Yawn. The famous investigation of Chester County Voter Services is complete, but what will actually happen? Will it be like the famous Advaite investigation?
AND LET US REMAIN CLEAR: THIS WAS NO ELECTION CONSPIRACY THEORY OR WHACKADOODLE TINFOIL HAT BRIGADES THAT CAUSED THIS ELECTION 2025 DEBACLE, IT WAS HUMAN ERROR AND GOOD LEADERHIP SHOULD START WITH THE DEPARTMENT HEAD AND THAT AIN’T KAREN BARSOUM IS IT?
What are the odds on this?
Here is what the county has released below….I am not particularly excited because in my humble opinion, someone else will take the blame and Karen Barsoum will remain and I am a poet and didn’t even know it…
They SHOULD remove Karen Barsoum from her office…..but hey that would make to much sense, right?
I’ve decided that this must be some kind of seasonal disorder. They’re not being paid attention to, and they love their ridiculous. They’re all some form of Klanned Karenhood, and yes, I have mocked some of them. They are like caricatures of adult mean girls.
They like to project their behavior onto everyone else.
If you are not like them, you are bad.
If you don’t share their precise politics, you are bad.
Essentially, if you are not just like them, you are bad.
Some of these women have been coming at me for years. They are women who feel emboldened in a MAGA world. They are very limited in their world view , and they can’t handle anything that’s different or disagrees with their crazy.
When these women are online, they are extraordinarily emboldened. In person I wouldn’t know as obviously we don’t move in the same social circles or world.
Generally speaking, they’re just obnoxious. And I decided years ago I didn’t have to put up with it. Mostly I just blocked them then I don’t have to deal with them, but then they pop up again. And when they pop up it’s new gaslighting city.
I don’t know what it is about this time of year, but this seems to be the time when the people that I just choose not to know like to gaslight me. Last year when it happened, someone acted on it, and it ended up being a real life police thing that the district attorney took to court and prosecuted. It’s like it’s a seasonal disorder for keyboard warriors.
Yesterday, the woman in West Goshen/West Chester we still refer to as the QAnon princess Anonymous Ada decided she was going to throw up her version of fake news.
She conveniently left out what I said, and what I said when I updated the post. I didn’t hide that. I corrected the original post which was essentially that people thought ice had been spotted in Coatesville the other day.
I wasn’t chasing ICE vehicles in my vehicle with a whistle or waving a sign on a street corner. I shared a post. What I shared was not a responsible it was just what people thought they saw.
What I first said was:
Then, when I received updated information, this is what I said, and I will note you can check the edit history because all I did was update the original post:
So there you have it. The simple, unvarnished truth.
Ada Nestor, who is a failed politician vis-à-vis a bad attempt at joining WCSAD school board and she is at present, vice chair of West Goshen Republican Committee is ridiculous. Of course it’s not the first time she’s been the QAnon Princess of alternative reality is it?
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Also I take issue with the way she denigrated my friend Barry and his WCHE “All Politics Are Local” show.
Here allow me yet more screenshots which will also contain the 200+ ridiculous, gaslighting comments :
You notice she doesn’t want to say what radio station it is? Probably because Barry’s shows are great. That would be a threat to her as she apparently tries to play radio, right? According to her Barry is disloyal to Republicans because I am sometimes a guest. And she stupidly refers to him as a “committee member” as in she doesn’t even know the hierarchy of her own political party. He’s an area vice chair, actually. Oh and his show is “All Politics Are Local.”
The show is not one political party. It’s welcoming to all. It’s about the stories NOT being told in our communities. Barry is helping us cross the local news desert. She should say thank you. And of course the West Goshen Republican Committee should be ashamed to have her as one of them, but they are fairly consistently a train wreck with multiple scandals so will they do anything? Probably not.
Then there are the others. All of these lovely women who talk a good game about supporting other women….but only if you agree with them, right?
A peek into the past:
So these two women? Nasty. Why? Because I am not part of their group. Basically what they represent is distasteful. And they are not about supporting other women. They both used to make scenes at school board meetings. They were caught on video quite a few times yes? One used to brandish a bible and calling down the devil or something in Downingtown and her pal would wear a gas mask. The other one would sputter and spit whilst pointing her finger.
