fact-checking for snopes, (short) previous life as statehouse reporter covering legislatures in washington, minnesota and ohio (in that order) | they/shehttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mkbjhrsgik2vhaven't had a minute to talk about this story yet, but please read dr. burgart's thread/my story here: https://www.snopes.com/news/2026/04/17/trans-people-prison-medical-experimentation/ [contains quote post or other embedded content]24 Apr 2026 21:57 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkbjhrsgik2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mkbjeprcsc2vthis one really flew under the radar in american media (too much to cover), but yes, trump reposted racist comments made by a radio host about indians and chinese people, including that there's 'no loyalty' among non-european immigrants + china/india are a 'hellhole' https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/trump-people-india-china-post/24 Apr 2026 21:56 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkbjeprcsc2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mimiozevlc27as a trans person, while i appreciate the individual empathy shown to byron noem in this article, it fails to contend w/ the material harm that trans ppl have time and time again said is caused directly by the complacency of people adjacent to power like him. https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/2026/04/02/bryon-kristi-noem-daily-mail/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=acq&utm_campaign=RH-ACQ&utm_content=dtpmonthly_20260403_RH&campaign_id=1755550103 Apr 2026 19:52 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mimiozevlc27https://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mif4jobae22ufor @snopes.com: trump administration quietly delays title x funding for reproductive care clinics that serve low-income and uninsured patients, potentially affecting birth control access for millions of americans. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/birth-control-access-trump/31 Mar 2026 21:26 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mif4jobae22uhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mhgndr5elk2ythe amdt banning "bodily and genital mutilation" for minors bans surgeries that "no longer correspond with an individual's sex." it doesn't ban chest reductions or breast enhancements for cis kids (which happen more than gender-affirming surgeries for trans kids) https://www.snopes.com/news/2026/03/19/save-america-act-anti-trans-provisions/19 Mar 2026 18:34 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mhgndr5elk2yhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mheg5atu7c2iin the inbox: men, especially young men, are actually more likely to not have access to the documentary proof of citizenship required by the SAVE america act. the act would also impact americans across political spectrum. from UMD's center for democracy and civic engagement18 Mar 2026 21:20 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mheg5atu7c2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mgsiuqv6ys2bi started working on this story for @snopes.com in mid/late january. it was scheduled to run next week but we pushed it up in the schedule... because people kept dying in ICE facilities and i kept having to update the story with more deaths. https://www.snopes.com/news/2026/03/10/ice-killed-nine-people-2026/11 Mar 2026 18:21 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mgsiuqv6ys2bhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mepdxff46c2qfor @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. 1/313 Feb 2026 01:25 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mepdxff46c2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mdjk7yjih22fabsolutely 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: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/alex-pretti-fired/29 Jan 2026 00:36 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mdjk7yjih22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mbzpaupk7k2rraises questions about how we define violence and crime. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/renee-good-ice-shooting-2026-minneapolis-homicides/09 Jan 2026 23:58 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbzpaupk7k2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3mam2u7qgts2vmerry christmas from me and @snopes.com https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/santa-bones-liquid/22 Dec 2025 20:23 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3mam2u7qgts2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3m7j2bpgehc2da 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 https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/drunk-raccoon-liquor-store/?utm_source=mail.snopes.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=noem-s-visa-fraud-claim-fake-diddy-photo-atheist-baptism-rumor&_bhlid=a464b2154965b2ff96b2f94d45ff23f1ffefac7808 Dec 2025 22:10 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3m7j2bpgehc2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3m2ujxkafus2vused 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 https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/government-democrats-haitian-male-prostitutes/10 Oct 2025 20:44 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3m2ujxkafus2vhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3m25g52ua222zsome 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. https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/pope-leo-charlie-kirk-cardinal-dolan/01 Oct 2025 16:04 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3m25g52ua222zhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3lwaacoaekk2xgot 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!! https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/black-cowgirls-image/12 Aug 2025 21:17 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwaacoaekk2xhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3lsw4lvewgs27my 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. https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/07/01/big-beautiful-bill-trans-care/01 Jul 2025 16:28 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lsw4lvewgs27https://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3lp3fe2fcl22xamid 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" https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/05/13/pope-leo-xiv-gender-ideology/13 May 2025 21:08 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lp3fe2fcl22xhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3lom7fv7ijc2lfor @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. https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/05/07/safe-to-sleep-baby-deaths-trump/07 May 2025 20:11 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lom7fv7ijc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3loiycvc3os2zwhen i said 'schools should teach students how to engage with and study misinformation' this is not what i meant, oklahoma!! https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/oklahoma-2020-election-fraud-theories/06 May 2025 13:26 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3loiycvc3os2zhttps://bsky.app/profile/raesdeng.bsky.social/post/3lnodz4kgmk2xgreat reporting from @hashtagjames.bsky.social for @objectivejournos.bsky.social https://objectivejournalism.org/2025/04/white-house-says-no-comment-to-reporters-with-pronouns-in-bio-in-email-to-one-such-reporter/?utm_campaign=feed&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=later-linkinbio25 Apr 2025 23:14 +0000at://did:plc:cfdaqo4fe2v6ldowxa4uzwbg/app.bsky.feed.post/3lnodz4kgmk2x