by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News

I have been vehemently attacked and criticized by some people for daring to publish critical articles about the Sound of Freedom movie, especially the article about the people who funded the movie. See:

Sound of Freedom Movie Allegedly Funded by Billionaire Philanthropists with Ties to Human Trafficking

A Kevin J wrote this comment about that article:

What a ridiculous article. Conclusions are based on “allegedly” and “might’ have ties to this or that, and guilt-by-association darts. So a guy who “allegedly” helped fund the film (in other words, rumor has it) might have ties to cartels and the Clintons. No evidence anywhere this guy helped fund the movie.

But the source for this funding is Tim Ballard himself, who stated who was funding the movie in an interview in Utah 5 years ago on Fox News. Here is the clip from Fox 13 News in Utah. The original interview is here.

This same local news outlet, Fox 13 News Utah, also reported in 2020 that Tim Ballard’s organization, Operation Underground Railroad, was under criminal investigation for its fundraising methods.

 

Some people have also attacked me for referring to Sound of Freedom as a fictional movie, and not a documentary.

But again, the source of this information is Tim Ballard himself, who put up a page on the Operation Underground Railroad website stating that the movie was “based on a true story,” but that many parts of the movie never happened and were fictional.

Sound of Freedom: Based on A True Story (Except for the Parts That Aren’t) 

Why did Tim Ballard wait until the week before the movie appeared in theaters on July 4th to publish this, when for years he gave interviews about the movie portraying it as a true story leading people to believe it was like a documentary?

Tim Ballard no Longer Works for Operation Underground Railroad

Also, why did Tim Ballard walk away from his $525,958.00 a year salary as the CEO and founder of Operation Underground Railroad just before the film was released on the Big Screen?

Tim Ballard, subject of ‘Sound of Freedom’ movie, has ‘stepped away’ from trafficking org, reports say

A man at the center of a film currently making waves in theaters has apparently left the human trafficking organization that made him famous.

Operation Underground Railroad confirmed to FOX8 Thursday that Tim Ballard was no longer working with the organization. According to VICE News reporters Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman, Ballard had told at least one donor that he had been “forced out.”

OUR said in a statement:

Founder, Tim Ballard has recently stepped away from Operation Underground Railroad prior to launch of the film, “Sound of Freedom”.

We continue to pursue O.U.R.’s core mission.  We are excited that many are learning about the organization and its rescue operations and are seeking ways to support it.  We believe there remains a tremendous amount of work yet to do and are hopeful that others will continue to support O.U.R.’s efforts to grow our resources and stop child trafficking.

VICE notes that Ballard had not mentioned stepping away from OUR during his press tour promoting the movie with Caviezel. OUR’s website also does not have an announcement or release about his departure, with a press release dated June 8 referring to Ballard as “Operation Underground Railroad’s Tim Ballard.” (Full article.)

Only the “Leftist, Godless” Media Criticizes Sound of Freedom??

The predominant narrative in the Right-wing Christian media is that only the “godless, leftist” media is criticizing the Sound of Freedom movie.

This is the advantage of having a culture like American culture divided between “Left” and “Right” politics, because then the other side can continually criticize the other half of the country for everything that is wrong by blaming them.

This is what Tim Ballard stated in a rant recently:

 

 

It will never cease to amaze me how far the godless, leftist media will go to run interference for human traffickers. They’re throwing everything at me right now.

I just saw a post that seems to be trending in certain places saying that I am in favor of putting micro chips in children.

It’s complete baloney. I’ve never weighed in on that, I’ve never said anything, and in fact I am against anything that would allow the government or others to control children.

I did a search in the corporate media to see if any of them were making that claim, because the corporate media in general would endorse something like micro chipping children, rather than oppose it, and I could not find any reference to chipping children in the “leftist, godless” media attributed to Tim Ballard.

However, there is a video being circulated right now by naturopathic Dr. Amanda Vollmer addressing this topic, and she most certainly is not part of the “godless, leftist media,” as she gained a strong following during the COVID scamdemic for pointing out the fraud being committed by COVID and their “vaccines,” and she is obviously part of the Alternative Media.

Here is her video (opinions her own):

So it appears that a cult following is developing in the Right Wing media regarding the Sound of Freedom film, with the propaganda being propagated that only the “leftist, godless” media is criticizing the film, and this is resulting in several people taking time to email me as well and attack me, while offering no critical evaluations on the facts that I have actually published.

Here is a headline from an article that was in my newsfeed today:

Journalists Attacking The Film ‘Sound Of Freedom’ Should Have Their Hard Drives Investigated

There is no question that almost every detail in Sound Of Freedom is real. Any media outlet that says otherwise is lying, and the fact that they are attempting to sow seeds of doubt about the legitimacy of Tim Ballard based on politics is villainous. (Source.)

