I suspect that these years will not be "golden" for the American presidency.

       I am getting ready to watch president Obama's farewell speech.

Regardless of what you thought of the man's policies, you have to admit that he carried himself with dignity and grace while in office, and that he, along with his family, was scandal free.

Which leads me, once again, to our president-elect and the following story:

"A dossier making explosive — but unverified — allegations that the Russian government has been “cultivating, supporting and assisting” President-elect Donald Trump for years and gained compromising information about him has been circulating among elected officials, intelligence agents, and journalists for weeks.

The dossier, which is a collection of memos written over a period of months, includes specific, unverified, and potentially unverifiable allegations of contact between Trump aides and Russian operatives, and graphic claims of sexual acts documented by the Russians. CNN reported Tuesday that a two-page synopsis of the report was given to President Obama and Trump.

Now BuzzFeed News is publishing the full document so that Americans can make up their own minds about allegations about the president-elect that have circulated at the highest levels of the US government.

The document was prepared for political opponents of Trump by a person who is understood to be a former British intelligence agent. It is not just unconfirmed: It includes some clear errors. The report misspells the name of one company, “Alpha Group,” throughout. It is Alfa Group. The report says the settlement of Barvikha, outside Moscow, is “reserved for the residences of the top leadership and their close associates.” It is not reserved for anyone, and it is also populated by the very wealthy.

The Trump administration’s transition team did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment. However, the president-elect’s attorney, Michael Cohen, told Mic that the allegations were absolutely false.

“It’s so ridiculous on so many levels,” he said. “Clearly, the person who created this did so from their imagination or did so hoping that the liberal media would run with this fake story for whatever rationale they might have.”[Story]

Of course the most interesting part of the whole story is this little tidbit:

"Now details of classified documents presented to president-elect have emerged in a report by CNN - including memos given to the FBI 

The memos claim the Russian secret services had a file on Trump of 'kompromat' - damaging material Kremlin could use to blackmail him

Dossier included claims he ordered prostitutes to commit degrading sex acts in the presidential suite of a Moscow hotel - because the Obamas stayed there

John McCain was given a copy months before election which he handed to James Comey, Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said.

Disclosure FBI sat on damaging allegations will enrage Democrats after Comey went public with Anthony Weiner material just before election." [Source]  

I am not sure what those alleged "degrading sex acts" were, but let's just say that #GoldenShowers is trending on twitter.   

*Pic from slate.com

I have some reservations about Anthony Bourdain.

*I like Anthony Bourdain, I really do. I consider him to be a world citizen who, for the most part, gets it when it comes to understanding the world and the people in it.

Which is why it pains me to write a post ripping him for his latest pronouncement about the white working class and politics in this country.

"Anthony Bourdain, an outspoken critic of President-elect Donald Trump, has called out "privileged Eastern liberals" - including himself - for their "utter contempt" of working-class Americans that he says made Trump's presidency possible...

When people are afraid and feel that their government has failed them they do things that seem completely mad and unreasonable to those of who are perhaps under less pressure,....

I've spent a lot of time in gun-country, God-fearing America," he added. "There are a hell of a lot of nice people out there, who are doing what everyone else in this world is trying to do: the best they can to get by, and take care of themselves and the people they love. When we deny them their basic humanity and legitimacy of their views, however different they may be than ours, when we mock them at every turn, and treat them with contempt, we do no one any good."

I have been seeing a lot of this kind of commentary since the election: Sympathy for the "poor working class white guy" who has been left out of the political mainstream by the political class and the elites in Washington.

I call bulls**t.

First, they are white, and let's not kid ourselves, they are not missing out on any of the privileges in this country. The government, as it is currently structured, did not fail these people. They have, for the most part, failed themselves. They have held twenty and thirty dollar an hour jobs working in mines and steel factories for years, and they failed to see the global revolution coming. No one is denying them their basic humanity or mocking them. They are properly represented in Washington and the halls of power by a very conservative and republican legislative body.

I am sorry, unlike Bourdain and the other apologists, I view "God-fearing America" and "gun-country" a little differently than they do. To me, there is nothing "God-fearing" about these people. Their history tells me something quite different. 

I suspect that the reason trump did so well among them had nothing to do with him running as an outsider who is going to shake up Washington, but had more to do with him running as the candidate for certain kinds of white people who was supported by the likes of David Duke and the folks in the alt-right movement.  There is nothing wrong with wanting your race to be recognized and properly represented , but let's not pretend that it is something else. Trump built his political career on a campaign to delegitimize the president and has drawn like-minded people to his movement.  

"We should be breaking bread with each other, and finding common ground whenever possible. I fear that is not at all what we've done."

Mr. Bourdain and others should be lecturing them, not us. I suspect that they don't want "common ground",  they want things the way they were, and there was nothing "common" about that.

*Image from ModernMom.com