The Joyce Kaufman Show 5-8-26 Update on the war in Ukraine and the conflict in Iran, a TMZ update with Derek and more!

This is the Joyce Kaufman podcast, honest, straight, and unapologelic with your host, Joyce Kaufman. They are always there. Even when we get to go to picnics on Mother's Day or take our moms out to special dinners, there'll be moms on the battlefield. There'll be wives and daughters out there on Sunday. And they won't get the slice of cheesecake that we get to enjoy. So I never want to forget that. And I guess I never want to let you forget it either, because it's just that important to me. And to you, we live in this incredible country. It is just amazing to me how... People who were born and raised in the United States of America have nothing but contempt for this country. They would rather degrade the President of the United States or members of Congress than they would talk about the incredible accomplishment in 250 years. And sometimes that just gets me so frustrated. But we... We go on. The news from the wars, and there are multiple wars going on, but there has been declared a three-day ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine. Yeah. The celebration in Russia is for Victory Day, but likewise in Ukraine, because they're also a big part. and a big factor the cease-fire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity and also a prison swap of one thousand prisoners from each country This request, this is from the president on Truth Social, this request was made directly to me, and I very much appreciate its agreement by President Vladimir Putin and President Volodymyr Zelensky. Hopefully, it is the beginning of the end of a very long, deadly, and hard-fought war. Talks are continuing on ending this major conflict, the biggest since World War II, and we are getting closer and closer every day. That according to the president. Well, I would like to believe that because there has been a tremendous loss of life on both sides. And sometimes I get really, I get mad at the press. I get mad at the media. because they're so selective in their coverage. You know, they'd rather give you an hour of Britney Spears gets a DUI than tell you what's actually happening on the battlefield in the Ukraine. And I just think one is more important than the other, and apparently I think the one that's more important is not the same as the majority of the press believes.

I hope, I really do, I hope that there is an end in sight for the people in that Ukraine. Think about it. We had a sovereign nation invade another sovereign nation, and they've been fighting for three years. With the last probably six months, no coverage at all. Of course, we've had major war in the Middle East. I guess that'll be covered until they get tired of that and Britney Spears gets arrested again or something like that. Tonight, the president will be heading out to the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C. for a dinner. with some of the competitors in the LIV Golf, Virginia. These dudes, these golfers are competing for a $20 million prize this weekend, though due to financing issues, this may end up being the last year of this LIV as Saudi Arabia's public investment fund has pulled its backing. which is a real disappointment. Oh, come on, that was funny. It's probably funnier when you see it written down. The president will link up again with his old pal, Bryson de Chambot, with whom he famously golfed during the 2024 presidential campaign. And he has support. He was at the White House, I guess it was Monday or Tuesday, when the president reinstated the presidential fitness test. And he has been the poster boy for this LIV golf, which just failed, as most of us knew it would. You know what the Department of Defense did today? They began publishing all of the unreleased files retaining to unidentified anomalous phenomena. Yeah. The Supreme... How long have we been asking for this? And how many people out there believe that extraterrestrial beings have been here? A lot. There used to be a show on at midnight. I cannot remember for the life of me. This is the stuff that apparently I didn't think I'd need, so I erased the portion of the brain tape. But there used to be the show about unidentified flying objects and basically mystery, scientific mystery stuff. And it's always been of major interest for everybody. I tell the story quite often that I believe I saw something that could not be adequately explained to me. They told me that it was some kind of a balloon from Cuba, but it did not, that did not seem to be possible. I was on the bridge coming back from Key West. It's a very long bridge. Was it the three-mile bridge, I think it's called? Anyway, I'm on that bridge.

