This is unbelievable, or would be if the U.S. news media hadn’t become a parody of itself.
On the home page of the New York Times, it is virtually one long scream. “A Startling Admission From a G.O.P. Senator: ‘We Are All Afraid’” ominously hints one headline. (Two guesses who the Senator is). David Brooks is calling for an “uprising.” because apparently, a President trying to fix throbbing problems and fulfilling promises he ran on isn’t “normal.” (A senile President being puppeteered by unknown, unelected individuals was normal enough for Brooks, I guess.) If the U.S. doesn’t invade El Salvador to spring an illegal immigrant, Trump is defying the Supreme Court and defying the rule of law! (There are three articles just on this). As I predicted, Trump saying that Harvard should be taxed is represented in another story this way: “With Harvard Threat, Trump Tries to Turn IRS into a Political Enforcer.“
In yet another freak-out, the Times assembles three of its most Trump Deranged pundits—nah, no balance needed, why would you want that?-–to declare “Trump is disappearing people like the Soviet Union.” (The “people” are that single illegal immigrant in the Salvadoran prison.)
Meanwhile, over on my Facebook page, a smart, usually rational and well-read individual I have previously mentioned posted an anti-Trump declaration and in the replies, wrote in response to a comment that only “racists, misogynists and redneck voted for Trump”, “I loved Harris and Walz: smart and experienced.” I had to wrestle my fingers to the ground.
Bring some ethics sanity to my world, would you please?
Ethics Alarms 
Mercifully, Cornell’s Roper Center helps us identify that 45% of women, 13% of blacks, 46% of Hispanics, 40% of Asians, 45% of college grads, and 40% of moderated
I think your reply got cut off.
Thanks EC, for being one out of my (questionably) vast audience to notice; the one I replaced it with got spiked. Anywho:
Mercifully, Cornell’s Roper Center helps us identify that 45% of women, 13% of blacks, 46% of Hispanics, 40% of Asians, 45% of college grads, and 40% of moderates are, to borrow a phrase, “racists, misogynists and redneck(s)”
PWS
Here is the thing about this Abrego Garcia business.
I have heard and read that deportees can continue to challenge their deportation even after they have been deported.
I suppose that if the deportees ultimately prevail, the courts can order Executive branch officials to not just admit these deportees back, but to make transportation arrangements for their return to the U.S. as soon as they are able and willing.
Now, suppose some people were deported to Israel on October 5, 2023. The government concedes that the deportations were legally erroneous. The courts order the officials to bring the deportees back to the United States.
And some of these deportees were taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023.
An order to make transportation arrangements for those deportees taken hostage, as soon as they are able and willing, would not be controversial.
But can a court order the Administration to send in SEAL Team Six to rescue these deportee-hostages?
Could they order the Administration to invade Gaza?
Could they order the Administration to negotiate with Hamas, let alone accede to any demand Hamas makes?
In your example, Michael, the U.S. government would have no way of knowing that the deportees would be taken hostage on 10/7. Our government certainly knew that any deportees to El Salvador would be imprisoned.
I have little sympathy for criminals and gang members who cause problems after sneaking into our country, but the Trump administration, fairly or not, must make sure there are no errors. The TDS sufferers look for any excuse to engage in fear-mongering and mistakenly sending even one person out of the country, even an illegally-present domestic abuser, gives them fuel to add to their claims that Trump will consign legal residents and even citizens to suffer in foreign prisons.
For once, I don’t believe “think of the children” is an ethics rationale. There are 300,000 known missing children that crossed the border that they are looking for. Maybe someone should start being more concerned about where those kids are right now. I’m sure an investigation by the news would help.
The main issue as I see at (as well as the courts) is not just that the executive branch admitted that they accidentally removed Garcia to a country he was not supposed to be sent to due to a withholding of removal order. But that they haven’t gotten him back yet and have not shared how they attempted to get him back with the courts.
That’s scary because that means the executive branch has the power to send anyone accidentally out the country, and then shrug and say “Well they’re not here anymore so it’s not our responsibility to correct our mistake”
To quote the recent order:
The Executive possesses enormous powers to prosecute and to deport, but with powers come restraints. If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?
And to quote Eisenhower:
“[t]he very basis of our individual rights and freedoms is the certainty that the President and the Executive Branch of Government will support and [e]nsure the carrying out of the decisions of the Federal Courts.”
