MMN Editor

Some of these ages will shock you.

Pixar Chief Creative Officer Pete Docter told The Wall Street Journal that he chose to cut some LGBTQ storytelling from a recent film because “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy.”The Journal published an interview on Friday with Docter, noting that the studio once famous for smash hits like “Toy Story” is acknowledging it stumbled in recent years.”I got into animation because it’s easier to draw people than talk to them,” Docter said. He helped create some of Pixar’s earlier, more popular work, like “Monsters, Inc.,” “Up” and “Inside Out.” Recently, however, he said, “I probably overindexed on, ‘Do whatever you want.’”According to the Journal, some current and former employees say Docter was too “conflict-averse” and let directors make autobiographical movies that did poorly at the box office.ROB SCHNEIDER: GO WOKE, GO BROKE ISN’T A SLOGAN — IT’S BECOMING HOLLYWOOD’S REALITY”As time’s gone on, I realized my job is to make sure the films appeal to everybody,” he said.The Journal noted that several recent Pixar originals during its rough patch had been inspired by their creators’ own experiences growing up.”The first original movies Pixar made under Docter included ‘Luca,’ about a shy Italian boy who’s secretly a sea creature, and ‘Turning Red,’ about a Chinese-Canadian girl who transforms into a giant panda during puberty. Both were inspired by their directors’ experiences growing up,” the Journal reported. In late 2023, however, Docter reportedly gathered Pixar’s staff to bluntly give them what would later be remembered as the “come to Jesus” speech, telling them they took the wrong path by making so many autobiographically inspired movies and needed more universally appealing projects.Around that same time, Pixar’s leadership was shown a film in progress called “Be Fri,” short for “Best Friends,” whose story was based on its director’s experience with a platonic breakup. Docter cancelled the production.DISNEY STAR DAVID HENRIE SAYS HOLLYWOOD GOING THROUGH ‘NEW RENAISSANCE’ WITH FAITH-FRIENDLY CONTENTAnother recent film, Elio, faced a reckoning of its own during production. “Test audiences liked the story of a lonely boy who finds friends in outer space, but said they wouldn’t pay to see it in a theater. So in 2023, Pixar ordered an overhaul, though more than half its animation was complete,” the Journal reported. “When director Adrian Molina told the crew he was leaving the movie, whose title character was inspired by his childhood, people cried.”Two new directors were brought onto the project to replace Molina, and according to people who worked on it, they removed elements which suggested Elio, the main character, was gay, including a pink bicycle and a scene in which he envisioned raising a child with his male crush.Docter noted that Pixar as a company had found that some parents did not want entertainment to spark conversations with their children they were not ready to have. “We’re making a movie, not hundreds of millions of dollars of therapy,” Docter said.While the new version of “Elio” tested slightly better after such overhauls, it still went on to be a flop.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTUREBy contrast, Pixar’s latest film, “Hoppers,” appears to be a step in a more positive direction, and has had glowing reviews.Docter said he believes Pixar will remain a strong asset to Disney if it sticks to its main mission of creating great films. “If we’re going to just crank crap out, let’s shut the doors,” he quipped. “I’d rather die trying to make something that we genuinely believe in.”

