The Sound of Freedom

[kbutton]

1 minute ago, KSera said:

Here’s a link in Forbes, but it’s not a particularly detailed story: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/07/11/box-office-hit-sound-of-freedom-controversy-including-qanon-ties-and-false-claims-theaters-are-sabotaging-screenings-explained/?sh=32da3f4b688c

There’s a Washington post piece as well, but I don’t know how that hits with your audience. I prefer mediabiasfactcheck.com for reliability ratings, and it has Forbes and the Washington Post about equal, but Forbes is right leaning so sometimes that’s helpful. The Rolling Stone is actually higher on the factual scale though. 
 

Thanks, I will take a look!

I have a WaPo subscription, but I don't know if that would be read or not, and I guess I haven't caught their article(s) yet. Things move around in priority on their app quickly. 

I usually look at both Ad Fontes and the mediabiasfactcheck.com both. But I think most of the people I know would completely discount The Rolling Stone. 

[Corraleno]

23 minutes ago, kbutton said:

Anybody have sources for this that are a little higher rated on the Ad Fontes media chart? 

No one I know talking about the film will read the sources linked here, and I would prefer to see something higher on the chart. Right or left doesn't matter much to me, but sources with higher ratings on reliability would make me feel like sharing might do some actual good. Slate's ratings are probably because of commentary (they don't fall below the "good" threshhold), but I would like to be able to point to good ratings that don't need any nuanced explanation when I share it.

 

This article in Foreign Policy confirms all the details of the article in Slate written by Meg Conley. It also mentions the raid in Acapulco that was funded by some rich guy in the US who got to watch it live, like a reality TV show. That raid "rescued" 2 girls, one of whom turned out not to be a minor. They spent a huge amount of money, got lots of video and PR, and the end result was that they claim to have helped one teen (who may not have been "trafficked") to move to Mexico City and study cosmetology. The article confirms that the 26 girls who were supposedly rescued in the Dominican Republic raid — some of whom had been imported from quite a distance just for the sting party — were all released and did not get the aftercare they were supposed to get; Ballard told police he wanted a "quick wrap up" and his crew left the next day.

It also discusses the deeper problems with the vigilante approach and describes how badly things went in SE Asia when a group came in and started "rescuing" girls, who often ended up much worse off. I was in Cambodia in 2001 and am quite familiar with the disastrous "rescues" by that group — after triumphantly returning the "rescued" girls to their families, most were immediately resold to traffickers and brothels by families who were delighted by the opportunity to charge twice for the same product. And as the article mentions, it seriously damaged programs run by local NGOs who had been working with brothels on HIV education, because the traffickers wrongly believed the NGOs had cooperated with the raids.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/07/22/the-new-abolitionists-mexico-dominican-republic-human-trafficking-mormon-our/

[Pawz4me]

38 minutes ago, kbutton said:

 

I have a WaPo subscription, but I don't know if that would be read or not, and I guess I haven't caught their article(s) yet. Things move around in priority on their app quickly. 

 

If you search the name of the movie on their site the story should come up. I was going to post it for you (gift link), but if you can get it yourself I'll save one of my giftables. I can post the link if anyone else wants to read it, but I don't think there's anything in it that hasn't been in one of the other articles linked in this thread.

[Corraleno]

Here is the best example I can find of Tim Ballard telling absolutely blatant lies which are contradicted by totally reputable sources (including the officers who actually made the arrest he claims to have been involved in). This is the story Ballard tells as the "origin story" of OUR and why he dedicated himself to rescuing  trafficked children. You can hear him tell the story in his own words on this Lewis Howes podcast, starting at 9:30, but here is a summary: 

He says he was assigned to a child trafficking unit as part of Homeland Security in southern California, and as part of his job he was given videos of trafficked children. In 2006, he rescued a little 5 yr old boy from a trafficker named Earl Buchanon after recognizing the boy from one of the videos. The boy instinctively knew that he (TIm) was one of the good guys and ran into his arms. The boy spoke perfect English because he was kidnapped as an infant. He told Tim "I don't belong here." Then he gave Tim a necklace that his sister had given him (despite him having been kidnapped as a baby??), and Tim promised he would also save the boy's sister. He then rescued 11-12 kids from Buchanon's "compound," including the sister.

