Habemus Papam. He is an American, was an Augustinian and a graduate of Villanova University. Leo XIV.
I honestly never thought in my lifetime that you would have a Pope from the United States.
He’s 69 years old and actually the sister of someone I know was in his class at Villanova.
I am not a big fan of members of the Augustinian order, but I liked what he had to say when he appeared after he was elected Pope by the Cardinals in conclave.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, Prevost now Leo XIV dedicated his early clerical career to the Order of Saint Augustine. The media has reported that he was the least American of the American Cardinals. It has also been reported that he was a long shot.
The new Pope has a missionary focus, which I like, and I think is needed in this time.
Gifted New York Times Article
I hope Pope Leo XIV continues a lot of what Pope Francis did.
I also heard an interesting fact the other day that 82% of American Catholics do not go to church. I hope he also as Pope continues to clean up the American Church. And among other things, I hope he gets someone to put the anxious former head of the church in Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput out to pasture for good.
His one brother John was interviewed by ABC News. He seems amiable but unsure as what to say exactly but you know what? The lives of everyone in Pope Leo XIV’s family is also going to change. Will that mean they get things like Secret Service keeping an eye on them or do they just live normal lives? We’ve never had an American Pope, so you have to wonder how does becoming Pope affect the families of the Popes? Especially in a modern world.
His other brother Lou, however, is a cat of a different kind. Sadly.
I’m guessing that is why I have already seen some unpleasant memes from the highly politicized about the new Pope which I think is really sad.
This is kind of a historic moment and I hope he’s a good Pope. I don’t think he’s going to make me more of a devout Catholic per se, but as a catholic, I will be paying attention because he’s the first American Pope.
I hope his tenure is safe for him and his family in the US, and I wonder will he come to the US semiquincentennial next year?
And that is my final thought. Next year this country turns 250 and we have an American Pope for the very first time.
In August 2021, above screenshot was the headline news in Berks County, where Chester County’s head of voter services came from:
WEST CHESTER – Chester County Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline announced the appointment of Karen Barsoum as director of Chester County’s Department of Voter Services.
Barsoum brings to Chester County Voter Services more than 10 years of experience working within municipal government, including seven years as assistant director of election services for Berks County.
OK this. This is off the hook. This is the absolute BEST gem of the week and if the media or public had watched the recent Chester County Commissioners meeting this is all anyone would be talking about.
A woman made a public comment regarding the Voter Services director, Karen Barsoum. She was a former employee. One of my sources today told me that this woman was so excited to join voter services at first she felt like she was taking a job that made a difference.
So this lady is one of the former employees. I think she is really brave is coming forward the way she did.
She spoke about how Barsoum supposedly reacted to staff about the prothonotary being left off of the ballot and employees were treated, the high turnover rate, supposedly how HR has been involved and has done nothing and how can that be?
There has been an insane turnover rate and this woman who spoke said that only 3 seasoned employees remain since she was hired. A total of 27 left and/or got fired. The total number of employees for the department is now about 22?
There have been other issues with candidates getting on the ballot, etc., for this upcoming election that they haven’t talked about publicly and it seems to me there’s more going on here than has actually been discussed publicly and doesn’t public deserve to know what’s really going on in County Row?
So I know who one of the other elected officials is who is not on the ballot. It is the current chair of the West Whiteland Supervisors, Rajesh Kumbhardare.
Rajesh Kumbhardare, Raj as he is known to most is a very nice, hardworking man. He gives his all for his township and he decided to run for reelection. So he did contact voter services. I am told by my sources voter services was contacted to make sure he had everything in order to file. What I didn’t know until all of this is that it’s a bit of a different procedure as an incumbent versus somebody running for the first time.
My sources told me today that Raj turned his financials in to the township. When he filed his paperwork at voter services, however, they told him he had everything. Then after the fact they told him he didn’t have his financials and rejected him. His only recourse was to basically appeal to the courts, and at that point I was told that even some people from voter services did try to help him.
However, when he went to court and in front of Judge Verway , the judge denied him. Now people have to write him in on the ballot during the upcoming election to get him on the ballot for the fall. He should be on in the first place.
