"No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."

The sole Republican judge to defend the rule of law in North Carolina is Republican Justice Richard Dietz, who has remained steadfast in his belief that rewriting the rules of an election after the election is unlawful and unwise. Resisting the pressures of partisanship in North Carolina is no easy feat these days, and his courage should be commended.

Outside of North Carolina, however, Griffin's crusade is over. North Carolina may be a state where Republicans get to do whatever they want to do, but federal judges aren't willing to participate in what is essentially a judicial coup. Griffin can appeal this ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals, but they shouldn't expect a different result there. That court has already ruled against the argument once.

It's yet another reminder of how baldly and awfully partisan judges in North Carolina have become. The depth and diversity of people who know this lawsuit has no merit is incredible. It includes voters from both parties, elections officials of all political stripes, military leaders and hundreds of judges, government officials and attorneys from across the political spectrum. Now, a Trump-appointed federal judge has agreed. It's North Carolina's Republican judges who are the extreme outliers.

Republicans cannot lament a rogue judiciary or overreach by "radical left judges." They cannot accuse the judge who issued the ruling of partisan bias, although they may still try. This is a conservative judge, appointed by Donald Trump. He is a member of the conservative Federalist Society and the National Rifle Association. It's exactly the kind of judge Republicans would hope " or expect " to side with them. But he isn't " he's rebuking Republican logic and laying bare their attempt to steal an election.

In his 68-page ruling, Myers said Griffin and the NC GOP's unprecedented effort to challenge over 65,000 ballots presented an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.

"This case concerns whether the federal Constitution permits a state to alter the rules of an election after the fact and apply those changes retroactively to only a select group of voters, and in so doing treat those voters differently than other similarly situated individuals," he wrote. "This case is also about whether a state may redefine its class of eligible voters but offer no process to those who may have been misclassified as ineligible.

"To this court, the answer to each of those questions is no.'"

The president, while taking questions following a press conference confirming the NFL 2027 draft will take place in Washington, D.C., was asked: "How did you decide to reopen Alcatraz? Can you walk us through that decision? How will you use it? How did you come up with the idea?"

Trump rambled in response:

"It represents something very strong, very powerful in terms of law and order. Our country needs law and order. Alcatraz is I would say the ultimate, right? Alcatraz, Sing, Sing. And Alcatraz, the movies. But it's right now a museum, believe it or not. A lot of people go there. It housed the most violent criminals in the world and nobody ever escaped. One person almost got there but they, as you know, the story, they found his clothing rather badly ripped up and it was a lot of shark bites, a lot of, lot of problems. Nobody's ever escaped from Alcatraz and just represented something strong having to do with law and order. We need law and order in this country. And so we're going to look at it. Some of the people up here are going to be working very hard on that and we had a little conversation. I think it's going to be very interesting. We'll see if we can bring it back, in large form, add a lot. But I think it represents something right now. It's a big hulk that's sitting there rusting and rotting. You look at it, it's sort of an, you saw that picture that was put out. It's sort of amazing but it sort of represents something that's both horrible and beautiful and strong and miserable, weak. It's got a lot of, it's got a lot of qualities that are interesting and I think they make a point."

Some critics pointed to the airing on Saturday of the 1979 Clint Eastwood film "Escape to Alcatraz" on WLRN in South Florida, where Trump was staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort, as possibly the real explanation for his order to get the long-shuttered penitentiary back up and running, despite its crumbling infrastructure.

Why is it every "idea" Trump is a failed notion from the turn of the last century?

...the Asians never fought a war over religion. This is a uniquely Christian concept.

So you've never heard of India and Pakistan?

Also Buddhist extremists, yes that's actually a thing, are currently engaged in ethnic cleansing in Myanmar.

"Never again"

They have already completely ignored the 4th amendment why would they care about the 5th?

Trump is completely incompetent

This would have been an impeachable offense at any other time in out country's history. Now it's just what everyone expected.

Oops.

It should surprise no one that Trump wants to end honoring America's veterans and shift the focus to jingoistic bullsh--. We all already know what he thinks about the people who risk it all to serve our country.

It should surprise no one that Trump wants to end honoring Aneicas veterans and shift the focus to jingoistic bullsh--. We all already know what he thinks about the people who risk it all to protect our country.

New reports say Waltz will be named UN Ambassador. I'd like to think that there is no way he'd get confirmed by the Senate after signalgate but who am I kidding.

Hard to take the Times seriously on this when they went out of their way to sane-wash Trump whenever possible during the last campaign.

We're extorting a nation that is desperate for our help so they can survive. Absolutely disgusting.

Breaking News: Indisputable Photographic Evidence Tying Trump to MS-13

More: Resolutions of inquiry have existed since the very first Congress to seek answers from the executive branch. If passed in the committee of jurisdiction, the resolution gains "privileged" status and goes directly to a full vote before the entire chamber.

The attempt to shut down the resolution of inquiry process outside of an emergency appears to be without precedent.

"Speaker Johnson is trying to blind Congress and take away one of the only tools where the majority of Representatives, unfiltered by party leadership, can conduct oversight," said Sean Vitka of Demand Progress, a watchdog group.

They've already backed down.

More: The Los Angeles Port head added on Thursday that U.S. exporters are also getting "hit hard" by retaliatory tariffs amid Trump's trade war. Seroka said the sectors include agriculture, heavy-duty manufacturing and information technology services.

"U.S. ag exporters are having an especially challenging time, so much so that in March, China bought more soybeans from Brazil in one month than ever in their history," Seroka said.

Meanwhile, major retailers have told Seroka that they have about a six- to eight-week supply of inventory but that "will quickly dry up." The Los Angeles Port is the major point of entry for cargo ships from China and Southeast Asia into the U.S.

More: Trump has in the meantime made himself " and the US " into an international laughing stock, never mind the damage that policy uncertainty is inflicting on the global economy. You'd be forgiven for thinking that chaos is itself the policy goal.

Repeatedly forced to row back on its demands and aspirations, the White House has been left looking back-footed and ridiculous.

Where are the gun nuts who love to crow about fighting government tyranny now that actual tyranny is taking place? Warrantles home raids are a direct violation of the 4th amendment.