Just a few updates.
The Southern Law Poverty Centre has released a news report on Dean Clifford's arrest (
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2013/12/1 ... -hearings/). I don't see anything new, but it is interesting (at least to me) to see an American commentator's perspective on the situation in Canada. And the SLPC appears to be up and with it when it comes to their superheros...
Clifford’s physical appearance has shifted strikingly over the five years or so during which he has risen to prominence as a movement leader. Initially, he was a short-haired, somewhat grizzled man in an ordinary T-shirt holding forth on matters of law. Then he grew his hair long, and for a while last summer he promoted an image as a kind of hippie sage dispensing antigovernment wisdom. More recently, he has taken on the appearance of Hugh Jackman’s fictional movie superhero, the Wolverine (minus the claws), with pronounced mutton-chop sideburns and spiky hair.
The 30,000 Canadian Freemen number pops up again. I continue to argue that is at least a 10-fold exaggeration.
Protest of Dean's mistreatment and detention continues to be muted. Instead critics from within the Freedom movement emerge one after the other. Most characterize Clifford as a conman. Almost all wonder if he is a government agent. Here are a recent example of this perspective, a short excerpt from a longer discussion:
Tony Boutros of "Global F.A.C.T." Internet radio:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/59669657 ... 587402249/
... DC has left a trail of people, including families, that he has ruined with his lies and deception. He is a Charlatan of the worst kind and 100% motivated by money. And I'm convinced he's controlled opposition. He is being handled. Examine his latest arrest CLOSELY and tell me it doesn't strike you as odd how it went down. There are many aspects about that arrest that raise flags in my mind but one that sticks out the most is how Dean dealt with it. Have you ever known him to be so calm when he's being violated by the police? And why did they wait till he completed his two-day seminar? Why not arrest him at the beginning or the middle of it? There are many questions but this should suffice to peak curiosity for now.
As for his teachings, his track record speaks for itself. How many trucks has he lost so far? Has he ever gotten any of them back? NO. Even though he has been claiming for years that he has cases against them and yet he never produced a single shred of evidence to back those claims up. Has he ever had a victory in court? Have you ever seen actual irrefutable evidence of any victory? Dean has NEVER offered any evidence about any of his claims, yet most swallow his crap hook, line and sinker. And I'm guilty of the same. But once I became aware of who he really is, I started investigating and asking questions about his past and voila. ...
As for Dean himself, there's an apparently new message that has appeared on the deanclifford.info website:
The content is also odd, as it describes Dean realizing he has become what he hates:
... I was in court, again, yesterday for a civil matter. As is usual, the night before I was up late thinking of some new excellent motion to draft, some new affidavit that would put people in their place, and I was preparing for how I would tear a strip out of that Judge if he dared mouth off to me, and I was preparing insults for the Lawyer of the Defendant (I’m the Plaintiff), when I realized something, and looked in the mirror in horror, to the realization that I was caught up in their game of ignorance. I also realized, that I was angry, and that I was looking for a fight, and I was ready at the first sign to attack and go on the offensive in an irrational and illogical manner. I think my experiences over the years has caused me to assume that every Judge, every Lawyer, and every Police Officer is a malicious piece of garbage who deserves no respect or quarter. At the same time, we make a lot of noise about how much we do not appreciate being labelled generally as ignorant, anti-government, cop hating anarchists. It was the moment that I realized that I am just as bad as the people I despise. This has happened a couple times in the past and once again, I looked in the mirror, and I am a Hypocrite.
Dean then goes on to state that the State and Government apparatus has a useful and necessary function - social control!
Again, there does need to be some type of system in place as there are billions of incompetent people out there who really would run amok and act like children, drunk driving, stealing, killing, you name it. The system works pretty good for those people. I know it works pretty well, it beat me into shape as I was once quite ignorant, although I have always been a rather responsible individual, even as a child. I would not be the Man I am today without that push to go and learn and make myself better, more educated, and come back stronger every time to overcome what they put in front of me. When you think about it, they are really just a personal trainer in the game of life. ...
The missive ends with Dean commenting on his experience that day in Court, where the legal apparatus treats a delinquent civil proceeding (he says he was almost crushed to death in a workplace incident in 2005 and is suing on that basis) in a manner that is fair and cautious - to him.
And that Dean Clifford and deanclifford.info are going to build a brighter tomorrow in a non-confrontational and ... well, pretty new-age-ish manner:
Now on to my point. In keeping with the new year, and the start of the new age in 6 days, I have decided I need to be reborn right along with this galactic alignment, and re-align myself. This site will not be dedicated to showing people how to attack and destroy, or to be spiteful and emotional, as I believe I am not serving the interests of Law and my fellow man by doing any of that. I want to learn to serve the truth, to uncover it, and be its servant. ...
I have claimed before that this is a war against ignorance, and that ignorance was my enemy. So, the first battle has been with myself and realizing where I was ignorant, and how to change that. ...
One of the few things I was correct on, I believe, is that nobody else is going to fix this. The job is ours, it is our responsibility. Logic and reason overcomes anything, and disarms any adversary. Anger and irrational behavior is the exclusive jurisdiction of an uneducated and poorly equipped mind. If our minds go somewhere else, and our mind, being our Spirit, is all that carries on to the next plane of existence, why would you not spend your life preparing and improving the one and only thing that you take with you? To do anything else would be illogical and, therefore, against the Law.
Has Dean turned over a new leaf? Well ... maybe not. While this message has been linked to by quite a few persons in the Freeman community, I noticed something a little strange. First, it's dated Dec. 15, 2013, which is a little peculiar given the first link to this apparently new Clifford missive is dated at least several days before that. And as of the time I am writing this message, Dec. 15 is tomorrow.
Second, the Clifford article seems to have originally been posted in some manner well over a year ago, dated Dec. 15, 2012. Excerpts from the "Building The Future" post are quoted in this message, dated Jan. 2, 2013 (
http://canadanewslibre.com/2013/01/02/d ... ignorance/). And the link out of the "canadanewslibre" story has a URL with an embedded date - deanclifford.info/
2012/12/15/building-the-future/ - that matches the date indicated on the "canadanewslibre" story.
So what's up? Perhaps it's just my suspicious character, but I think some of Clifford's associates on 'the outside' are trying to provide a new narrative for him that may present Dean in a better light for his impending criminal litigation. And/or to prepare his followers for an apparently newly compliant Dean - perhaps a guilty plea or two?
SMS Möwe