The left views conservative free-speech as violence. They look at their violence as free-speech.

Michael Anton

By Dr. Jim Ferguson

Summertime is the season of Gordian Knots. No, I'm not using the metaphor of an intractable problem. Nor am I delving into the Ancient Greek legend of Alexander the Great who metaphorically "cut to the chase" and solved the Gordian Knot by slashing it in half with his sword. My thoughts surround garden hoses and iPhone earbuds.

My daughter Emily has a lovely and interesting voice. I'm told that she also possesses perfect pitch. I appreciate the former, but the latter is beyond my understanding. Perhaps it is because music is mathematical and not my forte. And even though Emily's voice is not operatic, her rendition of "Summertime" is magical. However, if you have a big garden, an orchard, a vineyard or are trying to save flowers around your house from episodic heat waves and drought, you are forced to contend with knotted garden hoses.

My wife insists that garden hoses be coiled neatly after usage. And no matter how carefully I loop the hose on the stand when I next use the hose it kinks and twists itself into a Gordian Knot challenging the notion that "Summertime is Easy." Now I understand the physics of the problem. Gathering a hose imparts torque and causes the "water-filled snake" to twist and torment my efforts to save growing things. I am a logical and science-based guy, but I reserve the right to exercise my feelings and, like Eve, curse the snake! And since I'm ranting like some liberal, explain to me how you can neatly place string or iPhone earbuds in a drawer and then return to find that they have tied themselves in a knot overnight. Perhaps Trump did it.

Summertime is also the season of SCOTUS pronouncements and this year the liberals are tied in knots. For decades progressives have championed judicial activism to promote destructive policies. Now, with the Supreme rulings overturning Roe v. Wade, affirming a citizen's right to bear arms for personal defense and pray in public, they are ranting for the court to be expanded and judges impeached. The court also ruled against unelected Federal agencies like the EPA issuing national mandates. The Supremes also upheld that schools run by religious organizations be treated the same as other private schools. We may not see as many fireworks this 4th of July due to shortages in Biden's America, but we may see liberal heads exploding. (Attention – fact checkers and pseudo comedians of Late Night shows, that's a joke.)

Unfortunately, due to our country's problems, we overlook the beauty of God's kingdom. Take for example the sounds of summer in the South. Some years ago, my West Coast son-in-law was visiting and asked me one night about "that sound." I replied, "What sound?" and then I realized he was unfamiliar with the background noise of cicadas on a summer night in the South. Some years ago I wrote a Focus essay entitled The Sound of Rain. You realize that falling rain is silent unless billions of raindrops strike tree leaves or your roof. Recently, when rain brought an end to 100° temperatures I sat on my porch luxuriating in the sounds of rain.

And there is more. Perhaps relieved of the heat and drought, I saw the twinkling lights of summer – a carpet of lightning bugs – rise in mass from the forest floor seeking communion with each other in the air. I am not a Biblical fundamentalist, but 1Thessalonians 4:17 came to mind.

Some years ago we went to the Elkmont area of the Smoky Mountains to experience the synchronized flashing of lightning bugs. Interestingly, this synchronization of some species of lightning bugs exists in other parts of the world. I have to admit, my foray to watch the choreography of lightning bugs was not impressive. Perhaps they had an off night; I don't know. What I do remember is walking in the dark and stepping on a couple trysting in the bushes. I didn't want to know if they were synchronized.

It is obvious that our Chief Executive's brain is no longer synchronized, and his executive functions are impaired. Dementia is associated with a loss of so-called executive functions and decision making. These include the "ability to organize, plan and perform a range of complex tasks in an efficient manner." Joe Biden has a history of brain aneurysms, bleeding and brain surgery. Interestingly, in vascular dementia, executive function may be more impaired than memory loss which is prominent in Alzheimer's Disease.

I feel sorry for Joe Biden who is old and impaired. I am angry with his wife who put him out there, subjecting him to manipulation and ridicule. But I feel most sorry for our country as a result of his disastrous Presidency being run by unelected shadow persons, using Biden as a sock puppet.

As I write, POTUS is on his summer European jaunt, escaping the messes he and his handlers have caused in America. I'm not a poll watcher, but a recent survey showed that "85% of US adults say that things in the country are headed in the wrong direction." Even "78% of Democrats are dissatisfied with the direction of the country."

I have had many impaired patients deny they were having cognitive problems which their families recognized. In his recent press conference, Biden says he didn't know anyone who is dissatisfied with the direction of the country. This is not mere isolation. Our Chief Executive's impairments are blatant.

So what do we do? We must deal in reality, not emotions. We are stuck with Biden and his vacuous Vice President. And now Patrick Leahy, who is 82 years old and has been in the Senate since 1974 and is third in line for the presidency, is in the hospital with a broken hip. We must stand up and say "No!" to delusional thinking (June 27 essay) and The People of the Lie (June 13 essay). We must vote and change the course of our nation. We must fix the mess we have allowed to happen.

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