Brian Clarey Has Changed His Tune Calling Zimmerman A Con Man

Has anyone noticed the changes in Triad City Beat lately? All of a sudden TCB went from DGI and Mayor Vaughan's biggest shills to writing articles like Calling BS: Trader Joe’s in downtown Greensboro where Brian writes:

"But believe me when I tell you that there will be no Trader Joe’s in downtown Greensboro. Not today. Not a couple years from now. Not in a decade. Like a fight club at Sunday school, a downtown Trader Joe’s is not gonna happen."

Seems Clarey attributes it to:

"a brilliant marketing scheme, perpetrated by Andy Zimmerman..."

You see, Andy Zimmerman owns a bunch of empty properties there and if he could fool local business owners into moving there in the hopes that he would someday have a Trader Joes as an anchor tenant, Andy, I'll-Build-A-Brewery-In-The Gate-City-Lincoln-Mercury-Building, Zimmerman could make a lot of money from jacked up rental rates.

"A brilliant marketing scheme?" Reads like fraud to me. Of course Andy would claim after the fact that the deal with Trader Joes fell through.

Remember Andy, I'll-By-Your-Property-After-I-Sell-Your-Property, Zimmerman provided you sign a contract with me saying you'll not sell it to anyone else?

People like Andy Zimmerman count on people forgetting all the promises they never kept. But some people remember and websites like EzGreensboro.com never take it down.

I admit, it's refreshing to see Greensboro's journalists calling BS once again. Greensboro will be a better city for it. Greensboro's journilists will be better for it. We'll all be better for it. Well, everyone except the Andy Zimmermans of the world. Forgive Brian and company for their past mistakes. But just in case Brian looses his nerve:

As for you, Dear readers, stop shooting the messengers just because we haven't got good news. Instead, take your anger out on the Zimmermans and politricksters who create the bad news that causes the Ineptocracy in which we are forced to live.

And folks, before you say it, I'd love to see a Trader Joes in downtown Greensboro. As a matter of fact: here's an older picture of a perfect place to put it. I hear the lot is still empty. Seems another bunch of downtown con men failed to con enough people into giving them enough money before they spent all they had.

Brian Clarey Admits Billy Jones Was Right

It was 5 years ago that I first stated this website. Then I used the name, East Greensboro Performing Arts Center. It was in direct opposition to the effort by then Mayor Robbie Perkins to build the downtown performing arts center.

Among the supporters of the performing arts center were Brian Clarey who was at that time editor of Yes Weekly. He used his position and his power as the editor to promote the project just as if he were paid to do so.

Later, upon founding Triad City Beat, Clarey and company relentlessly promoted the Tanger Center for the Performing Arts publishing one puff piece after another and never asking the tough questions. For 5 years we put up with Clarey's bullshit.

But something changed.

You see, yesterday, in an article titled Calling BS: The Tanger Center groundbreaking, Brian Clarey wrote:

"It made for a nice photo op. But sand wasn’t the only thing they were shoveling."

And folks, if there's anyone who knows bullshit, Clarey is the man. He's pitched more BS than anyone I know.


So Brian, can you describe the taste of crow?

Triad City Beat Lying to their readers and Guilford County's rising seniors about Say Yes to Education

"Say Yes to Education

Half of the money to fund the endowment — $70 million — had already been raised by the time Say Yes Guilford launched in September..."

Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg
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Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg failed to inform the public of the unsustainability of the program.

Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg failed to tell their readers that most of the Say Yes money isn't in hand, but will be 'gifted' over a series of years, especially the biggest chunks, with no knowledge of what the money is invested in or how much the program is going to cost.

Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg are fucking clueless 

Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg failed to tell the public how much each student may receive in 2016, and in 2017 when the number of scholarships should double, and in 2019, when the expected number of scholarships should double again, because they don't know, as they probably haven't asked, and Say Yes isn't saying if they did, because Say Yes has already been asked, and declined to provide any information including multiple years of tax returns which are supposed to be public records.

Brian Clarey, Jordan Green and Eric Ginsburg should have the temerity to tell some truth once in a while, instead of acting as a mouthpiece for Greensboro's aristocracy while swimming in a sea of financial illiteracy.

