Jon Stewart on L.A. 'mystery missile:' A lot of hype

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Pentagon officials have concluded that the "mystery missile" off the L.A. coast earlier this week was likely an aircraft.

But Jon Stewart had some fun with what he considered the breathless, silly media coverage of the video showing the object. Stewart noted that some media outlets jumped to conclusions about the video -- and did more to panic than inform.

The KCBS video Monday set off a wave of speculation and conspiracy theories about an unexplained missile that even the government didn't know about.

The military, however, reported no rocket or missile launches, scheduled or accidental, at the time, and aviation officials said radar did not show any fast-moving, unidentified targets in the area.

Some aerospace experts said the orange-hued vapor trail had the markings of the plume of a missile or rocket, while others said it appeared to be nothing more than a condensation trail of an aircraft, distorted by the light near the horizon at the end of the day.

"There is no evidence to suggest that this is anything else other than a condensation trail from an aircraft," said Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan, who stopped short of saying definitively that the Defense Department believed the trail was caused by an airplane.

What do you think? Share your views below.

Comments

[Carl]

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that it was a missile.

[Reggie Nalder]

Ya, congratulations. Jon riffs on something we've all known for years- that it's not the broadcast media's job to keep us informed any more, but rather to induce fear. 'Are your kids safe? Is your house safe? Is your food safe? Are your pets safe? Is your car safe? Is your neighborhood safe? Are your plants safe? Is your pedicurist safe? Is your tanning salon safe?' And on and on and on and on...

Do yourself a favor and turn off your tv.

[Cody J. Brown]

Oh hoho, you want to know my opinions? This should be good....for one, there have been reports of seeing fiery plumage from the rear of this said "Airplane." Weird isn't it? Considering Cessna nor Gulfstream offers rocket-based propulsion aircraft.

Second, there have been no reports of what flight this is. Doesn't the FAA have a track on every plane in the sky?? That seems quite odd that this one seems to have escaped their knowledge, doesn't it?

Three, with over 15,000 satellites in the air, that are taking pictures every second, why has this not been confirmed, and why has it taken the Pentagon 48 hours to come up with the speculation that it is "likely" to be an airplane?

Personally, I think they are "likely" to be full of crap. The federal government is obviously trying to spread disinformation to the general public, due to some massive screw-up, or perhaps the start of our next "Global War on Terrorism." Let's see...the rocket was spotted in LA, and it's trajectory seemed to be in synch with a general direction of South Asia. Judging by this, and the fact that our biggest threat to "National Security(The hidden agenda of the general federal government)" is the some odd TRILLIONS of dollars we owe to China(now ranked second among the world in GDP), I think it is somewhat safe to speculate that we were aiming for them, NK, or Russia. Obviously disclosure has never been a policy, or for that matter even an afterthought of any U.S. political leader, so don't hold your breath waiting for an answer.

The government believes themselves to be too smart and us too ignorant to be able to grasp the factual data at hand. Maybe they're right. Just remember...News has never been dedicated to nor rarely has it claimed to have told the truth, and it is always biased in the end.

[P Brown]

Makes the Pentagon either look like liars or idiots. They are either lying about it being a missile, or don't know what's going on in American air space. The latter is pretty damn scary given our battle against terrorism at home.

[ianam]

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that it was a missile."

Like you don't have to be a mathematician to know that pi = 3.

"for one, there have been reports of seeing fiery plumage from the rear of this said "Airplane." Weird isn't it? Considering Cessna nor Gulfstream offers rocket-based propulsion aircraft."

Yeah, it sure is weird that "there have been reports" of something weird -- when has that ever happened before? That's almost as weird as that there have been reports of people being taken aboard UFO's and being operated on -- consider that neither Cessna nor Gulfstream offers operating rooms!

People who are intelligent might find it weird that you operate on the assumption that, because there have been reports, they must be accurate.

"Second, there have been no reports of what flight this is."

Just because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It was flight AWE008 from Hawaii to Phoenix. It's scheduled again tomorrow -- you can watch the surf cam and see it make the same contrail for yourself.

[Emma]

This is stupidity. I agree with Cody J. Brown. I mean, how stupid do they really think we are. We're not stupid or blind. Did they really think they could launch something, withouth us noticing, or cover it with such a weak story?

[Anderson]

this was just a cloud . Not a plane . this was nothing but rain and water in the clouds . looked like a object . but it was nothing real . Just rain and water . sometimes rain can streak the sky making it look as if it was a coming from a missile . Sometimes I see clouds that look like cartoons and stuff . This was nothing .

[Stevo]

The biggest issue I have with the excuse that it was a planes condensation trail is we have had thousands of flights in that airspace over the last 50 years and nobody has ever reported anything like this before.Seems kind of strange to me.

[jeff]

Try this possibility
The new space shuttle replacement is so extremely stealth that no radar whatsoever saw it.
It flew in from space down low and then flew upwards where it was seen only "visibly" where it got lots of free publicity from the paranoid rantings of witnesses. The Pentagon is truthful in saying it was a plane not a missile. Foreign countries see that they could not detect this with their radar but people did see it so they know it was there. So as the story goes peaceful governments play peaceful competition in technology games all the time so for this season the US department of Defense won the Superbowl bragging rights this season. The stealthiness was why Nasa was not cleared enough to work on this mystery plane. Then again maybe the old Roswell craft that they did not find decided to fly back to the mother ship in preparation to probe Jon Stewart.

[RLF]

The official Pentagon explanation is nonsense. Condensation trails can only form above 8000 meters. This vapor trail clearly begins at, or very near, sea level. Therefore it could not possibly be from a commercial aircraft. This was clearly a missile. The question is whose?

[eric kendall]

it waz a practice drill of our government gettin ready 4 WW3 against iran

[Fred Farkle]

I've never read so much chuckle headed idiocy in my life.

" This vapor trail clearly begins at, or very near, sea level. Therefore it could not possibly be from a commercial aircraft. This was clearly a missile. The question is whose?
Posted by: RLF | November 14, 2010 at 08:17 AM "

So, based on that theory, if you are at the right place and the right time, as the sun or moon nears the ocean, you can step right up and walk around on them? This is the kind of thinking that can cast votes too. No wonder congress looks like the monkey house at the local zoo. There is something to be said for a basic education that instills critical thinking skills that just isn't being provided any more.