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State Dep was just asked if 23 Americans were aboard, no confirmation. Update:

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said his country’s armed forces didn’t shoot at any airborne targets. “We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets,” he said. “We are sure that those who are guilty in this tragedy will be held responsible.” …

TPM — Separatist leader Andrei Purgin told The Associated Press that he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot it down but gave no explanation for that statement. Purgin said he was not aware of whether rebel forces owned Buk missile launchers, but even if they did, there had no fighters capable of operating it.

Please help out with a small Paypal donation/handout if you can, my email is Darksydothemoon-at-aol-com. On the News of the Day: At first it looked like another Malaysian airliner gone missing. But early reports suggest it may turn out to have a more mundane if equally lethal explanation. Either way the media is going nuts about it:

NYDaily News — A Malaysia Airlines passenger plane was reportedly shot down by militants, killing all 295 people aboard, in Ukraine near the Russian border Thursday. Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Minister, said on Facebook that the plane was flying at an altitude of 33,000 feet when it was hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher (which can fire up to 36,000 feet), reported Interfax, a Ukranian news agency.

The flight was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur and flew over a volatile place in central Russia. Reports are a couple of other large planes carrying local troops have also been shot down in recent months in the same spot. Sounds like a tragic case of mistaken identity. But it begs the question: why would commercial airliners still be flying over that region?