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Woman who helped kidnap Elizabeth Smart released from prison

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DRAPER, Utah — A woman who helped kidnap Elizabeth Smart when she was a teenager and stood by as the Utah girl was sexually assaulted was released Wednesday after spending 15 years in prison.

Wanda Barzee, 72, quietly left the state prison in the Salt Lake City suburb of Draper, avoiding a throng of reporters gathered outside, spokeswoman Kaitlin Felsted said. She did not disclose where Barzee was going.

Her release followed a surprise announcement last week that Utah authorities had miscalculated the amount of time Barzee should spend behind bars.

Smart, now 30, has said she was shocked and disappointed by the move and hopes Barzee will be closely watched and given treatment.

Smart has recalled some of the horrors she experienced as a 14-year-old when she was snatched from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 by Barzee’s then-husband, street preacher Brian David Mitchell. He entered the house through an open kitchen window in the kidnapping that triggered fear around the country.

Smart said last week that Barzee saw her as a slave during the nine months she was held by the couple and encouraged Mitchell to rape her.

“So do I believe she’s dangerous? Yes,” Smart said.

Her father Ed Smart said Wednesday that he’s glad Barzee will be watched over closely by federal agents during her five years of supervised release, but he’s concerned about reports that she still believes Mitchell’s ideas.

Mitchell’s so-called divine revelations prompted her to help kidnap his daughter and even sit next to her as Mitchell raped her, so he’s worried Barzee remains capable of abusing another child.

“My hope is that she won’t be a problem,” he said. “I think the way she treated Elizabeth was such that she doesn’t seem to have any psychic impairment, and I just don’t want to see her abuse some other child.”

Smart, now a married mother and activist for victims’ rights, posted on Instagram over the weekend that she’s fearful of Barzee and has taken precautions but refuses to let her release disrupt the life she’s built.

“I lived in absolute fear and terror for nine months, no matter the outcome I will not do so again,” Smart wrote.

As a condition of her release, Barzee was placed on the Utah sex offender registry, but her address was listed online Wednesday as the Utah prison. Authorities did not immediately return messages seeking details on when the information would be updated.

Barzee’s attorney, Scott Williams, has said his client has been diagnosed with several mental illnesses, but he’s not concerned about her being a danger to the community.

Federal agents have said Barzee won’t be homeless but declined to say whether she will live in a private home or a facility. Her mug shot on the sex-offender registry shows her with a wide smile, blue eyes and chin-length grey hair.

Barzee’s niece Tina Mace said her aunt’s testimony against Mitchell seemed like a turning point, but her mental state appears to have changed in prison. Mace said she’s unaware of any family members who would give Barzee a place to live.

Barzee will be under federal supervision for five years. She could be returned to prison if she violates terms that include mental health treatment and an order against contacting Smart and her family.

Smart was found while walking with Barzee and Mitchell on a street in suburban Sandy by people who recognized the abductors from media reports.

Mitchell is serving a life sentence after being convicted of kidnapping and raping Smart.

Barzee was treated at Utah State Hospital for about five years following her arrest. She testified in 2010 against Mitchell and was given a plea deal on state and federal charges. She was transferred to the Utah prison in 2016 after finishing a federal sentence in Texas.

The Utah Board of Pardons and Parole initially set a 2024 release date after Barzee decided against attending her own parole hearing in June. Her attorney questioned then whether the term included time Barzee had served in a federal prison. The board decided last week that she had served her sentence.

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Associated Press writer Russ Contreras in Albuquerque, New Mexico contributed to this report

Lindsay Whitethurst, The Associated Press

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Kananaskis G7 meeting the right setting for U.S. and Canada to reassert energy ties

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Energy security, resilience and affordability have long been protected by a continentally integrated energy sector.

The G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, offers a key platform to reassert how North American energy cooperation has made the U.S. and Canada stronger, according to a joint statement from The Heritage Foundation, the foremost American conservative think tank, and MEI, a pan-Canadian research and educational policy organization.