Here are the actual facts: Earl Buchanon was arrested by Border Patrol agents as he was returning from Mexico with a 5 yr old boy for whom he could not provide a birth certificate or ID. Agents then proceeded to search his van and discovered a video camera and video of Buchanon molesting the boy, and he was arrested. Tim Ballard was not present at any time during the arrest, and could not have 'recognized" the child from videos of trafficked children because the child was never "missing," Buchanon was a close friend of the boy's grandmother, and the grandmother often allowed Buchanon to take the boy on trips. The reason he spoke perfect English is because he is a US citizen who grew up in CA. The boy's 12 yr old sister also lived with the grandmother, was never kidnapped or trafficked, and she said she had avoided being molested by Buchanon. There was never any magic necklace as a sign from God that this was his destiny; there was no search for the sister who was home with her grandmother when Buchanon was arrested; there was no "compound," just Buchanon's house. Buchanon did have a room in his house where he molested (and filmed) other children, but none of those children were kidnapped or trafficked either — like most pedophiles, Buchanon had groomed the children he molested with gifts and trips. 

Literally every single aspect of the story Ballard tells about why he felt called to quit his job and devote his life to "rescuing" trafficked children is a demonstrable lie, other than the fact that a man named Earl Buchanon was arrested, convicted, and sentenced for molesting a 5 yr old boy in 2006. Note that one of Ballard's many fundraising schemes has been selling replicas of the imaginary "necklace" he supposedly received from the little boy in this ever-so-touching story.

This story in the San Diego Union (not paywalled) describes Buchanon's arrest, and confirms that the sister, which Ballard dramatically claims to have rescued from Buchanon's compound along with a dozen other children, was living with her grandmother in CA at the time. There is also a story in the LA Times about the arrest but it's paywalled and I don't have a subscription.

Here are copies of the reports filed by the officers who arrested him, showing that he was arrested in his van at the border (no compound raid) by Border Patrol agents; notice that there is no mention whatsoever of Tim Ballard:

Edited July 13, 2023 by Corraleno

[Corraleno]

Interview on Fox News where Ballard calls criticism of his film "sick" and "grotesque" and suggests that the only possible reason anyone would criticize it is that they support pedophiles and sex trafficking:

The former DHS investigator emphasized that every child and villain represented in the movie were based on actual events, calling it "sick" for people to come out against the film and compare it to conspiracies. "This is just some other agenda, who would want to get the backs or run interference for pedophiles and human traffickers? That's the more important question in all this. Why would you want to lie to push an agenda whose goal is to have children be in captivity? It's kind of sick," said Ballard.
.....

Ballard responded to co-host Brian Kilmeade who called the criticisms "bizarre" and said it makes critics sound "like they are pro-sex trafficking." "That's how it feels to me. It feels like there's some other agenda, because why do this?" Ballard added.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/man-inspired-sound-freedom-hits-back-cnn-reporters-grotesque-criticism

[livetoread]

And now Ballard is no longer with OUR. Gotta be an interesting story there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/07/13/sound-of-freedom-tim-ballard-operation-underground-railroad-trump/

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by livetoread

[Corraleno]

In 2020, the Davis County Attorney's office began investigating OUR based on complaints of communications fraud, witness tampering and retaliation against a witness. The prosecutor made it clear that the issue was an organization claiming to take credit for trafficking arrests that they had no role in, along with forcing witnesses and others to sign NDAs to prevent them from discussing OUR. Here is a report from Fox News on the beginning of the investigation: https://www.fox13now.com/news/fox-13-investigates/anti-human-trafficking-group-operation-underground-railroad-under-investigation-by-utah-prosecutor

This investigation was recently closed without charges, a decision based in part on "information from the Utah Attorney General's office" as well as "the current prosecutorial priorities of the Davis County Attorney’s Office.”  In short, they said they do "not believe that the decision to pursue charges against O.U.R. or any individuals associated with O.U.R. is prudent." Source: https://www.deseret.com/utah/2023/5/12/23717081/davis-county-attorneys-office-closes-investigation-into-operation-underground-railroad

