Joseph Sabino Mistick Columns category, Page 12

Every now and then a new year seems sure to mark significant change. And 2020 is one of those years — a presidential election year — and it is not without some meaningless controversy straight out of the gate. Astronomer Joe Rao writes in the Farmers’ Almanac that we should...

It is another wonderful Christmas in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, as thousands of daily shoppers pour into the mecca for ethnic food and sidewalk bargains. Whole families arrive together, as part of their holiday tradition. It should be a time of celebration for the merchants, too, but instead they have been...

Sometimes it would be nice to treat the United States Constitution like a buffet. Imagine if you could take the parts you want and leave the rest behind. But that’s just not the nature of our Constitution. Donald Trump always gets cheers at his rallies when he promises to protect...

There have been some great speeches made by presidents of the United States, and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is at the top of most lists. On his train ride to the bloodied Civil War battlefield in central Pennsylvania, Lincoln wrote 272 words that continue to inspire and serve us. Franklin...

During a 2012 campaign stop in Virginia, President Barack Obama caused a stir when he told business owners that they owed much of their success to other hardworking Americans who did all the other things necessary for businesses to thrive. “If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you...

The impeachment of a president of the United States is serious business, but the fact that it is even an option should make every American proud. It can be gut wrenching, but this ability to call our most powerful leader to task is proof of the even more powerful role...

It was only natural for me to think about our two Kennys last week. Kenny Rubbo and Kenny Kline were part of the “Class of 1967” of Westinghouse Memorial High School in Wilmerding. Within months of graduation, some of my classmates headed to the factories and mills and some to...

There have been times when politicians from both parties have listened more than they have talked. Lately it has been the other way around. You know what they sound like. They claim to have all the answers, and they assure you that only they know the way out of whatever...

With all the talk out there about making America great again, here’s a happy story that shows that America has never lost its greatness, in spite of what the naysayers and crackpots want us to believe. It comes along just when we all could use a little boost. Identical twin...

In the old “cops and robbers” movies of the film noir era, they would usually have to sweat a guy or beat him with a rubber hose to get him to confess the way Mick Mulvaney willingly confessed at a recent White House press briefing. For weeks, Donald Trump had...

Not unlike the strange phenomenon of a volunteer firefighter who starts fires so he can rush to the scene to put them out — and be seen as a hero — Donald Trump has caused the crisis in Syria, and he is now hoping somehow to show that he saved...

I am not an expert in foreign relations or diplomacy. But I do understand the nature and importance of loyalty. President Trump’s unilateral decision to abandon the Kurdish fighters in Syria is an invitation to Turkey to cross the border and annihilate the Kurds. This seems clueless. The Kurdish fighters...

When Donald Trump learned that he was headed for possible impeachment, he launched one of his trademark Twitter storms, filled with misdirection, accusations and threats. He even claimed that if he was impeached, we would face “Civil War,” capitalizing the words, making no mistake what war he had in mind....

Traditionally, there is a fine art to going after political opponents, but Donald Trump is not that kind of an artist. Last June, when Trump was asked if he would accept political dirt about his opponents from a foreign government, he said, “I think you might want to listen, there...

When Ronald Reagan was nearing the end of his second term in the White House, he wandered into the medical office one day, approached his physician and said, ”I have three things that I want to tell you today. The first is that I seem to be having a little...

When British politician Edmund Burke received news in 1774 that he had been elected to represent the people of Bristol in Parliament, he told a gathering of voters that he would not mimic their wishes or the desires of any faction when deciding how to vote on the issues. Instead,...

“There is no fruit that is not bitter before it is ripe,” according to Publilius Syrus, a Latin moralist in the century before Christ. It seems that we have always known that everything has its season. And in the last days of summer, we can relish those things that have...

By the time Fannie Sellins was killed outside a mine near Brackenridge on Aug. 26, 1919, the widowed mother of four children was already a veteran union organizer, a fierce fighter for the poor and a fearless picket-line marcher. Sellins’ life was celebrated last week in the Allegheny Valley at...

When Luigi Sabino left Treglia, a tiny farming village in the hills outside of Caserta, Italy, he was 17 years old. Somehow he gained passage on the S.S. Kaiser Wilhelm II and made it to America. The Sabinos were farmers, but in Southern Italy in the late 19th century, families...

Last week, when Donald Trump blew into town and toured the Royal Dutch Shell multibillion-dollar cracker plant under construction in Beaver County, he made one of his trademark laughable claims. The plant has created 5,000 construction jobs and will require 600 permanent industrial jobs when completed, plus thousands of jobs...

When English King Henry II wondered aloud, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” he knew that some of his followers would be eager to please him. Accounts of Henry’s words differ slightly, but the gist is always the same. Henry was upset with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop...

Paddy Ryan, an Irish-American boxer and one-time Pittsburgher, was featured on a 1920s poster put out by his Bronx-based promoters in hopes of attracting opponents. Ryan, a former amateur world champion who had become a prizefighter, is posed in the classic boxer’s profile — chin down, gloveless hands extended, feet...

“Serenity now!” That was Frank Costanza’s mantra in a 1997 episode of “Seinfeld.” Frank, who learned the anger management device from self-help tapes, used the phrase anytime he felt that life had gone off the rails and his blood pressure was rising. Instead of softly repeating “serenity now,” Frank shouted...

For many Americans, the decision on how to vote in the 2020 presidential election will now be simpler. Hearing an American president tell any American to “go back where you came from” will be enough to decide the election for millions of voters who have been told that too often...

There may be worse things for a kid than being homeless, but there are not too many. Too often, homelessness can kill the ambition and hope of any kid. Every grownup knows that the starting point for a productive life is a safe place to rest, away from chaos, at...