But they didn't, don't and probably won't, as speaking truth to power would probably put them out of business, so they will likely continue to act as stenographers for our ruling class, just like Greensboro's News and Record and Roy Carroll's Rhino Times who are playing along with the ruse.

http://triad-city-beat.com/the-triad-100-what-mattered-most-in-2015/6/
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"Routh won't run again for Guilford school board"; Mo Green, Nancy Routh and Amos Quick jumping the Say Yes Guilford and Say Yes to Education ship

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/12/routh-wont-run-again-for-guilford.html

Say Yes to Education, Inc. (Say Yes), and Say Yes Guilford appears to be a legal Ponzi scheme and/or a Racket

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/say-yes-to-education-inc-say-yes-and.html

Say Yes to Education Red Flag; Mary Vigue; She is about to be in charge of more than $25 million for a 'non-profit' after shafting City of Greensboro employees out of investment fee cuts

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/10/say-yes-to-education-red-flag-mary.html

How the Triad Business Journal got played for chumps by Say Yes to Education and Say Yes Guilford

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-triad-business-journals-reporter.html

Greensboro's News and Record doesn't mention Mo Green leaving just before this story broke; Who would have thought?

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/12/greensboros-news-and-record-doesnt.html

I crashed the Say Yes to Education and Say Yes Guilford meeting at Smith High School and passed out fliers asking the following questions;

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/i-crashed-say-yes-to-education-and-say.html

John Hammer on Mary Vigue and Say Yes to Education and Zack Matheny and Andy Zimmerman's play for taxpayer money; Same things only different

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/11/john-hammer-on-mary-vigue-and-say-yes.html

Heard Spice Cantina went under...along with a couple hundred thousand Greensboro taxpayer dollars

"A property south of the train tracks behind South Elm Street and the Cascade Saloon was sold in 2008 to what would become Greensboro Parking Group LLC for $1,050,000, with a $52,500 real estate commission, half of which was paid to “NAI”.

NAI, as in Robbie Perkins' real estate company

The most crooked mayor in Greensboro's history

until Nancy Vaughan

In February 2012, Greensboro’s City Council passed a resolution approving a $200,000 loan, $100,000 of which was to construct a parking lot that has been completed, and a second $100,000 for a companion restaurant to Worx. Current City Council members who voted for the loan include Nancy Hoffmann, Yvonne Johnson, Zack Matheny, Nancy Vaughan and Marikay Abuzuaiter.

This is on Nancy, Yvonne, Zack, Nancy and Marikay's heads.

These current City Council Members 

and one crooked Greensboro taxpayer funded lobbyist

are directly responsible for what took place

The developer agreed to, and was required to comply with, specified contractual conditions including; “The second $100,000 of City loan funds will be invested in the last $100,000 of project improvements after confirmation that the developer equity and bank funds have been fully deployed into the project. Architect’s or engineer’s certification of work completed on the project and work remaining to be done will be provided to the City prior to the release of any City loan funds. Committed funds totaling $2,272,860... Capital investment must be complete and in-place by July 31, 2013. The parking lot and restaurant tenant, [Spice] Cantina, are required to create at least 4 new full-time positions [by] July 31, 2013. Developer must confirm that all funds inclusive of the tenant up-fit funds of $179,000 necessary to open the restaurant are available and ready to be invested in the business and present a signed lease ... that will own and operate [Spice] Cantina before the second $100,000 of City loan funds are disbursed. The second $100,000 will be used in the renovation and opening of the restaurant and will be reimbursed ... only after all work is substantially completed on the project. The second $100,000 of City loan funds will be invested in the last $100,000 of project improvements after ... bank funds have been fully deployed into the project. No advance payments shall be made.”

Instead of letting organic  forces of free market capitalism

determined who won or lost, 

Nancy, Yvonne, Zack, Nancy and Marikay

chose to allocate money to Council cronies,

which in my view, is a subtle form of fascism

which hurt unconnected businesses down the street

A member of the Momentum Group, whose principals including Downtown Greensboro Inc. (DGI) board member Nick Piornack, informed three City staff members last week that “75 or 80 percent” of the Cantina was complete.

Natty Greene’s poised to move to Revolution Mill

Natty Greene’s co-owner Kayne Fisher 

has previously said that the company will soon outgrow its production facility...

