AR-15 GIVEAWAY. Kansas Republican congressional candidate Tyler Tannahill tried to defend his AR-15 giveaway in an interview with Chris Cuomo. “You want to talk about a solution while you’re also exhibiting the problem. If you were going to give away a weapon in a state where you don’t have to have a background check on a person-to-person transfer, how do you know where that weapon is going to wind up? You don’t. Am I wrong?”

RAPID DESTRUCTION. Trump’s dismantling of Obama’s pro-LGBT policies.

BLACK PANTHER POWER COUPLE? Two of the film’s stars have reportedly hit it off.

RUSSIA PROBE. Robert Mueller’s interest in Jared Kushner expands: “Special counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in Jared Kushner has expanded beyond his contacts with Russia and now includes his efforts to secure financing for his company from foreign investors during the presidential transition, according to people familiar with the inquiry.”

SMEAR CAMPAIGN. The right wing is now targeting the outspoken students who survived the Parkland, Florida massacre.

NRA. Dallas Mayor Pro Tem urges National Rifle Association to find new location for its convention.

RUSSIAN BOTS. Network pounced following school shooting: “The accounts addressed the news with the speed of a cable news network. Some adopted the hashtag #guncontrolnow. Others used #gunreformnow and #Parklandshooting. Earlier on Wednesday, before the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., many of those accounts had been focused on the investigation by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.”

HHS. Lambda Legal sues after lesbian couple is blocked from serving as foster parents. ‘Lambda Legal today filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on behalf of a couple who were denied the opportunity even to apply to serve as foster parents for refugee children by a USCCB affiliate because, they were told, they did not “mirror the Holy Family.”’

FLORIDA. Trump golfs as families mourn just miles away.

RIP. Gay club pioneer Robert L. Thibeault. “An Attleboro native and entrepreneur who helped break the taboo on gay dancing in Providence more than four decades ago has died. Robert L. Thibeault brought a gay club to Smithfield in the 1960s and launched the original Club Gallery in Providence in the 1970s. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Rhode Island gay bars were known only by word of mouth. Men were not allowed to dance with each other, and the police were quick to crack down.”

NEW YORKER. Trump fixed the Miss Universe pageant to favor countries where he had business interests: ‘He’d whisper to Paula about the girls, and she’d write it down. He basically told us he picked nine of the top fifteen.” Kerrie Baylis, who was Miss Jamaica in 2013, described a similar scene and added that, when the finalists were announced, “the list looked like the countries that Donald Trump did business with, or wanted to do business with.” Shi Lim, who competed that year as Miss Singapore, told me, “The finalists were picked by Trump. He was really in charge. We called it the Trump card.” (A Miss Universe spokeswoman said that the pageant rules allowed the company’s staff, including Trump, to participate in naming the finalists.)’

DONOVAN ON DISPLAY. Trevor Donovan works out (shirtless) in his backyard.

BODY TALKING. Robyn says a new album is coming this year.

I do. Some time this year honey

— Robyn (@robynkonichiwa) February 7, 2018

TRAILER OF THE DAY. Marvel’s Jessica Jones.

TOO HOT FOR TUESDAY. Eben.

The post Robyn, Jared Kushner, Jessica Jones, Black Panther, AR-15 Giveaway, Miss Universe: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad.