Hollywood production has been of particular interest to the president since he took office for his second term. In January, Trump named actors Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone, and Mel Gibson as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood in order to crack what was apparently wrong with the business. According to Deadline, Voight has taken the title seriously, and recently met with studios and artistic guilds to better understand the issues plaguing production. The potential of a national incentive to bring more production back to the U.S. is a rare bipartisan issue in the industry, at least on the surface; since the wildfires that swept the Los Angeles area in early 2025, many in the film business have rallied the California and national government to incentive studios to shoot local.

Trump’s Hollywood Ambassadors: a dream team of cinematic patriotism, expertly trained in the fine art of Pentagon-approved storytelling. Each has worked closely with the Defense Department’s Entertainment Media Office, ensuring that military narratives get just the right heroic glow. Now, under Trump’s watchful eye, they’re promoted from script advisors to official cultural envoys—because nothing says diplomacy quite like a blockbuster-ready version of history. If reality ever gets messy, don’t worry—they’ve got years of experience cleaning up inconvenient details. /s

Related:

Six factors that enabled China to dominate global shipbuilding

April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The dominance of China in the newbuilding the market has come under intense scrutiny with the investigations by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) – but how did the country’s shipyards achieve such a leading position?

Six factors that enabled China to dominate global shipbuilding

The decline of U.S. shipbuilding

March 19, 2025March 19, 2025 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

US port fees on China built vessels would hit grain exporters

Maritime historian, professor, and YouTuber, Sal Mercogliano, who rose to mainstream fame with appearances on the CNN network a year ago on the Dali incident provided comments with a deep historical context.

He pointed to decisions in the time following World War 2 (late 1940s through the late 1970s), where: “…the United States allowed its merchant marine to remain stable, while global ocean trade grew exponentially.”
Read More »

DOGE is Sharpening the Tools of US Empire – Not Dismantling Them

February 12, 2025February 12, 2025 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

DOGE is Sharpening the Tools of US Empire (Rumble)

Many people have become so distracted with debates over the process DOGE is overseeing in exposing and eliminating US government fraud, waste, and abuse, that no one is focused on its purpose.

The current US administration has declared its intention to uphold the irrational and unwarranted pursuit of US dominance over the globe and is merely attempting to sharpen and streamline the tools available to do so more efficiently.

Sources:

China vs. the US: shipbuilding, subsidies, and the Jones Act

April 29, 2024April 30, 2024 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Hypocrisy thrives where double standards prevail.

Earlier, I stupidly tweeted out an article about the Jones Act and shipbuilding and Colin Grabow, from the Cato Institute, liked it (he was quoted in the article). I looked him up and decided to listen to this video on the shipbuilding competition between China and the US, where he and a lawyer for United Steelworkers were on the panel. China is eating their lunch, and it’s the ruling elites’ own fault, yet they scapegoat China for it. The double standards over China’s “unfair economic practices” AKA the subsidizing of their shipbuilding industry irritates me (liars irritate me even more). States give subsidies, grants, and tax breaks to corporations, all the time. Fincantieri Marinette Marine is just one example, but Wisconsin had done the same for Foxconn. Foxconn received tax breaks and $3B in subsidies, which was “the largest ever subsidy provided by a state to a foreign company”, despite not living up to their promises.

Rumble

Colin Grabow wants to end the Jones Act. I’ve made at least three video clips regarding the Jones Act, two with Sal Mercogliano from What’s Going On With Shipping and one from the government-funded CSIS (I’ve posted them, below). Spoiler alert: Sal says that the problem isn’t the Jones Act. Meanwhile, both CSIS and the Cato Institute (part of the Atlas Network) blame the Jones Act. Deregulation is a wet dream of big corporations (which fund both the Cato Institute and CSIS).

Trump and Biden, Republicans and Democrats all agree: affordable Chinese cars should be banned

April 18, 2024April 18, 2024 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Trump and Biden, Republicans and Democrats all agree: affordable Chinese cars should be banned

“Ohio knows all too well how China illegally subsidizes its companies, putting our workers out of jobs and undermining entire industries from steel to solar manufacturing,” Brown said in a statement. “We can’t wait for China to run this same playbook in the auto industry — we need strong rules, including but not limited to tariffs, to stop a flood of Chinese electric vehicles that threaten Ohio auto jobs.”

…

He said the average price gap between a Chinese vehicle and its U.S.-made counterpart ranges from 44 percent to 179 percent. “That is a massive gap,” the executive said. “Tariffs alone aren’t going to take care of that.”

Reuters: Mexico yields to US pressure on incentives for Chinese car makers

He said that such incentives have declined during the government led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who took office in late 2018, although they have been offered to large investors such as Audi.

Hypocrisy, Thy Name is the United States:

Joe Biden signs into law bill approving US-Taiwan trade agreement to boost bilateral economic ties

August 8, 2023August 8, 2023 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

US President Joe Biden on Monday signed into law a bill that approves the first agreement negotiated under the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st Century Trade and commits the administration to consult Congress for future agreements under the initiative.
Joe Biden signs into law bill approving US-Taiwan trade agreement to boost bilateral economic ties

Nuland To Try Pushing South Africa Away From Russia

July 21, 2023July 21, 2023 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)1 Comment

South Africa’s support for Russia after its invasion of Ukraine has incensed some in Washington.
Inside the Desperate Diplomatic Efforts to Salvage U.S.-South Africa Ties

Henry Kissinger makes surprise visit to China, meets defense minister

July 19, 2023July 19, 2023 Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, the 100-year-old who was at the heart of the United States’ rapprochement with China half a century ago, has made a surprise visit to Beijing.
Henry Kissinger makes surprise visit to China, meets defense minister

Video via Activist News Network

Senior Chinese diplomat meets with Henry Kissinger

Chinese defense minister meets with Henry Kissinger in Beijing