...Revolution Mill Business Development Manager Nick Piornack 

couldn’t be immediately reached for comment Thursday. 

But it appears that if city council approves both grants this upcoming Tuesday, 

Natty Greene’s is here to stay.

Councilman Jamal Fox, 

who represents the district where Revolution Mill is located, 

said he is confident that the resolutions will pass."

http://triad-city-beat.com

Yet the developers have submitted invoices, and received payments from the City, for all but $1,642.86 of the second $100,000. A guesstimate of the project’s progress appears to be far less than the 75 percent cited.

Greensboro's City Council 

just approved millions for a Nick Piornack connected venture

just like they did for his newly failed restaurant

which stole business from competitors down the street

with City Council's blessing 

and their own tax money

The Momentum Group has been in discussions with City Council member Nancy Hoffmann to develop a couple of properties Hoffmann recently purchased on Lewis Street, which would utilize the lot she voted to fund for patron parking.

Nick Piornack as in Nancy Hoffman's business partner, 

Nick Piornack?

Billy Jones

December 5, 2015 at 4:56 PM

Personal guarantees were required from the investor group that included Piornack, whom Nancy Hoffmann nominated for the DGI board.

Nancy Hoffmann Campaign Contributors 

whom Hoffmann voted taxpayer money/largess for, 

which Greensboro's press won't report;

Marty Kotis, Wayne Abraham, Andrew Brod

(Agnes) Gary Brame, George Carr, Dawn Chaney

Betty Cone, Shirley Frye, John Graham

Chip Hagan, Ross Harris, Cyndy Hayworth

Henry Isaacson, Marc Isaacson, Tobee Kaplan

Milton Kern, (Emily) Ed Kitchen, Deborah Lankford

The Lebauers, Reid Phillips, Nick Piornack

The Samet family, Michael Shiftan, Susan Schwartz

Desmond Sheridan, Barry Siegal, Doris Tanger, Cecilia Thompson

http://candidatereports.myguilford.com/files/1612_DOC080315hogf-08032015134439.pdf

Kinda makes you wonder, don't it?

Previously, Hoffmann consented to allow a tenant to apply for a retail grant for her Elm Street building for electrical work, frame and sheet rock, and plumbing. In my view, the grant, which was funded by a Hoffmann Council vote that allocated monies to DGI, benefited her personal property. At a Council meeting, Hoffmann stated “No taxpayer money was spent on my behalf for the 302/304 South Elm building.”

Think the News and Record 
will report Nancy Hoffmann's connections to Nick Piornack
after not reporting her lying to her taxpaying constituents
for self dealing?

It appears the developers have not deployed the agreed upon private monies before asking for the second $100,000 as required. The capital investment and jobs were not in place by the deadline, and the required lease was signed by Piornack, as managing partner of “Spice Cantina, LLC”, even though Piornack is a member of Greensboro Parking Group, LLC, which is listed as the landlord. The City declined further comment on whether the “up-fit funds of $179,000” for the restaurant were “available and ready to be invested”. Nancy Hoffmann did not reply for comment.

Nancy Hoffmann is a crooked, pay to play politician

among others who serve on Greensboro's City Council

who stole/steal from other's tax money 

and the News and Record won't report it

because the News and Record is in on it, deep,
and they keep letting it happen
along with John Hammer and Roy Carroll.

At an Economic Development Committee meeting on April 11, Marikay Abuzuaiter raised the issue of oversight on various loans, grants and incentives provided by the City, specifically citing the Greensboro Parking, LLC loan, and informed her colleagues that Momentum had not satisfied the requirements of the resolution passed by City Council. Abuzuaiter thinks there may be more unfulfilled, undisclosed contracts.

In December, 2013, the contract was amended by City staff without formally informing City Council, extending the “Time of Performance 7/31/2013, to 12/31/2013”. The document states “The City contact for all matters including request for payment and reporting under this agreement shall be Kathi Dubel. Dubel, like former City Manager Denise Turner Roth, served as a lobbyist for the Greensboro Partnership before working for the City.

