Dozens of administrative law judges grant disability payments to almost everyone who appears before them, overriding Social Security staff who determined the people were not entitled to payments, a Daily Wire analysis found.
One of the Social Security Administration&#8217;s “regional chief administrative law judges,” <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/org/oho.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jennifer M. Horne</a>, who leads the San Francisco hearing office, ruled in every case she heard last year that the claimant should be granted disability payments, even though in each case, two previous examinations had found the claimant should be denied. Ronald Herman, hearing cases outside of Detroit, green lit payments in 95% of the 1,268 cases he heard. Jan Leventer, hearing cases in Queens and Detroit, approved 94% of 2,159 cases, potentially amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Such rulings have steered billions of dollars in payments to people who may not deserve them, adding to the impression that disability is sometimes abused as a shadow welfare program. Targeting abuse in Social Security’s disability program, which has a history of fraud, provides an opportunity for the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut waste from the “non-discretionary” funding that comprises the bulk of the federal budget.
&#8220;It&#8217;s all a political bent,&#8221; a lawyer who represents disability-seekers at the hearings, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Daily Wire. &#8220;If [the judge is] a person that says ‘this is a social contract that we make with people,’ if [the claimant says] they’re disabled, then they are. If they’re a person who believes everyone’s a liar and a cheat, then it’s single digits.&#8221;
“I don’t think there’s any real lawyering to it. The game is to get as many hearings as I can because 50% are getting approved no matter what if I just show up,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I’ve had people with cancer not get approved, and people with skin rashes get approved. I can&#8217;t predict it anymore.”
One Washington, D.C.-area administrative law judge, who is a white Bernie Sanders supporter, was overheard complaining that many of his peers viewed their job as a way to steer government checks to minorities, regardless of the facts.
Social Security staff determine whether someone is entitled to disability payments, and claimants can appeal to staff for a “redetermination” if they are rejected. If that panel also concludes that they are not disabled, they can appeal again to an administrative law judge.
Outcomes in those proceedings largely depend on which judge the applicant gets. Even though one might assume that they would defer to the judgement of Social Security experts, 85 judges overturned Social Security rulings that a person was not disabled more than 80% of the time.
Far fewer judges erred on the side of stinginess. Only 16 judges upheld the staff&#8217;s determination more than 80% of the time, according to 2024 data. In all, administrative law judges heard 2.2 million disability cases in 2024, and overturned the non-disabled ruling in 58% of them. In October, 26 administrative law judges, hearing 197 cases between them, ruled favorably to the disability-seeker in every single case.
Administrative law judges (ALJ) are not members of the judicial branch, but rather executive branch employees who are represented by a &#8220;union for judges,&#8221; the <a href="https://aalj.org/about-aalj" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Association of Administration Law Judges</a> (AALJ). The AALJ’s leaders were among the most activist judges. Its president, Sommattie Ramrup, approved 94% of the cases she heard in New York. Its secretary, Kimberly Schiro, ranked 49th among the 1,220 ALJs at 85%, and its treasurer, JoErin O’Leary, overrode staff to approve payments 74% of the time.
The AALJ, whose members make at least $185,000 a year, <a href="https://www.eff.org/document/afge-v-opm-declaration-sommattie-ramrup-iso-plaintiffs-motion-tro" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sued DOGE</a> for accessing federal employee records, with Ramrup filing an affidavit that said, “Members of AALJ and I also fear that DOGE could use improperly disclosed records to retaliate against us.” She did not return a request for comment.
Social Security runs two disability programs: one, called Social Security Disability Insurance — for those who have worked in the past and now find themselves unable to — pays out roughly $150 billion a year in benefits). The other, called Supplemental Security Income, is for those who have never worked, and paid out about <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_asr/2023/sect01.html#table2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$54 billion</a> in 2023.
Both programs, especially the latter, have been used as a shadow form of welfare for decades. In some Appalachian counties, <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/314617/exography-disability-has-become-a-way-of-life-in-many-american-counties/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than a quarter</a> of the population was on disability. In inner cities, unemployed individuals feign mental conditions like depression to get government checks that last a lot longer than welfare, which is limited to five years.
Disability judges with astronomically high approval ratings in 2024 include:
<ul>
<li>Jennifer M Horne (San Francisco regional chief): approved 100% of 9 cases.</li>
<li>Jose Perez-Gonzalez (Ft. Lauderdale): approved 100% of 9 cases</li>
<li>Michael L Brownfield (Chattanooga): approved 95% of 639 cases</li>
<li>Ronald Herman (Oak Park): approved 95% of 1,268 cases</li>
<li>Jan Leventer (Queens/Detroit): approved 94% of 2,159 cases</li>
<li>Sommattie Ramrup (New York): approved 94% of 65 cases</li>
<li>Margo Stone (Fayetteville, NC): approved 92% of 2,007 cases</li>
<li>Gloria W Green (FL/NC/SC): approved 92% of 1,971 cases</li>
<li>Jeffrey Hatfield (Honolulu): approved 91% of 2,173 cases</li>
<li>D.B. Stalley (Mobile): approved 91% of 1,277 cases</li>
<li>Matthew Malfa (Manchester): approved 91% of 1,608 cases</li>
<li>Randall D. Huggins (Charlotte/Tampa): approved 91% of 1,910 cases</li>
<li>William Wallis (St. Louis): approved 91% of 2,170 cases</li>
</ul>
The judges could not be reached for comment.
<div id="attachment_904257" style="width: 602px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-904257" class="size-large wp-image-904257" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/disability-chart-592x576.jpg" alt="" width="592" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/disability-chart-592x576.jpg 592w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/disability-chart-300x292.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/disability-chart-768x747.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/disability-chart-1536x1495.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/disability-chart.jpg 1630w" sizes="(max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px" />Source: Daily Wire analysis of calendar year 2024 <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/appeals/DataSets/03_ALJ_Disposition_Data.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disability determinations.</a></div>
A ruling on whether someone is entitled to disability depends not just on medical facts, but also a judge&#8217;s view of the economy and an individual&#8217;s potential to adapt. If a construction worker develops a back problem, the judge must determine whether there are sedentary jobs available in the United States, and whether he&#8217;d be capable of getting hired into one. Social Security disability is a government program that is separate from workers&#8217; compensation, which covers injuries on the job.
In 2013, then-Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) noted that administrative law judge hearings were one-sided affairs where applicants pleaded their case without anyone representing the taxpayer.
&#8220;One simple reform that would make a big difference is including a professional from the SSA to represent the government (and ultimately, the American taxpayer) in decisions made by ALJs,&#8221; he <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2402592/exography-seven-steps-to-keep-disability-insurance-solvent/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &#8220;Some claimant attorneys withhold evidence from the [judge].”
Although there is no suggestion that the unusual patterns by the judges are due to fraud, Coburn revealed that high patterns of disability in some rural areas were because of unscrupulous lawyers and medical professionals who, for a fee, would help anyone present as disabled —with at least one lawyer also paying off judges to secure disability determinations.
One criminal proceeding demonstrated how much money one judge with a high approval rate steers. In 2017, former administrative law judge David Black Daugherty, who heard cases in West Virginia, was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution of <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/former-social-security-administrative-law-judge-sentenced-four-years-prison-role-550-million" target="_blank" rel="noopener">$93 million</a> after he single-handedly doled out more than half a billion dollars in disability payments by giving favorable rulings in 3,149 cases in exchange for $609,000 in bribes.
The bribes came from lawyer Eric Conn, who worked with psychologist Alfred Adkins to construct a disability paper mill. Conn collected $7 million in legal fees from clients. He <a href="https://www.justice.gov/archives/opa/pr/fugitive-lawyer-involved-largest-social-security-fraud-scheme-sentenced-15-years-prison-his" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fled the country</a> after pleading guilty and, in 2018, was sentenced to prison after being apprehended in Honduras. A second administrative law judge, Charlie Paul Andrus, fired a whistleblower to conceal the scheme.
About 10% of an employee&#8217;s pay is diverted to Social Security&#8217;s retirement fund, and another 2% to its disability fund. According to the 2024 annual <a href="https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">trustee report</a>, Social Security is projected to be depleted of sufficient funding in eight years, and will be unable to pay full retirement benefits beginning in 2033 for many Americans. Terminating disability judges with abnormal records, or eliminating the 1,200-judge appeal layer entirely, could cut down on dubious disability and allow more resources to be shifted to the retirement side.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/almost-fired-for-working-with-doge-social-security-fraud-expert-now-leads-the-agency">Almost Fired For Working With DOGE, Social Security Fraud Expert Now Leads The Agency</a>

