BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JAN. 5-7, 2024) — “Marchetti pointed out that he is the city’s first openly gay mayor. He was joined by Gov. Maura Healey, the state’s first openly lesbian governor” — Brittany Polito, iBerkshires. “Openly gay.” It took Miss Jane Hathaway a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JAN. 3, 2024) — h B#d y2-1 d1 0 3a.# 1-h-0 B-d-3/ *405 ———- ooo ———- Anything important happen yesterday? Anything in city? YES!! As of the mayoral inauguration, the city changed its official name from Picklefield to Bitchfield. Normally, THE PLANET‘s most […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, CHRISTMAS 2023) — And so we reach that sculpted day, whittled down throughout this year of world chaos and mayhem — Hamas and Houthis, indictments and incitements, inflation and immigration — striped with sparse veins of respite and relief. For that we give thanks, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION DEC. 22-24, 2023) — The split decision, 4-3, of Colorado’s Supreme Court to overturn a district court ruling and President Donald Trump off the 2024 presidential ballot is the best Christmas gift the T-Man could want. Before we go any further, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY DEC. 20, 2013) — It’s time for the government of Israel and the Israel Defense Force (IDF) to stop playing victims. Note THE PLANET says “government.” The decent people of the Jewish nation do not want the mindless killing. Neither do the majority […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ADD 1 ED NOTE: This version corrects misinformation. John Krol pays child support of $420 a WEEK, not a month. One of our astute readers assumed as much! We have confirmed the new, corrected amount. (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY DEC. 18, 2023) — At the start of […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION DEC. 15-7, 2023) — Good things, too, happen on campus. Going back to 1969, when I took my first college classes and continuing to 2018, when I taught my last college course, I’ve been on campuses of higher learning for 50 […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY DEC. 13, 2013) — Sochols. A recent talk with a teacher friend, call her Miss Rachel, told THE PLANET all we need to know about the state of Pittsfield schools. She told THE PLANET this would be her last year, because “I’m sick […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, DEC. 11, 2023) — Here’s a lede from an AP story filed Sunday (yesterday): Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday defended the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition and also called for quick congressional approval of more than […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION DEC. 8-10, 2023) — Amidst the recalcitrance of trying times, we find nuggets spread across the rolling lawns of the public’s Lower 40. Hence: O Christmas Tree: THE PLANET, for one, likes the city’s permanent Christmas Tree planted in Park Square […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY DEC. 6, 2023) — The Israeli counterpunch against Hamas has gone past the justifiable stage and has entered into genocidal action worthy in quality though not quantity of the Holocaust. THE PLANET hesitates to use numbers because they reduce human misery to a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY DEC. 9, 2023) — The Picklefield city council’s recent tax-rate deliberations remind THE PLANET of the prescient words of the 20th century’s greatest prose stylist, H.L. Mencken: “I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ADD 1 NOV. 29, 2023 — Former Pittsfield Cooperative Bank VP Victoria May — who is suing the bank, mayor-elect Peter Marchetti, bank president Jerome “Jay” Anderson, and senior VY Henry “Chip” Moore — filed a motion on Nov. 22 in federal court opposing the defendants’ request […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THANKSGIVING WEEK, 2023) — Why bother? Right? THE PLANET‘s on hiatus this week and perhaps beyond, whatever we feel. THE PLANET wishes everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Hasta mañana. ————————————————————– “Tofu not turkey” — Sir Donald Turpentine, Knight of the Bath. “OPEN THE WINDOW, AUNT […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY NOV. 20, 2023) — Through the office of Berkshire County District Attorney Tim Shugrue, THE PLANET recently placed with the state a Freedom of Information pertaining to the Sept. 27, 2019 alleged racial attack reported by a student at Simon’s Rock College. Andrea […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION NOV. 17-9, 2023) — And now ladies and gentlemen, from high atop the Aragon Ballroom in beautiful, downtown Picklefield, for your dining and dancing pleasure, THE PLANET presents our latest exclusive: The Top 100 city salaries. It’s exclusive because no other […]
