Plagiarism at the News & Record

With no byline or attribution, a post appears on the News & Record's Pet Shop blog that has been copied almost entirely from other sources. Here is the post as it appears on the News & Record's website, the bold portions, which is to say, all but one sentence, are identical to this from June 16, 2011 (which itself appears to have heavily copied from other sources).

With the summer months upon us, pet travel is at it's height and it's time for a reminder about the dangers of leaving your pet in a parked car. Whether you're parking in the shade, just running into the store, or leaving the windows cracked, it is still not OK to leave your pet in a parked car.

The temperature inside a car can skyrocket after just a few minutes. Parking in the shade or leaving the windows cracked does very little to alleviate this pressure cooker.

On a warm, sunny day try turning your car off, cracking your windows and sitting there. It will only be a few short minutes before it becomes unbearable.

On an 85-degree day, for example, the temperature inside a car with the windows cracked can reach 102 degrees within only 10 minutes. After 30 minutes, the temperature will reach 120 degrees. At 110 degrees, pets are in danger of heatstroke. On hot and humid days, the temperature in a car parked in direct sunlight can rise more than 30 degrees per minute, and quickly become lethal.

Stanford University School of Medicine conducted a study to measure the temperature rise inside a parked car on sunny days with highs ranging from 72 to 96 degrees. Their results showed that a car's interior can heat up by an average of 40 degrees within an hour. Eighty percent of the temperature rise occurred within the first half-hour. Even on a relatively cool day, the temperature inside a parked car can quickly spike to life-threatening levels if the sun is out.

Further, the researchers noted that much like the sun warms a greenhouse in winter; it also warms a parked car on cool days. In both cases, the sun heats up a mass of air trapped under glass. Precautions such as cracking a window or running the air conditioner prior to parking the car were found to be inadequate.

Dogs are designed to conserve heat. Their sweat glands, which exist on their nose and the pads of their feet, are inadequate for cooling during hot days. Panting and drinking water helps cool them, but if they only have hot air to breathe, dogs can suffer brain and organ damage after just 15 minutes. Short-nosed breeds, young pets, seniors or pets with weight, respiratory, cardiovascular or other health problems are especially susceptible to heat-related stress.

Signs of heat stress include: heavy panting, glazed eyes, a rapid pulse, unsteadiness, a staggering gait, vomiting or a deep red or purple tongue. If a pet becomes overheated, immediately lowering their body temperature is a must.

If this should happen, follow these steps:

* Move the pet into the shade and apply cool (not cold) water all over their body to gradually lower their temperature.

* Apply ice packs or cool towels to the pet's head, neck and chest only.

* Allow the pet to drink small amounts of cool water or lick ice cubes.

* Then take the pet to the nearest vet.

Rush is wrong (and Harry Reid and Dianne Feinstein too)

I just heard Rush Limbaugh say of the domestic spying revealed to be taking place on all americans (yes, it's lower case now):

"It matters because of who is collecting all this data. It would be one thing if it was Colonel Sanders, but it's not, it's Barack Obama and we know what he's all about."

No Rush, that is wrong and it is the very kind of shallow thinking that got us here.

What matters are the infringements on privacy and the lack of restraint on government NO MATTER WHO is doing it. Those who thought it was okay when Geoetrge W. Bush was in the White House are the very people who laid the foundations upon which the Obama administration is now carrying on. Those who make excuses now for what was objectionable under George W. Bush because they "trust" Barack Obama are no better. Both groups are civic deadbeats. Small, dangerous, petty idiots.

Right is right and wrong is wrong and this country will be sucked into totalitarianism if we continue to object only when we perceive it to be the "others" dragging us down that dark road.

Common cause

Now, remind me again: Why was the assault on the Fourth Amendment begun under George Bush and continued with the support of Republicans and Democrats alike necessary?

"It's just for the bad guys."

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about."

Do I remember that correctly?



(Thanks to Fred for the vid.)

The greater piedmont triad north central regional area, NC

GREENSBORO, NC -- I have long been of the opinion that the concept of "regionalism" is a detriment to the people of the largest city of the "piedmont triad." It works against the efforts and accomplishments of the people of Greensboro to have us blended away into the amalgam of the "region." I've never been able to articulate it, however, with the skill and clout of Guilford County's former economic development head Rob Bencini, who adds some perspective in When Regionalism Does a City Wrong.

