Wednesday, March 18, 2026. Chump loses a supporter in the administration over the war on Iran, the State Dept is now -- now, just now -- advising US embassies to conduct security evaluations, Ka$h Patel comes under scrutiny, a whistle-blower appears to have some information on Epstein's New Mexico ranch, Senator Patty Murray calls out the GOP's effort to make voting more difficult for Americans, and much more.
Joe
Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced
his resignation on Tuesday, citing his concerns about the justification
for military strikes in Iran and saying he “cannot in good conscience”
back the Trump administration’s war.
“Iran
posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started
this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,”
Kent said in a statement posted on social media, making claims President
Donald Trump has denied.
Kent, a former Green
Beret and political candidate with connections to right-wing extremists,
was confirmed last July on a 52-44 vote. As head of the National
Counterterrorism Center, he was in charge of an agency tasked with
analyzing and detecting terrorist threats.
“I
cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed
no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this
war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” writes
Kent, who faced criticism over ties to white nationalists before he was
tapped for the senior post in the Trump administration.
“Early
in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential
members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that
wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war
sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.
“This
echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an
imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now,
there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the
same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war
that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women.
We cannot make this mistake again,” Kent claims.
Chump was taken by surprise by the remarks and action. As the shock wore off, he found time to blame someone. Alex Griffing (MEDIAITE) reports:
Fox
News White House correspondent and anchor Aishah Hasnie reported on
Tuesday in the wake of Joe Kent’s scathing resignation that the Trump
White House had pushed Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
to fire him.
Kent, a MAGA influencer who served
as Trump’s director of the National Counterterrorism Center, became the
first major administration official to resign in protest over the Iran
war on Tuesday morning. Gabbard, along with Kent, has long been a
leading isolationist figure inside the Trump administration. Having once
been aligned with the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democratic Party,
Gabbard has been a vocal anti-interventionist in DC and was once a
fierce critic of Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East.
Hasnie
reported that, according to a “senior administration official,” Kent
was long cut off from intelligence briefings and was suspected of
leaking. Hasnie wrote on social media that the official told her:
-a known leaker and he was cut out of POTUS intelligence briefings months ago.
-the WH told DNI Tulsi Gabbard he should be fired for suspected leaks but she never did.
-he has not been part of any Iran planning discussions or briefings at all.
The
White House went into attack mode following Kent’s letter, which
accused the administration of misleading the public about the threat
Iran posed to the U.S. Kent claimed in his letter, “I cannot in good
conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent
threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to
pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Isaac Schorr (MEDIAITE) notes
that an unnamed intelligence official is saying that the FOX "NEWS"
report was not accurate and that Tulsi was never asked to fire Joe Kent.
Five minutes into the video below, Jen Psaki covers Kent and, seven minutes in, notes Tulsis suck up public remarks.
In other news, Ewan Palmer (DAILY BEAST) reports on the response of US allies -- or US allies before Chump got sworn in and started attacking them:
Major allies have no intention of getting directly involved in Donald Trump’s war on Iran—and are telling him so bluntly.
The
response to the president’s demands for military help to reopen the
vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane has ranged from skepticism to
“Hell, no,” sources familiar with the diplomatic talks told Axios.
The
narrow passage between Iran and Oman through which a fifth of the
world’s oil passes has been closed off by Iran as a retaliatory measure
since U.S. and Israel began bombing the Middle Eastern country on Feb.
28. The closure of the Strait has resulted in a worldwide oil crisis,
with crude oil prices rising past $100 a barrel and gas prices surging
in the U.S.
Former
National Security adviser John Bolton on Monday said President Trump
failed to make a “compelling case” to the American people about the
threat Iran’s nuclear program and terrorist network pose to the United
States.
“Trump made some critical mistakes that
are becoming – the effects of which are becoming more apparent. Before
the war, he didn’t prepare the American people,” Bolton said during a
Monday appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill.”
