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For some time, there was a short, lively feature in this magazine called Conspiracy Watch. It did not have an exclamation point, but I read it as such: Conspiracy Watch!

Sometimes mimicking the zeal and verve of the conspiracy writers themselves, staff members would break down why a Lady Gaga music video was probably not an Illuminati plot or why it didn’t sound quite right that infamous superdollars (counterfeit bills traced back to North Korea) were, in fact, produced by the CIA. Each is affixed with a “kookiness rating”: “1=maybe they’re on to something, 5=break out the tinfoil hat!” CIA superdollars got a 3; Lady Gaga droning you into submission got a 5.

There are others to enjoy. Rumors of Operation Couch Potato, a plan to give us better TVs so we can sit on our butts and watch in high definition instead of overturning the government. And the idea that all the gold in Fort Knox is gone. A classic? The idea that the Mafia caused the stock market crash.

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DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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