Category Archives: Politics

this is not ok

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Screenshot from West Chester Chronicle coverage of a recent protest.

NPR: Anti-ICE protests across U.S. demand justice for Renee Good’s death

https://www.npr.org/2026/01/10/nx-s1-5673229/ice-protests-minneapolis-portland-renee-good

Who was Renee Good?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1jepdjy256o

Allow me to quote the BBC:

The woman shot dead by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis has been identified as Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother of three who had just moved to the city.

She was a prize-winning poet and a hobby guitarist, who city leaders have said was there as a legal observer of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities.

But the Trump administration has called her a “domestic terrorist”….She had two children, who are now teenagers, with her first husband. Speaking to US media on condition that his name was not used, he said that Good was not an activist and that she was a devoted Christian who went to Northern Ireland on youth missions when she was younger.

She hosted a podcast with her second husband, Tim Macklin, who died in 2023. They had a son together, who is now six years old….Her third marriage was to Rebecca Good, with whom she moved to Minneapolis just last year, from Kansas City…. “On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Rebecca Good said in a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday…..Several state leaders have said that Good was at the scene of an ICE raid in the south of Minneapolis as a legal observer – a volunteer who monitors police and security forces at protests and operations…..Good “weaponised her vehicle”, Noem told reporters, and then tried to run over one of the officers “in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to agents, an act of domestic terrorism”.

The ICE agent feared for his life, Noem said, and “fired defensive shots”….But the city’s mayor said the agent who shot Good had acted recklessly.

“Having seen the video myself, I want to tell everybody directly: that is bullshit,” Jacob Frey said. “This was an agent recklessly using power that resulted in somebody dying, getting killed.”

So Renee Good was just a mom. She was also apparently a legal observer of protests, etc. She was literally a community volunteer. A volunteer. Let that sink in.

https://www.cato.org/blog/what-renee-goods-story

Why was she shot? Very good question. I don’t have any answers but I have to wonder is a woman who is a mom married to another woman driving a not brand new Honda Pilot with a big old lab looking dog in the backseat really a threat to national security?

Personally I am appalled. Carrying a weapon is a responsibility, and these ICE agents? I can’t wrap my head around these people who are behaving like thugs under the guise of law enforcement can you? Ok sure they have a job to do, but look at how they do it? Look at all these crazy incidents and how they are ratcheting up including to anything other than accidental death and aren’t you horrified? So do you not see parallels between this and World War II Europe?

This. Is. Not. O.k.

So the country has erupted into more protests. Now my feelings about protests have nothing to do with the ability to protest, it’s the way it has changed an evolved today because there are problems. And sometimes violence. It’s scary and hard. And whenever you hear about somebody going to a protest, you hold your breath until you know they’re all home safe and sound.

And the rhetoric being tossed everywhere from Washington DC after the unnecessary violent death of Renee Good is appallingly predictable, isn’t it? And again, it’s like political state propaganda.

Literally, it is turning into all Pravda on this bus. They are creating a narrative to defend the indefensible which is quite possibly murder, right? They are creating a narrative to suit their needs. And it’s not truthful and it’s horrible and somewhere in the back of my head because this woman was living an alternative lifestyle compared to what many of those people are comfortable with, did that have something to do with it?

It’s so hard to write about this. Because even if you’re trying to process it, someone’s going to take you to task and some of the comments have been downright crazy. And ugly. And these comments you see on social media are driven by the Washington D.C. rhetoric to fit the uncomfortable narrative of what actually happened.

This is not our country. And yet somehow it is becoming the new normal. It’s not acceptable normal. It’s a terrifying normal.

And then you wonder even for me as a blogger, trying to wrap my head around this, am I going to be punished somehow or attacked or threatened or harassed for writing this?

I just have one last comment and it’s a simple question: is this the country we want to live in?

things that make you go hmmmm…in east pikeland township maybe?

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I am always curious when things seem odd, aren’t you?

I will admit I have always been a little curious about East Pikeland because it always seems a little off, doesn’t it? Is it as simple as too many crystals and soy based candles or something?

And then there’s the Kimberton Fire Company, which is like part of the heartbeat of that community, isn’t it? so the first question is why is somebody suing the fire company?

For real:

So then I have to ask is why is the Kimberton fire chief trying to I don’t exactly know do what to a 41-year-old widow with three kids? I mean, I have to ask do we really think a 41 year-old widow with three kids is a threat to the Kimberton fire chief?

And why am I allowed to ask that question? Is it simply because there is a public criminal complaint and a publicly posted court docket?

