THE PLANET, burning it at both ends.

BY DAN VALENTI

PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY

(FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JUNE 5-7, 2026) — Today, THE PLANET achieves a milestone. This marks the 3,000 column in this series.

It’s been a run that we didn’t anticipate when it began simply as an online experiment. As the internet grew and cyberspace got more adaptable, we had to follow–and did so willingly, making the appropriate investments along the way to keep up with the dizzying technology. We asked nothing in return, keeping this site free of charge.

What began on whimsy turned into a writing exercise equivalent to a gym workout prior to the big game. THE PLANET‘s big game has been back in book writing. The blog has kept the fingers nimble and the mind sharp, a requirement when writing tomes exceeding 100,000 words.

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We take pride in having presented this board to the people of Berkshire County and environs. We have built a steady, loyal readership whose size we couldn’t anticipate and whose shared insights we couldn’t have invented.

THE PLANET remains the only truly interactive local medium, allowing comments in real-time without many stipulations. We would submit that compared to any other local press outlet, including the local daily newspaper, this site has kept alive and represented freedom of speech and freedom of press. They give lip service. THE PLANET delivers the authentic goods, taking seriously the investigative and agenda-setting functions of an independent press.

We’ve written for every commercial medium that might employ writers–newspapers, magazines, the screen, advertising, radio. Each one, driven by profit, in some way requires the writer to adhere to certain protocols that ultimately cater to sponsors, investors, and those who put up the money to make the money.

The unique thing about this site from a writing standpoint is that we are free from ANY financial pressures, and this serves as the premise behind everything we do. NO ONE, except Yours Truly, would decide on what we write and how we write it. There’s no sponsor with a list of sacred cows. Every potential subject risks having its profanity exposed. No one and nothing is off limits.

The results speak for themselves. We piss off the right people. Everyone else we satisfy, bringing to our contents the professionalism honed by a rigorous, post-graduate training in journalism and more than five decades of practice.

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Enjoy THE PLANET while you can, because as George Harrison so memorably sang, “All Things Must Pass.”

Thank all of you who have made this board your morning cup of coffee and your evening belt of scotch.

“Power is the blank page of a notebook waiting to be filled” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath.

“OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT MILLIE.”

LOVE TO ALL.

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