Ride Friendly!

Riders welcome. Dayton's Regional Transit Authority was granted access to Beavercreek, Ohio despite outcry from residents. The bus service to Beavercreek will start on Sunday.

The Greater Dayton RTA won the battle but will Beavercreek win the war?

The public transit service is scheduled a bus to arrive near The Mall of Fairfield Commons on Sunday beginning a trial run for passengers who want to catch a ride out to area. It gives it a year for RTA to prove that the bus is necessary for the suburb.

The city of Beavercreek is a heavily Republican area. The residents weren't happy about this. They've vocally complained about this and warned that its going to bring nothing but trouble. They plan to rebuke the RTA by calling police upon the bus riders the moment they act inappropriate around the area.

It's a win for the residents who had to walk at least four miles to the mall. It was extremely dangerous for people to walk on North Fairfield Road. The six to eight lane road has limited access to sidewalks and the easternmost side of the road is likely the only access for walkers.

The United States Federal Highway Administration and the Department of Justice warned the Dayton's suburb that if they refuse to get a bus line out there, they would lose funding.

The Greene County Area Transit and RTA have long complained about the city not advocating public transportation in the area.

It's a small step to at equality.

The RTA only serves a portion of Greene and Montgomery County. It serves Dayton and its inner and some of its outer suburbs.

The public transit still has trouble entering areas like Fairborn, Troy, Tipp City and Bellbrook. These suburbs are extremely conservative and have fought against the RTA as well.

Did you know that the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) has buses that serve Columbus and its neighboring communities?

The COTA is hoping to expand its service by adding light rail transit. Columbus population is over 796,000 people.

A win for the RTA.

COTA has buses that cover Franklin, Delaware, Licking and Fairfield Counties respectively. There's COTA buses that serve the Ohio State University, Port Columbus International Airport, Polaris Fashion Mall, Tuttle Crossing Mall, The Easton, Ohio Dominion University, Capital University and the Hollywood Casino.

Did you know that the Southern Ohio Regional Transit Authority (Cincinnati's Metro) has buses that serve Cincinnati and its neighboring communities?

The Metro covers Hamilton, Butler, Clemont, and Warren Counties respectively.

It covers the Kenwood Town Center, Lunken Airport, The Horseshoe Casino, Tri-County Mall, Kings Island, the Eastgate Mall, Paul Brown Stadium, Great American Ballpark and the National Underground Railroad Museum.

The Metro wants to install the controversial streetcar/light rail project. The mayor of Cincinnati is strongly against the idea and wants to drop the streetcar project.

The Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) also serves the city of Cincinnati. The bus service covers Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.

The TANK serves Campbell, Boone and Kenton Counties respectively.

The TANK serves the Northern Kentucky University, the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Turfway Downs, The Newport on The Levee, the Florence Mall and Thomas More College.

TANK and Metro work together often when it serves the needs of its residents.

Cincinnati's population is 293,000. The metro Cincinnati area including Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana is 2.4 million residents.

Could Your Teen Be In Trouble Too?

Caleb Gordley was killed after he went to the wrong house. His family wonders why the neighbor would shoot the teen in the back after he was leaving the home.

American teen has went to a party sneaking out of his father's house.

After being dared by his friends to drink, the young teen was drunk and goes into the house of a neighbor.

The neighbor was startled by the intruder and proceeded to get his .40 cal.

The teen went into the wrong home. And apparently he startled his neighbor. The neighbor went forth to pop four rounds off the .40 cal and one managed to hit the young teen.

16-year old Caleb Gordley, a Virginia teen who wanted to be the next Jay-Z. He was an inspiring rapper and high school athlete. His dreams to be an inspiration were shattered in a tragic incident.

That one night of partying with friends nearby was a mistake. Like all teens, some managed to get in trouble for things. Caleb wasn't that type of person. I mean one dirty room grounded him for the week. But during the week, he was told of a party at one of his friend's house. He would sneak out of the house and head over.

Now being dared to drink and smoke by fellow peers is a problem. The problem of peer pressure leads teens to unwanted pregnancies (parenthood), sexuality transmitted diseases, underage consumption of alcohol or narcotics or usage of firearms.

Shawn and Jennea Gordley are visually upset over the death of their son. They want to answers to why the parents of the teen who held the party without their acknowledgement. They also were upset that the neighbor would shoot an unarmed teen in the back.