Coincidentally, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes is a huge fan of Tim Ballard, serves on the board of OUR, and played an integral role in Ballard's sting operation in Columbia, saying "The stories of the lives of these children we are going to save hopefully will touch the hearts of others around the world. I don't think there is much else that I have done that has been as gratifying, in a weekend, than going and rescuing little kids."
Source: https://kutv.com/news/local/utah-ag-sean-reyes-takes-part-in-colombian-sex-trafficking-bust

[Chris in VA]

Wow, Corraleno, gotta say your research and posts were excellent. Thank you so much for enlightening us on this situation. 

This sort of evidence-based posting is part of what I miss about these boards!

[Amira]

10 hours ago, livetoread said:

And now Ballard is no longer with OUR. Gotta be an interesting story there.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/07/13/sound-of-freedom-tim-ballard-operation-underground-railroad-trump/

 

This is really interesting (I couldn’t read the article though, since I’m not on my usual computer and can’t remember my WaPo login). OUR’s 2022 tax fillings listed someone else as president (who also earned a cool $500,000 salary), and I wondered if the organizational structure was changing.  OUR posted a fact checker about the movie and it (very gently) contradicts some of what the movie portrays.  I still certainly wouldn’t donate to OUR, but I’ll be watching their financials for the next few years to see what happens.  And the Nazarene Fund’s financials, if they ever start to post them more publicly like they ought to.  Tim Ballard is going to need a new source of income.

If OUR really does feel Tim Ballard is a liability, then they should be more public about this rather than secretly kicking him out and probably hoping that donations would still come in.  

[livetoread]

35 minutes ago, Amira said:

This is really interesting (I couldn’t read the article though, since I’m not on my usual computer and can’t remember my WaPo login).

The article isn't very enlightening. It gives a lot of the info others do while saying they have parted ways.

Guys like this - the ones who play fast and loose with the truth (lie) while gaining fame and fortune - always seem to end up doing something that brings them down. I'd say scandalous, but they do scandalous things all along because they are more important than rules. They just have to do the particular scandalous thing that offends their market for their almost inevitable fall from grace to happen.

[Corraleno]

On 7/9/2023 at 10:21 AM, Brittany1116 said:

I hope millions see it so that they are aware this isn't just an imaginary issue. I hope they are driven to do something.

On 7/9/2023 at 10:35 AM, Loowit said:

I thought the movie was very well done and brought to light a huge issue that has been largely ignored in our society.  He has, with the help of others, rescued thousands of children from horrific conditions.  

On 7/10/2023 at 1:49 PM, DawnM said:

Sex trafficking of children is not a conspiracy theory, it is a fact

Here is the reason that OUR and this movie are so dangerous, even aside from the fact that Ballard's claims to have rescued thousands of children are totally bogus: they completely distort the reality of how, why, and by whom, most sex trafficking occurs, and they do so in a way that is specifically designed to encourage people to donate money to Tim Ballard rather than donate time and money to the real organizations that fight real trafficking. 

Both of the main stories he tells over and over in speeches and interviews — the "rescues" of the girl called "Liliana" and the 5 year old boy and his sister — are not only completely false, they are purposely distorted in a way to make it seem that most sex trafficking is the result of organized cartels kidnapping and selling children.

The true story of "Liliana" is that she was a teen with a troubled family life who was groomed by a man she thought loved her, and at the age of 17 she willingly accompanied him to the US; after they arrived she was forced into prostitution, but was eventually able to escape (on her own, with zero help from OUR). That is by far the most common type of sex trafficking, but obviously that's not a dramatic enough story to prompt the public to donate millions of dollars to OUR, so Ballard "embellished" the story to claim that she was kidnapped by a cartel at the age of 11 and brought into the US and sold to dozens of men every day until OUR rescued her.

