Category: Government

The 0.00% Crime: Why Sober Drivers Are Going to Jail (And How to Protect Yourself)


By: Kenneth Henseler, 14-FEB-2026

My friend Randy recently posted something on Facebook that stopped me in my tracks. He recalled a terrifying encounter from the 2000s where a police officer threatened him with jail time for “drinking too many energy drinks” because his eyes were dilated.

At first glance, it sounds ridiculous. But after diving into a massive, year-long investigation by WSMV4 and reviewing data from across the country, I realized Randy wasn’t dealing with a rogue cop. He was dealing with a systemic failure of forensic science that is currently ruining lives in at least 22 states.

We just released a deep-dive podcast episode on this exact topic. You can listen to the full investigation here:


https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-chronos-archive/id1831231439?i=1000749778791

[🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts]

The “Sobering Problem” by the Numbers

The catalyst for our deep dive was a bombshell report regarding Tennessee. Initially, state officials believed the number of sober people arrested for DUI was relatively low—around 600 over several years. But under pressure from investigative journalists and new transparency laws, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released the real number.
It wasn’t 600. It was 2,547.

That is over two thousand people who were handcuffed, mugshot, and jailed for Driving Under the Influence, only for their blood tests to come back later showing 0.00% alcohol and zero drugs.

This isn’t just a Tennessee problem. As the map from Randy’s post highlights, this is happening nationwide. From the “Drug Whisperer” cases in Georgia to the Galanakis civil rights victory in Iowa, we are seeing a pattern where officer “hunches” are overriding scientific fact.

Sober Arrest Hotspots in the USA

The Pseudo-Science of “Dilated Eyes”

Randy mentioned his “dilated eyes” were the officer’s justification. This is a classic hallmark of the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) program.

Because alcohol arrests are down, enforcement has shifted to “drugged driving.” But unlike alcohol, which has a clear standard (0.08 BAC), drug detection relies on subjective 12-step protocols that often mimic medical exams—performed by officers, not doctors.

Officers look for things like:

  • Dilated pupils: Which can be caused by low light, excitement, or yes, caffeine (energy drinks).
  • High pulse: Which is a natural human reaction to being pulled over by the police.
  • Eye tremors (Nystagmus): Which can be caused by the flu, high winds, or simply flashing red-and-blue strobe lights in your face.

A 2023 study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that when officers used these tests to detect cannabis impairment, they had a false positive rate of roughly 50%. That means a coin flip is just as accurate as a roadside sobriety test on a sober person.

The Neurodivergent Trap

Perhaps the most heartbreaking discovery in our research was how this system targets the neurodivergent. We looked at the case of Justin Berry in Alabama, an autistic driver who was arrested because he couldn’t pass the physical agility tests (standing on one leg, walking a straight line) due to his disability.

For drivers with autism, the sensory overload of a traffic stop—lights, loud voices, demanding commands—can trigger behaviors like avoiding eye contact or “stimming” (repetitive movements). To a DRE officer, these look like signs of drug impairment.

There is hope, however. We discuss the “Blue Envelope” program in the podcast, a legislative win spreading to states like New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It allows drivers to keep their documents in a recognizable blue envelope that instantly signals to the officer: I am on the autism spectrum. I may not make eye contact. I may be anxious. Please be patient.

Blue Envelope Program

What Can You Do?

  • Don’t Trust the “Hunch”: If you know you are sober, understand that field sobriety tests are voluntary in many states (check your local laws). They are designed to gather evidence against you, not to exonerate you.
  • Support Transparency: The only reason we know about the 2,547 number is because Tennessee passed Public Chapter 327, forcing the state to report negative blood tests. We need this law in every state.
  • Know Your Rights: In the case of Galanakis v. City of Newton, a federal court recently ruled that officers cannot ignore objective evidence (like a 0.00% breath test) to arrest you based on a hunch. Qualified immunity is cracking.

For the full breakdown of the laws, the science, and the stories, listen to the episode now.

| [🍎 Listen on Apple Podcasts]

by Categories: Government, Politics, True CrimeTags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hammer, Anvil, and the 20,000-Year-Old Border

By: Kenneth Henseler, 8-FEB-2026

A map recently circulated on Threads titled “Amount Of People Eligible to Be Mass Deported,” painting large swaths of the country in a stark red with numbers reaching into the millions. The immediate reaction from many, including talented craftsmen and “rebels” I respect, is a simple, “Do it.” But as any blacksmith knows, if the metallurgy of your foundation is cracked, the anvil will never ring true.

