September 5, 2024: What We Know About the Georgia School Shooting, TX Sues Government Over Privacy Laws, Clearing Up Rumors: Gangs in Aurora, CO, Gov. Walz' Family, Harris' Hit-and-Run, and More.
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Welcome back to Unbiased, your favorite source of unbiased news and legal analysis. Welcome back to Unbiased. Today is Thursday, September 5th, and this is your final news rundown of the week. This episode is a little bit longer than usual. There is a ton of ground to cover. It's already going out a little bit later than usual. So let's just get right into today's stories. Yesterday, a 14-year-old boy named Colt Gray opened fire at Apalachee High School in

in Winder, Georgia, leaving four dead, including two students and two teachers and another nine in the hospital. Here is what we know at this point.

The morning of the shooting, Appalachee High School actually received a phone call that there would be shootings that day at five schools in the district, with Appalachee being the first of five. I did read reports that police were dispatched to schools in the district when that call was made, but ended up determining that there wasn't a danger. However, I have not seen that fact widely reported on, so let's just take that with a grain of salt for now.

At 9.45 a.m., Gray, who was known by other students to often skip class, walked out of his Algebra 1 class and the door automatically locked behind him. About 30 minutes later, between 10.15 and 10.20 a.m., he returned to the classroom and knocked on the classroom door. One student got up to open the door, saw that he had a rifle, and backed away. Gray, who was known by other students to often skip class, walked out of his Algebra 1 class and the door automatically locked behind him.

Gray then turned to the right, headed towards the classroom next door, and opened fire. The school was immediately put on lockdown, and the first calls of an active shooter were made to law enforcement around 10.20 a.m., and this was after a teacher pressed a wearable panic button on their school ID, which was actually just issued to teachers last week.

Within minutes of those first shots being fired, school resource officers confronted the shooter and he got on the ground and surrendered. He was taken into custody where he had been interrogated or he has been interrogated by investigators. He'll make his first court appearance tomorrow and he will be charged as an adult.

We don't know many details about how he got the gun or how the gun was ultimately brought into the school, but we know, according to law enforcement, that it was an AR-15 style rifle. We also know that Gray and his father were both questioned by law enforcement last year in connection to school shooting threats.

Specifically, several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time. Those threats were made in May of last year on an online gaming site and included pictures of guns. However, after questioning, law enforcement determined that there was no probable cause for an arrest or, you know, any need for any further action. So they let them go. Gray had denied making the threats.

But the local schools were alerted of the situation and were told to continue monitoring Gray. At that questioning, law enforcement learned that Gray's father had hunting guns in the house, but that Gray didn't have, quote, unsupervised access to them, end quote. That is what we know as of now, but I will keep you posted as we learn more.

Texas has filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration seeking to block a couple of federal rules related to individual privacy in the medical arena. Now, this story could have just been a quick hitter and I contemplated it, but I felt that it actually posed a pretty good question for the critical thinking segment. So I'm going to elaborate here a little bit more than I otherwise would if this were just a quick hitter.

There are two federal rules at issue in this lawsuit. One of them was created in 2000. The other was created in 2024. Both of these rules are considered privacy rules, so they do slightly different things. The 2000 rule is a little bit more broad. The 2024 rule is a bit more specific.

For purposes of this lawsuit, the rules essentially limit the circumstances when a HIPAA-covered entity can share information with state officials and law enforcement. Currently, if a HIPAA-covered entity shares information with anyone not entitled to that information, they face criminal liability. But Texas says that these rules actually go against the HIPAA statute, which specifically preserves state investigative authority.

The HIPAA statute reads, quote,

End quote. Now, specifically when arguing against the permissibility of the 2024 statute, Texas says that the Department of HHS admitted that this newer 2024 rule was a response to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

And Texas says that by admitting this, the HHS created this rule to, quote, obstruct states' ability to enforce their own laws on abortion and other laws that HHS deems to fall under the rubric of reproductive health care, end quote. Texas argues that the language of that 2024 rule, that's the more specific rule pertaining to reproductive health, allows for disclosure in a request for protected information to defund

defend against a claim or prosecution involving reproductive health care, but prevents disclosure and a request for protected information to bring a claim or enforce a law.

In summary, what Texas argues is that these two federal rules, one, go outside the bounds of the HHS's authority since Congress already went out of its way to preserve state investigative authority, and two, that these rules are arbitrary and capricious or unfounded. And for those reasons, the law should be struck down.

Texas says it's been harmed by these rules because covered entities in receipt of an administrative subpoena will frequently cite the rules as a reason that they can't comply with the subpoena. So Texas ends up not getting, you know, what it's what it's looking for in the subpoena.

Now, because this lawsuit was just filed yesterday, we don't have a response from the government. We can imagine the response will be arguing why they have the proper authority, why the law is an arbitrary and capricious, why the law should stand. That's just the way these things go. But keep the story in mind because we'll return to it in the critical thinking segment at the end of this episode.