And I'm writing on my Harley, and I'm writing with another broadcaster who's now in heaven, Rick Siderman, and we're riding northbound coming back to Broward County. And the two of us saw this. He was not the kind of person you would ever suspect of making anything up or, you know, being reluctant to believe what the government was telling him. But neither one of us bought that it was a balloon from some satellite or something from Cuba. It hovered in the sky, and then it took off like a flash. And still, in my mind, maybe it was an aircraft, and maybe it was an American or Russian or, who knows, Chinese aircraft. But it was definitely unusual. and inexplicable because I wasn't satisfied with the explanation. The Supreme Court of Virginia has struck down a redistricting map that could have given the Democrats four additional U.S. House seats. So now that's back to the drawing board. And sometimes I... I dread all the lawfare that's going to follow whenever one party or the other decides they're going to be daring. I don't know if you call it daring or inappropriate is what I call it. And they try to gerrymander, they try to redistrict, and it's really not what the voters are interested in seeing. And the Supreme Court apparently felt... the Supreme Court of Virginia felt that this redistricting map was no-go. So it'll be interesting because now we're going to have the same thing in Florida. The Florida Supreme Court will probably reject the redistricting that Ron DeSantis wants to do. And it's just so... costly and such a time waste, but here we go again. And what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, if they did it in Virginia, then he's going to do it in Florida. I feel like I'm in kindergarten some days with the way our leaders behave. Don't forget to download that 850 WFTL app. It's interesting because I heard a spot yesterday that with that app, you can actually get in on some great contests. It's not an app where we're going to be showering you with unwanted emails or whatever text messages. It's actually a good app for a news junkie because you can get breaking news. You can listen to all the podcasts, not just mine, but the Unidentified Alien podcast that Stephen Deener puts out. You can listen to the full rigor, the true crime podcast that Karen Curtis has and the Morning Show podcast is a whole... wealth of a podcast that you could be listening to on a simple app or go to the website 850wftl.com. I'm going to take a quick break. We'll be talking with Derek in the final segment of the show, but I got a lot of ground to cover. So let me get this break out of the way. Please stay right where you are. See, there, you get rewarded when you listen on that app. So download the app. That's a good idea.

Fox's News, Peter Ducey, who is Steve Ducey's son, and now the senior White House correspondent, he reported on what he described as a world exclusive, sharing some of the content from this initial batch of the UFO files that President Trump released. He said, so a White House official left this hard drive on my desk overnight. You can see on it, it says AARO files, copy two of three. That is the All Domain Resolution Office, a copy two of three. This is the first big batch of UFO disclosures that was ordered by President Trump. We've been going through this all morning and overnight to try and put together the best videos so we can all look at this together. This is a world exclusive. First and foremost, who just drops things like that off on a newscaster's desk? That's a bizarre story. And not that I don't believe it, because it happens all the time. Apparently, giving, you know, members of the media inside information, even highly confidential information, no big deal. Anyway, he said the first clip was from the skies of the United Arab Emirates in 2024, pointing to a flying object that he says looks like an inverted teardrop with a vertically linear trailing mass. The War Department can't say for sure what this is, he reported. The next clip is from December 2022 in Iraq, showing a flying object moving across the screen. All CENTCOM gets from this as an area of contrast. That's what they describe it as. A third clip shows a small and circular UAP, an unidentified anomalous phenomena over the skies of Greece. And the Department of War issued a statement detailing this release, providing maximum transparency to the public. But if they can't explain what any of it is, then what's the point? These have never been seen before, but they're not conclusive. I really, I had a conversation just yesterday with someone who wanted to know if I believed that, you know, if I believed that aliens had visited Earth. And you never know if someone is serious when they ask you that question or if they are in such disbelief. that they ask it to see if they think you might believe that kind of stuff. I got to tell you, I think it's highly likely that the expression, anomaly, you know, whatever they called it, unidentified anomalous phenomenon is absolutely happening all the time. But I suspect that they know what these things are. And maybe they don't tell us because we'd worry. And believe me, I worry more about being spied on by some of these horrifying people like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin. I worry about that way more than I do about aliens. And I don't know why that is, but I know the damage and the danger they are. And aliens...

I think of E.T. It's not the same. Not as scary to me. I wanted to touch upon this candidate that's running, he's running in a primary against Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. Definitely one of my least favorite senators. And This is the most bizarre race. He got into the race last year, last November, as a Democrat, to primary Senator Mark Warner. Then last month, he announced that he was putting Virginia and America first and standing as an independent. in like a weird video where he looks into the camera and like very serious and intense and like a guy who's you know learned how to move by watching rappers rap in video anyway you fast forward to this week and he's addressing the america first united conference and saying he'd like to thank Nick Fuentes who created this movement what This guy is an MBA grad from Northern Virginia. Used to work on mergers and acquisitions before he was on the reality show. I don't even know what this reality show is, F Boy Island, and working for the Twitter meme page, Littiquidity. Fun fact, he attended the same high school as... You know, the infamous former J.P. Morgan employee, Shuri U. Rana. This is a bizarre candidate. To his critics, he says, we only have a few years to take the Commonwealth back, and that's all I care about. Take it back from whom? Who has the Commonwealth? People speak in these terms. You know, the more salacious or sexy they can make the terms, they think that's going to be enough to get them elected. I give up. I really do. But look, one of the things that I noticed when I read that notice from Truth Social by President Trump about a ceasefire in Ukraine. I had read a great piece in The Spectator, in the World Spectator, about how, you know, a year ago, Russia had called May 9th Victory Day and had a celebration with the display of fireworks that lit up the sky, and they did it again this year. But this time... Those fireworks were caused by long-range Ukrainian attack drones slamming into refineries and pumping stations and factories deep inside of Russia. In the Black Sea port of Tuops, I think that's the right pronunciation, fireballs of burning gasoline 15 stories high erupted over the local oil refinery while rivers of burning fuel ran down the city street.

