BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY AUG. 26, 2019) — If Dan Valenti were moderating tonight’s mayoral debate, he’d do it PLANET style:

• Roving moderator with hand-held mic
• 90 minutes
• Candidates on bar stools and not behind desks or podiums, each holding a wireless mic, no notes or time limits on responses
• Aggressive questioning
• Follow-up when candidates dodge
• Heavy interplay among candidates.

This controlled free-for-all style produces the best possibility of the electorate spotting hints of genuineness among the candidates.

Dan Valenti, alas, is not moderating tonight’s “debate.” Word has it he’s on an assignment as script doctor for a current Hulu TV series helping to brainstorm a fourth season that just finished its third. As it is, the debate will go with a “safe” interlocutor, one who won’t press or venture into territory deemed risky by The Suits. THE PLANET tells you this as a warning not to expect much.

The four candidates will physically appear on equal footing, but everyone knows that barring an act of God, this “race” will come down to the Battle of the Machines (DelGallo-Ruberto v. Wojtkowski-Bianchi), a continuation of the long-standing war-by-proxy. Incumbent Linda Tyer and challenger Melissa Mazzeo will have one goal: Get out of it without a major gaffe.

If Valenti was moderating, he’d hammer on three areas: crime, public schools, and finances. All three reduce to one conveniently ignored during campaign season: Pittsfield Public Schools. Valenti would focus on the school department because it hogs nearly 75 cents of every city dollar while producing an evermore pathetic crop of clueless, undisciplined young people who can’t read, write, do math, compete in higher education, or hold down a job. They do know how to cause mayhem, however.

Here’s one of the latest numbers on the city’s Top 10 Hit Parade, from the Pittsfield Police Department:

———- 000 ———-

Last evening, Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 9:43 PM Pittsfield Police received a ShotSpotter activation reporting gunfire in the area of John Street in Pittsfield. Responding Patrol, Detective, and Crime Scene units located evidence of gunfire. No victims or property damage were discovered.

Two hours later, at 11:43 PM, a second ShotSpotter activation reported gunfire in the area of Francis Avenue in Pittsfield. A Massachusetts State Police Trooper was in close proximity, heard the shots, and observed a vehicle leaving the area at a high rate of speed. A motor vehicle stop was initiated by the Trooper on Danforth Ave., where he was joined by multiple Pittsfield Police Units.

The two occupants of the vehicle were detained, and a firearm was discovered inside the vehicle.

Subsequent investigation revealed no victims or property damage on Francis Avenue.

Tajaye Davis, 24, and Zyir Rasheed, 19, both of Pittsfield, were arrested and arraigned today in Central Berkshire District Court on the following charges:

1. Possession of a Firearm w/out FID/LTC
2. Possession of Ammunition w/out FID card
3. Receiving Stolen Property Under $1200.00

Additional charges are pending.

The ongoing investigation is being conducted by Pittsfield Police Detectives, Crime Scene Investigators, and the Massachusetts State Police Ballistics Unit.

Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to contact the Pittsfield Police Department Detective Bureau at 413-448-9705. Information can also be provided anonymously via the Detective Bureau Tip Line at 413-448-9706, or by texting PITTIP and your message to TIP411 (847411).

———- 000 ———-

Take a good look at the two “suspects,” Tyjaye and Zrir, both innocent the law says.  Wait! You can’t. The mug shots distributed by the police cannot be uploaded “for security reasons.” Let us thus offer brief descriptions:

Davis: Black, bullying, tattooed, head tilted backward, sneering into the camera.

Rasheed: Black, blank stare, emotionless.

The district attorney’s office willlikely see them as misunderstood cherubs who had a tough upbringing exacerbated by parents dumb enough to name them after Islam terrorists. “Of-color” will be the boys’ ace-in-the-hole, and the lads will likely walk. Only “privileged” white people are evil under the revised approach to justice.

The city is run amok with Tyjayes and Zyirs. Time bombs ticking. Wounds licking. Charges not sticking. The Kapanskis kicking. The results heart-sicking.

———- ooo ———-

Pittsfield’s immediate problem is its lack of an economy, overspending, and high taxes. The underlying cause for nearly all this economic misery is the Pittsfield School Department, headed by a superintendent and a school committee chairwoman who deserve not accolades but indictments as war criminals and crimes against humanity. The war? The one they’ve waged on children. The crime? helping to destroy the lives of too many pupils and students.

McCandless and Yon have driven the public schools into the ground while enriching underperforming or superfluous employees at the Kapanskis expense.

You can bet none of this will be covered at tonight’s “debate.”

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“An unexamined faith is not worth having, for it can be true only by accident” — James Luther Adams.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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