The true story of the 5 year old boy and the other children who were molested by Earl Buchanon is that those children were groomed by a pedophile who got access to them from naive parents who trusted him. That is how the vast majority of pedophiles gain access to children, but again that's not a story that will get people to give Tim Ballard millions of dollars, so he fabricated an elaborate story about these children being kidnapped, as young as infants, and held in a compound until he personally rescued them and returned them to their families.

There is no evidence that even the "raids" he conducts in other countries (which he is careful to video from multiple camera angles) involve cartels or organized trafficking groups — OUR is not helping local law enforcement target known traffickers or rescue known missing children, they are going to local bars and brothels asking for underage girls, and in most cases they are snagging low level criminals or pimps who round up some girls for them. The raid in Acapulco "rescued" one adult sex worker and an older teen and arrested a couple of pimps, all for the benefit of a rich donor who paid $40K for the privilege of watching a livestream of the raid. OUR has also claimed that they sometimes "buy" children they believed are trafficked — how can anyone not see that that would create demand for more trafficked children???

Whether the false narrative that Ballard pushes is primarily motivated by his personal desire for money and fame, or because he genuinely believes QAnon conspiracy theories, doesn't change the fact that this narrative does support and promote QAnon claims that children are being kidnapped and trafficked by high-ranking elites in order to obtain "adrenochrome." Ballard can vaguely deny connections to QAnon, but he knows perfectly well that QAnon conspiracy nuts (including the literal star of his movie) are only increasing his fame and donations to his organizations.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Corraleno

[Pam in CT]

re "sex trafficking is real"

Yes.

It is.

 

This is what the vast majority of sex trafficking really looks like:

40 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Here is the reason that OUR and this movie are so dangerous, even aside from the fact that Ballard's claims to have rescued thousands of children are totally bogus: they completely distort the reality of how, why, and by whom, most sex trafficking occurs, and they do so in a way that is specifically designed to encourage people to donate money to Tim Ballard rather than donate time and money to the real organizations that fight real trafficking. 

Both of the main stories he tells over and over in speeches and interviews — the "rescues" of the girl called "Liliana" and the 5 year old boy and his sister — are not only completely false, they are purposely distorted in a way to make it seem that most sex trafficking is the result of organized cartels kidnapping and selling children.

The true story of "Liliana" is that she was a teen with a troubled family life who was groomed by a man she thought loved her, and at the age of 17 she willingly accompanied him to the US; after they arrived she was forced into prostitution, but was eventually able to escape (on her own, with zero help from OUR). That is by far the most common type of sex trafficking, but obviously that's not a dramatic enough story to prompt the public to donate millions of dollars to OUR, so Ballard "embellished" the story to claim that she was kidnapped by a cartel at the age of 11 and brought into the US and sold to dozens of men every day until OUR rescued her.

The true story of the 5 year old boy and the other children who were molested by Earl Buchanon is that those children were groomed by a pedophile who got access to them from naive parents who trusted him. That is how the vast majority of pedophiles gain access to children, but again that's not a story that will get people to give Tim Ballard millions of dollars, so he fabricated an elaborate story about these children being kidnapped, as young as infants, and held in a compound until he personally rescued them and returned them to their families.

There is no evidence that even the "raids" he conducts in other countries (which he is careful to video from multiple camera angles) involve cartels or organized trafficking groups — OUR is not helping local law enforcement target known traffickers or rescue known missing children, they are going to local bars and brothels asking for underage girls, and in most cases they are snagging low level criminals or pimps who round up some girls for them. The raid in Acapulco "rescued" one adult sex worker and an older teen and arrested a couple of pimps, all for the benefit of a rich donor who paid $40K for the privilege of watching a livestream of the raid. OUR has also claimed that they sometimes "buy" children they believed are trafficked — how can anyone not see that that would create demand for more trafficked children???

Whether the false narrative that Ballard pushes is primarily motivated by his personal desire for money and fame, or because he genuinely believes QAnon conspiracy theories, doesn't change the fact that this narrative does support and promote QAnon claims that children are being kidnapped and trafficked by high-ranking elites in order to obtain "adrenochrome." Ballard can vaguely deny connections to QAnon, but he knows perfectly well that QAnon conspiracy nuts (including the literal star of his movie) are only increasing his fame and donations to his organizations.