The City appears to have extended a noncompliant contract after payments were made and obligations not produced, which now looks like it’s in default."

http://yesweekly.com/article-18090-developer-can%25E2%2580%2599t-pave-over-holes-in-city-loan-contract.html
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Greensboro's News and Record reported none of the following;

Robbie Perkins, Nancy Vaughan, Zack Matheny, Jim Kee, Yvonne Johnson and Nancy Hoffmann just cost taxpayers $586,000

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/09/robbie-perkins-nancy-vaughan-zack.html

It's hard to have a crooked government

without a crooked press corps

at the local paper of record
and Roy's Rhino Times

On Nancy Hoffmann's DGI Self Dealing and Conflict of Interest

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2014/01/on-nancy-hoffmanns-dgi-self-dealing-and.html

Allen Johnson, Doug Clark, Margaret Moffit, 

Jeff Gauger, Amanda Lehmert, Joe Killian,
Roy Carroll, John Hammer, Mark Sutter, Brian Clarey, Jordan Green, Eric Ginsburg, 

Susan Ladd and Stephen Doyle let this happen

without informing the public of the corruption

Kathy Manning, Randall Kaplan's wife, lobbying for a GPAC and their new hotel, with some Nancy Hoffmann, Dawn Chaney and Nancy Vaughan

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/08/kathy-manning-randall-kaplans-wife.html
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Will Nancy Hoffman vote to fund DGI this evening, after her "final subission" to be DGI's landlord?

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/06/will-nancy-hoffman-vote-to-fund-dgi.html

Sounds like the Lee Comer money and street are a joint Dawn Cheney / Nancy Hoffmann project; Linkfest

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/03/sounds-like-lee-comer-money-and-street.html

Lee Comer received taxpayer money

advocated by Zack Matheny, Dawn Chaney and Nancy Hoffmann

to unfairly compete with other businesses downtown

with other businesses downtown's tax money,

and the News and Record thought it was great 

to see crooked politicians hook up their friends

to steal business from the unconnected 

How Nancy Hoffmann, Dawn Cheney and the Isaccson's give everyone else's money to their friends, while stiffing East Greensboro

http://greensboroperformingarts.blogspot.com/2015/02/how-nancy-vaughan-and-zack-matheny-give.html
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City Councilwoman Nancy Hoffmann signs authorization for tenant to receive taxpayer money she voted for

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/per-dgis-jason-cannon-city-councilwoman.html
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Zack Matheny and Nancy Hoffmann "Are NOT Prostitutes … They Are Pimps"; An Adaptation

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/11/zack-matheny-and-nancy-hoffmann-are-not.html

News and Record Letter to the Editor on Nancy Hoffmann

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2014/01/todays-news-and-record-letter-to-editor.html
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"No taxpayer money was spent on my behalf for the 302/304 South Elm building." - Nancy Hoffmann

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2014/01/no-taxpayer-money-was-spent-on-my.html

Nancy Hoffman's campaign contribution connections to Tuesday's Give Away to Greensboro's 1%

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/nancy-hoffmans-campaign-contribution.html

How Greensboro works, Nancy Hoffman edition

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/08/how-greensboro-works-nancy-hoffman.html

From a thread at Greater Greensboro Politics on Nancy Hoffman's Crony Capitalism and Self Dealing

http://hartzman.blogspot.com/2013/10/from-thread-at-greater-greensboro.html

Brian Clarey: Biting The Hand That Feeds You

When James Lamar Gibson sent me the following Facebook message his facebook profile listed him as sales manager for Triad City Beat. Apparently, James being the intelligent young man I know him to be has jumped ship as Lamar's Facebook profile now shows him as being the Operations Manager at EDGE Funders Alliance.

You see, James Lamar Gibson didn't know it yet but he was being used by Triad City Beat founder and con man, Brian Clarey in an attempt to get me to be Brian's axe man in an attempt to steal customers away from competitor Yes-Weekly. Problem is, Brian Clarey grossly underestimated Billy Jones and the rest here at EzGreensboro.com.


You see the problem for Brian Clarey and Triad City Beat appears to be an inability to pay their bills as evidenced by this lawsuit filled by Yes-Weekly Publisher Charles Womack, Document #15CVD1433 filed in Guilford County on November 6 2015.

Seems Brian Clarey owes Charles Womack $8,700 since November of 2011 and never bothered to pay it back.