disability-judges

Activist Judges Rubber Stamped Billions In Suspect Social Security Disability Claims

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Disability

Social Security

For two years, my soft voice was drowned out at Columbia University, smothered by deafening roars outside our windows. I was spoken over, screamed past, pushed aside by mobs whose chants turned threats into anthems.
I live with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. My predicted lifespan was four years. While I defied the odds, never has my voice been more silenced.
Throughout my life I have faced immense adversity, yet I have prevailed by becoming the first person with my condition to walk the New York Fashion Week runway (February, 2023), the first person with my condition to climb a mountain (Camelback Mountain in Arizona 2022) — producing an internationally awarded documentary combating disability stereotypes — and most recently setting a Guinness World Record for the fastest swim time in my category.
My limited energy is normally invested in advocating for others, but for the first time, my very means of advocacy was heartlessly stolen from me.
For two years, my faint tones were consumed by a campus that refused to listen, dismissed by an administration that chose appeasement over accountability, ignored by a culture that demanded my silence in the name of supposed progress.
For two years, voices chanted for the destruction of my people, fists raised in protest not merely for justice, but for erasure, all while those in power stood by in cowardice. Mobs that disregarded our accessibility and our right to belong stormed our campus walk as I scooted in search of a single accessible entrance. While I fought for a space to exist, countless others with disabilities, some bound to their wheelchairs, were left navigating a campus that refused to see us, let alone accommodate our basic needs. Our identities became a debate, and our safety an afterthought.
Yet my purpose is not to debate the hostility, prove our right to exist, or even to justify our presence at this university. Rather, my purpose is to emphasize one simple truth: now, at last, my soft voice can be heard. Unfortunately, the silence that once suffocated me, was only exhaled in response to intensified government intervention. This government intervention is nothing new and has brought forth three harsh realities: (a) The freedom of a Jew comes at a troubling cost (b) History is repeating itself and (c) Columbia&#8217;s cowardly silence has perpetuated further hostility and segregation – their indifference must end now.
At an unfortunate cost, the world is now witnessing what it takes for Jewish students to experience basic campus safety and dignity. The Trump administration’s cancellation of $400 million in funding, along with the detainment of a former student protest leader with alleged ties to Hamas, has widened the nation&#8217;s eyes to one chilling truth: Columbia’s failure to uphold the rights of Jewish students was not appropriately corrected by institutional conscience but rather it required external force, exposing the depths of negligence.
Columbia’s government funding was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/doj-hhs-ed-and-gsa-announce-initial-cancelation-grants-and-contracts-columbia-university">revoked</a> in direct response to “the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” This is a profound failure of humanity, that restoring safety required government intervention at the expense of fundamental freedoms. The price of inaction was paid through imposed financial costs, an obligation that should have been paid through moral courage. It was not.
For a Jew to attend class freely, must a child with cancer lose access to life-saving research?
For a Jew to walk through campus freely, must an international student fear detainment?
For a Jew to learn without threats, must a groundbreaking cure remain locked away due to defunded research?
For a Jew to simply exist, must a first-generation student lose access to financial aid?
Have we truly arrived at another moment in time where, for a Jew to express their identity openly, the future of innovation, education, and opportunity must be compromised? Where an engineering breakthrough must be halted and countless other students must suffer collateral damage simply because Columbia University refused to act until it was forced?
The university administration’s cowardly silence is screaming! While government intervention has never been more necessary, agony pulses through my veins at the realization that this is where campus life has arrived. The university administration had every opportunity to protect its students, yet chose to allow the escalation of intolerance and violence against their Jewish students. And now, that silence has been replaced with an even louder reckoning, one that should never have come at such a cost.
Now, the campus is silent. But this silence has not emerged from understanding or reflection. Campus silence exists only because the cost of inaction became too great — the silence is screaming!
History has proven – that government mandates do not equate to inherent justice. Canceling government funding for needed research and resources is truly an unfortunate crossroads between morality and human equality. Throughout history, intensified government intervention, though imperative, has proven to deepen divisions, inflame resentment, and fuel further segregation.
In 1954, reluctance to properly integrate black children into the school system, following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling against racial segregation (1954), persisted. Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus refused to integrate Little Rock Central High School or to protect Black students from violent mobs, making federal intervention essential. In September of 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent federal troops to forcibly escort nine Black students, known as “The Little Rock Nine,” into the school. While governmental mandates undoubtedly served as one necessary step towards respect for all, one consequence was generational racial strife.
Columbia&#8217;s suffocating silence is the true culprit, forcing external action where institutional courage should have prevailed. The silence on campus will be temporary if Columbia’s leadership refuses to take meaningful action.
Columbia’s administration must summon the courage to acknowledge the undeniable truth, only then will we cultivate true respect for all. One can be Muslim, Jewish, Christian, tall, short, in a wheelchair or running freely. One can come from any faith, culture, or any physical ability but at Columbia one principle must consistently hold true: that all academic thinkers can and should be safely welcomed. When policies are upheld, order will follow.
We must not allow the tides of academic accountability to shift along with the ever changing waves of podcast trends, political climate, public opinion, or what funding is or is not received.
True racial, cultural and ability equality will not persist if Columbia University does not speak up and clearly condemn the open disrespect of students. The current silence is deafening.
Dear Columbia University leadership: dig deep and draw from the depths of your hearts and souls to shatter your indifference and proclaim that respect for all will no longer be up for debate. I urge you to speak out online, in print, and, most critically, stand in person at the Columbia Sundial, a historic gathering place at the heart of campus. The institution’s declaration of justice and respect for all is crucial for both the present and future. Please, replace your silence with a bold message to our diverse, complex world, memorializing it for those not yet born.
Take it from me, someone whose soft voice speaks against the odds – our campus’s silence is screaming.
* * *
Lilian Brasch is an undergraduate student and ability activist at Columbia University, class of 2025.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