The family of Caleb Gordley is totally pissed about their neighbor doing the unthinkable. The neighbor would put a bullet in the back of the teen. They figured that if you're going to shoot at someone go for the front.

The family believes that race and hate contributed to the death. Many figured that the teen is totally at fault.

Shawn and Jennea Gordley have spoken out about this. And they want to let the country know that their son wasn't a criminal. He was a just a good teen who made a reckless decision. They want to make parents aware of the situations of teenage drinking.

ABC's 20/20 does a segment about this Friday.

The homeowner believed Gordley was a burglar and fired his gun at the teen several times.

Gordley's parents initially forgave the shooter, Donald West Wilder, but new details in the police report, released to them nearly five months after the incident, have changed their minds.

“At no point, from the homeowner's...testimony, the account of the events, did he ever describe Caleb in any way being aggressive,” Shawn Gordley, Caleb Gordley’s father, told ABC News’ “20/20.”

An autopsy report also confirmed that Caleb Gordley died from a gunshot wound to the back.

“He shot him in the back,” Caleb Gordley’s mother, Jennea Gordley, who is divorced from his father, told “20/20.” “If you're really in fear of danger of your life and your family's life, why would you allow a person...that appeared to be dazed to you, walk right past you and then you shoot him in the back?”

Caleb Gordley had just been grounded for a week several days before he was killed in March 2013. The popular student-athlete and aspiring rapper was never much of a partier, but was itching to get out of the house by the end of the week. He even tweeted throughout the day saying, “Honestly who’s throwin a party tonight?!” and “Somebody make a party right now. I’m tryna to have fun tonight no lie.”

“He’s not much of a drinker, but he just wanted to try some that night,” Kory Carico, Caleb Gordley’s good friend, who was with him the night he died, told “20/20.”

At midnight on Saturday night, Caleb Gordley slipped out of his father’s upscale suburban home and headed for a friend’s house a few blocks away. For two hours, the teens tossed back vodka shots. By 2 a.m., a woozy Caleb Gordley decided it was time to go home before his dad noticed he was gone.

“He got pretty drunk,” Carico said. “I took him back to my house, and I was going to make him stay there, but...He knew he had to get home. I knew that for sure. He kept bothering us about it.”

Carico helped a seriously impaired Caleb Gordley walk home to the quiet cul-de-sac where the houses look nearly identical.

“I’ve never come in the back way before, but the houses look similar, so I figured it was his house because he thought it was his house, too,” Carico said.

Caleb Gordley climbed in through the window of the house he thought was his. “The alarm went off, and then I saw the light come on,” Carico said. “Then I heard yelling, which I thought was his dad, so I started running because I thought I was going to get in trouble.”

But it wasn’t Caleb Gordley’s house. It was the home two doors down from his own, where Donald West Wilder, 43, lives with his girlfriend. Startled, Wilder grabbed the 40-caliber pistol equipped with a laser and flashlight that he kept next to his bed, thinking a thief was breaking into his home at 2:30 a.m.

Caleb Gordley mistaken the neighbor's home as his.

According to the police report, Shawn Gordley said, Wilder immediately saw Caleb Gordley in the kitchen area when the motion lights came on, did not recognize him, and yelled at him to get out of the house. Intoxicated, Caleb Gordley continued to walk through the home and headed towards the stairs.

“The homeowner said he made eye contact with Caleb, and there was a dazed look on his face, so he knew he was on drugs, alcohol, whatever the case may be,” Shawn Gordley said. “As he came up the steps, he said he saw no weapon, nothing like that.”

Caleb Gordley kept walking up the staircase, where Wilder’s girlfriend was sleeping upstairs. Frightened, Wilder fired one warning shot and one aimed at Caleb Gordley. “Caleb, according to a statement, turned around, didn’t attack the person shooting at him and simply said, according to the statement, ‘You just shot me,’” Shawn Gordley said. “At which point, he turned back around and proceeded to walk to what he thought was his own bedroom.”

Caleb Grodley's parents Shawn and Jennea are warning families about teenage drinking.

After Caleb Gordley reached the top of the stairs, Wilder fired two or three more shots, according to the police report. One shot went through Caleb Gordley’s back, and another, which was aimed at his head, missed.

