NEW VALENTI BOOK PUBLISHED, NOW AVAILABLE ON AMAZON … PROFITS WILL SUPPORT THE PLANET … EFFORT COINCIDES WITH A PUSHBACK AGAINST THE ASSAULT ON FREE SPEECH
BY DAN VALENTI
PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY
(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION FEB. 24-6, 2023) — You recall earlier when THE PLANET took a month to research an ad vs. subscription model to provide funding to offset the costs of running this site. Unlike your officials, we sought your opinion, did our research, and came down on the side of ads. Too many people are being pickpocketed by government and business to afford the $60/yr. subscription ($5 month) price without it being a hardship. Thus, out of consideration for you, our dear readers, we have stuck with ads.
We invest all ad revenue into this site, in which we keep investing to keep it technically current, especially in the areas of data streaming and security, which, incidentally, would not be necessary if we were to shut off real-time commenting. To do that would defeat the purpose of THE PLANET, which is to share news, information, and opinion. More than other local media and MUCH more than local government, we believe that to be a two-way process. It MUST include you, We The People.
To help keep this site going and offset rising tech costs, we have launched a new fund-raising effort — the availability of a new book.
100% of the proceeds will be plowed back into THE PLANET. Here’s the information on the book and how to order (amazon.com). Remember, each book sold will go entirely to keep offset our costs. Please help us out. We thank you in advance.
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THE PLANET is pleased to announce the availability of a new book by Dan Valenti, Collected Poems (1968-2023): Selected by the Author. People speak of “buying local” and “supporting the arts.” Well, this would be the perfect chance to do both. The book is available in paperback and ebook form, and I shall be glad to sign any copies purchased.
Here is the press release:
NEW BOOK PRESENTS CAREER-SPANNING
POETRY OF BERKSHIRE WRITER VALENTI
(PITTSFIELD, MA, FEB. 22, 2023) — Planet Media Books announces the publication of COLLECTED POEMS (1968-2023): Chosen By the Author by Berkshire-based writer Dan Valenti. The book is on sale now at amazon.com and at bookstores everywhere.
The 300-page volume brings to print 232 of Valenti’s poems, the earliest of which were written in 1968 and represent Valenti’s earliest examples of published writing. The volume include poems written this year, with works from the 55 intervening years, both published and heretofore unpublished.
“This sampling shall be one of my legacies as a writer, Valenti said. “Before I became a journalist and author, I was a poet, a form I fell in love with as a boy, pursued through my graduate and post-graduate studies, and continued today.
“Compiling this collection meant going through the contents of many hanging files, large envelopes, manuscript pages, magazines, and random jottings,” Valenti said. Some hadn’t been looked at in years. Others were more familiar.
“My poems are first written as a personal reaction to some happening in my life, be it something happening to me, to someone else, or through observation of an event that — on the surface, at least — doesn’t directly involve me. Then the ‘John Donne thing’ kicks in. We are not islands. We are, perhaps, peninsulas, and everything is interconnected, what the great Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh called “interbeing.” He said that joy can be the source of your smile, but that the smile can itself become a source of your joy. Poets know that. They probably know it even more deeply when it comes to sorrow and tears.”
From the back cover: “This collection spans 55 years in the work of Dan Valenti, one of America’s most accomplished poets and writers. In this definitive gathering, Valenti selects poems from the years covering the late 1960s up to today. These works provide personal perspectives of the times, of the people, and of the poet.”
This is the third book I have had published in a year, after THIRD PERSON SINGULAR (PMB released February 2022) and WRITE IT REAL: A Practical Guide for the Prose Writer (Lang, August 2022).
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A Short Hop to the Fight Against ‘Big’
Planet Media Books is an independent press founded in 2011. Like THE PLANET, the press represents a pushback against Big, as in Big Tech, Big Business, Big Publishing — the inexorable trend for a few mega companies to control various industries. This is the case now in traditional publishing. Behind our efforts is the absolute belief in a free press, which is the most important safeguard to free institutions.
Speaking of which, check out this excerpt from Simon Heffer, published Wednesday in The Telegraph:
The Supreme Court is hearing two cases this week that could redefine the rules of online speech and content moderation. The two cases deal with how social media companies have handled terrorist content and argue the companies should be held responsible for their algorithms.
At the heart of Gonzalez v. Google is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—regulations that treat internet companies as publishing intermediaries, meaning they are not liable for content others post (see background). The case argues Google violated US antiterrorism law when YouTube’s algorithms featured ISIS content as recommended videos. If the court rules against Google, it could force tech platforms to fundamentally change their ranking algorithms or engage in aggressive content moderation.
The other case, Twitter v. Taamneh, argues Google, Twitter, and Facebook violated US antiterrorism law by knowingly enabling ISIS to maintain some of their content on their platforms, despite company policies to limit it.
A ruling in the cases is expected this summer.
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Free Speech Threatened; What Are We To Do?
On the same day, the Boston Herald, on its editorial page, ran this:
George Orwell, to whom the Thought Police (a term he invented in Nineteen Eighty-Four) have yet to apply themselves, wrote in that very novel of a Britain in which “every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”
We have arrived at our own endless present, or Year Zero, where the record, historical and otherwise, is readily falsified. Its rules are designed to prevent what that arrogant and self-regarding minority who feel obliged to police and alter the thoughts of the rest of us consider the ultimate crime: giving offence. Most of us have spent our lives encountering things that could, if we wallowed in self-regard, offend us deeply. We were trained to ignore them and get on with life. Now, suddenly, we cannot be trusted to do that.
Therefore books, art, films and television programmes must be censored or suppressed, statues taken down as though the lives they commemorate never happened, streets and buildings renamed to eradicate thought criminals. Like Pol Pot, that minority feels a moral duty to erase the past to attain Year Zero. Sadly for us, their main qualifications are an overbearing self-righteousness, a profound ignorance of history and a deep misunderstanding of the idea of liberty that few of us share.
