Have you ever uttered to yourself, a colleague or loved “holy shit, what was he thinking”? Of course, you have. The question, more appropriately, should be how many times a day do you utter that phrase or derivative thereof?  Just yesterday, I repeated that question four times throughout the day about the same person. I am still shaking my pained head.  Because I believe in externalizing rather than internalizing rage and pain, I am putting together a list of this week’s top nutty, what-were-they-thinking people. I won’t focus on everyday people in my life unless I absolutely need to do so in order to avoid a brain aneurysm.  I want to remind you that I have not diagnosed any of these people nor will I ever as I am a social psychologist instead of a clinical psychologist. But I do have ready access to a DSM-IV (I’m not bothering to get the DSM-V) and I have a keen sense of discerning nutty, wacky behavior.

1. Vladimir Putin. Really, Mr. Putin you are going to call Secretary of State Kerry a liar? Let me remind you we all don’t believe that 46-pound fish story of yours.

2. Lamar Odom. Paparazzi follow you everywhere because you married into an attention-seeking family.  Allegedly cheating on a Kardashian is one thing, a DUI, is a whole other thing. Glad to see you are going into rehab. Hope it’s real and not a Lindsey Lohan type of rehab stint.

3. Ariel Castro. A disgusting human being commits suicide after torturing three women for a decade.  He couldn’t take a month in jail. At his hearing, Castro had noted that he was not a monster, that instead he was sick.  How about both?

4. Anthony Weiner. Yes, he is still in the mayoral race. That alone is nutty. However, he got into a shouting match with a New Yorker at a bakery.  Was this a meltdown or just engaging with a heckler? Either way it was not a very classy move.

5. Dennis Rodman. He is at it again. He is back in North Korea “negotiating” the release of Kenneth Bae. Dennis Rodman went once before to hang out and amuse North Korean leader Kim Jong Un . The buffoonery is high stakes this time. We can only hope that somehow Rodman is successful. If he is, Kim Jong Un is even nuttier than we thought. Either way, this cast of players is off the charts in terms of nuttiness. Nonetheless, wishing him well in his efforts that I hope are in earnest.

6.  Bill Maher.  I’m going to go a little meta here.  Bill Maher was a guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno where he decided to jokingly berate Jay Leno. Bill Maher kept asking him “”What the f*ck is wrong with you? What is so wrong with you, Jay? What do you do to keep pissing people off like this?”  At which point, I think many viewers were wondering “what the hell are you thinking Bill”?

7. Cary Williams. For you football fans out there: Yah! Football is back.  Teammates against teammates shoving matches are also back.  Riley cooper (formerly on “sabbatical” due to the use of the “n” word) and fellow Philadelphia Eagles teammate Cary Williams got into a shoving match during this week’s practice session. Of course, it was all caught on video. What makes Cary Williams nutty? Fellow teammate Michael Vick intervened telling Cary Williams to calm down. If Vick is the voice of reason and calmness, well I think enough is said there.

8. Fifty Shades of Grey fans. I admit I have yet to read the book. My understanding is that the book series is soft porn that is acceptable to read in the doctor’s office.  The book is all the rage and apparently the fans are filled with rage at the recent casting news. Yes, the book is being turned into a movie and the search for the actors that would play the leads caused a frenzy in the virtual world. Apparently, a very vocal set of fans wanted Matt Bomer and Alexis Bledel to be cast as the leads. They are disgruntled that instead Charlie Hunnam (lead in Sons of Anarchy) and Dakota Johnson (daughter of Don Johnson) were cast. I don’t have a dog in the fight. But it sure makes you wonder what are all these people thinking getting so riled up about a movie casting. Although, I give them props for organizing so quickly and so well.
9. Donald Rumsfeld. He is back with another zinger for the historical quote pages. Donald Rumsfeld, served as the US Secretary of Defense, twice.   During this last tenure he was widely lampooned for this infamous quote “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know.”  Now Mr. Rumsfeld has a new quote for us to chew on: “You know if intelligence were a fact, it would be called a fact, and not intelligence.”  Do I need to go on?

10. Samantha Goudie. College student allegedly binge drinks to a .35 BAC and tries storming a football field. Do you know what a .35 BAC does to the brain and body? I personally didn’t even think it is possible to get to that blood alcohol level. She goes on to tweet: YOLO (you only live once). One has to ask, if this is really what should be the highlight of someone’s short life?

So there you have this week’s top ten list of individuals that made you ask what they were thinking.  Your thoughts?

Runner-up mention for what were they thinking: US President Obama.  Supposedly Syria is committing atrocities on its population, including children. Yet, we can wait weeks on end to do something about them crossing a red line. Then, we don’t have concrete set objectives for a military strike. Then, we may be planning a larger scale set of military actions. I think we were collectively getting whiplash.

Rave mention for what they were thinking:  Diana Nyad.  She became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage this past Monday. I cannot imagine doing that. When she won I just kept thinking what motivates someone to do that? What was she thinking? Overall, you go girl for marking such a major item off of your bucket list.