before when the U.S. went to war without approval by Congress in Vietnam. Finally, the war was so bad and so many were dying Congress decided to at least look at it. The War Powers Act was passed in 1973 and it said that in the absence of a Congressionally declared war within 48 hours the President must explain to Congress why he has gone to war without a formal declaration. When the war reaches 60 days he cannot continue the war without Congressional approval, and without that approval he must halt the war within 30 days. It appears to me that the President is outside even the requirements of the War Powers Act but still he continues the war. He tells us that it is necessary because Iran has or is developing a nuclear weapon and that is veery dangerous for the world and cannot be allowed to happen. He offers us no proof, no evidence, of the nuclear weapon and even his Director of National Intelligence disputed the claim but still the war continues. American leaders usually seem to think that because of our overwhelming power and technology the wars they start will be short and decisive and absent U.S. casualties. It never seems to work out that way and furthermore the nature of war has changed because of what has happened in Iran and Ukraine. Hypersonic missiles directed by satellite targeting data as well as armed swarms of drones have changed it. Now, those aircraft carriers must stand off at least 600 miles from their targets to give them a ...
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    11 mins
  • President Trump Speaks to the UN

    President Trump Speaks to the UN
    Sep 25 2026
    Darrell Castle talks about the President’s speech, last Tuesday, to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. He also discusses the administration’s decision to sell advanced F-35 stealth jets to Saudi Arabia. Transcription / Notes PRESIDENT TRUMP SPEAKS TO THE UN Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 25th day of September in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is not war although there is some war in it. I will be talking about the President’s speech last Tuesday to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. In addition, I will say a few words about the administration’s decision to sell advanced F-35 stealth jets to Saudi Arabia and the Israeli reaction to that decision. His speech was more of a campaign speech than a statesmanlike address to the world’s diplomats. He listed many of the things he claims to have accomplished during his term and if they we were all true I would be a reasonably happy man at least foreign policy wise. He said that when he left office the first time the country was a peaceful and prosperous place but when he returned he found it to be a mess he had to fix. I’m just giving my own take on what he said but to me he seemed to be pleading his case to them that if they and the other decision makers of the world would just listen to him and do what he demands we would all be happy, peaceful, and prosperous. For example, he spent quite a bit of time explaining to the members that before he was President his company tried to get the contract to remodel the UN building in which he was speaking. He said he told them he would guarantee a first-class job with marble floors and walnut walls for only $500 million guaranteed. They refused his offer and the resulting cost was about $3 billion and for inferior work. The man does know how to build beautiful buildings so that much of his speech is probably true, but as to war, well that’s another thing entirely. He told them that he has stopped 7 wars and two more wars are raging but he is working night and day to stop them. The wars he ended were said to be unendable and would go on forever but he ended them. The war currently raging in Ukraine is really terrible because so many young men are dying but Russia can not be persuaded it seems. Now, an ironic thing he didn’t mention leads me to think that perhaps Russia is not so bad and can be dealt with. Diesel prices are soaring in the US if the fuel is even obtainable so he told Zelensky to stop attacking Russia’s ability to produce diesel. Zelensky promptly attacked the same refineries again and then the day after Trump again asked him to stop he hit Russia’s biggest diesel refinery and bragged about it. So, what is the American president supposed to do with a man who takes our money, begs for more, then snubs his nose when the President needs his help for the mid-terms. I have a suggestion for the President that I submit would end the war very quickly. Not one more dollar, not one more bomb, not one more bullet and most importantly no more targeting information. I at least understand why he attacked Iran but Ukraine is another matter. He attacked Iran because Bibi Netanyahu told him too but Ukraine makes no sense. I don’t see any Israeli interest there and he is certainly no friend of the Europeans. He has continually said that he and Putin are on very good terms so why keep funding Russia’s enemies. Iran is a whole other matter because he campaigned on a promise that he would be known for the wars he didn’t start. I admit that message was music to my ears and it drew me in. If true it would have negated his abrasive personality but just about a year after inauguration he launched an unprovoked attack against Iran and started another costly, unending, unwinnable war. Whatever Bibi Netanyahu has on him is costing US taxpayers billions and costing the lives of a lot of people. So, what is the solution in Iran. The same as in Ukraine except whatever hold Bibi has might be very embarrassing, but it should be made public for the American people to see what they have been buying. Maybe he could end it like he did as he explained to the diplomats in this quote. “Likewise, in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars. They said they were unendable. You’re never gonna get them solved. Some were going on for 31 years, two of them, 31, think of it, 31 years. One was 36 years; one was 28 years. I ended seven wars, and in all cases, they were raging with countless, thousands of people, being killed. This includes Cambodia and Thailand; Kosovo and Serbia; the Congo and Rwanda, a vicious violent war that was; Pakistan and India; Israel and Iran; Egypt and Ethiopia; and Armenia and Azerbaijan. It included all of them. No president or prime minister, and for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that. And I did it in just seven months. It’s never ...