So you see, When Brian Clarey sent Eric Ginsburg to do the story  Playing with the numbers: Yes Weekly’s changing circulation on November 10th it was really about revenge, not numbers. But here's the part Brian Clarey and Eric Ginsburg never told you:

Charles Womack paid for Brian Clarey book with a $12,000 loan. Brian paid him back the interest-free loan for printing the book by having the money deducted from his paycheck  Brian was also supposed to pay Charles $1,700 for ads in Yes-Weekly and $7,000 in profits as a return to Charles in making the $12k loan. And for whatever reason Brian never paid it all off.

During the 10 years Brian Clarey worked for Charles Womack me got multiple DWIs and multiple drug paraphernalia charges as shown by these records provided by the Guilford County Courts and yet even knowing this Charles Womack let him stay on.

As for Yes Weekly's inflated circulation numbers: Brian Clarey and Jordan Greene worked at Yes-Weekly for a 10 years knowing there were problems with the circulation numbers and yet they did nothing about it, choosing to ignore it and collect the paychecks.

As Editor of Yes-Weekly, Clarey knew about the circulation problem for years. He could have even had a hand in it. Eric's Triad City Beat article proved nothing. Clarey and Ginsburg didn't run the story on circulation questions for 18 months as they tried to build a business competing with Yes-Weekly. They ran it when they got desperate for cash, when political ads failed to create anticipated revenues after 18 months of never asking the tough questions of local politicians for fear it might cost them advertising revenue.

 And after Brian was served with a lawsuit from his old boss.

Then Clarey and Company followed up with a second attack piece in a town so small everyone knows everyone else's business sometimes even before they sober up and learn about it themselves.

So when Brian Clarey claims that Triad City Beat was hacked, do you believe him? As I wrote in Was Triad City Beat Really Hacked? Part 2:

"I've never claimed to be a journalist and I still don't claim to be a journalist today, but EzGreensboro and the Internet have raised the bar for journalism in Greensboro. Get with the program or be prepared to be ripped to shreds. And watch your advertising dollars dry up just as we did to the Rhino."

Lots of us have made the mistake of getting hired by the wrong boss, James has it in him to go on to do great things. Bryan, I hear you're a pretty good bartender.  Jordan, there's still hope for you in journalism somewhere as you follow in the footsteps of your Daddy's best friend, the late Hunter S Thompson. As for Eric: I hear he'd be a good fit for the French Foreign Legion as you need not know French going in and need not be too bright to stand in front of incoming bullets. And it just so happens the FFL is hiring. Click the link, Eric, there's instructions as to how to join.

Was Triad City Beat Really Hacked? Part 2

Yesterday I posted Was Triad City Beat Really Hacked? I recommend you go back and read it along with the comments of Eric Ginsbirg and Brian Clarey of Triad City Beat.

My argument with Clarey and Ginsburg has been for months now that the Internet has raised the bar in terms of how much evidence anyone must present in order to make a story plausible. In Brian Clarey's story, The Weekender: The Hacker Edition, Brian provides us with zero evidence for his claims that their website was hacked. We are simply supposed to assume that Brian Clarey who calls himself a journalist and is posting to a Wordpress powered blog site that I proved in my previous post he owns, has more credibility than any other blogger.

Who died and made Brian Clarey God?

In my previous post I provided evidence via a website called WhoisHostingThis that Triad City Beat is hosted by a Chicago based company called Singlehop. In his comment Mr Clarey claimed his site is hosted by a Seattle based company but didn't bother to leave a name.

You see, Mr Clarey, that's documentation. I can't fake that and you know it. Blogs allow you to do that thus raising the bar of proof. Hyperlinks raise the bar of proof. And here's a little search engine optimization trick for you Mr Clarey: Outbound links increase your inbound traffic and increase your rankings in search engines. Now you know the secret as to how EzGreensboro consistently outranks Triad City Beat in search engine results. Well, you know part of the secret, the rest you'll pay dearly for.

