My grandfather always said that no one under the age of thirty had any sense. I think he was overestimating 30- to 200- year olds. Remember what George Carlin (the greatest philosopher of the 20th century) said:
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.”

Sorry to hear that you're going through that, NealS. It took 45 years, but the agent orange finally took out my brother-in-law about 4 years ago. My sympathies to you and all the other guys out there that are coughing up the same.

You nailed it!

We were too young and we trusted our government not to kill us - BIG mistake :-( One of my younger brothers lies in a veterans cemetery thanks to Agent Orange

I understand your point, Abaco, but I think you're being too hard on yourself. We--those of us here, and other likeminded people--are doing what we can NOT to leave them this mess. It's the Obliviots (as Neal Boortz called them) that are leaving this mess. All we can do at this point is watch; I don't think there are enough of us to stop it.

1 in 4 women, approximately. Might as well start putting it in the water....

Haha...hope not! I used to work with a guy who had a PhD in chemistry. I could read any chemical on a food label and he knew, off the top of is head, how it damages the body. In the following years I've watched a few older gentlemen I know die from agent orange and I'm sure that it can't be classified as a "mistake" or even an unplanned circumstance that all these people have been damaged. They knew what it would do, certainly. And...They didn't care.

For me it was Agent Orange, I'm paying for it today, a 100% disabled rating. It didn't effect my mind however, or did it?

Unfortunately, you can't fix stupid.

Abaco, it's going to work out. You'll never believe what's going to happen, but it's incredible. I want to get my book out before events overrun. Keep the faith!

Don't forget the 60 million Americans (adults and children) on psychotropic (reality-altering) drugs, most of them prescribed.

So do I. Sometimes, I catch myself with my hands over my face in terror...."Oh no. Oh no..."

Well said. I use the term "quietly knowing" to explain my position. But...I do appreciate when people just stand up and stonewall openly about this crap.

Yep. To all of this. Yep...

This post originally disappeared so I rewrote it from memory.
Me dino comes back and now they are both here.
Well, hell's bells! I'm not deleting one. The other may disappear again!

There are manifold reasons why Americans are getting dumber. In no particular order:
> HYDROFLUOROSILICIC ACID In your drinking water.
> Seed oils.
> Toxic preservatives.
> Roundup (glyposate) sprayed on almost everything grown in America.
> A host of chemicals and dyes banned in every other sane country.
> Barium, aluminium, radioactive thorium and caesium, copper, titanium, silicon, lithium, cobalt, lead, ethylene dibromide and pathogenic agents. Aerially sprayed with regularity.
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/....
If I see two jets flying at the same altitude and direction, one has a finite trail (less than one finger) and the other goes horizon to horizon and stays there forever, you can't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining
And speaking to that very point:
A Malfeasant Media told what to say and how to say it.
> If you think I am exaggerating: Google todays secrect word: "ESCALATION"
Like muppets with a hidden hand up there backsides working their mouths, they have no independent thought.
They are told what to say.

And you wonder Why America is so stupid?
They listen the NPR, WaPo, and the rest of the see eye aye controlled media industrial complex.

Danke, James Tiberius. Guess I'm doing pretty well for surviving that asteroid strike. Switching completely to streaming, Netflix told me to keep a DVD of a flick they snail mailed me called 65.
65 is about a grown space alien humanoid who with a little girl survives a meteor shower and lands an escape capsule (that's a rocket) on Earth 65 million years before that asteroid wipes out the dinos.
Wouldn't you know that almost as fast as 65 appeared on DVD that scientists rolled that dino extinction back to 66 million years ago?
Movie is pretty good. Do not at all mind keeping it. Preview below starts with a commercial you gotta bleep "skip."
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview...

Yeah, Johnny! That's his name. As for my aging memory, I DO recall "man on the street" interviewing is how Jesse Watters started out.
I began to notice Watters during the Nineties when he asked a TV wrestler named Sid Vicious if professional wrestling was fake.
Vicious punched Watters in the guts. As Watters breathlessly doubled over, Vicious asked, "Does that feel fake?"

FACT: There is so much more to know.
In todays world, our written knowledge base is doubling every 3 years? It is not sustainable.

