Of course it's illegal - and I can't see why if Duterte is chased down as a criminal, Trump shouldn't be too

It's driving me a bit nuts that the condemnation of Trump FOR DECIDING TO EXECUTE ALLEGED CRIMINALS AT SEA is not louder.

 This is appalling behaviour that idiotic MAGA cult membership is excusing because it's a cult.   Cult leaders can do no wrong:

Trump has argued that he has the legal authority to conduct these strikes because he has determined that the United States is in “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels.

Some in Congress, which has the sole authority to declare war and has not formally authorized the use of force in this instance, have pushed back against the president’s claims. Lawmakers from both parties have been frustrated with what they say is a lack of information from the administration about its objectives.

However, last week, Senate Republicans narrowly defeated an effort led by Democrats that would have blocked the U.S. military from continuing the strikes.

In January, Trump issued an executive order designating a number of Latin American groups as foreign terrorist organizations. He has leaned into that declaration in recent weeks as he and his administration have sought to justify its lethal campaign in the Caribbean.

In a recent notice to Congress that was reviewed by The Washington Post, the White House indicated that Trump directed the attacks pursuant to the law of armed conflict after he “determined that the United States is in a non-international armed conflict with these designated terrorist organizations” and must conduct the strikes in self-defense. 

 And charge JD Vance too, an appalling twerp.  (This is from an article by a lawyer from the ACLU):

...we already know enough about these strikes to call them what they are: extrajudicial killings that are flagrantly illegal under both domestic and international law.

No one is under any illusions that anyone in the administration is likely to listen to the voices across the political spectrum who agree with this conclusion: Vice President (and Yale Law graduate) JD Vance declared he doesn’t “give a s---” whether the strikes are illegal. But it is critical that the rest of us refuse to treat these strikes as a new normal. Everyone who cares about the rule of law and human rights must continue to press for transparency, accountability and an immediate end to this illegal and lethal campaign.