“You have a person that…actually comes in through a window…The alarm sounds off…He was six-foot tall, unknownst to the…homeowner, wearing dark clothing,” Sheriff Michael Chapman of Loudon County, Va., told “20/20.” “You look at everything in context of what’s going on: 2:30 in the morning, somebody breaking in to your house, you..had no idea who this person was.”

“You could have...shot him in leg,” Shawn Gordley said. “Instead he lined himself up at the perfect angle to shoot a hollow point bullet through my son's lung and explode his chest and then a fourth shot at his head for good measure.”

No charges were ever filed against Wilder. Through his attorney, Wilder declined a request from “20/20” for an interview, saying in statement, “As you can imagine, the incident was an unfortunate tragedy on every level...As we are not confident that participating in your program would contribute to the healing process, we are unwilling to so participate.”

Ten months after Caleb Gordley’s death, his family and friends are struggling to understand how his mistake ended so tragically and still waiting for an apology in person from the man who took his life.

“Do I hate him? No. Do I want him put away? No, I don't think that's going to solve anything,” Jennea Gordley said.

“I put all of the blame on me at first. I thought it was all my fault, because I took him to the wrong house,” Carico said.

“We can’t just forget about him and let him go. I have to remember him for the rest of my life,” said Carico.

92 Milllion Not In The Labor Force? Really?

Again, the you can't fix stupid crowd flock to That Guy Who Post Shit To The Wall's website with the blarring headline that 92 million people aren't in the labor force!

It's spreading around the racist right websites and it's starting to float. I mean seriously, how dumb are we?

How could 1/3 of the U.S. population not be in the labor force?

I mean about 40% of the country's population is children. So I guess that once you're born, you are working!

What about those who are critically disabled? Sure we want the blind and permanently disabled to work!

What about the people who are injured by their jobs? Sure get a Band-Aid on it and get back to work!

What about those stay at home parents of a married family? Do you want Ann Romney, the wife of perennial loser Mitt Romney to work? Yeah, get your ass out of the kitchen and go make some money Ann!

Get to work you leeches and moochers. We don't want you lazy ass Obama supporters getting a paycheck for doing absolutely no work.

And of course the baby boomer generation is retiring. About 35% of the nation's retired have no reason to work.

So out of 312 million American people about 220 million are actively working!

That's rich, because I could have sworn that about 14 million aren't actively working. That's about four times more than expected.

Let me put this in a vulgar word : BULLSHIT!

Okay, if 92 million people are out of the workforce then I guess that 1/3 of the U.S. population is not working. So I guess children, the severely disabled, the elderly, the retired better get their asses to work.

Are American really not working. According to conservative 1/3 of the U.S. population is out of work.

Conservatives lie like a piece of plywood over a pothole. They're literally pulling shit out of their asses and throwing it at people. Just like primates the racist right will not concede to the fact that if 92 million are out of work, then we would have been in a depression!

There's no need to lie about unemployment.

The president offered Congress a job's package. It's up to the inept lawmakers to make due of it.

After all for the first time in history, a majority of U.S. lawmakers are millionaires. That's unprecedented.

I mean who's actually fighting for the little guy?

I know Republicans aren't fighting for much! They're only invested in ruining the first Black president so they could retake the White House with another rigid old White guy. They have nothing to offer than the useless policies of the 20th Century.

They're so fixated on finding their Saint Ronald Reagan, they're losing everything they got. While demographics prove that interracial births are on the rise and the Hispanic population is booming, these key groups are trending to the Democrats.

The age 18 to 34 crowd (although disappointed with President Barack Obama) will not support a candidate who won't back gay marriage or legalizing the weed.

The point of this 92 million out of the workforce spin is to undermine the millions of jobs that were reported since the president took oath in 2009. From March 2009 to present day, the country grew over 7 million jobs.

If 92 million people aren't working, then I guess the entire East Coast is poor and choose not to work.

If you're a rational person, you would look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But unfortunately it's under the federal government and the you can't fix stupid crowd believes its all phony numbers anyways.

The Ghosts Of Suburbia!

Dayton, Ohio's inner suburb is officially a "ghost town".

Sometimes I've often talked about the situation in my community of Dayton, Ohio. Back in 2007, I've went to YouTube to do "A Tour of Poor Dayton" series. I've outlined the situation of my community in video and shared it with those who were familiar with the situation.

I've won praise for being an advocate for my community. But with this praise came the harsh criticism.

