Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 40 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
For those that have eyes…let them see
Just a couple of quick shots:
- Autopen use – As a professional who works a great deal with seniors that have dementia/Alzheimer’s, I can attest that many reach a point that they cannot sign their own names at all, or, in earlier stages, can do so only if it is on a form with their typed name below. And yes, some can sign their names but cannot comprehend what they are signing, or have “forgotten” how to read, so anything they are signing is meaningless to them. (The amount of estate litigation coming down the pike due to this issue is going to make lots of lawyers happy—and rich—and many families miserable.) I wonder if Joe could even sign his name on some days. At times, it certainly appeared he couldn’t read and/or comprehend what he was reading.
- International students—I believe I have mentioned this on Ricochet before, but my son went to Texas A&M for engineering, and he was one of the few American students in his program. He was even more of a minority in his post-grad program. He went to undergrad with an open heart and open mind and was stunned at the level of disdain openly portrayed by Chinese students toward their fellow American students and the university that was educating them—not just disdain, but hostility. This attitude was not hidden; TAs, professors, administrators and staff are all exposed to it. But the school takes the money and confers degrees to these same students. (Seems like a toxic relationship to me: You can abuse me, just don’t cut me off from the cash.) Our local po-dunk college also admits a large number of international students relative to its size and reputation. No doubt it’s because these students pay the full sticker price. I honestly think Po-dunk U would close if they couldn’t enroll international students. And in truth, it SHOULD close—it’s a job program for the adult staff and administrators, not a fine (or even competent) educational institution.
Many hid Joe’s condition that was obvious to all, even foreign leaders who just shook their heads as he wandered off. We were in a great deal of danger as a country with this situation and I am glad they are trying to uncover what extent this auto pen crap went to. It is extremely shameful that his own family, especially his wife, allowed it.
I don’t see why there should be tax-payer benefits given to foreign students for the benefit of a few university staffers. I would like to see a 100% tuition tax on all foreign students and foreign campuses of US universities. Those Chinese rich kids are displacing the seats of poor kids from America.
Completely agree. The late Mr. She and I made an appointment with our attorney while it was still evident that he was in his right mind and could sign the papers with willful intent, papers which gave me the rights of durable attorney to make decisions and sign for him as his health continued to fail, in both healthcare and financial matters (they are two different things).
That wasn’t the first time, and it probably won’t be the last that a member of my family, on one side of the Pond or the other, has had to make this extremely difficult, yet very humane decision on behalf of a loved one.
And yet. My loved one, the person whose reputation I so wanted to protect, wasn’t even “The Leader of the Free World,” and perhaps his decisions might not have mattered all that much.
My contempt for Jill Biden knows no bounds. That contempt exists to a lesser extent because she put the world at risk (OK, we’ve survived worse), but to a much greater extent because she held the man she claimed to love up for ridicule, and allowed him to continue his disastrous decline, covering it up in private until it finally exploded in public and couldn’t be hidden any more.
Ugh.
Way back when – do they (the Chinese) still have minders? Or are those long gone?
You’re right about the foreign students money connection.
I’d add that the Chinese money that comes into these Universities has strings attached. For example Chinese students will get preferential treatment in being placed into research roles and are then in a position to steal all the research being done in the USA. It’s an open secret in technical schools of higher standing.
When I worked at DOE, some of our upper management had autopens. IIRC, only the managers themselves and their secretaries had access . . .
Hmm, I remember “9 to 5″….
I just saw the presser where Doocey pointed out to Press Secretary Leavitt that of the pardons signed, many looked very neat and uniform, possibly autopen, while the one signed regarding Hunter appeared to be actually signed, and it almost seemed that Biden forgot how to spell his name and sort of trailed off at the end. This would be totally consistent with what I see in the dementia/Alzheimer’s sufferers documents.
Not to mention……..the rapid onset of prostate cancer??? How with the best care and screenings in the world at his disposal??
Indeed, and extra credit for a word that is far too much underused these days, but which deserves much greater exposure.
Well, that’s just another thing, when it comes to the “Leader of the Free World,” a man in his eighties.
We’re supposed to accept the fact that he hasn’t had a screening for prostate cancer since he was 70 or so, because some medical authorities believe there is a law of diminishing returns, because “almost all men in their late 70s or early 80s have developed prostate cancer, and it moves so slowly, so there’s really no point….”
OK. Perhaps that works for most men who stagger into their dotage from their 70s onward.
But that a man running for POTUS, who would have been just a few days shy of his 82nd birthday on election day, November 5, 2024, apparently didn’t bother to check out that particular aspect of his health when he was considering embarking on a four-year commitment which would see him in office until two months past his 86th birthday just beggars belief.
If his prostate cancer could have been predicted–simply as a result of his age–with the almost certainty that so many medical authorities seem to believe it could have been, wouldn’t it have been worth getting it checked out before announcing his umpteenth presidential run, to see how much time he might have had left?
A reasonable person might think so.