An excerpt:

Perhaps that’s the source of all this “piedmont triad” marketing effort at the expense of your own brand.  You were trying to prove you weren’t the bully any more.  Well, it’s really not working.  By year 2000 the McKinsey study commissioned by Greensboro’s foundations found Greensboro to be falling behind and the city was labeled “pleasantly mediocre”.  Now, it’s even worse.

The acceptance of "The Triad" as a place, with meaning only to those insulated in its nebulous boundaries, has become so engrained that, at this point, I'd be happy with small steps, like removing "Triad" from among the real places plotted on WGHP's weather maps. Every little burgh gets a point on the map but the area's largest city is invisible.

No, thank YOU News & Record

GREENSBORO, NC -- News & Record reporter Joe Gamm tweets:

"Thank you, #Greensboro. http://t.co/HKXGNRYrmU"

The link is to a News & Record story about an assault. Gamm is apparently thankful for the humor of someone being knocked unconscious with a blow to the head. 

No? 

Not funny? 

Hmmm, how about if the assailant removes the victim's pants? There you go, now that's funny! Hysterical! — and at odds with what the Greensboro Police reported.

From the GDP press release:

"Ms. Hamidoiu then removed Mr. Foust’s pants and wallet from his bedroom and ran outside where she removed  some of his money from the wallet then threw the wallet and pants on the ground and fled on food (sic) in an unknown direction."

Here is how the News & Record tweaks the story for maximum comedy:

"The woman then took Foust's pants off, took his wallet from his bedroom and ran outside."

Gamm has previously demonstrated his reporting prowess by besmirching through innuendo the reputation of a murder victim, fabricating a quotation from a 911 call that lead readers to believe police had threatened a woman by firing shots at her and by regurgitating unchecked the inaccurate assertions of the police. Now comedy! He's a man of many talents.

Best worst slogan ever

GREENSBORO, NC -- As seen on the side of a car for hire:

Unique Transportation

"Integrity is in the name."

At first I thought, that is the stupidest slogan ever, but then I realized, I'm remembering them.

"A day popular with the gay community."

GREENSBORO, NC -- From a News & Record story, via Dang:

"Another time, the response says, police intimidated patrons on a day popular with the gay community."

What day is that? Saturday? Groundhogs Day? Christmas?

I cannot bear to read the News & Record anymore because I find it frustrating to consistently come away from their stories with more questions than answers.

News & Record removes comment commenting on comments

GREENSBORO, NC -- From Liv, at Greensboring.com:

"This morning, I bit the bullet and logged into my Facebook EXCLUSIVELY to leave one comment, explaining that I won't comment on their site any more until they re-consider and provide a local login option. THAT comment has since been deleted.

"They will have to live without me for a very long time after that.

"Bastards."

A kernel of corn: WFMY does journalism

GREENSBORO, NC -- Kudos to Benjamin Brisco at WFMY. His investigation into the results of Guilford County Schools installing cameras on school buses is the kind of fact-based, serious and relevant reporting we could use more of from WFMY.

City of Greensboro hoodwinks WFMY: 451 - 4 = 459

GREENSBORO, NC -- Poor WFMY, will they ever learn? The job of journalists/former cheerleaders is not to simply regurgitate the pronouncements of authorities. Even if they don't get how detrimental that is to a democracy — to present self-interested unchecked assertions of the government as having the stamp of approval of the "journalist"— you'd think the embarrassment factor would be enough to compel them not to be tools.

Regarding the proposed City of Greensboro budget, WFMY's Carrie Hodgin reported this:

"City Manager, Denise Turner Routh [sic], presented her first [sic] budget to City Council members Tuesday night. The proposed budget is $459 million. It comes with $4.3 million in cuts across the board."

Actually, there are some cuts and some increases and the proposed budget is, in empirical documented reality, nearly $8 million MORE than last year.

City of Greensboro 2012-13 adopted budget

The proposed $459 million budget does not represent a cut of $4.3 million, it reflects an INCREASE of nearly $8 million

I don't know what reason the City of Greensboro would have for misrepresenting the facts to the people of Greensboro but just as curious is why WFMY didn't vet the information for themselves before reporting it as fact.