And once AIs start writing scientific papers, making discoveries? Humans will give up.

Yes, people are dumb (inability to compute).

But it's not completely new. AND we touch/use so many more skills than 150 years ago (no electricity, no real indoor plumbing). No tech. illiteracy was the RULE.

Now, EVERYONE reads. Few can write (in cursive, LOL). And almost none THINK.
Because they don't have to. Life is too easy.

Great news. THAT'S about to change.
Life will get REAL HARD, REAL FAST. And people will THINK or DIE!

Yeah, Johnny! That's his name. As for my aging memory, I DO recall "man on the street" interviewing is how Jesse Watters started out.
I began to notice Watters during the Nineties when he asked a wrestler named Sid Vicious if professional wrestling was fake.
Vicious punched Jesse in the guts and said, "Does that feel fake?" Jesse could not immediately answer that question for some reason.

HAPPY Belated BIRTHDAY Allosaur!
You Old Dinosaur, you!

May you have many more, chronicled here, so I get to enjoy your presence as long as possible!

We certainly are. But I blame some of her popularity on Republicans and Conservatives. We sit back and let it happen. We are intimidated by being called racist and doing away with social security. It’s been just a hundred days since Trump has been in office and already the American people have forgotten what life is like under the Democrats. Too many of us have the memory of pencil erasers.

Peter Mayer and I are acquainted. Met him in 99. The following is a song he released in 97. Waking Up.
Here's the audio if anyone cares: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5XM0...

Last night I was dreaming I was in my GMC
I was feeling kind of empty because it was just a '93
So I filled it full of fossil from the bosom of the earth
Which I burned up quite a lot of on my long commute to work
Where I worked at what I hated just to keep up with the bills
Which I paid to meet the rising cost of feeling unfulfilled
Which I felt at every moment with occasional respite
Like the times that I'd go shopping or watch TV shows at night

But I'm waking up, but I'm waking up
I'm waking up from the American Dream

Last night I was dreaming of the one eternal hope
That my life would be improved if the economy would grow
Which already was a monster on a mission to consume
And was eating almost everything and running out of room
And it whispered to me "mister, here's some products that you need
And the standard of your living is too low" and I agreed!
So I got myself a credit card with not a penny down
And a long ride on the not-so-merry-money-go-round

But I'm waking up, but I'm waking up
I'm waking up from the American Dream

Yeah, the world was like an Amoco and I said "Fill er up!"
With a house, a car, a VCR, a lawn and all that stuff
But I got a nagging notion that enough did not exist
And at the end of every day I'd wonder "is this all there is?"
And someone said "Hey, you've already got ten times more than the rest
And six-billion other people want the little that's still left!"
But I snapped "It's a free country and by rights it's mine to keep
And by the way, who do I pay to take away this garbage heap?"

But I'm waking up, but I'm waking up
I'm waking up from the American Dream

It seemed that the beginning of the dream was so benign, I mean
All I ever wanted was a smidgen of the pie
And some comfort and security and good things for my kids
And, OK, to please the neighbors and my ego while I did
Anyway, it's great to be awake and feeling satisfied
With seeking out the simple and the deeper things in life
And with giving to the world instead of hoarding it for me
Boy, I guess I'm not too excited about falling back to sleep

And as crazy as it was, hey, was it a dream or not?
Well, just promise not to save me if I ever start to nod
Put no-doze in my coffee, throw me outside in the cold
Just don't ever say "OK now, back to bed you go!"

But I'm waking up, but I'm waking up
I'm waking up from the American Dream

Being a little forgetful as we age isn’t a sign of being dumb. But being a young Socialist/Communist is a sign of being an absolute idiot. I can hardly stand to watch the interviews by Johnny on Jesse Waters because they make me sick. Some people find these interviews funny, but I find them sad.

Any "man on the street" interview will show you how people done already got dumber.
Just check out the last 15 minutes of that Prime Time Jesse Watters thingie on Fox News when Jesse's what's his face interviews mostly dummies on some street.
If me dino be looking dumb here, at least I turned 78 last month. So at least I have an excuse.
There are times when I temporarily can't recall the name of a grocery store I frequent.