Damon Cain

Pinecrest Business and Technology Park is now in the hands of the Raleigh County Commission.

Hear any complaints about a rigged election? No, me neither. Funny how that works.

For all of those folks – Democrats, Independents and, yes, disenfranchised, old-guard conservative Republicans – who did not vote for Donald Trump and now fear the worst for our country, well, dry your eyes and grab some popcorn. The show has already started.

This is the weekend I check the fridge, the spice cupboard and the pantry to make sure I have the ingredients for my parmesan garlic yellow mashed potatoes – skin on and worked into submission by a hand-held potato masher and whatever brute strength I have left at this age. For this great-grandson of an Irish immigrant who came to these shores some 175 years ago, give or take, and made his way to the tallgrass prairie of west central Iowa, potatoes – in all forms – are central to my diet. And, I have found, nothing works in combination quite so well as garlic and cheese – two of the more important contributions to a life well lived, a pairing that should never be taken for granted.

So Gov. Jim Justice wants to coach high school girls basketball while serving in the U.S. Senate. Simultaneously. Like, at the same time.

Would someone, please, tell Gov. Justice, “Hey, big buddy. We got this. Just had an election. Chose a different governor to play CEO, and a new Legislature – a lot like the old – to draw up new laws and address myriad issues that those lawmakers, primarily from the Republican side of the aisle, have long ignored. And, hey, you are the senator-elect, now. Mr. Big Shot. Headed to D.C. Need to retrain your sights, buddy. Your priorities. Bigger fish, Big Jim. Bigger pond.”

As President-elect Donald Trump forces his autocratic will upon our democracy, as he insists on moving ahead with cabinet nominees who, shall we say, come from a roster of far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists – some kooks, some neo-fascists, some misogynists, most all eminently unqualified – I wonder what prize those nominees see for themselves in running the gauntlet of difficult, revealing and, most likely, embarrassing Senate hearings.

Toward the end of a political career, there's nothing quite so resolute and destructive as burning bridges. An elected official, who had his hands on the reins of power, no matter how fleeting or tenuous, may be able to say with a sneer, “I'm done with this nonsense,” but typically only after a final message is delivered by the electorate, which is a way of saying, “Don't let the door hit you on your way out.”

As we took turns ordering breakfast on our last day of vacation in San Pedro, Belize – coffee with cream and sugar for me, please and thanks – I checked my iPhone weather app: 78 degrees F, at the moment, partly cloudy with a light tropical breeze. Yesterday's gentle rain had moved on. I took a picture of my oldest daughter, Shelby, and her fiance, Jason, the Caribbean at their back. The long shadows created by the early morning light reached in my direction, pulling my attention out to sea.