Give me a D!

Give me a U!

Give me a P!

Give me an E.!

Give me an S!

(Hat tip: George Hartzman)

Kill, kill, kill

GREENSBORO, NC -- The Greensboro City Council will vote on an item tomorrow night that will likely seem routine and receive no scrutiny. It is to authorize over $1,000,000.00 in expenditures to relocate water and sewer lines for the purpose of accomodating the extention of the "urban loop" from Bryan Boulevard to Lawndale Drive. This portion of the loop will bisect and destroy one of Greensboro's jewels, that being the area encompassing, Country Park, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park and the adjacent network of trails and bikepaths that extend from there to the shores of Lake Brandt.

Currently, this area is able to maintain an environment that can accommodate peaceful and natural recreation and wildlife. It's unusual for a city our size to have natural areas like this unmolested enough to still support deer, fox, hawks and owls. But, in her race to the lowest common denominator, Greensboro has decided that if other cities have urban loops, we should have one too. To hell with what must be mowed, and plowed and destroyed to make way for it. Put a damn freeway through Greensboro's most special natural recreation area. That's the ticket!

A few years from now, when the area starts to look like just another Wendover Avenue, just another over-developed, mundane and aggravating endless strip of Anywhere, U.S.A, remember we had our chances along the way to say, "Wait a minute, do we really want to do this?"

And we said yes.

News & Record website comments limited to schmucks

GREENSBORO, NC -- The updated News & Record website (currently offline) requires users to be tracked by Facebook to write or view comments.

I won't get into an explanation of why you should care; either you are fine with third parties monitoring your internet activity or you object. Those of us who prefer not to have our clicks and views monitored, recorded and compiled; those of us who prefer not to have the information, news and entertainment we access assembled into a consumer dossier; those of us who prefer not to have our faces recognized and, without our knowledge or consent, linked to profiles of the most intimate details of our lives, well, such folks abound and we take some simple steps to diminish such tracking.

For many, securing some control over our information begins with simply setting our web browsers to block third party cookies. Some of us take even stronger measures, installing quick and easy add-ons to our web browsers that put further restrictions on tracking and monitoring technologies (Ghostery, Do Not Track Me).

As you might imagine, one of the most egregious and prolific collectors of personal data online is Facebook. (This Is How Facebook Is Tracking Your Internet Activity -- Business Insider)

With the recent update to the News & Record's website (down at the moment), people who have taken such privacy measures cannot comment on the News & Record's stories, blog posts or letters. Worse though, we cannot even view comments—not unless we allow the installation of Facebook's tracking mechanisms. One must allow tracking by Facebook not only to write comments but even just to read comments on the News & Record's website. Block Facebook's monitoring and comments are invisible.

I understand why the News & Record did this. In an environment where an organization has no imagination or ability for technology (they appear to have dismissed everybody with actual web tech skills), the N&R has consigned itself to being purely an end user of technology—they are not facilitators, innovators or inventors—and, as such, they are at the mercy of the requirements of whatever off-the-shelf solutions they deploy. In this case, their chosen solution limits the ability to write and view comments to schmucks.

All in a day's work

GREENSBORO, NC -- Let us take a tour of a single day's worth of stories on WFMY's website.

A headline from a WFMY story:

"How Many Veterans Have Companies Hired Since The President Start An Initiative"

From a WFMY story:

"I was a little apprehensive when i first heard because not it's typical to hear an adult student talk about internships," Joanne Allen said about her non-traditional internship.

From a WFMY story:

"'Sometimes they throw dodge balls at my head in gym and these two guys at school are terrible with autistic,' said Williams' son, Cameron."

A headline from a WFMY story:

"Man Sets Neighbor's House On Fire For Unkempt Lawn, Police Said"

From a WFMY story:

"May sound simple to say use another sink, but there's a trickle down contamination affect that comes into play."

From a WFMY story:

"But Corporate CEO & Authority on Success Dan Steenerson says the first rule is to never be fake."

From a WFMY story:

"Adding a job  may sound simple, butto these business owner a lot is involved-salary, health care, insurance. For Miss Jenny's Pickles it's especially involved because they only have 6 employees. We asked how they will you make it work?."

