The lunatics are running the asylum

Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Sometimes it occurs to me that what I am really doing with these Reports that I present each week is chronicling the actions of the insane people who seem to be in charge now, as well as the insane people who challenge their authority. Today then, will be no different. For I will point out some of the insanity that jumps out of the news at anyone who looks.

SARS-CoV-2 isolation update

Here at the Castle family we are doing fine. And doing our best to hold onto our sanity in a world gone mad. Each day we watch the local government and hope that it does not choose to commit some act of insanity that will restrict our law firm’s ability to function. The family daughter remains stuck at the bottom of the world and is restricted to watching the insanity by video.

Insanity both federal and local

The things which seem to be driving the insanity right now include:

• The coronavirus, the lockdowns and other economic destruction it has wrought, and
• Riots, looting, anarchy defined as a breakdown of law and order in the mostly Democrat cities.

The breakdown seems to be fueled by the fact that the elected representatives in those cities and states often refuse to enforce the law and even openly side with the lawbreakers. When that happens destruction of the rule of law is sure to follow.

Insanity on display: Portland, Ore.

For example, the city center of Portland, Oregon, the rose city, has become a burned-out wreck. Years of street violence by Antifa, and now Black lives matter have finally evolved into more than 50 consecutive days of what amounts to violent insurrection. This insurrection includes attempts to burn:

• The federal courthouse,
• Offices of the Portland Police Union, and
• Many other public buildings.

Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler, Oregon Governor Kate Brown, and Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum have joined the insurrection. Nobody seem clear as to what the riots are about or what perceived problems the rioters are protesting.

I wonder if there are any law-abiding hard-working people left in Portland who just want to go about their lives in peace. That is probably the case because every demand of the rioters, no matter how ridiculous, someone quickly agrees to.

Sending in the officers

President Trump gave in to the siren’s call to restore order and protect federal property in Portland and sent in federal officers.

These officers have apparently been arresting Antifa leaders and rioters off the streets of Portland. That was and is a mistake in my view and it is a mistake that cannot be papered over by an executive order. Not only does it violate the Constitution, but it is not even a wise political move.¹

The mayor complains – but lets his city burn

Mayor Wheeler does not like it one bit. In fact demanded that the federal officers, which he referred to as federal troops,² leave Portland immediately. “Their presence here is actually leading to more violence and more vandalism.” I wonder how anyone would know if there was more. Indeed the city has been taken over, colonized and occupied by a foreign invasion for months.³ I don’t support the use of federal officers against the will of local officials either. But the reaction of the mayor to the loss of his city is interesting. I suppose that in his mind Portland’s sacrifice is collateral damage in a broader struggle.

Details of the EO

The officers were deployed from the department of homeland security and the US Marshal’s Service, and Customs and Border Protection. The executive order has the goal to protect statues and federal property in general. It requires prosecution of anyone who damages such property. That order, according to the federal government, allows federal officers to operate outside the permission of local authorities. But that view is dead wrong. US Attorneys in each district are there to investigate and prosecute federal crimes. If they will not do their job they can and should be replaced.

Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley are demanding full investigation into the “unrequested presence and violent actions of federal forces in Portland.” They don’t seem to worry about the breakdown of order, or the rioting and looting. Just the presence of federal officers concerns them. History tells me that South Carolina once made the same complaint.⁴ I understand that as of yesterday the mayor has requested National Guard troops to quell the disorder in Portland.

Two kinds of insanity at work in Portland?

We have a big government and big government means big, unrestrained power. Big government means lots of power to ignore the legal restraints and do whatever it wants at any time. What would lead us to think that government would restrict itself to such things as social justice, equality, fairness, etc. no matter whom anyone elects to lead it?

Strange, frightening uniforms, black sites, snatching of individuals off the streets with no due process, disappearance of certain individuals are often the result of such out of control governments. That is why Portland’s officials should keep in mind that a government strong enough to seize the means of production from private ownership, just might be strong enough to run your city from Washington.

Seattle – more insanity on display

Up the coast we have another form of insanity in Seattle. The city council of Seattle recently a meeting on Zoom. In it, council member Lisa Herbold proposed cutting the city police force by 50%. But that proposal is not even controversial anymore. The controversy arose with the way she proposed the cuts. Only white officers would be “laid off” and officers of color would be exempt from lay off.

The end goal of Seattle is to support the defund movement and end police presence in that city. Their goal will have deadly consequences for their population, but the council seems unable to comprehend that. Perhaps that is because when a council member calls the police or their private security service, they get an immediate response. Yes, Seattle’s woke council wants to reimagine and rebuild with community-led organizations. But for the sake of the people of Seattle, I hope the violent predators are as down with the cause as they are.

Chicago: insanity under camouflage

In Chicago, as usual, they have a different problem and that involves mayor Lori Lightfoot. She has lost control of her city. Indeed she has had to admit that although she camouflages her admission, but badly. Last Monday Mayor Lightfoot sent a letter to the President of the United States agreeing to his offer to send 150 federal agents to the city to help it cope with violent crime, “mostly peaceful” riots and looting, and skyrocketing shootings and murders.

