BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION MARCH 13-5, 2026) — Recently, THE PLANET brought up one of the many the third-rail issues in the city. We refer to the PILOT program. Payment In Lieu of Taxes is a tax-avoidance strategy used in 82 of the Commonwealth’s 351 […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY MARCH 9, 2026) — MOM, the Matriarchy of Massachusetts, loves to evade the truth. This aversion to honesty, has, another other wreckage, shows up in the disaster of failing public school systems, when MOM resorts to euphemism. Failing districts aren’t failing; they’re “turnaround” […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION MARCH 6-8, 2026) — In THE PLANET‘s columns earlier this week, we raised concerns and questions on the joint America-Israel attack on Iran. We see this action not in black and white but in shades of gray, and way more than […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY MARCH 4, 2026) — In 1973, with the Vietnam War reaching Act IV given the Paris Peace Accords and another two years left until the disastrous exit from Saigon (remember those helicopters being thrown overboard?), Congress passed the War Powers Act in a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY MARCH 2, 2026) — Wouldn’t it be nice, THE PLANET fantasizes, to have a giant chain saw, one big enough to cut away the Middle East. We’d start hacking at Yemen, work out way up the peninsula to Saudi Arabia, Oman, U.A.E, Qatar, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION FEB. 27-MARCH 1, 2026) — Ah, March, harbinger of spring. In like a lying and out like a lamp. THE PLANET loves it. It was One Big Beautiful Speech. The State of the Union address, that is. President Trump even got […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY FEB. 25, 2026) — Potholes and snow removal: The bane of every mayor. Some towns and cities (Dalton, MA; Syracuse, NY) have it down pat. Others (Bitchfield, MA; New York, NY) haven’t a clue. No matter how clean a job a city does, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY FEB. 23, 2026) — A search at the Justice of Department website’s Epstein Files reveals that the city of Bitchfield turns up five times. It made the Big Time … but only for the proverbial cup of coffee. And what nefarious deeds resulted […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION FEB. 20-3, 2026) — What do we do with drug addicts and dealers? Ah, the eternal conundrum for civilized society … but we have the answer. Simple. Shoot ’em. Allow THE PLANET to present a Modest Proposal. We all know the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY FEB. 18, 2026) — First, a tip of THE PLANET doiby to the Pittsfield Police Department for their great work in nabbing the man suspected of the recent, horrific hit-and-run fatality. Job well done. Donald Trump has always been an acquired taste, like […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY FEB. 16, 2026) —THE PLANET noticed with interest how Boston’s Wu Administration used the PILOT program to get Wentworth Institute of Technology to resume cash payments to the city after years of the school getting a free ride on the backs of taxpayers. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE SATURDAY-SUNDAY FEB. 14-5) — THE PLANET has received additional information about the vehicle believed to be involved in the fatal hit-and-run incident that took place atop about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10. Here is the initial press release: SKM_C451i26021119590 The vehicle in question is […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ADD 2 FEB. 12, p.m. — THE PLANET received this from the office of D.A. Tim Shugrue: The victim in Tuesday’s fatal hit and run has been identified as William S. Colbert of Pittsfield (69 years old). Mr. Colbert was struck by a car on Tuesday evening […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY FEB. 9, 2026) — As mid-winter passes and we traipse ever-closer to Lent,THE PLANET takes the joyous occasion to recognize the greatness of the seat of Berkshire Country, the Benigno Nominee city of Bitchfield. After exhaustive polling, research, sampling, and contemplation, here are THE […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE SUPER BOWL WEEKEND 2026) — With the New England Patriots Invitational (aka the Super Bowl) behind us, THE PLANET continues to extend our reach to other voices. This weekend, we run a guest column from the policy director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance. In […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY FEB. 4, 2026) — One of THE PLANET‘s major premises , derived from a lifetime of study, much of it close-up with first-hand research and experience, holds that ALL government is corrupt. It’s simply a matter of degree. That much is inarguable. When […]
