Secret Service - Constitution Party

THE CASTLE REPORT: Failure of Imagination

August 9, 2024

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Darrell Castle talks about the Secret Service and its recent series of abject failures to perform its function even modestly let alone in the fashion we have come to expect from that vaunted agency.

Transcription / Notes

THE SECRET SERVICE’S FAILURE OF IMAGINATION

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 9^th day of August in the year of our Lord 2024. I will be talking about the Secret Service and its recent series of abject failures to perform its function even modestly let alone in the fashion we have come to expect from that vaunted agency.

I decided to resist my natural instinct to devote all my attention to the coming war in the Middle East which I predict the United States will find it impossible to resist and instead devote my attention to something just about as dangerous right here at home. Yes indeed, the Secret Service is the rock of the United States Government and is filled with the most highly trained and dedicated agents in all of government, right. Well, no folks that is no longer right as we will see in this Report.

The Service is secret because its agents are supposed to be invisible. They are seen but not seen as part of the landscape you hardly notice them, but they are always there. The philosophy of the Service as well as the agents who staff it has been similar to doctors. The doctor doesn’t rejoice in the recovery room when his work is successful, and he doesn’t weep in the cemetery when it isn’t, he just tries to find out what is going on and then keeps going. The agent doesn’t care who he is assigned to protect he just does his job with professionalism and competence putting his own life on the line in the process.

The agents are not responsible for the behavior of their protectees, only their protection. If the protectee cheats on his wife or is a drunk or does business with underworld characters that is not the agent’s concern, only safety. Things seem to have changed at the Service in recent years to the point that we have come to expect lying, stonewalling, and obfuscation regarding the failure of the agents to properly do their jobs. It is very clear right now that the Service has not been forthright with the investigation of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. So, the American people can no longer depend on the Service to protect its assigned protectee unless that person happens to have a political philosophy and agenda in line with the Service and its controllers.

What we can depend on with certainty is the Service lying about its failure to do the job with which the American people have entrusted it. Little by little information about the attempted assassination leaks out from whistle blowers inside the Service and with each revelation it looks worse. The series of security failures was so large that it seems obvious that the Service is no longer even competent let alone elite. Lies follow lies but some are just too obvious. The director of the FBI covering for the Service by saying that perhaps Trump was not shot. His lie was quickly put to rest by doctors but why would he tell such a lie. Perhaps it was a cover for the Service but more likely just a difference of political views.

My favorite lie though, was from the interim director of the Service, or perhaps it wasn’t a lie just simple incompetence and lack of intelligence. When director Kimberly Cheatle resigned a new director or interim director had to be appointed and that was Ronald Rowe, a man with 24 years of service. While being questioned by members of Congress about how this attempted assassination could have happened, he said it was “a failure of imagination.” The Service never imagined that anybody would want to take a shot at Donald Trump. The more you think about that response, the more hilarious it becomes, and it could take us down a number of rabbit trails, but nevertheless that was his answer.

So, the Service just could not imagine that we live in a dangerous world and that is why its agents were tasked with protecting one of the highest profile and most polarizing people in the world. I can’t help but wonder how such a man managed to rise to his position in the federal government. A lack of imagination then, caused the Service’s counter sniper team to not attend the pre-event coordination meeting with local law enforcement and had zero communication local SWAT teams.

That is only one of a series of failures and inexplicable things that happened during this event. In fact, it is harder to find things the Service did right than it is to pinpoint mistakes. One wonders if all these failures to properly do the job of protecting Trump were just stupid incompetence or whether something more sinister was going on. In many countries around the globe, those we often refer to as 3^rd world, we would immediately assume the incompetence was a cover-up for something more sinister. Here in America, we are the essential and exceptional nation, and above all that and we walk with pride in the knowledge that we are not just physically and intellectually superior, but morally superior as well.

Government conspiracies are very difficult to pull off as we all know because they usually require the silence of hundreds, perhaps thousands of people, which would be very unlikely. On the other hand, if the people heading the event were as obviously incompetent as Kimberly Cheatle and Robert Rowe who denied resources to Trump’s security detail and assigned inexperienced agents to it, perhaps there is something to it. There are many problems here, but all we know for certain right now is that resources were strangled, and substandard agents were assigned to the team. Is that enough to suspect something sinister, perhaps but it gets worse.

What we have been discussing is all pre-shooting failures and incompetence. Once shots were fired the incompetence continued. When the alleged shooter, Thomas Mathew Crooks, was killed by counter sniper fire (apparently) there was an autopsy of his body. By the way isn’t it interesting how the lone nut always has three names. Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray and now Thomas Mathew Crooks. Post shooting investigations of the lone nut’s background usually reveal that he was never referred to by three names, but that is how we are to remember him.