Now I know nothing about these filings so I asked someone else about the financial form. Someone said that the requirement to turn that financial form in with the other paperwork to voter services is a stateregulation. But what concerns him he said is that no one caught that.
So if that’s a state regulation, why wasn’t he told when he called voter services initially this is a person who I am told is very detail oriented, so I am siding with him, although I really don’t know the man.
Further and to the point, I am told by other people that this has happened quite a few people this election season.
I think this is a county office in deep trouble. And I’m guessing a lot of of us would like to be a fly on the wall about what happened in the voter services office after these comments at the commissioners’ meeting, right?
Look, I don’t know what’s going on with County Row, but we deserve to feel secure in our elections, and after these mistakes and the recent county commissioners’ meeting, I now have legitimate concerns that we are.
My opinion is probably not going to be popular with some in the county, but that woman who spoke was even and calm and measured, and it was obviously very hard for her to have to speak her peace on this. I respect her for coming forward and I think everyone should. 
I will tell you in all fairness, that there were a couple of times when I had to call voter services and the people who answered the phone were very nice. But I can also tell you that the first time I called I was so impressed by the woman who answered the phone, that I wrote her name down.
There was a significant amount of time between when I called the first time and when I called the second time that lady wasn’t there anymore. And the second time I called is when this new director had taken the job. Coincidence? I honestly have no idea.
And again, I’m not trying to start a witch hunt here, but something is obviously very wrong with this office. Now, because there are problems with this office, there are people that have gotten left off the ballot who shouldn’t have been left off a ballot and I think that’s ridiculous.
Is my opinion that the county commissioners have to stop doing things like hiring CFOs and CXOs and start paying attention.
I also find it sad that not one single commissioner at that May 5 meeting even thanked that woman for the courage of standing up and leaving a public comment. I was also astounded at how empty the meeting was and how the media hasn’t picked up on this.
Less photo ops more governing, please. And while we’re talking about things, you never hear about Chester County any longer isn’t it interesting how the whole Advaite of it all has just disappeared?
I swear things happen in this county at the county level and you hear about it early on and then it all disappears doesn’t it? So what happens when you take the dust out from underneath the rug where things have been swept?
I bought a now vintage cookbook…that I remember seeing around when I was a kid. This was something the Junior League of Philadelphia put out during the Bicentennial.
The recipes since this was a cookbook that made its debut in 1976, are a combination of classic and dated. For example, there are more basic Jell-O mold recipes then I’ve seen in other places in a while.
However, there’s a bunch of fun stuff in this cookbook and I did make one recipe this week. I made the chicken tetrazzini. It actually turned out remarkably well. I do not however, use canned vegetables so I used fresh mushrooms, and I sautéed them with an onion and some garlic.
Anyway, here are all the various photos of my creation. I did also substitute Marsala for the sherry, because I didn’t have any.
I also used a combination of shredded Swiss and Gruyère with grated Manchego. I had a piece of leftover Manchego and decided that would add the sharpness the recipe calls for.
Other than these deviations, I pretty much stuck to a recipe for once and it was honestly surprisingly good. 
So NO to dirty politics and YES to smaller government. Say YES to not raising taxes on our seniors and those on fixed incomes. My opponent is still obsessing about a debate. Her moderators are 1)a guy from outside our community who is engaging my opponent’s supporters to stump for her and 2) below is the picture of the front yard of the other guy. Yeah, I not falling for your tricks 😉
Just one question yes man bobblehead talking hoodie: are you drooling while you post this nonsense?
Yes, thug politics in Honey Brook Township has reached a new level of absurd. I won’t say new low because dude’s knuckles are already scraping the ground.
What we see here is a desperate man controlled by another desperate man and bully, Supervisor Sal DiBloviator. And yes thug life, I can have these opinions on politics. It’s all part of those inalienable rights. (I have to remind them because they forget.)
I also need to remind the thug politics life in Honey Brook Township that I’m not part of any campaign. This is just how I feel on politics in that municipality so yes, I am a horrible person from the other end of the county.
Whatever.
What isn’t whatever however is the fact that they are basically posting photos of people who have Valerie Shultz lawn signs up and why are they doing that? Can it be construed they’re doing that to intimidate residents?
