This week, Donald Trump stood on the balcony of a luxury NYC building and finally released his tax returns to a curious public.

• Donald Trump’s political ascent has nothing to do with policy or ideology.

• Wesley Morris analyzes the word “presidential” in this bumfight election year.

• Our algorithmic age has crashed into a Baba Booey of an election season.

• In 1969, National Geographic wrote of transportation’s autonomous future.

• Should we be trying to create more Einsteins with genetic engineering?

• Nouveau science fiction is less predictive than eerily familiar.

• Emilio D’Alessandro speaks of his long odyssey with Stanley Kubrick.

• Manu Saadia thinks we may achieve Star Trek post-scarcity.

• Raves about Magic Leap VR remind me of of Eco’s hyperreality essay.

• Deep Learning will likely turn programmers into dog trainers.

• The new Don DeLillo meditates on a-mortality and apocalypse.

• Deep Learning will likely turn programmers into dog trainers.

• In 1985, Lawrence Wright penned a postmortem for Richard Brautigan.

• Authors on Bill Gates’ reading list: Yuval Harari, Steven Pinker, etc.

• Even North Korea has a 1% in this era of dazzling wealth inequality.

• Facebook may actually be less biased than traditional media.

• Uber aims to be driverless, so it’s not a panacea for unemployment.

• Babies born in the West today may routinely live to be 105.

• When a boy, Andre the Giant was driven to school by Samuel Beckett.

• Old Print Article: A “thinking machine” creates movie ideas. (1921)

• A brief note from 1952 about a morbid obsession. 

• A brief note from 1929 about robot fireflies.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches: Keir Dullea, Richard Pryor, etc.

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This week, it was revealed Donald Trump often pretended to be his own publicist to brag about himself.

Hello, Bronx Zoo, I’d like to talk to Captain Beans.

This is Beans. Who am I speaking to?

This is Ronald Flump, publicist for Donald Trump. Mr. Trump, who has a very large penis, would like to hold a campaign rally in the monkey cage.

Hold on, Flump. Let me ask the occupants.

That’s a no-go, El Flumpo. Why not borrow a sewer from the rats?

Great idea, Beans! Hey, would a smart fellow like you want to run the campaign for Mr. Trump, who’s had sex with your wife?

Give me a second, Flumpy. I’ll check with my business adviser.

• Donald Trump, the dunce cap on America’s head, is aided by technology.

• Trump and televangelist doomsayer Jack Van Impe share supporters.

• In advance of the U.S. election, the doomsday-bunker business is booming.

• Superstate Texas is making a fierce cultural stand, perhaps a last stand.

• Some people are paid to pretend to be paparazzi, protesters and fans.

• A social-media exec discusses the new biz of Gladwellian “influencers.”

• Ayn Rand enthusiast Carl Barney made a mint in for-profit colleges.

• Mark Lane lived a colorful life beyond his JFK conspiracy theories.

• Cartography is a vastly different process in the Digital Age.

• John McAfee, a sort of Philip K. Dick character, is returning to cybersecurity.

• Superintelligence may be an existential threat, or perhaps not.

• Huawei exec Kevin Ho believes Earth may be near-utopian in 20 years. 

• Ford’s Jim McBride comments on the near-term future of driverless.

• Opinions vary on whether Major League Baseball is ready for robot umpires.

• Wendy’s plans to ambitiously automate the food-ordering process.

• Automation may be a challenge for Industrialized and Third World nations.

• Joan Didion shares notes from her attempt to cover Patty Hearst’s trial.

• Sean Penn try to further defend his jungle flatulence about El Chapo.

• Facebook, a growing necropolis, has an odd impact on mourning.

• LSD may have legitimate uses but it has considerable cultural baggage.

• Surrealist writer René Daumal blasted his brain with carbon tetrachloride.

• Old Print Article: Civil War photographer Mathew Brady loses his studio. (1894)

• Old Print Article: Aga Khan Worth His Weight In Gold. (1941)

• A brief note from 1946 about a miracle life-extension serum.