Troubled teens trusting manipulative men.

Naive parents who entrust their children to untrustworthy men.

Desperate parents who entrust their children to people and places, including "orphanages" to which well-meaning Americans flock to "mission" and from which to adopt "needy" infants, where they genuinely, but wrongly, believe their children will have access to a better life.

Desperate parents who put their children on a bus to escape certain repeated systemic rape at home knowing the risk that they'll be preyed upon throughout the journey and again by corrupt US agents upon arrival.

Less naive parents who accept payment for their children's placement as "house servants" and "farm workers" even though they've heard the stories about what happens to such kids once the agents are out of town.

Parents who knowingly sell some of their children into a life they know will be nasty/brutish/short, in order that one or more siblings have a fighting chance.

 

Follow the money (green).  It always illuminates.

[SeaConquest]

Thank you for this thread. I have been struggling to understand why so many Christians seem obsessed with this issue. Obviously, child trafficking is a problem. But, the amount of "play" this issue gets among Christians seems disproportionate to the number of people affected vs child hunger, poverty, homelessness, or climate change. It's to the point that I see parents being seriously paranoid about their kids getting stolen, affecting what they allow the kids to do, how they play, etc. vs. worrying about mass shootings/child deaths from guns, where the US is a massive outlier, in terms of safety.

I guess I am trying to better understand why Christians have latched onto this particular issue in a way that I am not seeing with other demographic groups in American society. 

ETA: It's especially bizarre to me, living in San Diego, which is not an uber religious area. Among San Diegans generally, I've never heard anyone talk about this issue. But, among religious Christians (which I have more contact with, as a homeschooler, than I generally would living here), it's perceived as a very real threat -- especially living just a few minutes from the border. 

    

Edited July 14, 2023 by SeaConquest

[freesia]

26 minutes ago, SeaConquest said:

Thank you for this thread. I have been struggling to understand why so many Christians seem obsessed with this issue. Obviously, child trafficking is a problem. But, the amount of "play" this issue gets among Christians seems disproportionate to the number of people affected vs child hunger, poverty, homelessness, or climate change. It's to the point that I see parents being seriously paranoid about their kids getting stolen, affecting what they allow the kids to do, how they play, etc. vs. worrying about mass shootings/child deaths from guns, where the US is a massive outlier, in terms of safety.

I guess I am trying to better understand why Christians have latched onto this particular issue in a way that I am not seeing with other demographic groups in American society. 

ETA: It's especially bizarre to me, living in San Diego, which is not an uber religious area. Among San Diegans generally, I've never heard anyone talk about this issue. But, among religious Christians (which I have more contact with, as a homeschooler, than I generally would living here), it's perceived as a very real threat -- especially living just a few minutes from the border. 

    

As aChristian, I wish I could tell you. I am seeing it with peers, too, and am always pushing against it. My guess is that it is through right wing media and peer reinforcement. I am as religious as they are, attend similar type churches, but am way less conservative and never listen to right leaning radio or Fox. Since that’s the only difference culturally in our experiences, that’s my guess. 

[Pam in CT]

re deep resonance of anxiety around sex trafficking

1 hour ago, SeaConquest said:

Thank you for this thread. I have been struggling to understand why so many Christians seem obsessed with this issue. Obviously, child trafficking is a problem. But, the amount of "play" this issue gets among Christians seems disproportionate to the number of people affected vs child hunger, poverty, homelessness, or climate change. It's to the point that I see parents being seriously paranoid about their kids getting stolen, affecting what they allow the kids to do, how they play, etc. vs. worrying about mass shootings/child deaths from guns, where the US is a massive outlier, in terms of safety.

I guess I am trying to better understand why Christians have latched onto this particular issue in a way that I am not seeing with other demographic groups in American society...

 

32 minutes ago, freesia said:

As a Christian, I wish I could tell you. I am seeing it with peers, too, and am always pushing against it. My guess is that it is through right wing media and peer reinforcement. I am as religious as they are, attend similar type churches, but am way less conservative and never listen to right leaning radio or Fox. Since that’s the only difference culturally in our experiences, that’s my guess. 