“And
I don’t mean by telling them what the operation would be or how long it
would be, but by making what I think is a very compelling case that the
Iranian nuclear threat and the Iranian terrorism threat affect us
directly, affect our friends and allies, like Israel, like the Gulf
Arabs, like Europe in particular, and that, after 25 or 30 years of
negotiation, we were coming to the view that the only way this was going
to be solved would be by eliminating the regime,” Bolton added in his
comments to anchor Blake Burman.
Bolton, a
longtime Iran hawk, has criticized Trump’s war on Iran for a lack of
planning, arguing the administration did not lay the groundwork for a
new government to replace the hardline Islamic regime.
The
State Department has ordered all U.S. diplomatic posts worldwide to
“immediately” undertake security evaluations, citing “the ongoing and
developing situation in the Middle East and the potential for spill-over
effects,” according to a cable sent Tuesday that was reviewed by The
Washington Post.
The
cable stated that “ALL posts worldwide” should convene Emergency Action
Committees (EAC), multidisciplinary teams designed to identify and plan
for threats, and to review their “security posture.” The cable was
signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and stated that the order had
come from Undersecretary for Management Jason Evans.
Though
similar orders have been sent to diplomatic posts in the Middle East
over past weeks, Tuesday’s order appeared to mark the first time that
all posts globally had been ordered to review their security due to the
Iran war.
Multiple U.S. embassies have been
targeted by Iran and its proxies since the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign
started Feb. 28, with several missions temporarily closing and U.S.
personnel ordered to leave several countries.
This
is being done now? Not before the war started? Not when the war
started? Not when the first US Embassy got attacked? It would appear
to me that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has admirers in the press who
promote and applaud him. Where are the actual journalists? I can't
imagine Condi Rice, Hillary Clinton or John Kerry getting away with this
kind of a misstep.
FBI
insiders had sharp critiques of FBI Director Kash Patel's leadership
amid rising terrorism threats, according to reports on Monday.
Patel
has come under fire after four separate terror-related incidents since
the Iran war began four weeks ago, and an overall increase in terrorism,
The Daily Beast reported. Experts warned that Patel's missteps could lead to even bigger problems ahead.
A
former FBI agent told Miranda Devine, conservative commentator for The
New York Post, during her podcast Pod Force One that the FBI should have
acted more urgently to review its surveillance methods, including its
flagging systems, investigative and screening processes, and its threat
monitoring systems.
“The FBI should be directly
questioned on these matters on their prior knowledge and applicable
actions,” the agent said. “If not, then this violence will continue to
happen and intensify.”
A
veteran FBI special agent claims the agency is “consumed by politically
motivated revenge and conspiracy theories, distracting the F.B.I., once
again, from the danger of terrorism.”
Writing
in The New York Times, Jacqueline Maguire said the spreading war with
Iran significantly elevates the regime’s threat to Americans at home and
abroad.
That means, she claims, “the F.B.I. must
return its focus to its core work: protecting Americans from terrorists
and cyberattacks and halting foreign intelligence operations and
espionage.”
But nothing in the age of Trump 2.0 is ever that simple.
Although
the FBI in her 2000-era tenure was admittedly “distracted from the
threat by Al Qaeda that had taken root in the United States,” the agency
quickly got up to speed after 9/11. It bolstered its national security
work, she claimed.
However, the author of the
piece was among those “pushed out” of the FBI last year when the Trump
administration started its second term in January 2025. Among the dozens
who departed were Iran specialists.
You may remember Rachel Maddow noting the Iran experts being pushed out of the FBI two weeks back.
President
Donald Trump’s Iran war consistently polls in the low 40s, historically
poor for a nascent military campaign — and a prominent columnist
predicts his efforts to bully Americans into changing their minds will
not work.
“On Sunday night, during a tirade on
his Truth Social website, the president attacked The Wall Street Journal
for reporting on an Iranian military strike against American planes in
Saudi Arabia, and called on other news outlets to be charged with
‘TREASON,’” seasoned columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote for The New York
Times. “Brendan Carr, Trump’s thuggish Federal Communications Commission
chairman, threatened to revoke broadcasters’ licenses over their war
coverage. Criticizing CNN’s reporting on the war last week, Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth made clear that he’s hoping its new owners quash
its independence: ‘The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the
better.’”
