It's still only August, but already the predictions that this would be an exceedingly banal presidential election campaign look like they've already come true. This week's campaign news might be summed up as an elementary school playground shouting match: "You're a bigot!" "No, you're a bigot!" Sigh.

If one reads carefully The Devil's Chessboard along with James Douglass's superb book, JFK and the Unspeakable, the reader will come away with a deeper understanding of the "crime of the century" that synthesizes the most relevant details that 50 years of scholarship and investigation have provided.

I have been a life-long magician, both as a performer and creator of magical effects. This art of manipulation, misdirection, and deception has taught me a sobering life lesson -- be careful what you choose to believe.

Tabloid headlines, internet comment threads, that one uncle at Thanksgiving dinner: Conspiracy theories are everywhere. Polls reveal the truth -- the truth about what the public believes, that is. While some conspiracy theories are dismissed by the vast majority of the public, others are widely accepted as true.