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The encroachments on free speech are no more chilling than in America. If unchecked, the USA’s headlong rush to implement 1984 will result in the collapse of this great experiment in representative government. We must not let it happen.
Have a great weekend, everybody.
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“Politics is nothing more than the organized manifestation of systematic hatreds” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.
“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”
LOVE TO ALL.
Copyright (c) 2023 By Dan Valenti, PLANET VALENTI and EUROPOLIS MANAGEMENT. All rights reserved. The views and opinions expressed in the comment section or in the text other than those of PLANET VALENTI are not necessarily endorsed by the operators of this website. PLANET VALENTI assumes no responsibility for such views and opinions, and it reserves the right to remove or edit any comment, including but not limited to those that violate the website’s Rules of Conduct and its editorial policies. Those who leave comments own all the responsibilities that are or can be attached to those comments, be they rhetorical, semantic, or legal. Such commentators remain solely responsible for what they post and shall be and remain solely accountable for their words. PLANET VALENTI shall not be held responsible for the consequences that may result from any posted comment or outside opinion or commentary as provided in, but not limited to, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and this website’s terms of service. We serve as a marketplace of ideas, without prejudice and available to all. All users of this site — including readers, commentators, contributors, or anyone else — hereby agree to these conditions by virtue of this notice and their use of/participation in this site. When PLANET VALENTI ends with the words “The Usual Disclaimer,” that phrase shall be understood to refer to the full text of this disclaimer.
Mayor Linda Tyer’s third husband, the multimillionaire CPA Barry Clairmont, is suing former City Councilor and candidate for Mayor Melissa (Mason) Mazzeo for defamation of his character and he is seeking compensatory damages, emotional distress and reputational damages because Melissa never apologized to the sitting Mayor’s third husband over a claim that the state government found her complaint against him to be baseless that prior to the 2019 general election: “Barry Clairmont had unauthorized access to ballots inside of City Hall”. A pretrial hearing is scheduled to take place on March 27th, 2023, pending Judge Agostini’s decision on the motion for summary judgment. Melissa requested that Barry’s lawsuit against her be dismissed.
My thoughts about this case are: “Welcome to the club, Barry Clairmont!” In 2020, Alex Morse was subject to a homophobic smear campaign by his own State Democratic Party Officials in Boston, which unfairly benefited K Street corporate lobbyist firms’ – especially insurance companies PAC Man – Richie Neal’s reelection campaign to his 1,000th term in the Swamp. Unlike Barry, Alex Morse did not sue the political hacks for dragging his name through the mud prior to the 2020 primary election that Alex Morse lost to the ultimate corporate Congressman from Springfield, Massachusetts.
While I am not allowed to write about the Hell I went through as a then young man prior to, during and after my dad was a Berkshire County Commissioner (1997 – mid-2000), none of the people in Pittsfield politics and beyond to Boston who conspiratorially hurt me over and over again ever once apologized to me. In closing, you, Barry, are being a big baby about something that happened to you over 3 years ago, and your wife won her reelection campaign to boot. Please drop the lawsuit because you are the one who is defaming your own character, Barry Clairmont!
Dingy Barry should sue himself. No one does more to make him bad them he himself.
I think Cumberland Farms on First Street should sue Dirty Barry for malfeasance. After he declared Cumby’s crime free and “safe,” it has become a real sh!thole over there.
Dirty Barry Clairmont pulls a couple of night vigilante shifts patrolling the parking lot there. He was great at running off the junkies, “houseless,” and prostitutes, and he gave management a false sense of safety and security. Only to have Dirty Barry go AWOL when they need him the most.
Make him look bad not make him bad
Nice post JM. I fully agree with you on this one.
The bigger question Dirty Barry Clairmont will have to answer is, why was he at city hall on election night in the first place?
I’ll guarantee Flat has plenty of minions who would have tripped over each other to get whatever Dirty Barry was picking up at city hall that night.
Porkchop Pete White, Loverboy Krol, Warren “I” Dews “what you can’t,” and the cultural competency coach, are just a few who come to mind.
The last one even got an all-expense government paid trip for her, her family, and her friend’s, to Africa. I’m sure she must owe a favor or two for that trip?
Flagrant nepotism.what can any of us do to turn this situation around? Can’t the city attorney do anything about this? He makes 10 thousand a month. Shouldn’t he examine this crime in detail. We are waiting to get our money back especially from edgerton.
February 24, 2023
Hello Blogger Dan Valenti,
Please read the Lifestyle column, below, by Noah Lederman, who is a Boston Globe correspondent, that was recently published in the Boston Globe newspaper about Pittsfield’s so-called “rebirth”. I request that you please print his Lifestyle column about Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on your blog, Planet Valenti, and then please comment on it.
I feel that Noah left out Pittsfield’s status for always being in the top 10 cities in Massachusetts for violent crime, according to the FBI’s annual reports, along with over 1,000 gang members who now live in the inner-city. I feel that Noah left out Pittsfield’s Level 5 public school district that was and still is caused by Pittsfield’ failed state and local leadership who have done nothing whatsoever to pull Pittsfield’s public schools out their decades-long worst rating by the state. I feel that Noah left our Pittsfield’s history of corrupt provincial politics ran by the Godfather movies-like “Good Old Boys” 4 families that are able to operate with impunity because Pittsfield is still proudly stuck in the 1950s-era of Mafia-like rule and McCarthyism-like use of retribution. I feel that Noah left out that Pittsfield has experienced 50 years of significant losses in population numbers and living wage jobs – which is a much longer period of time than when then GE CEO Jack Welch, now deceased, dropped on of his infamous “Neutron Bombs” on the city – that gives the nation’s “Rust Belt” a run for its money. Speaking of GE, I feel that Noah left out that the 24.5-year-old polluted PEDA debacle has millions of dollars in always growing unfunded liabilities, while the city and state are always pouring millions of dollars into this black hole of failure without remediating any of its toxic waste pollution problems. I feel that Noah left out that Pittsfield’s municipal finances have excessively high taxes and spending with hundreds of millions of dollars in public debts and unfunded liabilities that will never be paid off in our lifetimes and beyond.
