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 Democrats on their feet a couple of times with his masterful theatrics, a set piece of nationalistic arousal meant to lead the partisans into the opening of the Congressional midterms. In the “USA USA USA,” it’s always “campaign season.” Trump feinted, jibbed, jabbed, and tossed in a few uppercuts at Democrats, who grumped and groused, shouted and screamed — and also rose to their feet a couple of times. Trump tossed the bait, and the Dems took it all the way into the trap.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen them get up,” he noted. That was when he went for the hearts in the cheap seats in introducing the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team. Right on cue, it was if the lads took gold at Trump’s bidding. Trump also apparently fixed the Olympics to deliver gold for the US women’s hockey team, who, too, were invited to the White House and the State of the Union. The ladies, however, declined. Trump, as is his want, needled the women, though not as toasty as he scorched the men. It proved what scholars, philosophers, and comedians have long known: Guys can take a joke far better than gals.

———- ooo ———-

Talk about working a room. The President gave a masterclass in political performance, his showmanship on full display in one of the top speeches of his career, a last hurrah that will have two sequels. Just remember that the followups rarely match up to the original.

In THE PLANET‘s view, the most substantial aspect of the speech had to be his War on Fraud. He even had the courtesy to mention the MOM– the Matriarchy of Massachusetts.

In MOM, fraud and corruption run wild, with the crooks getting away with massive theft leaving taxpayers to fund their “Everything free in America” lives.

That’s about to change, at least fractionally. No one can put a complete stop to such massive wrongdoing, but Trump has made it clear. He wants to catch as much of it as he can, naming VP J.D. Vance fraud czar.  Massachusetts and Minnesota will be first in line. It can’t come too soon.

———- ooo ———-

According to data from analysis company LexisNexis, under Biden-Harris (FY24) the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) in MOM accounted for $364 million in “error payments” (that’s “fraud” in civilian lingo) — $1 million wasted every day of the year. LexisNexis added “[the actual] number is likely double.” o the math.

Two factors guarantee SNAP/EBT fraud in MOM:

• The state is self-reporting.  No outside checks.
• There are only 11 people in the inspection unit of the EBT program. These 11 monitor 5,000 EBT-SNAP vendors, 70% of which are convenience stores, where it’s so easy for transnational criminal groups to get involved.

To bring this down to the local level, do you think that Bitchfield is the exception to this rampant theft? Consider  the $43 million in ARPA funds given to the city. Forty million questions, no answers. In fact, THE PLANET says it’s reasonable to suspect EVERY welfare program in the city given the municipality’s non-existence of honest, independent, outside audits.

———- ooo ———-

All this comes as Gov. Maura Healey refuses to turn over the state’s SNAP data to the feds. What’s she hiding?

Haywood Talcove, Lexis-Nexis CEO, said “the only way to stop fraud, because it’s all connected across the country, is for all the states to share the data. For example, at LexisNexis, we see the same 10 identities being used in all 50 states. The states don’t see it because they’re operating in silos when it comes to sharing data. But it’s the most effective tool to stop fraud and improper payments.”

What say we invite Talcove to Bitchfield? Have his company take a look at the books.

Pure as the driven snow, no doubt. Those filthy, crusted mounds that line the roadways, we mean.

(ED. NOTE: Tim Dunn of the Boston Herald contributed to this report.)

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“If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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