Castle Report

The Castle Report

• Resetting the Global Order
  Darrell talks about several things that taken together, in his opinion, represent an attempt by President Trump to reset the global order. Transcription / Notes RESETTING THE GLOBAL ORDER Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 14th day of March in the year of our Lord 2025. I will be talking about several things that taken together, in my opinion, represent an attempt by President Trump to reset the global order. Some of those things include a proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine, along with the US and Europe’s special relationship and the attitude of the US toward Russia. US national security advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio went to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for talks with Ukrainian officials about a proposal for ending the Ukraine/Russia war. It’s a very difficult thing to end a war unless you are able to raise your flag over the enemy capitol. Getting two warring sides to just stop fighting and stand in place is very difficult because one side or the other always has the advantage or momentum and wants to keep it. This particular peace conference was apparently brokered by the Saudis who had several representatives in attendance. One important party missing from the meeting was Russia which will obviously have to be onboard if the ceasefire has any chance of working. Ukraine agreed to the discussions and quickly agreed to the deal when Zelensky’s visit to the oval office didn’t go so well and Trump cut off aid and Intelligence information to Ukraine. Without that intelligence including targeting information, Ukraine could not prosecute the war so Zelensky swallowed his pride and accepted the deal. Now, it has to go to Russia for approval and that might be difficult because Russia seems to think it has the advantage. Several Russian missile attacks against Ukraine have occurred since the deal was made but that is probably just trying to appear dominant before Putin talks to Trump or whoever it turns out to be. This ceasefire proposal is set to last for 30 days as a way to start negotiations to end the war. Again, it’s difficult because both sides think they have won or at least should win and winners expect to dictate terms not to negotiate. Trump’s attitude has been to let Zelensky know that the US billions were going to stop flowing and it is in his best interest to make the best deal possible. That deal will not include NATO membership or a US guarantee of security for Ukraine, hopefully. Why couldn’t Europe just admit Ukraine to NATO on its own? No, it can’t because admitting new members has to be unanimous. Rubio was quoted as saying that Ukraine has to be ready to do difficult things and Russia would also have to make difficult decisions. When asked what difficult decisions he said that both sides would have to conclude that the conflict could not be resolved by military means. Rubio said that the President wants the war to end and Ukraine has accepted that premise and we hope the Russians will accept it as well. My interpretation of that diplomat speak is that Ukraine will have to permanently concede the eastern Russian speaking provinces along with Crimea to Russia. Who will maintain this proposed ceasefire line, I’m not sure but I hope it’s not the USA just as it does in Korea. No, that would be very unacceptable and I hope that Trump would not go along. Yesterday, in advance of any US—Russia meeting Putin rejected the ceasefire as proposed without “substantial changes.” He said he wanted the root cause of the conflict eliminated but he did not say what he thinks the root cause is. He wants guarantees that the Ukrainians will not mobilize, train soldiers or receive weapons during the ceasefire. These proposals seem reasonable assuming that Putin would also agree to abide by them although his announcement did not say that he would. He made the announcement just as the American envoy, Steve Witkoff was arriving in Moscow so perhaps Mr.
• Jefferson Was Right About Europe
  Darrell Castle talks about Europe, Zelensky, and the war in Ukraine as well as the President's speech to Congress and the Democrat reaction to it. JEFFERSON WAS RIGHT ABOUT EUROPE Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 7th day of March in the year of our Lord 2025. I will be talking about Europe, Zelensky, and the war in Ukraine as well as the President’s speech to Congress and the Democrat reaction to it. I will start today’s Report with a disclaimer. When I talk about Democrats and say nasty but always truthful things about them, when I refer to them in some disparaging terms I am talking about the politicians and their useful idiots in the media and not about individual Americans who identify as Democrats many of whom are dear friends or even relatives. So, I have no apology to offer for anything I have said or will say today about Democrat politicians because if I did not believe my position to be true I would certainly change it. In addition, there are some Republican politicians almost as bad as Democrats, almost but not quite because they know better but are simply reacting as the self-serving political hypocrites that they are. The title of this Castle Report is taken from a quote by Thomas Jefferson offered more than 200 years ago but just as true today as it was then. “I have deemed it fundamental for the United States never to take active part in the quarrels of Europe. Their political interests are entirely distinct from ours. Their mutual jealousies, their balance of power, their complicated alliances, their forms and principles of government, are all foreign toys. They are nations of eternal war.” Yes, they are nations of eternal war and since the end of World War II we, the United States, have been as well because we have served as the military enforcement arm of European nations, especially NATO members. Some events have recently come to pass that give me