Kyle Hofbauer

If you get three wishes and one isn't for a Star Destoyer you're an idiot.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Today is the Day of Remembrance for the Children Killed by Russia. Officially, it has a different name. But in the language of truth, this is exactly what it is. This day is about the most painful episodes of the war, about the greatest injustice and the evil Russia inflicts when the most vulnerable and the most innocent are killed. Children.

Currently, that figure is at least 707 Ukrainian children. And there are also thousands of children whom Russia has wounded, abducted, and thousands of children whose fate remains unknown. These are important and horrifying figures, but behind them lies something greater than statistics about Russian crimes alone. These were children's dreams, plans, and hopes that were simply erased. This is the pain of every mother and every father who does not know how to go on living with that. Living with such pain.

Our Ukrainian children. Some were only a few days old. Some had just started first grade. Others should have been celebrating their graduation. This is who a sick state is waging war against. This is who the so-called second army of the world is fighting – an army incapable of winning on the battlefield and seeking to assert itself by targeting children.

Eternal memory to every child who was killed. It is our enduring duty to remember, to protect our children, and to do everything possible to ensure that the evil Russia has brought is punished.

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

New video footage from Monday night’s large-scale Russian drone and missile attack against Ukraine, which killed at least 23 and wounded over a hundred civilians, shows several 3M22 “Zircon” Hypersonic Cruise Missiles striking the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

[Kyle Hofbauer @RonMexico44]

What are we doin

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has announced that he is appointing Bill Pulte, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), to serve as Acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI), following the recent resignation of Tulsi Gabbard. Unlike Gabbard, Pulte has never served in the military or in any aspect of the U.S. Intelligence Community.

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

The U.S. Department of Defense announced Monday that the Pentagon Press Office, a workspace where journalists have long been able to seek information from defense and military officials, has been deemed a classified space and is now off-limits to the press to make room for speechwriters who handle sensitive material, in the latest attempt by the department under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to limit media access in and around the Pentagon.

[Culture Crave 🍿 @CultureCrave]

'Andor' creator Tony Gilroy's Peabody Awards Acceptance Speech:

“We spent six years contemplating a fascist takeover of a galaxy far, far away. Six years thinking about what happens to ordinary beings when an authoritarian, insane, unchecked regime comes into the deal, and the show is really kind of what we learned"

“If you’re not willing to fight for the things that you love, your family, community, your culture, your planet, your truth, freedom, there’s an asshole ready to come in and take it away. We learned that bravery and sacrifice and resistance comes in all shapes and sizes, and we learned that courage is contagious"

“There’s so much is happening, it’s a fire hose of crap that you just can’t get through. And here we are. There isn’t a new cycle that goes by right now that doesn’t contain a variety of outrages that in any other time in our history in America wouldn’t be grounds for treason"

“Please do not stop. Please do not turn out the lights until we can kill this nightmare… and fuck the Empire!”

(via @Variety)

[OddStats @OddStats]

The government has tracked the Personal Savings Rate since the 1950s. It's the percentage of disposable income that Americans save, invest, or use to purchase real assets.

Today's reading was a terrifying 2.6%

Want to know all the times in the history of this stat it was this low?

▶ The 2.5 years running up to the Great Recession
▶ The first 3 quarters of the Great Recession
▶ The middle of 2022 (the 3rd worst year for markets in 50 years)
▶ Right now

[Governor Newsom Press Office @GovPressOffice]

Outrageous!

Donald Trump is openly paying off his criminal friends and supporters with YOUR MONEY!

What the hell is happening in our country?!

[Joel Montfort @jmontforttx]

Alligator Alcatraz is closing after one year and wasting $1B to house 1400 immigrants. That's an eye-popping $714,285 per occupant. Everything this administration does is filled with fraud and waste. https://t.co/3DoG1YTjTh

[Senator Mark Kelly @SenMarkKelly]

Not surprised since Donald Trump, the guy Mike Johnson is performing for, made thousands of stock trades already this year. I’ve got a better idea….ban Mike Johnson, Donald Trump, every cabinet member and every member of Congress from trading stocks and making money off of their jobs. If they don’t like it, they can do something else.

