The missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 isn’t ordinarily my beat, but some questions surrounding the story are too amazing to overlook.
Last night, for example, CNN’s Don Lemon asked Mary Schiavo, the former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, to respond to various ideas random people on Twitter have put forward about the plane’s whereabouts.
“Whether it was hijacking or terrorism or mechanical failure or pilot error, but what if it was something fully that we don’t really understand? A lot of people have been asking about that, about black holes and on and on and on and all of these conspiracy theories. Let’s look at this. Noha said, ‘What else can you think? Black hole? Bermuda triangle?’ And then Deji says, ‘Just like the movie ‘Lost.”“And of course, it’s also — they’re also referencing ‘The Twilight Zone,’ which has a very similar plot. That’s what people are saying. I know it’s preposterous, but is it preposterous?”
Schiavo, to her credit, kept a straight face, and delivered the perfect response to the “I know it’s preposterous, but is it preposterous?” question.
“Well, it is. A black hole devouring, a small black hole would suck in our entire universe. So we know it’s not that.”
Wait, there’s more.
Just moments before the question about black holes, CNN’s Richard Quest had a question for author Jeff Wise along similar lines.
“This is, it may seem an odd question, but I know these people have been used in murder investigations on many, many occasions. Radiotweek: ‘Investigators sometimes use psychics. Why hasn’t anyone considered the services of a credible psychic specializing in missing persons?’ I mean, it sounds incredible, but they have been used before.”
Wise responded, “I think it’s difficult to find a credible psychic.”
You don’t say.
Isn’t it a shame Jon Stewart is on vacation this week?
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."