rae deng

Contextualizing claims school photo company Lifetouch is in Epstein files Nothing in the Epstein files directly links Lifetouch to the late sex offender's criminal activity.

claims like these rely on legit anxieties, but without actual evidence spreading them results in panic and takes away attention from the actual evidence of wrongdoing by those connected to epstein. full story here. 3/3

www.snopes.com/news/2026/02...

leon black, ex-ceo of the org that acquired lifetouch's parent company, has faced allegations of rape tied to epstein for years now — but suggesting he handed over school pics to epstein is a huge leap, esp when there's no evidence any lifetouch execs ever spoke with epstein. 2/3

flowchart showing that epstein was connected to execs at apollo management group, which acquired shutterfly and lifetouch, but leadership at shutterfly/lifetouch had no connections to epstein.

for @snopes.com, i looked into rumors that lifetouch, the school photo company, is in the epstein files. what i found: a single debit card transaction from a redacted account and no mention of any lifetouch execs. here's what their 'ties' to epstein look like. 1/3

This is the correct take.

ALSO: The ex-gf has spoken & she does not seem to want to take him back: "I did not choose to be put in this position, and it hurts to have to be in it." people.com/sturla-holm-...

I just tested this out with a selfie, asking Gemini to add a digital watermark and then starting a new chat to ask.

Gemini said it had the SynthID watermark so it's AI. Gemini also falsely claimed the "Hiroshima USA" magazine behind me was AI generated because of tiny distortions it added.

Was Alex Pretti fired from nursing job for misconduct? Here's the truth After Pretti was fatally shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents, his family and friends said he became the target of a smear campaign.

absolutely horrendous that in our current online environment false claims like this one about alex pretti — the result of ai-generated slop on a half-formed wordpress blog — can spread so quickly. for @snopes.com:
www.snopes.com/fact-check/a...

ICE shooting of Renee Good was 1st recorded Minneapolis homicide of 2026 The city had recorded no other homicides or shootings from Jan. 1, 2026, to Jan. 7, 2026.

raises questions about how we define violence and crime.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/r...

We've removed the paywall from this guide so everyone can access it. 👇 Stay safe.

Renee Macklin Good’s wife says she nurtured kindness On Wednesday, Renee Macklin Good was fatally shot by a federal ICE agent. Becca Good, her wife, shared the following statement with MPR News.

Becca Good, the wife of Renee Good, has released her first public statement since the shooting

“We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness. Renee lived this belief every day.”

Have Santa's bones been leaking liquid for 1,700 years? God rest ye leaky gentleman.

merry christmas from me and @snopes.com

www.snopes.com/fact-check/s...

Fake raccoon liquor store break-in video spreads online. Watch the real footage Real pictures and videos exist of this trash panda getting sloppy — don't fall for the AI-slop version.

a writer's dream is to one day publish a story that allows them to use as many different descriptors of "drunken raccoon rampage" as possible

www.snopes.com/fact-check/d...

Democrats don't want $3.6M for 'Haitian male prostitutes' to reopen government The rumor, popularized by Sen. John Kennedy, appeared to be connected to an HIV/AIDS prevention program started under U.S. President George W. Bush.

used my very expensive journalism degree to prove that democrats aren't shutting the government down to stand in solidarity with "haitian male prostitutes." literally made a data visualization of state dept data on an hiv/aids treatment program for this

www.snopes.com/fact-check/g...

Contextualizing claim Pope Leo XIV is replacing Cardinal Dolan, who compared Charlie Kirk to saint Here's what's true — and what's false — about rumors that Leo is replacing New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who called Kirk a "modern-day St. Paul."

some in the american left like to lionize pope leo — and in this case, spread a claim that he's replacing NY's pro-charlie kirk archbishop with a 'pro-immigration, anti-gun bishop.' the thing is, most bishops are pro-immigration and anti-gun...bc they're catholic.

www.snopes.com/fact-check/p...