Moving on to quick hitters, Trump pled not guilty this morning to the new superseding indictment in the federal election interference case. He was not present in court and entered the plea through his lawyers. If you're wondering why he had to plead not guilty again and what that superseding indictment is all about, go ahead and listen to my August 28th episode and you'll get all caught up there. But speaking of pleas, Hunter Biden pledged

proposed pleading guilty to his tax charges today, just before jury selection was set to begin. The judge has not rendered a decision on that proposal saying he'll do so at a later date, but just so you know, this is what's called an Alford plea. It's basically where the defendant would acknowledge that the prosecution has enough evidence against them without actually saying that they're guilty of, you

but also that defendant has to accept whatever sentence the judge hands down. So if the judge does accept the plea, the trial would not happen. And instead, Hunter Biden would just go straight to sentencing. Now for some stateside news out of New Mexico. New Mexico has filed a lawsuit against Snapchat's owner, Snap Inc., alleging that the company's policies and design features facilitate the sharing of child sexual exploitation material.

The lawsuit says that a months-long investigation found that Snapchat was a primary platform for sextortion. And last night, the FBI raided the homes of two of New York City Mayor Eric Adams' most senior aides. The raids took place at the homes of New York City's first deputy mayor and the deputy mayor for public safety. This is the latest of five total raids of homes linked to Adams, but these are two of the highest-ranking administration officials yet.

The investigation revolves at least in some part around whether Adams colluded with foreign interests during his 2021 campaign fundraising. And as the last quick hitter, RFK Jr. has filed a new lawsuit, this time against Wisconsin, seeking to get his name removed from the ballot. If you listened to yesterday's episode, you're all caught up as to why he's filing these lawsuits. But this newest lawsuit comes after the Wisconsin Elections Commission voted to keep his name unvoted.

on the ballot. His lawsuit accuses the commission of discrimination, arguing that independent candidates are treated differently than major party candidates and that keeping him on the ballot is a violation of his first amendment right to free speech.

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We all know it. We all love it. I either confirm, dispel, or add context to recent rumors. So let's do it. Rumor has it that family members of Harris' running mate, Governor Tim Walz, support Donald Trump. This is true, but let's add some context. This rumor stemmed from a viral picture of eight people standing in front of a Trump flag wearing t-shirts that say Nebraska Walzes for Trump.

Walls' mother has since confirmed that the family members in the photos are second cousins to Tim Walls, and the people in the photo told the Associated Press that they are descendants of the brother of Tim Walls' grandfather.

Walls' mother noted that she's not surprised to see that side of the family supporting Trump, describing them as, quote, conservative, devout Catholics, end quote. Then there's kind of this sideline story to this, which is that Tim Walls' brother supports Trump. So Walls' older brother, his name is Jeff Walls, posted to Facebook in a comment that he, quote, 100% opposes, end quote, Tim Walls' ideology. But he told News Nation in an interview it wasn't his intent to put something out there to influence the general public.

public. Jeff Walls is a registered Republican and says that he stands by his comments that he disagrees with his brother's policies.

Rumor has it that Harris was involved in a hit and run in 2011 that's been kept a secret until now. This is false. This rumor stemmed from a now-deleted news article from a supposed San Francisco TV station called KBSF-TV, where the article's headline read, quote, Kamala Harris hit a 13-year-old girl with a car and left the

crime scene, end quote. The article then goes on to claim that Harris hit a teenage girl named Alicia Brown as the girl was crossing a street in San Francisco in June of 2011 and the girl was left paralyzed. The San Francisco Police Department says there were no reports that this incident ever occurred, saying, quote, based on information provided about the claim, no incident reports or calls for service were found. We believe there is no merit to this incident, end quote.

According to the FCC, there is no record of KBSF existing as a news outlet. And according to GoDaddy.com, a domain registrar, the website KBSFTV.com where the original article was posted was just created on August 20th, 2024. As of yesterday, the website was deleted. Also, the image of the shattered windshield in that original article was actually traced back to a 2018 USA Today article about a crash in Guam.

Rumor has it that a Venezuelan gang has taken over Aurora, Colorado. I'm not going to say whether this one is true or false because I think taken over is kind of a subjective term that can mean something different to everyone. But what I will do is add some context so that we're all aware of what is going on in Colorado.

For starters, it's not the entire city of Aurora that's being, you know, quote unquote taken over, though there are certain parts of the city that people have spoken out about as far as becoming more dangerous. For one, there are certain apartment complexes, three to be exact, that are run by a company based in Brooklyn, New York called CBZ Management. These complexes are notoriously run down and dirty, you know, mice, bedbugs, mold, broken appliances, you name it.

These complexes are also some of the few that are given to immigrant families. Many of these immigrants are Venezuelan, and some of them are confirmed to belong to this Venezuelan gang called Trendy Aragua.

And there's certainly been a lot of crime at these complexes. In fact, the viral video that sparked this whole rumor was of three men armed with guns entering a residence unit at one of these complexes. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that the men seen in the video are members of this Venezuelan gang.

Aurora police said they've received numerous complaints and allegations about stolen rent from residents at all three of the CBZ complexes. One man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide and is connected to the gang. But the Aurora police chief says no gang is running the complex.

