Trump’s changing White House ballroom plans fuel viral conspiracy theories
Architect Andrew Kerr, who has worked on federal projects, raised concerns in a Facebook post. He said the ballroom’s scale and cost “don’t add up.”
Kerr calculated that at 90,000 square feet and $300 million, the ballroom would cost about $3,333 per square foot — far above high-end construction rates. He also said a 1,000-person ballroom would typically require no more than 40,000 square feet, even with generous spacing.
Jacob Ward, a journalist who has covered architecture and infrastructure budgets, echoed that concern.
“To blow $3,000 a square foot — that’s like a hospital building with specialized equipment,” he said in a TikTok video.
The shifting plans have fueled conspiracy theories. One deleted video claimed the construction could be a cover for building an underground data center beneath the White House.
The East Wing sits atop the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a bunker built during World War II and used by President George W. Bush and his staff after the 9/11 attacks.
However, technology experts say the data center theory doesn’t hold up. Bentley Hensel, a senior DevOps engineer, explained on TikTok that data centers require massive cooling systems and cannot operate underground. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reports that large data centers can use up to five million gallons of water daily just to stay cool.
https://san.com/cc/trumps-changing-white...-theories/
Architect Andrew Kerr, who has worked on federal projects, raised concerns in a Facebook post. He said the ballroom’s scale and cost “don’t add up.”
Kerr calculated that at 90,000 square feet and $300 million, the ballroom would cost about $3,333 per square foot — far above high-end construction rates. He also said a 1,000-person ballroom would typically require no more than 40,000 square feet, even with generous spacing.
Jacob Ward, a journalist who has covered architecture and infrastructure budgets, echoed that concern.
“To blow $3,000 a square foot — that’s like a hospital building with specialized equipment,” he said in a TikTok video.
The shifting plans have fueled conspiracy theories. One deleted video claimed the construction could be a cover for building an underground data center beneath the White House.
The East Wing sits atop the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, a bunker built during World War II and used by President George W. Bush and his staff after the 9/11 attacks.
However, technology experts say the data center theory doesn’t hold up. Bentley Hensel, a senior DevOps engineer, explained on TikTok that data centers require massive cooling systems and cannot operate underground. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reports that large data centers can use up to five million gallons of water daily just to stay cool.
https://san.com/cc/trumps-changing-white...-theories/
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