US-ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN-CONFLICT-PROTEST

At Columbia University, The Silence Is Screaming

American Universities

anti-Israel

Anti-Semitism

Columbia University

Jewish

Opinion

Pro-Hamas

Protests

Radical Islam

Students

Texas Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, one of the loudest voices in her party, mocked Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is permanently paralyzed from the waist down and must use a wheelchair, taunting him as “Governor Hot Wheels.”
Crockett spoke at an event for the Human Rights Campaign in Los Angeles. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States, according to its <a href="https://www.hrc.org/about">website</a>.
Abbott was studying for the bar exam at the age of 26 in 1984 when he took a break to go jogging. As he ran, a large oak tree along his path cracked and fell on his back, leaving him permanently paralyzed from the waist down. “Doctors discovered several crushed vertebrae splintering into his spinal cord, broken ribs, and damage to vital organs,” Abbott’s <a href="https://www.gregabbott.com/why-governor-greg-abbott-wheelchair/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a> noted.
“Listen, if you’ve ever paid any attention to me, y&#8217;all know that I always have remarks, and then something else happens,” Crockett <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDEdXM5sTe8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">began</a>. “And so we gonna do just a couple of remarks and then something else gonna happen and y’all just pray for me cause who know what I’m gonna end up sayin’?”
“I can tell you that Morgan (Morgan Cox, an HRC board of director) has always been one of those people who will ask ‘What is it that you need?&#8217; You know, a lot of people see you out front, fightin&#8217;, but nobody’s really asking you, ‘What do you need to maintain that fight?’” she said a couple of minutes later. “So thank you so much, Morgan, because we in these hot-a** Texas streets, honey. Y’all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there, C’mon now.”
“And the only thing hot about him is that he is a hot-a** mess, honey,” she continued.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Jasmine Crockett continues to embarrass herself, the state of Texas, and the US Congress by referring to Governor Greg Abbott as “Governor Hot Wheels.” Gov. Abbott was paralyzed at the age of 26 when an oak tree fell and crushed his spine while jogging.
This woman is trash. <a href="https://t.co/ddiwCBkaHL">pic.twitter.com/ddiwCBkaHL</a>
&mdash; Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1904549846687854831?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Last week, Crockett ranted about Elon Musk, saying, “All I want to see happen on my birthday is for Elon to be taken down. I have learned, as I serve on the DOGE Oversight committee, that there is only one language that the people that are in charge understand right now, and that language is money.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi warned, “This is domestic terrorism and now you have this congresswoman, Crockett, who is calling for attacks on Elon Musk on her birthday. Let&#8217;s take him out on my birthday,&#8217; she says. Yet she turns and says, &#8216;Oh, I&#8217;m not calling for violence.&#8217; Well, she is an elected public official, and so she needs to tread very carefully, because nothing will happen to Elon Musk and we&#8217;re going to fight to protect all of the Tesla owners throughout this country. And it&#8217;s basic safety once again, domestic terrorism is going to come to a stop in our country.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Perseverance" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CTrxQ9A6KjE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/pam-bondi-issues-warning-to-jasmine-crockett-over-calling-for-attacks-on-elon-musk">Pam Bondi Issues Warning To Jasmine Crockett Over &#8216;Calling For Attacks On Elon Musk&#8217;</a>