We've plumbed this question a bit over on Politics as well over the years.

 

My own take is that the Save the Children! message is so often flogged (and surrounding parasitic financial grift via vehicles like OUR thereby flourishes) because the messaging works.  Save the Children! (and Pizzagate, and OUR, and the shadowy cabal of organized globalist pedophiles pulling unseen strings behind the scenes, on which QAnon's unified theory of the world rests) serve as a rallying concern that widens the audience. 

QAnon and its cousins the incels/ gamers/ MRAs/ Bundys/ Jan6 cosplayers / etc face a gender gap recruitment issue. Most of the ladies aren't terribly interested in those particular roles, nor frankly do the Proud Boys/ Posobiec/ religious patriarchy types *want* the ladies in those particular roles.  The Save the Children! trope expands the audience and, always, opens additional wallets which, always, interesting to follow the money to see who actually benefits.

[Danae]

I think it’s a way for people who want to play/watch/support Rambo-style heroism to do it in a way that is (on the surface) morally unambiguous.  What could be more “good guy” than saving children from sex traffickers?  
 

In one of the articles linked above the guy said they don’t do aftercare with the rescued kids because “that’s not our skill set.”  They want to do undercover work and raids.  Whether that actually helps the kids involved is irrelevant to the fantasy.  

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, SeaConquest said:

I guess I am trying to better understand why Christians have latched onto this particular issue in a way that I am not seeing with other demographic groups in American society. 

I think it fills two related functions: (1) it portrays white, American, evangelical Christians as "saviors" rescuing children from evil people who are usually portrayed as nonwhite and/or nonChristian, and (2) it distracts people from the appalling number of cases of child sexual abuse that occur within religious communities, often by trusted leaders. It enables Christians to dismiss the abuse cases that occur in their "own backyard" as random one-off cases that do not form any recognizable pattern, while convincing themselves that the real problem of child sex abuse is shadowy organized cartels of evil traffickers who kidnap and abuse children in what is basically just the latest version of the old "blood libel" narrative.

Just in the last couple of weeks, there are have been news stories about the arrest of 5 men in PA for sexual abuse of children as young as 4, which was hidden by their religious community, a CA man who served as a youth pastor and teacher in Christian schools who molested at least 10-15 minors that his church found out about, not including all the potential victims from his many mission trips abroad, an OH youth pastor convicted of sexual exploitation and soliticitation of CSAM from 52 boys, and a TX pastor convicted of downloading more than 100K images and 5K videos of CSAM. 

It's so much less upsetting to think that the real problem is Columbian cartels selling children as a commodity just like drugs, because then you can feel like you're "doing something about child exploitation" by sending 20 bucks to OUR so Tim Ballard can go get those bad guys.

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Corraleno

[Corraleno]

RE: Ballard explicitly pushing the image of himself as the Christian savior, with the fabricated story of the "necklace" with his name on it given to him by a 5 yr old trafficking victim serving as proof that he was called by God to this mission... here is the painting showing Operation Underground Railroad rescuing children while Harriet Tubman kneels in reverence and Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, among others, watch from the sidelines. Note the halo....

[Faith-manor]

29 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

RE: Ballard explicitly pushing the image of himself as the Christian savior, with the fabricated story of the "necklace" with his name on it given to him by a 5 yr old trafficking victim serving as proof that he was called by God to this mission... here is the painting showing Operation Underground Railroad rescuing children while Harriet Tubman kneels in reverence and Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, among others, watch from the sidelines. Note the halo....

Wow! That is narcissitic at its finest with a dash of megalomania! Good grief. Thanks for posting. I really wasn't aware of the issues with him.

[Faith-manor]

45 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I think it fills two related functions: (1) it portrays white, American, evangelical Christians as "saviors" rescuing children from evil people who are usually portrayed as nonwhite and/or nonChristian, and (2) it distracts people from the appalling number of cases of child sexual abuse that occur within religious communities, often by trusted leaders. It enables Christians to dismiss the abuse cases that occur in their "own backyard" as random one-off cases that do not form any recognizable pattern, while convincing themselves that the real problem of child sex abuse is shadowy organized cartels of evil traffickers who kidnap and abuse children in what is basically just the latest version of the old "blood libel" narrative.

