It’s a tiring time for me, leaving little energy for things like posts. Today’s tweets were collected over a three day period, so again some are probably out of date by the time you read this. My apologies.

Also as I’ve mentioned previously, little is happening in New Zealand at this time of year except people managing to kill themselves in car accidents and via drowning at greater rates than usual. Most of the country is out enjoying our wonderful outdoors over the Christmas/New Year period. Unfortunately, this has its downside.

I’ve been watching a bit of CNN in between naps in the armchair. They’re a bit obsessed with Trump. Now I don’t have Trump’s opinion of CNN; I don’t think they’re fake news. In fact I think they’re really good and mostly fair. That wasn’t the case on the 27th though. Every time I woke up enough to hear what was going on that day, there was another commentator going on about Trump tweeting that he was going back to work when he was, in fact, on the golf course for the 86th time in his presidency. It was fair enough to point it out, but to go on about it all day was a bit OTT.

Now personally I don’t mind if Trump’s golfing; it keeps him away from governing. I do have a problem with his hypocrisy though. During the Obama presidency, Trump was constantly criticizing him for golfing. But at this point in his presidency, Obama was only up to his 26th golf game! Further, throughout the election campaign, Trump constantly said he wouldn’t be golfing if he won because he wouldn’t have time as he’d be working so hard. (“Believe me!” he said. Yeah, right!)

The following day, Trump was golfing again (# 87). This time there was a truck parked in such a way as to block CNN‘s camera. When CNN moved their camera, the truck moved too. Oh, well. The long shot that only caught one tiny part of the course was reminiscent of paparazzi getting a shot of Diana, Princess of Wales anyway!.

That day Trump was out working for part of it though. He went on a visit to some firefighters, which is fine. But he couldn’t help himself – when it came time for him to speak, the lies came spewing out. The lie was a frequent one that he seems to believe himself. He was telling everyone that his administration has passed the most Bills since the Truman administration. (The truth is, it’s the least since the Eisenhower administration. Even one of the Fox News actual news shows says this, so it must be true!)

Why does he say this stuff when the truth is so easily proven? I think it’s for several reasons.

Firstly, while I hate to agree with someone like Ted Cruz, I think he’s right when he says Trump is a pathological liar. He just can’t help himself.

Secondly, as I said above, he really seems to believe a lot of the lies. He surrounds himself with people who praise him, or at least don’t contradict him. If he gets something wrong, no one corrects him.

Thirdly, people know that the way to get ahead with him is to praise him excessively. The bigger the suck-up, the better. We see it all the time with foreign leaders, but it’s happening internally too. People who are deluded themselves, like Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Michael Flynn, and the Evangelicals, tell him their crazy theories and he believes them. When Trump came out in support of the white nationalists after the Charlottesville protests, you could hear the arguments of Bannon coming out of Trump’s mouth while the more reasonable chief of staff John Kelly hung his head in the background.

Fourthly, Trump appears to be incredibly insecure, looking for praise constantly. We all like compliments of course, and we all like it when others agree with us. However, as you get older you come to realize that some praise is better than others. More importantly, you realize there are people whose criticism actually doesn’t bother you because their opinion is rarely worth much anyway.

Fifthly, Trump has a way of raising himself up by putting others down. He is incapable of letting any of his achievements stand on their own. He has to constantly compare himself to others. Trump couldn’t just celebrate the achievement of the GOP Tax Bill, for example, he had to make it into something it wasn’t. He constantly calls it the greatest tax cut in US history. By doing this he actually takes away from any achievement. He makes himself look ridiculous and exposes his personal feelings of inadequacy.

I’ve got more pop psychology about Trump, but that’s enough or I’ll start to sound like one of the crazies I love to criticize.

I wonder if anyone has told Trump yet that Obama and Clinton have once again been voted the most respected man and woman for 2017. (He came in second.) Most people would be pretty pleased and honoured that a significant number of people think they’re worthy of such respect. All Trump will see is that the two people he hates most did better than him. It’s pathetic.

 

 

Political Tweets

I’m sick of these a$$holes treating Hillary Clinton like $hit. Take a look at her career, and compare it with their own (lack of) achievements in comparison. Whether you like her or not, you should be capable of admitting her accomplishments and not revert to sexism in your attempts to be hip when insulting her. Vanity Fair is self-righteous, pretentious, and represents some of the worst of the authoritarian left.

 

Pre-Mueller Time Tweets

Something else to watch out for!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Ha ha!

 

I admit I haven’t actually read the article in the link. However, it is already my opinion that the Steele dossier is largely credible. Basically the only bit that hasn’t been independently verified is Trump getting prostitutes to urinate all over the hotel bed Obama slept in. Further, I’ve written several times that Putin’s core goal is to undermine Western-style democracy. It’s his way to justify his own authoritarianism and put a damper on calls for greater democracy in Russia.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Human Rights Tweets

With MPs like this in the Knesset it’s no wonder there’s no progress towards a two-state solution. This is the type of person that Israel’s enemies use as an excuse for their actions. He’s a disgrace, and it’s disgusting that there are people who support him.

 

The #WhiteWednesdays protest against the compulsory hijab in Iran is gaining momentum. it will be interesting to see how this plays out in 2018 and beyond.

 

I didn’t re-tweet this myself, but I thought you might be “interested” …

 

Un-effing-believable!

 

Religion Tweets

I’ve seen this before, but it’s too good to pass up!
(Via Ann German.)

 

If Mary and Joseph turned up at Mar-a-lago …

 

This is a very good article.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Entertainment Tweets

Celebrating the life and talents of Bob Givens.

 

One of the best movies of all time, and it’s not even in my collection! Time to spend that Amazon voucher my nephew and nieces got me for Christmas!

 

Gaming Tweets

I know nothing about gaming, but I know I could easily have got into it. Anyway, I like the music, and I like the graphics, so I thought I’d put this tweet up.

 

Science Tweets

I don’t know about you, but this activates my primal instincts and freaks me out!!!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Weather Tweets

Cool!

 

He constantly tries to tell us how smart he is. I don’t know whether or not he’s smart. I do know he’s fu€king ignorant! This is unbelievable!

 

Insect Tweets

Wow!!! This is amazing!!!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Marine Tweets

Otters again!!!

 

It was already the 27th in New Zealand when this came up, but it’s so cute it’s going in!

 

Other Animals Tweets

Boxing day sloths are cute too!

 

Celebrating the great work of SWCC rescuing hedgehogs!

 

Hoglet feeding!

 

I was going to put this in the Bird Tweets section, but then I thought my well-know scientific ignorance would mean some people wouldn’t get the joke.
(Via Ann German.)

 

I learnt something new! Hedgehog mums pick up their hoglets like cats do!

 

The next video in the series on the wildlife of Norfolk.

 

Bird Tweets

Rude gits are ignoring me!

 

Twitter birds are real!

 

Very nice.

 

This is brilliant!

 

Lovely video of NZ native birds shot on Tiritiri Matangi, an island in the Hauraki Gulf (near Auckland) that’s been cleared of predators.
(Via Rickflick.)

 

Dog Tweets

I don’t believe it’s enjoying the moment. I think it’s bloody cold and miserable and is thinking I wish I was a cat so I could not do what my human says, just walk away, and go somewhere warm.

 

This is one very smart dog!

 

Cat Tweets

My, what big ears you have!

 

Wow! Gorgeous!

 

I want these kittens!

 

Yep. Typical cat!
(Via Ann German.)

 

There’s one more from Amanda’s Advent Calendar! And it’s a cat!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Stretch those toes!
(Via Ann German.)

 


 

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