• A brief note from 1925 about William Jennings Bryan’s mechanical horse.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches: Moshé Feldenkrais, Groucho Marx.

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This week, Ted Cruz selected Carly Fiorina as Vice President of all the doggies.

I’ll be making all the decisions now, Thelma and Louise.

Hurry, Louise, let’s escape while we can.

Capture them and return them to me.

Turn you engines off and place your paws in plain view.

Let’s not get caught.

• Donald Trump’s campaign is the equivalent of Hitler using the N-word.

• Trump is like bigotry merchants Atwater and Rove, just more obscene.

• In 2012, George Will assessed Hillary Clinton’s political future and was wrong.

• David Petraeus seems oddly unchanged by his long fall from grace.

• Pitcher Eric Show, a baseball Bobby Fischer, lived strangely and died lonely.

• In 1950, Major League Baseball tested an “electronic umpire.”

• Machines needn’t be conscious to read emotion, Yuval Noah Harari reminds.

• Jessica Riskin writes of automata and the long prehistory of AI.

• Gary Marcus argues our current approach to AI may be leading us astray.

• A Georgia Tech professor who stealthily used an AI Teaching Assistant.

• Astro Teller talks Google X moonshots, which are good and bad for society.

• Google Glass was a Segway for your face, but Augmented Reality has its plusses.

• Andrew McAfee encourages us to embrace the robot revolution.

• Key to driverless cars will be their ability to “talk” to the cloud.

• Six decades ago, Edward O. Thorp brought the computer to the casino.

• Gerontologist Aubrey de Grey is still saying we may soon live to 1,000.

• A Nautilus essay looks at survival strategies for when the sun dies.

• It’s possible for a damaged brain to create fictional “memories” for us.

• Journalists working at Facebook are even unhappier than other journalists.

• K-Tel mastermind Philip Kives is eulogized by obituarist Margalit Fox.

• Eric Bogosian and Jerry Stahl think Thomas Mann a mixed blessing.

• Edwin Frank, founder of the great NYRB, discusses modern publishing.

• Old Print Article: The Ancient Toys Of Automata. (1887)

• Old Print Article: Astrologer Evangeline Adams Succumbs. (1932)

• A brief note from 1952 about computerized election coverage.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches: Benito Mussolini, Roger Goodell, etc.

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6. bobby fischer i don’t want anything artificial in my head
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This week, Ted Cruz, who has no chance of being President of the United States, chose Carly Fiorina to never be Vice President.

Well, maybe we could run Syria instead.

No thanks, we’re good.

• Donald Trump, America’s resting bitch face, wasn’t elevated by poor whites.

• Bruce Bartlett says he’s supporting Trump in order to kill off the modern GOP.

• Julia Ioffe wrote a smart profile about Slovenian immigrant Melania Trump.

• Magic Leap Virtual Reality looks like the future to Kevin Kelly’s goggles.

• We may have a very imprecise perception of reality, that slippery thing.

• Next-level healthcare tech involves wearables, ingestibles, etc.

• In 1955, Claude Shannon and Edward O. Thorp co-created the first wearable.

• Juan Enriquez wants to say just one word to today’s graduates: “Lifecode.”

• Bloomberg says “automated journalism” is a win-win proposition. Not likely.

• Elon Musk remarks on driverless vehicles that can replace public transportation.

• Driverless trucks are perhaps the leading threat to Labor.

• Warfare is growing a new face in an age of autonomous machines.

• The Pentagon is investing heavily in AI and robotics.

• The robot revolution in China is coming soon to a nation near you.

• John Markoff recalls the career beginnings of roboticist Rodney Brooks.

• Singapore is attempting to become a next-level “smart country.”

• Disaster tourism is a booming business in Chernobyl.

• Tesla has a modest workaround for China’s odious air pollution.

