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Anderson Cooper Slams GOP Senator Who Derailed Disabilities Treaty

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Anderson Cooper on CNN slammed Republican freshman U.S. Senator Mike Lee  from Utah for his false statements about the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the result of which, in cooperation with former U.S. Senator and GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, and the radical religious right, derailed the treaty.

WATCH: Glenn Beck And Rick Santorum: ‘Fascistic’ UN Disabilities Treaty Is From ‘Nazi Days’

Senator Lee, the youngest sitting U.S. Senator, was unable to cite any valid reasons for his derailing the UN disabilities treaty, and could not cite any examples of a UN treaty that had any bearing on U.S. law. For Lee, a constitutional lawyer, to be unable to defend his ludicrous positions, is extremely damaging to his credibility.

Lee, after a heated back and forth, says that UN officials sitting on “their perch in a UN office” could tell Americans how to “live their lives.”

“Cooper pressed Lee to explain how approving the treaty would change U.S. law, despite legal claims to the contrary that it would not,” Mediaite reports. “Lee cited a provision in the treaty granting international ‘entitlement rights,’ and another provision that he believed would ‘undermine the rights of parents.’ When Lee said that there is an abortion plank in the treaty, Cooper challenged him by saying it only grants the same health care rights to the disabled as everyone else overseas.”

Cooper said that the treaty is non-self-obligating, therefore there is nothing mandatory that has to be enforced. Lee insisted it still has an impact, warning about how parts of the treaty could have a long-standing impact on U.S. law.

Cooper challenged Lee to name any other U.S. treaty that has had such an impact. Lee said he “didn’t come prepared to cite Supreme Court precedent on this point,” to which Cooper further insisted that Lee was merely positing “very scary hypotheticals” with no evidence to back up his claims. Cooper repeatedly pushed Lee to name another treaty to impact U.S. law, explaining that Lee arguing the point on the Senate floor should have prepared him for this line of questioning.

Bottom line, Senator Lee and his Tea Party friends lied about this treaty, probably because they hate the UN.

Conservatives claimed the treaty would promote abortion, take away the rights of parents to raise their children as they see fit, and even take away children from their parents. Glenn Beck apparently lied, saying the treaty sounds “really Orwellian or, quite honestly, fascistic from the Nazi days,” and Rick Santorum wholeheartedly agreed.

This is the heart of the Republican Party and the Tea Party.

Liars who will say anything to get their way — and their way is intent on harming America, and now the world.

We truly have become the laughing stocks of the world.

 

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Breaking: Radical Conservatives Win — People With Disabilities Lose Senate Vote

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NYC Officials to Defy Trump Admin Over Pride Flag Removal From Stonewall National Monument

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February 10, 2026

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New York City officials plan to defy the Trump administration after the National Park Service removed the iconic LGBTQ pride flag from the historic Stonewall National Monument, following guidance from the Trump administration. Many consider the Greenwich Village landmark to be the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement, and the backlash to the removal was swift.

Some officials vowed earlier to re-raise the flag on federal property. Those who do so are “setting up a potential fight with the White House,” according to Politico.

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal told Politico that he and other NYC-area officials will re-raise the flag on Thursday.

“I think it’s important that we speak out and stand up for the community, frankly, just as our forebearers, who exhibited much more courage back in 1969,” Hoylman-Sigal said.

READ MORE: White House Shuts Down Briefing After Declaring Lutnick ‘Very Important’ to Trump’s Team

“This is not a moment for our community to stand by idly as attempts to undermine our history are put forward by Trump and the federal administration,” he added, calling it “another outrage by the Trump administration directed at the LGBTQ community, whether it’s transgender youth or immigrants or queer people in general.”

It’s unknown which other officials plan to be present on Thursday.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul told The Recount, “I believe in peaceful resistance, because we’re not going to be subjugated to someone who thinks he’s a king — and you cannot diminish or undermine an important community to all of us.”

“I’ll do whatever I can,” she added, “if I have to go out there and put my own flag right back up.”

New York City Mayor Kwame Mamdani wrote, “I am outraged by the removal of the Rainbow Pride Flag from Stonewall National Monument. New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history. Our city has a duty not just to honor this legacy, but to live up to it. I will always fight for a New York City that invests in our LGBTQ+ community, defends their dignity, and protects every one of our neighbors—without exception.”

Human Rights Campaign national press secretary Brandon Wolf told CBS News, “Bad news for the Trump administration: these colors don’t run.”

READ MORE: Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

“The Stonewall Inn & Visitors Centers are still privately owned, their flags are still flying high, and that community is still just as queer today as it was yesterday. While their policy agenda throws the country into chaos, the Trump administration is obsessed with trying to suffocate the joy and pride that Americans have for their communities,” Wolf said.

