1) When people are lied to about something too many times, they tune out. And that is what has happened. Why do we still have polar ice caps, why is Manhattan not under 12' of water, why do we still have rain forests? I can keep going with all the predictions from climate scientists that haven't even had a whiff of coming true. Lie to people enough and they tune out. Sorry.
As is often the case, I can't tell whether to take what you write literally, since climate scientists didn't predict this. What they do say is that coastal cities will experience significant flooding by 2050, in addition to problems that will affect the interior. Climate predictions, even ones based on good data and sound models, can vary, but the trends, including ocean warming leading to more storms, are clear, and recent revelations about what's happening in the Antarctic could accelerate sea level rise even more quickly.
2) Yes our system is a mess. But I don't trust the government to run it either. I have dealt with Medicare with my mom and it is a mess. When she was 91 she fell and broke her leg. Medicare refused to allow her to be "admitted" to the hospital and was list as under observation. The reason is that after 3 days of being admitted, they have to pay for rehab. Fortunately for her, she had enough money to pay for 3 days at a rehab hospital where she was "admitted" (Medicare had no say as she was private pay), but after those 3 days they applied to Medicare who finally gave in. But that was $1300 a lot of people don't have. She also had my wife who was on it like a bulldog. I feel sorry for the elderly who have no one and can't navigate the system. And don't even get me started on dad's wheelchair.
Do you really think abortion/drugs will be outlawed in every state? I do not. And I don't agree with the abortion ban, but also blame the Dems a little bit here for not putting it in the ACA. That bill cost many of them their seats, so why not get something good out of it.
Here we agree somewhat. The healthcare system is indeed a mess, but in a 2023 survey, 91% of adults on Medicare rated their coverage positively. The problem is that healthcare institutions have to deal with a tangled web of payers, regulations, and procedures. Government-managed care works well in countries that invest sufficiently. Additional private insurance is available in many of these places, but the key point is that nobody goes without, unlike in the U.S.
As for abortion, yes, I think the goal is to enact a national ban, though few Republicans will admit that because they know it's a bad issue for them. It's a key part of Project 2025. And even if abortion remains legal in certain states, it will remain outlawed in much of the country, and women needing care there will suffer or die.
3) NY bluster. And do you really want to get into teleprompter issues where Biden reads his instructions like "Pause" for which the official WH transcripts always seem to put "unintelligible" in its place?
Hey, I am all for a medical competency test, as long as Biden is sitting right beside him. Televise the whole thing.
As for the nuclear weapons, this is the same thing that was said before 2016. That Trump was going to get us into a nuclear war. He didn't. In fact he was the first President in how many years to not get us into any wars.
Let's see what happens in the upcoming debate, assuming Trump shows.
4) We have too many guardrails in our system for one person to become a tyrant.
You mean like in Nazi Germany? What guardrails? Congress, where Republicans will go along with anything Trump asks, or the Supreme Court, which slow-walked a ruling on Trump's immunity claim. Alito, Thomas, and the majority won't do anything to curb authoritarianism unless they fear they'll be adversely affected, which they won't. To be sure, I don't believe any of the justices or others promoting fascist principles support Trump or the MAGA base — they're just useful idiots to get what they want.