firefighters, it actually took them three days to extinguish the fire. And the plume of smoke was so high, it actually took them three days to extinguish the fire. And the plume of smoke was so high that it was filmed by skiers from the slopes of the Caucasus mountains, which is like 60 miles away. So it's... It's a strange day. I don't know what to believe, whether a ceasefire is happening or whether it's a good sign. But I'll tell you, what's humiliating for the Kremlin has been the level, they had to scale down this Victory Day celebration this year on Red Square. which is one of those moments where, you know, Soviet guys like Vladimir Putin like to show off all of their military might. University military reservists are going to be in the parade because they can't afford to give any of the servicemen for the parade. And there'll be no tanks, no missiles, no military hardware. And the spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitri Peskov, cited the operational situation for the change, as well as Keeves' use of what he unironically called openly terrorist methods. So they attack a sovereign nation and then have the audacity to call the nation fighting back a terrorist. This drones, the capability of these Ukrainian drones now, is really interesting because Russia's getting a taste of its own medicine. You know, Vladimir Putin, for his part, did what he has been doing ever since the sinking of the Kursk submarine in 2000. He pretends that nothing happens. You know, Perm Burns. He goes on TV discussing cabbage-solting techniques with fat ladies in Russian headdress. Addressing a cabinet meeting, he assured his ministers there has been no serious damage from the attacks. Russians don't believe him anymore. In fact, in Russia, it feels as though everything has changed. And attitudes towards Vladimir Putin, not good. Economic optimism, gone. And it's, you know, along with the everyday patriotism that used to be tied to it. And finally, there's a growing recognition that the war cannot be won. A war that has itself changed. And Russia no longer has an advantage. His special military operation, which is how he used to refer to it, has now lasted longer than the USSR's participation in the Second World War and has seen at least 220,000 dead Russian soldiers killed in action. And that's only those confirmed by name by, you know, an international NGO.

and I think BBC monitoring. Yet of the four Ukrainian provinces claimed by Russia since the invasion, only one has even been taken completely. Luhansk. So the toll on the Russian economy is causing serious fiscal strain and inflation out of control. And perhaps most significantly, repeated strikes deep inside Russia have become unignorable. Is that a word? Can't ignore them. The reality that their country is at war is finally coming home to many ordinary Russians who were able to ignore it before. A taboo against criticizing the government directly on social media, on Russian social media, is evaporated over the last couple of weeks. And the charge was led by a slew of these glamorous internet influencers who use their platforms to blast the authorities for an economic downturn. Think how much everything has changed because of these social media. and these platforms that give the average person the opportunity to be called an influencer. I remember when influence was pretty hard to come by. Pretty hard to claim. Not anymore. So they're not buying it in Russia anymore. And Vladimir Putin knows that. And so do all of the top... Moscow heads. You know, they've figured out that this is a not only a lost war, but it has destroyed the Russian economy. And Russia is in ruins in many ways, actually. It's not just their economy. But did anybody see any political challenge to Vladimir Putin's power? Either from people already in government or an outsider? You know, grumbling, you know, maybe on the rise, you may be allowed to do it. But organized political dissent is still stamped out, not happening. Vladimir Putin is firmly in charge, but he's running on fumes. And you could say he's running without a map. Anyway, let me take a break, a little time out, take care of some business. And when we come back, I got a crazy story, but one that you need to hear. I'll be right back. My friend Howard Galganov, Canadian, always writes interesting commentaries, editorials. And he had written a couple in the last maybe two weeks that... I may not have agreed with everything he said in them, but he certainly made a very good case. And I love engaging in that way. I don't need to always be the only person thinking and able to articulate what I'm thinking about. So he did this piece today, which I thought was fascinating, because a lot of people were especially...