Our laws have to protect everyone equally, even POS illegal gang members. Get him back here, get the withholding of removal order removed, then send him to another country. But do it legally.
Why do you keep saying “anybody”? Illegal immigrants can and should get deported. This guy was a particularly bad illegal immigrant, but he should have been deported anyway. Just as no country could force the US to release a prisoner it believed was justly confined, the U.S. has no power to interfere with another sovereign nation’s legal system If El Salvador says, “Nope, sorry, no way,” that’s the ball game. I’ve seen no serious assertions of what the US is supposed to do to get him back…so we can send him somewhere else. Nothing scary about any of this, except that so many people want to make a martyr out of a criminal.
llegal immigrants can and should get deported.
Yes just as murders should and can go to jail. But only after due process is followed. It wasn’t here.
This guy was a particularly bad illegal immigrant, but he should have been deported anyway.
Irrelevant. Everyone should be treated equal under the law.
Just as no country could force the US to release a prisoner it believed was justly confined, the U.S. has no power to interfere with another sovereign nation’s legal system If El Salvador says, “Nope, sorry, no way,” that’s the ball game.
This is true but I don’t believe for a second the Trump asked El Salvador to release him. If they did, they’ll have to show the court over the next few weeks what steps, if any, were taken. We’re also paying El Salvador millions of dollars to house these people.
I’ve seen no serious assertions of what the US is supposed to do to get him back…so we can send him somewhere else. Nothing scary about any of this, except that so many people want to make a martyr out of a criminal.
How about asking?
And to quote the judge:
If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?
This is especially scary since Trump said he wants to send American citizens who commit crimes to El Salvador. What if we accidentally send someone who is later shown to be innocent? We can’t get them back?
OK, you are now saying the same thing over and over again and not adding anything of value. You are hereby directed to confine your comments to other topics only. Violations will lead to suspension of commenting privileges. You’re through on this one. Sealioning rule. Let it be written, let it be done.
Garcia is not waiting at someone’s house with his bag packed, ready to take an Uber to an airport to begin his return trip to the United States.
He is in the lawful custody of El Salvador.
That would be beside the point for the validity of any remedy a court could fashion.
Given what we have come to know Abrego Garcia the last days, the chances that he will prevail in returning to the United States under the Trump administration are precisely null. Even if judges like Boasberg rule in Garcia’s favor, and hold administration officials in contempt, they have no feasible remedy including contempt charges, as Trump holds all the cards in his hands. Boasberg is not going to slap the handcuffs on Pam Bondi or Tom Homan, and have them locked up, as the DOJ is not going to cooperate. For Trump this is an 80/20 issue where he has 80% of the population on his side, plus the majority in both houses of Congress. Trump also plays the PR game brilliantly, by inviting the mother of Rachel Moran to the White House, and have her speak at the Karoline Leavitt briefing to the press about the murder of her daughter at the hands of an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, making Senator Chris van Hollen (D-MD) look like a fool.
So I expect Trump to call activist judges bluff on this, as this is the political smart strategy. And this would not be the first time in US history that a President prevails in a constitutional conflict.
I also wonder why we should spend so much energy on every single legal claim made by the Democrats in Garcia’s favor. The Biden administration did not care about immigration laws. Allowing illegal immigrants to flood the border is not simply incompetence, it was intentional. Illegal immigration had two purposes for the Biden administration: 1) as census is based on population instead of actual citizens illegal immigration to blue states would help these states to get more seats in the House of Representatives, benefitting Democrats, 2) amnesty for illegal immigrants, and putting them in the pipeline for US citizenship would in the long term create new constituents for the Democrats. So every argument Democrat politicians make in favor of illegal immigrants should therefore be deemed to be made in bad faith, and similarly for rulings by activist judges. The best course of action for the Trump administration is to simply ignore those arguments and rulings, execute the agenda on which Trump was elected, and make the case to the voters.
Excuse me for hitchhiking here, but maybe someone would like to tackle this.
Liz Cheney just barfed up this screed:
Dear Democratic Party,
I need more from you.
You keep sending emails begging for $15,
while we’re watching fascism consolidate power in real time.
This administration is not simply “a different ideology.”
It is a coordinated, authoritarian machine — with the Supreme Court, the House, the Senate, and the executive pen all under its control.
And you?
You’re still asking for decorum and donations. WTF.
That won’t save us.
I don’t want to hear another polite floor speech.
