leoj,

Amongst your vast list of synonyms you listed - "stupid."

Which reminds me of the old adage:

"Even duct tape can't fix stupid.
But it can muffle the sound."

Thought you'd enjoy that.

Foxy,

After another meaningless quote, perhaps some may find this edifying though,

"Scientists find link between people impressed by wise-sounding, 'profound' quotes and low intelligence
A new study has shown that people who believe in psuedo-profound, intellectual-sounding quotes are less intelligent

Ever get annoyed by people on social media who share 'profound' quotes, or use meaningless, intelligent-sounding soundbites in arguments?

A new study has shown that there is a link between these people and low intelligence.

It found that those who are receptive to pseudo-profound, intellectual-sounding 'BS are less intelligent, less reflective, and more likely to be believe in conspiracy theories, the paranormal and alternative medicine.
PhD candidate Gordon Pennycook and a team of researchers from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, published a study entitled 'On the reception and detection of pseudo-profound BS."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/12031212/Scientists-find-link-between-people-impressed-by-wise-sounding-profound-quotes-and-low-intelligence.html

leoj,

If you're interested in the correlation of intelligence
and people's behaviour there are quite a few studies
published in scientific and psychological journals on
these issues. For example studies published in
Psychological Science showed that people who scored low on
IQ tests in childhood are more likely to develop prejudiced
beliefs and socially conservative politics in adulthood.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2095549/Right-wingers-intelligent-left-wingers-says-controversial-study--conservative-politics-lead-people-racist.html

cont'd ...

Do some people have personality patterns that make
them more prone to prejudice than others? A classic
study by Theodore Adorno and his associates tried to
answer this question. Adorno's studies concluded that
some people have a psychological make-up that he referred
to as the "authoritarian personality" - a distinctive
set of traits, including conformity, intolerance, and
insecurity, that seem typical of many prejudiced people.

Those who have this personality pattern are submissive
to superiors and bullying to inferiors. They tend to have
anti-intellectual and antiscientific attitudes, they are
disturbed by any ambiguity in sexual or religious matters;
and they see the world in very rigid and stereotyped terms.

The authoritarian personality, Adorno claimed, is primarily
a product of a family environment in which the parents
were cold, aloof, disciplinarian, and themselves bigoted.

As a result of Adorno's studies it is now generally accepted
that some people are psychologically more prone to
prejudiced thinking than others.

I hope this helps with your interest in this topic.

There's more on the web that you can Google.

Cheers.

AJ Phillips, apologies for these “non peer reviewed” articles below…me bad.

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/01/why-the-us-is-stuck-with-saudi-arabia/384805/

http://www.ft.com/content/4b705cfa-8ae8-11e6-8aa5-f79f5696c731

http://money.cnn.com/2017/05/22/investing/saudi-arabia-us-oil-ties-trump/

http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/07/will-the-united-states-help-if-saudi-arabia-starts-to-fall-apart/

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2017/05/saudi-relations-timeline-170518112421011.html

http://www.quora.com/Who-are-the-allies-and-enemies-of-Saudi-Arabia

The US needs Arab oil…plain and simple. A former US Marine had this to say:

(Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933, by Major General Smedley Butler, USMC.)

"War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses.

The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag.

There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket.

There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss" Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism.

I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in.

I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested."

http://fas.org/man/smedley.htm

Dear Hasbeen,

You have a deep and abiding measure of willful ignorance that is almost pathological in its application.

Even mainstream media in the US is calling trump out on Saudi Arabia.

http://edition.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/05/28/fareeds-take-saudi-arabia-terrorism.cnn

Watch it mate you might learn something.

Saudi money is vigorously stirring the pot in Indonesia and has been for years. This is from a 2003 article;

“The Saudi money has come in two forms, Indonesian and Western officials said: above-board funds for religious and educational purposes, and quietly disbursed funds for militant Islamic groups. The Saudi money has had a profound effect on extremist groups, allowing some to keep going and inspiring others to start recruiting, the officials said.”

“A Saudi charity, Al Haramain, provides a good example of this dual role. Three years ago it signed a formal memorandum of understanding with the Indonesian Ministry of Religion that allowed it to finance educational institutions.”
“But Al Haramain also appears to have served as a conduit for money to Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian terrorist organization that aims to build Islamic states in the region. A senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, Umar Faruq, who was arrested last year and is now in American custody, told the Central Intelligence Agency that Al Haramain provided money to his group.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/05/world/saudis-quietly-promote-strict-islam-in-indonesia.html

And we all know what Jemaah Islamiyah was responsible for; the snuffing out of over 200 lives in a Bali club including 88 Australians.
Well while you bend over to lick Trump's boots perhaps you might manage to spare a thought for them, though I doubt it somehow.