I am sure that you, Dan Valenti, could write a lot more information than I have written here about Pittsfield politics, especially your long list of taxpayer-funded businesses that failed in Pittsfield over the years. It amazes me that the Boston Globe publishes these kinds of propaganda pieces about Pittsfield without a disclaimer that Pittsfield is really a SHITHOLE that only benefits con artists and corrupt career politicians – including one wealthy man who must have an ego bigger than the size of the Moon who is making an ass out of himself by suing a political lady for accusing him of political corruption in Pittsfield politics!
Best wishes,
Jon Melle
That’s dirty money Shirley. Be sure to wash it before you give it back.
Pagnota lot of help
This is our money. We should have some say as to how it is spent
They shall try, and the progress the Thought Police have made is impressive. But there is consolation in the words of Mikhail Bulgakov, who wrote bitter commentary on the crimes of and evil of Stalin’s Soviet Union: “Manuscripts do not burn”.
His most famous work, Master and Margarita, was banned and burned for 50 years, and then it went to press in a hundred different languages in 1985. Grab a copy, listen to it on CD. It’s a remarkable work and it explains much of what we experience in our deepest frustrations.
CHAZ
I thank you for the recommendation. Sounds like an interesting, “must read” book. I shall check it out.
People in Pittsfield aren’t big on thinking. So no thought police needed
“So no thought police needed”
Not sure about that. In a police state, there is very little crime but many police. Thinking is for the birds. I want people to show up and tell City Council what they want on Tuesday. Doing that will give you something to think about.
To broaden your mind, read a lot of books and watch a lot of netflix.
Sounds very interesting Dan, something to read in these dark ending days of winter, As a help to start another poem may I enter
There once was an illegitimate Joe
Whose minds sparks were very slow
He couldn’t recognize the sand crumbling underneath his feet
As he fell to finally find his maker who he will meet
Think Republicans and fascism as Florida run by the xxx President Trump and Ron DiWeirdo pulling Roberto Clemente’s life story from the shelves of their schools.White people are now fearing black American history because FOX and Rupert Murdoch trained their brains to get scared of blacks in America. FOX is snowflake TV forangry white men who now adore Putins Russia…..1/6/2021 is also being swept under the rug by this tool of Putin who somehow has a Russian propaganda TV station preaching to American men on how to cry about their struggles….turned you all into spoiled crybaby 12 year Olds.
Total bull shit. Stop watching the view. Try harder to keep it cuckoo without lies.
Where did you hear this crap? No one banned a book about Roberto Clemente. You’re a liar and a thief of the truth.
I’m curious TSC if you were living in a toxic wasteland like the citizens of East Palestine, OH, are, if you’d appreciate the 3 week response it took the Xiden adminstration to respond?
Think it would have taken 3 weeks to respond if this were, I don’t know say inner city Chicago?
You should open your eyes a little wider TSC. I’m willing to bet you fit that demographic that would be in the 3 weeks or longer to respond to a disaster.
All this, while your supreme leader is visiting and handing billions of more US tax dollars to a corrupt country.
Another satisfied FOX viewer
Didn’t know Roberto was in a porn book ? You know, those porn materials were the only banned books you speak of that have no business in schools, but I know your misleading is important to you to make things look and sound different than they are to fit your needs.
Admit it. The years of Donald Trump were fun. We had a great time and he was the most FUN president. He was funny, we got wealthy, soldiers came home.
This site does not support free speech. It supports group think.
It’s Ironic that a column about free speech censors posts ROTFL ….
Only idiotic post from you Matt. Get your head out of your McDonough
Only yours.
You nailed it.
Stooge Show is the king of group think, another rate payer but not rate payer sponsored bootlicker show.
That guy buys chapstick by the ton
THEN WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO TUNE INTO THE SHOW? ARE YOU A MORON? You’ve been bitchin about it for years Craig. Give it a break!
Yeah,but it’s free.Your choice.
People can have any opinion they want on this board so that is free speech. Not sure what you are talking about.
I think what we’re talking about is the fact that the posts are monitored and filtered.
The posts are monitored for curse words not for opinion.
You are also monitored for too many backspaces, deletions, etc. which might make the monitoring system think you are a robot.
Bonner you are100% correct. This site is as unfair as other sites which stiffle free speech. Let’s see how Valenti handles this comment. My negated posts can fill a garbage can but I will get them out in free speech sites
ICE
This is one of those “Let’s see if this one gets through” comments meant to “get this one through.” Well, the AOR let this one through. Congratulations. And Bonner IS correct. All comments are monitored and filters, a commonplace practice done by ALL online sites, especially the ones that allow comments. You must remember that “free speech” comes with responsibilities to truth. THE PLANET tries above all to keep the debate, discussion, and deliberation wide open to all points of views–while at the same time keeping the LEVEL of the discourse as elevated as possible. When a comment does not meet are very liberal monitors to meet that goal, it is rejected. In sum, ICE, you are welcome and always will be, within the defined parameters of this site. Posting on this or any other public/private site is a privilege not a rights. The first have to be earned. The second is a given. Of course, you are more than welcome, and we even encourage you, to send your “negated posts” to other sites. Curious, though: Around here, what other “free speech sites” are there. Any questions and we will be more than happy to clarify. Be well.