I want strategy.
I want fire.
I want action so bold it shifts the damn news cycle — not fits inside one.
Every time I see something from the DNC, it’s asking me for funds.
Surprise. Those of us who donate don’t want to keep sending money just to watch you stand frozen as the Constitution goes up in flames — shaking your heads and saying, “Well, there’s not much we can do. He has the majority.”
I call bullshit.
If you don’t know how to think outside the box…
If you don’t know how to strategize…
If you don’t know how to fight fire with fire…
what the hell are we giving you money for?
Some of us have two or three advanced degrees.
Some of us have military training.
Some of us know what coordinated resistance looks like — and this ain’t it.
Yes, the tours around the country? Nice.
The speeches? Nice.
The clever congressional clapbacks? Nice.
That was great for giving hope.
Now we need action.
You have to stop acting like this is a normal presidency that will just time out in four years.
We’re not even at Day 90, and look at the chaos.
Look at the disappearances.
Look at the erosion of the judiciary, the press, and our rights.
If you do not stop this, we will not make it 1,460 days.
So here’s what I need from you — right now:
⸻
1. Form an independent, civilian-powered investigative coalition.
I’m talking experts. Veterans. Whistleblowers. Journalists. Watchdog orgs.
Deputize the resistance. Build a real-time archive of corruption, overreach, and executive abuse.
Make it public. Make it unshakable.
Let the people drag the rot into the light.
If you can’t hold formal hearings, hold public ones.
If Congress won’t act, let the country act.
This isn’t about optics — it’s about receipts.
Because at some point, these people will be held accountable.
And when that day comes, we’ll need every name, every signature, every illegal order, every act of silence—documented.
You’re not just preserving truth — you’re preparing evidence for prosecution.
The more they vanish people and weaponize data, the more we need truth in the sunlight.
⸻
2. Join the International Criminal Court.
Yes, I said it. Call their bluff.
You cannot control what the other side does.
But you can control your own integrity.
So prove it. Prove that your party is still grounded in law, human rights, and ethical leadership.
Join.
If you’ve got nothing to hide — join.
Show the world who’s hiding bodies, bribes, and buried bank accounts.
Force the GOP to explain why they’d rather protect a war criminal than sign a treaty.
And while you’re at it, publicly invite ICC observers into U.S. borders.
Make this administration explain — on camera — why they’re terrified of international oversight.
⸻
3. Fund state-level resistance infrastructure.
Don’t just send postcards. Send resources.
Channel DNC funds into rapid-response teams, legal defense coalitions, sanctuary networks, and digital security training.
If the federal government is hijacked, build power underneath it.
If the laws become tools of oppression, help people resist them legally, locally, and boldly.
This is not campaign season — this is an authoritarian purge.
Stop campaigning.
Act like this is the end of democracy, because it is.
We WILL REMEMBER the warriors come primaries.
Fighting this regime should be your marketing strategy.
And let’s be clear:
The reason the other side always seems three steps ahead is because they ARE.
They prepared for this.
They infiltrated school boards, courts, local legislatures, and police unions.
They built a machine while you wrote press releases.
We’re reacting — they’ve been executing a plan for years.
It’s time to shift from panic to blueprint.
You should already be working with strategists and military minds on PROJECT 2029 —
a coordinated, long-term plan to rebuild this country when the smoke clears.
You should be publicly laying out:
• The laws and amendments you’ll pass to ensure this never happens again
• The systems you’ll tear down and the safeguards you’ll enshrine
• The plan to hold perpetrators of human atrocities accountable
• The urgent commitment to immediately bring home those sold into slavery in El Salvador
You say you’re the party of the people?
Then show the people the plan.
⸻
4. Use your platform to educate the public on rights and resistance tactics.
If they’re going to strip us of rights and lie about it — arm the people with truth.
Text campaigns. Mass trainings. Downloadable “Know Your Rights” kits. Multilingual legal guides. Encrypted phone trees.
Give people tools, not soundbites.
We don’t need more slogans.
We need survival manuals.
⸻
5. Leverage international media and watchdogs.
Stop hoping U.S. cable news will wake up.
They’re too busy playing both sides of fascism.
Feed the real stories to BBC, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, Reuters, Der Spiegel — hell, leak them to anonymous dropboxes if you have to.
Make what’s happening in America a global scandal.
And stop relying on platforms that are actively suppressing truth.
