Joseph Sabino Mistick Columns category, Page 3

“Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” That was the question that attorney Joseph Welch asked of Sen. Joe McCarthy in the 1954 U.S. Army hearings after McCarthy took his reckless cruelty a step too far. Decency counted for something then, and we will see if it...

I am a father and a stepfather, and I have been a son and a stepson and an adopted son. From a purely political point of view, JD Vance’s attacks on families like mine are baffling. Any candidate looking for votes would realize that it makes no political sense. And...

Just about all that can be said has been said about Donald Trump’s debate performance last week. But people can’t stop talking about his bogus claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating their neighbors’ dogs. The next day, The Washington Post ran a story with the headline, “Anatomy...

Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, but those Never Trumpers who still let Donald Trump work them into a lather are not the only people suffering from a malady. Here’s another phenomenon that has puzzled many observers: Why do so many of Trump’s most militant supporters still fervently support...

As a sure sign that many Republicans have had enough of Donald Trump, over 200 staffers of former Republican presidential nominees announced their support for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris last week. These are people who worked for President George H.W. Bush, President George W. Bush and Sens. John McCain...

“That’s just politics” is a common response whenever Donald Trump says or does something outrageous, and it’s true that many of his carnival sideshow antics are worthy of nothing more than a chuckle. But his decision to get Republican senators to kill the bipartisan border bill in February deserves more...

As the 16th-century political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli said about the nature of political leadership in his treatise “The Prince,” “It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” Being both is a tough act for any political leader, so most leaders choose one — love or...

It has been a very long time since we have heard the word “joy” associated with politics. But, when Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spoke in Philadelphia last week, he reintroduced America to the notion that we should happily embrace and celebrate the political struggle for the...

I was determined not to lose any friends during and after the 2020 presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and my plan was moderately successful. You want to be challenged if you write a weekly newspaper column about politics and government, but my email during the Trump years...

When Frank Sinatra sang, “You’re riding high in April, shot down in May” — a lyric from his 1966 hit song “That’s Life” — he was describing the sudden ups and downs of life. In politics, as we have seen in the past few weeks, fortunes can change even faster...

We are all sickened by the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump. Public policy is to be decided by the voters in this Republic, not by assassins. Those of us who were around during the 1960s remember too clearly the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. His...

When President Richard M. Nixon appealed to the nation for support of his Vietnam War policy in a televised address, he called on the “silent majority” of Americans to side with him. The term “silent majority” has come and gone and been used in various ways, but it suited Nixon’s...

Since I first encountered Cicero in school, my admiration for him has grown and grown. I was drawn even closer to him when I found out the Roman lawyer and philosopher summered in Treglia — ancient Trebula Balliensis — my family’s village in southern Italy. When I suggest to my...

There are moments in every big-city mayor’s administration that define the mayor’s performance and values better than anything else. For the administration of Pittsburgh’s Mayor Ed Gainey, the failure to turn on the city’s over 200 drinking fountains in this hot summer may be such a moment. As first reported...

In January, along with former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, I joined a few dozen state advisory board members of Keep Our Republic at a two-day conference near Washington, D.C. Keep Our Republic is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that is working to identify problems that could come up in our presidential...

When the Alle­gheny Conference shared its ideas for a reimagined Downtown Pittsburgh this month, there were no actual proposals, just what were called “aspirational” and “visionary plans.” Downtown tax revenue is tanking, and the city administration continues to discourage and block new development. If the Allegheny Conference is going to...

As the nation remembered D-Day last week — with what was likely the last big gathering of American heroes in Normandy, France — the world was reminded of the value that America once placed on freedom. The numbers are staggering. On June 6, 1944, nearly 7,000 Allied ships and landing...

The trial of Donald Trump was both extraordinary and ordinary at the same time. Never before has a former president of the United States been charged, tried and convicted of crimes. But, once charged, Trump was treated like everybody else. With apologies for this lawyer’s view — without the passion...

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned 55 years ago this month, he was facing congressional calls for his impeachment. He had been on the court for less than four years and had controversially remained a confidant of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. The cause of his resignation was a...

For as long as any of us around here can remember, Dr. Cyril Wecht made headlines everywhere. The renowned forensic pathologist, physician and lawyer died at 93 last week. But he lived a life that we will never forget. Dr. Wecht invented the role of the celebrity forensic pathologist. He...

WQED television was established in 1954 — right here in Pittsburgh — as the first community-­sponsored educational television station in the nation. The station was truly Pittsburgh, originally funded in part by 200,000 $2 donations from local families. WQED is in our community’s genes, and our genes are in WQED....

The last time we had a close look at what an imperial American presidency might resemble, President Richard M. Nixon had decided that guards assigned to the White House should wear fancy uniforms befitting a European monarchy. After official European visits marked by ceremonial pomp, Nixon decided to change the...

The big news from last week’s primary election was Democratic incumbent Summer Lee’s victory over Bhavini Patel in the race to represent the people of the 12th Congressional District. But a little-noticed race for a much smaller state legislative seat may offer an important lesson locally. As a member of...

The problem with speaking for the record in this social media age is that your words are out there forever, and I realized some time ago that I was too tough on Mitt Romney when he ran for president in 2012. I regret that now. We all had our fun...

It took a major astronomical event, but we learned last week during the solar eclipse that Americans are still capable of standing together. Tens of millions watched the eclipse from Arizona and New Mexico to Maine and New Hampshire. Many folks here watched a partial eclipse from home. Some of...