Goldberg argued that “rarely in modern
history has an American administration made such blatantly authoritarian
efforts to subdue its critics. Such naked coercion is a screaming sign
of democratic breakdown. But we shouldn’t lose sight of how Trump is
failing to bend the country to his will. Even as he’s wrecking American
institutions, Trump is revealing the limits of his cultural influence.”
Goldberg
went on to list prominent conservatives who are splitting with Trump on
the war, including Megyn Kelly, a right-wing streamer; Tucker Carlson, a
right-wing podcaster; and Joe Rogan, a fellow right-wing podcaster.
[. . .]
“One
reason the old hawkish canards no longer work is that Trump has so
degraded the aura that used to surround America’s commander in chief,”
Goldberg explained. “A recent fund-raising email for Trump’s political
action committee used a photograph of the president — wearing a white
baseball hat — receiving the remains of American service members. With
his war raging, he’s spent the last two weekends golfing. Trump refuses
to treat his role with reverence, so others don’t feel much need to
either.”
Meanwhile, SEEKING ALPHA notes the impact the war is having on American farmers:
The
Trump administration is seeking alternative fertilizer supplies for
U.S. farmers as the war in Iran disrupts a key global trade route just
weeks before the spring planting season.
“We’ve
been all over the fertilizer problem,” White House National Economic
Council Director Kevin Hassett said on CNBC Tuesday. “I’m not saying
that we can eliminate what disruption there is so far, but we can
minimize it for sure.”
The
effort reflects growing concern in Washington that supply bottlenecks,
particularly those tied to the Strait of Hormuz, could tighten
availability and push up costs for farmers at a critical moment in the
agricultural calendar.
The
U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran is now in its third week, and the
consequences of the war for Americans are beginning to hit home. Not
only have we lost servicemen and women, we have expended billions of
dollars on weapons and logistical costs. And the closing of the Strait
of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas
travels, has reduced exports, raising gas prices and, indirectly, almost
all prices
President
Donald Trump’s energy policy has left the country unprepared for his
war. At a time when the country desperately needs alternatives to oil
and gas, his policies have left us naked to the storms of war.
Pope
Francis was a prophetic voice on behalf of peace and the environment,
and Pope Leo XIV has taken up this mission. Diplomacy should always be
preferred to war. And if Francis’ warnings about climate change had been
heeded by Trump, our country would be better prepared for the current
energy crisis. Even if you do not accept the popes’ moral arguments,
green energy is not only good for the planet, it is good for national
security.
The closing of the Strait of Hormuz
has caused the price of crude oil to go over $100 a barrel. This means
higher prices for gasoline, diesel and everything in the economy that
runs on oil or is made from oil. Not only will it cost more to drive
your car, it will cost more to deliver goods by rail and truck to
consumers.
Chump never learns lessons. Which is why Ari Natter (BLOOMBERG NEWS) reports, "US
President Donald Trump said he wanted to have no wind turbines built
during his presidency, reiterating his distaste for the renewable energy
source after his administration has made multiple moves to thwart its
development."
The
Trump administration has admitted that agents with the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) threatened to put Maine women observing their
activities onto a federal watchlist.
In a
24-page court filing, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sought to
convince a judge that a temporary restraining order (TRO) and immediate
relief by the legal observers are unnecessary. Though conceding that DHS
officers "suggested" that citizens' information would be taken during
interactions at immigration-enforcement operations, the DOJ maintains
that no such promises were followed up on.
"While
DHS, as do other law enforcement agencies, maintains databases relevant
to law enforcement investigations, the officers involved in the
encounters with Plaintiffs did not enter their information into a
database or watchlist related to those encounters," the filing states.
"Defendants acknowledge that officers on the ground suggested otherwise,
however, those statements were contrary to DHS policy."