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    11 mins
  • The Head of the Snake Speaks

    The Head of the Snake Speaks
    Oct 2 2026
    Darrell Castle talks about the September 29, 2026 26-page letter written to the American people by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The title of this Castle Report comes from the neocon description of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the head of the snake. Transcription / Notes THE HEAD OF THE SNAKE SPEAKS Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 2nd day of October in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat once again is war, more or less because I will be talking about a 26-page letter written to the American people by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and delivered on September 29. The title of this Castle Report comes from the neocon description of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the head of the snake. People have wondered during this entire war if the US is fighting the Mullahs or the Iranian military and those who command it and this letter seems to answer that question. It also is an effort to take the Iranian case to the American people in order to influence the upcoming Mid-Terms. To me this letter is a sign of perceived weakness, division, and disorder. It appeals to logic in an effort to influence an already divided and anti-Israel mood in the American public. I took the time to read the entire 26 pages which is no small task because in reading it one gets the feeling that it is much longer than 26 pages. I don’t mean to imply that the letter is silly or not well written because it certainly is well written and it contains much truth. In an effort to indicate that we are all just people who should be getting along it starts by “Saluting the noble souls of God’s greatest prophets—Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, may His peace and blessings be upon them all.” The real point of the letter could be summed up in one sentence; “Americans can live peacefully with Iran if they separate themselves from the Israeli regime.” When I say the letter appeals to logic and fairness I am thinking as well of the recent Iranian address to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. His remarks were given to the Assembly and the world with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu sitting there as well. He talked about the American demand that Iran surrender all its nuclear material and give up its desire to be a nuclear armed country and to permit international inspections to ensure compliance. He pointed out that Israel has nuclear weapons, atomic bombs, he called them, and everyone knows that. There are no international discussions of Israel’s nuclear program and no demands that they surrender their nuclear material. International inspections of Israel would never be allowed or even discussed. That statement is so obviously true that I don’t see how anyone can argue with it. Whether you think Iran contains a far more dangerous people than Israelis is another matter. He just presented it as a logical argument of a double standard. Well, let’s take a look at what the letter actually said about what is happening and what is possible. The IRGC in this letter directly addresses American citizens, students, academics and journalists, giving its view of the war, decades of US-Iran hostility and what it advises Americans to do next. In other words, the writer is addressing the people in America he believes to be most likely moved to his view by his words of persuasion. The IRGC claims victory in the war and argues that the U.S. and Israel failed to achieve their objectives despite vastly greater military spending. It directs the reader to Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, continued weapons production, national unity and damage inflicted on U.S. bases in the region. It’s hard to argue that the statement is anything other than true. Once again, as in Vietnam, the U.S. military finds itself in a war essentially against China and Russia. Those countries supplied virtually all the anti-air missiles and weapons to the Vietnamese and North Korean armies; therefore, we Americans are fighting them and the Iranians supply the cannon fodder for the proxy battle. Same song, second verse or when will we ever learn. That’s unless it’s all part of some diabolical plan of course. I agree with the writer that the Strait of Hormuz is the determining factor in who wins this war. Could this be the Suez moment for the American empire referencing back to 1956 when President Eisenhower ordered the British out of the Sinai and Suez and told them if they did not comply he would destroy their financial system. That was the end of the British Empire and the establishment of America as the dominant force in the world. Then, in 1971 President Nixon cut the dollar loose from any restraint and started a long descent into debt penury. If Iran emerges from this war with the ability to decide who passes through the Gulf, under what conditions, and at what cost, it will be difficult to overstate the long term, worldwide ...
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    12 mins
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