Anthony Pignataro

@apignataro

Editor/reporter at the co-op @lbwatchdog.bsky.social. Former MauiTime (RIP) editor. Former OC Weekly (RIP) reporter. My new novel The B Girls and new memoir Remembering Lahaina are now available. He/him.

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Bluesky

Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir apignataro.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· 7d

Manne’s entire essay is great but this paragraph is just pure 🔥

As I’ve said before: The watchword of patriarchy is women’s service with a smile. Every woman alive is hence in the service industry to some extent or other, in being subject to the constant expectation of our emotional and intellectual, as well as sexual and domestic, labor. I want to live in a world where privileged men learn not to expect this kind of service to be on tap for them. Generative AI is just going to make the weaning process harder

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· 29d

Aww man, Sam Neill died, too? My favorite movie of his will always be The Dish, from 2000. It’s not the most historically accurate film ever made, but it’s fun and quirky and has a ton of heart.

DVD box for the 2000 movie The Dish showing two men in suits, one smiling, next to images of a rocket basting off, and an astronaut in a space suit and a large satellite dish at sunset. The cover text says “The first step on the moon nearly stumbled on Earth. The Dish. Based on a true story.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jun 27

If anyone wants some light reading today, it’s the 10th anniversary of former Maui Mayor Elmer Cravalho’s death. My obit on him took four months to write. It’s a wild story that includes radical union leaders, illegal military spying and sleazy media attacks. www.mauitime.com/culture/hist...

Image of the October 13, 2016 cover of the tabloid MauiTime featuring a black and white photo of a man wearing glasses and lei holding a gavel with the headline “Examining Elmer Cravalho — Maui’s Most important Political Leader.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jun 18

Name a TV show you’re positive no one remembers but you.

Collage of images including two of a car flying in space surrounding the words “Rocket Boy.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jun 13

If you see this post your getaway vehicle

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· May 30

The Little Steel Strike massacre is today’s entry in @gsanroman2.bsky.social’s excellent new book Days of Dissent, which I urge everyone to read. pmpress.org/index.php?l=...

A hand holds a copy of a book titled Days of Dissent: Revolts, Strikes, and Rebel Histories by Gabriel San Román.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· May 27

I saw this on the 405 freeway near LAX yesterday. Anyone have any idea what the message is here?

Cars on a freeway pass beneath a pedestrian bridge where someone has hung a large banner that has the letters “G” and “P” with the Soviet hammer and sickle symbol between them so it seems to spell out “GOP.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· May 3

“It’s always too soon to go home.” [from Hope in the Dark by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social, 2016]

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Apr 23

This is an outstanding essay, and of course it reminded me of the bench I saw near LAX in early 2023: green metal with three barriers (too short to be arm rests) placed so no one could ever sleep on it, and a Covenant House ad mounted on the back decrying homeless children.

A green metal bench on the sidewalk with metal barriers placed along the seat to prevent a person from laying down and an advertisement mounted on the back from Covenant House that says “No kid should ever have to sleep on the streets.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Apr 6

Mesmerized by this screenshot of the Orion spacecraft flying past the Lunar surface.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Apr 2

I will be forever in awe of this exchange

ktkins
@voldemortsbicep
my favorite game is to act like i can’t understand something very simple when a man is explaining it to me to see how dumb he thinks i am.

greghughes
@voldemortsbicep this, my dear, is called deception…

ktkins
@grhughes82 what do you mean?

greghughes
@voldemortsbicep it’s a form of dishonesty that you are using for self gain or amusement. It’s actually quite sophisticated stuff well done.

ktkins
@grhughes82 sorry, I don’t get it?

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Mar 24

This reminds me so much of what former alt-weekly cartoonist-turned-corporate consultant Lloyd Dangle once told me about business meetings. www.eastbaymag.com/from-celebra...

For the first year, Dangle says he spent a lot of time just trying to figure out what the executives were talking about. “You’d be amazed at how bad corporate meetings are,” he says. “They show PowerPoint presentations, and then everyone falls asleep. But I was always willing to ask a dumb question. And when I asked it, I found half the room didn’t know either.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Feb 27

Today, the 11th anniversary of Leonard Nimoy’s death, is an excellent time to remind you that if you think journalism is bad now, please know that it was often a whole lot worse. (Los Angeles Times, Feb. 18, 1952)

It Takes a Pretty Miss to Score With Lensman.
When Leonard Nimoy, 20, went before Superior Court Judge Frank G. Swain and received approval of his 10-picture contract with Jack Broder Productions, the next move was to have been a picture in The Times.
However, the photographer was not impressed with a contract approval in which the minor was only another guy.
“Who wants to look at a picture of a guy,” he asked logically, for a photographer. “Go get a cute tomato and pose with her and we’ll get your picture in the paper.”
Nimoy left and brought back Mona Knox, with whom he is currently making a picture, “Kid Monk Baroni.”
“I’m a fighter in it, and she’s my feminine interest,” he explained. “She takes my dough in the picture.”
Twenty-two year old Mona, wearing a sweater and snug skirt, approved his contract that starts at $200 a week, and rises $25 a week every second picture.
The photographer approved of Mona.