There is more, but no point, it’s just the wash, rinse, and repeat of ugliness. If you aren’t them, you are bad.
So I am bad I suppose.
Whatever.
But what is really fascinating is that they are almost obsessed with me. I had forgotten about most of them because that’s the joy of being able to block people you don’t care for on social media. It’s literally out of sight out of mind.
I was perfectly content to lead my life and to leave them to the annals of time. After all, they’re not important to me, I don’t want them as friends.
But I wasn’t counting on their somewhat ridiculous interest in me at this point. Yes I’m a blogger. I’m not a public figure. I live my life. They are not part of it. Yet here they are in all their truth stretching, gaslighting glory.
To them I am a bad, crazy person.
I am always amused as they refer to me as this like die hard total completely over-the-top liberal. And I’m actually not. I’m a moderate and politically, I’m an independent. I know plenty of very liberal people and I don’t have a problem with that or them. It’s what they believe, just like I have plenty of friends who are true conservatives, it’s what they believe, and we all coexist quite nicely. It’s actually kind of sad that they don’t have those kind of relationships, but it’s not my job to help them.
And I have zero desire to know any of them. They are human dumpster fires.
At the end of the day, I’m considering the source or sources. I have made a conscious choice not to know people like that.
I marvel at them, but I am truly grateful I am not like them.
And apparently I am rude for thinking Mattel is creating a new series of Pandering Barbies?
That’s my OPINION.
My opinion is based upon the fact I feel Mattel is ONLY creating these dolls to sell toys. It’s not about awareness or anything altruistic, it’s like people producing pink plastic garbage during breast cancer awareness month. It’s about profit.
After all, you’re seeing them talking about this doll they developed but not that they are, for example, donating a significant portion of proceeds of sales of dolls to organizations that help families and kids and adults with autism and other things are they?
They aren’t that I can find, so again this is Pandering Barbie and it’s all about profit. They will literally tell you what they think you want to hear and see to sell dolls. I think that’s wrong.
It’s not about raising awareness.
It’s about them making more money on Barbie.
You don’t have to like my opinion and you can think I’m harsh or whatever you choose. I am not responsible for what goes on in your heads.
But I’m not going to sit and take a bunch of crap off of people, either.
Read their press release. Do they say they’re donating significant money as in profits from these dolls to anything that actually helps people with any of these disorders? In my opinion, this is just about corporate profit. And in this case, they are profiting off of a disability thing and I find that objectionable.
Of course in the lovely world of social media I have people that say I’m saying what autism should look like. What does that even mean? That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying I find it objectionable that they’re creating dolls based on disabilities to profit off of them. Period.
And people are already reselling at Molly Markup on places like eBay and Poshmark. Yep disability currency.
And then I find this little video on YouTube that must be from some kind of influencer who is gifted the doll, but she’s not an ad. OK, I’m the tooth fairy.
Again, if Mattel was donating 50% of the proceeds of the sales of these dolls to worthy nonprofits that help disadvantage individuals I wouldn’t say anything, but this is all about the money, honey, and nothing else.
I have been in love with North Wayne, PA for years. It’s an amazing and historic area, and ironically was a quasi planned development in the late19th century. The North Wayne Historic District is actually a national historic district. Most houses were built between1881 and 1925, and include notable examples of Shingle Style, Queen Anne and Colonial Revival architecture. Among the famous area architects who contributed to this were the Quaker Price brothers (William and Frank, who also did a lot of Rose Tree in Media.)
Allow me to share something I wrote many years ago in 2011:
Allow me to quote myself but click on the above link for photos I took years ago as well:
I first became a fan of North Wayne when I was a kid. The fanciful Victorian architecture in particular had me at hello, just like Cape May, NJ.
North Wayne has grand Victorian homes with sweeping porches and smaller homes of a more fanciful bungalow style. Many of these homes have been lovingly restored. You see Queen Anne, Second Empire, Tudor, shingle style, stick style, craftsman, and colonial revival homes dot the streets neatly laid out on a grid pattern.