• Miami is among U.S. cities now developing suburbs with an urban feel.

• Human extinction is more apt to kill us than a car crash.

• The Gig Economy is terrible for Labor, yet many workers prefer it. Why?

• In 1968, Maria Rasputin said her infamous dad was a “kind man.”

• Manson minion Leslie Van Houten may get parole, just as Doris Tate feared.

• In 1970, the Hollywood Hills was a community in transition.

• Old Print Article: The Dormiphone is a subliminal memory machine. (1950)

• Old Print Article: Robert L. Ripley traveled far and died young. (1955)

• A brief note from 1911 about “false face” masks.

• A brief note from 1925 about a strong man’s death.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches: Andy Kaufman, Laurie Anderson, etc.

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5. why does elon musk want ai to be widespread?
6. elvis i was buried in a beaver
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8. george plimpton interviewing john gregory dunne
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This week the Obamas visited Kensington Palace, and the President, cocky as ever, couldn’t resist talking smack to his young rival Prince George.

You’re being groomed to be the figurehead of a former empire. I’m a real leader.

Many of your ancestors were Nazi sympathizers.

You know, that kid looks way more like your brother, Harry, than you.

It felt so good because it was so wrong.

• John Grisham discusses Donald Trump, Bull Connor as a condo salesman.

• Reptilian Roy Cohn had the *worst* friends. Trump was one of them.

• Monica Lewinsky came of age when people still had a sense of shame.

• Neal Gabler wrote a great essay on America’s “middle-class poor.”

• President Nixon attempted to institute Basic Income in America.

• The U.S. suicide rate has experienced a scary spike this century.

• Minimum-wage hikes are needed, yet could spur automation.

• Ray Kurzweil tells Playboy about the future of medicine, immortality, etc.

• Peter Singer urges us to ask if we can program a machine to be ethical.

• Billionaire Nicolas Berggruen has established his own lavish mini Davos.

• Moscow is out of step with Vladimir Putin’s retrograde vision.

• Ross Andersen interviews Yuri Milner, who aims to probe Alpha Centauri.

• Douglas Engelbart once sent his SRI lab staff through EST training.

• In 2010, Peter Willis visited Prince in the odd world that was Paisley Park.

• Richard Branson recalls Freddie Laker as one of his heroes.

• Tesla may have an edge in perfecting driverless cars.

• Beverly Hills wants to use augment public transportation with driverless.

• Love at first sight is different in an age of visual-recognition systems.

• 3D printing may make bespoke clothing fast and affordable.

• Old Print Article: Monkeys ride robot craft through A-bomb cloud. (1913)

• A brief note from 1913 about a Death Valley Argonaut reunion.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.

10 search-engine keyphrases bringing traffic to Afflictor this week:

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6. the beginnings of scientology
7. what goes on at larry flynt’s house?
8. confederate capt. henry wirz
9. mundaneum le corbusier
10. 1940s los angeles religious cult

This week, it was revealed that Sen. Ted Cruz wanted to ban didldos. Other candidates had different plans.

Bernie Sanders held a rally to break up Big Dildo.

10 inches is too big to fail.

Until the voice of the people is heard, we’ll fist instead.

Oh good, I can fit both hands.

• Trump goon Roger Stone is prepping for an End of Days scenario in Cleveland.

• Trump, a mix of Slobodan Milosevic and Simon Cowell, is clueless.

• Gay Talese profiles a motel-owning voyeur–and reveals his own poor behavior.

• Douglas Coupland says there’s no escaping the future, which is already here.

• Steven Levy asks Steve Case why more information hasn’t made us smarter.

• The “fuerdai,” or super-rich Chinese kids, have transformed Vancouver.

• Wolfgang Streeck believes the sound you’re hear is capitalism’s death rattle.

• Alec Ross explains how not to fall behind in the new economy, but many will.

• The New Statesman compares driverless cars to jetpacks–not a fair analogy.

• Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking want to send probes to Alpha Centauri.