Now what I could fake but didn't is this comment from Eric Ginsburg, the difference being Brian logged in to comment and someone claiming to be Eric didn't:

Now what we appear to be confirming here is that the story is part of an ongoing attack by Clarey and Company on the folks at Yes-Weekly!. You see, Yes-Weekly! publisher Charles Womack is the majority stockholder of Ziggy's and as someone identifying himself as Eric states in the comment:

"The story Brian is referring to in the email is one breaking the news that Ziggy's lease wouldn't be renewed. It's a big story. So far, it has 9,300+ views on our site, and a second,longer version of the story about Ziggy's closing has 1,700+ views. Who knows what the number would've been total if someone hadn't launched a cyber attack on us."

Like I documented in my post yesterday, Brian and company made a very concerted effort to bring attention to their story about Yes-Weekly even going so far as to get their sales manager Lamar Gibson, who I think highly of, to send me the link to their first story in an effort to get me to be Clarey's hatchet man despite the fact that Clarey and Company have deliberately ignored all the corruption pointed out here at EzGreensboro.com.

And yes, I have documentation to prove that should I need to. I have a long history of providing more documentation than any other blogger or journalist in the Piedmont Triad, bar none.

Getting back on topic, Clarey stated his site is hosted on a private server is in Seattle in contradiction to my findings that his site is hosted by Singlehop in Chicago. Could this by why?

Could it be Clarey and Company are buying server services from a 3rd party company selling repackaged Singlehop services? Neither Clarey nor the commenter claiming to be Eric told us the name of the hosting company they use or gave us any information that could be crosschecked or documented so who knows. As a matter of fact Clarey said:

"A phone call would have cleared that up, Billy."

To which I replied:

 "A phone call would have resulted in a bunch of unsubstantiated bullshit. Got documents? Show them. I did."

I've never claimed to be a journalist and I still don't claim to be a journalist today, but EzGreensboro and the Internet have raised the bar for journalism in Greensboro. Get with the program or be prepared to be ripped to shreds. And watch your advertising dollars dry up just as we did to the Rhino.

Was Triad City Beat Really Hacked?

Or is Brian Clarey making it all up?

In Triad City Beat's The Weekender: The Hacker Edition,  Brian Clarey posts:

"Our server maintenance crew confirmed a distributed denial of service attack on Monday — just 15 minutes after we broke a big story — that shut down our site for hours. We’ve made upgrades to our system since then to prevent future stoppages, but the question remains: What kind of loser would do such a thing?

The kind of loser who doesn’t read the Weekender, that’s who."

I took a screen grab, Brian.

Now what big story would that be, Brian? I noticed you didn't take the time to tell us what you've written that is so important that anyone would want to go through all the trouble of arranging a "distributed denial of service attack" on your servers.

And then there's the timing. DDS attacks require the use of thousands of 3rd party computers-- 15 minutes doesn't seem like much time to gather thousands of other people's computers and put them to work for you.
Are you feeling like a stupid grandstanding dope, Brian? Don't worry, before you finish reading this you will be. And a moron too.

So I decided to do a few minutes of investigative journalism-- you know, the kind Clarey and Company claim to be trained to do and use a few of the tools easily available to me or anyone else to try and verify Brian's claims. I began by checking to see who owns the domain name triad-city-beat.com. Brian will be happy to know it is still his. That is, until the slander and liable suits start coming in because of some of TCBs most recent stunts: 

Are you feeling like a stupid grandstanding dope, Brian? Don't worry, I'm not done yet.

I then went on to find out who Brian and company uses to host their website as Brian and company don't really have an in-house "server maintenance crew."

Wow, Singlehop, that's a cloud server, right Brian? Cloud servers rarely have problems with distributed denial of service attacks, do they Brian? As a matter of fact, here's what Jordan Jacobs, SingleHop’s VP of Products had to say about DDoS attacks in October of 2015:

“DDoS mitigation is no longer an optional service. With bandwidth becoming more available and at lower cost, every company, no matter the size, has become a target. The challenge with mitigation is that not only do you need to have the capability, you have to have the needed bandwidth to handle the increase in traffic.”

So Brian are you sure it was a DDoS attack or could it simply have been a case of so much promotion on the part of the Triad City Beat staff in the effort to undermine a certain competitor that you literally contributed to the crashing of your own website? Could it be that a story that you and your staff set out full speed ahead to promote on Wednesday the 11th actually reached critical mass sometime on Monday and exceeded the bandwith you were paying for? Here's your sales dude pitching your story to me on Wednesday the 11th, not Monday the 16th.

