Did Democrats introduce a bill to euthanize seniors in order to save Social Security? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to mislead Trump supporters and Republicans into sharing made up stories that are clearly marked as satire when you actually click them. Articles from the site are frequently copied by foreign-run fake news websites. The people liking and sharing these stories are enriching foreign website operators or a liberal from Maine via the ad revenue generated with the content which is probably not what they expected or wanted.
The story originated from an article (archived here) where it was published by Daily World Update on April 4, 2019 under the title "Democrats Introduce Bill To 'Euthanize Seniors' To Save Social Security". It opened:
Further proof that Democrats are the greatest evil that the world has ever seen. Democrat Senator Ginny Talia was talking with colleagues Monday and was overheard saying :
"Americans over 70 years old should just be euthanized. That's how to save social security."
Sen Ginny Talia says she would have no problem using the power of her youth to take care of "the problem of the elderly" herself
The remarks were made following a Senate Sub-committee meeting on how to keep Social Security from being taken over by those who would oppose one of the great hallmarks of our capitalist economy. It is felt by many on The Hill that liberals are lying in wait to take over the program and put their grubby socialist mark all over it. This was evidenced by the words of Miss Talia.
But she didn't stop with that remark. Talia's disgusting rant was captured on cell phone video by a passerby so we have all the details :
"Seriously, why do we even keep them around? I mean thank you for your service but you no longer serve any purpose in society."
The story was published in a category named "Satire and/or Conservative Fan Fiction" and there is no known senator named "Ginny Talia" (which seems to be a crude pun on "genitalia").
The site that originally published the sotry is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of satire websites run byself-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies. Blair has been in a feud with fact checking website Snopes for some time now and has also criticized other fact checkers in the past who labeled his work "fake news" instead of satire. In reaction to this he has recently rebranded all his active websites and Facebook pages so they carry extremely visible disclaimers everywhere.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with "comedy":sat·ire
ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
The use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up.
If you are interested in learning more about Blair and the history of his sites, here is something to get you started:
The Ultimate Christopher Blair and America's Last Line of Defense Reading List | Lead Stories
STORY UPDATED: check for updates below. Yesterday Eli Saslow at the Washington Post wrote a fantastic article about Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has been trolling conservatives and Trump supporters online for years and occasionally even made a living out of it.
If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.
NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalist to rank the reliability of websites, describes dailyworldupdate.us as:
A news site that publishes false stories and hoaxes that are often mistaken for real news. The site is part of a network run by hoax perpetrator Christopher Blair.
According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