Of course this is the same writer who wrote last month that all “Leftists” should be locked in “mental asylums” to clean up our “liberal cities.” (But I thought censorship only happened in the “Left” media??)

How To Solve Violence In The US? Remove Democrat Run Cities And Bring Back Asylums.

The solution is simple and two-fold: Get rid of leftist leaders in major cities that set violent repeat offenders free, and bring back mental health facilities to lock up the crazies if necessary. This is the ONLY WAY to stop the avalanche of violent crime that awaits Americans as the next few years unfold. (Full article.)

This is the crazy kind of diatribe being published in the Right Wing media right now, as they condemn people in the Alternative Media who, like myself, have actually watched the film and have given honest critiques, stating that this fictional dramatization does nothing to actually stop child trafficking. See:

Sound of Freedom Film Falls Short of Revealing Who are the Ones Trafficking Children and How to Stop It

Some of the REAL alleged victims of child sex trafficking are also starting to speak out.

 

Here are some other critical commentaries on the Sound of Freedom movie that are most certainly NOT from the “Leftist” media.

O.U.R. Quietly Exposes Tim Ballard’s Big Lie

THE TIM BALLARD RABBIT HOLE

Jim Caviezel: “God’s children are not for sale.” But he Bought 3 of Them from China…

As I have documented for the past decade, the #1 pipeline for child trafficking inside the United States is through the lucrative foster care and adoption industries.

And the main organizations that are funding and supporting this Satanic system that trafficks children, are American Christians.

The Christian Right is the main source of publishing propaganda that there are “millions of orphans” worldwide that need “forever homes”, and that to be truly “pro-life” one MUST adopt children, and THIS is what supports the child trafficking through foster care and adoption.

This is the “elephant in the room” that nobody on the Christian Right wants to talk about.

If you are new to this topic, here are some previous articles we have published exposing this evil:

New Mexico Foster Parent Confesses Guilt of Sexually Abusing Children for Years but Does No Jail Time, 8-Year-Old Girl Awarded $485 Million

How the Christian Church and U.S. Government Work Together to Traffick Children Worldwide Through the Lucrative Adoption Business

Christian Churches Redefine the Meaning of “Orphan” to Justify Participating in Child Trafficking

Child Kidnapping and Trafficking: A Lucrative U.S. Business Funded by Taxpayers Called “Foster Care”

The most often quoted statistics used by Christians regarding orphans seem to be based on a quote attributed to Christian singer and songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman.

The claim is that there are 163 million orphans worldwide that need adoptive parents.

However, this number comes from UNICEF, and UNICEF categorizes a child as an “orphan” if the child has lost just one parent.

The typical, historical definition of “orphan” has always been a child who has NO parents. Using this definition, the number drops significantly, and even then, the absence of both parents does not mean the child has no family.

The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism explains:

UNICEF’s statement that there are 163 million orphans worldwide has been widely misinterpreted as meaning that 163 million children are in need of new adoptive families. Many Westerners imagine that a significant number of these adoptable children are healthy infants and toddlers.

But it’s not so. UNICEF’s statistic includes what it calls “single orphans”—children who have lost one parent. As of 2007, roughly 18.5 million of these “orphans” had lost both parents. That is, of course, still a heartbreakingly large number.

However, most of those are living with extended family, and are not in need of adoption, or are older than five, sick, or disabled in some way. As UNICEF’s statement puts it, “Evidence clearly shows that the vast majority of orphans are living with a surviving parent, grandparent, or other family member. 95 per cent of all orphans are over the age of five.”

Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife started their adoption agency in 2002, Show Hope, which, according to their tax returns, brings in yearly revenues exceeding $10 million.

According to the Adoption Network:

About 135,000 children are adopted in the United States each year. Of non-stepparent adoptions, about 59% are from the child welfare (or foster) system, 26% are from other countries, and 15% are voluntarily relinquished American babies.

So the true number of needy children who have actually been abandoned by their parents, is just over 20,000. The rest are taken away from their parents, either through the foster care system or overseas adoption agencies, mostly against the will of their parents.

According to the Adoption Network:

There are no national statistics on how many people are waiting to adopt, but experts estimate it is somewhere between one and two million couples. Every year there are about 1.3 million abortions. Only 4% of women with unwanted pregnancies place their children through adoption.

In other words, there is no orphan crisis today.

In fact, due to all-time highs in rates of infertility, and the increase of gay marriages, there are not enough available babies to meet the demand of childless couples.