Often, the "you can't fix stupid" crowd would go off on me because I apparently dogged on the city.

How I've would even consider Dayton, "poor"?

I've never said the city was "poor". The situation where businesses are dying and the community is facing a terrible future is the only thing I've talked about. It's a process that is happening in most rust cities where manufacturing was the only thing that kept it going.

Target is closing in the suburb of Trotwood.

Dayton does has revenue. It's just not enough people to experience the joy! People are leaving this city in the masses. Dayton lost its metropolitan status when Springfield broke off to be a micropolitan area.

Now Dayton's metro area includes its inner and outer suburbs with the addition of Troy, Xenia and Eaton as its extended areas.

I want to tell you that so much stuff have happened over the past years, but none so than the situation happening in the suburb of Trotwood, Ohio.

The inner suburb of Dayton is now officially a "ghost town".

I've grew up on the west end of Dayton, Ohio off Gettysburg Avenue. I used to live only a mile from Trotwood. Nowadays, I've often bypassed the city

Back in the early days, Trotwood was once a tiny village. It was just a blip on the county map.

It would merge and annexed the rural Madison Township in 1997 and become a city. During its time, the city was proud to have the Salem Mall, the opening of Ohio State Route 49 extending from U.S. highway 35, and the benefits of one of the finest police force in the nation.

Sears in Trotwood has closed in 2013.

Now it's been over 15 years since Trotwood became a city. And the results are really depressing.

Think about it. With the extension of Ohio State Route 49, I thought the city was going to grow.

There's nothing much over there.

Just a few industrial parks, a food processing plant and a bunch of empty big box stores.

It was confirmed by Target, Inc. that due to insufficient sales, the retail giant is planning on closing its Trotwood and Middletown locations. This puts the nail in the coffin of a community robbed of the big box giant.

Joyce Cameron, mayor of the suburb of Trotwood.

So far this comes as a major blow after Sears and K-Mart left the Trotwood area, respectively. The downfall of Trotwood began when the Salem Mall lost its two anchor stores J.C. Penny and Lazarus (now known as Macy's). Soon all the 90 named brand stores would go out of business or the mall would have mom-and-pop stores. The Salem Mall was officially declared dead in 2003. The mall would later be razed in 2006 and Sears until 2013 was the only store left of the original building.

Then the downward spiral continued through Builder's Square, Bowl-A-Roma, Franks Garden Stores, Gold Circle, Child World Palace, Toys R Us, Elder-Berman and its furniture store (Bon Ton Stores), Walmart, Red Lobster, Arby's, Wendy's, Circuit City, Value City, Best Buy, Cub Foods, MC Sports, Woolhan Lumber Company, Sun Electronics, the West Dayton Drive-In, Loews (The Kon Tiki) Movie Theaters, Rex Electronics, Best, Noble Romans Pizza, Pizza Hut, Applebee's, Drug Emporium, Salem Chrysler Dealership, AJ Wright, the Dayton Jewish Federation, Pier One Imports and not to mention every other business that been in the city.

Yeah, the CSX Railroad Corporation closed the portion of railway went through Trotwood. The City of Dayton bought the remaining short line and once in a while a train would go through the area.

The Salem Mall (circa 1998). The mall was demolished in 2007 after all its lost all its stores.

The only big box stores still in the area include but not limited are JoAnn Fabrics Store, Evans Arena Dodge car dealership, Big Lots, Office Depot, Burlington Coat Factory, Home Depot and Lowes Home Improvement stores.

Sooner or later, these businesses will close or relocate.

The United Theological Seminary, the Greater Dayton RTA Northwest Transit Center, Greyhound, and the Hara Arena are the only things of interest left in the dying suburb.

The racial makeup of the city was 38.66% White, 58.34% African American, 0.32% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.43% from other races, and 1.98% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population.

Since this a majority-minority (mostly Black) suburb, many White people are leaving the city.

This gives the racist right (conservatives or Republicans) a talking point about the status of cities being in "ruins" because of Democrats.

I hate to tell you this, but it's not a Democrat or Republican problem. It's an American problem!

The Dayton Daily News adds that Trotwood City Manager Michael Lucking conceded as much in an interview with Dayton Daily News reporter Kelli Wynn.

Target is the latest store to announce it will leave the area once anchored by the Salem Mall.