Just in the last couple of weeks, there are have been news stories about the arrest of 5 men in PA for sexual abuse of children as young as 4, which was hidden by their religious community, a CA man who served as a youth pastor and teacher in Christian schools who molested at least 10-15 minors that his church found out about, not including all the potential victims from his many mission trips abroad, an OH youth pastor convicted of sexual exploitation and soliticitation of CSAM from 52 boys, and a TX pastor convicted of downloading more than 100K images and 5K videos of CSAM. 

It's so much less upsetting to think that the real problem is Columbian cartels selling children as a commodity just like drugs, because then you can feel like you're "doing something about child exploitation" by sending 20 bucks to OUR so Tim Ballard can go get those bad guys.

 

Spot.On.

[Grace Hopper]

42 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

RE: Ballard explicitly pushing the image of himself as the Christian savior, with the fabricated story of the "necklace" with his name on it given to him by a 5 yr old trafficking victim serving as proof that he was called by God to this mission... here is the painting showing Operation Underground Railroad rescuing children while Harriet Tubman kneels in reverence and Lincoln and Frederick Douglas, among others, watch from the sidelines. Note the halo....

That image is disgusting in so many ways. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

This movie is all over my FB feed. My husband’s cousin, who has a master’s degree and is a public high school teacher, so you think she’d have some critical thinking, posted about seeing it and also added how she is certain that she and her husband were surrounded by a sex trafficking ring just recently.  Because sex trafficking rings are targeting middle age moms with their middle age husbands in the middle of small town upstate NY.

Nobody seems to be investigating whether any part of the movie is based in facts at all.

It doesn’t seem to be just a certain group of people, though, who cannot grasp what sex trafficking usually is.  All the time on our local FB pages people are posting “Followed in WalMart by creepy looking guy! Def a sex trafficker! I narrowly missed being kidnapped and sold! Stay alert out there!”

We absolutely do have sex trafficking here. It’s moms who are addicted to drugs who use their daughters to exchange for drugs or money for drugs.  It’s the 19 year old in the local no tell motel that calls for an ambulance two or three times a week after her boyfriend/pimp hits her, but she never goes to the hospital or agrees to press charges.  It’s the single mom with no money who’s overlooking what uncle douchebag is doing at night to her son because she needs that place to stay.  

Absolutely no one is following middle age women around Walmart to kidnap and sell them into a sex trafficking ring. But it’s easier to believe that the danger comes from the Other, the creepy looking man, the guy who speaks with the Central American accent, than the truth that the danger comes from the educated white male social worker at my son’s school a few years ago who was caught in a sting, where he was offering a “mom” money over the internet for a night with her nine year old daughter. 

[Corraleno]

1 hour ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

All the time on our local FB pages people are posting “Followed in WalMart by creepy looking guy! Def a sex trafficker! I narrowly missed being kidnapped and sold! Stay alert out there!”

The "mom influencer" who went viral for a breathless post about a scary Latino couple trying to kidnap her children in Michaels was just sentenced a few weeks ago to 90 days for filing a false police report. She told an elaborate story about this couple following her around the store commenting on the appearance of her "very blond" children, and said they followed her to her car and tried to grab the stroller but she screamed for help and a stranger came to her rescue, causing the creepy brown people to run away.

Except when police watched the surveillance video, none of that ever happened, the Latino couple never interacted with her at all or did anything remotely suspicious, they were just "shopping while brown" as the husband later said. The lives of two innocent people were totally turned upside down by the false accusations, they were evicted from their apartment and received constant death threats from Sorensen's supporters, who insisted that there really was a kidnapping attempt which was being covered up. Prosecutors noted during the trial that Sorensen frequently posted QAnon-associated content warning about child trafficking. 

[Grace Hopper]

I’ve been a little suspicious over the apparently abundant pay it forward ticketing. Historian Heather Cox Richardson pointed this out. 
 

