The Justice Department “white paper” purporting to authorize Obama’s power to extrajudicially execute US citizens was leaked three weeks ago. Since then, the administration – including the president himself and his nominee to lead the CIA, John Brennan – has been repeatedly asked whether this authority extends to US soil, i.e., whether the president has the right to execute US citizens on US soil without charges. In each instance, they have refused to answer.

I watched some Liberal Obama supporters on MSNBC defending all this saying that it’s OK to kill people like this because “they want to kill us.” This logic is never extended because these are the same folks who eschew the death penalty as uncivilized. Thus they do not want to kill someone who actually does kill “us.” But it is OK, without trial to kill someone in a precrime manner who supposedly “wants to kill us.” The illogic of this thinking is amazing to me.