Trotwood lost its opportunity to grow when the corporate owners of The Landmark backed out of the development deal. It was supposed to be the revitalization of the dying suburb. The town center is indefinitely suspended.

“No city wants to lose a business within its community. It is disappointing,” he told Wynn when asked about Target’s closing. “As a community, we understand that our future is not retail oriented based upon the changing market place and how stores operate. We have to be proactive in terms of figuring out how we re-purpose those retail buildings.”

So if you're from the Dayton area, what's your take on this situation?

Could Trotwood regain its glory?

Will Dayton survive as a city?

Send us some feedback!

Here's a video from My Tour Of Poor Dayton series. It's back when I actually found interest in driving around with a camera.

Sad News. Trotwood (Ohio)Target is Closing!

Thermal!

Unemployment rate falls but still disappointing job numbers.

The unemployment rate is now ticked down to 6.7% with December's job numbers.

The end of 2013 gave the economy about over 4.5 million jobs. The last month of the year added 74,000 jobs. That was less than the 193,000 jobs that was expected.

As we start off the new year of 2014, most service industry jobs experienced a loss of sales revenue.

This month had most of the United States under the worst temperatures in years. About 90% of the nation had weather that air temperature and wind chills below zero.

This is the lowest level since October 2008. But the drop occurred mostly because more Americans stopped looking for jobs. The government counts people as unemployed only if they are actively searching for work.

Some of the country's retail stores are closing up shop.

Stock futures fell after the report was released.

The slowdown in hiring could cause the Federal Reserve to rethink its plans to slow its stimulus efforts. The Fed decided last month to cut back on its monthly bond purchases by $10 billion. It could delay further reductions until it sees evidence that December's weak numbers were temporary.

Construction firms cut 16,000 jobs, the biggest drop in 20 months.

Still, December's hiring is far below the average gain of 214,000 jobs a month in the preceding four months. But monthly gains averaged 182,000 last year, nearly matching the previous two years.

The proportion of people working or looking for work fell to 62.8 percent, matching a nearly 36-year low.

Many industries posted weaker gains or cut jobs. Health care cut 6,000 positions, the first cut in 10 years. That could raise questions about the impact of President Barack Obama's health care reform. Transportation and warehousing cut a small number of jobs, suggesting shippers hired fewer workers for the holidays. Government cut 13,000.

One bright spot was manufacturing. Factories added 9,000 positions, the fifth straight gain. Still, that's down from 31,000 in November. Retailers added 55,000 jobs.

Recent data have painted a picture of an economy on the steady rise. Exports hit a record level in November, lowering the U.S. trade deficit. Businesses have ordered more manufactured goods. Auto sales reached a six-year high in 2013.

Analysts now estimate that the economy expanded at a healthy annual rate of 3 percent to 3.5 percent in the October-December quarter. That's up from earlier forecasts of a 2 percent rate or less. It would follow a strong 4.1 percent growth rate reported for the July-September quarter.

Why Do Whites Butt In Our Relationships??

Water Weight!

After a successful reelection, New Jersey governor Chris Christie is now facing a controversy that attracted national attention.

Republican governor Chris Christie is under fire for allowing his aides block off the George Washington Bridge in 2013. That issue landed in the newspapers and became the newest headache for the governor.

The often colorful and yet brash governor of the Democratic state of New Jersey is often floated among the junk food media as a formidable candidate for the Republican nomination for president.

Already, the junk food media is piling on this distraction as it was a misled war into Iraq believing that the president of that country was harboring nuclear weapons.

Christie tells New Jersey and the country that he's apologizing for the scandal.

The governor easily won reelection and now in his second term the Republican is now finding out that it's not going to be an easy second term.

Back on September 9, 2013, the dedicated toll lanes for a Fort Lee, New Jersey entrance to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge were reduced from three to one until early morning on September 13, on orders from David Wildstein (who was hired by Christie appointee Bill Baroni) without notification to Fort Lee government and police officials. It caused additional hours each day of even more significant traffic congestion than normal and major delays for school transportation and police and emergency response within Fort Lee during and after the peak hours of travel.

The reduction in these toll lanes occurred due to a purported traffic study, but raised speculation to that they were retribution directed towards Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for declining to endorse Christie's re-election campaign.

On December 13, 2013, Christie announced he had accepted the immediate resignation of Baroni and the immediate departure of Wildstein from the Port Authority. Asked whether the lane closures had been ordered as political retribution, Christie answered "absolutely, unequivocally not."