Start leveraging Substack. Use Bluesky.
That’s where the resistance is migrating. That’s where censorship hasn’t caught up.
If the mainstream won’t carry the truth — outflank them.
Get creative. Go underground. Go global.
If our democracy is being dismantled in broad daylight, make sure the whole world sees it — and make sure we’re still able to say it.
⸻
6. Create a digital safe haven for whistleblowers and defectors.
Not everyone inside this regime is loyal.
Some are scared. Some want out.
Build the channels.
Encrypted. Anonymous. Protected.
Make it easy for the cracks in the system to become gaping holes.
And while you’re at it?
Stop ostracizing MAGA defectors.
Everyone makes mistakes — even glaring, critical ones.
We are not the bullies.
We are not the ones filled with hate.
And it is not your job to shame people who finally saw the fire and chose to step out of it.
They will have to deal with that internal struggle — the guilt of putting a very dangerous and callous regime in power.
But they’re already outnumbered. Don’t push them back into the crowd.
We don’t need purity.
We need numbers.
We need people willing to burn their red hats and testify against the machine they helped build.
⸻
7. Study the collapse—and the comeback.
You should be learning from South Korea and how they managed their brief rule under dictatorship.
They didn’t waste time chasing the one man with absolute immunity.
They went after the structure.
The aides. The enforcers. The loyalists. The architects.
They knocked out the foundation one pillar at a time —
until the “strongman” had no one left to stand on.
And his power crumbled beneath him.
You should be independently investigating every author of Project 2025,
every aide who defies court orders,
every communications director repeating lies,
every policy writer enabling cruelty,
every water boy who keeps this engine running.
You can’t stop a regime by asking the king to sit down.
You dismantle the throne he’s standing on — one coward at a time.
⸻
Stop being scared to fight dirty when the other side is fighting to erase the damn Constitution.
They are threatening to disappear AMERICANS.
A M E R I C A N S.
And your biggest move can’t be another strongly worded email.
We don’t want your urgently fundraising subject lines.
We want backbone.
We want action.
We want to know you’ll stand up before we’re all ordered to sit down — permanently.
We are watching.
And I don’t just mean your base.
I mean millions of us who see exactly what’s happening.
I’ve only got 6,000 followers — but the groups I’m in? The networks I touch? Over a quarter million.
Often when I speak, it echoes.
But when we ALL
speak, it ROARS with pressure that will cause change.
We need to be deafening.
You still have a chance to do something historic.
To be remembered for courage, not caution.
To go down as the party that didn’t just watch the fall — but fought the hell back with everything they had.
But the clock is ticking.
And the deportation buses are idling.
Well, now, ol’ Lizziepoo is a bit insurrectiony, ¿no?
jvb
Sure sounds like it.
Jack, now you hitchhiking with me I am very happy to have you as a passenger?
My impression about Liz Cheney is that she has faded into complete irrelevance. However, her screed captures the Machiavellian mindset of the Democrats perfectly: do whatever it takes to thwart the Trump agenda.
So why should Trump and the GOP not play by the same playbook, and do whatever it takes to fix immigration, even if this means that he have to ignore the courts?
We should all play by the same rules. The problem is that the left is only willing to play by their own rules. This is why we have an immigration problem, plus all the DEI madness and other woke horse manure. So the proper reaction of Trump and his administration should be to not play by the rules favored or useful to the left, but to chart their own path.
The “Give The Devil The Benefit Of Doubt” scene in “A Man Of All Seasons” plays in my mind. I somehow have the impression that not Thomas More but Roper has the stronger argument. The laws in England were already mowed down by King Henry VIII. And Thomas More would lose his head.
I want the Trump administration to succeed, and I do not want any of these to lose their metaphorical heads out of undue reference to decorum and rules.
Liz Cheney’s screed indicates what the Trump administration is up against. The Democrats do not care about any rules that stand in their way. They just want to win.
Lizzy’s #1:
Didn’t we already do something sorta like this? I think they’re calling it “DOGE “.
Don’t exclude option 3) Illegals do vote. I know this gets labeled by many as a conspiracy theory, but there are examples. In extremely close race, it can sway the outcome.
But people who simp for illegals tell me they avoid doing anything else illegal for fear of deportation…
Is a court ordered stay on any given court decision that is never reviewed by the judge ordering the stay for continued relevance ethical?