By Mehr News Agency, CC BY 4.0,
The legal minimum age for girls to marry in Iran is nine, as long as she has the court’s permission and her father’s approval. Otherwise, she has to wait until she is thirteen.
Furthermore, sex within marriage is considered consensual and legal under Iranian law. At least 27,000 girls under the age of 15 were married in a single year, according to Iran’s own statistical center. This is just one of the horrifying realities of life in Iran since the Islamic Revolution.
Numerous mainstream media outlets have written apologetic obituaries of Ayatollah Khamenei, referencing his long white beard and the fact that he was a grandfather.
The same media and their liberal allies have failed to underscore how repressive life was under the ayatollah.
The irony, of course, is that the liberals taking to the streets in “Hands Off Iran” protests would have been jailed and possibly killed in Iran.
Under the regime’s legal system, LGBTQ identity was essentially treated as a crime punishable by death, and women could be arrested or tortured for speaking out in public or for not wearing a hijab.
Finally, the anti-regime protests over the last few weeks, in which more than 30,000 people were killed, prove that claims of repression under the ayatollah’s regime are not Republican misinformation.
They are a fact, easily demonstrated by a brief review of some of Iran’s most repressive laws.
Iran’s legal system is structured around Sharia-based Hudud offenses, which the state defines as violations of the “rights of God.” Under the Iranian penal code, Hudud crimes carry severe punishments including death by hanging, stoning, or decapitation, as well as amputation or flogging.
Alcohol consumption, adultery, same-sex relations, and certain non-violent drug offenses all fall within this category, while insulting the prophet or apostasy can also bring the death penalty.
In addition to these codified crimes, the regime frequently relies on broad catch-all charges such as moharebeh, meaning “waging war against God,” and mofsed-e-filarz, or “spreading corruption on earth.”
These charges carry no fixed penalty and allow sentences ranging from months in prison to execution, effectively granting the judiciary unlimited discretion to punish conduct the state deems undesirable. Prosecutors have routinely used “waging war against God” charges against journalists and political dissidents.
The death penalty can also be imposed for attempts against the security of the state or for outrages against high-ranking officials.
In practice, the combination of Hudud laws and expansive charges like corruption on earth allows the regime to criminalize a vast range of behavior that would be considered normal or protected in democratic societies, including peacefully removing a headscarf, converting to another religion, or being gay.
The framework is codified in statute and regularly applied by the courts.
Prevailing fatwas prescribe the death penalty for apostasy, and Iranian law prohibits Muslim citizens from changing or renouncing their faith.
People born to parents classified as Muslim risk arbitrary detention, torture, or execution if they convert to another religion or adopt atheism. Authorities regularly raid house churches and detain Christian converts.
The penal code also criminalizes insulting Islamic schools of thought and any proselytizing activity that contradicts Islamic law, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
These provisions are used to suppress religious expression and prevent the spread of beliefs that challenge the state’s interpretation of Islam.
Iranian law broadly discriminates against religious and ethnic minorities. The government denies freedom of religion to Baha’is, who face arrest on national security charges, closure of their businesses, and a systematic ban from registering at public universities.
The government also discriminates against Sunni Muslims and restricts the political and cultural activities of Azeri, Kurdish, Arab, and Baluch minorities.
Activists from these communities are frequently prosecuted under vaguely defined national security statutes in trials that fall far short of international standards.
Iran’s Islamic Penal Code (Articles 233–241) criminalizes consensual same-sex relations. Penetrative intercourse between two men is generally punishable by death for the passive party.
For women, the punishment for same-sex conduct is up to 100 lashes, with repeat offenders subject to the death penalty. Same-sex marriage is banned, and Iran provides no legal recognition of same-sex couples or their families.
The law provides for prosecution of anyone accused of “insulting” Islam or threatening national security.
The government severely restricted freedom of speech and the press and used these laws to intimidate or prosecute those who criticized the government, raised human rights concerns, or questioned morality code enforcement.
Authorities routinely cut off internet access, slowed speeds, and blocked websites and social media platforms.
The 1986 Press Law prohibits content that undermines Islam, including material deemed to violate “public chastity,” effectively banning any media discussion or promotion of LGBTQ topics,  with the death penalty as a possible punishment for violations.
Women have fewer rights than men in Iran. A woman’s testimony in court carries half the weight of a man’s, and monetary compensation awarded to a female victim’s family upon her death is half that owed to the family of a male victim.
The regime also enforces strict controls over women’s behavior and appearance. Iran’s morality police, known as Gasht-e Ershad, or the “Guidance Patrol,” is a specialized unit within the Law Enforcement Command tasked with enforcing Islamic codes, particularly the mandatory hijab for women.
Established in 2005, these patrols monitor public spaces to enforce dress codes and behavioral norms, with penalties that can include fines, detention, flogging, or lashes.
In September 2023, parliament approved increased penalties for noncompliance with the mandatory dress code, raising sentences from two months to up to 10 years in prison and increasing fines to approximately $8,600.
In April 2024, the government announced a domestic surveillance program using street cameras to monitor hijab compliance, and authorities closed 45 businesses for serving noncompliant customers.
Beginning on April 13, 2024, the Law Enforcement Command launched the “Noor Plan,” a state-run enforcement campaign and the most aggressive crackdown on hijab noncompliance since the morality police were scaled back following the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests.
Under the Noor Plan, security forces escalated patterns of physical violence against women, including beating, kicking, and slapping those perceived as violating dress codes, while compliance was also monitored through drones.
In December 2024, the regime further expanded these controls when the “Law on Protecting the Family through the Promotion of the Culture of Chastity and Hijab” came into force.
The 74-article law imposes severe penalties, including flogging, heavy fines, harsh prison sentences, travel bans, and restrictions on education and employment for women who defy compulsory veiling.
It also penalizes private businesses that fail to enforce the dress code while granting impunity to officials and vigilantes who violently attack noncompliant women. That sort of sounds like the mask policies during COVID, probably that is why American liberals support the regime.
The post Marriage at Age Nine and Other Repressive Laws under the Ayatollah appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

The government’s “star” ratings for nursing homes are misleading, new research finds.

