Joseph Sabino Mistick Columns category, Page 5
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Think bigger than ‘tiny homes’ to aid our homeless
As most American cities grapple with record numbers of homeless citizens, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County officials continue to struggle to provide temporary and permanent housing for our region’s homeless population. Now, there is a city zoning amendment being proposed to allow a scattering of “tiny home” communities throughout Downtown and...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Mike Johnson won’t be remembered as one of the greats
We have had some great speakers of the House of Representatives throughout history, but it gets clearer every day that Mike Johnson is very unlikely to become one of them. Not long ago, Johnson turned against and killed the bipartisan immigration and border security bill negotiated by conservative Republican Sen....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Taylor Swift for the win
The Super Bowl is a chance we get every year to gather around our televisions for a few hours and forget about all those things that divide us. Now, the far right is trying to ruin even that with crazy conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, Kansas City...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Border politics trump the national interest
It is clear now that some Republican members of Congress have a hard time taking “yes” for an answer. For years, during both the Trump and Biden administrations, they have demanded immigration reform — tighter border controls and asylum and parole procedures. In October, Republicans felt so strongly about new...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Clemente magic
Democrat Chris Deluzio and Republican Guy Reschenthaler, two Western Pennsylvania members of the U.S. House and unlikely allies on any piece of legislation, have co-sponsored a bill. The Roberto Clemente Commemorative Coin Act sounds like an easy layup for both politicians, but nothing is easy in politics these days. Just...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: ‘Is this a good idea?’ the first question to ask
“Is this a good idea?” Many questions are important, but if you are in a political or government position and your decisions affect the lives of others, it is exceptionally important. When Pittsburgh City Council members were sworn in this month, newly elected 34-year-old Bob Charland used his remarks to...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: FDR and faith in America
As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was preparing for his inauguration in 1933, he faced calls for him to assume extraordinary powers. The nation was at its lowest point since the beginning of the Great Depression. In his 2006 book “The Defining Moment,” Jonathan Alter calls it our “gravest crisis since...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: George Westinghouse knew how to take care of people
Westinghouse Air Brake was more than just another industrial plant in the Turtle Creek Valley east of Pittsburgh, and the recently announced plan to close the 134-year-old Wilmerding factory now known as Wabtec reminds us of an earlier corporate philosophy that we need today. If you grew up in that...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Resolve to pay attention in this new year
Anyone who writes a newspaper column welcomes the holidays as good column fodder. New Year’s Day is an opportunity to write about new beginnings, leaving the tough parts of the past year behind and starting fresh with the turn of the calendar page. It’s almost formulaic. My 2021 New Year’s...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: People who care keep Christmas alive for those in need
“Santa isn’t coming to certain homes because they’re poor? I don’t think so. Santa’s sleigh stops here first,” according to the Rev. Tracy Hudson, the manager of volunteers and the holiday coat and toy drive for Pittsburgh’s East End Cooperative Ministry (EECM). That’s the Christmas spirit that will make the...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Courthouse holiday displays spread cheer, hope
The return of a holiday display — a Christmas tree and a framed depiction of a menorah — in the public square outside the Westmoreland County Courthouse is a small thing when compared to the big events of the day, but if it helps spread the holiday spirit, it may...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Mike Johnson needs to tell the truth
If you are raising kids and hope to teach them that it is important to respect and obey the law, your job got harder last week. On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson disclosed that the Republican caucus will not release the raw footage of the Jan. 6 insurrection...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Celebrating the holidays in time of war
As many Americans struggle to find the holiday spirit this year in the midst of war abroad and turmoil at home, Henry Kissinger’s death last week is a reminder that we have been here before. When Vietnam War peace talks collapsed in December 1972, President Richard Nixon and Kissinger —...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Remembering Rosalynn Carter and more gracious times
The letter is faded now, but the name “Rosalynn Carter” at the top, embossed in robin’s egg blue, still catches the eye. It was sent in April 1980 after the first lady visited Pittsburgh and attended a community meeting at the 12th Street Market House on the South Side. I...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Bar fights holding Republicans back from helping America
The philosopher George Santayana captured the essence of bar fights when he wrote, “… if men have nothing else to fight over they will fight over words, fancies or women, or they will fight because they dislike each other’s looks, or because they have met walking in opposite directions.” But...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Voters want public officials who govern
Our local political fever may have broken last Tuesday in Allegheny County’s general election. In both the county executive and district attorney races, after a string of recent successes by progressive candidates, the voters brought local politics back toward the center. That may be good for the entire region. Democrat...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Focus on the local in Allegheny County races
Even local elections can generate national interest these days. If the races for Allegheny County executive and district attorney are close, they could turn on issues with no connection to the jobs that are on the ballot — or be decided by people far beyond this part of southwestern Pennsylvania....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Public servants serve the public
Sometimes a plastic bag is more than just a plastic bag. If you were around during the administration of Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Masloff, the news that those small plastic grocery bags are now banned in the city reminds you of a time when simple solutions reigned over needlessly complex solutions...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Politics is still a people business
The race for Allegheny County executive may still be Sara Innamorato’s to lose because of the heavy Democratic registration edge here, but her Republican opponent, Joe Rockey, appears to have a shot. There seems to be a lack of enthusiasm for Innamorato among traditional older Democrats, including many Democratic committee...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Progressing backwards
Many of my friends and I used to call ourselves progressives. Our parents, labor union members and World War II veterans who had fought for social justice overseas, raised us to believe that it is a citizen’s duty to use the political process to improve the lives of all Americans....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: We should honor, not disparage, America’s best
When it comes to being a real American patriot, Donald Trump would not make a patch on the seat of Gen. Mark Milley’s pants. But that didn’t stop Trump from recently suggesting that the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff committed a “treasonous act” by assuring his Chinese...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Biden takes stand for striking workers
I was in grade school when I walked my first United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line at the factory gate of the Fisher Body plant in West Mifflin. I can’t remember if it was a contract strike for better wages and benefits or a wildcat strike over a safety issue...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Fetterman, incivility and broken windows
When Sen. John Fetterman was given permission by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to wear his signature baggy shorts and hoodie on the floor of the Senate, some Republicans were predictably outraged by the break with tradition. Maybe that was the whole point. Fetterman responded to their indignation with a...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda, justice and common sense
If you want to know why some communities are pushing back against progressive criminal justice reformers, consider the case of Yan Carlos Pichardo Cepeda, who was recently arrested and then released by Pittsburgh District Judge Xander Orenstein. At the time this column was filed, Cepeda was “in the wind,” having...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Remembering Johnny Fusilli, faith and friendship
It might be Patsy’s, Sinatra’s old joint, if you’re from New York City. In Philadelphia, Dante & Luigi’s or one of the other old-time places scattered among the neighborhood rowhouses and apartment buildings might be your go-to joint. But if you are from a certain part of Pittsburgh, Johnny’s in...