Crockett

“Governor Hot Wheels’: Jasmine Crockett Mocks Greg Abbott’s Disability

Greg Abbott

Jasmine Crockett

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/madonna">Madonna</a> called out a fan who wasn’t getting up to dance at a recent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music">concert</a>, only to discover the person was in a wheelchair.
During her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">show</a> at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California, on Thursday, the 65-year-old pop singer directly addressed the individual from the stage. “What are you doing sitting down over there? What are you doing sitting down?” Madonna can be heard saying on video clips of the interaction. She walked to the edge of the stage to get a closer look at the offending party.
After seeing the concert attendee was in a wheelchair, the “Like a Virgin” singer quickly backtracked and apologized. “Oh, okay. Politically incorrect. Sorry about that,” she said after seeing the fan was in a wheelchair. “I’m glad you are here,” Madonna added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Madonna questions fan for sitting down during her show then finds out they’re on a wheelchair:
“Oh okay, politically incorrect, sorry about that. I’m glad you’re here.” <a href="https://t.co/oezHxfjrFn">pic.twitter.com/oezHxfjrFn</a>
&mdash; Pop Crave (@PopCrave) <a href="https://twitter.com/PopCrave/status/1766603640914006388?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Social media users wondered why someone should be called out for sitting down whether they were physically disabled or not.
“Does it matter if they’re sitting or standing? they paid for the ticket and took the time to be there? Isn’t that enough???” one account <a href="https://twitter.com/Across3Horizons/status/1766606894150439409">said</a>.
“Ok you shouldn&#8217;t be calling people out for sitting down anyways. She&#8217;s not the queen of England,” another X user <a href="https://twitter.com/TalkerReel92/status/1766615768127422795">agreed</a>. “Some people are tired or have conditions where they need to sit. You want them to leave altogether?”
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Madonna is currently on her Celebration Tour, which was postponed last year due to a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/madonna-pretty-sure-god-spoke-to-her-during-near-death-experience">medical incident</a>. 
“This show every night is not really so hard on me physically. It’s hard on me emotionally because I’m really telling you the story of my life. My heart is on my sleeve,” she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/madonna-pretty-sure-god-spoke-to-her-during-near-death-experience">said</a> from the stage of one of her Inglewood shows last week. “I’ve fallen off a lot of horses and broken a lot of bones … but nothing can stop me.”
“I’m pretty sure that was God saying to me, ‘Do you want to come? Want to come up with me? [I said] no,&#8217;” Madonna said of her hospital experience.

Madonna

Madonna Calls Out Fan For Sitting During Concert; She Was In A Wheelchair

California

Entertainment

Los Angeles County

Music

U.S.

Actress <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Selma Blair</a> said she’s staying positive and upbeat amid her battle with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/disability">multiple sclerosis</a>.
The 51-year-old <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/entertainment">actress</a> was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year for 2023. At the awards ceremony on Tuesday, Blair discussed her current outlook on life with <a href="https://www.accessonline.com/articles/brooke-shields-selma-blair-share-how-their-younger-selves-would-react-to-glamour-2023-women-of-the-year-honors">Access Hollywood</a>.
&#8220;When someone perceives that something might be over, it ain’t over till it’s over,&#8221; she said. &#8220;You know, we’re still here, and I think dying alive is a very healthy goal to have instead of letting yourself fall, you know, further away from connecting.&#8221;
&#8220;I am amazed at how life can change and that we all can continue to evolve and become more patient with ourselves and others,&#8221; Blair continued. &#8220;And that kind of has been the key to my voice, is hearing other people and disrupting on their behalf, you know?&#8221;
The “Cruel Intentions” actress has been openly sharing her struggles with MS on social media in hopes of connecting with other people struggling with chronic conditions. She was diagnosed with the disease in 2018.
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&#8220;It’s been an amazing journey because now I have come to think of disability as an olive tree whose branches extend to find a light in each other, to offer peace and hope and healing,&#8221; Blair said during her acceptance speech, per <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/selma-blair-speech-glamour-women-of-the-year-2023-daring-to-disrupt">Glamour</a>. 
&#8220;Disability crosses all divides,” she continued. “It knows no borders. It is part of being alive, a great peace offering. If we are blessed enough to age, we all become disabled….It is my great honor to be part of a community of women who disrupt every day.&#8221;
Blair has been vocal about her past struggles with alcohol dependency before she received the MS diagnosis. “We have a long time to be dead and I spent so long trying to kill myself, or numb myself, or check out — or figure out how to be alive by being half dead,” she said in the 2021 documentary “Introducing, Selma Blair.” 
“And now I just want to help other people feel better,” the actress added.

Selma Blair

Selma Blair Said She’s ‘Dying Alive,’ Staying Positive During MS Battle

Selma Blair Said She's 'Dying Alive,' Staying Positive During MS Battle

Celebrities

Hollywood

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Musician</a> Paul Simon is reflecting on losing his hearing, saying he’s finally coming to terms with it.
The 81-year-old singer and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">songwriter</a> previously revealed in May that he had almost completely lost hearing in his left ear. &#8220;I haven&#8217;t accepted it entirely, but I&#8217;m beginning to,&#8221; Simon said on Sunday while speaking at the premiere of “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon” at the Toronto Film Festival, per <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/paul-simon-hearing-loss-new-son-in-restless-dreams-premiere-1235586890/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Hollywood Reporter</a>.
&#8220;I play the guitar every day. It&#8217;s the instrument that allows me to express myself creatively,&#8221; he said. &#8220;But it&#8217;s also where I go for solace. If I&#8217;m feeling … &#8216;whatever.&#8217; So it&#8217;s a very crucial thing to me.&#8221;
He continued, &#8220;You know, something happens to you when you have some sort of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/disability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disability</a> that changes your awareness or changes how you interact with life.&#8221;
Simon became famous as one half of the folk-rock duo Simon &amp; Garfunkel and is known for classic songs such as “Mrs. Robinson” and “The Sound of Silence.” He’s still recording music and released his 15th solo album, Seven Psalms, in May 2023.
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He said performing these new songs live has proved challenging due to his hearing loss. 
&#8220;Usually, when I finished an album I went out and toured with it, and then I have the opportunity to really investigate the piece,&#8221; Simon said, per THR. &#8220;And then it evolves to another standard, and goes further.”
He added, &#8220;Although a week from now I&#8217;m going to try and work with two guitarists who will play the parts that I played on the record, and see if I can sing the piece. I&#8217;m not sure how I can integrate my voice with the guitars.&#8221;
Simon said he didn’t know what the future would look like for him artistically. “I wrote a new song called ‘When I Learned to Play Guitar,’ but I don’t know if I’ll ever do anything with it,” Simon told the audience in Toronto.
Simon had previously told London’s <a href="https://go.skimresources.com/?id=38395X987171&amp;xs=1&amp;xcust=646d193fe4b0bfd644858a23&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fpaul-simon-losing-my-hearing-and-why-im-writing-songs-again-3c65mms7n" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Times</a> that he hoped his hearing loss was temporary. “Quite suddenly I lost most of the hearing in my left ear, and nobody has an explanation for it,” he told the outlet in May. “So everything became more difficult.”
“My reaction to that was frustration and annoyance; not quite anger yet, because I thought it would pass, it would repair itself,” the musician added.

