As I write this, President Joseph Biden is signing into law the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act. It recalls the struggle many in this country had to cut down on extrajudicial killings. As my college students and I found, calling attention to these illegal acts did make a difference in how many lynchings occurred in America, […]
John A. Tures
Posted inOp-Ed
John Tures: No, African-Americans Are Not Responsible For The COVID-19 Delta Surge
With the Delta Variant of COVID-19 spreading throughout the United States, and deaths are rising again, everyone’s looking for a scapegoat. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that blacks are the latest people blamed for the surges in cases. Nor should it surprise anyone that those who are pointing the finger at African-Americans are also not giving […]
Posted inOp-Ed
John A. Tures: Conservatives Cancel Just As Often As Liberals Do
February 24, 2021 – The Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) has declared its 2021 theme is “America Uncanceled” to call attention the scourge of America’s so-called “Cancel Culture.” Imagine our surprise that CPAC chose to “cancel” one of their speakers because of his alleged anti-Semitic views. Now I don’t blame CPAC for doing so. I […]
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John A. Tures: This Ain’t U.S. And Us
January 6, 2021 – As I write this, we have attackers attempting to force their way the House and Senate Chamber. This was a deliberate attempt to terminate a joint session meeting of Congress to certify the Presidential Election of 2020. If this isn’t a coup attempt, I don’t know what is. We have had […]
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John A. Tures: Pandemics Won’t Make Your Country More Authoritarian
November 20, 2020 – There’s a popular belief around the world that authoritarian countries are better equipped to handle pandemics, and such governments therefore spread like viruses in the wake of such deadly diseases, as humans desperately attempt to stop the spread. Several LaGrange College political science majors and I tested this argument in one […]
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John Tures: Using A Horrible Holocaust Analogy That’s Bad For Our Health
August 3, 2020 – Earlier this year, my college students and I joined our chaplain and a graduate student in traveling to the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. The insensitive treatment many attendees gave the terrors that the museum was trying to educate people about are being repeated in a new way: weaponizing the Holocaust […]
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John A. Tures: The Damage Alan Dershowitz Did To Our Constitution
February 3, 2020 – When Donald Trump picked the notorious lawyer Alan Dershowitz to represent him in the impeachment trial, I felt the President wouldn’t get the best possible legal representation. I didn’t realize it was the U.S. Constitution that would get an even worse defense during Trump’s impeachment trial. I figured the job of […]
Posted inOp-Ed
John A. Tures: Death By Anti-Vaxxer Propaganda
December 30, 2019 – This past semester, we had a first-year student class where we focused on the book Educated by Tara Westover. Since her family members believe in a lot of conspiracy theories, I thought I’d have the student “myth-test” some of these arguments. I had no idea that we would find such a […]
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John A. Tures: Just A Toy This Christmas Season
December 20, 2019 – Have any of you ever seen the Disney movie “Toy Story?” There is a great story in there, where the newest action figure, “Buzz Lightyear” thinks he’s a great Space Ranger, created to save the entire world from destruction by battling the evil Zurg. The other toys from Woody the Cowboy […]
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John A. Tures: Picking Baseball’s Hall-Of-Fame Using Moneyball Methods
November 18, 2019 – Whether you are a fan of baseball or not, you’ve heard of, and probably seen, the film “Moneyball” starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill as a General Manager for the Oakland Athletics, and his statistician assistant, who use numbers, not hype, to determine who should be on the team. That small […]
Posted inOp-Ed
John A. Tures: Bashing Baltimore With Incorrect Information, Missing Out On The Real Problems
August 27, 2019 – After Congressman Elijah Cummings criticized the condition of detention facilities for migrants and applicants for asylum, President Donald Trump tweeted his own criticism of Baltimore, painting a dire picture of the district, calling it “rat-infested.” I examine the evidence about the Maryland city, and what perhaps President Trump should have focused […]
Posted inOp-Ed
John A. Tures: When Bullets From Terrorists Hit Home
August 4, 2019 – The day began as a joyous one. My family had gathered together to wish my parents a happy 50th Anniversary. But mood turned somber pretty quick as news flashed about the tragic shooting in El Paso, Texas, the town where I was raised, where my brother and his family live. Much […]