Russellarbenfox

LATEST ARTICLES ( 630 )

• The 10 Best Books I Read in 2014

  

  As with movies, I'm doubling my total from last year, and going for a proper top ten. Again, in alphabetical order:All That is Solid Melts Into Air. Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Well, Technically I Think We Have Until October

  

  "[T]he press was still the last resource of the educated poor who could not be artists and would not be tutors. Any man who was fit for nothing else could... Read more

  Posted on 31 December 2014 SOCIETY

• The 10 Best Movies I Saw in 2014

  

  I'm doubling the number from last year, and doing a proper top 10. As before, this isn't my favorite 10 films from 2014, but rather the 10 best movies, from... Read more

  Posted on 30 December 2014 SOCIETY

• What Cuba Teaches Us About Equality, Sustainability--and Poverty

  

  [Cross-posted to Political Context]Every since President Obama announced that the U.S. would relax its travel and economic restrictions on and open up normal... Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Five Blessings from Reading (Really Reading) the Five Books of Moses

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]A few months ago, I began reading the Old Testament, a book of scripture which I have never before been able to read all the... Read more

  Posted on 26 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Seeing Him in 2014

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]This year our youngest daughter turned eight, and as her older sisters are busy with other things and her mother has been... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Christmas Memories from Korea

  

  [Cross-posted to By Common Consent]Despite recent (and ongoing) changes to the Mormon missionary program, the majority of those charged with traveling the... Read more

  Posted on 18 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Don't Get Essayists Angry!

  

  Regarding the collapse of The New Republic, of which much has been said, Cynthia Ozick (whose wit is legendary), takes the cake:The Siliconian came down like th... Read more

  Posted on 12 December 2014 SOCIETY

• The Ten Least Successful Christmas Specials of All Time

  

  Has it really been exactly six years since I last shared this, one of the greatest holiday creations of All Internet History? Apparently so! Read more

  Posted on 11 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Jimmy Durante, New Deal Economist

  Via Erik Loomis on Lawyers, Guns Money, who is always (re)discovering new and wonderful evidences of the way a very different (and, from my point of view, in... Read more

  Posted on 09 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Why This Socialist Likes Stegall

  

  On Friday, Caleb Stegall--lawyer, farmer, family man, rabble-rouser, and long-time Front Porcher--was appointed to the Kansas Supreme Court by Governor Sam... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Four Wieseltier Favorites

  

  Lots of commentary last night and this morning about the shake-up (or stake-through-the-heart, if you prefer) at The New Republic. Read more

  Posted on 05 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Bobby Keys, RIP

  

  Bobby Keys, a tremendous rock, blues, and funk saxophonist, and a lucky Texas boy who just happened to be in the right place at the right time 50 years ago,... Read more

  Posted on 02 December 2014 SOCIETY

• Thanksgiving Morning Live Music: "Thanks A Lot"

  I realized early this morning, while extracting the giblets from our now thawed turkey, that it had been ten years since I last shared these sentiments on... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2014 SOCIETY

• Obama, Immigration, and Why I Am Not (Much Of) a Constitutionalist

  

  So, if you haven't seen the SNL video which this image comes from, go watch it here right now. I'll wait.It's a simplistic and unfair--what did you expect?... Read more

  Posted on 25 November 2014 SOCIETY

• Recognizing the Religion of Total Security, and Its Costs

  

  There are relatively few developments in the world's present socio-economic and cultural moment that gives me much hope--but one of them is the increased... Read more

  Posted on 24 November 2014 SOCIETY

• Saturday Night Live Music: "Lawyers, Guns & Money"

  Because I'm being made to think hard this evening by David Watkins, a friend and longtime Lawyers, Guns & Money blogger, here's Jackson Browne singing the Warre... Read more

  Posted on 23 November 2014 SOCIETY

• Mid-Sized Meditations #6: Anarchism, Global Citites, and a Confucian Cosmopolita...

  

  [Cross-posted to Front Porch Republic]So, as I mentioned, I recently attended a conference in Nanjing, China, hosted by the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and... Read more

  Posted on 21 November 2014 SOCIETY

• There's Actually a Name for Those People, Secretary Kobach

  

  As the hysteria over President Obama's upcoming and, sadly, rather run-of-the-mill abuse of presidential power over immigration policies builds to a fever pitch... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2014 SOCIETY

• Rank Your Favorite Presidential Tyrants!

  

  With only hours to go until President Obama presents his executive order that will--unless he pulls a fast one on his Republican opponents--remove the threat... Read more

  Posted on 20 November 2014 SOCIETY