This patch probably belongs in AR discussing with rails team

lib/freedom_patches/performance_fixes.rb

@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 # perf fixes, review for each rails upgrade.
 
+# we call this a lot
+class ActiveRecord::Base
+  def present?
+    true
+  end
+  def blank?
+    false
+  end
+end
+
 class ActionView::Helpers::AssetTagHelper::AssetIncludeTag
 private