Paul Simon

Paul Simon On Hearing Loss: ‘I Haven’t Accepted It Entirely’

Paul Simon On Hearing Loss: 'I Haven't Accepted It Entirely'

A biology paper misrepresented data used to support its claim that the field of evolutionary biology discriminates against disabled people, a Daily Wire analysis has found. 
The paper, &#8220;Discussions of the &#8216;Not So Fit&#8217;: How Ableism Limits Diverse Thought and Investigative Potential in Evolutionary Biology,&#8221; <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/720003">published</a> in American Naturalist last year, accused the field of evolutionary biology of &#8220;ableism.&#8221; To demonstrate this, the authors manipulated statistics to give the illusion that the field of evolutionary biology is particularly discriminatory against disabled people by inappropriately comparing rates of disability within evolutionary biology to society generally. 
The paper argues that concepts like &#8220;fitness&#8221; and &#8220;natural selection&#8221; —  foundational to the field of evolutionary biology, which studies the diversification and adaptation of life forms over time — are &#8220;harmful&#8221; and have been &#8220;weaponized against marginalized communities in the modern day.&#8221; And the authors&#8217; thesis is that evolutionary biology’s use of purportedly “ableist” terms and concepts discourages disabled people from studying the field, and is therefore more discriminatory of the disabled than other areas of study. But instead of sampling from other academic disciplines, the authors claim that &#8220;the proportion of disabled evolutionary biologists is far below the population average.&#8221; 
The authors compared a National Center for Science and Engineering Studies (NCSES) statistic that found 8.1% of disabled doctorate recipients in the life sciences with a CDC statistic that found <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html">26%</a> of the US population was disabled. But upon closer inspection, this <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/pdfs/mm6732a3-H.pdf">26%</a> CDC statistic was determined through <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/dhds/data-guide/status-and-types.html">self-reporting</a>, based on a six-question set, and included participants 65 and over who have considerably higher rates of age-related disabilities.
A more representative sample would have been to compare evolutionary biology with other academic fields of study. In fact, the same NCSES <a href="https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf22300/data-tables#group1">data set</a> (Table 28) used by the authors included the comparable data of other disciplines and revealed there was little difference between the number of disabled doctorate degree recipients in the life sciences (8.1%) with psychology/social sciences (9.8%), education (8.9%), math/computer science (7.2%), and humanities/arts (11.1%). 
<div id="attachment_489347" style="width: 1786px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-489347" class="wp-image-489347 size-full" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-16-at-10.38.33-AM.png" alt="" width="1776" height="1460" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-16-at-10.38.33-AM.png 1776w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-16-at-10.38.33-AM-300x247.png 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-16-at-10.38.33-AM-701x576.png 701w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-16-at-10.38.33-AM-768x631.png 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2023/01/Screen-Shot-2023-01-16-at-10.38.33-AM-1536x1263.png 1536w" sizes="(max-width: 1776px) 100vw, 1776px" />Image provided by NCSES 2020</div>
In addition, the authors cited another <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/evo.14168">study</a> by Rushworth et al comparing the 10.8% disability rate in evolution societies to the 26% CDC statistic, but did not mention that the Rushworth study itself acknowledged a &#8220;more conservative national estimate&#8221; of 12.8% from a more recent US Census.
Evolutionary biology is an intellectually challenging undertaking that often requires a field component to research, so one might expect to find fewer people with cognitive or mobility disabilities pursuing it, but the data shows there is very little disparity between it and other academic fields of study. 
The publication&#8217;s former editor-in-chief, Dan Bolnick, <a href="https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2022/12/29/a-once-respected-biology-journal-indicts-evolutionary-biology-for-ableism/">said</a> that this particular paper was a &#8220;special issue&#8221; that &#8220;invited papers at the intersection of humanities and sciences,&#8221; and that it was reviewed by a &#8220;special team&#8221; that included humanities researchers that did not comprise their &#8220;usual board.&#8221;  
<a href="https://twitter.com/Evolutionistrue">Jerry Coyne</a>, a prolific evolutionary biologist and author of the bestselling book, “Why Evolution Is True,” hosts a website by the same name where he recently <a href="https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2022/12/29/a-once-respected-biology-journal-indicts-evolutionary-biology-for-ableism/">reviewed</a> the paper. 
&#8220;First, it’s one of the more ludicrous examples of science policing I’ve seen,&#8221; opined Coyne, who said he supports accommodations for disabled people to have the same opportunities as others. &#8220;Second, it shows how the American Society of Naturalists, which publishes the journal, has gone down the same woke road as the other ecology and evolution societies.&#8221;
The paper makes several suggestions to rectify evolutionary biology&#8217;s ableist past, which mostly include changes to terminology they deem offensive and providing a chart with alternative language that should be used.
&#8220;According to the authors, the field is rife with words like &#8216;mutant/wild type,&#8217; &#8216;fitness optimum,&#8217; &#8216;mutations&#8217; (we should say &#8216;base pair change&#8217;), and &#8216;optimization,'&#8221; said Coyne. &#8220;The paper ends with a demand — not a request — that we purge evolutionary biology of ableist language.&#8221;
Perhaps most concerning is their call for an overhaul of foundational concepts in evolutionary biology, such as &#8220;fitness.&#8221; Within the context of evolutionary biology, fitness refers to measures of reproductive success, not the condition of an individual organism being physically fit.
&#8220;The authors’ discussion is muddled because they use &#8216;fitness&#8217; as equivalent to &#8216;able-bodied,&#8217; implying that &#8216;lower fitness&#8217; is somehow a slur on the disabled,&#8221; said Coyne. &#8220;In our field, the term was not used to denigrate the disabled, but simply to express the relative number of copies of a given gene variant in the next generation compared to alternative variants of the same gene.&#8221; 
&#8220;The authors also disparage the use of the term &#8216;survival of the fittest&#8217; because, they argue, it not only disparages handicapped people, but has led to social darwinism, a philosophy embraced by capitalists,&#8221; he added.
In addition to ableism, the authors accuse the field of evolutionary biology of eugenics, racism, white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism. The paper also is peppered with humanities terms like &#8220;unconscious bias&#8221; and &#8220;lived experience,&#8221; and in the acknowledgments section the authors apologized for representing &#8220;white settlers’ perspectives on these issues.&#8221;
&#8220;American Naturalist would be better off if it stuck to its original mission — presenting good science — and stayed away from politics, ideology, and social engineering,&#8221; said Coyne.
The world-famous evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins shared Coyne’s sentiments regarding the formerly prestigious publication on Twitter. 
&#8220;American Naturalist used to be a great journal,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/RichardDawkins/status/1608907894497607681?s=20&amp;t=gv4OiBM4UXEFf8NunygHJw">tweeted</a> Dawkins, with a link to Coyne&#8217;s review. &#8220;Very sad. How could they sink so low?&#8221;
Elon Musk took the opportunity to <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1608919969953349634?s=20&amp;t=PTxM1S27w8AEqoDNHa9STA">chime in</a>, &#8220;The woke mind virus is penetrating the firewalls of some of the world’s smartest meat computers at a prodigious rate!&#8221;
The lead author of the paper, Haley Branch, a botany student at the University of British Columbia, <a href="https://twitter.com/HaleyABranch/status/1613683909526712325?s=20&amp;t=o20hPSS-HwTDV5nsbAWI4Q">responded</a> to the criticism on Thursday.
&#8220;I did not expect the onslaught of disrespectful messages,&#8221; said Branch. &#8220;We did not expect the main takeaway to be language policing.&#8221;
Branch, who hopes her research can further &#8220;<a href="https://www.ubyssey.ca/features/our-campus-Haley-Branch/">climate justice</a>,&#8221; revealed in a 2020 social media <a href="https://twitter.com/HaleyABranch/status/1334674976406818818?s=20&amp;t=rNHT1MyZULXKpSFcTFdV7g">post</a> that she didn&#8217;t think of herself or &#8220;identify&#8221; as disabled until &#8220;very recently.&#8221; In fact, she used to be a ballet dancer and practiced 30 hours a week, that is, until she discovered she had Ehler-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue abnormality that causes flexible joints. In 2020, she formed a <a href="https://www.ubyssey.ca/news/disabled-graduate-student-association/">support group</a> for disabled graduate students and aspires to make academia more &#8220;equitable&#8221; for them.
&#8220;It took until #diagnosis for me to identify, but that was because of lack of allies, support, and ableism,&#8221; said Branch. &#8220;I&#8217;m sad that medical #ableism prevented me from finding my community earlier.&#8221;