Like many other towns on the Main Line, Wayne popped as the Pennsylvania Railroad developed and connected Philadelphia to points west–Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The Main Line itself received its now famous name as a result of this train line.
Wayne as we see it today can be ironically described as an early planned development. Streets were orderly and on a grid. Houses were large, but convenient to downtown Philadelphia. They embraced the Victorian sensibilities and importance of hearth and home, yet were so modern. Steam heat, the train, public water and sewer, electricity, indoor plumbing, paved roads. There were even swimming pools–like the famous Wayne Natatorium.
The Wayne Natatorium, which was recognized in the fall of 2010 with a historical marker from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, was located in North Wayne on what we know today as Willow Avenue. Among the largest open-air, in-ground swimming pools in the United States, and some still argue the world, this Victorian folly existed between 1895 and 1903. It was 500 feet by 100 feet and played host to national swim meets during its existence. And in the winter, when this fresh water pool froze over? There was ice-skating and winter carnivals held under colorful lights.
The area in which the Wayne Natatorium sits is in North Wayne, but outside the boundaries of the historic district. The historic district in North Wayne only extends so far, and doesn’t encompass a lot of the more modest streets with working class roots that abut the Wayne train station, and I think that is a mistake. For example, if it hadn’t been for vigilant neighbors who live on some of the streets NOT in the historic district, 236 North Aberdeen Ave. might have been lost a couple of years ago to ill-fitting new development.
What was so special about 236 North Aberdeen Ave.? It was the home of builder Jonathan Lengel. Lengel was a builder who brought a lot of the whimsical architectural visions of such greats as David Knickerbocker Boyd. Lengel was responsible for the construction on some very interesting Radnor landmarks.
North Wayne not only boasts the homes out of the imagination of David Knickerbocker Boyd but also among others, the Price brothers–William and Frank Price, Philadelphia Quakers who were originally protégées of Frank Furness before venturing out on their own starting in 1881…..Radnor residents, take the time to become more active with your local Radnor Historical Society and get to know your local streets. They are delightful and charming, offering a real sense of community. Get out of your cars and walk these streets if you haven’t in a while. You’ll be glad you did.
Yes, I mentioned the Wayne Natatorium. I raised the money, found the non-profit sponsor and got the PA Historical Marker approved years ago in 2010. And guess what? Didn’t live there. I just loved the quirky history. See next link to learn about the Wayne Natatorium.
Both organizations continue to do their thing, although I wish they would be less insular and more active.
One house that got torn down just outside the historic district of North Wayne a few years ago was the one built by Jonathan Lengel for his own family on N. Aberdeen. I had helped stop the demolition a bunch of years ago, but Radnor Township didn’t give a damn a few years ago and down it came. I wrote about it:
Here are some photos I took of North Wayne from around 2007:
Oh and what else did I do back in the day for North Wayne? Well I got stormwater improvements out of Septa and some safety issues addressed with a giant drainage pipe that frequently flooded out parts of Pennsylvania Avenue.
How did I do that? The lead engineer for Septa at the time was a super nice man named Jeff Knueppel. (Yes, the one guy in recent past who was eventually the general manager of Septa before the wheels fell off and people like former politician or perennial politician Leslie Richards came to be there.) Jeff Knueppel was a great General Manager and accessible to the public. But I digress.
Anyway, I had written an editorial for Main Line Media News when Tom Murray was the editor, and Jeff Knueppel read it and contacted me. At the time, Wayne train station and their parking lot was getting a makeover. Jeff Knueppel said the budget had room for added stormwater infrastructure underneath the parking lot, and they did some stuff with the embankment facing Pennsylvania Avenue and put a grate over the giant pipe to keep dogs, cats, and kids out of it (which had been a problem.) Next photo is what this looked like before Septa added the grate cover thing and did improvements.
So this was something I did with my writing and activism because it was the right thing to do.
I used to belong to the Radnor Historical Society because I loved North Wayne so much. (I am thinking of rejoining, actually.)
