Posted on 07/17/2023 5:21:51 PM PDT by Twotone
Sound of Freedom stars Jim Caviezel as Tim Ballard, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security who sets out to save children from sex trafficking rings. The 2023 action film has become a surprise hit at the box office after generating $14 million during its opening day on July 4, and it has continued to stand its ground against competing movies like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Insidious: The Red Door. A lot of Sound of Freedom's success relates to the fact that it claims to be based on a true story, so the elements of the movie are all the more shocking.
Sound of Freedom stars Jim Caviezel as Tim Ballard, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security who sets out to save children from sex trafficking rings. The 2023 action film has become a surprise hit at the box office after generating $14 million during its opening day on July 4, and it has continued to stand its ground against competing movies like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Insidious: The Red Door. A lot of Sound of Freedom's success relates to the fact that it claims to be based on a true story, so the elements of the movie are all the more shocking.
Tim Ballard is a real person who quit his job with the Department of Homeland Security to track down a missing child who had been kidnapped by sex traffickers. His mission led him to Colombia, where, with the help of the police, he saved numerous children from a trafficking ring, as depicted in the film. Following the release of Sound of Freedom, some fans wonder what happened to Ballard following the operation in Colombia and what he is up to nowadays.
In 2013, Tim Ballard founded Operation Underground Railroad (O.U.R.), a United States-based non-profit organization that works to end sex trafficking. Ballard decided to continue what he set out to do in Colombia and became a full-time anti-sex trafficking activist. According to O.U.R.'s website, the organization has impacted more than 7,000 lives, been involved in more than 6,500 arrests, and conducted more than 4,000 operations. O.U.R. oversees numerous missions to save children and others from human sex trafficking in the United States and sometimes other countries, which was made possible thanks to Ballard.
After Tim Ballard returned from his mission in Colombia and founded Operation Underground Railroad, he testified before the United States Congress regarding matters of sex trafficking in 2015. Ballard wanted to make it easier for United States officials to conduct operations in other countries to save victims of sex trafficking. Ballard had to quit his job because it was difficult for him, as a Department of Homeland agent, to operate on foreign land.
Partly thanks to his testimonies before Congress, the government passed laws that require United States officials to cooperate with other countries on sex trafficking investigations. At least, that is what the epilogue in Sound of Freedom claims. Ballard shared his experiences with sex trafficking cases during the congressional hearing, which the committee undoubtedly took into consideration and held in high regard given his expertise on paper.
While Donald Trump was President of the United States, he appointed Tim Ballard as a member of the White House Public-Private Partnership Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking in 2019. He, along with Kevin P. Malone, Kristin Weis, Linda Smith, Diana Mao, Bruce Deel, Teresa Lynn Davidson, Jennifer Jensen, and Sandra L. Morgan, were among those to join the Council. The appointment included a two-year term, which ended early when the Council was terminated under the terms of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2017. So the Council is no longer in service as of September 30, 2020.
Before the Sound of Freedom cast and crew recreated Tim Ballard's story for the big screen, three documentaries were made about his life. The first one was released in 2016 and was called The Abolitionists. Darrin Fletcher and Chet Thomas directed the documentary, which featured footage from one of Operation Underground Railroad's sting operations in Columbia, led by Ballard. Following the release of the documentary, the filmmakers decided to continue their project as a television series and produced seven episodes that each focused on different sex trafficking operations.
The second documentary about Ballard's story, Operation Toussaint, came out in 2018. Nick Nanton directed Operation Toussaint, which documented an undercover mission, run by Ballard and O.U.R., to bring down a sex trafficking ring in Haiti. The third and final documentary, Operation Triple Take, was released in 2020 and directed by Nanton. So with three documentaries and one feature film about his life out in the world, Ballard is in the spotlight more than ever before.