And is this how residents who speak out in this municipality are treated? Is it just me or is this kind of twisted?

So yeah, that’s all I’ve got. And my questions and my opinions are brought to me by the First Amendment. And why I’m asking is posted below in screenshots.

She is being represented by Samuel C. Stretton, Esq. of West Chester.

⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

hey karen barsoum, where is my husband’s provisional ballot?

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So guess what? My husband‘s provisional ballot is one of the ones that apparently does not count.

I have covered up the number of his ballot for privacy sake for the screenshot above, but I can tell you I am still checking it and his vote is nowhere to be found.

NOWHERE. It’s like it didn’t exist, like he didn’t exist as an Independent on Election Day. It is like they ate his provisional ballot.

Am I surprised? Nope.

Of course, you also can’t get anybody on the phone in voter services let alone the esteemed director who has been invisible since the election day debacle. If it’s not a fluffy, self-aggrandizing media interview, she’s invisible and to date, unapologetic so whom is she in the process of blaming?

So this is kind of why litigation is being filed, isn’t it?

Here’s the link to the county’s bogus press release:

https://www.chesco.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1685

I personally don’t have faith in voter services at this point. And Karen Barsoum the department head and she needs to go.

She can’t hide behind the county commissioner she hides behind, which is Josh Maxwell. I think he’s trying to be kind and be fair because that’s totally the way he is, but Barsoum is doing Josh Maxwell a great disservice. IMHO she is damaging his political credibility.

I do not blame Josh Maxwell for this, but I so do blame Karen Barsoum.

#firekarenbarsoum

All Politics Are Local 11 14 25 Podcast

where’s karen barsoum, chester county?

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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.

karen barsoum needs to go: chester county has made independents invisible on election day.

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.

https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2025/11/chester-county-pennsylvania-pollbook-error-provisional-ballots-elections/

She needs to show her face to apologize to all of us residents in Chester County, and then she should go.

#firekarenbarsoum

From Barsoum’s time in Berks County
From her socials when she was crowing about being on 60 minutes



Snippet from Info Wars

who is a conspiracy theorist now with chester county voters services?

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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?

Anyway, this is all I’ve got for now. Enjoy.

karen barsoum needs to go: chester county has made independents invisible on election day.

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I am so angry as an Independent Voter in Chester County right now. According to Chester County Voters services, we don’t count. Yes, for real, for real. Chester County has now acknowledged somewhat insufficiently they ALL poll books at all precincts THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRETY OF CHESTER COUNTY currently do not include the names of “third-party voters”!

First of all we matter. We are not insignificant, and quite frankly the numbers of Chester County Independents is sizable.

This is bullshit and yes I am cursing.

Karen Barsoum has one job: to protect the voters of Chester County.  She’s not doing it.  She has incredibly high staff turnover for one. Why is that? Well  watch this video:

Karen Barsoum has ONE job as head of voter services , to keep voters and their votes safe. To maintain integrity of our elections.  This is an inexcusable mistake. It is wreaking havoc county wide.

She needs to GO. Whether she resigns or is let go, it needs to happen.

(For a giggle, read this interview: https://vista.today/2024/08/karen-barsoum-leadership-chester-county/ )

I mean why in the actual hell are there so many overlords in Chester County Government if they can’t seem to keep tabs on this woman? She isn’t doing her job. Elections and voting are bad enough, we don’t need Karen Barsoum continually making it worse. Period. Full stop.

#FIREKARENBARSOUM

you just don’t mess with the pledge of allegiance to our flag

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Check this one out. 

Freedom of speech is freedom of speech so he is certainly allowed to do whatever he wants but the pledge isn’t the place for his opinion. Just my 2 cents. 

This all comes courtesy of West Vincent Supervisor Bernie Couris.

Now Bernie is an interesting cat. He was the most devoted of Republicans when he was all those years on West Conshohocken  Borough Council then he moves to West Vincent and becomes Nouveau Bernie the Born Again Democrat.

I am a traditionalist when it comes to certain things and I don’t think you should mess with the Pledge of Allegiance do you? 

If you think Bernie should apologize to the residents and anyone else who might hear this, please email him at:

bcouris@westvincenttwp.org

Or call/email the manager who seems to have too much time on his hands his name is “Tommy” Ryan. 

manager@westvincenttwp.org

610-458-1601

Oh and let us not forget the mysterious evaporation of whomever the forager woman was whom they initially tapped to replace Sara Shick who passed away in August? I can’t remember the woman’s name but she literally lasted like four or five meetings and disappeared. She was done.

