BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION OCT. 14-6, 2022) — On the flip chart, the mechanisms of government work flawlessly. In practice, not so much. That might well service as the controlling idea of many of THE PLANET‘s thousands of columns over the years. Government is a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 12, 2022) — Let it sink in at its own pace. The following is a recent picture of YOUR city council vice president: NOTE: This photo has not been edited, retouched, photoshopped, altered, cropped, sized, tampered with, or fished out of The […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY OCT. 10, 2022) — “In the middle of the road, you see the darndest things” — The Pretenders. Democracy is not a middling thing but a middle thing. In media res. It you were to plot it, democracy would trace a bell curve, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION OCT. 7-9, 2022) — At the previous meeting of our Right Honorable Good Friends, the Ward 2 member introduced the following: A petition from Councilor Kronick requesting to postpone all future funding requests and grant approvals by the Parks Department until […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY OCT. 5, 2022) — A key vacancy to be filled on Election Day will be state attorney general. Having just been in a contest for district attorney, where voters chose expertise over incompetence, the Berkshire County electorate should have no trouble choosing the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ADD 1 10-5-22 — From Lt. John Soules, Pittsfield Police Dept.: On Monday October 3, 2022 at approximately 3:31 pm, members of the Pittsfield Police Department (PPD) responded to Springside Avenue near the intersection of Parker Street for a ShotSpotter activation. Several residents also called to report […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION Sept. 30-Oct. 2, 2022) — You might have missed it Tuesday night at the Pittsfield City Council meeting. THE PLANET‘s Right Honorable Good Friends took up a curious appointment by Mayor Linda Tyer. She nominated Matthew “Kufflinks” Kerwood, finance director, to […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY Sept. 28, 2022) — Today, THE PLANET presents three photographs. Here’s the first. Photos two and three appear at and as the finis to this column Let us begin with the reason for posting them. What the cause here? Only THE PLANET can […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY SEPT. 26, 2022) — “The pandemic is over” — President Joe Biden. “The border is secure” — Vice President Kamala Harris. “The check is in the mail” — Every swindler, hustler, and con artist. Both sides do it, especially on the extremes, but […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 23-5, 2022) — It’s been 2,499 outings that led up to today. Yes, THE PLANET celebrates our 2,500th column — enough for more than 30 full length novels. And it all began as a lark, a morning writing exercise, the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 21, 2022) — Every voted counts, but is every vote counted? Fall’s first day is as good a time as any to confront an ever-growing problem in election integrity. Can the electorate believe in election results? Radical elements of this country’s two major […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY Sept. 19, 2022) — Why did our Right Honorable Good Friends on the Pittsfield City Council react like Bela Lugosi to a necklace of garlic when colleague Charles Kronick’s presented a petition to air the status of homelessness in Pittsfield? THE PLANET would […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 16-8, 2022) — Idle thoughts while wondering if the long-suffering Buffalo Bills will finally win the Super Bowl this year. Things We Don’t Want to See — Lauren Hutton, 78, posing in her underwear huckstering for a new bra called […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY SEPT. 14, 2022) — Now that all is momentarily calm, THE PLANET extends hearty congrats to Tom Bowler for his landslide win in the Democrats’ race for sheriff. If only his campaign manager and a tiny number of others could do the same. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY SEPT. 12, 2022) — While we’ve been distracted here in Berkshire County by the tumult of the sheriff and D.A. races, something happened that deserves commented by THE PLANET: Syracuse Joe’s “divide and conquer” address last week. The President goose-stepped in footsteps put […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION SEPT. 9-11, 2022) — Now that the Jacks have all returned to their boxes, time for THE PLANET‘s autopsy results. DISTRICT ATTORNEY SHUGRUE CLOBBERS THE INCUMBENT, WHAT’S HERNAME. After Andrea Harrington gave a four-year-long seminar in “How to Botch the Opportunity […]