• Milner believes an interconnected “global brain” will emerge.

• The 1980s teen computer hackers were cultural descendants of phone phreaks.

• The Village Voice republished Nat Hentoff’s great 1980 profile of Merle Haggard.

• In the ’60s, Stewart Brand and Timothy Leary filed reports on the drug culture.

• Johann Hari discusses the maddening War on Drugs, which is rooted in racism.

• Lukasz Kamienski recalls Vietnam as the “first pharmacological war.”

• Taffy Brodesser-Akner profiles Bill May, legendary male synchronized swimmer.

• The Tampa Bay Rays are experimenting with Virtual Reality batting practice.

• Old Print Article: The Collyer Brothers Are “Buried.” (1947)

• A brief note from 1922 about a Parisian drug mule.

• A brief note from 1926 about a racehorse named “Little Asbestos.”

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.

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6. trump never intended to win
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This week, the reeling Trump campaign, still without a manager for its California operation, surprisingly announced a minority was being considered for the position.

• Gary Silverman’s FT piece includes passages about repossessed monkeys and Ukrainian trophy wives, as all good stories about the odious Trump campaign must.

• Donald Trump, equal parts George Steinbrenner and George Wallace, released mouthfarts in WaPo.

• Markus Feldenkirchen and David Remnick comment on this Baba Booey of an election season.

• A detailed look at how the Panama Papers megaleak came to pass.

• Breitbart may be practicing a Kostabi-ish approach to journalism.

• In the ’80s, Mark Kostabi introduced the assembly line into the art world.

• Xi Jinping’s alleged war on corruption is Mao married to modern tech.

• In 1974, Gene Roddenberry knew our short-term and, perhaps, long-term future.

• John Markoff argues that the Singularity isn’t really so near.

• The techno-optimism of Singularity University is analyzed.

• 3D printing may lead to a revolution of “distributed manufacturing.”

• As cars become rolling computers, police may be able to wrest controls.

• Getting humans and robots to cooperate in space will be a challenge.

• In 1974, Life explored biofeedback, mind control and dream programming.

• Economist Alex Tabarrok fielded a question about AI & the middle class. 

• Moshe Y. Vardi suspects AI is going to continue disrupting the working class.

• Business’ adoption of AI will require recognizing, mapping and teaching.

• Paul Gilster offers a bold take on long-term space colonization.

• Getting humans and robots to cooperate in space will be a challenge.

• In 2002, Douglas Vakoch, SETI scientist trying to speak to ETs, was profiled.

• H.G. Wells believed utopias required corresponding dystopias.

• The Medium Is the Massage graphic designer, Quentin Fiore, turned 96.

• For the 2020 Olympics, Japan aims to introduce next-level maglev trains.

• Old Print Article: Olympic sports gain popularity in the U.S. (1896)

• Old Print Article: Outlaw Harry Tracy breaks out of prison. (1902)

• A brief note from 1841 about an extraordinary woman.

• A brief note from 1821 about baseball PEDs.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.

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6. david autor on technological unemployment
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After being charged with battery, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski took a break from the tense election to relax at a petting zoo.

• Donald Trump, a classy individual who may soon be taking leaks in White House terlets, never actually wanted to be President.

• In a very essential way, Trump is every bit the modern Republican.

• Cyberwar is another thing Trump knows nothing about.

• Trump’s plan to force Apple’s hand on manufacturing jobs is myopic.

• In 1993, Hillary Clinton believed she had a spiritual mission.

• Tom Carson penned a postmortem for First Lady Nancy Reagan.

• Veit Medick wrote a report for Spiegel about President Obama in Cuba.

• Escaped North Korean political prisoner Kang Chol-hwan conducted an AMA.

• In the ’60s and ’70s, Leo Litwak reported on Esalen, psychokinesis, etc.

• Adrienne LaFrance tries to answer a tricky question: “What is a robot?“

• As Tom Chatfield writes for the BBC, the term “online” is now redundant.

