Tonight on KICKING THE SEAT the discussion is CRYSTAL LAKE, the new horror series on Peacock based on the film franchise FRIDAY THE 13TH. Does it make the cut? Find out tonight at 8 PM CST on YouTube. youtube.com/live/22BEY10eYTc #kickingtheseat #crystallake #fridaythe13 #chicagoindiecritics
Pedro Almodóvar’s new film BITTER CHRISTMAS is playing at the 62nd Chicago International Film Festival and it’s a twisty, character-driven, meta delight. Read my review at TheEstablishingShot.org and then make plans to see its second showing this Sunday. #bitterchristmas #pedroalmodovar #chicagointernationalfilmfestival
I’ll be there guesting and can think of at least 13 reasons to watch this series.
TONIGHT! THIS is the one you've been screaming for! Join us LIVE at 8pm CST! youtube.com/live/22BEY10eYTc
I don’t often review books, but a friend told me about THE ETIQUETTE OF MURDER, a new mystery written by Erin Clark that he thought I’d enjoy. And I certainly did. It’s a brisk, witty and detailed thriller about a murder that occurs amongst some social elites in Chicago. Read my review and then look for the author’s accomplished freshman effort on Amazon and other booksellers. #theetiquetteofmurder #erinclark
Jeff York retweeted
With another school shooting, this time in Bend, Oregon, it might be a good time to point out that Bill Clinton’s assault weapons ban almost halved mass shooting deaths - but after George W Bush & Republicans let it expire, mass shooting deaths more than doubled. It’s the guns.
Jeff York retweeted
Saying Carrie "just wanted to attend school" completely ignores that Stephen King wrote a far darker, harsher reality: Carrie wasn’t a harmless saint trapped in a tragedy; she was an active participant in her own apocalyptic descent.
The novel makes it clear that Carrie didn’t just absorb cruelty; she hoarded venom. When Tommy asked her to prom, she wasn't just nervous; she harbored cold suspicion and bitter contempt for everyone around her. And the moment the bucket dropped, her desire wasn't to escape or find peace, it was absolute, vindictive obliteration.
She consciously locked the gym doors. She watched teachers and classmates scream against burning glass with zero remorse. Then she marched through town blowing up power grids, destroying fire hydrants to drown first responders, and incinerating hundreds of sleeping civilians who never even knew her name.
School bullied an outcast, but Carrie decided to execute an entire town of innocent people in return. Sanitizing her into a helpless angel who "just wanted an education" erases the actual horror: she allowed abuse to turn her into an unhinged, mass-murdering monster. #carrie
Jeff York retweeted
FUN FACT: Rep. Ilhan Omar has been a citizen longer than Melania trump AND Elon Musk.
I stand with Rep. Ilhan Omar.
Jeff York retweeted
BREAKING: KNOCKOUT! Senator Jon Ossoff exposes his MAGA opponent's role in the Epstein cover-up in a stunning moment in their second debate.
You could hear a pin drop in that studio...
"He slept on the Epstein Island. He stayed at his Manhattan townhouse. He sent Epstein ice cream and said, it's for the girls," Republican Rep. Mike Collins said of tech billionaire Reid Hoffman.
"You claim to fight against the Epstein class, but I'm going to tell you, this call is coming from inside the house and the Epstein class is on stage right now, and it's you. Will you condemn Reid Hoffman and apologize for your hypocrisy tonight?" he asked.
Hoffman's name appears in the Epstein files and since he has donated to Democratic causes in the past, Republicans love to use him to try to distract from Trump's deep, dark Epstein connections. But the tactic never works because Democrats don't close ranks around Hoffman the way that Republicans do with Trump. We believe in exposing everyone involved in the late pedophile's network, regardless of political affiliation.
Ossoff went right for the jugular—
"Mike, who on your team advised you to raise the Epstein files?" asked Ossoff. "You voted to cover up the evidence, Mike!"
"Listen, folks, I want to repeat it again. It's important to understand when Congress was voting on whether to release that evidence, we all knew what had happened," he continued. "But you voted to cover up the evidence, even though you knew 14-year-old girls had been raped because Donald Trump told you to. Donald Trump, who, by the way, is named a thousand times in the Epstein files."
Collins did indeed vote against an early effort to force the release of the Epstein files in July 2025 and then later caved to the public backlash and reluctantly voted in favor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November of that year.
"Have you ever met with Jeffrey Epstein's victims when they ask you why you voted to cover up the Epstein files?" asked Ossoff. "Do you have an answer? What would you say to them tonight, Mike? After you voted to cover up evidence of the most notorious sex trafficking ring in American history, the vote is public record."
"You voted to cover up the Epstein files. You should explain that vote to Jeffrey Epstein's victims right now," demanded Ossoff.
Rather than answer Ossoff's questions, Collins pathetically accused HIM of failing to answer the question about Hoffman, as if Americans give a damn about Reid Hoffman. The literal President is a pedophile whose name is all over the Epstein files and Collins voted to cover those files up.
This is a career killer. Voting to hide the Epstein files is inexcusable and unforgivable. This man is a pedophile protector.
Please ❤️ and share if you support Jon Ossoff!
