In 2008 Joe Biden was Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with oversight jurisdiction of the U.S State Dept. Foreign Service and the passport office, along with and all foreign policy nominations etc.

In 2008 John Brennan was working for the Obama campaign when someone from his outside government group, The Analysis Corporation, “hacked” into the state dept database to access the passport files and State Dept records of Barack Obama.

John O. Brennan, Obama’s then top terrorism and intelligence adviser, was the owner of The Analysis Corp.  The company was cited in March 2008 for penetrating the files of presidential candidates Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and John McCain in the State Department’s passport office.

At the time of the breach, John Brennan was working as an unpaid adviser to the Obama campaign.   After the breach was revealed by the Washington Times, Brennan stated:

“This individual’s actions were taken without the knowledge or direction of anyone at The Analysis Corp. and are wholly inconsistent with our professional and ethical standards,” Brennan’s company said in a statement sent to reporters after the passport breach was made public.  (link)

The Washington Times Reported – Passport application data includes such details as date and place of birth, e-mail address, mailing address, Social Security number, former names and travel plans. Mr. Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961 to a Kenyan father and American mother. He lived in Jakarta, Indonesia, from age six to 10.

Computer-monitoring equipment detected the activities by the three employees on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14, triggering alarms in each case, Mr. McCormack said.  Mr. McCormack said the officials accessed Mr. Obama’s records “without a need to do so.”

“In each case, we immediately contacted our contractors, their employer, and two were fired and one was disciplined,” he said.  (link)

But it is important to remember EXACTLY what Brennan’s background was before the State Department breach.   Brennan spent 25 years working for the CIA prior to the security breach:

Mr. Brennan spent most of his C.I.A. career as an analyst, but during the 1990s served a tour as the chief of the station in Saudi Arabia.   From 1999 to early 2001, he was chief of staff to George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, as the position was then called. At the end of his CIA. service, in 2004 and 2005, Mr. Brennan set up what is now the counterterrorism center.  (link)

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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivers a post-meeting media briefing in Bahrain following talks with Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers. Secretary Rubio begins with an outline of the U.S. crisis response to the requests from the Venezuela government, the Iran peace process, regional security, U.S.-Italy relations involving Giorgia Meloni, questions regarding JD Vance, and broader diplomatic priorities shaping Washington’s foreign policy agenda. WATCH:

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President Trump held a private meeting with the Republican party members of the Senate.  Several GOP Senators are firmly standing in the way of President Trump’s legislative agenda and promising to continue blocking any efforts to pass the Save America Act.

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Against the backdrop of President Trump, Secretary Rubio and Secretary Hegseth pointedly telling NATO of the U.S. intention to draw-down U.S. military operations from Europe, NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte flies to Washington DC to make the pro-NATO sales pitch directly to President Trump.

In one of the most transparent appearances in oval office history, a passionate, self-interested and professionally demure Mark Rutte pours on the praise for President Trump and puts on a massive sales pitch.  You can tell from President Trump’s demeanor, tone and general ambivalence, he too can see how over the top the praise and back-slapping is.

Secretary Rutte was intensely and diplomatically focused on not allowing any accurate criticism or statement of disappointment from President Trump be left unchallenged to frame the tone and context of the meeting by the media. This is quite a desperate spectacle to witness when you understand the stakes for Europe which were carried by Rutte. WATCH:

CTH readers can see through the professionally demure motivations of the NATO secretary, and it was obvious from President Trump’s response that Rutte was transparently playing to the U.S. audience and DC stakeholders.  That said, you’ve got to give Rutte credit for tap-dancing that fine line.

It was a great sales pitch, and President Trump was very courteous and respectful of the showmanship, but I doubt President Trump was moved much.  The G7 assembly in Turkey will be very interesting.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues his trip through the Middle East talking to U.S. allies and stakeholders about the terms and conditions of the ceasefire with Iran.   Today Secretary Rubio is in Kuwait.

Arriving in Kuwait, Secretary Rubio discusses his previous conversation with the UAE and sets the baseline for the discussions moving forward.  As noted by Rubio, these are strategic partners in the region who have a vested interest in the outcome of the Iran negotiations. Rubio is in the region to listen to their concerns and affirm the U.S. strategic partnership.

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Even as House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican leadership assembled for a news conference touting the recently passed Housing bill, President Trump cancelled the signing ceremony.

[SOURCE]

President Trump appears very serious about facing down both the Senate and the House on their intransigence to pass the Save America Act to secure national elections.  President Trump is now on a direct collision course with Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

Trump was scheduled to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing bill on Wednesday afternoon, which passed both chambers with wide bipartisan support. (Politico)

This is the second legislative priority being blocked by President Trump due to Legislative friction.  The FISA (702) reauthorization in the Senate is also stalled as Senator’s demand Trump withdraw Acting DNI Bill Pulte.

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Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives an impromptu press availability and answers questions from members of media in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The Rubio visit comes as the U.S. is working with Gulf Arab partners (GCC) to construct the second phase of an agreement with Iran.  The current terms cover a ‘ceasefire’ and the Gulf Cooperation Council play a major role in the regional decisions as partners to the United States.

“We know what [Iran] agreed to do. Now they’ll either do it or they won’t and if they do the process moves forward and if they don’t the president will have some decisions to make.”…

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Upon arrival in Reading, Pennsylvania, President Trump held an impromptu press availability.  There were numerous questions on the topic of Iran, the economy and current events. WATCH:

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I have a half-day of travel that takes me offline until later today; however, President Trump is scheduled to deliver remarks on the economy today in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania.

President Donald Trump will deliver a speech during his visit to the Mack Trucks manufacturing plant in Lower Macungie Township.  The event is scheduled for 2:00pm ET with livestream links below.

UPDATE: VIDEO ADDED

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I previously saw an interesting discussion with NVIDIA Jensen Huang where in the context of AI he was asked: who is the smartest person you ever met?

Jensen Huang paused for quite a few moments thinking about the question before he answered.

Huang then redefined the word “smart.”

‘Smart’ is a word we have historically used in reference to ‘intelligence’.  If a person was intelligent, we say that person is smart. However, in this era of AI at your fingertips, we must break this connection.

Intelligence, the assembly of knowledge about a particular matter of discussion, is no longer limited to educational or real-life training or study by people who focus intensely on subject material.

All of the knowing about a system, any system, process, history or discussion topic is now available almost instantly to anyone in this era of artificial intelligence.

The NVIDIA CEO then continued, therefore, once we break our historic reference connecting ‘intelligence’ and the generalized term ‘smart’, we can properly address the question you present.

Who is the smart man? Or, in the context of the originating question, “who is the smartest person?”

With this baseline established, Jensen Huang then outlined the traits of the smartest person.  The smartest person is not the person with the greatest knowledge; the smart individual is the person who can tune into the frequency of the universal moment, look at the human reality of what is factually taking place that has not yet become an input into the AI capture record, and then predict the material outcome – the destination of knowledge that has not yet arrived.

Essentially, Huang explains the smart person is alone, tuning themselves into the vibration that is the consequence of human activity, financial interests, geopolitical movement, social transformation, economic shifts and cultural modifications.  Then, positioning their interests at the place in the future where they predict all the activity will arrive.

The accuracy of prediction, or predictive positioning, then determines the scale of smart.  The more accurate a person is under this perspective, the smarter they are.

I agree with this perspective.

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