BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 11, 2016) — Nearly two years ago, police in Ferguson, MO, shot and killed Michael Brown. To explain this act, social activists from the extreme left created a metaphor that morphed into a national storyline, namely, that police departments across the nation […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, JULY 8-10, 2016) — Allow THE PLANET to have the final word on our recent discussion of the merits and achievement of Jim and Jackie Shulman‘s triumphant Berkshire Carousel. First, no one including THE PLANET ever claimed that the carousel would be […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, JULY 7, 2016) — In the miracle of miracles, topping even You Know Who doing a time step on the Sea of Galilee, your Federal Bureau of Investigation Tuesday recommended to your “Justice” Department that no charges be filed against former Secretary of State and […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY Second of Two Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 6, 2016) — As the culmination of our coverage of the Berkshire Carousel, THE PLANET presents an exclusive: the definitive account from the creator himself, Jim Shulman: ——– 000 ——– About 18 years ago my wife, Jackie, and I attended the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY First of Two Parts (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, JULY 5, 2016) — With the great grand opening of the Berkshire Carousel over the holiday weekend, with even the weather pulling an A+, the city got to see the difference one person with a positive vision can make. Jim […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, JULY 1-4, 2016) — It will spin endlessly back to the beginning, not a journey but a destination. It is the new Berkshire Carousel, debuting today on Center Street off of West in downtown Pittsfield. It was built not by grant money, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY JUNE 30, 2016) — We listen to public radio in the car because of classical music. That means we listen to NEPR. We have not, however, succumbed to the countless and interminable “fund drives,” and we never will. The way THE PLANET figures it, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 2016) — As you ponder how you will ever come up with the extra money to pay for the huge tax increases imposed upon you by your mayor, your school committee, and you city council, THE PLANET would like to share […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY JUNE 28, 2017) — In case you missed it while dodging bullets and beating off burglars, the city conducted a dedication ceremony Monday morning for the city’s new Bridge of Sighs. It took 10 years to renovate an existing span. Think about that. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JUNE 27, 2016) — There will always be an England, although we can’t say the same for the USA. While America withers under the control of nefarious politicians-for-life, the voters across the pond smoked the British establishment and shocked the world Thursday when they […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, JUNE 24-26, 2016) — Politicizing murder and mayhem should not surprise anyone, not even Democrats, who pulled perhaps the cheapest stunt ever seen in the House of Erstwhile Representatives. A hundred people gunned down did not make a statement enough, not […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY, JUNE 23, 2016) — The ONLY, and THE PLANET means ONLY argument in favor of a SuperWalmart at the PEDA site is, unfortunately, the winning one. For that reason, the proposal must be approved. Bear with us. ——– 000 ——– And in the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016) — Allow THE PLANET to be the contrarian once more and swim against that flowing stream of puff, propaganda, and PR. We hate to be the ones to bring it to The Suits, though we don’t have to bother with […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 2016) — How desperate is PEDA? The 52-acre dead-zone in the center of the city wants to settle for a Super Walmart, a far cry from the big talk that heralded the signing of the Consent Decree with GE in 1998. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, JUNE 16-19, 2016) — When it rains absurdity, as it has been lately in Pittsfield, it pours reason and logic on THE PLANET. We even rule time, declaring The Weekend Edition to start on a Thursday. Time to bring out Quick Hitz and Hot […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2016) — Don’t know how the memorial for Orlando went last night in Park Square, and we don’t much care. Truly, ask yourself: What purpose it could it serve other than allow the mayor, Pittsfield’s state rep, and “several community leaders” […]
