"The FBI has taken the Malaysia Airlines pilot's flight simulator, removed from his home in Malaysia, to Virginia for analysis. I also believe the FBI is looking into the pilot's and co-pilot's cell phone transmissions. That is the key to figuring out the airliner mystery, since the strong evidence is that the pilot or co-pilot sabotaged the plane. As far as the search is concerned, good luck! The vast Indian Ocean is the most difficult place on earth to find anything, so a clear resolution to the jetliner mystery seems to be far off in the future. Now, on to our pal Putin. He and his thug cronies in Moscow are mocking the USA for imposing a few sanctions against Putin's enablers. However, since Putin's land grab in Crimea, the Russian stock market is down 10% and the ruble is losing value. If President Obama and the other Western democracies impose harsh sanctions next week, that could be enough to wreck the Russian economy. Let's see if Putin will yuk that up. Barack Obama must take the leadership role here, so next week in Holland is a stern test for the president. Talking Points believes there are two immediate ways to damage Russia: One, American financial institutions should stop accepting the Russian currency; two, the president should urge credit card companies not to accept any purchases made in Russia, which will kill travel to and from that country. The world must teach Putin a lesson he will never forget, or he will continue to cause trouble and other villains will be emboldened."

The Factor welcomed Fox Business anchor Lou Dobbs, who is skeptical about the efficacy of economic sanctions. "This is not as easy as one might expect," he said. "Russia is a major economy with a GDP that is sixth or seventh in the world. It is a sophisticated economy and a difficult economy to injure through sanctions. There would be so many unintended consequences - Putin has it within his power to nationalize oil companies and energy companies, and he is sitting on vast reserves of oil that the world needs, especially Europe." The Factor reiterated that President Obama needs to lead the way, saying, "Europe is cowardly, they're not going to do anything against their self interest unless President Obama leads them."

Fox News host Geraldo Rivera entered the No Spin Zone with his theory of what happened to the missing Malaysia Airlines jet. "A fully loaded Boeing 777 took off on a hot tropical night," he surmised, "and there was a smoldering fire in a tire. After the pilots reached cruising altitude, that smoldering tire led to a fire in the cockpit. So what does the pilot do? He turns to the closest airfield at Langkawi, an island that has a 13,000 food landing strip. But they are overcome by smoke inhalation, they die, and the plane keeps flying until it runs out of fuel." Exasperated by Rivera's smoke, The Factor insisted that the pilots would have used their still-functioning radio to report a fire in the cockpit.

Still smoldering after Geraldo Rivera's fanciful explanation, The Factor turned to aviation expert Scott Brenner. "Since the plane first disappeared," Brenner said, "we continue to get half measures from the Malaysian government. We need to get all the facts, we need to open the investigation to all the parties and let everyone understand what's going on. We will find that black box, it may take a year or two, but I don't know if there will be a lot of answers on the black box." The Factor questioned whether the black box will ever be found, but nevertheless sounded an optimistic note: "It is very encouraging to me that Malaysia has allowed the FBI to take the pilot's flight simulator to Virginia for analysis. And I know the FBI is looking at the cell phone records of the pilots."

Fox News media analyst Howard Kurtz, after spending two weeks watching coverage of the missing plane mystery, assessed the media's performance. "When CNN anchors are talking about 'supernatural' explanations and 'black holes,'" he lamented, "the media's credibility is vanishing into a black hole. This is a fiasco for journalism, this is 'March madness! I'm so distressed at how out of control this has spun. A lot of people tell me they're tuning it out, but CNN's ratings have doubled." The Factor contended that the entire profession will pay a price, saying, "Polls say that journalists are about as popular with the American public as bookies, and I think we're going to descend even further."

Fortune magazine has ranked the "World's Greatest Leaders," a list that does not include President Obama but does contain Bono and Angelina Jolie. The Factor invited FNC host Mike Huckabee to opine on the man at the top of the list, Pope Francis. "It's a great choice," Huckabee declared. "He has transformed the focus of the church back to poor people, he has done a remarkable job reaching out to the 'untouchables' of the world, and he's cleaned up the Vatican Bank. This is a world leader!" Huckabee also praised the runner-up, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "She has brought stability to a struggling economy and she's been forceful in speaking out when she has issues with the United States." But The Factor took issue with the choice of Merkel: "When she could have helped us in Afghanistan, she did not. And on this Putin issue, where she should have led, what is she doing?"

The Factor ended the show with Bernard McGuirk, who named the week's most ridiculous person. Without hesitation, he picked Ellen DeGeneres, who fawned over President Obama and declared that "everyone is very grateful" for ObamaCare. "She's entitled to conduct a friendly, obsequious, and even slobbering interview," McGuirk said, "and I can just see Chris Matthews flying into a jealous rage. But she's not entitled to misrepresent the facts. This has not been successful and not everyone is grateful." The Factor singled out Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, who continues to spit in the eye of the United States: "This idiot is giving the United States a hard time, but we are the only entity on earth that can protect the Afghans from the Taliban. He is doing everything he can to get the United States out of there, leaving women and children at the mercy of the Taliban. 'Pinhead' doesn't even cover it."

John Shear, Phoenix, AZ: "Mr. O'Reilly, why are you surprised that Fox, the Benghazi News station, won in the ratings last week? There are millions of low information viewers out there."

Barb Madigan, Queensland, Australia: "O'Reilly, your Mad as Hell segment dealt with clichés. What do you think the phrase Mad as Hell is?"

Bruce Biddlecome, Williamston, NC: "I took only passing interest in O'Reilly's analysis of Beyoncé until my granddaughter and other girls were kicked off the school bus for singing her latest song."

C.J. Slott, Des Plaines, IL: "Bill, I am getting tired of hearing about harmful music, but in the end, I have to congratulate you on making people pay attention."

There are times in life when you're well-advised to reject a request, whether from your child or a friend. Consider changing the entire tone and direction of the conversation, which might lead the favor-seeker to forget the whole thing.