I have seen reports of the autopsy from this past week but the Butler County Coroner’s office released cause and manner of death on July 21^st. Cause and manner do not constitute an autopsy as any good lawyer can tell you. It seems that an autopsy has been conducted but it is doubtful whether we will ever be able to see its results. Virtually everything having to do with physical evidence in this case including position of the body, location of wounds, consistent with the sniper rifle that supposedly killed him, all are being guarded like state secrets. Why, nobody seems to know why the public can’t see this evidence. What all the secrecy does is fuel doubt, and cause speculation and a belief that something sinister is going on.

It seems to me that it is incumbent on the part of the Service, its boss Homeland Security, and their boss, the President, to be more forthright with their answers. I’m a little sick of their, go away peon attitude. If you want to know why everything seems like a conspiracy, it’s because they make it so. What is the burden of proof here. Is it the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt or the civil standard of its more likely than not because using that standard it’s starting to look bad for the service.

The Service has many other issues that might lead one to the belief that leadership is less than forthright with us. Somebody left cocaine in plain view in the White House, but the Service has no clue who did it. The cocaine, it has now been revealed, was in a container which had DNA evidence in it but still we the people are not entitled to know who left and apparently used cocaine in our house. A Secret Service Uniformed Division officer found the bag of cocaine on July 2, 2023, on a Sunday while the President was in Camp David. The ensuing dispute between the Uniformed Division, the Forensics Services Division, and the Secret Service leadership became public knowledge. The leadership, meaning Kimberly Cheatle, apparently wanted to protect her friends and boss in the Biden family but the other divisions refused to go along. That is the story now that Kimberly Cheatle is no longer the director.

Secret Service Agents took Vice President-elect Harris to the DNC, that’s the Democrat National Committee, before the January 6^th protest, riot, insurrection, or whatever you choose to call it and whatever you choose to believe. I realize that it is extremely hard to discern what to believe and too often it comes down to a person’s pre-conceived political biases. The sketchy information, otherwise known as lies, is revealed to us piecemeal and in a fashion that tells us what to believe. For example, the pipe bomb placed on the bench outside DNC headquarters that day was clearly visible on video. Children played near it but no one stopped them. The supposed bomb was of the comic book variety with a timer like a large kitchen clock.

So, for the Service and for this government some questions need to be answered. There are many others but some that occur to me are these. Was the pipe bomb inert or active. Why was EOD people not called to dispose of the bomb. If it was an active as opposed to inert bomb, why didn’t the explosive detection dogs find it. Why did it take the Service more than a year to reply to the Inspector General’s request for January 6^th documents. When the Vice President-Elect said she felt threatened or that her life was in danger, why did it take a year to learn that she was not even in the capitol complex that day. Why did the Service and its agents and leadership sit by while people they knew to be innocent were given enhanced sentences because of a threat to the Vice President-Elect.

There are many questions to be asked and answered about the attempted assassination as well as cocaine gate and insurrection gate. Once Director Cheatle fell on her sword, why was no one fired for incompetence. The answer is the same shuffling one that we always get and that is that the investigation is ongoing, etc. Some in congress and even some in the conservative press are suggesting that because of this administration’s emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) the standards may have been lowered to the level of incompetence in favor of identity politics.

The Service’s web site is revealing and might give one reason to think that might just be the case. Its various categories for recruitment include outreach to African Americans, Pacific Islanders, Hispanic, Indigenous Nations, Federal Women’s Program. LGBTQ, Persons with Disabilities/Disabled Veteran, Office of the Ombudsman, and Inclusion and Engagement Council. What is missing from this list is merit and there is nothing about being willing to take the bullet meant for the protectee.

This makes me think that morale and job satisfaction among all those dedicated dark suits and dark glasses can’t be very high. To be thought of as an incompetent failure must be difficult for them and being politically correct and loyal like a good lapdog is not much of a compromise. Whatever happened to honor and the refusal to compromise or what used to be known as character and integrity.

Finally, folks, the lack of imagination the interim director blamed for this debacle cost a man his life and deprived his family of his love, provision, and protection. It also caused several people to be wounded and a presidential candidate to be wounded and almost killed. Is the destruction and dissolution of our society planned. Quoting the interim director, the investigation is still ongoing, etc.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock | 92916328

THE CASTLE REPORT: Malice or Just Massive Incompetence

July 19, 2024

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Darrell Castle offers his opinion on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

Transcription / Notes

MALICE OR JUST MASSIVE INCOMPETENCE

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday, the 19^th day of July in the year of our Lord 2024. Like everyone else, I now offer my opinion on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. It’s tempting to say we must wait for the investigation before we speculate on what happened, but I suspect that we know as much about what really happened as we ever will. JFK, RFK, MLK, and many others around the world are evidence of that.

