Joseph Sabino Mistick Columns category, Page 11
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Our representatives must have room to do right
“We did not send him there to vote his conscience. We did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us.” That’s what David Ball, chair of Pennsylvania’s Washington County Republican Party, said to KDKA-TV’s Jon...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Senate can’t hide unimpeachable truth
Sometimes the truth must be its own reward, and it looks like the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump is headed in that direction. A block of senators has prejudged the case in spite of their oath to act as impartial jurors. Yet they cannot keep the truth from coming...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Nation needs real Republicans
These two things happened on the same day last week. Congressional leaders paid their respects to Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who was killed by the insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, and whose remains were lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda. And Republican Leader Kevin...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Presidential hopefuls must take stand against Trump
Immediately after the Capitol attacks, Republican senators and representatives who had barely escaped with their lives blurted out the truth, putting the blame for inciting the bloodthirsty mob right at Donald Trump’s feet. They must have been scared straight. Because once the imminent threat to their lives had passed, that...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Bad timing means more covid deaths
It wasn’t until Joseph “Dada” Sabino was mustering out of the Navy after World War II that he learned from a young medical officer that he had a bad mitral heart valve. The war in the Pacific had given him plenty to deal with, but this surprise would have him...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Capitol insurrection recalls old hatreds
When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, federal officials launched what was then the greatest manhunt in American history. After 12 days on horseback, the Army found assassin John Wilkes Booth. Nine co-conspirators were captured, and one suspect was detained nearly two years later in Egypt. Much of what happened in 1865...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Never forget actions of Washington traitors
Remember who did this to us. Do not let the passage of time or the currency of other events dim your memory. Never forget what Donald Trump did last week. Never forget that he incited an attack on our republic by a traitorous mob. Remember Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Big resolutions for a tough year
We can add the usual New Year’s resolutions to the list of things the pandemic has taken off the table this year. We all have made those promises with the turn of the old year into the new year, and they are usually something about breaking bad habits and starting...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: This Pittsburgher is a much-needed ‘Buddy the Elf’
Chris Webb wore his “Buddy the Elf” costume again this year, right up until Christmas, on the job at Nordstrom in Ross Park Mall. Webb is a natural in a Buddy costume. At 6 feet 4 inches tall with an easy smile and a knack for astonishment, he could have...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Follow the star — we need light now more than ever
It looks like the Star of Bethlehem may arrive just in time this year. The story of the three wise men following a mysterious star to the manger where Jesus had just been born is familiar to everyone. We cannot imagine that story without the light of that star. Some...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Public ‘referees’ there to protect us
In Joyce Carol Oates’ 1985 New York Times essay “On Boxing,” she described the role of the referee as “our intermediary in the fight … our moral conscience.” The referee is there to make the tough calls, often stopping a fight before someone gets maimed or worse, all while the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: A lesson on patience from Henry Gunther
When Henry Gunther, a young American Army sergeant, was killed on a battlefield in the Argonne Forest at 10:59 a.m. Nov. 11, 1918, he became the last American killed in World War I, and his death made no sense at all. Earlier that day, before sunrise in the woods outside...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Thankful for the heroes in 2020
On Thanksgiving Day in normal times, we gather with family and friends for the annual feast, watch the big parade early and some football after dinner, before falling asleep on the couch or in a recliner. The company of loved ones and the smells and sounds and laughter make this...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Time for Trump to accept his loss
Most times when you lose an election, that’s all there is to it — you lost. You are not alone, because the arithmetic in a two-party system means that about half of the candidates in a general election lose, but it still catches some candidates by surprise to be a...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Now it’s time to come back together
Gloating is not our most attractive trait, but it is a natural human response. Republicans gloated plenty in 2016 when Donald Trump beat odds-on favorite Hillary Clinton for president. They kept it up for four years, celebrating Trump’s moves more if they aggravated Democrats more. And now Joe Biden has...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Pennsylvania perfect site for election battle
“Elections belong to the people. It’s their decision,” Abraham Lincoln said. That simple principle has been tested before and may be again. This time, the stakes could not be higher, for both the nation and the highest court in the land. By all appearances, it seems like we hold one...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Defending our right to vote
In our history, the mix of guns and voting has only been associated with the goal of suppressing the votes of certain Americans. In the 1850s, the Know-Nothing Party, nativists who resented the Catholic immigrant population in Baltimore, used election violence to move the state’s electoral votes to Millard Fillmore....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Life will go on after election
“Tricky Dick” is looking pretty good these days. Richard M. Nixon’s public stance after he lost to John F. Kennedy in the 1960 presidential squeaker makes him look like a real American patriot compared to what we are hearing during this presidential election. Nixon knew what we all still know....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Coronavirus is the one big issue
Two hundred and ten thousand dead and counting. Millions infected, with millions more to come. The staggering toll of the coronavirus in America was the opening topic of the vice presidential debate between Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris and Republican Vice President Mike Pence. “The American people have witnessed what is...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Painting fences and finding respite from politics
I painted my fence last week. It’s not a big deal to people who do that kind of work every day, but some of us got away from working with our hands, and fence painting revives those old memories without the likelihood of pulling a muscle or falling off a...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Seeking serenity in hard times
You might think that Reinhold Niebuhr’s “Serenity Prayer” has no place in the crude arena that national politics has become, but Niebuhr would not have hesitated to invoke his prayer now. The public theologian believed that there is a core relationship between religion and politics. He immersed himself in all...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Remembering, not belittling, our heroes
In our house there is an American flag, now a tightly folded triangle, that once draped the casket of a Navy veteran who returned from World War II, broken but hopeful, yet not healthy enough to live more than a handful of years once back home. The flag was presented...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: On Labor Day, recalling march for social justice
On Labor Day, I think of the valley where I grew up. It was best seen from the middle of the Westinghouse Bridge. As far as the eye could see and the ear could hear, furnaces flared and trains slogged on and machinery clanked and whistles and bells sounded around...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump, too, owns what happens on his watch
It was a classic example of Donald Trump at his pugnacious best. During a back-and-forth with Jeb Bush over the Iraq War, Trump bashed Jeb and President George W. Bush by going where no other candidate dared to go in the 2016 Republican presidential primary debates. “The World Trade Center...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: ‘Shoeless Joe,’ Trump and cheating outrage
When “Shoeless Joe” Jackson was indicted for fixing the 1919 World Series, it rocked the nation. Jackson was a star player for the Chicago White Sox, a great hitter in his prime when he was accused of conspiring to throw the series to the Cincinnati Reds for $5,000. “Shoeless Joe”...
