BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION NOV. 12-4, 2026) — NEWS FLASH! Beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday (tomorrow) night, there will be a public execution in council chambers. School Committee member Ciara Batory will face a firing squad. Her crime? Asking too many questions. Being to inquisitive […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, NOVEMBER 9, 2026) — Blowout. Wipe Out. Slaughter. Landslide. THE PLANET speaks of the Democrats’ rousing victories in the Mid-Terms. We congratulate them. Well deserved and much needed as a correction and as a marker for the beginning of the end of the Trump […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY NOV. 4, 2026) — THE PLANET thanks everyone for their kind wishes and understanding as we take this time for our recent retreat. We shall return, like MacArthur, with new content and the resumption of our publishing schedule on Monday, Nov. 23, ready […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 28, 2026) — THE PLANET will be taking a brief hiatus from the affairs of city and state to be on a retreat. This will be a time for personal rest and rejuvenation after an impossibly busy summer. The demands for our […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION OCT. 22-5, 2026) — A rose by any other name, so it says in THE PLANET‘s literary archives, would smell as sweet. Conversely, a turd given a new moniker would still stink up the joint. DEI. Diversity Equity and Inclusion. Dumbitdown […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEST, THE WEEKEND EDITION, OCT. 16-8 … 2026) — THE PLANET elevates from The Comment Line a post by one of our regular contributors, Markus Aurelius. Mark has hit upon an issue that, not by coincidence but by synchronicity, happened to be on the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE EAST, WEDNESDAY OCT. 14, 2026) — While squaring the circle, defining one divided by zero, and arriving at the final digit of Pi, THE PLANET figures there’s a way to reconcile several seeming unrelated matters revolving around the seat of Berkshire County. And we […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, VACATION EDITION OCT. 8-WHENEVER) — THE PLANET has a sign in the window: “Gone on vacation.” We shall be off to our modest farm in Essex, where we shall keep bees for the good time. Back anon. Check with us in a week. Meanwhile, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, OCT. 5, 2026) — THE PLANET would like to extend our condolences to Linda Clairmont, former Mayor Tyer, for the loss of her husband, Barry. We think back to our times with Barry, particularly over coffee, where we compared notes on politics, talked wine, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, SEPT. 28, 2026) — A Star is Born. THE PLANET speaks of the Bitchfield city councilor from Ward 2, Cam “Bam” Cunningham. Some of the more superstitious types at Pity Hall think Cam Bam is Charles Kronick come back from the political dead, you […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 25-7, 2026) — Some thoughts to ponder in the rain and sun: Online Peril: THE PLANET wouldn’t know Presley Gerber from Elvis Presley or the Gerber Baby, but we do know of Cindy Crawford, the supermodel. Gerber, Crawford’s son, died […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 23, 2026) — THE PLANET could not exist without sources. We like to say we have contact in every city office and department. Not all of them will speak for publication, some refuse entirely, and almost no one will go on the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 18-20, 2026) — And so THE PLANET tries once again to set the agenda with a serious, little-discussed issue, hoping against hope that it may stimulate and daresay even advance public discussion and therefore awareness. That’s asking much from any […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 16, 2026) — One of the more silly and amusing debates, or what passes for debate, on the Bitchfield city council involved drones. Yes, our Right Honorable Good Friends wasted hours of taxpayer funded electricity to keep the lights on in a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 11-3, 2026) — It was 25 years ago that terrorists left Boston’s Logan Airport, flew over the Berkshires, and took down Manhattan’s Twin Towers. It was this century’s Pearl Harbor and JFK Assassination. THE PLANET was live on the air […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 9, 2026) — “Small potatoes.” That’s how Donald Trump described the latest rekindling with the on-again, off-again, on-again pan of hash browns in Iran. Trump should know about potatoes. You remember how during Campaign 2024 he manned the French fry station at […]
