This one is the reason we haven't released for a couple weeks. Well, this one and the next one. What was meant to be a one part look at a few reasons why Ballard is a dodgy conman the rabbithole turned out too deep for one measly episode.

Clocking in at over two hours it's one of our longer ones. Didn't even scratch the surface on this. The Sound of Freedom has been received by audiences that are not only squealing with joy - but also spreading the good word across the seas. For example, a woman in Peru commented how excited she was that The Sound of Freedom was being screened in the Blue Mountains of NSW. Nothing suss about that!

So we look at the local release of the movie, an inevitable comparison with Taken and then the main meal is a good old bollocking on Ballard.

He lies a lot. It's probably a pathological thing. To cover the full spectrum of what a terrible human being Tim Ballard is would take HOURS. This guy has more dirt on him than my dog and she's stinky.

Part 2 will look at the harm - what will happen when bozos turn up with guns trying to find kids in random South American countries inspired by this movie? Idiots are about to make the lives of real trafficking organisations much, much harder. Rambos are about to get organised and start making a serious mess of things. Kids will not be saved.

And Paul Hutchinson. Real Estate guy. Krav Maga guy. Narcissist. We will look at a member of OUR and producer of the film and see why the hell a real estate magnate is doing sting operations and why he thinks that being trained in Krav Maga is qualification to rescue children from sex trafficking. I really don't like him.

As promised for those who want to dive deeper - here are the shownotes.

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Anna Merlan and Tim Marchman's work can be found on Vice. There's a ton of it and it's nicely written.

https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/tim-marchman

https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/anna-merlan

Lynn Packer has been following this forever. This is his YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@lynnkennethpacker8389/videos

Mormon Stories have also been following OUR since before it was cool. This video is incredibly interesting (listen at 1.5x at least) but it's long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5tFhyLTekk

Damion Moore at American Crime Journal has an extensive archive on Ballard and OUR

https://americancrimejournal.com/category/investigates/operation-underground-railroad/

And last but not least - Tinfoil Tales!

https://redcircle.com/shows/tinfoil-tales/ep/f87d03a7-7b7b-4e0a-85f4-e5fe4abf6776

There are other sources but I'm tired but hit me up if you want to know more.

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Please give us money. This took ages. Taking days off work to do this is a labour of love but don't forget it's also LABOUR! But if you can't afford it, we still love ya! But yeah this took me so many days.

https://www.patreon.com/theconditionalreleaseprogram

Also: slight correction -

Disney did not buy Sound of Freedom - Fox did. Then Disney acquired SoF within the Fox catalogue. Fox bought the movie in 2018 and sold its catalogue to Disney in 2019 and then it was acquired by Angel Studios early 2023 who then crowdfunded its release.