back to evolution

New Paper Claims Evolutionary Biology Is ‘Ableist.’ Here’s How It Misrepresented The Data.

They Claimed Evolutionary Biology Was 'Ableist.' Here's How They Misrepresented The Data.

Canada

Chicago

Health

language

Medical Research

Science

United States

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/norway" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Norwegian</a> man who identifies as a woman has inspired ire on social media for also identifying as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/disability" target="_blank" rel="noopener">disabled</a> and using a wheelchair despite not physically needing one.
“I have struggled with this every day my whole life,” Jørund Viktoria Alme, 53, told the Norwegian outlet Vi earlier this year, according to <a href="https://reduxx.info/norwegian-man-now-identifies-as-a-disabled-woman-uses-wheelchair-almost-full-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reduxx</a>.
“It is a cognitive dissonance: in the same way that I experience <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/transgender" target="_blank" rel="noopener">being a woman</a> in a man’s body, I experience that I should have been paralyzed from the waist down. This is not a desire to be a burden on society. It is about the wheelchair being an aid for me to function in everyday life, both privately and at work,” Alme continued.
The publication noted that Velme faced backlash following a recent interview with Good Morning Norway (God Morgen Norge, GMN). It became such a big story that Norway’s TV 2 did a follow-up piece including the perspectives of four disabled women.
One of those interview subjects was an 18-year-old woman named Emma Sofie Grimstad who spent two months in a wheelchair after contracting an inflammatory disease.
She said “there are many who don’t have that choice” to be in a wheelchair.
“I don’t think everything should get airtime,” Grimstad told TV2. “[Alme’s] interview can harm people who are in wheelchairs and do not have a choice. It can even lead to suspicions about people who have no visible illnesses.”
Twitter users reading about Alme&#8217;s story were equally outraged, especially those who were disabled themselves or had family members who were.
“My daughter has had a wheelchair since she was 18 [months] old &#8211; it was tiny, specially made,” one person <a href="https://twitter.com/VonAlawon/status/1587552971176706049" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shared</a>. “The 1st thing she said was, ‘I walk!’ This man should be ashamed. But&#8230;of course he&#8217;s not.”
“‘Able-bodied male uses wheelchair almost always [because] he identifies as a woman who is paralyzed.’ Mental illness is reaching levels we never thought possible,” another <a href="https://twitter.com/PekalaLaw/status/1587575962761396226" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreed</a>.
“This is so insulting,” another Twitter user shared. “I’m a wheelchair user. I went through excruciating pain with spinal &amp; neurological damage. It’s not a joke &amp; this to me is mocking me &amp; others who’ve suffered awfully. Being in a chair has taken so much life away from me &amp; my family. This is appalling.”
Per <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19132621/#:~:text=The%20term%20body%20integrity%20identity,transection%20of%20their%20spinal%20cord." target="_blank" rel="noopener">PubMed</a>, body integrity identity disorder (BIID) is an “extremely rare phenomenon of persons who desire the amputation of one or more healthy limbs or who desire a paralysis. Some of these persons mutilate themselves; others ask surgeons for an amputation or for the transection of their spinal cord.”
Alme replied directly to the criticism, saying, “I have struggled with my own shame and prejudices for 50 years before I was so bothered by BID that I finally had to open up about it.” The Norwegian said the interviews were done to promote “diversity and inclusion.”
When asked if the BID was sexually motivated, Alme replied, “I don’t know, maybe so.”
Alme described being “envious” of an elementary school-aged child with crutches. 
“My reaction was an intense interest. My heart pounded, my pulse increased and I was activated in my body. I was incredibly focused on him and what this was all about. Everyone gathered around and was going to try the crutches, while I kept my distance. I was so afraid that someone would find out what was going on inside me,” Alme told the Norwegian outlet Budstikke.
Reduxx noted that GMN was deleting negative comments on their social media pertaining to the news story about Alme.