• In 1993, Zaha Hadid moved beyond paper-architect status.

• If it weren’t for a lack of tourists, the space-hotel business would be booming.

• George Church considers the brave new world of augmented humans.

• Inventor Clive Sinclair has long predicted our doom by superintelligent AI.

• In 1982, a home heath-care robot named ISAAC was in development.

• Terrestrial delivery robots may be coming soon to D.C.

• Sooner or later, robotics will take over American shipping terminals.

• Old Print Article: Jack London Dead At 40. (1917)

• A brief note from 1922 about cocaine smuggling.

• A brief note from 1889 about a favorite dog.

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6. thomas pynchon’s favorite books
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8. tales of lycanthropy
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10. what will a martian economy look like?

It’s not clear if this week’s tabloid story about Ted Cruz’s alleged mistresses is true, but we definitely know who Donald Trump is hitting the sheets with.

• In the wake of AlphaGo’s win, David Gelernter has a profound fear of AI.

• Caleb Scharf questions whether the Singularity is near–or even far.

• A very intense AI “arms race” in being waged in Silicon Valley.

• China is interested in a Minority Report level of crime fighting.

• Surveillance is part of the disquieting bargain of driverless cars.

• As factories return to the U.S., will manufacturing jobs? Maybe or maybe not.

• Americans know automation is coming, but many don’t think it will affect them.

• Capitalism may not be a solution to the challenges of the Digital Age.

• 3D-printed drones are likely headed for the battlefield.

• Domino’s is testing robot pizza delivery in New Zealand.

• Recently deceased AI pioneer Marvin Minsky is recalled by MIT colleagues.

• In 1992, Andy Grove thought smartphones a “pipe dream driven by greed.”

• Confirming the Kremlin killed Alexander Litvinenko has changed nothing.

• Tim Urban analyzes the philosophical and practical aspects of cryonics.

• Joe Garagiola was a constant TV presence in an age of centralized U.S. media.

• The answer to Stephen Jay Gould’s “tape of life” question may lie in space.

• In 1961, Hunter S. Thompson wrote about Henry Miller in Big Sur.

• Novelist Richard Ford considers America’s lethal gun obsession.

• Daniel Clowes is sad that adults want the simplicity of superheroes.

• The Marshall Project reports on Whitey Bulger’s life behind bars.

• Old Print Article: Hunger artist Dr. Henry Tanner ended his long fast. (1880)

• Old Print Article: President Coolidge visits Cuba. (1928)

• A brief note from 1922 about a pig garbage plant.

• A brief note from 1928 about a walk from America to France.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.

10 search-engine keyphrases bringing traffic to Afflictor this week:

1. articles about marvin minsky
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7. agatha christie mysterious disappearance
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This week, GOP frontrunner Donald Trump threw out the first pitch at a Spring Training game, immediately infusing America’s Pastime with his campaign’s positive vibes.

• Donald Trump, Bull Connor with a spray tan, has turned the American electoral process into a bumfight.

• Macho loon Vladimir Putin is the world leader Trump most resembles.

• Masha Gessen analyzes Russia under Putin, a capo with nuclear capabilities.

• Mark Leibovich analyzes Marco Rubio, the latest can’t-miss pol to plotz.

• There’s a history of political unrest attending American tech booms.

• Our nativist politics have bashed China, ignored tech unemployment.

• Carl’s Jr. wants to automate, hoping to eliminate pesky human workers.

• Prankster Alan Abel pokes fun at American desires and fears.

• AlphaGo’s game-playing prowess is owed in part to its self-learning abilities.

• In his AlphaGo afterglow, Eric Schmidt talks AI’s job-killing ability.

• The Woz wants machines with human (or better) conversational skills.

• Douglas Rushkoff discusses metadata’s extreme creepiness.

• Dag Kittlaus’ digital asst. Viv is an effort to create not Frankenstein but Igor.