“My attorney, who described himself as a minister doing ‘God’s work,’ had me sign a 40% contingency agreement.”

Microsoft Backs Anthropic’s Bid To Block Pentagon’s ‘Supply-Chain Risk’ Label

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

Microsoft on March 10 filed an amicus brief backing Anthropic’s lawsuit against the Department of War, seeking a court order to temporarily stop the Pentagon from labeling Anthropic as a supply-chain risk.

Anthropic filed the suit on March 9 after the Pentagon designated it a supply chain risk to national security, a label that would hinder the Pentagon and its contractors from using Anthropic’s artificial intelligence technology in their work for the U.S. military.

The designation stemmed from Anthropic’s rejection of the Pentagon’s request for unrestricted access to its Claude models over concerns that the technology could be used for mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The Pentagon has denied that it planned to use Claude for such purposes.

In its amicus brief filed March 10, Microsoft said it was directly affected by the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic because it uses Anthropic’s technologies in products made available to the Pentagon.

The tech giant said that a temporary block on the designation would “enable a more orderly transition and avoid disrupting the American military’s ongoing use of advanced AI.”

Microsoft warned that U.S. warfighters could be hampered “at a critical point in time” if companies are required to immediately alter existing product and contract configurations used by the Pentagon.

It also warned that putting the Pentagon’s designation of Anthropic into immediate effect will have “broad negative ramifications for the entire technology sector and the American business community.”

Microsoft said the Pentagon gave itself a six-month period to transition services away from Anthropic’s technologies but did not provide the same transition timeline for contractors that use Anthropic products.

“Should this action proceed without the entry of a temporary restraining order, Microsoft and other government contractors with expertise in developing solutions to support U.S. government missions will be forced to account for a new risk in their business planning,” it stated.

“Should companies choose to forgo the opportunity to work with the U.S. government due to the attendant risks, the U.S. government, its missions, and the people it serves would lose access to state-of-the-art technological solutions,” Microsoft said.

The Pentagon said it does not comment on ongoing litigation.

Anthropic alleged in its lawsuit that the federal government designated the company in retaliation for its viewpoint protected under the First Amendment.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on Feb. 27 accused Anthropic of trying to dictate military operations by denying the Pentagon permission to use its Claude models for all lawful purposes.

“Their true objective is unmistakable: to seize veto power over the operational decisions of the United States military. That is unacceptable,” Hegseth said in a post on X.

The Pentagon used the Claude AI system for mission-critical functions, including intelligence analysis, modeling and simulation, operational planning, and cyber operations.

Tyler Durden
Wed, 03/11/2026 – 09:45

Cooke also answered to some rumors about himself.

It was like a scene straight from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” when Larry David showed up at the starry 25th anniversary bash of Montecito eatery Lucky’s on Sunday night.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department updated Sheriff Chris Nanos’ public resume Tuesday after a local news report highlighted an error in his work history that appeared to glaze over an unhappy split with his first employer in law enforcement.Nanos resigned in lieu of termination from the El Paso Police Department in Texas in 1982, according to public records cited in the Arizona Republic.But his resume claimed he remained there until joining Pima County as a corrections officer in 1984.SEARCH FOR NANCY GUTHRIE ENTERS 5TH WEEK, CADAVER DOGS ON HOLD”The Pima County Sheriff’s Department recently identified two clerical errors in Sheriff Chris Nanos’ publicly posted resume,” a department spokesperson told reporters later Tuesday. “Both date discrepancies were administrative in nature and were not intended to mislead or misrepresent Sheriff Nanos’ work history.”The statement did not address allegations in the report that he left his role in El Paso to avoid being fired.SEND US A TIP HERE”For clarity, Sheriff Nanos served with the El Paso Police Department from 1976 to 1982,” the spokesperson added. “His service with El Paso PD concluded in 1982, not 1984 as previously stated. Additionally, Sheriff Nanos was promoted to the rank of captain in 2007, not 2009.”FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON XAccording to the report, Nanos served as a decoy who baited out drug dealers and would-be muggers. But he left in 1982 amid allegations of “insubordination” and “consistent inefficiency.”In six years, he reportedly spent 37 days suspended — for allegations of excessive use of force, off-duty gambling and coming to work late or missing shifts altogether.SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTERNear the end of his time in El Paso, he took a 15-day suspension for allegedly sending a suspected robber to the intensive care unit after kicking him in the head during an arrest, according to police records included in the report.The Republic also published what it described as an emailed response to its reporter’s questions, attributed to Nanos himself, after he reportedly declined to comment on the error.LISTEN TO THE NEW ‘CRIME & JUSTICE WITH DONNA ROTUNNO’ PODCAST”That’s your ‘urgent’ request? You sure you don’t want to go back to my high school and ask why I got swats from the principal?” it reads. “Good luck with your hit piece.”Nanos is in charge of the investigation into the suspected abduction of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie.He’s taken heat over his initial handling of the crime scene, purported disputes with the FBI over bringing the bureau into the case and subsequent lab testing, conflicting statements given at different points in the case and for attending an Arizona Wildcats NCAA game while Guthrie’s adult children were filming a response to her potential abductor.LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? FIND MORE ON THE TRUE CRIME HUBShe has been missing since Feb. 1. Nanos held three news conferences that week, with the last coming on Feb. 5. There have been none held since.In the second, held on Feb. 3, he addressed the weight of massive media attention to the case.”I’m not used to everybody hanging on my words and then trying to hold me accountable for what I say,” he told reporters.More than five weeks after her disappearance, authorities have not publicly identified any suspects, persons of interest or any vehicles that could be connected to the crime.There is a combined reward of more than $1.2 million for information that leads to Guthrie’s recovery.Anyone with information is asked to dial 1-800-CALL-FBI.