Anyway…. before Christmas I was over there and I took photos of some of the houses on Poplar Avenue because it is one of my favorite streets back in North Wayne. In an other life, I almost lived in North Wayne, a couple of streets removed from there.
Now I hadn’t posted most of these photos yet because I had not gone through them and was editing a lot of December photos and still am from volunteer non-profit photo taking amounting to a few hundred photos. When I started going through the photos from Wayne, I shared one particular house on my blog’s Facebook page:
The ONLY thing I said of the above house is “this house in North Wayne could be fabulous….”
Nothing else. It’s one of my favorites and is one that I have watched for YEARS. For years it has gone through phases where it was tidier and repairs were happening but over the past couple of years in particular it has devolved into this. Here are photos going back to 2007 where you could see the house, 2012 when there was gardening going on, and 2017 when it started to slide into the condition you see today in 2025. These photos incidentally are from Google:
This house was fabulous and could be again if the decay is stopped. It was built around 1905-1906 by Jonathan Lengel whom I mentioned earlier in this post. Here is a screen shot from Radnor Historical Society of Poplar:
So yeah…I posted about this house because it is one of the quirky houses of Wayne I think are so cool. But of course the moral judgement squad of a lack of reading comprehension on Facebook jumped on my back:
So yeah, I love the judgmental who can’t read. Literally ALL I said was the house could be fabulous. The Judgey Judgersons came from West Goshen, Downingtown, Malvern, and I don’t know where else…but none from near this house in North Wayne. As a matter of fact a woman who grew up across from there left a comment saying the house was once fabulous.
All of these people completely missed what the post was about and decided I was targeting whomever lives there. I mean HUH? I was talking about the house, no clue who lives there or what is going on. All I said is the house could be fabulous.
But if we are going to talk about the deterioration, it is happening. Like I said, I have been watching this house from the early 2000s. For a while it looked like repairs were happening, and gardening was happening so it was a shock when I went down this block this holiday season and saw it. This is a neighborhood of old house proud and other houses disappeared for McMansions literally have appeared across the street and down.
I was not doing anything other that taking photos on a public street. I wasn’t peering in windows although with this down on her luck North Wayne house the windows aren’t clear on the second floor. I saw it when I was taking photos and chose not to take that photo. But if the inside indeed resembles the outside then whomever knows the owner maybe should help them?
I am sick of people who lack basic reading comprehension and interpolate whatever is on their mind, not mine, as my actual thoughts or reason for writing about something. This happens with almost everything and it’s old. I am not going to stop writing and people did this when I started writing about Loch Aerie before she was restored, and even more recently the Joseph Price House in Exton.
Get. Over. Yourselves.
No one has to read what I write, and no one has to comment on my blog’s Facebook page or here. And if you don’t even know what it is you are bitching about, it’s even more pathetic.
I am talking old houses here, in an area I find immensely special in spite of the crazy municipality it is in. And Jonathan Lengel? The guy who built the house I spoke of having the ability to be fabulous? In the area he was also responsible for The Saturday Club, Waldheim mansion – (VFMA’s Sullivan Hall, torn down in 2001), Walmarthon estate (Now still there minus historic log cabin), and Waynewood Hotel – (Still standing AKA Wayne Hotel.)
Check out the history in North Wayne and better yet check out the Radnor Historical Society at Finley House. The Finley House is open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 2-4 p.m. 113 West Beechtree Lane, Wayne PA. They also have amazing photo archives. (https://radnorhistory.org/archive/photos/)
I take photos. A majority involves old and often historic houses.
Ciao haters. Go look at some cool old houses and enrich your sense of why they are important.
Oh look we got a letter from “Chester” – I guess it was supposed to say “Chester County” ?
This was to let us know my husband’s vote was counted….a month later. It was the smallest print imaginable and completely half-assed. It was also not even on county letterhead or Department of Voter Services letterhead. It was on cheap copy paper, cheapest weight possible . Dated 12/5/25 and mailed from West Chester.
It did not even say sorry we screwed up or more specifically that Karen Barsoum screwed up.