The
Trump administration went so far as to share declarations from DHS
Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI) leaders stating that neither Elinor Hilton nor
Colleen Fagan were placed on any database. Moreover, the federal
immigration agency sent a memo to agents reminding them of "First
Amendment Protected Activities."
So
the US government is saying 'We lied to the women when we told them
that we were putting their names on a watchlist. We are telling the
truth now, however, when we say we didn't do that.' Were I Elinor or
Colleen, I don't know that I'd be so quick to take them at their word.
A
hacktivist group claims to have breached a Department of Homeland
Security portal used by private companies to pitch surveillance and
research technologies, exposing two structured databases that detail
proposals for biometric phone adapters, AI-powered airport monitoring,
and geospatial heat maps built from 911 calls. The leaked data, drawn
from the Office of Industry Partnership within DHS’s Science and
Technology Directorate, has reignited questions about how federal
agencies solicit and vet invasive tools, particularly those that could
be deployed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. No official DHS
response to the breach has been made public as of this writing.
[. . .]
The claimed breach produced two structured databases, according to reporting from The Guardian.
Entries in the leaked dataset include proposals for
biometrics-on-phones adapters, which would allow field agents to capture
and match fingerprints or facial data using mobile devices. Other
entries describe AI surveillance systems designed for airport
environments and a tool that ingests 911-call data to generate
geospatial heat maps, potentially giving agencies a real-time picture of
emergency activity across regions.
Each
of these technologies carries direct implications for how DHS
components, including ICE, could expand monitoring capabilities. A
biometric phone adapter, for instance, would let officers verify
identities during street-level encounters without returning to a fixed
terminal. Airport AI surveillance proposals suggest automated tracking
of individuals through transit hubs, potentially combining video feeds,
travel records, and watchlist data. And 911-call heat mapping could
layer emergency response information into immigration enforcement
patterns, raising civil liberties concerns that go well beyond the
original purpose of those emergency calls.
The
databases do not appear to contain finalized contracts or deployment
records, based on available reporting. Instead, they reflect the
proposal pipeline: what companies offered and what DHS was willing to
consider. That pipeline, however, reveals the agency’s appetite for
specific surveillance capabilities in ways that official procurement
announcements rarely do. Even unsuccessful bids can indicate areas where
the department is actively exploring new ways to collect, analyze, and
share data about people’s movements and associations.
Today, Senator Markwayne Mullen is set to appear before the Senate Homeland Security Committee as senators determine whether or not to support his bid to be the new Secretary of Homeland Security.
After
Jeffrey Epstein’s death, Svetlana Pozhidaeva said she finally felt free
and started building her life. The former Russian model, who became one
of Epstein’s “assistants” and a victim of his abuse, changed her name
and moved to another city.
Then the Epstein files dropped.
She
didn’t pay much attention, preferring not to revisit that period—the
years from 2008 to 2019, when she had been caught in Epstein’s web. She
assumed her name would be redacted like the other women who were vetted
by settlement administrators in previous victim lawsuits.
The
Justice Department did redact her name as the sender and receiver in
most emails, but mistakenly left it in the body of some messages. She
was among the dozens of victims whose personally identifiable data was
initially left unredacted in the Jan. 30 release.
Since
the files dropped, Pozhidaeva said she has been playing whack-a-mole
with the Justice Department, sending emails to flag redaction errors.
The Justice Department addressed initial errors, but when it reposted
corrected files, some instances of her name remained exposed.
The
Justice Department has said only a fraction of the released files had
redaction errors and it is fixing any mistakes when notified by victims
or their attorneys. The department didn’t respond to requests for
comment.
For
Pozhidaeva, the pressure reached a breaking point in recent days, when a
blogger started contacting her family and announced plans to expose her
new name on the grounds that she was in her 20s at the time of the
abuse and said her links to Russia disqualified her from victim
protections. The Wall Street Journal isn’t publishing her current name.
“I
am so exhausted. I haven’t slept or eaten properly for weeks,” she said
in a recent interview. “I’d rather tell this embarrassing story myself
and get it over with once and for all so I can finally be free and close
this chapter.”