He and I have a mutual friend, and I'm suspicious that it was this mutual friend that put something in his comment section at his website, and something along the lines of Trump is dumber than a mountain of rocks. And Howard said, and I would have to agree, you can say a lot of things about Donald Trump, but dumb is not one of them. He is probably one of the most capable, smartest people in America. That's the truth. That doesn't mean he's right. He cannot accept any criticism, which I think is not a good thing. He is very, very self-aggrandizing, very egotistical. Not a good thing. But you know what? If he weren't, he would not be able to do the things that he does. That's the truth. And anybody who says differently doesn't understand psychology, there is no question that Iran will lose. Anybody who thinks that because Hamas or Hezbollah or any of these other terrorist proxies of Iran. snicker and, you know, say things, terrible things about America and terrible things about the, you know, the war that's currently going on. They cannot beat us. We all know that. Iran cannot beat us in the skies. It can't beat us in the seas. Its whole Navy is on the floor of the ocean. They can't beat us on the ground. But Howard posed an interesting question, and I have to think about this. Can we beat them on the ground? Because remember, the Russians couldn't prevail in Afghanistan, and neither could we. We weren't able to win in Iraq. And there are approximately, what, 90 million Iranians. That's a huge country. and it's got a lot of different geography, kind of like Afghanistan, and it is not welcoming to invading armies. Iran could care less about the lives of its own people. We've seen that. They sent children into Iraq to clear minefields with their bodies. They basically just use children as cannon fodder. so that the regular army guys would be alive to do the fighting. We don't do that. We don't have the heart to see our adult sons and daughters coming home in body bags, in flagged, you know, draped coffins. Hey, I know for a fact that the mullahs and even the IRGC, could care less if hundreds of thousands of Iranians die fighting. As long as they can, you know, get one video of American troops going home in flag-draped coffins, knowing how that image and the images of wounded, you know, seriously wounded, missing limbs, you know, soldiers.

When that gets viewed on television, on American television, they have a win. Because America's a divided country right now. And they understand that the American left, and neither how or I understand is in lockstep with Islam. It's crazy. So the Iranians also know that Trump's going to be blamed. for being in the war. And he's going to be, you know, everybody with, oh, Benjamin Netanyahu dragged him into it. The Jews, the Jews, people understand the truth. And people know that's not true. But if American boots were to end up on the ground in Iran, That would be, well, Howard said military and political suicide. I don't know about military, but it would definitely be political suicide. I like listening to four-star general Jack Keene as well because you can tell that when he criticizes Trump, he's not happy. You know, he's not doing it with any kind of pleasure like you see everybody else on TV doing it. But you can see that he knows America's mighty and could win. And he knows the facts. He's supported by a lot of guys who know the facts. And he credits Israel with having more Air Force firepower than America in the Middle East. And I think he's right. Anyway, don't forget coming up after me will be Guy Benson and Will Kane and then the overnight guys will be into the weekend. And you won't hear from Jennifer Ross until Monday at 6 a.m. And you won't hear from me until Monday at 3 p.m. But I still have a segment left. I'm going to invite my son Derek on in this next segment. So please, if you want to hear a little celebrity news, stay right where you are. All right. And now you're a whole year older, my son. How does it feel? It feels about the same as 45. I'm just on the back end of the mid-40s now. It's a weird spot. It's a strange thing to take stock of your life at this stage. But I got two beautiful kids. I got a mom about to celebrate Mother's Day. So life is good. All right. That's a positive statement. It's your weekend this weekend. So we've got to shift gears. I know, except that, you know, when I think about my baby being 46, it's kind of hard on me. But that's okay. No, I'm getting through it. Well, you got some stuff coming that'll, like, soften the blow from your two kids out in California. I got it. It was delivered today. Oh, from January or for me? From Genia. Okay. Oh, it's not from you both? Okay. No. All right. Well, tell me, tell me what possessed my old friend Luke to run for Congress. I love this story. I mean, the idea when I was a kid, you know, a nine-year-old kid listening to me so horny and him taking that case to the Supreme Court on obscenity grounds of Uncle Luke running for Congress.

