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I feel bad for where our country is headed. We all feel sadness because of all that happened at the Capitol. All U.S. citizens are given a voice in government to protect our constitutional freedom, integrity of our electoral system, our health, the unborn, religious freedoms and freedom of speech.

I have heard as many as one million attended the Trump rally Jan. 6 in Washington, D.C. The day prior, people said it was patriotic and encouraging. We had over 75 million votes for Trump.

My friend from Mexico stated, “This is heartbreaking that this is happening in our country! I’ve seen this before in other countries, but never, never thought the U.S. would experience this.”

It’s very suspicious that we can’t trust the media or politicians. To me, the White House should be respected and guarded. So, where did the groups come from? They came armed with ropes to climb walls. Why wasn’t there tighter security?

I was disappointed with Gov. Tim Walz allowing protesters to overtake the city of Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd. He could have stopped the protesters because rules at the time were in place. He could have stopped the protesters by calling the police and National Guard right away. COVID-19 was running rampant in our state while our governor stood by doing nothing. Suddenly, the streets of Minneapolis were filled with raging rioters. We watched in horror as building after building were set afire.

After the rioting began, Gov. Walz appeared on national TV saying he couldn’t do anything about the rioting. Did he once think of marshal law? It seems the other big cities could do the same — Portland, Seattle. Where is the media? Who did this?

Joe Biden comes on national TV saying all who were in Washington, D.C., were terrorists. The truth is grandmothers and grandfathers using canes and walkers and families with children were there. If we don’t have a Capitol, the safest place on earth, where do we go to voice our differences? Police are defunded, and we don’t have the media behind us to tell the truth. We don’t have Twitter, etc. They are trying to shut Trump down, block him for saying the truth, and other countries are laughing at us. Are we going to be like other countries who have lost their freedom of speech?

During the inauguration of Trump, the women’s march took place. These attacks were echoed in massive street demonstrations, organized and funded by core Democratic groups who chanted, “Trump is not my president.” Claims by celebrity speakers to blow up the White House were also given at the Million Women’s March.

The House of Representatives’ impeachment regarding the Russian collusion has proved nothing. Now that there’s a second call for impeachment with nine days until Trump is out of office, how much money has been spent on impeachment while citizens are suffering from COVID-19 and loss of jobs?

Where is the information of Joe Biden and his son Hunter getting money from China? Where’s free speech? Please pray for our nation.

Mavis Jacobs Hanson

Albert Lea