I resolved my Defer Date problem by running an applescript every morning at 05:10 that adds flags to everything that has a Defer Date of today or earlier - this way they appear in the Today view - this is great as they are deferred and I do not want to know about them until the defer date has arrived. If I want to know about them in advance then I use the Due Date.
If I un-flag them they disappear from the Today view for today and reappear tomorrow when the script runs again.
I take no credit for the idea or the script, take a look at this post by Colter Reed, Iād be lost without it.
Regards