Joseph Sabino Mistick Columns category, Page 2

As Donald Trump’s hatchet man, Elon Musk has embraced his assignment to fire government employees with gusto and bravado, even brandishing a chain saw for the media, as if this is somehow fun and entertaining. Musk’s utter coldness should surprise no one, since he has said, “The fundamental weakness of...

Millions of Americans voted for Donald Trump because he promised to make America great again. It is already clear that the definition of American greatness has somehow changed for some Americans. We know how American greatness has looked and sounded in the past. During his inaugural address in 1961, President...

Pittsburgh’s Strip District is a treasure. This uniquely Pittsburgh neighborhood has flourished without government planning and is beloved by generations of Pittsburghers and hundreds of thousands of annual visitors. Mayor Ed Gainey’s administration is about to permit the ruin of all that. You may have seen the billboards that say...

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey held a newss conference last week that Grant Street scuttlebutt had billed as a game changer for his struggling campaign for reelection. It did not go as Gainey had hoped. Gainey accused his Democratic primary election opponent Corey O’Connor of taking campaign contributions from Republican donors...

Next week, as they have done nearly every week for decades, the women of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in McKeesport will gather around long tables in the church basement to make pierogi. Their fingers will move quickly and precisely, shaping small balls of potato and cheese, a...

My late friend Jim Roddey always said that he moved to Pittsburgh because most big things arrive here years after they arrived everyplace else. That being the case, Jim joked, “I figure that I can live at least 10 years longer in Pittsburgh.” And it has been that way with...

I don’t use straws much, but I have to say President Donald Trump hit a home run last week with his executive order banning paper straws at all federal government facilities. Trump was right when he said they “don’t work.” “It’s a ridiculous situation. We’re going back to plastic straws,”...

Anyone who follows boxing has seen the guy who charges out of his corner at the sound of the first bell, arms flailing, fists flying wildly, striking his opponent everywhere at once. Think of what Donald Trump has done in the first weeks since his inauguration and you’ll get the...

When Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey spoke at a planning commission hearing last week, he emphasized his “get tough on developers” version of an inclusionary zoning ordinance to develop affordable housing. Gainey wants to shift the responsibility for providing affordable housing away from his government — where it belongs — and...

Some people think that teachers have the toughest job in America. Others think that nurses have the toughest job. Or psychiatric social workers. But I think that police officers have the toughest job in America because they have to do all of those jobs and enforce the law. And Donald...

Last week, as Americans mourned the destruction and death caused by raging fires in Los Angeles, both Canada and Mexico sent firefighters and equipment to California. It is what good neighbors do. They help each other as best they can when help is needed, without being asked and without keeping...

The truth was center stage at two very different public events last week. One was an announcement by Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire, and the other was the funeral of President Jimmy Carter. Together they showed us two distinct views of the value of truth in our lives. Zuckerberg is...

Jimmy Carter became larger in defeat. That’s not easy to do, but it is especially rare in politics. For many politicians, losing the big one is enough to push them into the background forever. For Carter, his one-term presidency was just one step along the way to greatness. Carter’s presidential...

This last week of the year is all about hope — a short pause between the old and new year, a time when we can reflect on the past and ponder the future. Commerce has finally slowed, unused vacation days are being used up and there is even a break...

Not much good is expected from the combination of politics and the internet these days. But for our family, the gift of Christmas 2024 — celebrating a friendship across the sea that was borne of politics and the internet — is an exception to that rule. Some years ago, weary...

Any mayor who fixes the potholes, plows the snow and picks up the garbage can get reelected forever. That’s an old saying in local politics, and all it means is that the average citizen cares first about the basics of government — those services and actions that affect their daily...

It was in the 1940s just after World War II when Arthur Van Buskirk changed the direction of the city forever with an offhand remark to his boss Richard King Mellon, the head of Mellon Bank and all its corporate holdings. Van Buskirk, a vice president of T. Mellon &...

Here’s something to be thankful for on Thanksgiving weekend 2024: We had another free and fair election for president of the United States and the other federal, state and local offices on the ballot this year. You might be happy with the results or unhappy with the results, but with...

As political observers search for broader meanings of the presidential election, one thing is certain: There is another election coming just around the corner. In the Pennsylvania 2025 spring primary election, the parties and their voters will select their candidates for local offices — including mayors, council members, township commissioners...

“If you see 10 troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.” That was President Calvin Coolidge’s advice in the 1920s to Herbert Hoover, who was then his commerce secretary. While Coolidge’s words are generally good policy in...

Everybody has a theory about this election. Despite Kamala Harris’ late entry into the race — she had a little over 100 days to work with — she ran a very good campaign. She built coalitions, won the debate, gave two presidential speeches to national audiences, flooded the airwaves and...

The closing statements by Kamala Harris and Donald Trump last week were a chance for both candidates to put their beliefs in front of America one last time. These are not slapdash events, haphazardly thrown together. They are carefully choreographed to make the best pitch to voters for a final...

David Voye doesn’t sleep much these days. The manager of Allegheny County’s Elections Division says, “You fall asleep very quickly, but then you wake up every half hour thinking about things you need to do.” It has been that way since right after Labor Day. Elections departments work year-round, and,...

Just as in 2020, there will be two distinct elections this presidential election year. The first one will start when the polls open for voters on Election Day and end when the polls close later that evening. It will be all about the voters. It may not be perfect, because...

Since the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs case — reversing Roe v. Wade and throwing the issue of abortion back to the individual states — women voters have shown their political strength in every state where the issue has been on the ballot. With that collective clout, women...