Good morning, Kentucky and a happy Monday. It is Kentucky and his Morning News with Nick Coffee on News Radio eight forty whas getting the week started here and the crew has a symbol Scott Fitzgerald alongside John Alden he's here as well, and John Shannon in the mix. We'll have your first newscast coming your way at five thirty. And obviously I think we know what is going to be a big topic of discussion today for a good part of our morning. But I'll start with you, fellas.
How was the weekend? Good weekend?
It was fantastic, bro. I spent a lot of times someone was in town, got to watch a little the NBA Finals last night. I got to hang out, grilled out all weekend long.
But was sweating.
No, I was gonna say it was.
If you were outside this weekend, you were sweaty and ready.
I mean it was.
It was brutal, and today is going to be just as bad, maybe worse. John, how about you?
A lot of good vibes this weekend. Whent over to the end laws, gotten their hot tub, which thankfully because hot, so hold on, hold on, let me explain. It's a swim seap he can lower the temperance. It's yeah, I did. Maybe I shouldn't have off that way, but uh, it was. It was a good little Saturday afternoon over at the end laws nice.
Well, nice to hear.
Uh.
My weekend also was was very solid, very warm. And of course last night the Pacers end up losing and that that's a bummer, but you know, we can certainly get into that this morning. And I don't really have any I'm bummed, but I really felt throughout the entire run they were on in the postseason that the likelihood of them winning the whole thing was was unlikely. But there's also this reminded me a little bit of when the Bengals lost in the Super.
Bowl to who was it?
I know they beat the Sheeps, Yeah, the Rams got them, and and I remember telling Bengals fans like, I mean, you kidding me?
How could you be disappointed.
The Bengals made the Super Bowl? This is insane that this really happened. And Joe Burrow, I mean, he's young, He's only going to get better. And I don't think I don't rememb remember getting any kind of pushback from that. However, one of my Buddies, who's a big Bengals fan, said them. That always stuck with me, and I thought of him
last night because all that can be true. But when you're right there and it's I mean, you're to Game seven of the NBA Finals, that's first time that's ever happened to the Pacers, you can be substantially better than you were this year, and you don't know if you're ever going to be in that spot. So to get that close and come up short, it sucks. But the biggest issue.
Is now next year.
I mean, they're probably going to be without Haliburton because of the Achilles injury, so that's a bummer. But overall, okay, see as your winner, and we got a lot to get into the sports, you've got a lot to react to.
You.
You ask a good question amongst sports fans in life in general, when you get to that point, whether it be sports, whether it be anything in life, when you get to that magical point and you fall just short, whether it's career, whether it's sports, whether it's anything. Because I went through that with the Lions when they lost that to the forty nine ers, Sure, and then of course got bounced by the commanders.
You know, would you rather not make it that far.
In just or just go all the way?
You know what I'm saying.
I think the obvious answer is, of course, the further you go, the better it is. But as a fan, the emotional component changes a little bit to where you set yourself up for a bigger disappointment when it comes short. So just part of being a sportsman. But we'll get into sports coming up here in about fifteen minutes. It is five h nine here at news Radio eight forty. Whas and what I referenced a moment ago, as far as what will be of course a big topic of discussion,
not just today but probably for the foreseeable future. Really everywhere as it happened, I said, last week, you know, we heard two weeks was the timeline mentioned by Donald Trump, And yet I said, I kind of feel like we'll find out sooner closer to now than two weeks from said date.
And I was right.
I can't say I told you so very often, so I'll say I told you so now. But yeah, he made the big moves that I guess really isn't a surprise at all. He's thrown some US muscle behind Israel's air Campaigan hitting Iron's nuclear programs. I mean, this is something that has been discussed, and I guess now that we sit here a couple of days after it's happened, no surprise really at all, right, I mean I kind
of felt like this was coming. So the US has joined in on Israel's attack of Iran and their nuclear programs. And here's what I'll say. And of course we'll talk about it all throughout the morning and keep you updated as best we can.
But I think if anybody.
Tells you they they know where this is going, good or bad, they don't know what.
Nobody knows. Nobody truly knows.
Now.
I kind of wish there was more acknowledgment of that because I think I don't think you'd hit a whole lot of resistance.
I don't know.
Maybe I don't really know what waters I'm stepping in here, But nobody knows where this goes from here?
No, in what's impointant to keeping context, because you're gonna hear a lot from the split boxes, the talking heads.
Everybody's an analyst.