Thank you Dan for your response. I didn’t know your policy. And I assure you thT I will abide by the regulations of your site. I like to post about Mr. Gaetani as I think he is the best candidate for mayor. I think many others feel this way also. I am appreciative that you responded and I look to do my part within the confines of this site. Would you like to go ice fishing some day. This is what I do to keep my sanity during the days of winter. Cheers to you and all the posters of your site.
You’ve been posting on here for years and you “don’t know the policy?”
Cut the crap!
You don’t know…..Super Bowl winners either.
Please name a free speech site.
Try posting a comment on the NYT’s. First you have to pay (politically limited audience) second eidtors get to approve. Result: comments are what a left hand clapping sounds like.
PFH
Great response to the Buddhist koan: “What is the sound of one-hand clapping?”
Check with Pete Gray.
I used to write letters to the Eagle back in the day. But if there was a slight suggestion of saying something exposing nefarious behavior by one of their advertisers they shut it down.
Even today their agenda is pretty obvious.
Think of it as a sand float for the blog
Agree Pat. There are all kinds of opinions and debate, sometimes getting a little ugly. That is what makes it interesting.
You just proved yourself wrong, by posting that. The Eagle doesn’t support free speech. That paper should only be printed on one side of the parchment. They only support their agenda and vision.
As did the current failed mayor.
https://youtu.be/HNzmrEgz_GI
Just because people don’t fall for your BS doesn’t make them group thinkers
Think STOOGE on that one.
Examples?
In my day, that was called debate. Today, because I’m a straight, white male, I’m called “ist,” “phobe,” or outright cancelled, if I disagree with your opinion.
All agree j Lo is ptzfeeld biggest loser ever.
Got a mirror?
Could the Tyer Administration handle just ONE storm correctly before she takes her big pension and leaves the city she has ruined? The side streets in the Allendale neighborhood are glare ice. What is City Hall’s excuse this time? Can’t help but wonder if they are ignoring this Ward on purpose!
Torn up lawns also. For no apparent reason
Think about. Fireworks at the common. In the middle of winter. 99.9 percent of the people of the city will not be there
but somebody will be making money on it I guarantee you that. Ask Pete for the expense sheet for fire dept. oversight, police, and the vendor fireworks company.
Never mind. Not likely their is an expense sheet on the record anyway
Did you see any contractor plows? Not me. All I saw was one city plow plowing and sanding. I was around the city a bit and did not see one contractor plow. Were they dismissed from duty?
Contractor plows finally showed up mid-afternoon. Heard that was after many taxpayers contacted the Councilors at Large. Although many of the streets are still glare ice. Took a ride around the rest of the city and streets were not bad. Administration must have some sort of vendetta towards the residents around Allendale School. The next excuse they might be able to try is the plow drivers don’t want to subject themselves to the environmental PCB issue caused by Hill 78 that the Tyer Administration refuses to address! Or they could use the excuse that they don’t like to plow because of the pot fumes from Berkshire Roots, or how about they may hit one of the many Spectrum clients that wander our neighborhood. Definitely the forgotten Ward. Sorry folks for my complaining, but tired of paying high taxes for NO SERVICES!
I did call upon the Public Services today to address the Allendale neighborhood’s ice situation. I also placed a petition requesting paving for a number of streets there and in Morningside for next week’s Council Meeting 2.28. My request is to address the 3% Chapter 90 funds given to our ward last year; this year the city has a debt to repay.
I hope you and your neighbors will attend this meeting and advocate for your streets.
C.K.
C.K. – Thanks for the response. Although as long as there is a Tyer Administration this Ward will continue to be at the bottom of the list. The reason being that both you and former Councilor Morandi attempt and attempted to fight hard for the taxpayers and against Tyer. Please don’t give up that fight just like Morandi never did. It has been quite obvious that Tyer punishes those that don’t abide by her wishes. Same thing goes with shack town and the cell issue they have been fighting or look at the merchants on North Street that want the bike lanes removed, Tyer will never admit her administration made a mistake.
As far as residents attending the Council meetings, why bother, look where it has gotten the residents of shack town. By us attending is only another chance for Marchetti to get pissed off, ignore the comments and play with his toy gavel. Nothing excites him more.
I disagree with your last paragraph. Not only do your remarks get televised to other residents, but your remarks also get recorded permanently in the meeting minutes. Show up, state your case and be heard! Support the councilors who are representing YOU!
Well stated, FRITZ.
Good comments Merry. Is it me or are these plow drivers born yahoos?
