Did Reagan really rush back to DC after Korean plane shoot down in '83?

For Fox News, the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine evoked memories of another disaster, the shooting down of Korean Air Flight 007 by the Soviet air force in 1983. The commercial flight with 269 people aboard had strayed into Soviet airspace on its way to Seoul. A Soviet SU-15 Interceptor opened fire, crippling the plane and sending it into the sea. About 60 Americans were on board, including a member of Congress.

Several pundits on Fox News used the 1983 crash to illustrate how unfavorably President Barack Obama compares to President Ronald Reagan. They criticized Obama for attending a fundraiser and sticking with his regular schedule on the day the Malaysian plane went down.

- An abbreviated timeline from 1983

Korean Air 007 left Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 31, 1983. At about 2:30 p.m. the plane vanished from radar screens. There was significant uncertainty as to what had happened.

It took until the middle of the night Thursday Sept. 1 before U.S. officials knew that the plane had been shot down with no survivors. Secretary of State George Shultz spoke to the press that morning. At that time, he had not spoken to Reagan, although others had briefed the president.

Up to this point, Reagan was on vacation at his Santa Barbara, Calif., ranch.

White House spokesman Larry Speakes gave a statement to reporters in California: "The president is very concerned and deeply disturbed about the loss of life aboard the Korean Air Lines flight overnight," Speakes said. "There are no circumstances that can justify the unprecedented attack on an unarmed civilian aircraft. The Soviet Union owes an explanation to the world about how and why this tragedy has occurred."

When asked if Reagan would be returning to Washington, Speakes said he would not.

"There are no plans for the president to return to Washington earlier than anticipated," he said. The president "has every facility, every capacity, every capability to do, perform any function that he could perform in Washington."

About eight hours later, Speakes called the reporters together again and announced that Reagan would return to Washington, D.C., the next day, Friday.

As Reagan was leaving California, he read a brief statement.

''I speak for all Americans and for the people everywhere who cherish civilized values in protesting the Soviet attack on an unarmed civilian passenger plane,'' Reagan said. ''Words can scarcely express our revulsion at this horrifying act of violence."

Reagan wrote this in his diary that evening: "We were due to return to Wash. on Labor Day but realized we couldn’t wait so we left on Fri. It was heartbreaking. I had really looked forward to those last three days. When we got in Fri, I went directly to a NSC (National Security Council) meeting re the Soviet affair."

On Sept. 5, 1983, four days after the jet was shot down, Reagan spoke to the nation for about 18 minutes in a televised address.

A Fox News host corrects his colleagues

Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, tried to correct the record on Fox. During an interview on the network’s morning show Fox and Friends, Wallace explained his experiences covering Reagan in 1983.

"He was in Santa Barbara at his ranch when this happened, and quite frankly he didn't want to leave," Wallace said.

Some of the posters don't care about the impact to people, they just want to stick it to President Obama.

What is really making me sick is some politicians are using this tragedy to attack the President of the United States and are also beating the war drum to send arms to Ukraine. I think the vast majority of Americans feel we should not get involved in this fight nor should we arm Ukraine.

The black boxes for the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 have been found, a Ukraine rebel leader said Sunday.

Alexander Borodai said that the devices would be handed over to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
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It's interesting....first they said they didn't have them. Now they will turn them over?

Just over two weeks ago, Ukrainian officials warned that it was unsafe to fly at 26,000 feet in the Donetsk region. Then, just three days before the crash, they raised the floor to 32,000 feet. MH17 was flying at 33,000 feet when it was shot out of the sky.

The plane was following a route well traveled by other airlines.

According to Flightradar24, over the seven days prior to the crash, more than 800 commercial planes had chosen a similar flight path.
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That's a lot of flights over that area in 7 days.

I took a look at the flightradar24.com website....interesting.

It's a real dilema for the European nations since Russia supplies a lot of their energy. They are afraid that if tougher sanctions or penalties are applied, Russia will cut off supplies of oil and natural gas. This would have a dramatic affect on Europe, especially in the winter and would also have a serious impact on the economy.

