TWA Flight 800 investigators break silence in new documentary, claim original conclusion about cause of crash is wrong

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  July 16, 2008: The remains of the TWA Flight 800 from New York to Paris that exploded off Long Island, New York at National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Training Facility in Ashburn,Virginia. (REUTERS/Hyungwon Kang)

A group of whistleblowers, including a number of aviation experts, have come forward in a new documentary to claim that the official explanation for the crash of TWA Flight 800 was wrong and a gas tank explosion did not bring down the flight off the coast of Long Island 17 years ago.
However, the six whistleblowers, all part of the original investigation team, stopped short of saying the plane was shot down.
 Flight 800, a Boeing 747, had just taken off from JFK airport with 230 people aboard on July 17, 1996 enroute to Paris when it exploded and crashed off the coast of nearby East Moriches, Long Island, killing everyone on the plane.
“..This team of investigators who actually handled the wreckage and victims’ bodies, prove that the officially proposed fuel-air explosion did not cause the crash,” reads a statement by the producers of the film, which will debut on cable network EPIX next month. “They also provide radar and forensic evidence proving that one or more ordinance explosions outside the aircraft caused the crash.” However, the statement said they did not speculate about the source or sources of any ordinance explosions.
The whistleblower team, which includes investigators-at the time-from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), TWA, and the Airline Pilots Association, have since retired from their positions. They claim that at the time, they were placed under a gag order by the NTSB, which they charged falsified the official conclusion of the cause of the crash. They indicated they would elaborate more in a Wednesday media briefing.
The NTSB report, the culmination of a four-year investigation, suggested the cause of the explosion was due to an explosion in the gas tank caused by a short circuit.
With conspiracy theories immediately swirling around the crash – one being that it was caused by a terrorist missile strike -- the FBI conducted  a 16-month investigation and concluded that there was no evidence to indicate that any criminal act occurred.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/18/twa-flight-800-investigators-break-silence-in-new-documentary-claim-original/#ixzz2WaICBOqC

San Antonio Spurs vs. Miami Heat: Game 6 Score, Highlights and Analysis

It should have been easy to predict around 11 p.m. ET Tuesday night that we were all about to see something amazing.
One hour later, things still hadn't been decided. Another five minutes is what it took to reach a Miami Heat Game 6 victory. Miami took down the San Antonio Spurs 103-100 in overtime.
If Tim Duncan owned the night up until the fourth quarter, LeBron James stole it from him in the most vicious way possible. James destroyed everything in the fourth quarter, getting whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted it.
But then, there was the little guy waiting for the moment to get bigger. Tony Parker picked his moment and ripped whatever James had stolen from Duncan back into a black and silver uniform—with five straight points, and a steal in between, inside two minutes to push San Antonio ahead.
Of course, Ray Allen couldn't let the series go by without being heard from. His contested three from the right corner tied things at 95 and sent Game 6 to overtime.
Then in the extra period, Allen was able to rip the ball away from Manu Ginobili on his game-winning attempt. Two freebies at the other end put the Heat out of reach. Allen scored seven of Miami's final 11 points, including four in overtime.

Obama Family Africa Trip Under Fire

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  June 17, 2013: US first lady Michelle Obama, center, with her daughters Sasha, and Malia, are escorted by Patrick Prendergast, far left, President/Provost of Trinity College, during their visit to the Old Library at Trinity College, in Dublin, Ireland. (AP)

President Obama’s trip this month to Africa, with the first family tagging along, is projected to cost taxpayers as much as $100 million, sparking criticism as the federal government scrimps along during sequester-related budget cuts.
Among the related costs will be fighter jets; hundreds of Secret Service agents; a Navy ship with a full trauma center; and military cargo planes to bring 56 vehicles including 14 limousines and three trucks loaded with sheets of bullet­proof glass to cover the windows of the hotels where the first family will stay. The details were reported by The Washington Post, based on a confidential planning document.
The trip to sub-Sahara Africa runs from June 26 to July 3.
The president and first lady have cancelled plans to go on a safari that would have included the additional expense of a sharp-shooting team, responsible for putting down a cheetah, lion or any other wild animal that became a threat.
Figuring out the exact cost of the overall trip is difficult because the information is classified for the purpose of national security.
However, a Government Accountability Office report shows President Clinton’s 1998 trip to six African nations cost at least $42.7 million – not including Secret Service expenses.
Obama’s trip could cost the federal government $60 million to $100 million based on the costs of similar African trips in recent years, a person familiar with the Obama journey but not authorized to speak for attribution told The Post.
The trip comes as agencies across the federal government try to find cost-saving measures to deal with the massive, across-the-board budget cuts known as sequester, which kicked in this year after Washington lawmakers failed to agree on a more measured approach. The Secret Service, for example, pushed to cancel public White House tours to save thousands in weekly overtime expenses.
“For the cost of this trip to Africa, you could have 1,350 weeks of White House tours,” Rep. George Holding, a North Carolina Republican, said last week. “It is no secret that we need to rein in government spending, and the Obama administration has regularly and repeatedly shown a lack of judgment for when and where to make cuts. … The American people have had enough of the frivolous and careless spending.”
The White House had defended the trip cost saying the Secret Service plan determines the security cost and that first family’s trip will result in long-term goodwill.
“The infrastructure that accompanies the president’s travels is beyond our control,” said Ben Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. “When you travel to regions like Africa that don’t get a lot of presidential attention, you tend to have very long-standing and long-running impact from the visit.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/18/first-family-trip-to-africa-projected-to-cost-up-to-100m-sparking-criticism/#ixzz2WaD5a1UA