8. January 2026 – THE FLENSBURG FILES

*Photo by Gonzalo Mendiola on Pexels.com*

Author’s Comments:

This is the first installment in the series on how to reshape the US Constitution, keeping in mind that these ideas should serve as a reference for other governments to consider these ideas.
This post is dedicated in memory of Renee Good, the woman of 37 years who was wrongfully shot by an ICE officer on January 7th while driving away from the scene. She died of her gunshot wounds and leaves behind a six-year old son. Between now and December, the logo Remember Minneapolis, created in 2020 in connection with George Floyd’s death, will be present in the Files, both here as well as on its Substack page.

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If there is a story every person should read, let alone a Disney film every person should watch, it would be Pinocchio. The puppet who was brought to life and provided us with a lesson for lying. Liars grows trees from their noses. Liars are discredited. Once a liar, always a liar.

And this story takes us to Wales, where legislation has been discussed on this Pinocchio Law. The proposal called for removing a member of parliament from his post for perjury and as a consequence, disqualifying him from public office. It was introduced in 2024 and has been an ongoing discussion ever since. The current proposal calls for a recall vote of the person guilty of fibbing. Information on the proposal can be found here.

While no laws of that kind exist in the US government, as well as other countries in the EU, we should be reminded of the scandal involving President Bill Clinton in 1997-98, where he lied about having an affair with Monica Lewinski- first by denying it on TV and then retracting it and admitting later on. The end result was his impeachment, which ended in his acquittal. Many conservatives decried Clinton’s lack of morals for his actions, only to find that several Republican members of Congress having been caught in their own scandals over the next two decades.

If there were a law that should be passed to ban politicians from office for lying, it would be the Pinocchio Law. Any member who is caught lying under oath would be removed from office, leaving the seat vacant until a special election fills this seat. No recall, as proposed in Wales, but a simple removal and ban, full stop. With that comes the removal of political immunity and criminal investigations, just like any other case involving the common person. Should the President commit perjury, there should be automatic impeachment and trial before Congress. If guilty, the person is removed from office, clearing the way for snap elections to elect a new President and his Cabinet.

Snap elections will be mentioned in the next installment in the series.

In light of the most recent incident involving an ICE agent shooting an innocent woman in Minnesota, killing her behind the wheel, and Trump’s excessive lying in defense of the person who shot her, this would clearly fall in line with the proposed law to remove him (and the rest of the Cabinet) from office. During an ICE invasion in Minneapolis on January 7th, agents stopped her car and tried forcing her to get out at gunpoint. As she tried to flee the scene by backing up and driving off, she was shot by one of the agents at point-blank range, three times, before crashing her car into a light pole. Attempts to help her from other bystanders were denied by ICE agents, leaving her to die at the wheel. Renee Good was 37 years old and leaves behind her six-year old son, who had lost his father a few years before. A link below shows you the incident:

Link: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AinY1aTjS

And the poster shows the man who committed the crime. The information is current.

While Trump tried to defend the shooter by claiming he was in the hospital and “lucky to be alive,” the footage shows otherwise. But his excessive lying over this incident is typical of his narcissistic behavior as the Commander-in-Chief, setting a bad example for other people to look at (and unfortunately in some cases, follow). Had Wales passed the Pinocchio Law during his first time in office, Trump would have been banned and most likely put in jail for his crimes. That he is still a free man has more to do with Congress being complacent- Republicans playing the do-er and the Democrats being MIA, as Robert Reich mentions in this video below:

By passing such a law, one will have to include not only the perjurers but those who played along silently. It has to be like the Miranda Law: “Anything you say or do can (and will) be used against you in a court of law.” The right to remain silent would have to be left out when the guilty is tried in front of a tribunal.

The Midterm Elections are less than 300 days off and there is uncertainty that the elections may happen at all. But once the tide changes against Trump, this should be one of the first priorities on the agenda- passing the Pinocchio Law. Anyone who lies even once should be stamped as a liar and blacklisted, plain and simple. This includes removing Trump from office, banning him from a government post and holding him criminally accountable. It will have to include snap elections to remove the rest of his Cabinet.

Lying destroys one credibility and all the relationships possible. And despite following the money, it ruins one person financially. Once a person lies, he is always the liar.

And we should be teaching this to our children.