This story, on the surface, is preposterous and it makes no sense at all. The full resources of the most powerful empire in world history at its disposal and it still cannot protect one man. The United States has 17 intelligence services all of which are supposed to investigate, observe and provide information to the decision-making people in charge. Normally, that would be the president but right now who knows. There are literally thousands of highly trained, highly skilled people on the payroll to protect the nation’s leaders from attack and they all failed miserably. There is an agency called the Secret Service that has a reputation for hiring and training the biggest, strongest, bravest, most intelligent, people available in this country to protect its human assets. That’s its job and at that job it failed when the nation needed it the most.

How could all these people with unlimited resources fail to stop a wimpy, nerdy, 20-year-old kid from getting into a position to take a shot that missed killing Donald Trump by only millimeters. If Trump had not turned his head just slightly at that exact moment, he would be dead right now and the nation would be trying to sort it out or perhaps descending into chaos. So, a kid with a ladder he bought at a hardware store, and 50 rounds of ammo he bought that morning foiled a billion dollars’ worth of professionals. Maybe it’s similar to the billions spent on munitions fired at the Houthis but the Red Sea is still dangerous.

Even this early the entire Secret service/FBI created scenario of an explanation is starting to breakdown and fall apart. We are not supposed to look at facts and ask questions but instead just nod our heads in the affirmative and go along. Yes, we believe the story you have concocted although it makes no sense and is therefore most likely a lie. If we admit to even suspecting that you are lying, then we are tin foil hat conspiracy theorists or at least that’s what we are programed to think.

I have personally fired thousands of rounds through a rifle almost identical to the one Thomas Matthew Crooks apparently used. It was an AR-15 style rifle firing 5.56 mm rounds and mine was an M-16 but they are essentially the same. The M-16 has an automatic fire selector switch and that is the primary difference. I served in the Marine Corps more than 50 years ago, but I qualified with that rifle out to 500 yards and at that range it is really problematic with windage and ballistics affecting accuracy. At 150 yards where Crooks fired, a moderately trained shooter should be able to put his rounds in a 1-inch group most of the time. The AR is light and has almost no recoil with 5.56 ammunition so I will wager that I could have Joan, who has never picked up a rifle in her life, firing in a one-inch pattern within a day of practice. This all means that almost anyone could be a lone nut/patsy with that rifle.

What I am trying to say with this rambling explanation is that there is something really wrong here and we the people better insist that it is looked into honestly. If we want to keep some semblance of this country, never mind what it once was, we better not accept another JFK lone gunman, RFK only Sirhan, explanation. The FBI tells us that there was only one shooter, and he acted alone which is what they always say. Crooks was not a Marine sniper or even a competent shot before the incident. He tried and failed to make his high school rifle team, and the coach said he couldn’t hit the side of a barn, but as I said with that rifle and at that distance, he didn’t have to be competent. He and his father were apparently members of a rife club where he went to shoot and practice. So this shy 20 year old who couldn’t hit the side of a barn but was extremely bright showed up wearing hunting attire, found a line of sight shooting position, remained in public view with his rifle for up to 30 minutes, scared off local police who saw him, then firing from about 150 yards hit Donald Trump’s ear, killed another man with a head shot, and wounded at least one other person.

That all happened before two trained Secret Service snipers sitting in a firing position in overwatch above the speaker’s stand even fired at him. Once Trump was hit and down, they killed the shooter with one shot. Perhaps when they saw Trump go down bleeding, they assumed he was mortally wounded and dead men tell no tales, so they were clear to kill the shooter. I don’t claim to know the motivation of those men, but I do know that it is very bad policy to wait until your protected person is shot before you react. Crooks was allowed to fire about 7 or 8 rounds before they reacted and shot him.

There is audio evidence now that the sounds and video have been analyzed by forensic experts, that suggest the presence of at least one other shooter besides Crooks and the Secret Service sniper. His rate of fire might also indicate the presence of another rifle in the area shooting at Trump. The FBI hasn’t released much information about the rifle except the style and caliber. I’ve seen nothing on whether it had a scope, or was upgraded in any way, but those things would not have been necessary at that range for a shooter of moderate ability. I personally don’t believe the second shooter theory because with the incompetence of the Secret Service detail Trump’s head was exposed for several seconds after his ear was hit so a second gunman would have killed him then. No, it seems reasonable to think that once the Secret Service snipers saw the man they were sworn to protect go down they assumed he was mortally wounded, and they were cleared to eliminate the shooter.

He must have had help, if not in shooting, then in logistics, scouting, etc. He scouted the area including the building for several minutes as the crowd was gathering in the arena. He seemed to know the roof was unguarded although there was a counter sniper team from local law enforcement inside the building where he was located. When the director of the Secret Service was asked why they were not on the roof she said it was a sloped roof so she thought it might be dangerous.