reason to hope that situation might be at least starting to change. One of those events was the meltdown in the Oval Office by President Zelensky of Ukraine. Why would a man with almost no cards in his hand at least no winning ones make such a defiant spectacle of himself in the office of the President of the United States. The New York Post has the answer for us: “Before meeting Trump, Zelensky met with anti-Trump Democrats who advised him to reject the terms of the mineral deal the president was offering, according to Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn). Just finished a meeting with President Zelensky here in Washington. He confirmed that the Ukrainian people will not support a fake peace agreement where Putin gets everything he wants and there are no security arrangements for Ukraine. He attached a picture of Zelensky at a conference table, with Murphy seated on the opposite side..” Some people have said that by listening to the democrats Zelensky betrayed his country and its people, but my question is what about the Democrats. Who or what did they betray. They betrayed the American people and hindered the President’s ability to end a war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. That could be a violation of the Logan act regarding foreign policy, but it is at least dangerous and reckless uncaring behavior. Trump offered Zelensky a deal whereby he could express his gratitude to America by ceding the mineral rights to the very valuable rare earth minerals under the Ukrainian soil. You can hear my Castle Report called Ukraine is a Gold Mine by going to the index and finding 6-14-24. In that podcast I explain that neocon Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, tells us that we have to stay in the Ukraine war because it has a lot of valuable minerals under its soil. Trump knows about the valuable minerals and he therefore proposed that Zelensky sign an agreement ceding the rights to those resources to the US in return for continued military and other economic support.
• The Theater of Tax and Spend
  Darrell Castle talks about taking on or contending with the deep state or permanent Washington and how that relates to money, debt, credit and taxes. Transcription / Notes THE THEATER OF TAX AND SPEND Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 28th day of February in the year of our Lord 2025. I will be talking about taking on or contending with the deep state or permanent Washington and how that relates to money, debt, credit and taxes. Many taxpayers feel as if they have been and are being robbed by government officials and bureaucrats and that just might be because they are. If you are like me then you know a lot of people who live on the edge barely making ends meet from week to week. I meet people literally everyday in my law practice who tell me they are one missed paycheck from the street. It is very distressing for those people when they find that much of the money taken from them as taxes was stolen by some invisible blob operating out of Washington D.C. We are told during each presidential administration that the country has cast itself into penury by ceaseless efforts to care for its population as well as maintain a global security network to keep them safe and free. That statement is the opposite of truth as is normal for Washington. The recent theft, estimated at 4.7 trillion as is known so far, represents about two thirds of the annual national budget, but it disappears and is apparently impossible to trace. Nobody who should know does know and even fewer care where it goes. People are starting to wonder how someone comes to Washington with modest net worth and makes a salary of $170,000 per year for say 10 years and suddenly has a net worth of over $100 million. For example, Samatha Power, former head of USAID in four years her net worth went from $6.4 million to $30 million on a salary of $180,000. That net worth represents approximately 100 times her salary so I wonder how she achieved such a miracle. Just a smart lady I guess. I would certainly advise anyone who has a desire to get rich in the stock market to look at the portfolios of Samantha Power and Nancy Pelosi and follow their trades because they are indeed stock picking geniuses.  The answers to some of those puzzling questions are starting to be found through the efforts of Doge so the next question becomes what can we do about the theft of our labor. Speaking for myself I dread April 15th this year as I have never dreaded it before. I never look forward to Tax Day but my wife and I manage each year to find the money they demand from us and pay it with a good-natured shrug of our shoulders.  That was before we knew for certain that we were being robbed each year. I have been working and paying federal taxes for about 60 years so that is a lot of money. I normally don’t agree with or support the useless and unconstitutional wars that Washington seems to constantly find its way into but now I know that the Pentagon has an enormous black hole where trillions disappear and remain unaccounted for. This is how I think people are starting to view the government, its employees and the economy in general. People are skeptical and always have been but now they are turning from just skepticism to downright mistrust and dislike. I know many people are thinking this way because I talk to different people each day primarily about their finances as we try together to find their way out of a debt morass. It appears there are two parallel economies at work. One is for those people slaving away at a real job while trying to make ends meet and feed their families despite being bled dry by the IRS. It’s amazing how closely the debt load of working people matches the money taken from them by the IRS. That doesn’t even include the state income taxes of most states, sales taxes, and most importantly property taxes. The other economy is for those who benefit from and conduct the theft of the labor of normal...