The US is in a real pickle on what actions it can take and must have the support of Europe...there is no easy solution that I can see on how to punish those responsible for this tragedy.

Sad situation.

Here is an exerpt from US Ambassador Samantha Powers statement at the UN:

Let me share with you our assessment of the evidence so far.

We assess Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 carrying these 298 people from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was likely downed by a surface-to-air missile, an SA-11, operated from a separatist-held location in eastern Ukraine.

The airliner was traveling at a cruise altitude of 33,000 feet and its speed was typical for an airliner along an established flight corridor frequented by commercial traffic.

The flight was transmitting its assigned transponder code corresponding with its flight plan, and flight tracking data was publicly available on the internet. There was nothing threatening or provocative about MH17.

Of the operational SAM systems located near the border, only the SA-11, SA-20, and SA-22 SAM systems are capable of hitting an aircraft at this flight’s altitude of 33,000 feet. We can rule out shorter-range SAMs known to be in separatist hands, including MANPADS, SA-8 and SA-13 systems, which are not capable of hitting an aircraft at this altitude

Early Thursday, an SA-11 SAM system was reported near Snizhne by a Western reporter and separatists were spotted hours before the incident with an SA-11 system at a location close to the site where the plane came down.

Separatists initially claimed responsibility for shooting down a military transport plane and posted videos that are now being connected to the Malaysian airlines crash. Separatist leaders also boasted on social media about shooting down a plane, but later deleted these messages.

Because of the technical complexity of the SA-11, it is unlikely that the separatists could effectively operate the system without assistance from knowledgeable personnel. Thus, we cannot rule out technical assistance from Russian personnel in operating the systems.

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Warfare in this new century...they shoot down a plane and boast about it on Twitter?

U.S. official: Missile shot down Malaysia Airlines plane

(CNN) -- A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet crashed in a rebel-controlled part of eastern Ukraine on Thursday, spurring swift accusations from Ukrainian officials that "terrorists" shot down the aircraft.

The United States has concluded a missile shot down the plane, but hasn't pinpointed who was responsible, a senior U.S. official told CNN's Barbara Starr.

The Boeing 777 with 298 people aboard fell from the sky near the town of Torez in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, officials said. A top Ukrainian official said the plane, which was on the way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was flying at about 10,000 meters (nearly 33,000 feet) when the missile hit.

A radar system saw a surface-to-air missile system turn on and track an aircraft right before the plane went down, the senior U.S. official said. A second system saw a heat signature at the time the airliner was hit, the official said. The United States is analyzing the trajectory of the missile to try to learn where the attack came from, the official said.

Nationalities aboard MH17
154 Dutch
43 Malaysian (including 15 crew)
27 Australian
12 Indonesian
9 British
4 German
4 Belgian
3 Filipino
1 Canadian
41 Unverified

So why in the F@3k is this any of our business?
I wonder why you all get so excited and fired up about Hamas and Israel?
We should stay the hell out of their business...if they want to fight, let them fight.

This is no reason the attack the President of the United States of America.

So what....let them get the bomb.

They will only be able to use it once and at what risk to their nation?

Complete destruction.

Do you really think they would take that risk?

Don't Forget:

Glen Beck
Rush Limbaugh
Lou Dobbs
Michael Weiner (aka: Michael Savage- Weiner is his real name.)

I believe many States, almost half, have "Open Primaries". From what I understand, the people of Mississippi recognized that they would most likely end up with a Republican in office so many Democrats voted in the GOP primary to choose the candidate they wanted to represent them.

Isn't that what representative government is about?

What about all the States with "Closed Primaries"?

In my State, the largest block of voters are now listed as "Independent" and feel disenchanted with both parties. I believe they also can't vote in presidential primaries.

The political parties are losing popular support because they just can't govern without being utterly partisan. That's why the independent movement is growing at record rates in Arizona.

Yup, they keep voting them back in....

From what I understand, Cochran has gotten Mississippi a lot of Federal dollars in the past and McDaniel was going to cut it off. Mississippi gets a 200% return, Federal $$ spent in that State vs. Taxes collected.