And let’s break down his post a little more he’s talking about some “guy” who is engaging (supposedly) people to vote for Valerie Shultz? He’s talking about a radio show host at WCHE where he was invited to come on and he’s too much of a pussy to do so so he can’t have it both ways can he? Equal time was offered, but the hoodie is running his campaign off of Facebook, and adding the occasional lawn chair event like it’s the pork shop out of the Sopranos, and that’s his choice and comfort level, right?
And umm 🤔 he’s the one obsessing over everything. Debates, because he’s the one whose jaws flap the most about it and he is running the pussy first campaign of literally debating his opponent on Facebook because he is afraid to debate her in public, correct?
Then there is the bizarre thing that even if they want to tell people it’s dangerous to put a polling place in a school when public schools everywhere do it because that’s actually a lie isn’t it?
He talks about being open and for the people yet he wants to keep people who can’t make a meeting from speaking at public comment times on zoom? In spite of the fact it happens every week all over the county and even at county commissioner meetings?
He refers to points his opponent makes as a “manifesto” to try to make it sound bad or dangerous and doesn’t he get he just sounds like a fool? Hey why not just flat out say women who have independent opinions and voices are just bitches? Isn’t that also what is being inferred in this misogynistic guide to local politics l?
And then the attempt with crayon and sidewalk chalk to say a second class township contemplating going from 3 to 5 supervisors is bad for government? In this case it would level the playing field and give more people in the community fair representation and how is that a bad thing if current politicians and government have nothing to hide?
Water always seeks its own level so he for sure has people that think he’s right, however, there are a lot of people who do not and just because they don’t have a Valerie sign on their lawn or are being quiet it doesn’t mean he’s going to get their vote. As a matter of fact, I will take this opportunity to remind every resident of voting age in Honey Brook Township that what you do in the privacy of the voting booth is your business, not theirs. and people who essentially are telling you to vote like they told you are not people you want in office.
If this guy had a backbone and an ounce of independence, I probably never would’ve said anything. If this guy and the people who run him, yes run him, hadn’t started thug politics with this primary I wouldn’t have said anything. But these people are basically just trying to beat you all down into their version of reality.
If Honey Brook Township residents don’t like being treated like they are in a bad adult daycare, stop voting for people who make you feel that way. And that would be this guy and the people who are running him.
For me, writing this post, he will roll up and do another one of his inane videos about the horrible outside. People influencing the community. I’m just expressing my opinion and I’m calling bullshit on them. This guy is not independent. He will never have an independent voice and he’s a current supervisor’s puppet. (I’m really thinking little be-atch, but I don’t want to be rude.)
And this whole thing over lawn signs being dirty politics? Let me break it down without using crayons so they understand. If you own a property in a municipality you can put up a sign for a campaign. That’s your choice.
Now, for the comments on this post:
So I don’t know who this John is, but it sounds like he’s being harassed doesn’t it? Isn’t harassing a private resident in a municipality who’s not running for office just exercising their right to have a lawn sign bad?
And if somebody has a house in the mountains or a house at the beach or a house anywhere that they go to for vacation does that mean they can’t have a lawn sign at their primary residence?
These people are bullies. And they’re getting more desperate every day that goes by because Valerie Shultz presents a real threat to what they perceive is their personal kingdom.
Of course they are now going to make a big deal because I’m talking about them again. But they wanted to be talked about didn’t they? They just wanted to be able to control the narrative. Guess what guys, you have created through your actions a narrative you cannot control now and people are seeing you for what you are actually about.
God don’t like ugly and these are some of the ugliest most disingenuous types I have seen in a while. Local government should not be about fear, retribution, and retaliation.
There really is a difficult post to write. I also know for writing it I will receive hate mail and be vilified. But as someone who spent my Judy Blume years until my late 40s living in Lower Merion I am watching here and there on the sidelines as this craziness to ME evolves and continues. And it is so ugly.
So yes, the limited commentary in this post is opinion based. It doesn’t make me an antisemite for asking the questions, but to the people on this crusade it will. I’m sorry I do not feel I can be responsible for their feelings. I’m honestly not sure that anyone should be responsible for their feelings. I think they ask a lot of people and I think they’re making demands that might not necessarily be fair to everyone.