From a WFMY story:

"Investigators said Williams had a prior felony conviction for Possession With Intent To Sell and Deliver Cocaine in 2002."

Our shitty newspaper

GREENSBORO, NC -- I know it's not polite, but polite words don't suffice. Our local newspaper is crap. I mean a real steaming pile of shit with a few decent little nuggets of undigested corn here and there, but who wants to pick through the preponderant feces to find them? Sorry, but it's true.

For the second time in six months, and the third time in five years, the News & Record has made links to their archives—stories, blog posts, letters and comments—permanently inoperable and undiscoverable.

Links to News & Record stories from local blogs, search engines and Wikipedia are now all dead and offer only a "Page not found" error.

Articles linked to by the websites of downtown boosters, economic promoters, the City of Greensboro — all dead.

It makes us look bad — again — as if we are some backwater of ineptitude (We aren't, are we?) And that's without consideration of the News & Record's plethora of uncorrected errors, fabricated quotations, intentional misinformation and character assassination.

Another thing: I'm tired of people saying how much they "looooooove" Greensboro and how this is such a fabulous place while they have nothing to say about the decay of our institutions. If you really LOVE Greensboro, speak up. You don't coddle something you love while it chokes to death on its own vomit.

News & Record editor's deceit

GREENSBORO, NC -- I don't know what else to call it but dishonest. Downright deceitful, actually. After incorrectly writing that the Rockinghan County school board had voted to stop opening their meetings with a prayer and that error being noted on this blog, News & Record editorial editor Allen Johnson quietly rewrites his post, with no acknowledgement of the original error, just a sneaky little change.

Originally:

"I’m guessing the Rockingham County school board’s decision to end the practice of opening meetings with a prayer was a tough call politically."

Today:

"I’m guessing the Rockingham County school board’s decision not to open its meetings with a prayer was a tough call politically."

The school board did not bring an end to prayer at public meetings, as Johnson originally wrote, they voted not to start doing so. Johnson's revision brings his post in line with the facts, but why the secrecy? Don't the most basic standards of journalism dictate an acknowledgement of errors? (Well, we know that's not true at the News & Record, but still.)

Just days ago, Johnson was advising others that one must be "trusted and credible" to succeed. He seems unable to follow his own advice. 

Greensboro deserves better.

Concerned citizens meeting this evening

GREENSBORO, NC -- Just a reminder that the meeting at the mill is tonight at 5:30. It's an informal gathering open to the public to share ideas for improving the state of local government and civic affairs. Please join us.

When: 
Thursday. May 16, 2013; 5:30 P.M.

Where: 
The Mill (The old Daily Bread Flour Mill)
816 South Elm St.
Greensboro, NC

Plagiarism (again) at WFMY

GREENSBORO, NC -- What is it about WFMY that they just can't stop taking credit for other people's work? WXII doesn't seem to do it, WGHP seems perfectly capable of attributing sourced material to its original authors. WFMY, on the other hand, seems fine with stealing other people's work and passing it off as their own ( here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)

Here is the latest, "Financial Advisor Steals Customer's (sic) Identities,"  a story identified as written by Cami Marshal of WFMY on May 14, 2013. Large portions of it are identical to passages from a story written by Chad Silber for 1011now.com on April 1, 2013 and another story by Jason Oliveira of KFSN-TV on April 2, 2013.

Here is WFMY's story, the highlighted portions are identical to the other earlier stories:
--------------------------------
Undated -- This is a story with a warning. You have to know who you give your personal information to. Thousands of people got duped by a financial advisor who abused his position.

Surveillance video caught Andrew Myers and his son shopping at a grocery store. That video helped postal inspectors link Myers to more than 57 cases of identity theft.

US Postal Inspector Douglas Biel said, "He stole clients information and identity profiles from both his customers and his fellow co-workers and then performed changes of addresses and opened various bank accounts in his name."

Myers worked for Northwestern Mutual, selling both investments and insurance, pocketing the money on the side. Biel said, "He was trying to live the high life. He was staying in very expensive hotels, he was flying call girls with him out to the Playboy mansion and feeding on other's people dime."

Judy Cohen said she didn't know Myers, but she was one of his victims. "You just can't believe a total stranger would target you and steal your identity."