Why Settlers are not Immigrants Podcast Episode

The “Nation of Immigrants” narrative we are all taught is what scholars call “the settler’s alibi”.[3] It is a rhetorical weld used to fuse the history of colonial conquest with the history of voluntary migration. But there is a fundamental difference: immigrants come in search of a homeland within an existing state; settlers come armed with a nationalist agenda to establish a state by displacing the original inhabitants.[5]

When we look at the “eligible” populations on that map, we are looking at people who often have deeper ancestral roots in this continent than the legal structure attempting to remove them. Archaeological evidence from White Sands confirms humans were thriving here 21,000 to 23,000 years ago—long before the glaciers even receded.[2] For over 97% of human history in North America, there were no “borders” in the sense we use them today.

Our current “right” to exclude is based on the Doctrine of Discovery—a 15th-century religious decree that claimed “discovery” by a Christian monarch conferred ownership, regardless of who was there first.[6] It is the ultimate establishment tool.

In blacksmithing, the heavy blow that is too forceful damages the work. A mass deportation program is that heavy blow. It threatens to fracture 5 million families and disrupt the very labor that sustains our communities.[7, 8]

If we applied the Haudenosaunee “Seven Generation Principle”—the idea that every decision must benefit the community seven generations into the future—would we choose a path of mass removal? [9, 10] A true rebel doesn’t just follow the state’s latest map; they question the state’s right to draw the lines in the first place. We are all arrivants on a land that has seen 20,000 years of stewards.[3, 11] It’s time we started acting like guests instead of owners.

Works Cited:
[1] Ellerman, A., & O’Heran, J. “Unsettling migration studies: Settler colonialism and the settler’s alibi.” Cenes Narratives. [1]
[2] Wolfe, P., & Veracini, L. “Settler colonialism: Logic and structure.” Wikipedia / Settler Colonial Studies. [1, 2]
[3] U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). “Tests confirm humans tramped around North America more than 20,000 years ago: The White Sands footprints.” UC Berkeley News / Science. [10, 3]
[4] “Seven generation sustainability: Origin and the Great Law of the Iroquois.” Wikipedia. [4, 5]
[5] Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. “The Seventh Generation Principle and the Great Law of Haudenosaunee Confederacy.” [11, 12]
[6] “The Doctrine of Discovery: Spiritual, political, and legal justification for colonization.” Lakota Times / Upstander Project. [6, 13]
[7] “Expansion and Manifest Destiny: Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way.” Smithsonian American Experience. [14, 15]
[8] “Consequences of family separation resulting from the deportation of a male migrant from the U.S.” NCBI / PMC. [8]
[9] National Association of Social Workers (NASW). “Near-Certain Cataclysmic Consequences of a Mass Deportation Program.” Social Justice Briefs. [9]

Care to read more? Here’s the full Deep Dive Research article we created earlier today: The Architecture of Dispossession: A Sociological and Historical Analysis of Occupancy, Sovereignty, and Migration in North America

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The White House January 6 Webpage: A Factual Review and Contextual Analysis

The Epistemic Sovereign: A Comprehensive Analysis of the White House January 6th Webpage and the Legal Architecture of Executive Revisionism

date: 2026-01-06

categories: commentary politics media-criticism

Editor’s Note
This article analyzes and fact-checks claims made on an official WhiteHouse.gov webpage published on January 6, 2026. It distinguishes between political interpretation and verifiable historical record using court rulings, investigative findings, and contemporaneous reporting. Descriptions of events reflect established evidence and do not depend on partisan affiliation.

Introduction

On January 6, 2026, the White House published an official webpage revisiting the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The page, hosted on the whitehouse.gov domain, presents an interpretation of the event that departs significantly from prior investigations, court findings, and contemporaneous reporting.1

The webpage characterizes many participants as peaceful protestors, criticizes congressional investigators and Democratic leaders, and defends presidential pardons issued in 2025 for individuals convicted in connection with January 6. This article provides a fact-checked review of those claims and explains where they diverge from the historical and legal record.