I started thinking about this yesterday when I was sent these screenshots:
The person who sent me the screenshots said to me and I quote :
They truly don’t understand that humanism is not anti-Semitism.
Then came all this stuff about a gift from a student in I guess Lower Merion High School (screenshot is above and below in the gallery along with comments.)
According to school district spokesperson Amy Buckman, the gift (a handmade piece of pottery) that was created by a former student when they were 15….and it was given to said teacher 17 years ago. The information is it’s been there for 17 years. Without incident until the witch-hunts started.
Oh and the student artist is Jewish. It was a gift to a beloved teacher, and now these people in their zeal for whatever their glory is they are seeking are trying to make it into something ugly and dirty, and I have a problem with that. So I will post what the school district had to say, and they were going to ask the teacher to take it down, although it is sat in a classroom since it was given as a gift with no problem.
So this is what I don’t understand. And it’s pretty simple. Do these people actually understand what antisemitism is and I know they’re going to hop all over me because they’re Jewish and I’m not and I know nothing according to them, but I do know what antisemitism is and a teacher displaying a pot with a star of David and other symbols created by Jewish student is not antisemitism. It was that student’s artistic expression. He was interpreting things as someone who is Jewish and was he wrong? I don’t think we can be the judge of that. I don’t think they can be the judge of that. It was a gift given in caring to a teacher. I don’t understand how these parents can’t focus on the fact that this is a teacher that a student thought so well of, they gave them this gift.
And I think the thing that is getting to me the most and Lower Merion is all of this infighting. I don’t know how else to sum it up as it’s Jewish people fighting with Jewish people over who’s a better Jewish person. I think that’s God’s judgment, or maybe a rabbi’s for interpretation, but not everyone else.
But these people are turning Lower Merion into a sea of ugly. And I also think because it all surrounds the school district and the upcoming school board races that it also has to do with politics. These people don’t like the Democrats and they’re pushing a more Trumpian agenda and I think that is what is behind a lot of of this and I think that’s flat out wrong.
Now, I will be honest and say that I think a balance of both parties on a school board is something that’s a good thing but that’s just my personal preference. But given the way extremes and politics seems to rule the day. I don’t know what works anymore. I just think it has to be the right candidates. This is another office where I almost wish that people could run for school board without a party affiliation so you could just judge the person by their qualifications etc.
However, with politics, especially in Lower Merion it has always been whomever gets all the toys wins, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that is a good thing. But I think it’s really duplicitous to post a slate of Republican candidates for school board under a window with a star of David for a visual when you don’t even know anything about them and they’re not identified as being Republican.
Oh and on the GOP slate running for office is a high school student from Harriton. My gut instinct says he really wants to make a difference, but he’s being used by the adults around him. He’s like a more annoying Alex P. Keaton without the wit and depth of that TV character as portrayed by Michael J. Fox.
Now I think it’s a great idea to have high school representatives to the school board, but we went through this in Great Valley a few years ago where some extremism woman put her daughter up who was a teenager in college for school board. Her teenager never really went anywhere. Everybody laughed at it and the girl lost miserably. The mother then also tried to run for state representative unsuccessfully, and school board unsuccessfully in her own right. And we think that was what it was all about: just her ideals and ambition not actually her daughter’s.
People don’t seem to understand that while it’s great to have kids as representatives to the school board from high schools wherever they live, these are kids. They’re not emancipated minors, paying taxes and living in their own homes and paying for everything they’re at a stage of their life where OK maybe they have jobs after school and what not but they’re being supported by their parents. Their hearts might be in the right place, but they lack the expertise and real life experience to serve in anything other than a student representative capacity.
I don’t really have anything more to say. I have admitted since the first word in this post that I am out of my depth here because I am not Jewish. But I do care, and I wish these people could just meet and lay down their weapons and their keyboards and try a humanist approach. After all together, they could achieve real good. But this crusade of everything is antisemitic mixed with Trumpian politics isn’tworking and it diminishes in my mind again as a mere mortal and a shiksa what antisemitism really means.
