Joseph Sabino Mistick stories, Page 7

“Every dog has its day” means that sooner or later, everyone will have a moment of great influence. For actual dogs, that moment might be the upcoming election between Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz and Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman for Pennsylvania U.S. senator. A recent ad paid for by the...

When Aristotle described politicians as craftsmen — creating paths to a “good life” for the people they serve — he could have been describing Penn Hills state Rep. Tony DeLuca, who died last week at 85. DeLuca was in his 39th year in the Pennsylvania Legislature, representing Penn Hills, Verona...

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was on his political tippy-toes last week when Democratic President Joe Biden arrived to inspect the devastation by Hurricane Ian. Biden pledged all the machinery of the federal government to get Florida back on track. This was a common gesture of human solidarity. DeSantis was...

“The world is going backwards. Women are whole human beings, but government is still trying to control us, even here in the U.S.,” according to Fayezeh Haji Hassan. The Pittsburgh lawyer was barely a teenager when her family fled Iran for Afghanistan to escape the political persecution of her activist...

In the peculiar race between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz for a Pennsylvania seat in the U.S. Senate, those voters who proudly say that they vote the candidate and not the party might well be tempted to sit this one out. That would be a mistake. Both...

It’s a well-known story, but it bears repeating from time to time. As Ben Franklin was leaving Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 1787 after the delegates had finished writing our nation’s Constitution, he passed through the crowd that had gathered on the steps hoping to learn what kind of government...

When Jack Bogut was the king of morning radio in Pittsburgh, waking up to your favorite station was not as scary as it is these days. We always seem to be on the brink of something terrible or faced with something terrible that happened overnight — political violence, mass shootings,...

An accidental discovery on social media led to a partnership between New Castle businessman Chip Barletto and Pittsburgh industrial artist Cory Bonnet, and, because of that, our community will always have permanent reminders of why we celebrate Labor Day. Barletto has been visiting old steel mills for 50 years, starting...

As the shortest kid in my fourth grade class, I played the 5-foot-4 Stephen Douglas in our school production of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, and my tallest classmate played the 6-foot-4 Abraham Lincoln. It was the 100th anniversary of the 1858 debates. Our school had no auditions for these nonspeaking roles,...

For most of my life, politicians in both parties have stood for law and order, and Republicans have been traditionally strong in their support. But while my Republican friends quickly denounced the Jan. 6 violence by the far right, a large group of Republicans chose safe reelection over their party’s...

After the legal search of Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago last week, his supporters howled that the actions of the FBI were just what would take place in a banana republic. Author O. Henry first used the term banana republic to describe Central American countries that were exploited by American...

Jim Morton knows a lot about homicide — maybe too much. Morton retired three years ago after 46 years with the Allegheny County Police Department. For 28 of those years, he worked homicides, rising to head the division and finally serving as assistant superintendent of detectives. Even as a supervisor...

In the “Hall of Fame of Political Ignominy,” there is now a special place for Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley. He is the politician who strode confidently into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while showing a raised fist to the crowd of gathered demonstrators, urging them on, showing them his...

Whether you were born during the day or during the night, you weren’t born yesterday or last night, and the Secret Service claims that agents’ text messages before and during the attempted coup of Jan. 6 were inadvertently erased just don’t hold water. The Secret Service told its agents to preserve...

If you are one of those Trump supporters who believes what you believe, no matter what, reading “Lost, Not Stolen: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election” is not for you. But if you are on the fence looking for facts from an honest...

Is this the end of happiness? It feels like it more and more after every new mass shooting and the slaughter of innocents. Each shooting steals another safe place from all of us, and, last week, when a domestic terrorist with a military-style weapon randomly killed seven and wounded dozens...

In the 1970 movie “Tora! Tora! Tora!” about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the actor who played Japanese Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto, the leader of the attack, said, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” Throughout our history,...

Just when we thought Democrats and Republicans had nothing in common, last Tuesday’s Jan. 6 congressional hearing showed there are leaders in both parties who still believe in the rule of law, faithfulness to our Constitution and respect for their oaths of office. We learned it was good solid Republicans...

Bill Mistick never forgot the day his father, Andy, came home from the mill and unfolded a large sheet of paper after the supper table was cleared. It was a drawing of something, but nothing that anyone recognized. Andy paused while the kids puzzled over it. Decades before, Andy had...

When San Francisco’s reform- minded District Attorney Chesa Boudin was recalled by the voters in an election last week, he lost more than his job. He lost the chance to carry forward his reform agenda. It turns out, the people will give you room to be a reformer, but you better...

After Sandy Hook, many people thought that surely Congress would act. The slaughter of 20 6- and 7-year-olds at their school by a 20-year-old mentally disturbed male was impossible to comprehend. The killer used a military-style weapon and high-capacity magazines to kill innocent babies. In an address to the nation...

Ralph Dudgeon has played taps hundreds of times during his 73 years. Starting when he was 11 years old, he would climb onto the East McKeesport borough firetruck at the end of the Memorial Day parade for the ride to the cemetery where he and his father — Ralph the...

Where I grew up, Election Day was a holiday, a twice-yearly chance to celebrate American freedom. In neighborhoods with families from all over Europe, voting was a sacred moment, a reminder of a right they never had, a ritual that marked the blessings of the New World. After our grandparents...

As Democrats and Republicans go to the polls this Tuesday to select their party’s candidates for the November election, over 1 million Pennsylvanians who are registered independent will sit it out. As a closed primary state, Pennsylvania does not permit independent voters to cast ballots in either party’s primary. This...

Primary elections are rarely real barnburners. Candidates in each party are solely focused on becoming their party’s nominee for the fall election. After the primary, they would normally all unite behind the victor and then turn their fire on the other party’s nominee. But this year is different. This year,...