The best satire is that which skewers the ugly truth, by capturing the ugliness of that ugly truth. And few do that better today than the Babylon Bee.
Earlier this week, AFP breathlessly tweeted about the more than 100,000 migrant children being held in U.S. detention facilities:
#BREAKING More than 100,000 children in migration-related US detention: UN pic.twitter.com/67PEWc4KFi
— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 18, 2019
Only to withdraw the story when it was, um, brought to their attention that that staggering number actually referred to the number of detained migrant children in 2015. You know, when Barack Obama was president:
AFP is withdrawing this story.
The author of the report has clarified that his figures do not represent the number of children currently in migration-related US detention, but the total number of children in migration-related US detention in 2015.
We will delete the story. https://t.co/p30UjEWl7u
— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 19, 2019
AFP wasn’t the only outlet to pull that:
I deleted a tweet from yesterday that linked out to a Reuters story citing a UN report saying the US has more than 100K kids in immigration-related custody.
Reuters has withdrawn that story and said those numbers were from 2015. https://t.co/W1IIYYc60u
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) November 19, 2019
Well anyway, it’s been a very busy week, to say the least. But the Babylon Bee’s finally gotten around to stinging the Guardians of Truth who so shamelessly tried to pin the sins of Barack Obama on Donald Trump:
BREAKING: White House Involved In Stunning Plot Of Murder And Bribery — UPDATE: Never Mind. It Was During The Obama Administration. Deleting. https://t.co/WJS1dG9zfA
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) November 22, 2019
We apologize for the fault in the reporting. Those responsible have been sacked.
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) November 22, 2019
Think the tweets are good? Read the article. It’s pitch-perfect.
I'm deceased
— Phil, now with more Pizzazz (@philllosoraptor) November 22, 2019
This rules.
— Colin Moriarty (@notaxation) November 22, 2019
OMG!!! I'm dyin' from laughing too much!!!???Don't only read the headline…the article is funny too and hits it outta the park. pic.twitter.com/B6QzsjhC8D
— Mark Poon (@markpoonlmt) November 22, 2019
The snopes people aren't going to like this!
— Robert (@IgG1purifier) November 22, 2019
Nothing hurts the fact-checkers quite like the truth.
This isn’t satire. It’s reality
— Joel Comm (@joelcomm) November 22, 2019
This isn’t even funny. It’s very close to being the truth about how our national media covers politics. https://t.co/QQtBA0id7R
— Ken Gardner (@KenGardner11) November 22, 2019
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