The Skeptic email discussion list is rich in skeptical lore. Creationism, psychic powers, astrology, cults, all are topics ripe for batting about. More than 15 years ago the topic of chemtrails bubbled up:

The term chemtrail is a portmanteau of the words “chemical” and “trail,” just as contrail is a contraction of “condensation trail.” Believers in the conspiracy theory speculate that the purpose of the claimed chemical release may be for solar radiation management,psychological manipulation, human population control, weather modification, or biological or chemical warfare, and that the trails are causing respiratory illnesses and other health problems.^[1][9][10] Contrails are formed at high altitudes (5–10 miles or 8–16 kilometers) and if any chemicals were released at such altitude they would disperse harmlessly and fall many hundreds of miles/kilometers away, or degrade before touching the ground.

So “chemtrails” is a subset of “conspiracy theories,” itself encompassing JFK assassination theories, 9/11 cover up theories, black helicopters and the like. Conspiracy theories derive from a human personality quirk. Paranoia may be a necessary ingredient. The simple and more rational explanation is rejected in favor of one that quenches the thirst.

A common symptom is the ability to reject any sensible suggestion as an attempt to cover up the truth—a deeper sign of deception and reinforcement of the theory. Writings of the theorists are telling. Here are some excerpts from Chemtrail Central, “Searching for Answers in the Chemtrail Issue.”

Chemtrails: 600 strains of an aerosolized thought control vaccine tested
posted by: Ellyn @ Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:10 am
600 strains of an aerosolized thought control vaccine already tested on humans; deployed via air, food and water

https://www.naturalnews.com/048347_aerosolized_vaccines_behavioral_modification_obedience.html##ixzz3QLwsUis0

Chemtrails: Geoengineering is Not the Answer to Climate Change
posted by: Ellyn @ Thu Mar 20, 2014 3:55 am
Geoengineering is Not the Answer to Climate Change, by Dr. David Suzuki

https://ecowatch.com/2014/03/18/geoengineering-not-answer-climate-change/

Chemtrails: Twenty-year hiatus in rising temperatures has climate scient
posted by: Sore Throat @ Wed Apr 03, 2013 11:32 pm
So let’s see. For the past decade and a half the sky has been covered with a sun shielding haze emitted from high altitude aircraft.

https://www.chemtrailcentral.com/forum/thread10994-105.html&sid=122bf8bda36f05af411670f4d8de7208

Stratospheric Welsbach seeding for reduction of global warming

https://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-bool.html&r=6&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=5%2c003%2c186&OS=5%2c003%2c186&RS=5%2c003%2c186

So with the billions spent on this covert activity it seems that “they” are forestalling the inevitable. Of course, this isn’t truly addressing the root of the problem, only treating a symptom (much the same as much of modern medicine). CO2 levels are still progressively building up in the atmosphere, oceans are becoming increasing acidic. But this “pause” in global temperature rise eliminates the perceived urgency of the problem, and allows climate change deniers to claim there is no problem. So is this clandestine activity actually helping, or is it in reality sowing the seeds of our destruction? Meanwhile the Greedy Lying Bastards keep feeding like pigs at the trough.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kert-davies/greedy-lying-bastards_b_2846129.html

It’s no surprise seeing Natural News among the references:

Natural News (formerly Newstarget) is a website founded and operated by Mike Adams. It is based in Cedar Creek, Texas.

It is dedicated to the sale of various dietary supplements, promotion of alternative medicine, controversial nutrition and health claims, and various conspiracy theories, such as “chemtrails“, the purported dangers of fluoride in drinking water (as well as those of monosodium glutamate and aspartame), and purported health problems caused by allegedly “toxic” ingredients in vaccines, including the now-discredited link to autism.

I’ve touched on Mike Adams and Natural News in previous posts”

How cell towers are frying your brain and causing mass confusion

NaturalNews Insider Alert ( www.NaturalNews.com ) email newsletter

Dear NaturalNews readers,

The brains of everyone living within range of cell towers are being damaged by electropollution.

