By Dr. Jim Ferguson

One of my axioms (Fergisms) is, “Old shoes and an older wife are to be cherished.” In other words, shoes that are broken in and still have their soles should not be discarded for the latest fashions. And before I get in trouble with the “older wife” observation, I was the one who needed to be gracefully housebroken.

I used to think that human resources departments were a big problem in organizations. I now conclude IT departments have moved into first place. Just when you have mastered the operations on your device, you awaken one morning to discover that the IT department has apparently been “up all night” changing your system’s functions. As a result, you have new hurdles to navigate, all under the guise of system improvements and security. I asked a computer friend of mine about these travails of modernity, and he informed me many updates are to comply with ever-changing government regulations. Ronald Reagan spoke of the “nine most terrifying words, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Yeah, like Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff are working to help the American people.

My recent travail began with the latest Apple iOS update. The experts told me that the new operating system update was expressly designed for newer devices and caused difficulties in older ones like my 7S iPhone. Apple of course denies this, but I wonder if updates are designed to coerce you into buying the newest device.

Rush Limbaugh has two demonstrable areas of expertise. The first is politics and the second is techie things such as smartphones and other electronic devices. When I had trouble with my older iPhone I decided to take his advice and upgrade to a newer phone with more bells and whistles. It has been a struggle which I’m sure many of you have suffered through as you break in new shoes or learn how to operate your new computer or smartphone. This is, of course, a first world problem, so I shouldn’t whine too loudly.

However, it was disturbing when I transferred the data from my old iPhone to the new one; contact information was apparently gathered from everyone I’d previously contacted by email, text, etc. I now have multiple duplications of virtually everyone in my contact list. The lesson is, anything on the net is there forever on some “cloud in the sky.” Someone has Hillary Clinton’s 35,000 deleted emails, and if they contain compromising information it may be used by nefarious people.

Obviously, my iPhone travails have been on my mind. And it’s just as well because I don’t think I could write another essay as I did in last week’s Focus, entitled My Journey. If you missed it (and you shouldn’t have) you can go to https://www.knoxfocus.com and search the archives to find the essay. And as shameless self-promotion, my book of essays Well…What Did the Doctor Say? is available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. The cover features a picture of my wife, Becky all “dolled up,” and the book is a great stocking stuffer!

As I look out my window I see the colors of fall. I was worried that the drought of August and September would cause the leaves go straight to brown and then fall off. However, even though October is historically one of our driest months, the rains have come and the hickory trees and maples are lovely.

Unfortunately, I feel it is my duty to stay informed and therefore open “windows on the world” and read about the utterly deplorable Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff who spend our money chasing their Moby Dick (Trump) rather than legislating to help Americans. I read of rolling electrical blackouts and fires in Democrat controlled California, and murders in Democrat Chicago. And I read of “wars and rumors of wars” as predicted by the Master. Several friends have just quit listening, and I can hardly blame them. However, in good conscience, I can’t tune out because the rule of law and our Republic hang in the balance.

Washington Republicans (RINOs) apparently know little history. How can there be any “reaching across the aisle” to the likes of Ted Kennedy, “The Lion of the Senate,” who caused the death of Mary Jo Kopechne and then viciously lied about Judge Bork to defeat his appointment to the Supreme Court? Democrats used these same dishonest and defaming tactics with Clarence Thomas and then Judge Kavanaugh, but thankfully failed. And now we are deep into the third year of the Brennan, Comey and Obama coup d’état to overturn the results of the 2016 Presidential election. Interestingly, it was William Buckey who in 2004 pointed out that the left always uses personal attacks and defamation rather than debating the facts or merits of an issue.

I am sick of this whole disgusting impeachment charade and see it as the dirtiest politics. But, it is even more pernicious. The Democrats have engineered an assault on the American people whom they don’t trust with another Presidential election.

I’ve written that I’m no longer conflicted. I am blessed to know where I came from, what is right and my purpose. I was given life by the Lord. I am guided by the Holy Spirit. And because my “life is better now and there is the hope of then” (another Fergism), I am called to “do my best to do my duty to God and country” (the Boy Scout motto) and to those I love and serve (my addition to the scout motto).

I want to prepare you that things will only get worse in the next twelve months. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, once observed that desperate situations require desperate measures. The Democrats are desperate. They cannot run against a booming economy, controlling America’s borders to stop illegal immigration, record employment and standing up for American interests in a violent world. Therefore, Democrats resort to their old playbook of ad hominem (personal) attacks on Trump’s style using the ruses of Russian collusion, the emoluments clause, the 25th Amendment and now the Ukraine imbroglio promoted by anonymous sources, non-elected deep state bureaucrats and disgruntled prigs like Mitt Romney.

It is time for We The People to say, “No more!” Before mercy can be extended across the aisle, justice must be done (Micah 6:8). Only then can peace return.