Why that is interesting because of the sheer lunacy of whom they replaced the disappearing woman with. This is none other than Jim Wendelgass. Yes, isn’t that a fantabulosa thing? First he’s a manager then he comes back as an interim manager and now he’s a politician.

Why is this important?

Wendelgassbag was the manager that a bunch of years ago they chose not to renew his contract so he kind of went bye-bye and then went over to West Pikeland as manager because that place is very Pennsyltucky and problematic as far as government (we’ve heard about them in recent months because they keep trying to get rid of their police department and because they don’t record meetings a lot of stuff doesn’t get out.)

Wendelgassbag was at West Pikeland until he retired I guess a couple of years ago now? Then he was brought back to life like Lazarus rising from the dead in West Vincent, as like some kind of interim manager. (See the link to the old post on this blog discussing that at the very bottom of this post. )

West Vincent is one of those places that you don’t pay attention to for a while and then you go back and look and then you shake your head because every time you think things can’t get more sketchy there, they do.

And other things that I always find curious when it comes to West Vincent are little things like this open records appeal from 2024 I think it was:

https://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Appeals/DocketGetFile.cfm?id=165119

I’m pretty sure this is the same woman who used to be the Township Secretary who used to get picked on by Sara Shick?

Click to access 2-page-west-vincent-letter.pdf

Interestingly enough they’re no longer seems to be a Township Secretary at West Vincent Township and why is that? What did they do to the last one?

You know it can get shady in certain municipalities in Chester County and West Vincent, well, it is definitely a place in need of sunshine and good government.

Don’t mess with the Pledge of Allegiance that’s like burning the flag IMHO.

lawd have mercy, it’s groundhog day in west vincent!

good afternoon chester county!

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Hello Chester County! Welcome to the nastiest race in Chester County! The Honey Brook Thug Politics Cabal is in a FULL ON swivet because people like Valerie Shultz and they want better in local government than those people.

Sadly, every day these pathetic humans are harassing people including the executive branch of the Chesco GOP in West Chester, aren’t they?

I mean, I guess this is a step up and intimidation and harassment tactics from some rando truck following people around in Honey Brook Township on occasion, including somebody’s kids right? But how you know it’s Honeybrook there’s nothing to see here, right?

What’s next? Mythical complaints to voter services about campaign signs without a disclaimer or whatever? Note to cabal: buy better readers at The WalMart because they are there, however where bubba was a hoodie is concerned what is it with him referencing a benefactor on his signs yet say something like paid for by the candidate?

And is he taking down his own signs to say they are being stolen? Or is he placing them on private property where he doesn’t have explicit permission to post his lame signs?

Honey Brook, stop the badness and the madness with these people and #vote4val

My disclaimer: I’m exercising my first amendment rights. I am not part of any campaign. I do not donate financially to political campaigns and never have. I believe in paying it forward and that is what I am doing here.

Honey Brook deserves better than the thug politics cabal which also extends to the Twin Valley School Board. Vote for change; break the cabal with a #vote4val

fake websites and the downingtown mayoral race

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It is no secret that runs for something everything candidates on both side of aisle are individuals I find ridiculous. Usually in Chester County they are Republicans but this year it’s Erica Deuso out of Downingtown. A Democrat.

In 2021 she ran unsuccessfully for Downingtown Borough council (https://www.dailylocal.com/2015/05/19/jeff-thomas-wins-the-democrat-nomination-for-downingtown-council/ )

Jeff Thomas wins the Democrat nomination for Downingtown Council

In 2023 she thought she was going to run for state rep against Danielle Friel Otten. (https://www.dailylocal.com/2023/12/15/downingtown-resident-hopes-to-make-election-history-twice/)

Downingtown resident hopes to make election history – twice

The 2023 article always amused me because it said (and I quote):

📌A Downingtown resident making her first foray in elective politics in Chester County is hoping to accomplish two challenging goals in the 2024 race for the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives.📌

But it wasn’t her first foray since she ran for Downingtown Borough Council unless a magic mulligan decreed it not to be trying to run for elected office?

So now she is running for mayor? Well good for her except is it just making her a runs for something / anything / everything candidate?

Deuso wants to become Downingtown’s next mayor

Her opponent is a guy named Rich Bryant whom I heard interviewed once and seems to have a neighbor who has beef with him for having security cameras?

what do you think about this potential rock ’em sock ’em robots situation in downingtown?

I still have no horse in this race. Downingtown has some unpleasant politics rather regularly, and I haven’t paid attention to the mayoral race since Josh Maxwell was Mayor. I started paying attention then because I respected a younger guy stepping up for his community, which he now does on a county level.