Obviously Barsoum is not sorry because she has had a month now to apologize to the voters of Chester County.
This entire episode has been pathetic. It was never an election or political conspiracy, it was gross incompetence….and it continues with this pathetic form letter.
So I think this is Tredyffrin Township and this is Stormwater funkadelic. The pipe drains to the public sidewalk. As ONTO the sidewalk along Lancaster Avenue – talk about a winter hazard for pedestrians especially, right?
This is the strip shopping center at 41 E Lancaster Avenue in Paoli where Our Deli etc is.
And no, I was not driving when I took this picture. I was a passenger in a car.
So whichever municipality this is they need to deal with this. It’s a fall hazard for pedestrians and this is going right out onto the road which causes another potential hazard trying to keep the road clear during winter icing events.
We all know the roads aren’t going to be perfect in the winter but something like this dripping over time in freezing weather could just be big enough to cause an accident. I mean, let’s face it. It’s problematic enough getting out of this weird little strip mall.
Developer Eli Kahn at 12/1/25 Tredyffrin Supervisors Meeting
So this is an interesting one at the end of the supervisors’ meeting last evening, Tredyffrin Township’s bumbling and inefficient zoning officer (I am entitled to my opinion and I’m being understated because I don’t understand why she has a job, but I digress) pops up rather nervously to announce to the supervisors that are developer was there with essentially a problem.
What was the problem? Something to do with the sewer and how his workforce housing project was essentially being potentially charged too much if it goes forward the way it is for sewer capacity they’re not going to use, right?
Here is the recording of that portion of the meeting:
I don’t understand how it was just sort of popped on the agenda like this do you? I’m not saying he shouldn’t be heard because he should be heard, and this is a developer whose projects I am not generally speaking fond of, but when you listen to this meeting snippet, do you really think he’s wrong? I actually don’t. (Shocker, right?)
This project was introduced at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025:
So this is a trend we’ve seen being proposed in other municipalities and not just by this developer. It’s all about redeveloping these old commercial properties and these office buildings that have become obsolete whales and making them into living units, and in some cases, schools?
So I have to ask are we potentially replacing one problem with another problem? To be clear l, I’m not saying I’m against workforce housing if it actually happens. But I also look at these plans for this housing and so many of the units are these little itty-bitty things so what about workforce housing for families?
But I’m not going off on that tangent today that’s just something I think about. We definitely need affordable housing for all stages of life, but do we really need more apartments? I keep asking that question.
So the reason Eli Kahn went to Tredyffrin has to do with sewer. And sewer capacity and what he is paying for. It’s an interesting conversation. Listen to the video. So he’s telling the supervisors that they have problems in their sewer fee structures I guess? Basically he’s saying it’s not a one-size-fits-all?
I find it interesting, just like I find it. Interesting how it all kind of got plopped at the end of this meeting.
What is it with sewer fees and sewer capacity and municipalities out here so you have the thing that West Goshen Sunshine uncovered that’s on her Facebook page about fees paying health insurance bills of supervisors?
And then, of course, we have West Whiteland Township, trying to do the right thing for residents being sued by the Exton Mall developer and why? If there isn’t really sewer capacity, how should they be able to build as much? I don’t understand. it’s not like that’s the only problem on that site is there? Not enough parking correct? Too many houses for the area because of the density already existing correct?
Around 6:30 AM this morning, Casella Waste Systems showed up to pick up residential garbage in a residential neighborhood. They are the successor to Whitetail and pretty much are just as bad as per the reviews.
6:30 AM is too early in a residential area. Noise ordinances exist for a reason.
Of course because I posted this on Facebook the great unwashed had to roll up and say I was being mean to trashmen. Duh, the guys driving the trucks don’t set the schedule. That’s why I didn’t call the police which municipalities say to do. (I also don’t believe that it is the role of police departments to babysit trash trucks who get their orders from the corporate offices.)
So the comments I am sharing are representative of the dumb dumb chorus and posted publicly.
One of my favorite comments is from a woman who posted a public photo on her Facebook page that I found very amusing for the tacky factor.
