BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 24-6, 2026) — Let’s see. By THE PLANET‘s count, we have more-or-less 50 states in the union. Care to guess which one stands alone as the only state that exempts the governor’s office, the legislature (both houses), and the judiciary […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY APRIL 22, 2026) — While THE PLANET waits along with everyone else to see how the rapidly evolving situation with Iran turns out, we offer this change of pace. Baseball. _____________________________ MEET DAN VALENTI @ BARNES & NOBLE PITTSFIELD 2 p.m. SAT., APRIL […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY APRIL 20, 2026) — Unlike the rest of public Commonwealth, THE PLANET does not take Patriot’s Day off. Instead, we will keep bees as more than 30,000 halfwits prove their manhood, women included, in the Boston Marathon as the Red Sox lose their […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 17-9, 2026) — For more than a score of years, THE PLANET as well as all other objective observers have plotted a reciprocal but opposite correlation between performance in the Bitchfield public school system and the amount of taxpayer dollars […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY APRIL 15, 2026) — Clearing off the desk of tidbits: KAM II?: You haven’t heard of disgraced “Rev.” Al Sharpton’s National Action Network Convention. No one has, except for a small group of black activists who cherish racism disguised as social change. Sharpton’s gig […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY APRIL 13, 2026) — No breakdowns but no breakthroughs. _______________________________ MARK THE DATE! APRIL 25 @ 2 p.m. DAN VALENTI WILL BE SIGNING COPIES OF HIS LATEST, “SANITY MADE SIMPLE,” @ BARNES & NOBLE BOOKSELLERS, PITTSFIELD. ________________________________ That’s the best way THE PLANET […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 10-2, 2026) — This weekend will mark the most important two days of the “war” with Iran. THE PLANET employs quotes not because Congress never authorized the president’s actions but because Israeli warmonger and terrorist head Benjamin Netanyahu declared this […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY APRIL 8, 2026) — “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” These were the words of Mr. Bluster, a.k.a. President Donald Trump, Tuesday morning. He was speaking of his latest “deadline” regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran. Again, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY APRIL 6, 2026) — Will President Trump once again be all bluster, or will he stick to his thrice-delayed “absolute deadline” and hit Iran’s power grid and bring decimation? THE PLANET will have you recall that nine days ago at 8 p.m. EST, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 3-5, 2026) — They will be receiving at least $4 million more this year than last year. They’ll calling it a cut. THE PLANET welcomes you to the Bitchfield Public School Department. Where up is down, more is less, and […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY APRIL 1, 2026) — Do you ever get the feeling that the 2026 version of Bitchfield is a giant April Fool’s joke? THE PLANET recently fielded a query from someone who wondered about the origin of the term “Bitchfield,” our loving moniker for […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY MARCH 30, 2026) — THE PLANET prematurely pressed the PUBLISH button for this column when it was in ROUGH draft form, but we have attended to the matter. This was intended for Monday publication, with our column on Iran meant for The Weekend […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION MARCH 27-9, 2026) — I ran. Might that be what Uncle Sam will say with respect to the tarpit of Iran? That’s one outcome, that President Trump gets the heck out and declares “victory,” the way Nixon claimed in Vietnam. Tarpits […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY MARCH 23, 2026) — Shifting war = shifting assessment. THE PLANET supported the Trump Administration’s first strike in Iran in June. Certainly, we knew when we issued that determination that this story had legs, as we say in the business, and that things […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MoNDAY MARCH 22, 2026) — An enlightening sequence of communication in the Comments section here shed the Kleig lights on the fundamental problem with downtown Bitchfield. THE PLANET, of course, has been faithful in documenting verse-and-chapter the demise of center city as a shopping, business, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION MARCH 20-22, 2026) — As THE PLANET celebrates the Rites of String, we bring attention to this week’s mystery, “The Strange Case of Brooklyn’s Best.” As a Holmesian classic, it may not rate, but as an exemplification of Pittsfield politics, it […]