Yohan’s
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/wayne-root-i-have-a-life-or-death-question-for-damar-hamlin-were-you-vaccinated-boosted-everyone-wants-to-know/
CDC confirms that majority of fatal covid vaccines sent to red states……
https://banned.video/watch?id=63f929fc85d91c3d2e570754
In the early-1990s, my brother and I were both students at Pittsfield High School and we walked all around Pittsfield passing out campaign materials supporting John Olver for U.S. Congress. My brother texted me today after we learned the news today of Olver’s very recent passing away at 86 years old yesterday on 23-February-2023. My brother reminded me of that time in our then-teenage lives growing up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. When my dad, Bob, had his inauguration in early-1997 as an elected Berkshire County Commissioner, Congressman John W. Olver gave the keynote address in the chamber of the Pittsfield Superior Court a little over 26 years ago now. My dad, who is now 78 years old, said to me tonight that he always thought that John Olver was an honorable man. I said to my mom, who is now 76 years old, and my dad tonight that John Olver must have been an honorable man because “Luciforo” notoriously wanted him to die for the past 20 years now. My mom said that is because Nuciforo is a bad man. I said to my mom and dad tonight that it was in the newspapers for years that Congressman John Olver used to put “Luciforo’s” hand on his wrist and sarcastically tell Nuciforo that he was still alive. My mom said that is because John Olver knew that Nuciforo wanted him to die so that Nuciforo could run for his elected position as a U.S. House of Representative from Western Massachusetts. Of course, even when Nuciforo served as an alleged-illegal double dipper Pittsfield State Senator from 1997 – 2006, while he also at the same time worked as a Corporate Attorney for Boston’s big banks and insurance companies from 1999 – 2006, Nuciforo never lived in Western Massachusetts because he has always lived and worked in Boston. Nuciforo had no business being a Pittsfield State Senator back then. Nuciforo had no business running for U.S. Congress from Western Massachusetts in 2012. Congressman John Olver retired from politics in 2012 after he lost his Congressional District to redistricting in the 2012 midterm elections. Nuciforo lost by 40 percentage points to PAC Man Richie Neal in the 2012 primary, and Olver, along with the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle), endorsed Congressman Richard Neal back then. “Luciforo” went on to build his Pot Kingdom on Dalton Avenue in Pittsfield since March 2017, and he would later open a marijuana dispensary in East Boston. In closing, my thoughts about the late Congressman John W. Olver’s life is that he was, indeed, an example of an honorable man, which is evidenced by “Luciforo’s” disregard for him and anyone else who “Luciforo” wanted to hurt for Nuciforo’s own political, business and personal gain. Rot in Hell, “Luciforo”! Rest in Peace, Congressman John W. Olver.
Jonathan A. Melle
You were always one of my favorite BF’s in high school. Much like back then I can’t make heads or tails if you’re post.
https://youtu.be/aoo-FU8Dz38
Olver was as useless as Bouvier
Why Wayfair Stock Dropped Like a Rock Today | The Motley Fool
Hello Blogger Dan Valenti,
I apologize for my constant political emails to you, but this news article:
https://www.nhpr.org/2023-02-24/once-supportive-of-epas-housatonic-cleanup-plan-sen-warren-now-calls-key-part-of-it-an-insult
…. explains that U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has changed her alleged past support for the corrupt EPA and the heavily indebted GE company’s agreement to “cleanup” the polluted Housatonic River from Pittsfield south to Sheffield, Massachusetts to opposing the stupidest so-called cleanup plan in the history of the world.
It is shocking to me that Ed Markey, who really lives in an upper-class suburb of the Swamp in Chevy Chase, Maryland, ran for reelection in 2020 on the Democrat’s Green New Deal lies – see Joe Biden’s July 15th, 2022, fist-bump meeting in Saudi Arabia with MBS on the global stage – but after Ed “Maryland” Markey won reelection in 2020, he has since supported GE’s plan to put a leaky landfill toxic waste dump full of GE’s PCBs inside of a watershed in the polluted Housatonic River that is above the October Mountain aquifer. Even GE stated that their capped (leaky) landfills all have an expiration date in the future!
Ed Markey is in GE’s pocket! Ed Markey supports GE’s pollution of the environment in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. This is scandalous. Ed Markey is a bald-faced liar about his support for the Green New Deal. Ed Markey should resign over this life and death issue! To illustrate, please note that GE’s PCBs in Pittsfield have caused cancer clusters there.
However, I am NOT surprised for Congressman (aka PAC Man) Richie Neal being a corporate shill for GE on this issue. He is K Street’s ultimate corporate Democrat in the Swamp. PAC Man Richie Neal receives the most special interest campaign dollars from the insurance company industry, and he has received many campaign contributions from GE over the 1,000 years he has been in the Swamp.
I have always been disappointed in the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) for supporting GE’s so-called cleanup plans over the past 25 years. GE last so-called cleanup in Pittsfield cost the company over $500 million. GE’s promised so-called cleanup plan is without any financial commitment from the heavily indebted GE company. Where is the Dirty Bird (Berkshire Eagle) on all of these matters?
Shame on Ed Markey for supporting GE over the protests of the people he is supposed to be representing in Berkshire County, Massachusetts! When I looked up the term “Bald-faced liar” in the fictional dictionary, I viewed a big picture of Ed Markey.
Best wishes,
Jonathan A. Melle
Someone left her a “change your mind “ brown bag full of $ on her back door steps. It always works.
Pagnutty was certainly not on O J defense team shortlist.
Yup, 15 years of crawling through the Berkshire County labrynth of literal Hell, NOW, as we look out our window to only see the trees being dropped left, right, and center, by an illegal development project – like doing 15 years on the outside.
All the people and shit we’ve been working for it’s already GONE.
It’s fxn gone, time did not wait for us.
It’s too fxn late. They lost contact with their kids during this time.
Back up back up you don’t know me like that
Steamrolled by the system for fifteen years. Charged for thing I din neva do.
My character though – Gollum, and the evil one crept up slipped away with her, her yeah
Ain’t nothin I can do, no.
https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/women-share-stories-of-the-vicious-cycle-of-incarceration-and-substance-use-disorder/article_46f26540-b2c5-11ed-9bfa-47be79c4381f.html
What I really want to say is
FUUUUCK YOOOOU !!!!!
THERES NO. FXN AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT CAN FIX WHAT YOU DID
STEP BACK STEP BACK YOU DONT KNOW ME LIKE THAT
I HAD 1 SHOT. 1 OPPORTUNITY…… and you gave it to my drug addicted mother, she’s a Free Bird.
Arms are heavy, Mom’s Spaghetti. Nothing rhymes wid Orange.
Fuuucck yooou for treating me with such hatred.
Oh there goes gravity,
My other personality has respect for you, still standing in 2008 where you bowled me down with your fraudulent criminal charges.
That’s gonna leave a mark.