There are no “unwanted babies” today. There are some babies who are not wanted by their birth mothers, but they are wanted by somebody, as trafficking children is probably the most profitable business in the world today, and as infertility rates and gay marriages increase, the value of these children is also skyrocketing.

So it is time to define “child trafficking” correctly, rather than let a Hollywood fictionalized film define it for us. Most children today are trafficked through adoption and foster care, and therefore the people who participate in this evil system are also “traffickers.”

I realize that many Christians are probably fostering and adopting children with good intentions and have been deceived into thinking that “child trafficking” does not involve adoption and foster care, but ignorance is no excuse.

But examine all things; hold fast to what is good. Stay away from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

And this includes Tim Ballard and Jim Caviezel, both of whom have adopted children.

Tim Ballard and Angel Studios are part of the Mormon Church, and Jim Caviezel is a “devout Catholic”, and both of these religions have strong connections to child sex abuse and trafficking.

Is the Mormon Church Behind a Worldwide Child Sex Trafficking Ring Operating out of Arizona?

The Catholic Church and Pedophilia: Trafficking Children as Sex Slaves

I am not implying that the Ballards or Caviezels have participated in child sex trafficking, but they have participated in the systems that allow it to happen, and they have done nothing to address these child trafficking enterprises that operate right here in the U.S.

The Ballards adopted their children from Haiti, where children are often trafficked through adoptions. See:

The Rich and Powerful in The U.S. Profit from Child Trafficking with the Help of Christian Groups

The Caviezels adopted their children from China, where child trafficking through adoptions is well documented. (Mostly from the “Left” media since the “Christian Right” will not touch this subject.)

Kidnapped and Sold: Inside the Dark World of Child Trafficking in China

China’s Adoption Scandal Sends Chills Through Families in U.S.

So while Jim Caviezel has made famous the statement “God’s children are not for sale” in promoting the Sound of Freedom film, he actually purchased three of them from China, where the average cost to adopt a child is between $26,900 and $37,407 per child. (Source.)

What Happens to the “Rescued” Children?

When the Right Wing media interviews Ballard and Caviezel regarding child trafficking, they are usually not asking the right questions.

For example, when Operation Underground Railroad allegedly rescues children who are trafficked, what do they do with them?

In the interview from 5 years ago on Fox 13 in Utah, this question was actually asked.

Listen to the response which is at the 20:37 mark in the video:

 

What is the plan to heal them permanently?

And that’s where we come in, we have our aftercare department and we start planning that first.

Because if we can’t figure that out, we’re not going to do the rescue operation.

When you take these kids in, it’s not just a short time. This is a lifetime potential. We’re prepared to take these kids and put them in a place where they can heal for years and years until they’re ready to stand on their own.

We can’t assume that there’s parents waiting to receive them, because generally that’s not going to happen.

Because there was no family, that’s why they got into this.

In other words, they do NOT try to reunite the children with their families, as they just “assume” that their families didn’t want them, which in many cases is not true.

And of course to take care of children “for years and years” is going to create some jobs for people who take care oftraffick these children.

Sounds just like the foster care and adoption industry to me.

I did a search on the Operation Underground Railroad website to try and learn more about this “aftercare department” that they run.

One of the links that turned up in the search was “Challenges in Placing Children in Aftercare“, but it turned up as a “Page not Found” error: “We are very Sorry, the page has been deleted.”

But I found it on Archive.org:

Recently, three little kids under the age of eight were rescued by government officials in Latin America. O.U.R. had spent time with these government officials before the rescue to provide training for rescue operations.

In this specific case, these three children were placed in a government shelter after the rescue. The O.U.R. team is working hard to collaborate with the government to move these children to a shelter with more resources to provide for their future. These are some of the challenges that come with placing survivors in aftercare homes, and some of it is out of our control.

So the Latin American government that allegedly allowed the children to be trafficked in the first place, received the “rescued” children after O.U.R.’s operation, which apparently was only to “assist” the government officials.

That sounds just like the children from Latin America coming across the border with their traffickers who are then “rescued” by the U.S. Government and then put into the lucrative foster care system where they are trafficked further.

California Foster Parents Being Asked to Take in “26 or more” Migrant Children from the Border – “I Consider it Human Trafficking”

For those of you in the alternative media covering this story, here’s a novel idea.

How about you research what is happening to these “rescued children” who are victims of child sex trafficking by groups like O.U.R., rather than attacking those of us who are publishing the truth about child sex trafficking and where it is really happening right here in the United States?

https://healthimpactnews.com/2023/sound-of-freedom-a-movie-about-child-trafficking-produced-by-child-traffickers/