Christie added: "I've made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this, they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it. And they've all assured me that they don't."

The New York Times published emails and text messages on January 8, 2014 tying Christie's deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, to the closure. The content of the released communications suggested not only that the lane closures were ordered with the knowledge that they would cause a massive traffic jam, but also that this was the intended effect.

Christie released a statement later that day denying knowledge of the scandal, rebuking Bridget Anne Kelly for her role in the lane closure event, and vowing that "people will be held responsible for their actions".

The following day, Christie apologized for the lane closure and said that he was "embarrassed and humiliated" by the behavior of his staff. He also fired Kelly for lying to him.

The mayor of Fort Lee has accepted his apology and other top Democrats in New Jersey have also commended him for his response.

Robert Gates: Obama's Team Didn't Value The War!

President Barack Obama with Vice President Joe Biden, former general and CIA chief David Patraeus and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Here comes the books of 2014. One book that's already gotten the buzz of the nation is the one from former Defense Secretary Robert Gates. He was appointed by George W. Bush and kept on by Barack Obama.

He was there when President Barack Obama ordered the Navy Seal Team to hunt down Osama bin Laden.

But in the book, it seems like under Obama's watch, the former defense secretary wasn't too happy about his handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Associated Press and The Huffington Post tell that the president and his team are pissed at Gates and they've fired back at him.

The White House is bristling over former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' new memoir accusing President Barack Obama of showing too little enthusiasm for the U.S. war mission in Afghanistan and sharply criticizing Vice President Joe Biden's foreign policy instincts.

In a book set for release next week by the publishing house Knopf, Gates writes that Biden is "a man of integrity," but also a political figure who has been "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."

Gates, a Republican, also slammed the National Security Council under Obama's watch. The Republican cited what he called the "controlling nature" of the White House, writing that Obama's national security team "took micromanagement and operational meddling to a new level."

Such tell-all books are not new to Washington and they're woven into the city's cultural fabric. In the inside-the-Beltway political culture, they burst into view, make a splash on TV, online and in the press and quickly fade. But in the case of the Gates book, the White House chose to speak out quickly and sharply.

The National Security Council issued a statement late Tuesday asserting that Obama relies on Biden's "good counsel" every day and considers him "one of the leading statesmen of his time." Not only that, the White House issued a highly unusual invitation for news organization representatives to photograph Obama and Biden sitting together Wednesday at their weekly private luncheon. It was another sign that the president was not putting any distance between himself and Biden.

Former senior White House adviser David Axelrod said he was surprised when he heard about Gates' book. "He (Gates) always indicated he had a good working relationship with the president," Axelrod said on NBC's "Today" show.

Key passages of Gates' book, "Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary of War," were published in The Washington Post, New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

In his memoir, Gates asserted that Obama showed a growing frustration with U.S. policy in Afghanistan.

"I never doubted Obama's support for the troops, only his support for their mission," Gates writes.

Obama approved the strategy of putting 30,000 additional troops into Afghanistan and placing Gen. David Petraeus in charge, even though some top advisers opposed the so-called surge he announced in December 2009.

On May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama ordered U.S. special forces to go after Osama bin Laden.

In recalling a meeting in the situation room in March 2011, Gates writes: "As I sat there, I thought: The president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand (Afghan President Hamid) Karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy and doesn't consider the war to be his. For him, it's all about getting out."

According to published reports about the book, Gates reveals he often found himself tempted to quit because of adversarial treatment he received from members of Congress. Gates served 4½ years as defense secretary, the last years of the George W. Bush administration and the first years of Obama's.

According to the published accounts of the book:

—Gates said that in private, members of Congress could be reasonable. "But when they went into an open hearing, and the little red light went on atop a television camera, it had the effect of a full moon on a werewolf."

—Gates recalls Obama and his secretary of state at the time, Hillary Rodham Clinton, discussing their opposition to Bush's 2007 surge of troops in Iraq. "Hillary told the president that her opposition to the surge in Iraq had been political because she was facing him in the Iowa primary. ... The president conceded vaguely that opposition to the Iraq surge had been political. To hear the two of them making these admissions, and in front of me, was as surprising as it was dismaying."