Court dates, BBO, and hospital appointments that is her life story. No traditions no legacy, no photographs, or that wonderful holiday season you all live to enjoy – it’s not happening for us.
Fighting for Life
Eat cake you bitch. Enjoy it. It looks good on you.
But the beat goes on du du duh dum….
Orange door hinge
Use the Narcan funds instead, for we people who
CHOOSE LIFE
THE PLANET agrees.
The slant in the housing is that the Housing Commission is also the Air B&B.
They are in the business of “short term rentals”, as well as projects to fix the outcome of the shortage….. your genius is showing.
We already know the conflict of interest law does not apply to the people who oversee the conflict of interest law.
Send money to Ukraine and send funds to the hurricane victims ok.
What ever you do, make sure it’s send money.
CHINA is proposing peace talks in Ukraine. Won’t hear about that on mainstream news!
No more money to Ukraine and their evil dictator!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/watch-zelenskyy-trashes-americans-who-oppose-giving-more-of-our-money-to-ukraine/
Pro Putin Authoritarian rule is what you support.The Ukrainians have lived under that formula of slavery.We support democracy a FOX viewers do not.As Arlos would say it is better to be uninformed than misinformed by Tucker Putin FOX TRUMP
That is the reason for space alt delete backspace, it’s the only hope of stfu
I walked 5 miles a hundred times to attend to court
I’m legit offended
You burn a black woman 1x and she’s a hero
You do you me like this and you continue to &hit upon me with you covid “poop” “poop”
Dude, I can see you. I’m standing right here.
Call me Kaitlyn/Make it bronze
Wheaties and ADIDAS
Chris Kirkpatrick
You should really adhere to the warnings on the side of your meditation bottle.
Mixing booze and/or some Nuciforo ganja is not a smart idea. It clouds the mind.
Your post clearly shows this.
Nuciganja, the official Pittsfield pot. Is there another partner in this venture?
My plants grow with no label. You think I’m drunk but I’m just so pissed that my mind is blown. I’m blowing all zeroes, all the time. 0.000 down to the mil.
Thank you for the advice.
It’s cold
How cold? ?
?
??
It’s so cold outside, the attorneys have their hands in their own pockets
Where’s my snare
It’s so cold that the panhandlers are pooping inside
So cold they refused my cold hard cash.
That’s a good one !
It’s so cold that the Berkshire Eagle can’t make an excuse for green energy and climate change fanaticism. The warmest temperature ever recorded in Massachusetts was 107 degrees on August 2, 1975 in New Bedford and that was long before global warming became an everyday word. We’ve had nothing surpassing it ever since.
Brillant….it’s clear you have simplified the problem
What is the objective of the newly assembled Cable Commission. What are the terms they are looking for. I see the ward six councilor is on the board? Their first vote was for to chose an attorney to represent Them. She was outvoted 3-1.
SHE acted and sounded just like a junior high-school girl with that juvenile laugh
She has to be beaten in the election. Ward 6 is not represented by this phony cowgirl. She is a disgrace to all ward 6 constituents
Let’s hope she goes away. She can work with Harrington making sandwiches in west Stockbridge
February 25, 2023
Pittsfield Mayor Linda Tyer co-wrote and co-signed an op-ed in the Boston Globe arguing that Massachusetts’ state program called the Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP), which provides a small subsidy to closing financing gaps and making redevelopment projects viable, and it is capped at $10 million a year, should receive considerably higher funding in the upcoming fiscal year 2024 Massachusetts state government budget that will become state law on July 1st, 2023.
Growing the middle class in distressed “Gateway” cities such as Pittsfield should mean decreasing the underclass’ real-world struggles by providing socioeconomic mobility and public social programs for the people who live there. Investing in people is nothing new, as it was the centerpiece of the 1946 Christmas movie classic: “It’s a Wonderful Life”, which is over 76 years ago now.
The financial, corporate and ruling elites should see the people – no matter their class and status in society – as the community’s most valuable socioeconomic resource. The people should have affordable access to housing, public education, healthcare insurance, safe streets, financial literacy, living wage jobs, realistic disability and pension plans, and a real voice in the government without the threat of retribution, which has been the hallmark of Pittsfield politics for generations, and so on.
I have followed Pittsfield politics for over 30 years of my 47.5-year-old life, and when state and local politicians there write/co-write op-eds arguing for more state and federal funds, they often spend the state/federal money on one time gimmicks, while economic inequality, violent crime, Level 5 public schools, polluted air, land and water go unaddressed, and excessive municipal taxation and spending is the number one cause of economic pain for low- to moderate-income families who live in Pittsfield.
Mayor Linda Tyer’s public management of municipal finances saw total secrecy in her administration’s spending of over $41 million in “Biden Bucks”, her chief bureaucrat Matt Kerwood building his secretive multimillion-dollar Slush Funds, the city’s public debt and unfunded liabilities load costs go into the hundreds of millions dollars range, which will never be paid off in our lifetimes and beyond, and city taxpayers pay excessively high taxes and fees instead of having their own money in their own personal pocketbooks and wallets.
While I agree with the op-ed she co-wrote and co-signed in the Boston Globe, it would difficult for me to see the state giving her municipal administration additional state funds because she hasn’t always followed through with putting the financial needs of the low- to moderate-income people who live in Pittsfield first since she was first sworn in as the Mayor of Pittsfield in 2016.
In closing, despite my criticisms of the aforementioned op-ed, I have supported Linda Tyer in Pittsfield politics for the past 20 years now. Overall, she stands for everything that I stand for in politics and government: Human Rights, helping the poor and their distressed neighborhoods, investing in people, stability in government finances, supporting the arts, caring about Pittsfield’s needs, and the like. Given the harsh realities she had had to deal with since early-2016, I believe that overall, she did a great job as the Mayor of my native hometown, and I give her a grade of A+. Even a miracle worker couldn’t have done better!