I am not being mean to the working man. Also my trash hauler NEVER does this holidays or not. And FYI my neighbors who use this company don’t particularly care to be woken up too early.
And again, the drivers don’t set the schedule, the offices do. So that is where I take my complaint. TO THE OFFICE.
Enjoy the obnoxious comments received before removing them and their authors.
The great unwashed and ignorant on social media are after all, national treasures!
This photo is from a Google search and it’s just a screenshot
Well, it’s no secret that election day was a total study in incompetence, gross incompetence, on the part of the Chester County Director of Voter Services Karen Barsoum. I am starting this post reminding the knee jerk reaction chorus in the rear of the attention span auditorium that I am not an election conspiracy theorist. I am not a voting conspiracy theorist I am not saying there was malicious intent, what I am saying is there was gross incompetence.
I am really, quite honestly tired of the people defending this woman. She’s been here long enough and worked in another voter services department in Berks County prior to this that she should not have screwed things up this election or the spring primary where she actually left an entire row office race off of the ballot.
This is something procedurally that it remains the same. There’s one procedure in the spring, there’s another procedure in the fall. Epic fail, pure and simple.
I have mentioned before the crazy amount of turnover in that office. That’s because people don’t want work with her, in my opinion. People need jobs, so if they aren’t taking jobs in that department or constantly leaving, there’s a reason.
Basically, we have heard from everyone, except Karen Barsoum. Her socials are suddenly quite quiet and seem scrubbed as well.
She should’ve been front and center at the county commissioners meeting yesterday, even if just to make a brief statement and leave the room. Everyone has been apologizing for this situation except her. And to be honest given how much she loves the sound bite going back to Berks County, I find that odd.
Obviously to stand up and own is not as fun as being on 60 Minutes or quoted in USA Today or whatever, but you have to have a accountability for the good and the bad and she doesn’t ever seem to have accountability and it’s time for her to be accountable. Then it’s time for her to go.
This is right off the social media of certain Democrat state representatives. I didn’t imagine this out of thin air.
I’m glad they see things the way average people do because I had some toadstool from Easttown or close to that vicinity basically accuse me of being a conspiracy theorist today over this whole debacle with voter services.
I’m not. I never have been.
This is a simple case of incompetency at the top of that department. The director is Karen Barsoum. This is on her.
And then there was the woman who said the only one I was impressing with my independent status was myself, and I should just shut up. Oh yeah, for real see below screenshot :
Now let’s review: I’m pretty sure if I remember what people told me in the past once they are ready to get the “books” printed for the election they have to check over everything and I’m sure there are all sorts of things that they have to check in some kind of a computer program, right?
At that point, they first have to generate the books in-house and then they go to an outside printer, correct?
Unless they changed it it’s not a magical overnight process is it it’s a process that would occur probably the week before the election last week right?
So who checked the work before it went to the printer? I mean with a problem this big if they even sampled random “books“ from around the county wouldn’t they have found this mistake? One of my sources told me they did not reprint the spring books so this is just a colossal screwup, isn’t it?
So working on the theory that the books would have been sent to be printed last week and delivered last week why didn’t anybody check them when they first came back in final printed for him to make sure they were correct?
Now I get that this department is now short staffed but wouldn’t a reasonable procedure be to check a sampling of the books to make sure they were correct?
So they’re going to be a lot of questions that need to be answered in the days ahead, but if the PA Attorney General gets involved, remember he’s having months long issues with some database, isn’t he?
My new hashtag is #firekarenbarsoum
I also have to ask is Chester County going to be able to certify these elections?
This is a huge debacle.
And it’s Karen Barsoum‘s fault this is her department. She’s made a big deal how she’s such a leader. A leader and competent manager would have checked her department’s work.
Judge Rovito has extended voting until 10 PM. The only issue I have with that is the Democrats and Republicans as far as registered voters weren’t disenfranchised today. It was those who are Independent or unaffiliated. So really why should Republican and Democrat registered voters get extra time to vote when it was in Independents and other unaffiliated who were in effect disenfranchised?
