Pink slime used to be the bacterial mass that KTRK consumer newsman Marvin Zindler used to find in ice machines. The term has been rebranded to mean the substance that is put into meat as filler.

That allowed the term to be borrowed by webwatching organizations that expose fake news sites. Organizations like NewsGuard, discussed by this piece in The Voice of America website.

It’s a rather alarming article that makes the astounding claim that, at 1,265, the number of “fake news” websites now outnumber the country’s 1,213 legitimate local news sites.

According to VOA, at least 167 of those sites were created by one man, a former Florida sheriff’s deputy, John Dougan, who fled to Russia to escape justice.

And obviously, this couldn’t come at a worse time, especially in counties that are “news deserts” because they lack any trusted local news due to their unprofitability.

Now admittedly, “satire sites” that are left-leaning have also contributed to the problem, because MAGAns have been known to leave comments and requote from them as well.

As examples, these are all fake news items that have drawn comments from MAGA enthusiasts. No, really, these are all false.

Really.

1. Kid Rock shipped “millions of dollars worth of supplies” to areas impacted by Hurricane Helene and Hurricane.

2. FEMA is supposedly running out of money due to migrant aid .

3. Hurricane Milton Renamed to ‘Millicent’ for Transgender Awareness Month.

4. Walmart Canceled Taylor Swift Clothing Line Worth $150M.

5. Bread costs $11 in California because of the minimum wage increase.

6. The NFL “ruled” that there is only one national anthem.

These all seem patently absurd, but to some, fake news items have become so popular because they reaffirm their previously held beliefs. And that feels great.