That is obviously an absurd statement but that’s what she said. It was not too dangerous for the assassin but just for law enforcement. Snipers in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan occupied and fired from the most difficult and dangerous positions imaginable, but these Secret Service shooters could not fire from a sloped roof. The two snipers who finally killed Crooks fired from a sloped roof behind the podium from which Trump was speaking. The assassin wondered the area for 30 minutes, retrieved a ladder and a rifle from his car, was seen by several bystanders climbing to the roof, and bear crawling across the roof but still nothing was done to stop him. A local law enforcement officer climbed up to the roof and looked at him, but Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer who then retreated just before Crooks began firing.

The most difficult question for me is that the two Secret Service snipers had him in their scopes for perhaps three minutes before he fired, but they waited until he or perhaps more shooters than just him, fired and Trump was hit before they engaged him. That all allowed him to fire 7 or 8 shots before he was engaged by gunfire and killed. None of that makes any sense and none of it speaks highly of the Secret Service. The vaunted service, consisting of many agents who do all kinds of things besides protecting high value individuals, comes across as nothing but a bunch of keystone kops. They are supposed to take their best people, literally the best of the best and assign them to presidential protection. To be assigned to that detail is a reward because it is a way of saying you are the best we have. Each of those agents knows that he or she is expected to take the bullet instead of the one they are protecting.

This was the first assassination attempt on an American politician since Ronald Reagan in 1981. Forty-three years is a long time but when it comes to explanations not much has changed. Can there be any doubt that the shooting will be attributed to a lone nut. It’s never for political reasons or someone’s political agenda but always just a lone nut. Despite eyewitness reports of 8 shots coming from different directions there was only one shooter, and he was a lone nut. In this case it looks like the shooter was a lone nut but lone only when he shot. Another word for lone nut is patsy.

In an article in the UK Guardian, we are told that multiple people who were listening to the speech outside the rally said they spotted Crooks as he approached the area with an AR style rifle and climbed to the roof. Law enforcement agents and officers did not react to their warning. He was allowed to climb to the roof and assume a perfect firing position because even though they were warned by several witnesses, they refused or neglected to confront him. The other thing they neglected was to cover Trump or remove him from the podium in light of the threat.

Mr. Trump, along with most of the government-controlled media and its politicians all lauded the Secret Service for their quick reactions to the danger. I understand their words at the moment of the shooting were clouded by emotion, but now it seems the Service could and should be criticized for not noticing a man with a rifle climbing to a roof with a direct line of fire some 150 yards away. They could also be criticized for letting Trump get to his feet, with wounded ear clearly visible exposing him to another shot for 3 or 4 seconds. That is a dangerous act indeed if there is a second shooter just aiming, but perfectly OK if you know the lone nut or patsy is already dead. They could be criticized for having the lone nut in their rifle scope but not firing while he fired 7 or 8 rounds. When asked why they didn’t fire as soon as they saw him with the rifle the director of the Secret Service said they were waiting for permission.

When the director of the Secret Service is as grossly incompetent as Kimberly Cheatle, I suppose all this impossible, unbelievable, series of events is a little easier to believe. The lone nut killed former fire chief Corey Comperatore, who had more sense and more guts than all those highly trained agents combined. His daughter reported that as his last living act he covered her with his body thus shielding her from gunfire. When the Secret Service finally noticed the lone nut/patsy on the roof, they opened fire and killed him so there will be no testimony from and no trial of the lone nut/patsy for an attempted assassination.

Applying that theory means that all the gross incompetence and failure of this once vaunted Service was simply a cover-up for a planned assassination of Donald Trump. If so, it further means that those who want to retain power at any cost are so incompetent they can’t possibly pull it off. No wonder every agency from the White House to the military to the FBI, to the CIA, appears to be broken, corrupt, and unsalvageable.

So, what happens now that Trump survived assassination. He has survived so many attempts on his life, his career, his politics, and his money I would say it puts him in a unique position in American history. He has more money than he can use, buildings with his name on them, golf courses, a beautiful wife and family so what amounts to the American dream realized so why does he persist in the face of such hostile forces. Perhaps he really does see his country in peril and believes he is in a unique position to help.

He is more popular than ever because with each attack by his enemies he grows stronger. However, his calls for unity are nothing but a pipedream. There can be no joining on an equal basis with evil, only resistance or surrender.

Finally, folks, the directors of the Secret Service, FBI, and Homeland Security, should be suspended pending investigation with the least of their punishment being firing. Their demonstrated incompetence justifies firing in disgrace, but my guess is that Kimberly Cheatle will receive the presidential medal of freedom but only if Jill Biden stays in office long enough.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.