A disabled man is sitting in a wheelchair.

‘Should Be Ashamed’: Twitter Reacts To Man Who Identifies As Disabled Woman, Uses Wheelchair ‘Most Of The Time’

Twitter Reacts To Man Who Identifies As Disabled Woman, Uses Wheelchair 'Most Of The Time'

Norway

Social Issues

Transgender

World

In a series of posts on social media, &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; author J.K. Rowling spoke out against a woke policy that is reportedly taking place at a school that she says endangers &#8220;extremely vulnerable teenage girls.&#8221;
Rowling shared an article on Twitter that was reportedly written by unnamed parents with a daughter who is a &#8220;severely learning-disabled&#8221; 16-year-old. The report says that a policy change at the school will now allow men to take their daughter to the bathroom one-on-one, &#8220;behind a closed door.&#8221; The school&#8217;s governing body decided to &#8220;remove cross-gender consent from the personal and intimate care policy,&#8221; according to the article.
&#8220;I cannot overstate my contempt for those supporting policies that endanger extremely vulnerable girls. This is a travesty. Have we learned nothing from successive abuse scandals? Do we value the disabled so little?&#8221; Rowling tweeted. &#8220;Nearly 20 years ago I founded @lumos to reform care systems for vulnerable children. I know from long experience how vulnerable children are in institutions. The statistics on predation are appalling. Disabled women and children are many times more likely to be abused.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I cannot overstate my contempt for those supporting policies that endanger extremely vulnerable girls. This is a travesty. Have we learned nothing from successive abuse scandals? Do we value the disabled so little? 1/5<a href="https://t.co/ewIG8S4lcG">https://t.co/ewIG8S4lcG</a>
&mdash; J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href="https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1546473378168594434?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 11, 2022</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;Predators go where there is access. Predators love victims who can&#8217;t fight back or speak out. Successive studies show that 98-99% of sexual abusers are male. This validation of male feelings over disabled girls&#8217; protection is abhorrent,&#8221; she continued. &#8220;I&#8217;m so bloody angry my hands are shaking. I&#8217;m the daughter of a disabled mother and I&#8217;ve campaigned for the rights of vulnerable children for many years, but I&#8217;m still constantly shocked by the cruelty and indifference shown to those who cannot advocate for themselves.&#8221;
Rowling encouraged her audience to contact their local British lawmakers and other individuals who hold political power to vent their anger over the policies.
The parents of the girl, who they call &#8220;Helen&#8221; but acknowledge that&#8217;s not her real name, say that the school sent out a memo about the new policy that stated that the change was &#8220;in line with legislation and guidance relating to equality and diversity.&#8221;
&#8220;As her parents, our reaction was initially disbelief, followed by outrage, and a determination that this policy change should be reversed,&#8221; the parents wrote.
The parents wrote that their daughter was so disabled that she has to rely on others to make &#8220;decisions in their best interests&#8221; and to plan &#8220;nearly every aspect&#8221; of their daily life.
&#8220;Their disabilities leave them with no sense of stranger-danger,&#8221; they wrote. &#8220;They are unable to tell anyone if they have been flashed, groped, or raped. They are unable to advocate for themselves or draw attention to their vulnerability through social media such as Twitter. They are entirely dependent on others, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.&#8221;

HBO’s “Finding The Way Home” World Premiere

J.K. Rowling Fumes Over Woke Policy Endangering ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ Disabled Girls

J.K. Rowling Fumes Over Policy Endangering ‘Extremely Vulnerable’ Disabled Girls

Child Sex Abuse

Children

JK Rowling

Sexual Abuse

An actress from the hit show “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/yellowstone">Yellowstone</a>” has been<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/crime"> charged</a> with collecting nearly $100,000 in disability payments while working on the western series which stars Kevin Costner, authorities said.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Q’orianka Kilcher</a>, 32, of North Hollywood, California, was charged with two felony counts of workers&#8217; compensation insurance fraud, according to a statement from the California Department of Insurance. Kilcher, who played Angela Blue Thunder in four episodes of the Paramount Network series, allegedly worked for several months from 2019 to 2021, while at the same time claiming disability due to a neck injury.
“According to records, she returned to the doctor and started receiving disability benefits five days after last working on the show,&#8221; the California Department of Insurance said in a statement.
Kilcher, who also played Pocahontas in the 2005 film “The New World,” claimed she injured her neck and right shoulder while filming “Dora and the Lost City of Gold&#8221; in 2019.
A year later, she allegedly told a doctor handling her disability insurance claim that she had been offered work but was unable to perform because of severe pain, according to the insurance department&#8217;s statement.
From 2019 through 2021, Kilcher received $96,838 in temporary disability benefits, according to the department.
Kilcher turned herself in and was arraigned in May, the statement said. Her attorney, Michael Becker, said Kilcher was injured while riding in a production vehicle during the “Dora” filming.
Becker said his client never lied in order to obtain benefits, according to <a href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/yellowstone-actor-charged-with-disability-payment-fraud-1.5983750">CVT News</a>.
“Third-party doctors verified her injury and entitlement to benefits,” Becker said. “Ms. Kilcher was at all times candid with her doctors and treatment providers&#8230;and she never intentionally accepted benefits that she did not believe she was entitled to.”
Kilcher will “vigorously defend herself and asks that she be afforded the presumption of innocence both in and outside the courthouse,&#8221; Becker added.
The fifth season of “Yellowstone” is set to premiere in November, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/yellowstone-fans-finally-know-when-season-5-will-premiere">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported. The show focuses on the lives of the Dutton family, the owners of the largest ranch in Montana. The clan’s patriarch, played by Costner, is in a constant battle to protect the ranching lifestyle from encroaching forces and to keep his scheming children from undermining each other.
The Western drama hit the network in 2018 and has drawn considerable critical acclaim without pushing “woke” storylines.

