Hamilton County has never been immune to dirty politics. To the contrary, we have seemed to have more than our share of it. And it's often carried out over and over - thanks to political grudges carried for years.
Impeachment came and went, with key Republicans musing that Donald Trump had "learned his lesson" and would be a good boy. The rest of us scoffed and sat back to watch.
Here we are facing what feels like the loaded end of a double-barreled gun known as early voting for Super Tuesday's Tennessee primary in a year when the stakes have never been higher for choosing the right Democratic presidential nominee.
Read Donald Trump's lips - and know that he's lying. Read Trump's tweets - and know the same.
It seems that nine out of 10 headlines this week have been about Democratic angst that there's no clear, already anointed primary front-runner.
The start of Donald Trump's paybacks to those he views as enemies or those he thinks are disloyal didn't take long after the spineless GOP-majority Senate acquitted the president last week at the end of his impeachment trial.
The reality TV show in Washington begins a new season this week, but the writers are stuck on the same tired plot line - one of whining revenge.
It is a given that we pay the salaries and, when necessary, the expenses of the men and women who guard the president of the United States. What's not a given - or shouldn't be, anyway - is that we also line the president's pockets at the same time.
Thank you, Mitt Romney. Thank you for restoring our faith in politicians - some of them anyway.
Their actions said it all. The state of the union.