Jeff York retweeted
EVERYONE KNOWS SHES THE MOST POWERFUL FEMALE ATHLETE ON THE PLANET EXCEPT THE WNBA
Tonight on KICKING THE SEAT, host Ian Simmons and I will be discussing THE SOCIAL RECKONING. Friends and followers, we hope you’ll like what you see at 8 PM on YouTube. youtube.com/live/lv_5Vng3EC8 #kickingtheseat #thesocialreckoning #chicagoindiecritics
Jeff York retweeted
I get called every name in the book for pointing out the obvious, she’s a dirty player who gets coddled by the WNBA and referees xitter.cf/Layla_Phillips3/status…
Tonight on KICKING THE SEAT, host Ian Simmons and I will be discussing the new horror film OTHER MOMMY. Hopefully, you don’t have other plans. Join us at 8 PM on YouTube. youtube.com/live/gMA_uZF1P8g #kickingtheseat #othermommy #chicagoindiecritics
Jeff York retweeted
🇺🇸🧐IN TRUMP’S AMERICA
91-year-old Helen and her 88-year-old husband, George, had been married for 65 years. George was taking 12 pills a day due to severe heart failure.
When their supplemental insurance expired, Helen suddenly faced a $940 bill for her husband’s monthly prescriptions instead of their usual $50 copayment.
Terrified as she watched his health deteriorate, she took the medications from the pharmacy without paying.
She was arrested for “grand theft” and brought directly from the hospital to court, still wearing a hospital gown and shackled in chains.
Judge Marcus, visibly moved by her situation, ordered the chains removed, dismissed the charges, and arranged immediate assistance for the elderly couple, including essential medications and emergency support.
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
This story of 91-year-old Helen arrested for stealing her husband's medication is a fabricated hoax with no evidence in news reports or court records. The image is AI-generated and the tale has circulated since November 2025.
snopes.com/fact-check/91-…
leadstories.com/hoax-alert/202…
Jeff York retweeted
Caitlin Clark's 2026 WNBA history
1st EVER to average 20 points and 8 assists
1st EVER to record 25 points and 15 assists
1st EVER to post 45/10 in 29 minutes
1st EVER to 5 games of 30/10 in a season
1st EVER to 800/300 in a season
1st EVER to 58 more
She got — 1 MVP vote.
Jeff York retweeted
Since no one wants to say it, I’m going to. Caitlin Clark is treated the way she is by the people who cover the WNBA because she is a STRAIGHT WHITE WOMAN who is incredibly good at a sport dominated by another demographic.
For someone to arguably have the best individual season a Point Guard has EVER had, in really just her second season, averaging 22.3 PPG 8.3 APG 4 RPG - NEVER been done, ever. And finishing 4th in MVP voting receiving 5 less 1st place votes than a rookie Olivia Miles. It truly makes you wonder..
This standard that Caitlin is held to LITERALLY applies to no one else, she’s critiqued and criticized against an imaginary bar. When she accomplishes the impossible, they simply redefine what's possible.
The Caitlin Clark documentary is going to go CRAZY when her career is over and it finally drops, I can’t wait.
Jeff York retweeted
BREAKING: Renowned journalist Glenn Greenwald pens a viral takedown of Pete Hegseth's brutal announcement that the U.S.A. will now hold public executions.
We're being dragged into a bad dystopian novel...
"Not only has the US never televised public executions in its history, but not even the Nazi defendants sentenced to death at the Nuremberg trials had their executions televised (it was deemed violative of the human rights that post-WW2 institutions were trying to re-establish)," Greenwald, who's best known for helping to break the Edward Snowden surveillance story, wrote on X.
"The most amazing part of this is that Nidal Hasan is paraplegic and close to 60. So this disgusting spectacle will involve rolling him out in a wheelchair, then live-streaming his body as it's pumped full of bullets," he continued.
"When I and others pointed out last night that public executions are carried out only by the countries we're told are the most primitive and savage (Afghanistan, North Korea), MAGA enthusiasts replied that we were too weak," he added. "Pummeling an old guy in a wheelchair with bullets -- as a reality TV show -- seems like an odd and dubious definition of 'strength,' let alone an expression of the western values they endlessly claim they and they alone are trying to salvage."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's announcement this week that Hasan, the Fort Hood shooter who killed 13 people and injured 32 others in 2009, will be publicly executed has been met with rapturous applause by the MAGA crowd. These so-called Christians are positively giddy about the prospect of watching a Muslim be killed on TV, seemingly oblivious that these kind of primitive displays make them identical to the Islamist radicals they so despise. ISIS broadcast execution videos to terrorize their enemies. Now, the Trump administration hopes to do the same.
None of this is to say that Hasan deserves our affection or even sympathy. This mass murderer belongs in prison for the rest of his life. What we're saying is that killing him for public consumption and entertainment debases us as a nation, morally and spiritually. We can choose to be better than this.
Please ❤️ and share if you oppose public executions!
Maybe living up to one of the century’s best films like THE SOCIAL NETWORK was too steep an ask, but its sequel THE SOCIAL RECKONING feels rather dated and lacks real suspense. My disappointed take can be found at TheEstablishingShot.org. #thesocialreckoning



































