Joseph Sabino Mistick Columns
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump’s renaming frenzy will fade when he does
In what could be a chapter from some “authoritarian’s handbook,” President Donald Trump has used much of his second term naming publicly funded institutions and projects after himself. The decision a week before Christmas to change the name of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Let’s come together for peace on Earth
The Christmas message of “peace on Earth” is a heavier lift this year than in some years past. There is now turmoil on every front — internationally, domestically, in our communities and even within some families. The war in Ukraine continues as the tough Ukrainian people refuse to surrender to...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Will Pittsburgh welcome the changes it faces?
When the driverless taxi company Waymo recently announced it would be coming to Pittsburgh, the news was met with cautious skepticism by some of my old-timer friends. Pittsburghers are generally slow to embrace change, remaining loyal to the reliable past, and it may take a minute for us to accept...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Is Trump being conned? Or is he conning us?
As President Donald Trump tells it, when someone criticizes him it is a “con job” or “fake news.” At a cabinet meeting last week, Trump told struggling American families that they are not struggling, that affordability is a “con job” and a “Democratic scam.” Average Americans know that inflation has...
Joeph Sabino Mistick: News of the day in an upside-down world
In the Nov. 20 New York Times, the top three “Most Read Stories” carried the following headlines: “In Outburst, Trump Accuses Democrats of Sedition Over Video to Military”; “Trump Calling Reporter ‘Piggy’ Was ‘Frankness,’ White House Says”; “Coast Guard Says Swastika and Noose Displays Are No Longer Hate Incidents.” If...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Thanksgiving lessons from the American Revolution
It is good that “The American Revolution,” a series by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt, premiered on PBS the week before Thanksgiving. It is good to be reminded of the sacrifices that were made to form this nation. Among the many lessons from the series, two are especially...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Democrats must get back to business
If you grew up in one of the blue-collar towns across America, you are no stranger to disputes being settled by a couple of guys going toe-to-toe. Sometimes it was over something important, sometimes it was over an insult or a slight, and sometimes it just had to be done...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump continues to play hunger games
The international community, at least since World War II and most recently in a 2018 U.N. resolution, has condemned using food as a weapon in conflicts. But that has not stopped President Donald Trump from effectively denying SNAP benefits for 42 million Americans. Trump posted on Truth Social this past...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Pittsburgh needs a fresh start with next mayor
There used to be a saying that Pittsburgh always gets the mayor it needs when it needs it — a lesson that the voters and candidates should remember this Election Day and after. At Mary Campbell Corbett’s recent Downtown Pittsburgh presentation of “Pivoting to the People: The Untold Story of...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: What can we do in the face of hate? Look to Roosevelt.
According to a recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the number of hate groups in America has declined, but the influence of those that remain continues to grow. It seems that hate is more openly popular than ever, and no one has shown that better than President Donald...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Our disciplined, dignified military
It has been almost three weeks since 800 American generals and admirals were summoned to Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia to hear remarks by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The officers traveled from around the globe, directed by Hegseth to leave their posts for what he...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: DOMI’s latest folly — bike lane in the Strip
If you ever wonder what has driven so many people into the arms of Donald Trump and the MAGA crowd, look no further than the insistence of the City of Pittsburgh’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure (DOMI) that a dangerous bike lane be installed along several blocks of Penn Avenue...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Ryder Cup — a good walk spoiled
In 2014, author Noam Chomsky said that one of the functions that professional sports play in our society “is to offer an area to deflect people’s attention from things that matter.” Historians say that Roman emperors used “bread and circuses” to distract and control the masses. That may still be...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: In politics, friends are hard to come by
According to the Greek historian Herodotus, “Of all possessions a friend is the most precious.” We all know that personal friendships are priceless and enduringly important in our lives. Public friendships, as we have seen recently, test personal loyalty and consistency in the most visible way. When President Donald Trump...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Free speech, voting and finding our way back
This year, by happenstance, Constitution Day and National Voter Registration Day were both celebrated this past Tuesday. Both days focus on the core principles that are essential to being an American. Constitution Day marks the day in 1787 that the delegates from the various states signed the Constitution in Philadelphia....
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Partnership key for Pittsburgh’s Renaissance III
With an election upcoming and the promise of a new mayor, Pittsburgh once again is at the crossroads. If there is a chance to escape the post-covid urban malaise that most American cities are experiencing, Pittsburgh will have to revive the public-private partnership model that was invented here and that...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Trump shows he’s no fan of fair fights
In 2009, the late right-wing political radio host Rush Limbaugh wrote to President Barack Obama and urged him — in the interest of fairness — to oppose the adoption of an FCC regulation that Limbaugh said would be “the death knell of talk radio.” “I would encourage you not to...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Taking a bite out of justice
When Sean Charles Dunn cursed and threw his foot-long Subway salami sandwich at a federal agent in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 10 — protesting President Trump’s deployment of federal law enforcement officers to patrol the streets there — it normally would not have been a big deal. But the MAGA...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Pittsburgh steel families built a nation
If you grew up in Pittsburgh or in one of the nearby steel towns, the deadly explosion at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works last week — killing two workers and hospitalizing 10 — struck home. There are fewer mills now, but this tragedy is a reminder of the values and...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Moreno the underdog candidate for Pittsburgh mayor
It’s easy to dismiss Tony Moreno and his chances in his race for mayor of Pittsburgh. The retired city police officer is running as the Republican nominee, and the last time Pittsburgh had a Republican mayor was 1934. But for Moreno, it is not about political parties. He ran and...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Local radio stations show how to fight back in tough times
As public broadcasters and nonprofit organizations across the country struggle with President Trump’s federal funding cuts — including the July congressional recission of funds already granted for this year — the different responses by two Pittsburgh broadcasters provide lessons for others in similar straits. Trump’s war on public broadcasting specifically...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Cruelty the theme of Trump administration
The signs were there back in November 2015 when candidate Donald Trump mocked a physically disabled reporter from the podium at one his rallies. Cruelty was being acted out on the main stage in American politics. New York Times journalist Serge Kovaleski, who has limited use of his arms, debunked...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: A good turn and a bad one from McCormick
Pennsylvania’s first-term U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick did a good turn for his adopted city of Pittsburgh when he hosted the energy summit at CMU last week. But if that was two steps forward in his desire to become a true Pittsburgher, he took one step back days later when he...
Joseph Sabino Misick: Competitive authoritarianism trickling in
The phrase “death by a thousand cuts” has come to describe the accumulation of a number of seemingly minor actions that combine to cause the death of a thing. And when it comes to our traditional form of American democracy, those seemingly minor actions are starting to add up. As...
Joseph Sabino Mistick: Eradicating hate is a worthy cause
The Washington Examiner reported last week that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced she was terminating funding for a federal program that supports the Eradicate Hate Global Summit, which was started in Pittsburgh after the massacre of 11 Tree of Life synagogue worshippers in 2018, still the deadliest antisemitic act...