Fortunately, Judy's bank promptly alerted her and her husband that someone was applying for charge cards in their names.
 
Cohen said, "They could have run up bills, we would have no clue that someone was out spending in our name. No one is safe. It could happen to me again. It could be happening right now."

Cohen said she and her husband now have credit monitoring services on all of their accounts and they check every bank statement carefully.

As for Andrew Myers, he is currently serving a two-year prison term and was ordered to pay back $35,000 in restitution.

Don't forget, we've made it easy for you to check your own credit report. Just head to the 2 Wants to Know section of digtriad.com. Fill out the spaces on the right hand side, click submit, and every four months we'll send you an email reminding you to check your credit report.

WFMY News 2/ Consumer Alerts 

Helloooooo, McFly

GREENSBORO, NC -- News & Record editorial editor Allen Johnson writes:

"I’m guessing the Rockingham County school board’s decision to end the practice of opening meetings with a prayer was a tough call politically."

Bless his heart, I'm guessing Johnson is out of touch, even with the news reported in his own paper.

The Rockingham County school board did not decide to end the practice of opening meetings with a prayer, they rejected a proposal to start doing so. From the N&R:

"The school board currently opens its meetings with a moment of silence. Board member Ron Price asked the board to consider adding prayers during the last meeting."

So, tell me again why this man who peddles misinformation and half truths and gets his facts wrong has any credibility? I mean, other than the fact that this is little old Greensboro and Johnson is a fixture among the entrenched and arthritic local power structure and it's just rude to challenge the status quo, other than that, is there any reason why Johnson's opinions carry any weight?

Newsish

GREENSBORO, NC -- You would think that if the chairman of the Piedmont Triad International (sic) Airport Authority provided legal representation for a developer who wants to build apartments in close proximity to the airport before the Greensboro zoning commission, that a reporter covering the story might mention that the attorney is not just an attorney, but also the airport authority chairman — because he will be in a position to influence future airport development and noise abatement in a way that could benefit his client. Some might view that as a conflict of interest or, at least, relevant.

So how does the N&R handle it? Ignore it. Just don't mention that the lawyer is also the chairman of the airport authority and maybe people won't notice because that's the purpose of a newspaper, right, to avoid controversy, not step on toes and to not ruffle any feathers? The less information the better, right?

Greensboro deserves better.

N&R editor blames others for his gullibility

GREENSBORO, NC -- The only thing that exceeds the terribleness of the News & Record is their lack of awareness of how completely their veneer of credibility has vanished.

As if he weren't part of the problem to begin with, News & Record editorial editor Allen Johnson is wagging a finger at performing arts center boosters for not being honest about the amount of private donations they have raised.

He writes:

"And when the commitments of private donors are officially announced (and they need to be, sooner rather than later), the community ought to be able to take those assurances to the bank. This effort must be trusted and credible to succeed."

Okee dokie. Just one problem, for all his sincere concern about honesty and credibility, Johnson fails to acknowledge his contribution to the deceit. A N&R editorial from January did not equivocate:

"They have private pledges totaling $20 million."

This is what the N&R editorial told us. They didn't say maybe or might, they asserted that as clearly as anybody can assert a fact. It wasn't attributed to others, the N&R owned it; put their stamp of approval on it as a cold hard fact — and now Johnson is blaming others for the misrepresentation without one word about the N&R's own complicity and guilibility in the misinformation campaign.

Trusted and credible to succeed, indeed.

Mayor to start wearing flame retardant pants

GREENSBORO, NC -- Although it was captured on video, nobody seemed to notice that Mayor Robbie Perkins' pants were on fire when he told citizens of east Greensboro last October that $20 million in private contributions had been raised for a downtown performing arts center.

In the mayor's own words (24:43)

"We have a task force of 83 members of our community that have been working since February on that project and they successfully raised twenty million dollars in private sector community, uh, private sector dollars for a sixty million dollar project."

Not only were people who were paying attention aware then that the $20 million claim, although repeated by other community leaders, was incredulous, it has now been revealed that there were only $15 million dollars in "soft" pledges.

From Amanda Lehmert at the News & Record:

"Kathy Manning, who helped led [sic] the performing arts center task force fundraising effort, said earlier this week that she has been careful to call the commitments 'tentative' or 'soft.'"