“Energy cooperation between Canada, Mexico and the United States is vital for the Western World’s energy security,” says Diana Furchtgott-Roth, director of the Center for Energy, Climate and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, and one of America’s most prominent energy experts. “Both President Trump and Prime Minister Carney share energy as a key priority for their respective administrations.

She added, “The G7 should embrace energy abundance by cooperating and committing to a rapid expansion of energy infrastructure. Members should commit to streamlined permitting, including a one-stop shop permitting and environmental review process, to unleash the capital investment necessary to make energy abundance a reality.”

North America’s energy industry is continentally integrated, benefitting from a blend of U.S. light crude oil and Mexican and Canadian heavy crude oil that keeps the continent’s refineries running smoothly.

Each day, Canada exports 2.8 million barrels of oil to the United States.

These get refined into gasoline, diesel and other higher value-added products that furnish the U.S. market with reliable and affordable energy, as well as exported to other countries, including some 780,000 barrels per day of finished products that get exported to Canada and 1.08 million barrels per day to Mexico.

A similar situation occurs with natural gas, where Canada ships 8.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day to the United States through a continental network of pipelines.

This gets consumed by U.S. households, as well as transformed into liquefied natural gas products, of which the United States exports 11.5 billion cubic feet per day, mostly from ports in Louisiana, Texas and Maryland.

“The abundance and complementarity of Canada and the United States’ energy resources have made both nations more prosperous and more secure in their supply,” says Daniel Dufort, president and CEO of the MEI. “Both countries stand to reduce dependence on Chinese and Russian energy by expanding their pipeline networks – the United States to the East and Canada to the West – to supply their European and Asian allies in an increasingly turbulent world.”

Under this scenario, Europe would buy more high-value light oil from the U.S., whose domestic needs would be back-stopped by lower-priced heavy oil imports from Canada, whereas Asia would consume more LNG from Canada, diminishing China and Russia’s economic and strategic leverage over it.

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The MEI is an independent public policy think tank with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary. Through its publications, media appearances, and advisory services to policymakers, the MEI stimulates public policy debate and reforms based on sound economics and entrepreneurship.

As the nation’s largest, most broadly supported conservative research and educational institution, The Heritage Foundation has been leading the American conservative movement since our founding in 1973. The Heritage Foundation reaches more than 10 million members, advocates, and concerned Americans every day with information on critical issues facing America.

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Poilievre on 2025 Election Interference – Carney sill hasn’t fired Liberal MP in Chinese election interference scandal

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From Conservative Party Communications

Yes. He must be disqualified. I find it incredible that Mark Carney would allow someone to run for his party that called for a Canadian citizen to be handed over to a foreign government on a bounty, a foreign government that would almost certainly execute that Canadian citizen.

 

“Think about that for a second. We have a Liberal MP saying that a Canadian citizen should be handed over to a foreign dictatorship to get a bounty so that that citizen could be murdered. And Mark Carney says he should stay on as a candidate. What does that say about whether Mark Carney would protect Canadians?

“Mark Carney is deeply conflicted. Just in November, he went to Beijing and secured a quarter-billion-dollar loan for his company from a state-owned Chinese bank. He’s deeply compromised, and he will never stand up for Canada against any foreign regime. It is another reason why Mr. Carney must show us all his assets, all the money he owes, all the money that his companies owe to foreign hostile regimes. And this story might not be entirely the story of the bounty, and a Liberal MP calling for a Canadian to be handed over for execution to a foreign government might not be something that the everyday Canadian can relate to because it’s so outrageous. But I ask you this, if Mark Carney would allow his Liberal MP to make a comment like this, when would he ever protect Canada or Canadians against foreign hostility?

“He has never put Canada first, and that’s why we cannot have a fourth Liberal term. After the Lost Liberal Decade, our country is a playground for foreign interference. Our economy is weaker than ever before. Our people more divided. We need a change to put Canada first with a new government that will stand up for the security and economy of our citizens and take back control of our destiny. Let’s bring it home.”

 

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