 

[mods I understand this will be deleted if deemed political, imo it fits the thread theme]

[Carrie12345]

On 7/14/2023 at 2:17 PM, Corraleno said:

It's so much less upsetting to think that the real problem is Columbian cartels selling children as a commodity just like drugs, because then you can feel like you're "doing something about child exploitation" by sending 20 bucks to OUR so Tim Ballard can go get those bad guys.

Meanwhile, my sister gets paid near poverty wages to work with trafficked children and liaise with the FBI to get actual perpetrators. (American kids and American filth.)

I don’t discount human trafficking rings in strange places; one was busted in our region. But it was nothing like these strange groups or random Facebookers portray.

[Eos]

Gifted article from today: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/us/politics/trump-sound-of-freedom.html?unlocked_article_code=MXC86mMGFEVXdjk_ag9VFKQP7gmHbZofTD9wJYntAMv23HPCrInFNZRRh1qkaCnYFJUJrUCyj_skpO-9tBO9UM5XnFoyW8mkO8amjssKKhpgL5gI_zYI79nLrLUVfiwwRHsyo_7BvNEs5eMEJoTv5XJLgV9bgC6bxXGzgtpjtbS5vquuW1N3WoHc0_XJM_ogdNGDm1iSKCRslUNzmvOAWdtIFXa1VD2BBHOZscx8-5MQHy7zGemz8pm3s_biETwP6j6cyO01o_HJW-u47YzV5xhzTkOePYFeaP-hAmCUkhbuiw0TK8xAEmRjKEWgm_aVOAC7lNHJx4b5S85gDwNqoFzx3Ott&smid=url-share

I will delete if too political.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Eos

[pinball]

1 hour ago, Eos said:

I will delete if too political.

No, it’s fine!

Just remember the handy poem to determine if it’s politically appropriate:

Lefty-Lovely; Righty-Wrongy

 

[Sneezyone]

55 minutes ago, pinball said:

No, it’s fine!

Just remember the handy poem to determine if it’s politically appropriate:

Lefty-Lovely; Righty-Wrongy

 

You know who this line of 'thought' (I use the term losely) benefits? Despots. Address the issues.

• Is it truthful/accurate?
• Is it representative?
• Is it helpful?

Edited July 19, 2023 by Sneezyone

[pinball]

31 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

You know who this line of 'thought' (I use the term losely) benefits?

Do you mean loosely? 

[Sneezyone]

1 minute ago, pinball said:

Do you mean loosely? 

YEP, SURE. Enjoy the moment (petty) and ANSWER THE QUESTIONS.

[pinball]

Just now, Sneezyone said:

YEP, SURE. Enjoy the moment (petty) and ANSWER THE QUESTIONS.

I did…I answered re: whether the article was political or not.

Why are you all-caps yelling?

[Sneezyone]

Clowns gonna clown. Love that.

[pinball]

1 minute ago, Sneezyone said:

Clowns gonna clown. Love that.

Love you, too, girl

[Sneezyone]

Just now, pinball said:

Love you, too, girl

Not a girl, let alone 'your' girl. Fix your life.

[KSera]

5 minutes ago, pinball said:

I did…I answered re: whether the article was political or not.

These were the questions (regarding the shared article):

48 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

• Is it truthful/accurate?
• Is it representative?
• Is it helpful?

 

[pinball]

8 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

Not a girl, let alone 'your' girl. Fix your life.

You mad?

[Sneezyone]

16 minutes ago, KSera said:

These were the questions (regarding the shared article):

 

I feel like these questions should be asked of *every* HOT TOPICS story.

[Corraleno]

Please don't feed the troll folks, she's just trying to get the thread shut down, and I think there's useful info and links here for anyone with friends or relatives who think this conman is a "hero" and that his movie has any basis in reality.

[Heartstrings]

This Ballard reminds me so much of Gilderoy Lockhart from the Harry Potter universe.  Anyone else? 

[Grace Hopper]

On 7/19/2023 at 6:52 PM, Corraleno said:

<snip> …there's useful info and links here for anyone with friends or relatives who think this conman is a "hero" and that his movie has any basis in reality.

Just want to thank you again, the articles in this thread came in handy just today!