Friday's Mini-Report, 7.18.14

Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was traveling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members, was downed by a surface-to-air missile launched from a region of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists, 

MSNBC host Krystal Ball was on the phone with a witness who was described to be a military expert — but turned out to be a prank caller. The caller, who presumably used a false identity of Staff Sgt. Michael Boyd, was asked what he saw from the crash

* Malaysia Airlines Flight 17: “At least one American citizen died in the Malaysia Airlines flight that was shot down in eastern Ukraine, President Obama said Friday at the White House. Obama called the crash an “outrage of unspeakable proportions

A prank caller — presumably a Howard Stern fan — got through MSNBC's screening process on The Cycle during live coverage of the MH17 plane crash in Ukraine today. The caller posed as an eyewitness U.S. Staff Sargent 

In its efforts to cover the Malaysia Airlines crash today, MSNBC stumbled. In this case, the enormity of the stumble can't possibly be described, abridged, short-handed or whatever. Just read the transcript of the video above. The awfulness occurs as