“For over a year, they’ve been on a witch hunt, targeting rainbow crosswalks, pride flags, Black Lives Matter murals, and throwing a tantrum about a Super Bowl performance they couldn’t control. But they will fail. We will keep showing up at Stonewall, for each other, and being out and proud. There’s nothing the White House can do about that,” he added.

READ MORE: Fascism Expert Warns Trump Could Invoke Emergency Powers to Cancel the Election

 

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White House Shuts Down Briefing After Declaring Lutnick ‘Very Important’ to Trump’s Team

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February 10, 2026

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After Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told senators on Capitol Hill that he took his family for lunch to the private island owned by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2012, the White House insisted that he remains an important part of the administration. There is bipartisan support for Lutnick to resign from the administration.

A reporter, mentioning Lutnick’s congressional testimony, reminded Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that the family lunch occurred “after he said that he had cut ties with Epstein,” and that a DOJ document “showed that he was in contact with Epstein through 2018 over messages.”

Leavitt replied, “Secretary Lutnick remains a very important member of President Trump’s team, and the President fully supports the Secretary.”

Epstein was first convicted in 2008.

READ MORE: ‘Bullies’: Backlash as Trump Admin Pulls Pride Flag From Stonewall National Monument

Leavitt then chastised reporters for not asking questions about the White House’s recent “wins” — and then cut the press briefing short after about 20 minutes.

As The Independent reported, “rather than face follow-up questions about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s relationship with deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein after documents released by the Justice Department — and Lutnick’s own sworn testimony to Congress — revealed how he lied about the extent of his ties to the late pedophile,” Leavitt “abruptly cut short a briefing with reporters.”

READ MORE: Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

 

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‘Bullies’: Backlash as Trump Admin Pulls Pride Flag From Stonewall National Monument

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8 hours ago

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February 10, 2026

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The Trump administration has removed the LGBTQ pride flag from New York City’s historic Stonewall National Monument, which many consider to be the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement. In 2016, the Stonewall National Monument became the first LGBTQ site to receive a national monument designation.

The move came in response to the Trump administration’s guidance on which flags may be displayed on federal properties.

“The removal comes amid a broader federal effort to scrub LGBTQ+ history from government sites and single out transgender people, raising fears among LGBTQ+ advocates that their community faces erasure from public life,” Axios reported.

According to Gay City News, which first reported the removal, the flag was raised “at Christopher Park in 2022 — back when the Biden administration allowed the flag to go up.”

READ MORE: Carville Predicts Trump Will Get a Complete and Total ‘Whipping’

“Under government-wide guidance,” a spokesperson for the National Park Service told Gay City News, “including General Services Administration policy and Department of the Interior direction, only the US flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.”

“Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance. Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site’s historic significance through exhibits and programs.”

Axios noted that a “January memo includes narrow exemptions for non-agency flags, such as those that ‘provide historical context’ or ‘are part of historic reenactments.'”

Vowing to raise the pride flag again, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said, “We have confirmed that a January 21st federal order has resulted in the removal last weekend of the Pride flag at Stonewall, birthplace of the modern LGBTQ human rights movement. They cannot erase our history.”

New York State Senator Eric Bottcher wrote, “Ordering the removal of Gilbert Baker’s Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a shameful attempt to rewrite history. Stonewall is where our community fought back and demanded to be seen. You cannot separate that place from the symbol that grew out of it.”

READ MORE: Trump Pushes Claim Schiff and Swalwell OK’d Leaks to ‘Overthrow’ the Government

Calling Stonewall “sacred ground,” New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin declared the flag’s removal “a deliberate and cowardly attempt to erase … history.”

“This is an attack on LGBTQ+ New Yorkers,” she added, “and we will not stand for it. Our history will not be rewritten, and our rights will not be rolled back.”

California State Senator Scott Wiener commented, “Petty & mean are the point. Like removing the rainbow crosswalk at Pulse & removing Harvey Milk’s name from the navy ship. What these bullies forget is LGBTQ people have been bullied forever & we learned how to fight back. We fought back hard at Stonewall & we’ll do it again.”

U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) called the flag’s removal “another disgusting example of the Trump Administration’s effort to erase the LGBTQ+ community. Removing the Pride flag will not make us forget the legacy of Stonewall. I fought for Stonewall to become designated as a National Monument and I will fight to see that the Pride flag is raised again.”

READ MORE: ‘Lied About His Ties’: Fury After ‘Fraud’ Lutnick Says He Took Family to Epstein Island

Image via Shutterstock

 

 

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