While Tim Ballard has plenty of media exposure in 2023, not all of it has been good. The release of Sound of Freedom has made a few controversies from Ballard's past resurface, including allegations against his non-profit, Operation Underground Railroad. The Attorney's Office of Davis County in Utah opened an investigation into O.U.R. following a series of complaints in October 2020. Some alleged that the organization engaged in illegal fundraising opportunities. Ultimately, the Davis County Attorney's Office never filed any charges and closed the case in March 2023.
Aside from legal troubles, Ballard and O.U.R. have been the subject of many claims that the non-profit falsifies its data regarding the number of children it has saved. The organization has also been scrutinized for its methods, with some criticizing its members for unethical practices. Plus, some believe that most of Ballard's story is a fabrication. Overall, the more one digs into Ballard's past and the actions of O.U.R., the more troubling and confusing the truths and lies get.
According to Vice, Tim Ballard stepped away from Operation Underground Railroad shortly before Sound of Freedom was released in theaters on July 4, 2023. His separation from the anti-sex trafficking non-profit organization was done quietly, which is why the news didn't come out until a week following the movie's premiere. The reasoning behind Ballard's leave is unclear as of the writing of this article, but one account of the situation asserts that he had been pushed out of O.U.R. by the other board members. Another one claims that Ballard is focusing on his other organization, the Nazarene Fund, which works to rescue religious minorities in Middle East countries.
Whatever the case, Ballard is no longer involved with the non-profit organization that he started in 2013. He has not commented on the matter since he has been more concerned with promoting his new film that claims to document his life story. Only time will tell what Tim Ballard does next following the success of Sound of Freedom.
Oops. Didn’t catch the duplicated paragraph at the top. Rats!
No good deed goes unpunished in Leftist America.
If you thought the current allegations of Ballard being tied to Q-Anon were crazy, then read this article and see that they think Ballard is a complete fraud and has ties to White Supremacists and Mormons.
This is a strange site. It has a lot of info on OUR and Ballard, and then a motley collection of information on a few other crimes and maybe quite a bit on the Freeway Killer, who was executed in 1996.
Sarah Little is a journalist and the founder of More to Her Story, a global platform and initiative that amplifies the voices, stories, and ideas of young women and girls. She is the youngest fellow at Babson College’s Institute for Social Innovation, where she works to advance UN Global Goal 5: Gender Equality. She is a regular contributor to international media outlets, where she writes about women and girls worldwide. She is the host of More to Her Story: The Podcast, a monthly podcast featuring global thought leaders, activists, and young people advancing gender equity.
Journalist, Freelance
Amman, London, Middle East, New York Politics, World
As seen in: Medium, VICE, VICE Australia, The New England Journal of Medicine, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Thrive Global, wilsoncenter.org
Covers: Women's issues, Human Rights, Conflict/Terrorism, Middle East
Saw him on either Newsmax or Faux Snooze last week. So he appears to be making the rounds.
Yeah. It’s a poison pill article.
Pedophile Cabal strikes back!
Also , he was requested to take on the operation operated by the CIA in Columbia. The first video he saw made him violently ill, and he questioned if he could even do it. He has 6 or 7 children himself. He was approaching his retirement when the CIA stopped the operation.
He went to his wife & said I can't stop yet, there are more children that need to be saved. She told him he must do what he must do.
This is what I remember when Tim Ballard appeared on Steve Bannon's war Room podcast, prior to the July 4th opening of the film.
He alluded to another project in the works but I don't remember him talking about it at all, with any details
That’s some real professional journalism right there.
The only thing easily checked is that a DA dropped a case based on allegations.
Several ‘claims’ and ‘some claim’ with nothing to support her slant.
If he made false claims, show the evidence. If critics have a basis for their claims, show the evidence.
Thanks for this link. I’m trying to wade thru it, but it looks like a lot of allegations & guilt by association. What did you make of it?
What did you make of it?
_________________________
An amateurish hit piece. Just somewhat better than current supporters of sex with children who are tearing apart ‘Sound of Freedom’.
Good. Lots of innuendo. But sometimes that’s enough for people to cause people to back away.
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