The front page of a newspaper with the headline “Fake News” which illustrates the current phenomena. Front section of newspaper is on top of loosely stacked remainder of newspaper. All visible text is authored by the photographer. Photographed in a studio setting on a white background with a slight wide angle lens.

When the facts are stranger than humor it is impressive when a satire site nails the situation, and journos hate that.

We have all seen the past week how the leftist reaction to President Trump killing an Iranian terrorist general who was orchestrating attacks on a US embassy has been remarkably imbalanced. As it has been commented, only Trump can make liberals support Iranian terrorists. This morning Elizabeth Vaughn covered how the Babylon Bee eviscerated that leftist reaction with a beautifully accurate article.

The satire site suggested that Democrats were calling for flags to be flown at half-mast following the killing of the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. One particularly biting segment is as follows–

Flags were spotted flying at half-mast around the country, notably at The Washington Post, The New York Times, and in front of several celebrities’ homes. The celebrities went out and bought an American flag for the first time just to fly it at half-mast for this important time of grief.

Funny as that is there is one thing that could extend the mirth to a piece this biting — that would be the hysterical ‘’concerns’’ of the learned members of the left. See, there are possibly some people out there who are not as erudite and savvy enough to glean the humor in this piece. Some may actually be duped into believing this is a real news item! Good thing we have the cultural elitists in place to correct us and steer us back onto the right path of thinking.

Cindy Otis is a self-described debunker of misinformation and fake news. She even has a book on the subject due to come out. This Babylon Bee article really has her concerned — more accurately, the popularity of it has he concerned.

A post from a satirical website has been shared more than 500k times saying the DNC called for the flag to be at half-mast because of Soleimani. Some family members just called bc their Republican friends on FB are circulating it like it's legit. We have a lot of work to do, all.

— Cindy Otis (Pre-order TRUE OR FALSE now!) (@CindyOtis_) January 5, 2020

In fact, this has Cindy so bothered that she cannot even!

Someday I'm going to write a whole screed on "satirical/humor" websites. Today, however, is not that day.

— Cindy Otis (Pre-order TRUE OR FALSE now!) (@CindyOtis_) January 5, 2020

Also on the case is CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan. Donie is very bothered about the Bee getting this type of social media traction.

Having a disclaimer buried somewhere on your site that says it’s “satire” seems like a good way to get around a lot of the changes Facebook has made to reduce the spread of clickbait and misinformation.

— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) January 5, 2020

One thing that is consistent with these media figures who express concern over satirical humor sites and their stories being taken as serious news, they only hurl this accusation in one direction. It is always the right who are positioned as gullible. It’s the conservatives who always fall for the ruse, but there never seems to be concern that liberals are fooled into believing false stories. The argument that the left is far too media savvy to fall for such is garbage, because we have seen the reports over the years, for instance, on how many people declared they were getting their news primarily from ‘’The Daily Show’’.

But O’Sullivan was called out by Adam Ford, co-founder of The Babylon Bee. He displayed how it was evident that O’Sullivan was not bothered by satirical news sites in general, just certain sites.

A CNN reporter is taking shots at the Bee because our articles get shared a lot and some people think they're real (which will always happen with satire).

After thinking "how adorable," I thought, "well surely this guy has chirped at the Onion for the same thing…" 1/3 https://t.co/m047iwflAk

— Adam Ford (@Adam4d) January 6, 2020

There are websites dedicated to chronicling reactions from people who think Onion stories are real. Foreign leaders have famously been fooled by Onion articles. And this guy's bio says he "covers disinformation" for CNN. Surely he has taken the Onion to task as well, yes? 2/3

— Adam Ford (@Adam4d) January 6, 2020

As it turns out, Mr. O'Sullivan HAS tweeted about the Onion. But it looks like he's quite the fan! https://t.co/MMLRP8J8n0 pic.twitter.com/8iFA3CQlHi

— Adam Ford (@Adam4d) January 6, 2020

This would certainly explain this issue — only approved satire is permissible, and any mockery that derives from the right has to be called out, and possibly snuffed out. I guess they need to be regarded as ‘’Fake Satire’’.

The obvious ploy here is that a CNN reporter – and sycophants like Cindy Otis – becomes more bothered that the accuracy of the Babylon Bee piece struck a nerve, and the ensuing popularity of the piece became even more of an affront to their sensibilities.

The Bee should just fall on the tested response we have seen from the media when it is caught fabricating news — ‘’It is fake, but accurate.’’