The Patriot Factor
'We the People' will NEVER be silenced!
Thursday, August 20, 2026
Just a Thought
On Wednesday, city officials took a group of prospective vendors to tour the site of the Harlem store, dressing them up in hardhats and high-visibility vests. Everyone was ready for a muddy-boots tour of the construction site, hyped to be wowed by this socialist utopia coming to life.
They were greeted by an empty parking lot with no construction whatsoever. Even worse, there was trash blowing across the vacant lot and nary a sign to suggest Mamdani’s socialist supermarket was arriving anytime soon.
Big Apple officials took prospective bidders on a pathetic tour Wednesday of a trash-strewn empty lot in East Harlem where Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s planned $30 million city-owned grocery store is supposed to become reality.
President Donald Trump urged U.S. allies and countries around the world Wednesday to cut off Iran economically, saying there would be consequences for anyone who "provides a lifeline."
Iran largely dismissed Trump's economic threat, with Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, saying this pivot comes after the U.S. military operation "didn't yield results."
As of Wednesday, there are no talks scheduled with Iran, according to Trump.
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains unchanged from Wednesday, according to shipping data.
Traffic has slowed further at the other major transit chokepoint in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Amid sustained disruptions to oil exports in the Middle East, Brent crude is now hovering at $94 per barrel, a 2.5% jump from Wednesday morning. Read live updates here.
Wednesday, August 19, 2026
Just a Thought
Later on Tuesday, Trump said that there are "no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran."
"The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
The announcement came after reporters asked Trump in the Oval Office on Monday whether he intended to make such a declaration. "I think it's an excellent idea. We control it through the blockade, and I like the idea of declaring it our territory," he replied.
Trump also pointed to what he described as the effectiveness of the US military's naval blockade. "We're taking out millions of barrels of oil a week. If you look at the numbers we're getting, the strait is open, oil prices are going down, and they'll continue to go down, unless we decide to do something much more drastic than what we're doing now."
More than two dozen Russian ships, many of them under US and European sanctions, traveled across the Caspian Sea to deliver the arms to Iran’s port in Amirabad, NBC News reported, citing documents and a Western official.
While the development demonstrates Moscow and Tehran’s deepening alliance, it also proves that the US-Israeli strikes against Iran’s production plants have been largely successful, Jim Lamson, a former CIA analyst, told the outlet.
“Iran’s procurement of drone components and small arms ammunition from Russia strongly suggests that Israeli and US military strikes on Iran’s facilities that produce these items have degraded Iran’s domestic capability to produce them,” he said.