May we merit to bring about the day when war and bloodshed cease,
and a great peace embraces the whole universe.
“No nation will lift up a sword to another,
and the art of war will no longer be studied.” (Isaiah 2:4 )
May we live to see the leaders of all the nations
inspired to do good with their peoples
and with all other peoples of the world,
bringing about the fulfillment of the Scriptural blessing,
“I will bring peace to the Earth,
and you will lie down with no one to terrify you,
and I will bring calm to all vicious creatures on Earth,
and the sword will no longer pass in your Land.” (Leviticus 26:6)
An unfortunate post-script to this post is how folks in Lower Merion who make people’s lives hell over these topics just can’t help themselves:
And they keep on sending in their nasty comments. This latest one? Oh my. Not a paper, a blog. Merely expressed my opinions, which they do not like. Also, not doxxing, they chose to write to my blog.
And now the other comments. I love being told I can’t say anything because I am not them, essentially. And golly gee whilikers, I am sophomoric at best according to a mansplainer, yet they all can’t stop reading this? Thank you kindly, to the nice lady who gets my post. These people are putting this stuff out everywhere and expect people to accept what they say as just gospel and well heaven forbid you don’t. And yes Harry darling, I am a shiksa, yawn, we have already established this.
And the hits they keep on coming. This is fascinating and another excellent study in mob mentality on Facebook. Like the guy above who thought he would incite me because he mentioned Israel wasn’t at the Pope’s funeral? I mean for real? Am I supposed to have a fit of the vapors and start waving my rosary beads around and spraying the internet with Holy Water?
Then there was this:
Say what? Another unsolicited private message from him and yes there have been others. Usually trying to get me to share his posts. This isn’t on Facebook and he and others have been beating this drum, wanting their manufactured issues (can I call it propaganda?) out there, but because my opinion is different from what is acceptable in their social media echo chambers it’s bad? I ignored the comment (and my sources tell me this guy is still on some kind of cruise to Iceland and this is what he’s doing with his time?) so then he had to write this blog:
And then this:
Gerry, Gerry, Gerry I am not publishing anonymously. And his or her? That’s actually funny. Every post is signed AND besides YOU KNOW MY NAME. And no, my blog page is not a group on Facebook, it’s a page, and so what if I point out the distinction? It’s public and you see it, unless of course I remove you which is my right, just like if I decide I don’t want more hate mail from someone I can restrict that and what’s the big deal? Also, none of these screenshots have been shared by me on Facebook.
Oh but wait, he got a very funny reply:
Then there was this:
Gerry has a son (who knew?) who didn’t like another topic I wrote about. Now more people are reading this blog….so thank you son of Gerry.
And this guy Todd Hall. I was waiting for this. Oh gosh someone brought up the Save Ardmore Coalition. Shockers. I am proud of my part in the ORIGINAL Save Ardmore Coalition. We did a lot of good, cool stuff, and stopped eminent domain for private gain in Ardmore and marched alongside Susett Kelo in Washington DC. But his facts are skewed. I spent most of my life in Lower Merion but yes I did move. My husband is from Chester County. I love Chester County so when he said he was not willing to live on the Main Line of today because it wasn’t his scene, I was fine with that. I mean I get it because all of these nouveau Main Line people who live in the nasty echo chambers of Facebook who live in especially Lower Merion today? Not my country, not my people.
Next the person who claims I did bad bad things only I do not have a clue as to meeting them but they are ok slandering me? Ok honey, get your 60 seconds of Fakebook fame, you obviously need it:
Every hour of every day someone somewhere is sharing screenshots from Facebook on Facebook. But when I do it, it’s bad.
And the saddest thing of all? Because these people have had their vitriol and nastiness and intolerance exposed, they are on the war path and miss the point of what I wrote in the first place. But they can have their sad bubbles and echo chambers of nastiness. It’s their right to behave like savages I suppose, but they seriously expect people to just take their abuse? And these are the people who will holler to the rooftops about bullying in the schools? Gosh where do they think the kids learned it from?
These people have taken a sensitive topic and weaponized it against even people of their own faith. I think that is really sad.
