Topic category:  Breaking News!

The country is under siege.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed some offices because of the nationwide protests as "civic unrest" followed the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Lawful protest is constitutionally protected, of course, but obviously crime is not and the rule of law must be upheld if we are to have a country.

We need law enforceable both at and inside our borders.

As former Speaker Newt Gingrich opined in Newsweek:

"The first rule of riots is to preempt them and stop them.

"While people are rioting, the rule of law is collapsed and street mobs dominate. Because mobs are directionless and led only by waves of emotion, hostility and hate, every innocent person nearby is inherently in danger.

"The more authority pulls back, the more the lawlessness moves in and the mob takes property, destroys property and endangers lives."

The late Muhammed Ali (then Cassius Clay) shocked the world by knocking out Sonny Liston to win the world heavyweight championship.

You shocked the world by winning the Presidency of the United States.

Rioting across the country is shocking the world (including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau).

"Minnesota nice" has been replaced with confrontation, anger and dread.

Wikipedia: "The stereotypical behavior of people from Minnesota to be courteous, reserved, and mild-mannered, is popularly known as Minnesota nice. The cultural characteristics of 'Minnesota nice' include polite friendliness, an aversion to open confrontation, a tendency toward understatement, a disinclination to make a direct fuss or stand out, apparent emotional restraint, and self-deprecation."

"Minnesota nice" seems to have died with George Floyd.

Rioting has spread throughout the country.

Legitimate protest is used as a cover for rioting, theft, arson and assault.

In a Minneapolis police precinct abandoned to invaders by incompetent authorities, the evidence room was ransacked, so people who should be tried (and probably convicted) won't be able to be even tried as a result.

Maybe that's a coincidence. Or maybe not.

Opportunists steal televisions, using to Mr. Floyd's death as a justification.

One frustrated citizen emailed me:

"... all this is insane.  I feel people are missing the whole point in getting distracted by division and beliefs...the real issue and real culprits go undetected.  I understand the racism issue as well as police brutality, but how is the current course solving anything.... I see all over Facebook, people commenting on this and disagreeing on this, etc. etc. etc. Trump this and Trump this, [but] human beings make these choices and each person is responsible for their own choices.  I also see, 'I don't support violence, but I can see this is where this [will] lead..." a mere rationalization of violence.  One violent act does not justify another.  It's heartbreaking.  Plus... I researched the mortality rate of blacks/races due to COVID.  It is interestingly, blacks with the highest mortality rate, followed by Hispanics, followed by Asians, and then White.

"Our church is finally opening this Sunday, of course with new precautions and limits in the number of people who can attend at each service, meanwhile, thousands upon thousands are congregating in the streets in protests and riots..... the irony of it all."

New York's Governor Cuomo, having dealt with the pandemic by ordering nursing homes to take COVID-19 positives even though nursing homes are not hospitals and railed about his need for ventilators after having rejected his experts' recommendation that he have New York buy about 15,000 and not bought any, blames the New York City police for not handling the rioting there well, blames Mayor DiBlasio for that, muses about his authority to replace him and then does not act, thereby metaphorically fiddling while New York City burns and civic unrest spreads. Is Roman Emperor Nero his role model?

This is a constitutional republic, Mr. President, and federalism is great, but, as President Harry Truman might put it, "The buck doesn't stop with Mayor DiBlasio or Governor Cuomo, it stops with  you."

When those incompetent public officials fail to do their duty, it becomes your duty to stop the rioting and restore peace.

Please federalize the New York State guard.

Federalizing worked wonderfully for President Eisenhower, who knew about winning a war and restoring peace. Arkansas segregationist Governor used the Arkansas Guard to frustrate a United States Supreme Court desegregation order...until President Eisenhower acted decisively.

I liked Ike.

Didn't you like Ike too?

You also have the power to deploy federal troops to restore the peace.

Whatever you do, your critics will say is wrong, so do what you think is necessary.

It will be right.

Carpe diem.

God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

Michael J. Gaynor

Biography - Michael J. Gaynor

Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.

Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.

The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.

Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.

Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.