The task force never had $20 million in private contributions or even $15 million in contributions. Contrary to the mayor's assertions, they had zero contributions. What they had was $15 million in soft prospects — possible contributions. That's it. The Mayor was wrong to tell the people of east Greensboro that $20 million dollars had been raised. That was not true and the mayor mislead his audience.

(Hat tip to Billy Jones who brought the mayor's statement to my attention.)

Welcome to Greensboro where you can pick up your guitar and jump through this hoop, then this hoop...

GREENSBORO, NC -- Greensboro City Council decides to worry about some really trivial stuff sometimes and overacts in a manner that serves to keep us tethered to mediocrity. Which would make Greensboro a more fun and interesting place? A $26 million sidewalk around downtown or a lively street scene powered for free by the creativity and spontaneity of local talent?

Yesterday, there was a proud announcement from the City that people wishing to play music in public spaces downtown may now apply for a license to do so online. One still has to go downtown to City Hall to complete the paperwork for a police background check however, so the time and effort the City spent putting half of the process online is, frankly, a rather boneheaded waste—but then, so are the onerous requirements to begin with, the blame for which falls squarely on the hand-wringing ninnies, I mean, elected representatives, who voted for this government overreach.

UPDATE: Per the comments, the ordinance requiring buskers to be licensed and get a background check was adopted by a vote of 8 to 1. The lone vote against was cast by councilman Tony Wilkins.

Pants on fire

GREENSBORO, NC -- From Amanda Lehmert at the News & Record:

"Kathy Manning, who helped led [sic] the performing arts center task force fundraising effort, said earlier this week that she has been careful to call the commitments 'tentative' or 'soft.'"

Yes, in her presentation before Greensboro City Council, Manning said (01:32:50) the task force had identified $15 million in "potential" donations. 

That is not what the GPAC website says, though:

It is not what the News & Record said in an unsigned editorial (i.e. Allen Johnson and Doug Clark):

"They have private pledges totaling $20 million."

It is not what task force director and Mayor Robbie Perkins' campaign manager Ross Harris said:

"Harris explained, so far, private donors have committed about $15 million to pay for the project."

It is not what task force member Louise Brady said before City Council (01:57:10):

"We are well along the way with fifteen and a quarter million dollars."

You still have to get out of your car...

GREENSBORO, NC -- I go to the movies to get sucked in and lost in the experience. The fewer distractions, the better. I go out to eat not just to consume food, but to enjoy the total experience, which includes conversation with my companion(s), the presentation and environs complementary to the meal.

I can think of no better way to ruin both than by combining the two. But Greensboro loves a gimmick, so it will probably do well for a year or two.

Update: Their menu says a 17.5% gratuity will be added to all "auditorium services." They have us pegged for bumpkins.

News & Record fabricates "dodging bullets" quotation

GREENSBORO, NC -- Without comment or acknowledgement, the News & Record has quietly rewritten a posted news story to remove a fabricated quotation.

In a story about possible police misconduct, reporter Joe Gamm originally reported a woman telling a 911 operator that she "must have dodged some bullets" from a police officer. That's not true—she didn't say that.

“A police officer just tried to kill me. I must have dodged some bullets,” she said. 

Although the N&R posted a recording of the 911 call with this story, it did not, in fact, have anybody saying: "I must have dodged some bullets." The fabrication has been removed without comment from the story with no explanation of why a made up quotation found its way into the story to begin with.

How to download video of Greensboro City Council meetings

To download video from the Greensboro City Council meetings:

1. Go to the City's council "Meeting agenda, minutes and video" page, currently here:
http://www.greensboro-nc.gov/index.aspx?page=85

2, Click on the link under "Subscribe via RSS feeds" for "Video," currently here:
http://greensboro.granicus.com/ViewPublisherRSS.php?view_id=15

3. Click on the download link for the desired video file.

Open meeting on the state of public affairs in Greensboro

GREENSBORO, NC -- Do you find the state of public affairs in Greensboro to be be less than satisfactory? Perhaps you think local government and the institutions it supports are too secretive and not accountable.

Do you think the priorities set by our civic institutions are misaligned from the public interest?

Do you think public money, time and attention are bestowed upon deficient efforts?