was unthinkable. And now he is, and he's got DJ Khalid's endorsement speaking for him, and he's going to run on a platform of, I think, some pretty liberal values. He's worried about the immigrant communities and the Trump administration. But, yeah, he's run it. And no one knows South Florida like Uncle Luke. He is one of the sort of mainstays of South Florida life, and why not? Yeah. No, I did an event with him years ago. We were co-hosting an event, an award ceremony of some kind. And he was absolutely charming and had the depth of knowledge about, you know, media and things of that nature in Miami that I didn't have. I was very impressed. Yeah, look, he's bright. He's charming. He's gregarious. He's got like political chops. I think he's obviously matured quite a bit from his two live crew days. And this is the next phase of his life. And why not? This is the state of politics. I think he could be a serious person. He certainly got a lot of name recognition in his district. So let's see if it happens. He wants to rep Florida's 20th. And it's a big one, right? I mean, these are big populist communities. So he could have some power in D.C. You know, he's been to the Supreme Court famously and took them on over his music. So why not try to influence some change on the hill? Yeah, listen, you have a guy out there in L.A. that's, you know, a reality television star is what everybody wants to call him. But I saw that debate the other night. This guy knew more about the issues than the city councilwoman. Look, Spencer Pratt is making waves. It will be a very interesting election because Karen Bass is obviously under attack. I think he's done some positive things with the homelessness situation and other issues, but he is certainly a rising star that is going to surround himself with experienced smart people. So we'll see what happens. And Nithya Raman Rockman is a little far left for most people's taste. Yeah, a little bit, that's for sure. But he creamed them both. I mean, his depth of knowledge about the fires, of course, which is what drew him into this election, but he knew a lot about the homelessness situation, the money that's been misspent. I mean, you're giving Karen Bass credit. He sure didn't. Yeah, listen, he's gotten up to speed, and that's why he's serious about this, and he was the ultimate villain on reality television, but he's a bright guy, and he's smarty at some big moments that have made their way through social media, and he's definitely making a name for himself. I don't think he's just one to be trifled with. All right. Now, I thought this was a really cool story. Rihanna decided to get a little more ink, and her selection of what she's tattooing on her body, I think, is great for this weekend. Yeah, look, it's a perfect Mother's Day story because she took some of her kids' drawings, and we all have these, and they go in the refrigerator, and half of them go in the trash, because there's just so many little art projects that kids do, and she decided to turn.

their kids into a tattoo. You know, it was originally red, brown, orange, had a bunch of colors, and it was just lines all over the paper, but she turned it into black ink and put it on the back of her knee, which is a pretty safe spot for a tattoo like this. You don't have to really wear it publicly too much. You just put on a pair of pants. No one can see it's on the back of your leg, but I think it's very sweet, you know, and she needed some good... press and sort of another story about her life because there were some rumors that she was having trouble with ASAP Rocky that got these three kids, Riza, Riot, and Rocky. And, you know, she looked like they were maybe fighting at the Mek Gala. I saw it as these are people with three kids, having a night out and having a small disagreement. It didn't look like anything too concerning. And she's got Mother's Day here. She's got a new tattoo, so it looks like all smiles. Yeah, maybe you want to get a tattoo of some Nixon and Carter's artwork. Oh, listen, I have two knees, so why not have two former presidents on the back of each one? There you go. I mean, you only got a hummingbird, right? So where are Jenny and I on your body? Listen, my friend Roger Stone has a Nixon tattoo, takes up his entire back. He does. He does. Mine would be a sort of more tasteful one, I think, on the back of the knee like Rihanna. Yeah, you're very, very tasteful. A lot of crazy stories, though. You know, I was actually thinking, and I'll just run this by you because it was curious to me, you know, these people on the cruise ship that all ended up with the hanta virus. So I had to read a lot about what that virus is. That's what Gene Hackman's wife died from, isn't it? I had the same thoughts with the mystery of Gene Hackman and his wife. You know, it's carried in mice. And there were reports that the hanta virus was what was responsible for their deaths. You know, this was post-pandemic and so forth. And he was very elderly. She was not. But that's what the news was. And so I hadn't heard that term. And then I'm thinking about this sailing cruise where people are just dying from the hanta virus. Now people are concerned that it could have. outbreak potential. I think the CDC says this doesn't, you know, transmit as easily and so forth. It's from sexual contact most, most of the time. But it's scary stuff, and I had the same exact thought. I was thinking of Gene Hackman. Yeah. And what I really was thinking of is like, we never really knew. Did he die of the same thing? Or did he just, because she was dead and nobody was taking care of him? He just died. Yeah, I think, well, you know, his pacemaker, there were some stories about, like, it going out and maybe he collapsed standing there. She had passed away already from the virus, whether he contracted it. I don't recall, actually, the specific details. He was very, very old, and he was riddled with Alzheimer's or dementia of some sort, I believe. So it was a different death, but yeah. All right. Well, one last comment for Mother's Day. Go Nix. Nix in four. Let's just sweep them more. Yes, it works for me, and you'll take me to a game. I will. All right. I'll talk to you soon.

Take care. Happy Mother's Day. Thank you, honey. Thank you for your time this time until next time. My plan is to be back here on Monday at 3 p.m., if it be his will, and he delays his coming. Remember what lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are. So, wherever you are, just be yourself. Everybody else is taken. God bless you. God bless Israel, and God bless the USA. See you Monday. This has been the Joyce Kaufman podcast. Available everywhere you get your podcasts.