Garcia was ordered to be deported and his appeal failed. He never claimed fear of persecution prior to his ordered deportation so what responsibility does a court that over rules another have when conditions change.
Until they are reined in by a higher court, most judges think they have the power to do any damned thing. I’d say intermediate appellate courts are the worst. More often than not, they retry appealed cases and “correct” the trial court. Often times, but not always, the next higher appellate court cuts the lower appeals court judges back down to size. I think appellate judges just think they’re smarter than everyone else.
Maybe Trump COULD “facilitate” Garcia’s removal. It could go like this:
Trump: “Hey, Nayib, you think you could send that guy to some prison in Brazil for me?”
Bukele: “Sorry, Donald, he’s still being processed. Check back with me in a week or so, OK?”
Trump: “Fine with me.”
Three weeks later: “Bukky! How about a place in Colombia for that Garcia guy?”
Bukele: “Man, you wouldn’t belive the paperwork we have to deal with here! I think Garcia’s sort of settling in here. Let’s see how he fits in; he may just want to stay.”
Four months later: “Buks, What do you think about Bolivia?”
Buk: “Those guys are pretty sketchy; I don’t really know if they’d be a good fit for Garcia. Let me put out a few feelers.”
Trump: “Works for me; come up for a few rounds at Mar-a-Lago when you get a break.”
Buk: “Gracias Don, will do!”
Two years later:
“Bukky, I keep forgetting to call. Maybe you remember….”
Has anybody seen the Netflix series “Adolescence”? This Netflix series became a political issue in the UK, when the leader of the Tories in the UK was berated at a BBC interview on not having watched the series. Apparently this series forwards a narrative about toxic masculinity and incel violence inspired by the manosphere that according to the left is must-see television. I have not watched it yet; I have a distaste however for this whole toxic masculinity narrative, dumping on unsuccessful man, and the unwillingness to even give a hearing to concerns addressed from a male perspective. Reason.com has an article about this:
https://reason.com/2025/04/15/bbc-grills-member-of-parliament-for-not-watching-enough-tv/
I read that Netflix, for once, had a white actor play the role of a brown character (as in the story it is based on, the killer is an, errr, immigrant to the UK). It feels like our cultural lords are really making an effort to bring up racial divisions front-and-center.
Correct, the show is said to be inspired by the stabbing of a girl by a plucky migrant who just wanted a better life…but ya know…if the plucky migrant were a toxic white kid from an abusive home and access to a deadly weapon.
The most shocking thing is that PM Starner wants to have the Netflix series shown in Parliament to address misogyny, and the baleful influence of social media on male attitudes. So the PM is not using stats to address a problem, but a Netflix series (not a documentary) that presents a slanted narrative that is considered toxic by any self-respecting man. Never mind the fact that incel violence is actually rare, and therefore the reactions by politics and media deserves to be described as moral panic.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7ew52d2y3o
However, how willing is the PM to address actual violence against women in UK, such as grooming gangs in Rotherham, and many other places? What about the stabbing of three young girls in Southport? Well, unlike the protagonist in “Adolescence” the perpetrators are not white and not ethnically English. The the actions of the UK government indicate that they see the angry backlash against these crimes as the bigger problem, with arrests of people who make statements about these events at the social media that are politically incorrect.
My impression is that the series is promotes harmful stereotypes about man, especially white man who face challenges in the dating market. I am even more concerned about politics and media acting on these stereotypes.
How about Trump at least, ya know…trying to go the guy back from El Salvador. Did you read this: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca4.178400/gov.uscourts.ca4.178400.8.0.pdf
Frankly my dear I do not give a damn. Neither does Trump.
Thanks for posting that.
it clarifies that he was here on an order withholding removal.
it appears that he should have been detained and given a hearing as to whether the stay of his removal order should be lifted
You don’t get that clarity from most sources.
you have people saying he was not a gang member. You have people saying he was a citizen or a permanent resident or has legal status.
so many people post baseless garbage about this.
that link actually provides useful information.
-Jut
Right exactly. And he may well be a huge piece of crap who beats his wife and is living her illegally while selling drugs.
Totally irrelevant. Due process must always be followed. If he was in jail in America, he would be able to get a court hearing. But since he was mistakenly sent to El Salvador, he can’t.
It’s also more frightening when Trump just said he wants to send American citizens who are convicted criminals to El Salvador. What happens if you get there and after some time you get acquitted on appeal? Is Trump and Jack saying we can’t get you back and you’re stuck there?