The Aurora City Attorney's Office is also said to be seeking an emergency order to clear the apartments where there have been issues. And the Aurora Police Department recently joined the Colorado State Patrol and Colorado Bureau of Investigations to form a regional group specifically focused on the gang. So yes,

Crime is definitely present in this area of the country. The gang is definitely present. However, it's also worth noting, because we like to get both sides here, that there are tenants who actually live at these complexes that say that the gang has not taken over. In fact, they're not even concerned about the gang members, despite some of the gang members living there.

So, you know, it's a little bit of he said, she said. Now, as far as the city of Aurora, aside from these apartment complexes, there have been people that have spoken out about being afraid to walk around the city. One mom posted a video saying she was afraid to take her kids to the local park.

And, you know, one woman said her and her wife don't feel comfortable walking around the city specifically because of quote unquote illegal immigrants. And I do have both of those videos linked for you in the sources section of this episode if you want to, you know, hear more about what they had to say. So again, the term taken over is pretty subjective, but now at least you have some more information on what's going on in Aurora, Colorado.

Rumor has it that Russia has paid right-wing social media influencers to promote pro-Russia content.

This is true, but let's add some context. It's important to note here that the DOJ hasn't accused any influencers of any wrongdoing. And the DOJ actually says that some of these influencers weren't aware of the Russian source behind the activity. So this story is related to the quick hitter from yesterday where I said that the DOJ had indicted two employees of a Russian network called RT. That indictment was filed yesterday and

and alleges that there's this media company based in Tennessee, which is linked to six conservative influencers, including people like Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, and Benny Johnson, that was secretly funded by Russian state media employees to create pro-Russia content. The DOJ, again, doesn't allege any wrongdoing against the actual influencers that promoted this content and says some of them were given false information about the source of the company's funding.

Basically, there's this Nashville-based media company called Tenet that was founded by a woman named Lauren Chen, who's a conservative Canadian YouTuber who had worked with RT, this Russian network, in the past.

Tenet then allegedly worked with these two indicted Russian individuals to recruit influencers here in the United States to make videos that were published across various social media platforms and contained pro-Russia content. These influencers were paid for their content and Tenet presumably took a cut of that payment, which was paid by RT.

The indictment says the two Russian employees of RT were working with Tenet's founders to conceal the true origins of the funding for that content from the influencers. So following the announcement of the indictment, Poole, Johnson, and Rubin issued statements on X.

Poole said in part, quote, should these allegations prove true, I, as well as the other personalities and commentators, were deceived and are victims. End quote. Johnson wrote, quote, a year ago, a media startup pitched my company to provide content as an independent contractor. Our lawyers negotiated a standard arm's length deal, which was later terminated. We are disturbed by the allegations in today's indictment, which make the

clear that myself and other influencers were victims in this alleged scheme, end quote. Rubin similarly said in part, quote, I knew absolutely nothing about any of this fraudulent activity, period, end quote. Last one, rumor has it that Amazon's Alexa is telling people to vote for Harris. So this is an interesting one, and I'm going to say it's

True and false. And I'm just going to issue this warning now. If you are listening to this episode near one of these devices, I'm about to say her name like 10 times. So just be aware that you might get triggered. Maybe you've seen these videos going around on social media, mainly TikTok, where people ask their Alexa device why they should vote for Trump and why they should vote for Harris.

And when Alexa is asked why they should vote for Trump, she responds that she can't answer political questions. But then when she's asked why they should vote for Harris, she gives multiple reasons, you know, that Harris is a woman of color, she's supportive of reproductive rights, etc., etc., etc.

Now, obviously, when I first saw this out, I had to test it out immediately, right? So I went and asked Alexa those questions, and I got the same answer for both Trump and Harris, which was that Alexa couldn't answer. So I don't know, if you try it out at home, let me know what responses you get. I personally, based on personal experience, can't confirm the truth behind that rumor because it didn't happen when I tried it. It's also very possible too that by the time I tried it, Amazon had already, you know, rectified the situation. So

So that's what I know about that rumor. And that concludes our rumor has it segment. Now to finish with critical thinking, let's revisit that Texas lawsuit against the government regarding privacy rules. I want you to think about this from a broad perspective. Now, you're obviously welcome to think about it from the abortion perspective, which is obviously the issue, you know, at the center of that lawsuit. But given that one of the rules being challenged, that earlier 2000 rule pertains to health care generally, not just reproductive health care, it opens up avenues of thought.

I want you to think of some pros and cons to personal medical records being accessible to law enforcement, both on a state level and federal level.

In what scenarios might the disposal of these privacy rules benefit the public? And in what scenarios might the disposal of these privacy rules harm the public? Which way are you leaning on this? You know, are you in favor of state or federal law enforcement gaining access to your medical records for investigative purposes? Or are you against it? And why?

And just to give you an example of how we can think about this outside of just the abortion lens is drug use, right? So say you or someone else overdoses and ends up in the hospital and that hospital visit is documented, right? It's recorded.

If privacy rules were to be struck down, potentially law enforcement could use those medical records to investigate drug use. And I'm sure there's many other examples you can think of, but that's sort of just to get you started. So that is what I have for you today. Thank you so much for being here. I hope you have a fantastic weekend and I will talk to you on Monday.