But this race I heard was getting interesting and well I figured it out. SOMEONE put up a FAKE website MISrepresenting Rich Bryant.

https://downingtownmayor.com

This is the real website:

https://richbryantformayor.com/

Home

So why is Erica Deuso sharing screenshots of a fake website that was taken down because it was fake??

Erica, Erica, Erica. Is this like desperate is as desperate does? Shame on you. You want people to think you are the better candidate? Then be better.

A postscript to all of this are first a handful of screenshots from the defunct website:

Next is a little more unpleasant in my humble opinion. Screenshots of his Twitter feed. This is where this candidate probably now loses me. Why put this on Twitter or X? And why didn’t he clean this up before he announced his candidacy for Downingtown Mayor?

I am glad I do not have to decide between these two candidates. And it’s sad because when I first heard Rich Bryant interviewed a few months ago he seemed like just a regular guy and very pleasant. He seemed real. And I’m not saying he can’t have his First Amendment rights to post however he chooses, but the message in the postings is not pleasant.

Well, we shall see what happens with this race. It ought to be interesting and I think it’s going to get dirtier and uglier before November.

is freedom of speech subjective if you are a republican in pa and chester county or just in honey brook township?

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So we all know it’s a hot race in Honey Brook because the thug politics cabal is terrified of a normal Republican or anyone NOT from their inner circle running against their chosen bobblehead. And yes, I can have that opinion. So yeah, hope y’all tuned in or listen later online or now online. https://953wche.com/

So I went to rewatch Valerie Shultz’s video. It gave up this message:

Naturally, I went nosing around because it was available over the weekend. So I don’t know if this is a tall tale but apparently the thug political cabal was so upset that they did their usual round of emails, phone calls, etc and so predictable right? Are they also still doing drive-bys like no one sees that truck or trucks? I guess politics is harassable in Honey Brook Township?

So is it true that the went to the PA State GOP and Chester County GOP put pressure on the individual who merely recorded it because that is part of what he does in Honey Brook for the residents NOT as a committeeperson? As in this wasn’t official anything, was it? It was shooting a video. So this begs the question of what did OTHER supervisors in Honey Brook Township know? Are current elected officials there trying to add the pressure of undue political pressure? Is that even ok?

In my humble opinion this but a pyrrhic victory. In case you are unfamiliar with the term a pyrrhic victory is defined as:

a triumph achieved at such a tremendous cost that it is tantamount to a defeat, leaving the victor in a worse state than they were before. 

And guess what? I have the verbiage of the empty hoodie/chair debate. Yes, yes I do. Here you go:

Debate dialogueDownload

And yes, yes I have the video. I took a screen grab of the publicly recorded empty chair debate. Also note this was advertised for weeks, so nothing was done leading up to this event to stop it. It’s not the first video you see next, it’s at the bottom.

Listen to this video at end of this post. There is nothing wrong with it, except that Valerie Shultz is a Republican running on Democrat ticket because Democrats in Honey Brook Township want representation. These individuals CHOSE to do this because as they noted in a public meeting (in above video), they did not feel they essentially had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting a Democrat elected which means they did their own self-chosen groundswell of support and wrote Valerie in. They chose to do this. See video grab above, for the Democrat who spoke up.

Now my opinion is the Republican Party of Chester County and PA made a critical error. Also my opinion is if the Democrats in Chester County had a collective brain, they would capitalize on this because is this not attempting to deprive someone of their First Amendment rights? Honey Brook Township is sunshine unfriendly in my opinion and they are scared of having, well, what we used to know as a normal Republican on the board and she is respected enough that Democrats wrote her in to get her on the ballot and what does that say?

The residents of Honey Brook do not have to settle for less. And no one decides whom to vote for except for the individual in the voting booth. If Honey Brook wants to start to improve, it starts here.

And I will note that NO one is saying Honey Brook Township is a horrible place (like the talking hoodie yes man bobble head always says), what IS being said that the politics are creating issues in a community as in the thug politics of those currently in office and how is that so difficult a concept to grasp? Honey Brook Township is not the thug politics cabal’s fiefdom or personal sandbox. What has happened with the empty chair debate video in my opinion is a CLEAR example of why residents need to NOT vote for the candidate that the current board wants, right? I mean do you want representative government or not? Or do you want a guy who runs his entire campaign off of Facebook, sort of at the recent supervisors meeting, or from a lawn chair in a random driveway?

Here is the video. Hope all watch and learn and hope regional media wakes up to what is going on. This is at the end of the day a glaring example on a more local level of what is wrong in politics today.