Do you think we need to move away from trying minor variations of the same stale ideas?

Do you think entrenched local power centers are falling short while crowding out better ideas?

Do you want to explore what can be done to make it better?

Would you like to shake things up?

You are invited to join a very informal meeting of other like-minded individuals who have an interest in improving the public and quasi-public workings of our community. We will discuss what fundamental common interests might motivate a cooperative effort and what type of organizing could advance such interests for the purpose of influencing local public affairs.

When: 
Thursday. May 16, 2013; 5:30 P.M.

Where: 
The Mill (The old Daily Bread Flour Mill)
816 South Elm St.
Greensboro, NC

For more information, contact Roch Smith, Jr. or Eric Robert.

Beer will be available.

More unsubstantiated fear mongering from WFMY's Geary

GREENSBORO, NC -- Shortly after arriving at WFMY in 2011, reporter Mark Geary made a big splash by "reporting" on wilding mobs in downtown Greensboro and by "reporting," I mean fabricating. Geary wrote:

"Every weekend in July, Greensboro police have battled large, flash-mob beatings and vandalism."

That was untrue—not just unsubstantiated, which it was, but refuted by police as wrong. A police spokesperson told the News & Record:

"[A]ny reports of “flash mob attacks” in Greensboro are 'absolutely inaccurate.'"

It even prompted the City of Greensboro to stop communication with WFMY until they had a meeting to express their displeasure with WFMY's propensity for "creating storylines." WFMY never corrected the story, however, and it incited a number of racist and hysterical reader reactions (since deleted by WFMY but excerpted here.)

Geary is at it once again, ginning up xenophobia and inflaming paranoia with more untruths. This time Geary is reporting that the two Iranian brothers arrested for growing pot and mushrooms in their home were also "using hazardous devices." From that nugget, it is a short hop to the paranoid suspicion of neighbors Geary promotes, leading him to advise such absurdities as to be most suspicions of neighbors who don't appear to be doing anything. Seriously. What are the signs you should be worried about a neighbor? According to Geary, one sign your neighbors may be up to no good is the appearance of complete normalcy. "No signs" are a signal to worry, says Geary. If neighbors appear suspicious, worry; and if they don't appear suspicious, worry too.

There is a problem however (beyond the promotion of hysterical paranoia over reason): Geary has, once again, fabricated his premise. Nobody has made the claim that the brothers were, as Geary wrote, "using hazardous devices." They haven't been charged with anything like that and nobody, other than Geary, has publicly made that claim. Geary doesn't attribute that claim to any source*, but truth be damned, he has some fear to stoke. Greensboro deserves better.

* In the most recent version of the story, Geary attributes that claim to "law enforcement."

KKK joins Greensboro mayor in wishing good riddance to Rhino Times

GREENSBORO, NC -- On the heels of Greensboro mayor Robbie Perkins cheering the demise of the weekly Rhino Times newspaper is a comment at the News & Record website purportedly from Thomas Robb, "national director" of the KKK, also expressing his pleasure with the closing of the Rhino Times.

Robb writes:

"Rest is piece [sic] Rhino - you never were the voice of the people anyway."

WFMY back on Greensboro 101

Story excerpts and links from WFMY's Digtriad.com are back on Greensboro 101. Thanks to WFMY staff for helping to resolve the technical issues.

Raising the ethics bar for public funds

GREENSBORO, NC -- The city of Greensboro should institute a policy whereby any for-profit corporation coming before the city to request public funds should be required to divulge all of its major stockholders—anybody who owns more than 2 percent, let's say.

Who could be against that?

News & Record Sunday circulation breaks below 80,000

GREENSBORO, NC -- After one year with new editor Jeff "Grits" Gauger at the helm, the News & Record's print circulation passed a milestone, of sorts, with Sunday circulation falling by 8 percent year over year, breaking below 80,000 for the first time in modern memory—a loss of 6,876 subscribers. Weekday circulation was down 4.9 percent. The possible bright spot is that the decline was less steep in the last six months.