Jonathan A. Melle
—–
“Massachusetts has a plan to increase affordable housing — now it needs the budget”
By Gateway City mayors and managers, The Boston Globe, op-ed, February 24, 2023
With families scrambling for homes and prices at record levels, one might wonder why Massachusetts continues to produce just a fraction of the housing that was built in past decades.
Suburban regulatory barriers own much of the blame but are just part of the problem. While the Gateway Cities that we represent welcome development, land and construction costs have skyrocketed even faster than rents have increased.
Numerous properties in our downtowns and residential neighborhoods continue to sit idle. These empty lots, abandoned businesses, and half-empty office buildings are especially costly to redevelop. It could be environmental contamination, lack of parking, or a quirky older building that is difficult — and cost prohibitive — to reconfigure. In many cases, convoluted transactions have clouded the chain of ownership, requiring years of costly legal proceedings to resolve. Properties may sit for decades in a state of decay, deterring private investment in buildings that would otherwise represent strong candidates for redevelopment.
Fortunately, Massachusetts has a spectacularly successful state program to overcome these obstacles: the Housing Development Incentive Program, which provides a small subsidy to close financing gaps and make redevelopment projects viable.
Since 2014, HDIP has helped create more than 2,500 units of housing and generated over $800 million in private investment. This level of production is especially impressive given that HDIP is capped at $10 million a year, only enough for a handful of projects across the entire state.
In 2020 and again in 2022, Governor Charlie Baker and legislative leaders introduced proposals to triple the size of the program to $30 million per year. The nonpartisan public policy research organization MassINC estimates that this could generate up to 12,000 units and over $4 billion in total housing investment over the next 10 years.
These figures are not hypothetical. Developers have already put forward projects representing 1,782 units worth nearly half a billion dollars. However, they cannot close on construction loans without HDIP credits, and there are not enough to go around.
Time is not on our side. With the Fed continuing to push interest rates higher, soon these projects will disappear. We will be many years into the next housing cycle before redevelopment opportunities like these reemerge.
Increasing housing options for our residents means creating new homes that minimum-wage earners can afford, as well as apartments for young professionals and empty nesters. We’d like our young people who leave our gateway cities and our towns for higher education to be able to come back home to live and work. We pride ourselves on our diversity and providing first chances for immigrants and new families. And we remain committed to increasing our stock of affordable housing. In fact, our cities have built more than one-third of the state’s affordable housing over the past decade.
HDIP is a powerful tool to jump-start additional housing development that contains a mix of market-rate and affordable units based on project agreements negotiated by local government. In this way, HDIP offers a cost-effective path to build much more housing than the government or private sector could do alone. In fact, the program’s modest subsidy unlocks housing units at about one-twelfth the cost of traditional programs. This relaxes pressure on the housing market and makes housing more affordable for everyone in Massachusetts.
By putting vacant buildings back on the tax rolls, HDIP also helps our cities’ finances and promotes a mix of uses that support foot traffic for local businesses. Most of these projects are near transit, which increases ridership and makes operating this infrastructure more cost-effective for the state. They also help reinvigorate our downtowns, making them stronger economic hubs for our regions.
Massachusetts needs an “all of the above” housing strategy to bring jobs to post-industrial communities, keep our young people from moving out of state, provide stable family housing so that our children can learn without disruption, and give our seniors places to downsize. HDIP is a key part of the equation. Let us build the housing that all of Massachusetts needs.
James DiLisio is acting mayor of Attleboro; Robert F. Sullivan is the mayor of Brockton; John L. Vieau is the mayor of Chicopee; Paul Coogan is the mayor of Fall River; Stephen L. DiNatale is the mayor of Fitchburg; Joshua A. Garcia is the mayor of Holyoke; Brian A. DePeña is the mayor of Lawrence; Dean Mazzarella is the mayor of Leominster; Jared Nicholson is the mayor of Lynn; Gary Christenson is the mayor of Malden; Jon Mitchell is the mayor of New Bedford; Edward A. Bettencourt Jr. is the mayor of Peabody; Linda M. Tyer is the mayor of Pittsfield; Brian Arrigo is the mayor of Revere; Shaunna O’Connell is the mayor of Taunton; and Eric D. Batista is the city manager of Worcester.
—–
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/tulsi-gabbard-biden-and-democrats-now-share-same-core-principles-as-hitler-and-nazis-video/
Hello Mr. Fritz, I get it. Similar to Tulsi Gabbard comparing Joe Biden to Adolf Hitler and his EVIL Nazi regime, I often compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler and his violently racist and genocidal reactionary political party that led to the tragic Holocaust. Unlike Tulsi Gabbard, I – Jon Melle – never ran for the highest political office of U.S. President, but like Tulsi, I am a U.S. Army Veteran. What do you want me to write about Tulsi’s remarks that Joe Biden is like Adolf Hitler in that he selects his bureaucrats based on their race and gender over their qualifications? My reply is that we should all live in a multi-cultural melting pot nation whereby everyone who believes in the rule of law based on Human Rights, national self-determination based on democracy, and liberty and justice for all who live in the U.S.A. should be accepted, tolerated and given an equal opportunity to live a good and rewarding life for themselves and their loved ones.
