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Here in Las Vegas much happened in December 2023, especially that very first week on December 6th we would unfortunately see a tragedy unfold at UNLV which would see 3 faculty members be killed by a remorseful gunman who would be taken down by campus police and LVPD alike, changing the way we feel about going on campus from here on out. December 8th President Joe Biden would be scheduled to appear in Las Vegas to announce infrastructure as well as the announcement of the $12.8 Billion train running from Las Vegas to Los Angeles. What is the initial reaction we got from not only media but also social media itself, to not only this news but the reaction of the UNLV shooting?

President Joe Biden, Las Vegas, Nevada Speech: Remarks on Infrastructure Improvement Efforts in Las Vegas, Nevada | The American Presidency Project (ucsb.edu)

The Speech –

President Biden starts this speech off lightheartedly by joking about a time he met with Harry Reid and may have already discussed these plans previously with the late acclaimed senator from Nevada. President Biden would then go on to mourn the loss of the faculty at UNLV from the shooting that happened on December 6th, a few days prior to this speech. He would also mourn the loss of the officers that were killed on a hit-and-run on the highway while helping out a car on the side. This definitely would set the emotion and empathy needed for the city around that time as it had been two events, especially the campus shooting and was needed to be heard from a world leader to not only add a bit of motivation for the people impacted, but also provide a bit of hope for the future itself whether it be true or not by stating, “I’m not going to rest until we do all we can to prevent more families and more communities from being torn apart by gun violence.” Which does sound good to hear when it comes to a world leader addressing this, again whether it will come to fruition or not. The whole purpose of the speech was to touch upon the topic of infrastructure and also to announce the railroad that would now be built and hopefully built by 2028 with the purpose of making travel between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with future extensions to San Diego and San Francisco. This $12.8 Billion project was awarded $3 billion from the federal department and is meant to be for not only the leisure aspect of travel but also to enhance and encourage workers to ease their way from LA and Vegas. The whole speech felt a little light hearted and the main message being that infrastructure and union job creation for the foreseeable future, which was met with much praise and approval as to what the message entails for Nevada.

Brightline West: https://www.brightlinewest.com/

In terms of the delivery of this speech and the way it was conducted, it seemed very professional and was conveyed in a way that would not only connect with the residents of Las Vegas, but also relate over to the audience in the West Coast with this huge advancement in transportation. A first of its kind on the West Coast the achievement would warrant the attention of the president himself and really goes to show the integrity for the project as well as what it can mean, with the main goal being to remove over 3 million cars each year off the road. So, after reading all of this info, what did some news outlets say, and how did they react to President Biden’s announcement?

Media Reaction –

The Las Vegas Review-Journal: https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-biden-infrastructure-bill-a-failure-to-launch-2974161/

The Las Vegas Review-Journal, a local and pretty unbiased news network released an article titled “Biden infrastructure bill: A failure to launch”, which is an opinionated piece put together by the staff, which throughout the whole piece is essentially stating that President Biden’s infrastructure bill signed in November 2021 totaling a little over $1.2 trillion for funding across the country, was a failure. Especially because the main argument being made by the Las Vegas Review-Journal is that President Biden had privately expressed frustration for maybe not being able to see these projects come to full fruition since it may take years for them to be constructed. However, regardless of it being built or not, personally it does feel like at least an effort is being made which is the most important part, even impacts here in Las Vegas where we’ve seen a lot of Elementary schools being renovated and renewed in their structure. Although, I do understand that potentially spending this money on much more mundane items such as this train, it still eases transportation and if affordable enough, may be able to open opportunities for a lot of residents of both Las Vegas and Los Angeles to go back and forth for more marketing and career opportunities.

They go on to write, “Mr. Boehm correctly notes that, instead of pandering to labor unions and political allies, the president could have pushed for an infrastructure bill that focused on actually building something in a speedy, cost-effective way, by providing a path to easing red tape. Instead he did the opposite.” Which in all honesty kind of shows a bit of bias for the announcement in itself, why not cater to labor unions? The aspect of political allies may be a bit of an argument but it seems the reason most of these structures may take a while is because they are looking to maximize the job opportunity as well as the sustainability of the building process, sure it may be argued that that in itself may pander to one political side more than the other, but why is that the case regardless? The way the Las Vegas Review-Journal frames this announcement is almost as if the bill in itself is just a huge waste of money and a failure for everyone involved, when in reality, it’s just going to take time.

Spectrum News – NY 1: https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2023/12/08/biden-high-speed-rail-project-grants

To take a look at an outside opinion, Spectrum News in New York more specifically covered the story in a more informative piece by David Mendez titled, “‘Amtrak Joe’ celebrates $8.2B passenger rail investment with Las Vegas workers”. Which the title itself is a nod to what President Biden has been dubbed since he has been known to take many trains in his personal life before politics. Mendez would cover this story simply by giving information and providing bias straight down the middle, with the most bias being shown in sentences like, “He professed his love for trains again Friday, at an event celebrating his administration’s plans to invest more than $8.2 billion in new funding for 10 rail projects across the country — including the country’s first two “world class” high-speed rail projects.” Which even considering the usage of the word “love”, it may be emotional bias but it does more so show what the main speaker was trying to convey throughout their message.

The whole article brings insight and is able to give the reader the choice to see what they may think is their own opinion and invites the reader to do some critical thinking and choose what may be their own views. Mendez also includes a “What To Know” section which also only adds much more information without choosing to use any buzzwords or showing any bias of affiliation.

Social Media –

To find official reactions on social media proved a bit harder to find on Twitter, which seemed like the breeding ground for any debate to pop up. The occasional “Joe Biden is corrupt”, tweet would pop up and offer little insight of adequate and well structured arguments that may be made about why this infrastructure deal here in Nevada is a bad idea. Another tweet celebrated Biden’s achievement but then turns around and brings Trump into the mix by stating “think Trump cares about trains? or infrastructure?…Don’t vote for a nightmare!” This twitter user simply just brings irrelevancy into the topic of talking about both infrastructure and the improvement of Nevada. Another Twitter user would argue that actually we need to connect more in-state transportation, from Las Vegas to Reno, but then the argument goes off the deep end when they bring up at the very end, “We don’t need to import any more leftism from California.” Which to me loses all credibility for its argument already, trying to bring irrelevant topics into something that has no correlation.

Tweets for relevancy of the topic that show public opinion not being from Democratic or Republican parties (usernames cropped out for privacy protection).

Conclusion –

All in all, this bill only looks to further Nevada and its many issues when it comes to both infrastructure and transportation in general. It may be the way President Biden presented it in a much more digestible and exciting light, or potentially the bias of being a local and basking in that light of improvement and taking more steps towards the future, but it seems more positives come from this then negatives. Sure construction will not be ideal for traffic, nor will the train more than likely be very affordable for everyone, but the keyword is opportunity and this only seems to create it, with over 35,000 promised union jobs, and even further in the future trying to emit less carbon emissions and removing more and more gas powered cars off the road. The reactions especially in modern politics are expecting with strawman arguments or irrelevant topics being brought into the fray that may not even have any form of correlation to the topic to begin with. Same with the public which does provide a less than ideal nor insightful look into why or why not we may need something implemented without having bias. Which is why its very important to practice critical thinking and look less at what side is right or wrong.