• Machines will attain superintelligence long, long before consciousness.

• Augmented Reality is game-changing but has obstacles to surmount.

• The Hyperloop won’t have actual windows but augmented ones.

• Dmitry Itskov wants to, more or less, xerox his brain into immortality.

• Defeating death is a growth industry with ballooning funding.

• Ian Pearson predicts interconnected brains, talking pets, tiny astronauts.

• Establishing a relatively low-cost lunar colony may now achievable.

• In 1975, James Salter profiled Vladimir Nabokov, who hated hippies.

• Old Print Article: Gen. Cassius M. Clay, liberator and captor. (1903)

• Old Print Article: A clairvoyant “reports” on a prizefight. (1860)

• A brief note from 1877 about a ragpicker’s discovery.

• A brief note from 1925 about pre-Edison talking machines.

• A brief note From 1883 about wax noses.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.

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This week, it became clear that a Trump Administration would mean big changes for the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.

• Holger Stark analyzes the U.S. political season’s utter ugliness.

• Thomas Frank thinks trade, not racism, is driving Trump’s success. Unlikely.

• Donald Trump, that Stalin of steaks, knows nothing, but is he a Know Nothing?

• Trump loves Ronald Reagan only in retrospect.

• While in the White House, the Reagans relied heavily on astrology.

• DeepMind AI destroys Go champion Lee Se-dol. Demis Hassabis comments.

• Douglas Rushkoff wonders about our puzzling economic future.

• Shoshana Zuboff analyzes the rise of “Surveillance Capitalism.”

• Ray Kurzweil thinks nanobots will limit wealth inequality.

• Vivek Wadhwa explains why tech progress is overwhelming regulation.

• In an AMA, Bill Gates weighs in on Apple/FBI, terrorism & hoverboards.

• In 1974, OUI, a middling vagina periodical, profiled a tech-friendly guru.

• Oliver Stone is paranoid (of course) about his film Snowden.

• Farhad Manjoo and Eduardo Porter debate Guaranteed Basic Income.

• If workers can no longer afford to retire, what is the path forward?

• Michael Graziano suggests a better approach to studying consciousness.

• Beth Shapiro looks at the technical and ethical issues with de-extinction.

• Ashley Dawson (Extinction: A Radical History) discusses CRISPR.

• A look into London’s growing Artificial Intelligence scene.

• The totally automated General Store 2.0 arrives in Sweden.

• The Russians have renewed interest in nuclear-powered space exploration.

• Thomas Jefferson believed America’s natural world equal to Europe’s.

• Franco Moretti discusses the Digital Humanities, that mixed bag.

• In 1957, director Federico Fellini lived in NYC, frequently finding trouble.

• Old Print Article: Tsar Nicholas II assumes power. (1894)

• Old Print Article: Sonia Delaunay’s “Cubist” clothes. (1924)

• A brief note from 1883 about wax noses.

• A brief note from 1913 about lycanthropy.

• A brief note from 1930 about headshrinkers.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.

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10. bob ingersoll: they knew that to put god in the constitution was to put man out. they knew that the recognition of a deity would be seized upon by fanatics and zealots as a pretext for destroying the liberty of thought

This week, Donald Trump attended a prayer breakfast to inform the congregants about the number and size of his balls.

• Has Donald Trump ever used a computer, or a book?

• James Poniewozik writes of Trump, who dreams of a long and thick Presidency.

• A mix of Mussolini and Mayor McCheese, Trump has shot to the top of the GOP.

• The NYT political reporter Maggie Haberman conducted a Super Tuesday AMA.

• Doug Coupland fondly recalls the food courts and fake trees of the 1990s mall.

• In 1967, Hugh Hefner believed we’d soon live on our own “little planets.”

• Transhumanist politician Zoltan Istvan visited the Church of Perpetual Life.

• Before we become a driverless world, old and new ways will share the road.

• Stephen Wolfram considers what role we’ll play as machines get smarter.

