60 Minutes piece on Sovereign Citizens

[Demosthenes]

... will air this Sunday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7365985n

[Demosthenes]

Somebody must be making the poor guy support his kids. Did 60 Minutes do any research before giving him national exposure?

60 Minutes did indeed.

[wserra]

Good. I look forward to seeing it.

Is part of the research what I suspect it might be?

[Demosthenes]

Yep.

60 Minutes has been working on the piece since mid February. It's been a fascinating process.

[wserra]

Mazel tov.

Anybody else we know featured, in addition to Kane and Adask? Or are we just gonna have to wait?

[Demosthenes]

I promised not to tell.

[Lambkin]

Congratulations, what an awesome opportunity to deliver a message.

[Judge Roy Bean]

I wouldn't rely on 60 minutes to do much more than try to scare people about the dangers of militias and weapons in the hands of whackos.

Don't depend on them to spend too much time trying to explain the legal absurdities involved - their audience demographic is way above the average sovrun.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Having just watched the piece ... first, good job, Demo!

Second - as I thought, they only touched on the legal absurdities that might have served as a warning to families facing this kind of crisis. I saw nothing that explained the risks of participating in "paper terrorism."

[wserra]

Nice. One more "mazel tov". For a general audience, in a limited period of time, an undeniable good job.

I heard that word "book" again, though . . .

[Judge Roy Bean]

Someone merge the threads ... got to get the meat off the grill!

[wserra]

Done.

[wserra]

"60 Minutes" has an online segment it calls "Overtime". The Overtime segment for the Sovereign piece includes the producer interviewing Byron Pitts, the correspondent, about his interview with Adask, during which they play Adask footage that didn't make the main story. Pitts repeatedly talks about how Adask's stuff was "hard to follow" - as my nine-year-old would say, "Well, duh" - but never points out the legal consequences. Not only do they not say that, while this stuff has been tried repeatedly in court, it has never won. They also fail to point out that there are plenty of folks in jail for what they call "paper terrorism".

I do think that's a significant omission. Especially since they had a Johnny Liberty clip running in the background.

[ashlynne39]

I enjoyed the piece but then I also understand the repercussions of this sort of activity having read about it. The average viewer though doesn't have that knowledge though and if anything was lacking it was what happens if you file false liens, generate fake I.D., play the tax game, etc. I know time was probably limited but some of that would have been helpful.

I know this will be a shocker but the Lost Horizons folks were not impressed with it:
http://losthorizons.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2802


J.J. - I thought you did a great job.

[Prof]

Great job. Book? What book!

[fortinbras]

Replay and extras at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minut ... 3415.shtml

[Imalawman]

Good job, JJ! These sovruns are a real threat - this story is good for people to understand how dangerous they are.

[iplawyer]

Great job Demo. Can't wait to read your book.

Can you tell me why that roofer in the suit jacket has never paid taxes? Why isn't he in jail?

[ArthurWankspittle]

Great job Demo. Can't wait to read your book.

Can you tell me why that roofer in the suit jacket has never paid taxes? Why isn't he in jail?

IIRC he didn't actually say he has never paid taxes, he said something like he only paid taxes that were lawfully due. Which could just be some weasel wording to keep the pretence up with his followers that he doesn't have to pay taxes.

[Pottapaug1938]

Great job Demo. Can't wait to read your book.

Can you tell me why that roofer in the suit jacket has never paid taxes? Why isn't he in jail?

IIRC he didn't actually say he has never paid taxes, he said something like he only paid taxes that were lawfully due. Which could just be some weasel wording to keep the pretence up with his followers that he doesn't have to pay taxes.

I would say, not "could just be", but "IS".