—Gates at times criticizes the Bush administration as well as its successor. He holds the Bush administration, in which he also served as defense secretary, responsible for what he considered misguided policy that squandered the early victories in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the Times.

—In praise of Obama, Gates calls the president's decision to order Navy SEALs to raid a house in Pakistan believed to be the hiding place of Osama bin Laden "one of the most courageous decisions I had ever witnessed in the White House."

Jeezy Trap Smacking His Own Kid!

Papa Jeezy whooped his son's ass and could pay the price for that!

Man, Jeezy is loosing his mind, literally.

I'm almost shocked and not too surprised by the news that the Atlanta rapper got his ass in county lockup after a domestic abuse accusation. The rapper has a rap sheet longer than his mixtape series.

In how to be a dumb ass entertainer news, Young Jeezy gets into with his own son. He's threatened to put a slug in his own blood after a domestic dispute.

I mean, he's proud to be a Trap Star. He's the Snowman, don't you know?

Soon he'll be the guy in the iron college if he's gets the book thrown at him.

Jeezy was arrested in Atlanta for battery, false imprisonment, and making terroristic threats against his own son ... TMZ has learned. According to the charging documents -- obtained by TMZ -- Jeezy got into a fight with his son in a bathroom and he threw his son into the glass shower door, causing the son to hit his head.

Then Jeezy allegedly punched him in the face, dragged him into the bedroom, threw him on the bed and pummeled him. According to the incident report, Jeezy's son attempted to escape but the rapper's bodyguard blocked the stairwell.

The docs go on -- claiming Jeezy subsequently choked his son and said, "I will kill you." According to police docs, Jeezy's son claims his dad said, "I will put a bullet in your head right now," adding, "If I could get away with it, I would kill you." The incident allegedly occurred in Sept., 2012. We've learned Jeezy turned himself in to authorities Friday after a grand jury warrant for each charge was issued.

He bonded out soon after for $45,000. Jeezy's attorney tells TMZ, "We have no doubt this matter will resolve itself appropriately. At this moment, Mr. [Jay] Jenkins is thankful for the support of his fans and the respect for his family's privacy.

Jeezy has expressed frustration with his own label situation at Def Jam Records. He has threatened to provide fans with "an early X-Mas present" if the situation doesn't change.

Maybe this is a way to get dropped off the legendary label! Who knows?

Yeah, father of the year, people!

Sean Hannity And Ann Coulter Calls Melissa Harris-Perry A "Token"!

The most annoying conservative agitator complains about the competition. The competition's host made a tearful apology and he and the mush mouth conservative guest mock it.

The folks over at Loserville are so hypocritical.

It's funny that CNN and Obama News have more diversity in their programming compared to the folks over at Loserville.

Just a week ago, the competition made a not so nice statement about perennial loser Mitt Romney, and took aim at the condescending asshole's adopted grandson. The grandson is Black and of course most including myself believe the former Republican nominee is nothing more than a showboating loser.

He will forever be tagged a perennial loser. I don't even know why we're still giving this asshole attention.

He releases his holiday card featuring his grandchild and the little adopted Black child.

It's an awkward picture and the opposition made it a topic.

Just a month ago, That Guy Who Helped Obama Win was screaming over that Quacker getting suspended from the A & E reality show for saying some offensive things in GQ Magazine about gays and Blacks.

A & E quickly reinstated the Quacker after death threats and talk about boycotts came from the racist right.

Now here we go again.

Melissa Harris-Perry who's been an advocate for women and the Black community is under fire after she took shots at perennial loser Mitt Romney's adopted Black grandson.

A tearful apology from Melissa Harris-Perry.

That Guy Who Helped Obama Win is running his mouth off again calling for Obama News to give her the ax. Yeah, he says he's all about "freedom of speech" only when it involves a right wing bigot, but when the opposition mocks the most annoying celebrity and most annoying politico's children, sound the alarm, it's time to fire.

Melissa Harris-Perry hosted a yearly in review segment with actress Pia Glenn and comedian Dean Obeidallah. They had made the comment that if Mitt Romney's grandson would marry Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's child wouldn't it be interesting.

Glenn sang out, “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just isn’t the same.” Obeidallah said, “It sums up the diversity of the Republican Party and the [Republican National Committee], where they have the whole convention and they find the one black person.”

And she has point. But since the racist right was so upset over it, she would apologize for that comment.