A dark day for Northwest journalism: @cascadepbs.bsky.social is axing the @cascadepbsnewsroom.bsky.social, laying off 17 people, per internal memo obtained by @kuow.org.

Cascade PBS got ~10% of its budget from Corp. for Public Broadcasting. Unclear why its whole newsroom had to be axed.

Seattle's Cascade PBS announces layoffs, end of online long-form journalism The move, attributed to the loss of federal funding for public media, marks the layoffs of 17 staffers and the creation of three new positions, station President and CEO Rob Dunlop told KUOW.

Devastating news for local journalism.

Black cowgirls are a real part of American history. This image isn't Authentic photos of real Black cowgirls are rare, but they exist.

got to do a lil dive into americana with this one. fun fact: you don't need to ai generate images of black cowgirls in the old west because they already exist!!

www.snopes.com/fact-check/b...

I'll be on a panel "identifying anti-trans and anti-queer bias" at @aajaofficial.bsky.social this year with these amazing journalists @gracesdeng.bsky.social, @shaanthx.bsky.social, and Hannah Chinn.

Don't miss it! Saturday, 9 am at the Redwood. See you there. 😤

Also, as of today my email is now rae@snopes.com -- if your son is interested please have him email me there! Thanks

Thanks Tom! (I'm guessing the middle part of your reply here about places is an accidental voice-to-text? Am I missing anything there?)

Hi Tom, I'm a fact-checker with Snopes.com. Would you mind confirming that your son, Michael Rocchio, spoke with the Houston Chronicle and that the photo was taken at about 6 p.m. Athens time? I'm also at grace@snopes.com if your son is willing to chat. Thank you!

How Trump admin's policies may affect gender-affirming care for patients on private insurance A federal health agency already passed a rule that could make care more expensive for trans people, but the Big, Beautiful Bill seeks to enshrine it.

my attempt for @snopes.com to break down the extremely wonky trump admin provision(s) that, in short, will likely make care more expensive and less accessible for trans people on private insurance.

www.snopes.com/news/2025/07...

thank you erin!!

Fact-checkers always want the facts. That’s why Snopes is unionizing for transparency from management. @snopes.com

LAPD helicopter telling protesters "I'm going to come to your house"

www.latimes.com/california/l...

Breaking down rumor Pope Leo XIV once said 'gender ideology' creates 'genders that don't exist' The American-born pontiff allegedly said this in 2016 in response to a proposed education curriculum promoting gender equality in Peru.

amid all the discourse on whether or not the pope is woke: i found out in the course of writing this story that the vatican literally helped invent the term "gender ideology" in the 1980s-90s as essentially a catch-all for "politics the catholic church is against"

www.snopes.com/news/2025/05...

NIH cancels participation in Safe to Sleep campaign that decreased infant deaths NIH has cancelled its participation in Safe to Sleep, a 30-year campaign to prevent babies from dying in their sleep

og stat news story here: www.statnews.com/2025/04/30/n...

Former NIH official says Trump admin cut government's 'Safe to Sleep' team that helped reduce infant deaths The National Institutes of Health said no final decisions had been made about the program's future.

for @snopes.com: amid a @statnews.com report that trump admin is pulling out of the 30-yr long 'safe to sleep' campaign which reduced SIDS, the american academy of pediatrics says they'll keep the program going alongside partners — but it won't have the same capacity. www.snopes.com/news/2025/05...

Oklahoma will teach high school students debunked 2020 election-fraud theories as fact The new academic standards promote U.S. President Donald Trump and his allies' groundless 2020 election conspiracy theories.

when i said 'schools should teach students how to engage with and study misinformation' this is not what i meant, oklahoma!!

www.snopes.com/fact-check/o...

White House says no comment to reporters with pronouns in bio, in email to one such reporter Limiting press access through this policy is at the intersection of the administration's anti-press attitudes and transphobia.

great reporting from @hashtagjames.bsky.social for @objectivejournos.bsky.social

objectivejournalism.org/2025/04/whit...

that's a good idea! the signature on the back wasn't super readable otherwise i prob would've tried to find the guy myself