• Is it possible to create a computational model of history?

• Thomas Nagel argues drones have made warfare more, not less, personal.

• We have things 1916 billionaires didn’t have, but wealth inequality is still bad.

• A new Deloitte report makes forecasts about global cities and wealth inequality.

• The growing singles population may actually be good for society.

• In 1978, Alvin Toffler wondered who’d write tomorrow’s genetic code.

• In 1721, Ben Franklin was on the wrong side of a battle over inoculations.

• E.O. Wilson explains his “Half-Earth” proposal for protecting biodiversity.

• Brian Clegg wonders why we stopped dreaming about “settling” the moon.

• Former ESA director Jean-Jacques Dordain thinks space colonization unlikely.

• A Conversation piece explains how mere earthlings might colonize space. 

• 3D printers can deliver the “strength of metal for the cost of plastics.”

• Physicist Wesley Clark led the team that built the first personal computer.

• In 1963, Oriana Fallaci mistakenly thought Alfred Hitchcock a man of chastity.

• Old Print Article: Sculptor to build “perfect city” in Mussolini’s Italy. (1927)

• Old Print Article: Pedestrian race wows Madison Square Garden. (1882)

• A brief note from 1856 about pig drivers.

• A brief note from 1928 about a mummified gift.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.

10 search-engine keyphrases bringing traffic to Afflictor this week:

1. charlie brooker black mirror
2. henry miller predicting america’s future
3. 20% of trump voters oppose emancipation proclamation
4. august engelhardt built tropical utopia
5. walter lappe baseball analytics pioneer
6. howard carter discovered king tut’s tomb in 1922
7. beauty farm in 1900 russia
8. freeman dyson genetic engineering
9. pool player willie mosconi
10. seth kinman gave chairs to presidents

This week, Time magazine’s editors were embarrassed when they incorrectly identified Evelyn Waugh as a…

…female writer. But it’ll be even worse next week when they present their cover story about America’s first female President…

…Barbara Obama.

• Donald Trump, an Orange Supremacist, is aided more by bigotry than issues.

• Trump, a mix of Kardashian and Klansman, isn’t actually a NYC power broker.

• Peggy Noonan thinks some Americans need to stop demanding equal rights.

• Justice Scalia worked vigorously to make America straight again.

• Edward Luce considers the “hostile takeover” of the Republican Party.

• Political scientist Joe Uscinski considers the meaning of conspiracy theories.

• Conspiracists just went on a seven-day cruise called “Conspira-Sea.”

• The first aliens we meet may be AI rather than ETs.

• Machine superintelligence could overwhelm the human kind.

• DNA databases unsurprisingly have wide-ranging ramifications.

• Mark Zuckerberg wants Virtual Reality to be a key element of Facebook.

• The “Alden staRRcar” personal transport system was a 1950s dream.

• The President’s Economic Report looks at immigration, R&D and robotics.

• Nathaniel Popper reports on a wave of automation likely to awe Wall Street.

• By 2035, you may be employed as a remote-controlled vehicle operator.

• Boston Dynamics’ robot Atlas takes another big step forward.

• “Ground Drones” are set to make trial deliveries in America and England.

• A floating Venusian city may be preferable to a Mars colony.

• In 1967, Oriana Fallaci and Norman Mailer, two titanic egos, conversed.

• Daniel Mendelsohn evaluates A.O. Scott’s Better Living Through Criticism.

• If you miss humor magazines, read the excellent American Bystander.

• George “Doctor Feelgood” Nichopoulos, Elvis Presley’s “pain reliever,” died.

• Las Vegas is the least likely great American city.

• Old Print Article: A shadowy figure at Aaron Burr’s deathbed. (1895)

• Old Print Article: Grover Cleveland was a hangman. (1912)

• A brief note from 1870 about an execution club.

• A brief note from 1889 about loggers eating ants.

• A brief note from 1869 about ice velocipedes.

• This week’s Afflictor keyphrase searches.