Thursday, July 17, 2014

News Reports: Malaysian Plane lost contact, may have been shot down

"The Malaysia Airlines plane, which was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was travelling at an altitude of 10km (6.2 miles) when it was shot down, Russia's Interfax reported."
The Boeing 777 was brought down by a Buk ground-to-air missile, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior ministry quoted by the news agency said.

Several videos apparently filmed in the area, none of which Sky News has been able to independently verify, show plumes of thick, black smoke rising high into the air.

A Reuters correspondent at the scene said he could see the wreckage of a burning aircraft and bodies on the ground.
Video at the link

65 comments:

Icepick said...

If the airliner was shot down, especially if done by Russian-backed rebels or the Russians themselves, I expect the Administration to respond with all imaginable vigor.

Which is to say I expect a new hash-tag to appear on the White House Twitter feed any minute now.

Icepick said...

And my comment isn't funny, because it's true.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

CNN hardest hit.

rhhardin said...

The media hasn't reached the families of the loved ones yet, but all the other news macros are started.

Remember this is entertainment not news.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Coincidentally, today is anniversary of TWA Flight 800 explosion and crash.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

rh is uncomfortably right of course...

I bumped off a cold weather vortex post i had sheduled.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Malaysian Airline stock plummet ;)

XRay said...

Horrible, consequently, I smell the religion of peace somehow or another.

rhhardin said...

I think it was Eastern Airlines thar reported one year a income item "conversion of assets."

Analysts asked what the hell that was.

It turned out to be hull insurance payouts on crashed airplanes.

rhhardin said...

Limbaugh is preempted at 2pm. We learn that 14 frenchmen were on board, and it's feared also a number of children.

Uh oh here's an address from Obama.

Leland said...

July 6, 2013; Asiana airlines 777 crashes at SFO. Prior to that date, there had been no major accident resulting in a fatality for the entire 777 family since entering service in 1995.

In little over a years time, we now have had 3 fatal accidents, 2 of which resulted in all souls being deemed lost. Both total loses with the same airline. All 777 accidents showed no signs of an unintended malfunction of equipment contributing to the crash.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Reliable Iowahawk

David Burge ‏@iowahawkblog 6m
State Dept: President being kept informed of Ukraine situation, "considering every possible response font"

Leland said...

#SaveOur777s #SmartDiplomacy #BanSAMs #IronDome

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Vox parody...

"This is not the same airline that disappeared on March 8th. That was MH370; this is MH17."

KCFleming said...

Clearly, amnesty for the illegals is needed.

Plus, I blame global warming, racism, sexism, and apartheid in Israel.

Did I leave anything out?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

jon gabriel ‏@exjon 13m
As they investigators comb through the wreckage of the downed airliner, I expect they'll find Obama's reset button.

KCFleming said...

Perhaps if we raised the minimum wage.

KCFleming said...

If only we'd had some lesbian Catholic priests perform gay marriages in between 10 year-olds.

Then this never would have happened.

KCFleming said...

Malaysian midnight basketball.

Calypso Facto said...

I heard an obscure Youtube video is to blame.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

the YouTube video. I haven't that before ;)

edutcher said...

That it's Malaysia Airlines hits me.

KCFleming said...

I've lost contacts before.
It just popped outta my eye.
Not sure how you'd shoot one down.

Oh, never mind.

sakredkow said...

They haven't finished picking up the bodies and for some of you it's just an opportunity to talk about how bad Obama is.

KCFleming said...

/Emily Litella

KCFleming said...

Shit, they hadn't even killed all the Bengahzi people yet and Obama was creating false stories.

So we're just learning from one of the greats.

KCFleming said...

But to your point, is it okay to talk about how bad Obama is after they're finished picking up the bodies?

Like, right away, or do we gotta wait another 5 minutes lest we get cramps, like swimming right after lunch?

And do we go by Central Standard Time, or what?

KCFleming said...

And phx, "What difference – at this point, what difference does it make?"

ampersand said...

Speaking of TWA flght 800;
Any actuaries here? What are the chances of 4 large airline crashes in 5 years from 1 airport?

July 17,1996 TWA Flight 800
September 2 1998 Swissair Flight 111
October 31,1999 EgyptAir Flight 990
November 12,2001 American Airlines Flight 587

KCFleming said...

Well, I am not a statistician, but for those airplanes the chances were 100%.

Ba-dum-bum.

Leland said...

No offense to Lem, but... apparently this website has ads (as it should, because us freeloaders don't tip enough), and these ads look for keywords as to what ads are shown.

So I come back to the site, and what is my ad? A graphic of an aircraft shooting down another with a catch phrase, "finish him", for a game called War Thunder. Ah, adverstisers...

Rabel said...

"...it's just an opportunity to talk about how bad Obama is."

We look to our leadership when these events occur.

Here is our President's response.

Does it seem to you that the man is deeply saddened by the death of 300 people including 23 Americans. He has a cold, cold soul.

The Dude said...

Pogo, you forgot to blame Bush. Or bush.

And as far as I am concerned, this is just a good start.

Around here, bucks usually total cars, not aircraft.

Leland said...

Pogo,

The President is busy getting lunch, because #BearisLoose and #NoPhotoOps. You'll have to wait for him to finish his Pit Burger before complaining. Fortunately, he skipped in line and got his burger and fries (#askFLOTUS #HealthySchools) early, so it won't be long now. He's starving ya know.

KCFleming said...

Booooosh!

How'd I forget?