Lara Logan interviews intelligence veteran Keith Rose on Going Rogue, discussing Iranian networks, sleeper cells, and cartel routes moving operatives toward the United States.
Award-winning journalist Lara Logan has uncovered intelligence pointing to Iranian operatives infiltrating the United States through Latin American networks coordinated with ruthless drug cartels.
This isn’t some far-fetched conspiracy; it’s a clear and present danger to American national security, as detailed in Logan’s latest episode of her hard-hitting podcast, Going Rogue with Lara Logan.
The Gateway Pundit reported this week that, according to an explosive federal government alert reviewed by ABC News, the U.S. has intercepted high-level encrypted communications believed to be originating from Iran.
Intelligence officials believe these transmissions are not just chatter, they are an “operational trigger” intended to activate “sleeper assets” embedded right here in the West.
As The Gateway Pundit has extensively reported, Iran has long threatened to unleash sleeper cells within the United States if provoked, a nightmare scenario made possible by the millions of unvetted illegals who poured across our southern border during the disastrous Biden years.
Logan, a fearless truth-teller who has faced down censorship and smears from the fake news media, posted on X about the explosive interview with Dr. Keith Rose, a veteran intelligence operative known in elite circles as “Captain America.”
He has been in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Africa, Central and South America. With nearly three decades of global ops under his belt, Dr. Rose laid out how Iran’s notorious Quds Force is exploiting weak borders to embed subversive actors right here in our homeland.
Logan wrote on X:

“ARE IRANIAN OPERATIVES ENTERING THE U.S. THROUGH CARTELS?”

During the podcast interview, Rose explained that the issue may be tied to the global activities of Iran’s elite military unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, which is responsible for foreign covert operations.
Rose told Logan:

“A lot of people don’t realize the largest Iranian embassy in the world is in Mexico City. The irony is Mexico doesn’t really do any trade with Iran. My understanding through contacts that I have is that the Iranians and the Iranian embassy were coordinating with cartels and with the Iranian consulate in New York City to bring subversive people into the United States.”

Rose claimed that prior to the current administration, Iranian operatives linked to the Quds Force’s Takavar division were allegedly entering Latin America through Nicaragua and then moving north.

“Iranian Quds Force operatives… were coming into Bluefields, Nicaragua. They were being transported up into Mexico, and then they were being crossed by the cartels into the United States.”

WATCH:

ARE IRANIAN OPERATIVES ENTERING THE U.S. THROUGH CARTELS?
Dr. Keith Rose joins Going Rogue with Lara Logan to discuss intelligence about foreign networks moving through Latin America toward the United States.
Many Americans don’t realize the largest Iranian embassy in the world… pic.twitter.com/P92cw2vw68
— Lara Logan (@laralogan) March 10, 2026

Watch the full interview below:

The post “ARE IRANIAN OPERATIVES ENTERING THE U.S. THROUGH CARTELS?” — Intelligence Veteran Warns Iranian Quds Force Operatives are Infiltrating the U.S. via Mexican Cartels appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.