“Crude” – Los Angeles Benefit Screening And Premiere Party

‘Yellowstone’ Actress Charged With Collecting $100K In Disability While Working

'Yellowstone' Actress Charged With Collecting $100K In Disability While Working

Crime

Television

Yellowstone

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/florida">Florida</a> woman lived for two weeks with the body of her 93-year-old mother before buying a freezer to keep her in &#8212; all to make sure she kept getting the dead woman&#8217;s disability checks, police said. 
Michelle Hoskins, 64, was arrested Thursday and charged with failing to report a death after she admitted to finding her dead mother in bed and allegedly purchased a deep freezer to hide the body in, the TCPalm <a href="https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/crime/indian-river-county/2022/07/08/sebastian-woman-hid-body-mother-freezer-for-her-social-security/10016204002/">reported</a>.
&#8220;(Michelle Hoskins) found her mother deceased in her bed and decided not to contact authorities so that she could continue to receive Social Security disability benefits that she would not be afforded if it was known that her mother was deceased,&#8221; Detective Kenneth McDonough said.
Police conducted a welfare check at Hoskins&#8217; home on April 27 after receiving calls from &#8220;concerned neighbors.&#8221; When police questioned Hoskins, she told them that Marie was seeing a doctor, but she could not explain how her mother got to her appointment.
Officers obtained a warrant and searched the house the next day , and made the grisly discovery.
“On April 28, 2022, officers located 93-year-old, Marie Hoskins, deceased inside a chest freezer after a welfare check at 107 Paddock Street, Sebastian Florida,” Sebastian police said in a Facebook <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SebastianPoliceDepartment">post</a>. 
Police then asked Hoskins to come to the station for an interview without telling her they had discovered her mother&#8217;s dead body. Hoskins initially told detectives she had not seen her mother since the night of April 27, the day police first checked on her home, and thought she might be at another doctor&#8217;s appointment. She finally admitted that she had found her dead mother in bed but couldn&#8217;t remember the exact day of her discovery.
Investigators found that Hoskins purchased the freezer on April 21, and she said &#8220;it took (her) three to five days to get her mother’s body to the freezer in the garage.&#8221; Hoskins also hid her mother&#8217;s “heavily soiled mattress” behind “thick brush and covered by cut palm tree branches in the backyard,” according to police.
A medical examiner did not suspect foul play, determining Marie died from heart failure.
Hoskins appeared in court Friday and is being held in the Indian River County Jail on a $10,000 bond.

Freezer

Woman Bought Freezer To Hide Dead Mom, Collect Her Checks: Police

Woman Charged After Allegedly Putting Dead Mother In Freezer To Collect Her Disability Benefits

Florida

Police

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lizzo">Lizzo</a> recently announced she was changing the words to her <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/music">new song</a> &#8220;GRRRLS” after coming under fire for using an “ableist slur” in the lyrics.
&#8220;It&#8217;s been brought to my attention that there is a harmful word in my new song &#8216;GRRRLS,'&#8221; the 34-year-old singer shared in a Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/lizzo/status/1536480260732047361">update</a>. &#8220;Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language.&#8221;
&#8220;As a fat Black woman in America, I&#8217;ve had many hurtful words used against me so I overstand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case, unintentionally),&#8221; she continued. &#8220;I&#8217;m proud to say there&#8217;s a new version of GRRRLS with a lyric change. This is the result of me listening and taking action. As an influential artist I&#8217;m dedicated to being part of the change I&#8217;ve been waiting to see in the world.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
❤️ <a href="https://t.co/QH6WufEjGh">pic.twitter.com/QH6WufEjGh</a>
&mdash; FOLLOW @YITTY (@lizzo) <a href="https://twitter.com/lizzo/status/1536480260732047361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 13, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The line in question includes the word “spaz,” which is not very controversial in the United States but is considered derogatory in the United Kingdom. Though in modern slang it refers to clumsiness, across the pond the word references movements associated with cerebral palsy, per <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/lizzo-new-song-grrrls-abelist-slur-twitter-why-1715267">Newsweek</a>. 
&#8220;Hold my bag, b****/ Hold my bag/ Do you see this s***?/ I&#8217;m a spaz/ I&#8217;m about to knock somebody out/ Yo, where my best friend?/ She the only one I know to talk me off the deep end,” Lizzo sings in the original version of &#8220;GRRRLS.” 
One person on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/hannah_diviney/status/1535818662749548545">responded</a>, &#8220;Hey @lizzo my disability Cerebral Palsy is literally classified as Spastic Diplegia (where spasticity refers to unending painful tightness in my legs) your new song makes me pretty angry + sad. &#8216;Sp-z&#8217; doesn&#8217;t mean freaked out or crazy. It&#8217;s an ableist slur. It&#8217;s 2022. Do better.&#8221;
There were other similar messages prior to Lizzo deciding to change her new song. Meanwhile, some Twitter users thought critics were overly sensitive in their assessment.
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1536686067419684864">tweeted</a> in response to the lyric change, “The song is full of profanity and violence. She threatens to cut a man&#8217;s penis off and assault random strangers. But the part that offends people is when she uses the word ‘spaz.’ We are the dumbest society in the history of the world.”
Others were similarly confused, pointing out how much the singer uses the word “b****” in the lyrics, which more people were likely to find offensive. 
This is Lizzo’s second single off her new album &#8220;Special&#8221;, which debuts July 15. &#8220;About Damn Time&#8221; was the first and quickly became a Top 10 Billboard hit.

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