BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 12-14, 2019) — Time to clean out the notebook. Strike Three — Ball Four created a sensation. Foul Ball described a bag job. The author of those two books, our good friend Jim Bouton, passed away. We met the news with sadness […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 10, 2019) — If you’re a woman and you’ve just got a book published, you might think — as did E. Jean Carroll — that the best way to get some cheapo publicity is to accuse the President of the United States […]
BY DANA VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 8, 2019) — That was some last week in June for the Prez. Not even THE PLANET had it as good. You can already start talking about a legacy for President Donald Trump. Talk about a winning week. First, 20 of the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JULY 5-7, 2019) — Russian president Vladimir Putin, the best politician on the planet (to say nothing of THE PLANET), showed why again at the G-20, sharing his analysis for the fate of liberalism in the west. From there, he made […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JULY 3, 2019) — They couldn’t fit on one stage, so 20 of the 24 trying to win the Democrat Party’s nomination for president found themselves on two stages, two consecutive nights. THE PLANET‘s first question concerns timing. We’re eight months before the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JULY 1, 2019) — Until the late 1830s, daily newspapers were too expensive to build mass circulation. The Sun, New York City’s largest paper, for instance, had a circulation of about 2,600 and sold for six cents (source: The Atlantic), a prohibitive cost […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JUNE 28-30, 2019) — The time has come again for THE PLANET to dish some “inside baseball.” This site has grown beyond our expectations. It has done so for one reason: content. Over the years, we have covered and uncovered stories […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JUNE 26th, 2019) — Perhaps the most enjoyable phase of THE PLANET‘s career came during the 1980s as a baseball writer covering MLB from Florida, producing newspaper articles, radio pieces, and books. We got to meet countless players, umpires, front office people, writers, broadcasters, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JUNE 24, 2019) — What is a U.S. citizen? Who are they? No, it’s not an Abbott and Costello routine (“What’s on second, Who’s on first”). It should be clear. You’re a citizen if (a) you’re born in America or one of its […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND AND BEYOND EDITION, JUNE 21 to …) — A campfire. Snow-covered mountains reflecting in a lake that does not appear on a map. End of day. It’s amazing how a setting like this can free the mind and spirit. Thoughts wander, needing […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY ADD 1 DURING THE WEEK — Lost in the woods. What a feeling. You know the path is close, but where. First thing. Don’t panic. Second thing. Get your bearings. Third thing: Compose your plan. And you find your way. The tricky turns of the wilderness in […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JUNE 14-6, 2019 AND BEYOND THE INFINITE) — Gone fishing. Have a great weekend, everybody. Have a great life. May it be full of camp fires, smores, and pan-sizzled salmon. ————————————————————————————————— “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JUNE 10, 2019) — Suppose you take a healthy interest in local government. Suppose, further, that you want to educate yourself about the city’s finances. THE PLANET realizes that these two suppositions, alone, are enough to put a private citizen on The Suits’ […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION JUNE 7-9, 2019) — In THE PLANET‘s column on the dry hydrants contributing to a destructive house fire on Tyler Street, we raised a number of questions regarding the strange doings at the Department of Public Works: Numerous and unexplained resignations. […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY JUNE 5, 2019) — In THE PLANET‘s recent column on President Trump’s trade war with China, Indiana University economist and good friend Dr. Charles Trzcinka mentioned tech giant Huawei. Maybe you haven’t heard of them, but this Chinese company is the world’s largest telecom […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY JUNE 3, 2019) — The rest of the world might have moved on from him, but for THE PLANET, the Passion of Julian Assange gets more troubling. Assange was arrested by British authorities and sentenced to a year for jumping bail, a set-up serving […]