Black and white newspaper photo of a man with the following caption: “BEAUTY ADDED — Actress Mona Knox, 22, lends her beauty to picture of Leonard Nimoy, 22. Photographer asked Nimoy to get a pretty girl to pose with him. He received court approval of motion-picture contract. Times photo.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Feb 11

And there it is

Another email in the Epstein files details Horner’s return to the ranch in 2016 during a trip through Santa Fe with one of his graduate students. According to Horner, Epstein wasn’t present.

That same year, Horner claimed that pressure from Museum of the Rockies officials over his marriage to a 19-year-old undergraduate student in 2012 and subsequent divorce influenced his decision to retire.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Feb 11

Oh come on

Horner claimed that those present during the Aug. 2012 stay included Epstein, his secretary, a ranch manager and four women introduced to him as college students.

“Nothing I observed or experienced during my short stay at the ranch indicated or suggested the conduct that came to light,” Horner stated. “That said, I regret my use of the term ‘girls’ in emails referring to the students, rather than using more appropriate language. I [now] understand the students may have been victims of Epstein, and I deeply regret that I did not realize this at the time.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Feb 8

My god this is fucked up

In another email exchange, from October 2009, Epstein discussed mounting an exhibition featuring images of minors.
“I might want to fund an exhibition entitled statutory.. girls and boys ages 14 - 25.. where they look nothing like their true ages. Juvenile mug shots. , photo shop, make up. some people go to prison because they can't tell true age. controversial . fun. maybe it should be a web page , with hits, tallied,” Epstein wrote to Ross.
Ross appeared to embrace Epstein’s exhibition idea and suggested speaking later that day.
“You are incredible,” Ross replied. “This would be a very owerful [sic] and freaky book. Do you know that total porno commercial kiddie picture of Brooke Sheilds that Richard Prince appropriated for an exhibition in the early 1980's?”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Feb 3

Give me an iconic #StarTrek image.

A man wearing green leaves in his hair is kissing a woman.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Feb 1

Was not expecting to see this when I started the 2-part American Experience documentary on Henry Kissinger but alright let’s go I can take it

A television screen displaying the note “The following program contains content which may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 29

I know about Raines because @arabellesicardi.bsky.social described her and her work helping homeless people so beautifully in The House of Beauty.

“This is a Band-Aid—I am trying my best while people in power deal with policy. This is what I can do,” explains Raines. In an interview with Vogue on her work during the pandemic, she confessed that doing the work with the pandemic crowding the city is skyrocketing her anxiety. “It’s very unsettling for me and my team. Of course, we’re paranoid and washing our hands 24/7. Of course, my family is concerned. My kids and my sister beg me, ‘Please, don’t go out there,’ and I’m just like, ‘I gotta. We can’t give up on them right now. [I have asked the people here to] lay back, close their eyes, and trust that my Fighters for the World will make sure nobody will run up on them. We gained their trust with consistency by coming every Saturday. And that can’t end now. It is essential that we don’t lose that love and trust we’ve worked so hard to get from this community.” Raines lost her job recently due to pandemic budget cuts, but she’s still coming out every weekend with donations from her online network of supporters. She is still handing out roses from her car window and apologizing for not being able to hug the now-familiar faces on the street who call her mom, who call her godmother, who ask her about her health and her family.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 28

This was written in 2021.

“The Daniel Pearl Foundation is thrilled to have Bari Weiss as recipient of the 2021 Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism. Bari has earned this award for her persistent willingness to resist groupthink, her commitment to telling the truth, even when it’s politically inconvenient, and her courage in standing up for her people against the rising tide of antisemitism and Zionophobia,” said Judea Pearl in the name of the Daniel Pearl Foundation.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 17

Of course Rupert Murdoch’s new California Post poached Ben Bolch from the LA Times. Of course they did.

Picture of women in purple uniforms and white uniforms playing basketball with the following captions:

Los Angeles Times Columnist Apologizes For “Deeply Offensive” Descriptions Of LSU Women’s Team – Update.
By Bruce Haring, Tom Tapp.
April 1, 2024 4:07pm.

UPDATED with statement: Los Angeles Times columnist Ben Bolch, who came under widespread fire for a column about the LSU–UCLA Women’s NCAA tournament matchup in which he called the Lady Tigers “dirty debutantes” and called them “villains,” while calling the Bruins “milk and cookies,” has apologized.

Image that says “California Post” on an orange background with the following captions:

California Post poaches Ben Bolch as Los Angeles Times sports staff dwindles to nine full-time staff writers.
The Sporting Tribune.
Mon, Jan 12, 2026 at 9:55 PM PST.

LOS ANGELES — The California Post has hired veteran sportswriter Ben Bolch from the Los Angeles Times, marking the third departure from the Times’ sports section to the New York Post–backed West Coast startup as it ramps up staffing ahead of its official launch later this month.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 12

Every time I read about some new way Bari Weiss found to obliterate honest journalism at CBS News I remember that just a few years ago the Los Angeles Press Club honored her for her “honest and integrity in journalism.” lapressclub.org/bari-weiss-d...