That’s insane.
He can’t deport an American citizen. If the President said he wanted to turn into a 60 foot giant and leap to the moon, it doesn’t mean he can do it and people like you—hysterics—should be terrified. Making that straw man argument is what’s insane. An illegal immigrant was deported to the wrong country. It was an administrative mistake. Nothing can be done now, and saying, “well, we should try” is disingenuous. The system makes mistakes sometimes, but if there was anyone to make a mistake with, it’s this guy. Gee, do better with the next illegal scumbag. Learn from the mistake. And others should learn that this can’t happen to you if you don’t come here illegally.
[From the moderator: I wonder what part of “You can’t comment on this topic any more, move on” Marissa can’t comprehend. In any event, as I sad she would be, she is suspended from posting comments on Ethics Alarms for a week, and can return on April 25. at 8 PM. Do not respond to any attempts at commenting by her until she is reinstated: your replies disappear with her banned comments.]
JM
sorry to hear that, Jack.
I thought she responded to a comment of mine directly below this comment.
she said a few things that were worthy of a response. (She made a comment about Due Process that was illustrative for, perhaps, the wrong reasons). But, I presume my snarky response would have been oh so enlightening.
-Jut
She had been sealioning, and I clearly told her that her commenting on this topic was over. And she just ignored it. Good comment or not, she didn’t give me any choice. And, I have to say, Garcia just isn’t worth all the discussion. The Justice Department admitted that they screwed up. Nevertheless, the guy gets no sympathy here, and the ridiculous obsessing over a single individual who everyone agrees is an illegal makes no sense at all. The government and the justice system make mistakes constantly, and this is hardly either the most significant or the most damaging. It is only such a focus because its the best the Axis has to bash Trump with, and it’s pretty pathetic.
Marisa:
Totally irrelevant.
(Agreed.)
Due process must always be followed.
(Sure. Whatever that means, because the follow up question always is: what process is due? Sometimes the answer is: not much.)
If he was in jail in America, he would be able to get a court hearing.
(I bet there are some J6 assholes that would beg to differ.)
But since he was mistakenly sent to El Salvador, he can’t.
(It almost sounds like you believe El Salvador is a “shithole country” to use a familiar phrase.)
It’s also more frightening when Trump just said he wants to send American citizens who are convicted criminals to El Salvador.
(and that is where you crossed the line into full-blown TDS territory. He has no plans to do that. I am more frightened that you might be eligible to vote than that Trump would do that. Trump is one person; there might be millions who think the way you do)
-Jut
Jut,
This response was not only accurate, but it got more entertaining the farther I read.
Well done!
Bias makes you stupid:
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-vance-abrego-garcia-playbook-normal-rcna201817
This is the line that made me do a double-take: “Apparently not occupied with the duties of the vice presidency, Vance has spent hours this week arguing with journalists on social media.”
WHAT ARE THE DUTIES OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT!?!?
They want to complain about Vance so much that they forgot that the vice-presidency is “not worth a bucket of warm piss.” (VP John Nance Garner)
-Jut
I thought this was interesting. I didn’t hear about it in the news did you? As part of this Kennedy wants to ban pharmaceutical prescription drug commercials from TV.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/establishing-the-presidents-make-america-healthy-again-commission/
I believe this is a good idea. We have grown accustomed to making life “better” through pharmacology and what has that done to us? These ads all say “ask your doctor if x is right for you”. If my doctor thought it would be a good idea to use he would have prescribed it. Doctors do not have the time to explain to each and every patient why a drug was not initially recommended. How many doctors simply write a new scrip to placate the patient.
I have to laugh when I hear the ads state not to take the medication if you are allergic to the actual medication or any of its ingredients. If the patient knew what was in the drug, that they are allergic to an ingredient, and how it treats the ailment why do they need a prescription?
You want to allow ads fine then make them like the ads for securities offerings which are called tombstone ads because they are just a generic statement of existence without any imagery or verbiage to sell themselves.
My doctor is emphatic about killing those ads. They are misleading and they prompt patients to make demands of doctors, and some of the doctors go ahead and prescribe the desired drug as the path of least resistance.
My youngest, who was around 11 at the time, actually listened to the drug ads. He was absolutely shocked and horrified by the side effects of them all. We are so used to hearing them, we actually ignore all the warnings they spout at the end of the ad.