This time of year, My inbox has already been inundated with people who are analysts. Look, there are people that work in the intel world. This was a calculated move by the where you love then tration or you don't. There are people that are trained to do this that do this. Do they know what they're doing all the time, none of us do, I get it. But they're privy
to more intel, more information. They know the bigger picture than It's kind of like the guy who sits up in the stands and tries to call a strike that's not a strike when the umpire is clearly behind the plate and has a better view. So it's kind of important to keep that in person.
Yeah, a lot of people supportive of it, a lot of people saying this was a big mistake.
And again you can make points on.
Both sides, But as far as what really comes of this, I don't think anybody has any real clue at all, Maybe more so than ever when it comes to these kind of situations. So again, we'll keep you updated as best we can throughout the morning. It is five eleven here Kentucky in his morning news on news radio eight forty whas let's get an update on traffic and weather.
Yes, it is.
Monday morning, five sixteen here Kentucky and his morning news on news Radio eight forty whas nit coffee with you. I guess this gets it out of the way. Thank you John for that. Because it is Monday. I guess just embracing it with a little uh mark chestnut. That's I mean, that's how you that's how you get it out of the way.
You deal with it.
Mondays are always difficult, especially after a fun weekend.
Uh.
And maybe it's just me, but the heat, I mean that just makes that just I feel just going outside for a little while and then coming back in to catch my breath and need a shower. Honestly, just because of how humid it is outside. Uh, it just it wears you down. So if you are tired this morning, I get it, just but just embrace Monday. There's nothing else, There's nothing you can do about it.
It's ere.
So let's let's have a Monday, ladies and gentlemen. So again, uh the the let's start with this Operation Midnight Hammer, that is uh, that is what Donald Trump and his team have U have named their attack on an Iran from over the weekend, attacking three of their nuclear sites. Can we just get that out of the way, Operation.
Midnight Hammer is a badass name.
That is a killer name.
I mean, that is awesome.
I mean, I'm I mean, I don't say that with any indication that I'm sharing any strong opinion in one way or the other as far as the decision to do to do what we did as a country, and of course the reaction in the aftermath, because that's that's the big unknown. But just the name itself, operation Midnight Hammer. That could be a lot of things, like you like bring up like have you guys heard? And they could be like, what are you talking about?
Have you heard what? Like?
They could think you're talking about a movie. They could think you're talking about what actually happened. I mean, the different the different things that could technically tie into something being called Midnight Hammer are endless. But no matter what it is, it just sounds pretty badass, I think. So anyhow,
that is, of course the big news. I doubt that as of five eighteen, here on a Monday morning, I am I'm sharing this news with you for the first time, so I'm not telling you anything you didn't already know. And again, what we also don't know is what truly comes from this. But here is President Trump on Saturday after the big news.
Our objective was the destruction of a range nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear and Richmond facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.
So one thing that really stood out to me as I am and I have no problem of admitting this. Maybe I shouldn't. Maybe I'll get a phone call later, Hey, don't don't do that. Don't I wouldn't. I wouldn't bring that up unless it has to be brought up. I'll just say it. I'm learning a lot about this kind of stuff as far as just the actual steps that take place for something like this to happen, meaning bombing Iran.
So what I think is and again this isn't all new information to me, but the last four presidents Obama, Trump, Biden and now Trump again have all launched military actions from drone strikes to again bombing Iran's nuclear sites without
Congress giving the green light. So regardless of political affiliation, this has now become a thing that not only is is rather common it doesn't really seem as if anybody truly thinks that they need Congress to give them the green light, right, I Mean, the Constitution's pretty clear, right, only Congress can declare war. That's not just a rule. I mean it should be a safeguard to keep us
from rushing into conflicts. So, yeah, you've now got voices on both sides, from Rand Paul to Bernie Sanders that that will sound the alarm and and let it be known that you know, this is this is this was not the action was not taken the way that it was supposed to be taken. Like there's there's certain things you're supposed to do that people just now don't seem to care as as much about. And I don't you know, I think right now the those bringing it up, they're drowned out every time.
And it's I think.
It's because it's easier to act first and then debate later and just know that it'll be just a back in. But ignoring the risks of this, I just it's going to potentially drag us into deeper, deeper, deeper into war,
which I don't think anybody wants, right. So again, that's that's the the lead topic today will be for a while, and we will wait and see because I'm very comfortable and content and letting you know that, regardless of what side you're on when it comes to the politics or what you claim to read, who you follow, who you think has the best news, as far as sources and all that kind of stuff, nobody knows what truly comes of this, so we'll try our best to keep you
updated as best we can. Again, it's five twenty one here at Kentucky and it's morning News on news Radio eight forty whs, let's get another update of traffic and weather and our first update of sports right here on news radio eight forty whas. All right, I may have to challenge John Shannon to keep that going as long as he can. A fresh batch, a fresh helping.