When Brian writes, "We’ve made upgrades to our system since then to prevent future stoppages," does he really mean TCB has bought more bandwidth so his hosting company won't shut them down for exceeding their limits?

You see, Brian, I haven't always used free hosting and when I paid for hosting I actually managed to drive up my traffic to the point that I crashed my own site. But I didn't claim to get hacked. If we can't trust TCB to tell us the truth about your own website then what can we trust you to tell us the truth about.

Are you feeling like a stupid grandstanding dope, Brian? I told you, you would.

And folks, this site is hosted for free by Blogger which is owned by Google-- share all you like as it won't cost me or EzGreensboro.com a thing.

Please continue reading  Was Triad City Beat Really Hacked? Part 2

Triad City Beat's Eric Ginsburg violates the Society of Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics

"Republican mayoral candidate invokes MLK

"Greensboro mayoral candidate Devin King, a Republican with the backing of Conservatives for Guilford County, wants you to know that he has something in common with Martin Luther King Jr. Beyond the last name, Devin King vows to “continue the dream” in this campaign banner at the Bessemer Curb Market, though it’s not clear exactly what that dream is."

though it’s not clear exactly what that dream is.

Eric Ginsburg

"The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. did indeed fight against poverty as well as against segregation. But that’s not what the “I Have a Dream” speech is known for, and more importantly, it is unclear where Devin King’s statistics come from."

it is unclear where Devin King’s statistics come from.

Eric Ginsburg

From the Society of Professional Journalist's Code of Ethics;

"Ethical journalism strives to ensure the free exchange of information that is accurate, fair and thorough.

The information isn't accurate

as Eric Ginsburg didn't contact Devin King for comment.

An ethical journalist acts with integrity.

Eric Ginsburg didn't contact Devin King for comment,

thereby failing to act with integrity

Journalists should:

– Diligently seek subjects of news coverage to allow them to respond to criticism or allegations of wrongdoing.

Eric Ginsburg didn't seek out Devin King for comment,

or a response to criticism

which is a journalistic act of cowardice and bias

– Take responsibility for the accuracy of their work. Verify information before releasing it. Use original sources whenever possible.

Didn't happen

– Remember that neither speed nor format excuses inaccuracy.

– Provide context. Take special care not to misrepresent or oversimplify in promoting, previewing or summarizing a story.

Massive misrepresentation and oversimplification

by Triad City Beat's Eric Ginsburg

with the tacit approval of Eric's boss Brian Cleary

– Identify sources clearly. The public is entitled to as much information as possible to judge the reliability and motivations of sources.

Didn't happen

– Be vigilant and courageous about holding those with power accountable. Give voice to the voiceless.

Triad City Beat's Eric Ginsburg and his boss Brian Cleary

are printing propaganda for those with power,

leaving the voiceless voiceless

by not bothering to ask a fucking question

to the person the story degrades and demoralizes

in an act of total ass kissing up to Greensboro's elite 

and elected incumbents

– Support the open and civil exchange of views, even views they find repugnant.

Fuck Triad City Beat,

although I like Lamar Gibson

– Recognize a special obligation to serve as watchdogs over public affairs and government. Seek to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open, and that public records are open to all.

Didn't happen

– Provide access to source material when it is relevant and appropriate.

Didn't happen

– Boldly tell the story of the diversity and magnitude of the human experience. Seek sources whose voices we seldom hear.

Didn't happen 

– Avoid stereotyping. Journalists should examine the ways their values and experiences may shape their reporting.

Clearly stereotyping 

by Triad City Beat's Eric Ginsburg

with the tacit approval of Eric's boss Brian Cleary

– Label advocacy and commentary.

Didn't happen

– Never deliberately distort facts or context, including visual information.

Clearly distorted, as Eric didn't bother to ask

a question of a young man running for mayor

"though it’s not clear exactly what that dream is."

"it is unclear where Devin King’s statistics come from."

Eric Ginsburg

Devin King says Eric didn't reach out for any answers

before Triad City Beat ran this post.

This just a hit piece

Fuck Triad City Beat,

and the rest of Greensboro's slanted,

fucked up, biased, unprofessional, 

financially illiterate press corps
who have completely lost their moral compass

John Hammer must be proud