What I mean by camouflage was in the rest of her letter. She went on to say all the things about how she was very reluctant, etc.

Later she tweeted, “Under no circumstances will I allow Donald Trump’s troops to come to Chicago and terrorize our residents.”

Who is terrorizing whom?

One hour and a half after her tweet and long before any federal officers could arrive, 14 people took bullets at a funeral home. They were attending a funeral for someone who had died from a fatal shot.

To the mayor’s comment about terrorize our residents, I would reply that the street thugs of her city have done a fair job of that already. As of the 24^th of July, 459 people have been shot with 93 dead this month, and we still have a week to go. So, mayor, when your city is already a bloody war zone, how can federal assistance make it any worse?

The insanity of gun control

Chicago has one of the strictest gun control laws in the nation. I suppose that is why only 700 or 800 people are shot to death each year. Without that strict law to keep law abiding people from defending themselves, I know it would be much worse.⁵ I guess when you go out to a funeral in Chicago part of your funeral clothes is your gun. It is not funny though; it’s a tragedy and a disaster.

It is an unsolvable problem in today’s climate of racial hostility. There is literally no way to even make a dent is the problem without admitting that it is a black problem and not a white one. White people are not killing each other in Chicago; black people are. The solution then, will obviously have more of an impact on the black communities of Chicago than it does on the white ones.

Not touch those cities?

For those reasons, for constitutional reasons, and for some others were I Donald Trump I would not touch Chicago or any other city besides Washington under any circumstances. It’s a trap that he seems intent on falling into. Perhaps his instincts are that he can do anything and solve any problem. I mean after all he does have unlimited funds to draw on so money can solve anything, right? No, that briar patch is a bad place that he should stay away from. Just tell Portland, Seattle, and Chicago to call on their state national guard if they think troops are necessary. Mayor Lightfoot probably wants him to stick his nose into Chicago very badly because she knows what will probably happen. She can then say look I warned him, but he did it anyway and look what happened.

Insanity rising: civil war coming?

I’m afraid that America is at a crossroad in its history. Which fork in the road will it choose? Will it be the road leading to peace and prosperity for the most people? Or the road leading to a house divided against itself? When two groups who desperately hate each other seek control of the same government but are willing to let elections decide that control, a country can still exist. If one or both groups will not allow control by elections, then they are on the road to civil war.

Fiscal insanity – the SARS-CoV-2 stimulus

The federal government has plenty of insanity to deal with on its own right now. It is not just our own government in Washington either, because governments around the world have gone insane at the same time. The last semblance of fiscal and monetary sanity is gone, and the laws of economics have all been repealed. Everything, well almost everything, is getting a federal bailout. Airlines, tourist sites, shale oil and fracking, car manufacturing, and even people got 1200 to 2400 for free.

Where is the government getting all this free money? The answer is the same one Franklin Roosevelt told the press when they asked him where the Doolittle Raiders took off from:

Why from Shangri-la, ladies and gentlemen, from Shangri-la.

The real answer to where is the money coming from is thin air or blips on a computer screen. It is money because we are told that it is and we believe that, for now.

Plenty of insanity to go around

In conclusion folks, there is plenty of insanity to go around right now. But both sides had better proceed with caution. This may be a historical turning, but war is not about rights or politics or words. War is about inflicting so much attrition that one side can no longer continue the struggle. It is not pretty or fun and it causes mostly pain and tears.

What is the federal government supposed to do with problems such as those I have mentioned? Why, make them worse of course. Making problems worse by trying to fix everything is what stupid, insane, bureaucratic institutions do. However, as Cool Hand Luke once famously said, “sometimes nothing is a pretty cool hand.”⁶

Has society lost its moorings?

Finally, folks, this world has gone mad and as evidence of that premise, I offer the fact that in virtually every elected office you look at all you see are insane men and women filling them. They all compete to see who can be the most dangerously insane. The Christian underpinnings of this society have been ripped away. Now all that is left is the darkness of human nature.

At least that’s the way I see it.

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle.

Editor’s Notes:

1 Your editor disputes this assessment. The author correctly used the word insurrection to describe events in Portland. As such no less an authority than President Abraham Lincoln set the original precedent.

2 Mayor Wheeler did not describe those agents correctly. They belong to Federal Protective Services, who guard federal courthouses and other civilian federal buildings and offices. The choice by FPS to order its agents to wear camouflage fatigues did add to the confusion. Perhaps so also did Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) who earlier as much as said, “Mr. President, send in the troops.”

3 Which characterization reinforces CNAV’s view that President Trump made no mistake. Article IV Section 4 of the Constitution clearly authorizes the federal government to repel invasions.

4 And chose to resolve that complaint by calling on one P. G. T. Beauregard to eject the federal garrison at Fort Sumter.

5 CNAV assumes the author is employing sarcasm against one who richly deserves it. John R. Lott famously disputed that notion in 1998.

6 Cf. Cool Hand Luke. Dir. Stuart Rosenberg; with Paul Newman, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, et al. Warner Bros. Pictures, 1967.

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