According to the Alliance for Audited Media:

Sunday: 79,358
6 month change: -2.7% (-2,242)
12 month change: -8.0% (-6,876)

Weekday: 54,452
6 month change:  -0.6% (-337)
12 month change:  -4.9% (-2,822)

Since 2005:
Sunday, down 29.2% (-32,796)
Weekday, down 42.8% (-40,667) 

The terrible, horrible and insipid News & Record

GREENSBORO, NC -- It's depressing. Seriously. No-hope-in-sight we-are-doomed depressing — the level of incompetence at the News & Record; and it just keeps getting worse.

City reporter Amanda Lehmert, the city editor and chief editor Jeff  "Grits" Gauger, all let the following gross errors of fact make it to the front page of their print edition in the story 'Increased fees, closing Greensboro Sportsplex proposed' about the City of Greensboro budget.

Error one: "[O]fficials try to balance a $260 million budget, based on recommendations Roth presented to City Council members Tuesday."

Fact: The city's total budget last year was over $450 million. It was projected to be around $470 million in the coming fiscal year. There is a portion of the city's budget called the general fund that is about $260 million, but that does not include things like water resources that the N&R article discusses as if it were part of the $260 million. The City's budget is about $450 million, not $260 million. 

Error two: "Roth suggested keeping the local property tax rate the same — 63.25 cents for every $1,000 in property value."

Fact: The city's tax rate is currently 63.25 cents for every $100 in property value, not $1,000. This wasn't a typo, fingers don't slip and add a comma and an extra zero, then get the stamp of approval of editors. It is the result of people slumbering through their work so inattentive, so unconcerned, so uncritical and so detached from the subjects they cover, that it didn't occur to them—any of them—that such a rate would put their own taxes at a tenth of what they know them to be. Neither the reporter, the city editor or the editor in chief did the quick math that would lead them to say, "Wait a minute, my property taxes are about $1,200 a year, not $120." Not to mention that it should just be automatic for the city beat reporter to just know that tax rates are reported as per $100 in value.

This is what the N&R puts on their front page. This is what the N&R offers Greensboro as their best.

Several weeks ago, the N&R published another Lehmert article in which she announced the new "release" of a city transcript that was actually released by the City of Greensboro in 2007. Although flat wrong in announcing that the transcript was "now" available "seven years" later, the story remains uncorrected, a punchline to the depressing joke "Did you hear about the News & Record's awesome grasp of the facts?"

Chances are that this article too will remain uncorrected—the people responsible too small, too unprofessional, too disrespectful of their audience to set the record straight.

It is no wonder Mayor Robbie Perkins cheered the demise of the watchdog weekly the Rhino Times. He'll walk all over the News & Record and they won't even be aware — or care.

Speaka English?

"Last year, more than 2,500 tickets citations were written in Greensboro. That's more than only other city in the Triad combined."
-- Morgan Hightower, WFMY

Deep thoughts from Mayor Jackass

GREENSBORO, NC -- What a self-absorbed jackass we have for a mayor here in Greensboro. Anybody who has paid attention for a few years would have no doubt that the Rhino Times newspaper was an invaluable asset to our community, reporting with a degree of insight and depth rarely matched by other local media. Were it not for the Rhino Times, Greensboro would have proceeded in stupor to believe all sorts of wrong things the News & Record, WFMY and Yes!Weekly attempted to put over on the public.

Who would cheer the loss of such an important watchdog? Who would possibly think that the loss of such a vital journalistic enterprise would be good for a place? Jackasses who don't want to be accountable for anything, that's who.

I give you Mayor Robbie Perkins on the subject of The Rhino ceasing publication:

“I think it’s good news for the city.” 

It's good news for political hucksters and malfeasent elected officials bothered by transparency and accountability. It's very bad news for Greensboro, but megalomaniac Perkins would drive the rest of us over a cliff if it meant not having to considering anything beyond his sociopathic ego.

Titanic's cozy lifeboats; Rowdy Fort Sumter; President views 'Our American Cousin' and other bad headlines

GREENSBORO, NC -- Following a cryptic George Hartzman blog post on the subject from six days ago, the News & Record runs a story today on the condition of Greensboro's streets under the headline: "City plans repairs to 32 streets."

Well, yes, but talk about missing the importance of the story; talk about spinning. The real matter is that the City has 343 miles of streets in need of immediate repair and the 32 streets it will repair amount to a drop in the bucket—a mere 10.4 miles or 3% of the immediate need.