A sign of things to come?

I heard there was a big announcement today from Trump's secretary of transportation about California's high speed rail, and I knew it was probably going to be train wreck but I had no idea until I jumped on a livestream a few minutes into this event.

When they announce the ending of all federal funding for a rail line between Los Angeles and San Francisco (the two largest cities in the state), hundreds of protestors begin booing loudly and for the next 30 minutes after so much so that you can barely hear the jerks at the podium try and knock high speed rail.

Now, I get it, these large-scale projects often waste too much money because they take way too long to build, but that's usually from all the backlash against them. Projects like Boston's Big Dig and Seattle removing a freeway to replace it with a park took decades to accomplish due to all the legal challenges. When they finally got built, people loved them and enjoyed the better use of space, but the road to major projects is often a long one where you have to fight year and year to make any progress.

It's frustrating that this project launched in 2008 and hasn't really began large scale construction yet, but high speed rail is fundamental to getting people efficiently and cheaply moving between metro areas without causing almost any pollution (these would be electric trains) compared to cars and planes.

Every modern country has pretty great mass transit and I've personally enjoyed blazing across the Italian countryside at 160mph on a non-stop train for over three hours while it only cost me $50 for a first class seat with unlimited snacks and beverages.

That we don't have these all over America connecting our major cities and eliminating short-haul flights is a total embarrassment. Killing the LA to SF line when instead it should be built in time for the 2028 Olympics is shocking and seems like a ridiculous policy.

Of course, Trump's transport secretary eventually talks about how great the LA to Vegas high speed rail project is going, but that's a private company that is going to have to be profitable to finish the project and maintain the rail line, which hasn't historically gone well.

But it's good to see Trump's own cabinet members hearing a public outcry in person, to their faces when they make ghoulish announcements like this one.