Joe Biden HYPOCRITICALLY slammed Donald Trump in 2020 over Trump’s close ties to MBS and Saudi Arabia, but only two years later on July 15th, 2022, Joe Biden met MBS in Saudi Arabia and fist-bumped the dictator on the world stage, which upset the families of the victims of 9/11/2001, as well as the news media and family of the slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as the people who believed in the Democrat’s Green New Deal more HOT AIR LIES. Joe Biden voted for the Bush 2 invasion of Iraq 20 years ago in the U.S. Senate, but now he is HYPOCRITICALLY denouncing Putin’s Russian invasion of Ukraine one year ago now, and he is denouncing Xi’s Chinese planned invasion of Taiwan that is predicted to take place two years from now in 2025. Joe Biden criticized Putin for being a dictator and abuser of Human Rights, but MBS is also a dictator and a worse abuser of Human Rights than Putin ever was known to be. Joe Biden, as well as Donald Trump, has a well-known 50-year public record history in the Swamp of him saying racist words and supporting racist public policies. All of a sudden, the multimillionaire Joe Biden wants us to believe that he is altruistically serving as the sitting U.S. President to fight for the soul of our country because Donald Trump is a racist. Joe Biden has been running for U.S. President since 1988, which is 35 years ago now. To me, Joe Biden is a corrupt politician who wins elected offices via his outright HYPOCRISIES!
Do you plan on having a signing event like the one when you joined with two other poets?
THOMAS
Yes. The book hasn’t been officially released yet, so those plans are still in the works. Thank you for asking.
Dan you have been instrumental in controlling mine and several other posters comments. It takes time to put a post together only to see my post vanish . The city council president does the same thing as you by use of his power to make any type of speech disappear under rule 27. Please don’t stiffle posters. All free speech should be heard. Also the ratings you put on posts are detrimental and clearly are detrimental to free speech also. Just let posts and comments onto the blog uncensored. I believe this would increase participation on you blog. Paris
PARIS
Our backstage firewalls and security system identity the same writer using different names and different devices. One of the more sophisticated systems is an algorithm that identifies patters in the writing that identifies people who try to inundate the site with multiple messages using different aliases. Writing style are almost as foolproof as fingerprints. It’s quite amazing, actually. It will flag based on multiple criteria, including personal attacks and threats. The “several other posters” comments reveals the extreme likelihood that those “other posters” are the same person. How else would know know about “other posters.” See? That said, ANYONE who posts by the conditions set out in our disclaimer gets to have their say here. In other words, FREE SPEECH lives on this site.
Fair enough. I’ve had my free speech. I have some info that your posters may find interesting have a nice day Dan valenti
You just can’t accept the reality that people don’t agree with your opinions. And you want to run for mayor?
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisors they succeed.” Proverbs 27:9
Maybe an inquiry to the new D A about the Hannah Nazareth death. Clearly agencies failed the young gir.
Nevertheless, they got paid.
DCF are Family Annihilators, killing babies and destroying families. Former MA State DCF Supervisor Convicted of Vehicular Homicide/West Stockbridge Woman Convicted of Motor Vehicle Homicide – December 14, 2021
A young wife was deprived of her husband and her three young children were forever deprived of their father after a drunk DCF supervisor crossed the center line of Route 7 and collided with a vehicle, killing the 33-year-old father of three young children. Dcf’s egregious failures are not by accident, they’re intentional and they’re deadly. DCF, Destroyers of Children and Families!
DCF was well aware of 11-year-old Hannah. DCF had been involved for almost the entirety of Hannah’s short life, and still, 11-year-old Hannah Nazareth was of deprived of her life, her liberty, her pursuit of happiness, and JUSTICE! DCF protected Baby Kristoff to DEATH. Baby Kristoff’s short life in DCF custody was snuffed out by the time he was only 10-month-old, despite several sets of DCF eyes on him, burning into his flesh.
God willing each of these children you mentioned, rest in peace and tranquility everlasting
This reminds me of something.
I post to purge because the two equal sides of my portmanteau are full up.
Disambiguate Humpty Dumpty
Did you ever laugh at the fact that he carries a portmanteau
Empty Human, Dumped out…..
Or,
The Guess Who,
She’s come undone
Thank you for leaving the light on, I might just experience metamorphic change, as in incubating an egg.
It all makes perfect sense.
Resentment Sucks, We The People, etc.
…a leather bag (skin)
….two equal sides (brain)
Egg
One
I’m a free thinker, I’m different than you.
There’s a difference between free thinking and rambling lunacy. James Joyce and David Foster Wallace use free thinking and stream of consciousness writing. What you’re doing is free association word salad.
To me it is something else. Thank you. I will look into that, this is the reason – I’m looking for answers. I didn’t know the question.
There’s a need for a consiltant for tracking data to analyze the, ‘Brown Bag of Change Your Mind Money’ trend.
Lay Lady Lay, Lay down in your
Your Big Brass
Bag of Money
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/berkshire/name/j-goldin-obituary?id=48218694
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/berkshire/name/deane-zarvis-obituary?id=9945662
And the Adams infant death also, in my opinion.
Multiple car Accident outer Barker area.
PEE PEE marchetti and dina Squeal crawled out from under their rocks yesterday to exploit the death of a young woman. There wasn’t much of a turn out for the woman. The last thing that intersection needs is rotary. Perhaps Signs indicating slower speeds coming off College Way and crossing lights near the park and up near the housing project above Salvation Army would make it safer for pedestrians crossing West Street. Of course, there will always be drivers who will ignore slowing down and pedestrians who won’t wait for a safe signal from the crossing lights before WALKING into oncoming traffic. But a Rotary is not the answer.
It was an 84 year old that killed the woman. How about enforcing traffic and violations with fines. That’s not the only place that’s dangerous. I’ve been passed about thirty times on doubled lines in the last five years minimum. I’ve seen about thirty road rage incident’s in the last five. I’ve seen at least fifty red light violations in the last two years. And last but not least A couple hundred violations of stop signs.
Brian Andrews is on the traffic commission. So rest assured that between him and Ricardo it’ll be totally screwed up.
Well,at least there are no sochols around.
“SOCHOLS” … may the word live forever!