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Another Black Eye for Penn
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Anonymous
There has been no report of mental illness. You are spreading misinformation. |
Anonymous
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Oh, I wanted to mention something else about foster kids and Mackenzie's case.
Penn and Mackenzie's critics hang a lot on the fact that her mom was ultimately not charged with abuse and that the CPS investigation was ultimately dropped (though after Mackenzie had aged out of foster care, so it was no longer relevant). People act like this is proof that Mackenzie's mom was innocent and that Mackenzie manufactured these claims. And that's why I know none of you have been in the foster care system or spent any time dealing with it. This is SO COMMON. Cases of abuse and neglect are notoriously hard to prove. Most of the time, the only witness to the abuse is at the child of the abuser. See how that's hard? Evidence almost always comes down to the testimony of medical professionals, which can be inconclusive, and the caseworker who interview the child and the family. It's hard. In order for CPS to permanently deprive a parent of parental rights, the standard is very high. It is not uncommon for kids to be removed from their parents' homes, enter foster care, and spend years there as the case agains their parents move through the system. It is not at all uncommon for the temporary deprivation of rights to ultimately time out and for CPS to fail to convince a judge that the parent is no longer fit. There's also often a lot of trial periods where parents prove that they were unfit but have gotten it together. Often kids do wind up back with their parents, or with another relative. Yes, even in cases where the original reason the child was removed was abuse or neglect. Life, and families, are incredibly messy and this is all very complicated. Foster care is often horrible, especially for older kids (who sometimes cannot even be placed and wind up in group homes). The system prefers that kids stay with their families and that their families provide adequate care. The point is, Mackenzie's story is not really as unique for kids in foster care as you might think. There are plenty of kids who wind up in the system as teenagers and CPS never proves the abuse. Sometimes the kids age out before this happens, sometimes they go back to live with their parents. Sometimes these kids run away because they are being sent back to an abuser. Often they wind up living with friends or family even though technically their parents could make them return to their homes. Which is why if you ask people who have been through foster care whose side they are on here, the answer is pretty much always going to Mackenzie. It's not even a judgment on her character (though I think she sounds like a pretty upstanding person). It's just a recognition of how this system works and what it is to go through it. There's this saying in these cases: "the best interests of the child." It's like a joke because there are so few people involved who are actually acting for the best interests of the child. Most people are acting for themselves or are constrained by evidentiary or systemic factors. One irony here is that if Mackenzie and her mother were black, it's more likely that her mother would have been investigated by CPS sooner, deprived of parental rights sooner, and found guilty of abuse sooner. Because the system is much harder on black parents because it assumes they are bad parents. It's a racist system, for sure. And then Mackenzie would have spent more time in foster care and had what people on this thread seem to think would be a "valid" claim for for her scholarship and "first-generation" status. Even if every other fact of the case was identical. There's a lot to unpack there but none of it points to "Mackenzie is a fraud." It just illustrates how freaking broken this system is. |
Anonymous
What is incriminating about it? How do you know she doesn’t provide any support for her sister? |
Anonymous
Please read the article yourself. It says she "wrote" in it, but of course people "write" in electronic blogs as well, or smartphone apps, or any other kind of electronic device used for journalling. Care to actually answer the question? |
Anonymous
Anonymous
How about Penn? As inept and corrupt as they have proven themselves to be in this case, I don’t want to see any of these responsible for this to continue to go. Winklestein must go. Multiple professors in her own university have filed a grievance against her, which is essentially a vote of “no confidence” from within her own ranks. White must go. She decided early on that the reports of abuse were not true. So she filed a slanted document which eliminated any evidence of abuse. We know that there is plenty of evidence of abuse because when the New Yorker reporter went back over the same territory, she found plenty of it and plenty of witnesses willing to attest to it. This would be bad enough if White were simply an attorney working fir a client on a case going to court. But her involvement came long before there was any consideration of a court case. She works for a university and that university has a responsibility ti it’s students. White completely ignored that and concocted a wildly inaccurate version of events. She should not be allowed anywhere in the vicinity in an institution responsible for the lives of young people. Gutman has moved on to an ambassadorship, but it would be nice if she could be called to account fir her actions as well. This happened on her watch, so the buck stops with her. |
Anonymous
LOL. You actually read it and still aren’t sure? For real? 
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Anonymous
And then the diagnosis of epilepsy cannot formally be made without evidence of abnormal brain activity. Do you need a link to AAN or AANS? If you have prolonged "seizure-like activity" in someone with a significant psych history (especially with psych hospitalization), and nothing abnormal on background baseline EEG *or* during the "seizure-like activity," then you can't make a diagnosis of epilepsy. |
Anonymous
It’s tough to time “seizure-like episodes” to coincide with EEGs. Hasn’t stopped any of my relatives from getting diagnosed and treated. |
Anonymous
I read and then re-read it, just for you. You apparently didn't read, or you can't read. Cite it. Put up or shut up. |
Anonymous
| Penn is one of the most highly regarded institutions in the world. It is their duty to protect the brand they've built, to uphold academic integrity and enforce the honor code. This disgraceful shyster violated all of the above. A Black boy can be expelled from Penn for plagiarizing a few lines in an essay. This shameless scammer plagiarized her entire identity and intercepted upwards of $400k from impoverished minorities really in need. Truly sickening. |
Anonymous
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https://www.epilepsy.com/learn/diagnosis/eeg/what-if-its-normal
“ A normal EEG does not mean that you did not have a seizure. Approximately one-half of all EEGs done for patients with seizures are interpreted as normal. Even someone who has seizures every week can have a normal EEG test. This is because the EEG only shows brain activity during the time of the test. If you aren't having a seizure at that time, there may not be any unusual brain waves for the test to record. ” |
Anonymous
Right, but there are background changes in the EEG and or documented, physical changes in imaging such as MRI or CT. NOT just flailing your arms around and pretending jerk on the floor. (She's "a little bit melodramatic," right? Right.) Again, do you want a link to AAN or AANS, or would you reject that, too? I'm sensing a pattern. |
Anonymous
“Making a diagnosis of seizures does not depend only on the results of the EEG. The neurologist also considers several other types of information. A description of the event from you and anyone who saw it is probably the most important information. Does it sound like a complex partial seizure or a fainting spell? The results of a physical examination and perhaps an MRI scan of your brain will be evaluated for relevant abnormalities. Your past medical history to see if it includes injuries or illnesses that would make you more likely to have seizures. For example, if you've had meningitis, your risk of seizures is three times greater. Based on all of this information, your neurologist may diagnose seizures with confidence even though the result of your EEG was normal. The normal EEG does not mean that the neurologist was wrong in saying that you had a seizure.” |
Anonymous
Not always. Again, one of my relatives has never had an abnormal EEG/MRI. |