I like that.
A fresh helping reminds me of eating like Thanksgiving dinner my grandmother's house as a kid. So thank you for that, John, And you're right, it's a fresh helping coming your way. It's five thirty five here a Kentucky and this morning News with Nick Coffee on news Radio eight forty whas. Rory O'Neil is set to join us coming up here in ten minutes of NBC News will get the latest and get his thoughts on sort of I mean, is it worth asking what's next?
Where do we go from here? What can we expect?
I mean, I don't think if I did ask that anybody would be alarmed as if what kind of question is that?
But none of us really know.
But again, what Rory can do is he can keep us up to date on what's out there, the latest as far as what is developing. So again he'll join us coming up here shortly. Here is something to be mindful of, and this is certainly scary, but there are aspects of this that, of course are scary in a lot of different ways. But NBC News is reporting that Iran warrened President Trump that they would activate sleepers sell
terror inside the United States if it were attacked. And I don't know if these two things are I mean totally aligned here. But you also have reports coming out that during the you know, during the Biden administration, that more than seven hundred Iranian nationals illegally entered the US and they were released into the country again during the Biden administration. That's according to data obtained Sunday by the by the center square from a from a Border patrol agent.
So take of that which you will, which, by the way, I will say, I was listening.
And this is in no.
Way a shot or a slight at our great partners at WLKY, because I'm sure, I mean, that's all they can do. They did nothing wrong here, but something did just stand out to me when they were I don't even remember which story it was, but we always keep our TV in the studio here on WOKY, and their four thirty newscast was on and I'm just getting prep for the show, and I just I hear them wrapping up a story and it was a reminder for their listeners to make sure that any reporting that they do
in fact see is is accurate. And I'm thinking, good luck, good luck if that. I mean, I don't think that's as easy as you think it is. I mean, I wish there was a way to just know that what is out there and what's being shared is truly accurate or not. I mean, so again, that's that's I feel like something that hasn't really needed to be to be said for quite some time, because you know, the old, the old joke of well wouldn't be on the internet if it wasn't true. I mean, that's that's I think
there's a lot of things. In fact, maybe there's more on the internet that's not true than what in fact is true. But with this type of situation, I mean, good luck. I think there are certain outlets and whatnot publications, even just specific journalists reporters that you feel as if if you're seeing it directly from them, if they're on live television and they're they're sharing news, breaking news, you feel as if you.
Can trust it.
But I now take it, I now take everything from every side of coverage, especially on national news and politics, there's at least some level of okay, well, maybe there's probably some exaggeration, you know, some stretching of the truth, if you will. Also, I know a lot of folks who maybe just don't let this consume them the way others do, because they just think it's out of their control and they just they're more so preoccupied by how this impacts their day to day life. Well, one way
that it will is gas prices. So right now, the expectation, of course, is that gas prices could jump quickly, possibly buy a dollar twenty five per gallon if oil hits one hundred and twenty dollars, so that will be I mean, there's a lot of folks out there that even if they wanted to avoid this type of news and whatnot, it'd be hard to do just because of what we're dealing with. But they'll start looking for the latest as far as hey, can we get this figured out so the gas prices.
Aren't so high.
And I don't want to act as if the majority of America just doesn't care about this stuff, because that's not true. But there are many that just they don't they don't follow it as much, and they maybe just know that they don't have any controls, so they're just going to let it play out and live their life and be in their own world. And honestly, I don't think there's anything really wrong with that. I mean, you have the right to do that, and honestly, if you
do that, I totally get it. So again, the concern about rising gas prices in the United States is something that regardless of your status politically or your thoughts on what took place over the weekend as the United States got involved here intervened, if you will, with what's going on between Iran and Israel. Gas prices are certainly expected to make a big jump here, so we shall see. But Roory O'Neil of NBC News, he joins us here
on the other side. And then of course we've got another data sports coming your way at around a five to fifty five, So hang out with us. It's a Monday morning. It's Kentucky and His Morning News on News Radio eight forty w.
Five forty five.
Here Kentucky and his Morning News with Nick Coffee on News Radio eight forty whas Happy Monday, everybody. Let's welcome in our friend Rory O'Neal of NBC News. Rory, we heard two weeks was the time frame for President Trump and didn't take close to two weeks for him to make the decision. And obviously that's been the big story. What is the response right now as far as what we can expect from Iran when it comes to just
where they plan, you know, to strike back. Clearly, they're not just going to act as if this didn't happen, all.