A hard-hitting new scientific study published in the British Medical Journal reveals how cell towers cause mental confusion, irritability and loss of sleep, among other brain-altering side effects:
https://www.naturalnews.com/044464_cell_towers_EMF_pollution_mental_confusion.html

Specific phenomena which confound the chemtrail theorists include:

• Contrails with long duration
• Crosshatch patterns of contrails
• Contrails that spread to enormous width

Explanations given by scientists and the military, and which are rejected by the theorists, include:

• Long duration contrails have been known since American bombers started flying high-altitude missions in World War Two.
• Contrails that persist for a long time are spread horizontally by wind shear.
• The supposed measurement of 6.8 parts per million of barium beneath a contrail hatch was erroneous due to misuse of the measuring equipment.
• Military organizations have never seriously considered using contrails to affect climate. Furthermore, there has been no serious effort at climate control by the military.

Photographs such as the one below aid and abet these conspiracy stories.

Olivier Cleynen from Wikipedia: Ballast barrels in a prototype Boeing 747. Photographs of flight test barrels are sometimes said to show chemtrail planes.

These are some ballast containers installed in a test aircraft. Water is pumped from one container to another to shift the center of gravity of the plane, but if you are of the proper mindset this is a setup for spraying chemicals into the atmosphere.

Chemtrails 911 gives insight to this mindset:

Exposing aerial crimes and aerosol operations… …because it’s an emergency!!

INTRODUCTION TO THE CHEMTRAIL ISSUE
by Chemtrails911.com

Since approximately 1998, thousands of people started noticing airplanes spraying X’s, parallel lines, and grid patterns across our skies. These trails initially look like contrails but actually aren’t. According to the U.S. Air Force, contrails are condensation trails and happen when hot engine exhaust momentarily condenses ice crystals into pencil-thin vapor trails that quickly vanish like the wave behind a boat, very much like your breath when talking outside on a cold winter day. Chemtrails, on the other hand, linger for hours and will spread out to form large areas of “cloud” cover.

There are several theories as to why these operations may be occurring. However, most of the documentation available points to geo-engineering and space weaponry as the reasons that these spray operations are occurring. A concept that keeps popping up in major governmental studies is the idea of spraying aluminum oxide particles into the atmosphere to create a sunscreen.

Others pick up on the meme:

Following the Money: Obama, 9/11, Chemtrails, Climate Change, $Trillions in Carbon Taxes
Posted by Harold Saive on March 11, 2013

Harold Saive elaborates:

Note: This 2010 article gains significant light in the context of more recent research on the history of weather modification:

• NEMO (OMEN) Blizzard likely Product of Department of Homeland Security “HAMP”. (Hurricane Aerosol Microphysics Program)
• Government documents link global warming to advanced military climate modification technology
• History of weather Control by Jim Lee
• Chemtrails as Weather Modification Traded for Profit as Derivatives on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange

Originally published Tuesday, August 10, 2010

One 9/11 agenda was targeted murder of carbon trading companies with precision of a pilotless drone attack

Why does Franklin Raines of Freddie/Fannie own the patent for a carbon trading computer originally owned by Carlton Bartels, CEO “Cantor Fitzgerald/CO2e.com/eSpeedprogram ? – a company whose employees were murdered by a well-guided jet aircraft that crashed into their offices on 9/11/2001? Wasting no time, why did the new Democratic Congress (2006) give the patent to Raines obamaimmediately following the election?

It is statistically significant that 44 % of the souls murdered on 9/11 (including firefighters, police etc.) worked for companies that were in competition with the Chicago Climate Exchange. (CCX)? Al Gore, Obama, Maurice Strong, and whoever in Congress owns stock in CCX stands to cash in on $Trillions if they can pass enforceable Cap and Trade legislation.

And finally the truth is revealed:

There is more to the chemtrails story than I can possibly unravel in a single post. Perhaps when I chance upon another ripe fruit I’ll share it with readers. In the mean time keep your eyes trained on the sky. And keep reading.