Los Angeles Press Club photo of a smirking woman with the caption “Bari Weiss is the 2021 LA Press Club Daniel Pearl Awardee.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 6

Today is the fifth anniversary of one of the darkest days of my lifetime. For the first couple years of the COVID-19 pandemic, I kept a journal. I wrote something in it every day, including Jan. 6, 2021. Here is what I wrote that day.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6, 2021.
Clear that Jon Ossoff has won his Senate race, too. Pence then announces that he will do nothing to stop Biden from becoming president. And while the House and Senate carry on their ludicrous debate over the electoral results, Trump lovers storm the Capitol complex. The Cannon building was evacuated, and cops and Trump supporters were engaged in open fighting. This is what Trump wants—violent chaos, and he's getting it. How can we survive another two weeks as president if he'll just call on his supporters to violently overthrow the government?
Then it got a whole lot worse-rioters, helped by cops (!?!), breached the barricades around
the Capitol itself and stormed up the steps. The congress was debating an objection to the Arizona electoral tally at the time. All representatives and senators were evacuated.
No member of the public has been allowed inside since March, when the pandemic began.
Many broke open windows and stormed inside, some carrying confederate flags. Angie and I watched CNN and twitter in horror as we saw these knuckle-dragging fascists, puffed up with their own misogynistic and racist entitlement, rummage through Senators' desks and sat at Pelosi's desk. One insurrectionist was photographed holding a fistful of zip-ties, which means this was a legit lynch mob, bent on taking hostages. That they didn't was because capitol police were able to evacuate the members of congress in time.
For much of the day I couldn't eat or drink. I had no appetite. I just silently scrolled through Twitter while the dumb CNN pundits droned on in the background about how shocked they were—like Trump hasn't been inciting violence for the past four years. In the afternoon Angie opened a bottle of wine, and I felt a bit better—though on my empty stomach, I realized I shouldn't go beyond one glass.

It took cops and the national guard hours to clear the building and the grounds, and one woman in an American flag cape was shot in the neck by capitol police. She died later today. At 8pm Eastern, Pelosi and McConnell brought the congress back into session to finish the electoral count and end this madness.
To say I've been enraged today is an understatement. Black people were brutalized for peacefully protesting, and a bunch of white people stormed the fucking Congress and only one person was shot, and even then, we're not sure of the circumstances. Pence, amazingly enough, was instrumental in getting the National Guard called in, because apparently Trump was refusing to do so—he had earlier incited the mob in the first place. Mitt Romney apparently raged at Ted Cruz as they were being evacuated.
Maybe the country has turned a corner and finally recognizes the imminent danger Trump
and white supremacist terrorists pose to us. Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis released a brutal statement blaming Trump by name for inciting a riot aimed at the heart of our democracy. The National Association of Manufacturers has called on Pence to invoke the 25th amendment and get Trump kicked out now, immediately. I doubt the cabinet or congress, even now, would do that, but the more Trump is isolated, the better. At a little after 6pm our time, CBS reported the cabinet was indeed meeting to discuss the 25'h amendment, but I doubt it will lead to anything-they are just lackeys, after all, chosen by Trump for never objecting to his wildest whims.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 5

Watching His Kind of Woman. It’s my comfort movie, though I’ve never been able to explain why that is. Made two decades before I was born, it’s too dark to be a comedy and too funny to be film noir. Maybe that’s why.

Movie poster for the 1951 picture His Kind of Woman, showing a woman in a strapless dress resting her hand on a man’s chest while they stare into each other’s eyes.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 3

The classics never go out of style. (excerpt from War is a Racket by Major General Smedley D. Butler, USMC, 1935)

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Jan 3

This is a news story headline, not an editorial headline. I woke up in 18 fucking 98

Reuters.
Nicolas Maduro’s heavy-handed rule in Venezuela is finally ended by Trump.
By Reuters.
January 3, 2026. 5:44 AM PST. Updated 25 mins ago.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Dec 28

Meme of Helen Lovejoy from The Simpsons clutching her face and asking “won’t somebody please think of the fascists?”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Dec 20

Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.

Claymation image of a smiling man in a green sleeveless sweater standing next to a white dog.

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Dec 16

I was eight years old when this went down

police officer for less than a year. “Jim
Gerhart did all the talking…
“I just stood by and watched and hoped for the best,” Anderson said. “I had a clean area [to shoot] at him in case it did start.”
The FBI agent and the former policeman talked, although Anderson declined to describe their conversation in detail and said he could not recall exactly what Reynolds said before he surrendered.
“I was more interested in seeing if he was going to make a move than in listening to exactly what he was saying,” Anderson said.
Then the gun was in Gerhart’s hand and it was all over. “We searched him, cuffed him, and took him down stairs.”

Anthony Pignataro@apignataro· Dec 16

“Seemed like 10 hours”