BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY FEB. 6, 2023) — The United States would have us believe they shot down a Chinese high-altitude balloon because it was a spy satellite. China, irate, claimed the craft was a weather balloon. THE PLANET, in its never-ending quest for truth, justice, and […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION FEB. 3-5, 2023) — Pittsfield’s sitting on a load of money taller than Hill 78, that Everest of Toxicity bequeathed by GE, with Pittsfield’s OK, directly next to a grammar school. THE PLANET refers to “free” cash. Of course, we know […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY FEB. 1, 2023) — February already! Where does the time go? In official Pittsfield, it goes into the clutches of the Cyclopian “visionaries” of local government who continue to run the city into the ground. Shows you what a lofty position Shire City […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JAN. 30, 2013) — Over the past two weeks, THE PLANET spent time with presumed mayoral candidates Peter Marchetti and John Krol. We met each over coffee, and each meeting went a couple hours. The specifics of the conversations — each of which […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANT VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JAN. 27-9, 2023) — “Do something, then see what happens.” It was one of Napoleon’s favorite sayings. Ward 2 councilor Charles Kronick might have used that with his now-(in)famous petition, #18 on this past Tuesday’s agenda, requesting that a sign be […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JAN. 26, 2023) — Last night the Pittsfield city council heard a shaky Ricky Rumpus “um”ing and “uh”ing his way through a truncated Power Point presentation of his “snow job” on what went wrong during the Dec. 23 storm. Ricky’s a good engineer, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JAN. 24, 2023) — A video. Content of video: TIME: Mid-afternoon. DATE: Received, Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. Time and date of the incident, unknown, though apparently recently. PLACE: Intersection, Onota and Linden streets, Pittsfield, MA. WHO: Reckless City of Pittsfield snowplow driver and a […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JAN. 20-22, 2023) — Today on THE PLANET, something completely different, inspired by an encounter on campus with one of today’s typical young scholars. The meeting preempted an additional PLANET CAT-Scan/autopsy of the most recent city council meeting, although, if you […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JAN. 18, 2023) — At the most recent city council meeting (Jan. 10) several interesting developments slithered from the agenda. The problem for THE PLANET: Which one to feature? We had: (A) An inadvertent admission by PPD chief Mike Wynn of how bad […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JAN. 16, 2023) — Today THE PLANET recognizes Martin Luther King Day. The Comment Line is open. Be respectful. Show some class. If not, our beffed up Army of Robots will be on the alert. With that, enjoy the day. THE PLANET will […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ((FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JAN. 13-5, 2023) — As we continue to tweak THE PLANET backstage, including the ads/v.subscription debate, we will be doing more construction “backstage” with the technical systems. This will involve the “comments” section. Not to worry. You will be able to […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JAN. 11, 2023) — We are a week and a half into 2023, months before candidates pull papers, and already we have folks making up their minds. THE PLANET doesn’t criticize in mentioning this. We’re only pointing out a neutral observation. With respect […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JAN. 9, 2023) — More short bites, since there’s so much to report. First, a housekeeping note. THE PLANET thanks all who have responded to our questions about ads v. subscription. We are still asking for feedback on this question so that we […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, JAN. 6-8, 2023) — Thanks to one and all for your good thoughts in welcoming THE PLANET back into your homes, places of business, and wherever in the nethers you may be in the reading. We were pleased with the number […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ED NOTE: We are dealing with a technical issue with respect to comments. Please be patient. We expect to have it resolved in a moment. Thanks for all those who have notified us via email (danvalenti@verizon.net)! (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JAN. 4, 2023) — We said we […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY NOV. 14, 2022) — Now that THE PLANET safely navigated through the electoral swamps of September and November, we have a special announcement to make. As of today, THE PLANET shall be going dark, as they say in Vegas. Our next scheduled column […]