It's
a shame that the Justice Dept made life harder for the survivors. It's
a greater shame that Attorney General Pam da bimbo Bondi couldn't
apologize to those women. Maybe she'll get another chance this year? In the meantime, she's been asked to be deposed by the House Oversight Committee. Rebecca Beitsch (THE HILL) reports:
The
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday formally
subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi to answer questions about the
Epstein files.
The committee voted earlier this
month to subpoena Bondi, following a motion from Rep. Nancy Mace
(R-S.C.), who said it was unclear whether the Justice Department had
turned over all records related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey
Epstein that were required under a law mandating their release.
“The
Committee has questions regarding the Department of Justice’s handling
of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and his associates and its
compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Chair James Comer
(R-Ky.) wrote in the cover letter of the subpoena.
“As
Attorney General, you are directly responsible for overseeing the
Department’s collection, review, and determinations regarding the
release of files pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and the
Committee therefore believes that you possess valuable insight into
these efforts.”
The subpoena requests Bondi appear for an April 14 deposition.
A whistleblower has claimed to have discovered 'grave-like plots' at Jeffrey Epstein's former Zorro Ranch in New Mexico,
sharing photos with state lawmakers investigating the late financier.
The images, which have not been independently verified, reportedly show
several dug-up burial sites on the property.
The revelation comes amid renewed attention on Epstein's activities and
raises fresh questions about the FBI and other authorities' handling of
evidence linked to the controversial estate.
The tipster, whose identity has been redacted, reportedly
broke into the ranch in 2020 and discovered multiple plots they
believed had been used for burials. They sent the images to Democratic
Representatives Andrea Romero and Marianna Anaya last month, along with
an email stating that the sites appeared to have had bodies removed.
'I realise this might be illegal,' the tipster wrote, 'but men like that
don't deserve the protection of the law.' Romero, who heads a
bipartisan commission investigating Epstein in New Mexico, forwarded the
correspondence to Kyle Hartsock, director of special investigations at
the state Department of Justice, who assured her that the tip was 'being
looked into.'
Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:
NYT: Republicans, Braced for Losses, Push More Voting Restrictions in Congress
AP: The biggest change to voting in Republican election bill could become a burden for many US voters
PBS: How Trump’s SAVE America Act would reshape voting and why critics are concerned
NPR: Trump wants to stop states from voting by mail and using voting machines
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, took to the
Senate floor to slam Republicans for trying to ram through the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility(SAVE) America Act to make it harder and more expensive for Americans to register to vote and cast their ballots.
Trump and Republicans’ SAVE America Act would purge American
citizens from the voter rolls, kill voter registration by mail and
online, reject common IDs used to register to vote—often making
Americans pay for new IDs and therefore making it more expensive to
vote, force Americans to register to vote in person, and penalize
married women who have changed their last names.
Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below:
“When it comes to broken promises, it seems like Trump and Republicans have raised every price they ever said they would lower.
“[They raised] costs on groceries with Trump’s sweeping tariffs—the
largest tax increase on working families in American history. They sent
energy costs higher by cancelling clean energy projects. They sent gas
prices skyrocketing by starting a new war in the Middle East, and they
let health care premiums skyrocket for patients doubling, tripling, and
more through sheer indifference!
“And now, desperate to avoid the wave of angry voters who
Republicans had promised lower prices and no new wars, Republicans are
even going to raise the cost of voting.
“Because their SAVE Trump Act would nickel and dime Americans
who are just trying to vote but have to slog through one new Republican
roadblock after another. Under Republicans’ bill, one
of our citizens’ most basic freedoms now comes with a price and it comes
with a lot of brand-new hurdles that serve no purpose but to trip
people up.
“Some folks will have to shell out for a copy of their birth
certificate. Some will have to get a passport— and that is $165 by the
way. Some folks will have to travel hours away to register in person,
costing time, travel fare, or maybe gas costs—which Trump is sending
through the roof.