Melissa Harris-Perry would later take to Twitter to make an apology. On the Saturday program, she would later make a tearful on-air apology. The perennial loser would later accept the apology on Loserville News Sunday. He would ask the commentator Chris Wallace to "move on!"

Loserville told that perennial loser, we're not done. We're going to milk this cow. CNN even wanted a part of the pie too.

Don Lemon took aim at her. He would say that Obama News would need a bit of "policing" whenever they allow their guest or host make comments.

Then Keith Olbermann made some not so nice tweets aimed at his former boss Phil Griffin.

Actor Alec Baldwin wasn't thrilled about the apology. He even mocked it by saying if he could cry and make an apology would he get his show back?

The smirking chimp on Loserville asks the perennial loser if he is upset over Melissa Harris-Perry's criticism of his family.

That Guy Who Helped Obama Win ranted on radio and on last night's program. His right wing carnival mocked the tearful apology. In his mind, he believes that it's staged and she should get fired for it.

As you see, Loserville does fear Obama News. The hosts Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell, Tamron Hall, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Thomas Roberts, Rev. Perm, Andrea Mitchell and Chris Hayes are a threat to the folks over at Loserville.

Obama News seen a rise in its ratings. It's no where in the range of Loserville, but it's pretty damn close.

CNN is seeing a huge slump. Why?

They aren't as polarizing as the other two.

Still Mediaite gets a piece of the annoying conservative agitator's program. He and Ann Coulter doing a whinefest about it. They said Harris-Perry’s tearful apology for a segment making light of a picture of Mitt Romney and his white family with an adopted black grandchild was insincere and pushed by management, while Coulter went so far as to call Harris-Perry the “token” African-American at Obama News.

Coulter found it ironic that Harris-Perry would insinuate that anyone else, like Kieran Romney, is a token, because “what does she think she is at Obama News?”

Ke$ha's Producer Called Her Fat!

KeSha battles an eating disorder. She claims her producer Dr. Luke pushed the bar lower than the beltline.

Ke$ha is one of the country's most popular entertainers. She is known for her raunchy behavior on and off the stage.

Dr. Luke is popular producer. He's credited for bring her into the spotlight.

He is credited for bringing hits to B.o.B, Juicy J, Nicki Minaj, Flo Rida, Miley Cyrus and others.

He's the manager and executive producer of pop singer/rapper/model Ke$ha and her latest albums.

As he's bring her the hits, she's bring him the bucks. But her success came with a price. The producer is being blamed for Ke$ha's nervous breakdown.

The pop singer checked herself into rehab this week over an eating disorder. Some are blaming Dr. Luke for criticizing her weight and even going as far to say that she's not attractive enough.

Ke$ha (aka Kesha Rose Sebert, born March 1, 1987) started as a background vocalist and writer for some of the chart toppers.

KeSha's breakthrough came in early 2009 after appearing on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round".

Ke$ha with producer Dr. Luke

Her debut album, Animal, and her first extended play, Cannibal, were released in 2010. Kesha's irreverent music and image propelled her to immediate commercial success, with Animal debuting as the number-one album in the US. She also achieved two number-one singles, "Tik Tok" and "We R Who We R", and a string of top ten hits from the album and its re-release. At the same time, she continued to write songs for other artists, including "Till the World Ends" for pop singer Britney Spears. Warrior, her second studio album was released in December 2012, spawning Kesha's eighth top-ten hit with "Die Young". "Tik Tok" is among the best-selling digital singles in history, selling over 14 million units internationally.

Nowadays, Ke$ha is getting a lot of flack for antics on her reality television show on MTV. I guess that and the combination of slut shamming from Dr. Luke made her feel like she was "too fat".

He had the nerve to cause the entertainer a "refrigerator" after a bad video shoot.

Many fans fault the producer taking the entertainer through a downward struggle.

There's been rumors going around that Ke$ha is getting ready to part ways with the producer. Is that time now for the entertainer?

She took to the social networks letting her fans know that she appreciate their support and hopes that her return will be better.

 “I'm a crusader for being yourself and loving yourself but I've found it hard to practice. I'll be unavailable for the next 30 days, seeking treatment for my eating disorder ... to learn to love myself again. Exactly as I am. – k”

No additional information about the eating disorder was given.

The singer will be heading to Chicago's Timberlake Knoll facility.

We here at Journal de la Reyna wish Ke$ha well on her recovery.