[Quiver Quantitative @QuiverQuant]

NEW FROM QUIVER:

President Trump appears to have bought up to $530K of Palantir stock in March.

In April, he posted the ticker symbol to his followers on Truth Social, saying:

"Palantir Technologies (PLTR) has proven to have great war fighting capabilities and equipment"

[The Bulwark @BulwarkOnline]

Q: "To what extent are American's financial situation motivating you to make a deal [with Iran]?"

Trump: "Not even a little bit…I don't think about Americans' financial situation, I don't think about anybody."

[James Surowiecki @JamesSurowiecki]

Partisan gerrymandering should be unconstitutional in every state. It's pure Soviet politics, allowing the people in power to rig the system to ensure they stay in power.

What's particularly disgusting is what is happening in Florida, where voters overwhelmingly voted to make partisan gerrymandering unconstitutional, and then Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans decided to explicitly ignore the will of voters and pass an unconstitutional bill, counting on the GOP-packed state Supreme Court to bail them out. It's vile behavior.

[The Daily Show @TheDailyShow]

.@jonstewart remembers the last time Donald Trump tried to do math, 20 years ago

[James Surowiecki @JamesSurowiecki]

Trump says that Obama, who left office in 2017, blocked a merger between People Express (which went out of business in 1987) and Spirit Airlines in 2024.

[Kyle Hofbauer @RonMexico44]

Now do politicians

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

A U.S. Special Forces Soldier involved in Operation Absolute Resolve, the capture in January of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, has been arrested by federal agents and charged for allegedly betting on the operation via the prediction market platform Polymarket, netting him $400,000 in profits, according to CNN.

The Soldier, identified as Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, an active-duty senior enlisted servicemember stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, opened an account in late December on Polymarket. Betting a total of approximately $33,034 in 13 bets from December 27, 2025, through the evening of January 2, some only hours before the overnight operation to capture Maduro.

Federal authorities state that Van Dyke “participated in the planning and execution of the U.S. military operation to capture Nicolás Maduro,” being charged with “unlawful use of confidential government information for personal gain, theft of nonpublic government information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and making an unlawful monetary transaction.”

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

Call me radical, but I don’t think we should be throwing millions of Americans off health care while we bail out a ruthless dictator whose family is worth $300 billion.

[Kyle Hofbauer @RonMexico44]

Holy shit Iran did a lotta damage to our shit that is protecting other people’s shit

[John M. Larrier @DefenseBulletin]

Plus ~$200 billion (not a finalized number) for reconstitution of battle-damaged equipment and installations in the Middle East. However, per officials during the live briefing today, regional allies could potentially help foot the bill there.

[Kyle Hofbauer @RonMexico44]

“I’m winning a War” okay ole bone spurs let’s get you home

[OSINTdefender @sentdefender]

U.S. President Donald J. Trump has made two Truth Social posts in the last hour. In his latest post, President Trump lambasted media reports that decry the administration’s efforts against Iran, saying that Iran is losing $500 million a day and the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz will not end until a deal is agreed upon and implemented.

[Preston Stewart @prestonstew_]

The Polymarket bets are gross but these massive trades right before major wartime announcements are next level.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Today in Ukraine is another very hard day, really hard night – the day after a massive Russian attack. In just one night, there were nearly 300 attack drones, 19 ballistic missiles, as well as cruise missiles. Air-raid sirens sounded across many of our cities.

And this came after waves of “shaheds” had filled our skies just yesterday. Dozens of people have been injured. And sadly, so sadly, there are also lives lost in Odesa, Kyiv, in Dnipro. Just ordinary people, children, civilians, killed by Russian madness.

If it’s possible, please, I ask you now to honor their memory, and all those whose lives have been taken by this terrible war, with a minute of silence.

Thank you.

From my address to the participants of the Four Freedoms Awards ceremony (1/3).