Maybe phx is right, and we should all be like the Preezy, and just go eat some hamburgers.

KCFleming said...

I thought Michelle made hambugers illegal.

Where's the goddamned carrots, Bear-y?

The Dude said...

He would eat nothing but tofu dogs if they tasted like Labrador retrievers.

Methadras said...

Lois Lerner hid her email and chat traffic on that plane. Oh wait.

deborah said...

Rabel, thanks for that link. As I watched, I thought, 'he's doing okay,' then he went directly to peppy speech mode. I threw back my head and laughed it was so absurd.

virgil xenophon said...

Is this a "red-line" moment? What? No, I didn't think so. Carry on..

Leland said...

They haven't finished picking up the bodies and for some of you it's just an opportunity to talk and tell jokes.

FIFY

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Richard Quest is back.

Third Coast said...

Mass murder that includes the deaths of 23 Americans and a ground invasion of Gaza involving around 50,000 Israeli troops and who knows how many Hamas terrorists; time for the Prez to do some more fundraisers where he can identify the real enemy, Republicans.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

When CNN says "Breaking News" shouldn't they at least deliver another crash?

It's not breaking news... to repeat the same news.

Leland said...

Geez Lem, at least this time CNN knows where the Malaysian aircraft is. That's breaking news for them.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

good point.

Icepick said...

They haven't finished picking up the bodies and for some of you it's just an opportunity to talk about how bad Obama is.

Why not? Obama's wfulness has real consequences for me and mine, including the possibility that this occasion is going to cause him to further fuck up our relations with Russia. On the other hand, the likelihood of me knowing any of the people on board is close to nil. (I did have a Malaysian friend back in the day. Simon, I hope you weren't on board.)

Besides, there are tragedies and disasters and violent death every day. Are we supposed to never criticize our leaders when bad things happen, or just not the ones that you support?

Icepick said...

Like, right away, or do we gotta wait another 5 minutes lest we get cramps, like swimming right after lunch?

How about after tonight's fund raiser?

Icepick said...

Lem, get back to me when Carlos Danger is back!

Aridog said...

This is not a political event...295+ (?) civilians died. A "mistake" by whom? The chatter on cell phone lines said it was a "whoops"...this is beyond belief. Why hasn't Russia or the US of A blown the entirety of Donetsk/Ukraine into ruble flatter than Dresden? Answer: no one cares anymore.

When we find ourselves under the boot heels of the new order, remember when it was we had a chance to fight back and we did not.

rhhardin said...

It might have been the make a wish foundataion.

Kids have pretty anti-social wishes.

rhhardin said...

Reminder : every day 10,000 Americans die. 100,000 people worldwide.

Round numbers.

The most entertaining deaths show up in the news.

Titus said...

This would of never happened if a God fearing Republican was in office.

Totally hate Obama.

tits.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Baseball was cancel. That made no sense.

chickelit said...

phx said...
They haven't finished picking up the bodies and for some of you it's just an opportunity to talk about how bad Obama is.

It wasn't as serious a moment as Bush's "My Pet Goat" moment, but it's now been several hours and the President has probably finished his dinner by now. Will he at least send out Susan Rice to explain things? It's reasonable to expect more than nonchalance. Nobody expected this degree of flexibility after his last election.

TTBurnett said...

I have consistently argued that, in politics, the best course is to smile and wave. Forgive me for boasting, but it is incredibly gratifying to see a President of the United States who has taken this advice so completely to heart.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It's not like an American embassy was attacked.

Hard to distinguish between the two, by just watching Obama.

TTBurnett said...

At least Calvin Coolidge knew how to save money.

Michael Haz said...

Just read this thread from top to bottom. It may be one of the best threads ever on Lem's blog. Greatly entertaining.

Michael Haz said...

I'm getting some Groupon emails offering awesome travel discounts on Malaysian Airlines this summer.

TTBurnett said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mitch H. said...

They haven't finished picking up the bodies and for some of you it's just an opportunity to talk about how bad Obama is.

Ooh, you're right. If we're not careful, the government won't vote for us in the next election, and we might be replaced with another electorate! Gotta be responsible, prudent, diplomatic. Because lord knows, that's our job. The president's busy with photo-ops and fundraising.

So, is Joe Biden president now? Because he seems to be running our foreign policy at the moment.

Aridog said...

Phx...just for the record, I do not see this shooting down of an airliner in the region it happened in to be Obama's fault, on his watch, yes, one where he's been nearly absent politically outside of DC, but the predecessors of Clinton and Bush 43 all played their part in diminishing the credibility of the USA. I am particularly irritated by the prevalence of Dick Cheney and family on Television news of late...WTF? I mean, really, WTF?!!

Aridog said...

TTBurnett .... your comment about a President who just smiles and waves is disappointingly apt today. He can't do near the damage that way as he can with his"pen & telephone." I think Obama does the least damage when on vacation in Hawaii or out fund raising in who-knows-where.

sakredkow said...

Phx...just for the record, I do not see this shooting down of an airliner in the region it happened in to be Obama's fault, on his watch, yes, one where he's been nearly absent politically outside of DC, but the predecessors of Clinton and Bush 43 all played their part in diminishing the credibility of the USA. I am particularly irritated by the prevalence of Dick Cheney and family on Television news of late...WTF? I mean, really, WTF?!!

Aridog we disagree about many things but I always appreciate that your arguments and engagement with me are constructive. You generally make an effort to explain your point of view as you do here. I also see you try to find some common ground from time to time, which is worthwhile. Thanks.