Background: What Happened on January 6, 2021

On January 6, 2021, supporters of then-President Donald Trump gathered in Washington, D.C., following repeated false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen. After a rally near the White House, thousands moved toward the U.S. Capitol as Congress convened to certify the Electoral College results.2

A portion of the crowd breached police lines, forcibly entered the Capitol, vandalized property, and assaulted law enforcement officers. Members of Congress were evacuated, and the certification process was temporarily halted before resuming later that evening.2

Subsequent investigations — including a bipartisan Senate report and the House Select Committee — concluded that the attack constituted a violent disruption of a constitutional process.3

Main Claims on the White House Page and a Fact-Checked Evaluation

1. Pardons and Support for January 6 Participants

The White House page emphasizes that President Trump issued broad pardons and sentence commutations for nearly all individuals charged in connection with January 6 after returning to office in 2025.1

Fact Check:
While these pardons did occur, they do not negate the underlying convictions. Prior to clemency, hundreds of defendants had been convicted in federal court of crimes including obstruction of an official proceeding, assaulting law enforcement officers, and seditious conspiracy.4

2. Characterization of January 6 as a “Peaceful Protest”

The White House narrative repeatedly frames the event as a peaceful protest that was mischaracterized by media and investigators.

Fact Check:
This framing conflicts with extensive video evidence, court findings, and law enforcement records documenting widespread violence, forced entry into restricted government buildings, and assaults on more than 170 police officers.2

3. Claims of Widespread Fraud in the 2020 Election

The webpage reiterates claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and illegitimate.

Fact Check:
More than 60 election-related lawsuits were dismissed or rejected by courts. State and federal election officials, including Trump-appointed judges and Republican administrators, found no evidence of widespread fraud sufficient to alter the election outcome.5

4. Assigning Blame to Capitol Police or Security Failures

The White House page suggests that law enforcement actions or security planning were the primary cause of the violence.

Fact Check:
While security preparedness has been criticized, official reviews consistently conclude that rioters initiated violence, overwhelmed police lines, and illegally entered the Capitol. Injuries to officers are well-documented.2

5. Attacks on the January 6 Select Committee

The webpage alleges that the Select Committee acted in bad faith and produced a distorted historical record.

Fact Check:
The Committee’s final report was based on thousands of interviews, subpoenaed records, sworn testimony, and public hearings. Although politically contested, its findings remain part of the official congressional record.3

Key Narrative Differences at a Glance

Issue White House Narrative Documented Record
Nature of January 6 Peaceful protest Violent breach of the Capitol
2020 Election Fraudulent No outcome-changing fraud found
Legal Status of Participants Victims of persecution Convicted prior to pardons
Role of Police Primary instigators Officers assaulted while defending Capitol

Table of Sources

Source Type Relevance
WhiteHouse.gov – January 6 Page Official government communication Primary subject of analysis
Wikipedia: January 6 United States Capitol Attack Historical overview Timeline, violence, casualties, aftermath
Wikipedia: List of January 6 Criminal Cases Legal reference Charges, convictions, and sentencing
PBS NewsHour Investigative journalism Select Committee findings and context
PolitiFact Independent fact-checking Evaluation of election fraud claims
Federal and State Court Rulings Judicial record Dismissal of election challenges

Contextual Notes

  • Government Speech Doctrine protects the right of an administration to publish political narratives but does not confer factual authority.
  • Political reinterpretation of historical events does not alter documented evidence or judicial findings.

Conclusion

The White House’s January 6 webpage reflects a political reinterpretation rather than a consensus historical account. Its central claims — particularly regarding election fraud and the characterization of the Capitol attack — conflict with court rulings, investigative findings, and contemporaneous reporting.

Distinguishing between political messaging and verified historical record is essential for informed public understanding of January 6, 2021.

Footnotes

  1. White House, “January 6” webpage, published January 6, 2026. ↩ ↩
  2. January 6 United States Capitol Attack, Wikipedia. ↩ ↩ ↩ ↩
  3. PBS NewsHour, coverage of the January 6 Select Committee final report. ↩ ↩
  4. List of Criminal Cases Related to the January 6 Attack, Wikipedia. ↩
  5. PolitiFact, court-reviewed assessments of 2020 election fraud claims. ↩
by Categories: Government, History, PoliticsTags: , , , , , , Leave a comment