“And that’s not the half of it. Just consider all the people who will face new challenges to vote—for no good reason.
“If you are a student who just moved to start college,
Republicans will make it harder for you to vote. Because if this bill
passes, you will need to show a photo I.D. and proof of citizenship in
every single state—but a student I.D. won’t count. Many Tribal I.D.’s
also won’t be enough under the new Republican restrictions.
“If you are a married woman who changed her last name, like
me and the overwhelming majority of moms across the country, Republicans
will make it harder for you to vote. Because you would now have to
bring an ID, proof of citizenship, and some additional paperwork showing
your name change. That could affect 70 million people.
“If you are a senior who just moved into a new nursing home
and has mobility issues. Republicans will make it harder for you to
vote. Because you can no longer just register online or by mail. You now
have to show up in person to show your papers.
“Voting will also be harder for rural families far from any place
where they could show their papers and register in person. In Washington
state—we have lots of families who might have to take a ferry just to
register to vote.
“Or heaven forbid you are someone living abroad maybe working for an
American company, or working at a nonprofit, or even serving our nation
as a diplomat, you may just have to buy a flight all the way back home
so you can register.
“And the inconvenience doesn’t stop at registration. Because
Republicans would make voting by mail harder for everyone as well. They
are going to require you to photocopy your IDs when you apply for that
mail in ballot, and they are going to require another photocopy when you
send in your mail in ballot. At least—as long as Trump doesn’t get his
wish to scrap mail in voting altogether!
“And if you are someone who doesn’t know where your birth certificate
is, or doesn’t have easy access to it, or if you are one of the half of
Americans who doesn’t have a passport—that is 146 million people—you
are going to have to pay fees and fill out a lot of paperwork.
“And what is the Republican plan for when the State Department gets
flooded with a record-breaking number of passport applications by the
way? Because there is no money for surge capacity in this bill! What are
Americans supposed to do when their paperwork gets delayed for weeks on
end? Or heaven forbid—this President slow walks it.
“Oh—and by the way, under the Save Trump Act there’s a perfectly
awful chance that you do everything right and still get robbed of your
vote by Republicans. Because this bill pushes states to rely on a DHS verification tool—that just frankly is a dumpster-fire.
“States that tried it—got results with huge errors, where DHS
was wrongly saying many citizens were not citizens. The Trump
Administration tool—has already wrongly advised states to purge lawful
voters from the voter rolls.
“But the biggest problem with this bill goes to its roots,
because the biggest problem is that Republicans’ whole premise is built
on a lie.
“Trump has been lying for years about our elections. Lying about
winning in 2020. Lying about winning in states like California. Lying
about crazy conspiracies that have been debunked time, and time again.
“He’s been debunked by Republican election commissioners. He has
been debunked by thorough news investigations and carefully conducted
audits. He has been debunked by million-dollar legal cases where other
liars were sued for defamation. That has not stopped Trump.
“And
instead of calling out the lies—like so many of them once actually did,
first Republicans started ignoring them, and then they started
normalizing them, and now—many of them are repeating the lies and
conspiracies.
“M. President—our elections are free, and they are fair. That
is beyond question. Anyone who values our democracy—should be shouting
that from the rooftops.
“But instead of defending our democracy, instead of defending
our elections from misinformation, and conspiracies, and a President
who has stated quite directly he wants to take control over the
elections, Republicans are joining Trump in the same sort or ruse he
pulled to rile people up on January 6th.
“The biggest fraud here is: Republicans who know their agenda
is unpopular, Republicans who know that when entrusted by the voters to
fulfill their promises, all they’ve done is break them—raising prices,
starting new wars, Republicans who know they will not
keep their majorities in a free and fair election, and so they are
pushing for this bill instead.
“M. President, this is not how elections work.This is not how America works. In this country we fight for change—with our voices and our votes.
“And if Republicans think, for a second Democrats will let them take
away people’s votes, they better buckle up—because you can bet we will
use our voices to block this bill, for as long as it takes.”