Cochran wins, tea party loses in Mississippi

WASHINGTON — Sen. Thad Cochran won the Mississippi Republican Senate nomination Tuesday, edging upstart challenger Chris McDaniel and the tea party movement.

The runoff election victory by the savvy Washington insider was a rebuff to the tea party and like-minded conservative groups that passionately rallied around McDaniel.

His defeat was a bitter blow to a conservative insurgency that began 2014 with enormous ambitions but found itself losing almost weekly.Those groups had vowed to topple the party’s Washington establishment by defeating Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Cochran and others. Instead, they saw most of their challengers overwhelmed by the Republican mainstream, as the party’s business allies and longtime strategists fashioned successful efforts for long-established incumbents.

The Tea Party Express rolled through Mississippi on a bus tour over the weekend. Sarah Palin and libertarian stalwart Ron Paul campaigned for McDaniel.

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/06/24/231362/tea-party-tested-in-mississippi.html?sp=/99/104/#storylink=cpy

I think it's fine for people to donate to a candidate's election campaign. However, those donations are NOT TAX DEDUCIBLE. There should also be limitations and all donations reported.

It's the groups that have formed that apply for the 501(c)(4) Non Profit social group tax exemption that are the problem.

How about a little honesty and transparency?

(Before you respond, I agree, everyone is guilty)

Latest Climate Change Report Paints Dire Picture For Business
June 24, 2014 5:07 AM ET

The U.S. economy faces great risks from climate change, according to a new study that focuses on the current and future effects of climate change on everything from jobs, to crop yields, to energy production.

Though the study presents no new climate science, it paints a dire picture of the business and economic effects if action isn't taken, including crop yields that fall by more than 70 percent in the Midwest and billions of dollars' worth of property literally underwater on the East Coast.

The study is called "Risky Business", and the driving force behind it is a bipartisan group of prominent former businessmen and public officials: entrepreneur and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; retired hedge fund manager Thomas Steyer; and Henry Paulson, a former Wall Street titan and Treasury secretary under President George W. Bush.

Paulson, a Republican, acknowledges that many in his party are skeptical of the science of climate change and want more research. He says this new study suggests the business and investment community needs to take action.

"It's going to increasingly be difficult for anybody, regardless of party, to say there isn't a problem," he says.

Paulson says he hopes the study can influence the business community by applying a major business tool — the science of risk management.
"The more we can talk about risk management, which is part and parcel of the free enterprise system and a conservative principle, I think we will make some headway," Paulson says.

The study says there's a better-than-ever chance that as much as $23 billion worth of Florida property will be underwater by the middle of the century.

"I think we've got to act on all possible fronts, because I really do think that life on Earth, as we know it, is at stake here,"

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Seems like many of you are having a good time making jokes on this thread and posting funny pictures while some are warning businesses to plan for these scenarios. It's not going to be funny when coastal cities are flooded and crops are failing due to droughts.

Climate change is real and it's going to affect you in some serious ways.

Get to the core of the issue:

Conservatives are angry about the IRS close scrutiny of some political groups 501(c)(4) status.

IRS 501(c)(4) generally requires civic organizations described in that section to be "operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare".

Treasury regulations interpretion is that the organization "is operated PRIMARILY for the purpose of bringing about civic betterments and social improvements". As a result, the IRS traditionally has permitted organizations described in IRC 501(c)(4) to engage in lobbying and political campaign activities IF those activities are NOT the organization's PRIMARY ACTIVITY.

My question is, why are we not ANGRY that many of these political groups are TAX EXEMPT?

The primary reason many of them exist is for political purposes.

We really need to get all the money out of political campaigns.

OMG! ISIS has WMD! We must attack! The war mongers are drumming up fear. Didn't we already watch that movie?

This is true...Its a bunch of junk munitions.

I think thay are trying to scare us that ISIS has obtained WMD and is going to attack us. Was watching the spin on Fox...they had some gray haired colonels and generals saying ISIS is the most brutal force in the last 100 years.

Oh, c'mon! Do they think we are stupid? Drumming up fear and demonizing is what typically leads to war.

Regardless, it's time to go golfing!

Let them fight.