Agree that LOSSAN should be a priority, but not that CHSRA or lack of it would have made a difference. Different funding sources, different politics. Main problem I see with LOSSAN is that San Diego has been doing a lot of piecemeal improvements that make a difference, leading to the idea that all that's needed is piecemeal improvements. Not so: several spots will never work well (or even safely, in the long term) without some real money being spent. Where to get it is the question, given that HSR money is mostly locked up in bonds authorized for that purpose only (unless there's another election to free it up, which could route the remaining money into something else entirely not transportation).

As for the hoax - I'm assuming you've got tongue in cheek here - even many of the "deniers" now accept that warming is happening and the sea level is rising. The records clearly show it, records that are hard (I'd say impossible) to fake on the scale needed. What they're denying is that humans have anything to do with it and can do anything about it. So they're willing to look at adaptation even if they flatly refuse to consider emission reduction (if anything, emissions must be increased!). Dealing with sea level rise that has happened in the last 100 years and is clearly accelerating is adaptation. Ignoring it (and other aspects of warming that have already occurred and are accelerating, whatever you want to ascribe the cause to) is a national and species suicide pact. Lemmings!