Right, And we've seen more of the similar back and forth with them lobbing more missiles and drones that Iran. Iran launching some significant attacks towards Tehran in the past few hours, but not the big retribution against the US that we're fearing. Remember, President Trump has said, look, this can be a one and done that all we wanted to do was to take out the nuclear facilities. If you guys want to come to the table where we'll to talk, so long as you pledge that you're not
going to renew your nuclear ambitions. But Iran has said no, they are going to retaliate in some way. They have a lot of things at their disposal. Yes, they're a lot weaker than they were, but there's still cyber there's still We've got a lot of military assets in the region that are within their ballistic missile range, and they could take some action that would close down the Strait
of Hormuz. That's like twenty million barrels of oil a day go through there, so that could really disrupt international markets.
Vpjd Vance reiterated yesterday that I'll read the quote, we do not want war with Iran. We actually want peace. He went on to say that we are not at war with Iran, and we're at war with Iran's nuclear program. Do you get the sense that there's been a real
push to emphasize that. It seemed as if that's really been something that was that took off yesterday, that maybe the reaction to the decision from President Trump has I guess had his administration wanting to really enforced that this is not a war with Iran.
It's in again.
They can word it however they want, but just seems like yesterday that was a bigger talking point than I maybe would have expected.
Well, right, I.
Look, I was having my morning coffee, I was watching Meet the Press. I watched that whole thing happen live, and I said, oh, that's interesting that they're taking this tact. And then by the afternoon, President Trump is tweeting all about regime change and make Iran great again. So look that went right on. Still, the Vice President's comments sort of went right out the window with the post on true social So it's a little confusing as to exactly
what the goals are. I mean, we know that Israel wants to see regime change in Iran, and it does go back to a basic question. Okay, fine, we took out their nuclear capabilities, but at the same people are still in charge. They're just going to hit the reset button on this stuff, and we may be at this again in just a few years.
Rory and Nale.
NBC News is our guest joining us here on news radio eight forty whas and NBC News is reporting that Iran warren President Trump that it would activate sleeper cell tear inside the United States if it were attacked. And then we also have a report that more than seven hundred Iranian nationals were illegally led into the country during the Biden administration. Do those two things correlate? Is that is when you when you hear the report of that there was there was a warning that you know, we've
got sleeper cells here. I mean again, I guess there's no way to know for sure, but I guess just the latest on that development.
Well, right, again, you don't know what the buzz is and you don't know how much Iran is just trying to save face because again you've had their military leadership as they're fascinated by Israel. They're trying to say that, look, we're not a paper tiger. We are a strong country, is what they're trying the show they're trying to put on. We also know that there are some communications with back channels.
You know, we don't know how much progress they're making there, but they have reached out, especially through the EU, so there are some realizations that you know, Iran is not in a position of power here. So that's why, you know, we're so fascinated to see what they're response would be. And again i'd also look up, as I mentioned earlier, for their cyber capability. Sure, they're pretty good at it, and that would be something i'd worry about.
Yeah, the warnings in regards to that last week pretty pretty alarming that they may have a better ability to hit us there than anything else at this point. So that's one of the things, one of the many things I've been thinking about as far as the potential aftermath here. But we've got another poll that is out that tells us young adults as gen Z, that's how they're classified by most, that they're actually quite conservative. I know, we'll
have these polls that we discussed throughout. What are your takeaways from this one?
Yeah, I thought this is interesting. So gen Z is born between nineteen ninety seven and twenty twelve, so that makes them between thirteen and twenty eight years old, especially the younger ones. They're turning out to be much more conservative, and actually the pandemic has a lot to do with it.
Like if you were in grade school during the pandemic, then you're likely to be much more conservative than if you were older and say in college, and the way that you were treated during the pandemic how government operated, gives you very different views of things depending on your age. So it's fascinating to see that in some segments of gen Z they were actually voting more for President Trump than baby boomers, who we promptly assume we're all voting
for President Trump. So it's fascinating to see how things are splitting here. But a warning to conservatives and fans of President Trump. Some of these latest policies though, are not going over too well even with the more conservative gen z ers. They don't like some of these ice raids, especially in hospitals and churches and things like that. So that's something to look out for to how some of these ice operations are unfolding.
Rory, thank you as always for the time. Enjoy the rest of your day and we will talk soon, my friend.
Thanks Nick.
All right, that's Rory and Neald NBC News. I got to be honest, I'm not totally stunned to hear that those that were I guess you know those that are in gen z currently you know where they were at the time of how this country responded to the coronavirus and the pay pandemic. I mean, I'm not at all surprised that that was a dare I say, a turn off when it comes to the democratic side of things, But just my thoughts. All right, we've got sports coming
your way. Also, another news update with John Shannon right around the corner, So stick around right here. It's Kentucky and it's morning News with Nick Coffee on News Radio eight forty whas