BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY MAY 30, 2018) — Social media and the 24/7 “talking heads” news cycle have robbed too many citizens of the precious ability to critically think. Young people, millennials and greener, have proven especially vulnerable to this given the evidentiary witness of short attention […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MEMORIAL DAY, 2018) — The most recent developments on a proposed Korean summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean head of state Kim Jung Un indicate the switch has been flipped back to the “on” position. THE PLANET deems this cause for hope though not […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION MAY 25-27) — THE PLANET greets Preident Trump’s cancellation of the proposed June 12 summit with North Korean head of state Kim Jung Un with deep disappointment. The President wants to blame Kim’s “anger” and “hostility” as the reason for pre-emptying the greatest […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THURSDAY MAY 24, 2018) — First, THE PLANET‘s congratulations to the Italian fraternal organizations who spoke out against the Pittsfield School Committee’s utterly ridiculous vote (in January) to kick Christopher Columbus out of Oct. 12 in favor of “Indigenous People’s Day.” The committee voted unilaterally, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY MAY 22-23, 2018) — Some observations from THE PLANET while whittling down a Cohiba Blue Dot: Watching a City Council budget hearing can be likened to yet another viewing of a Three Stooges short. You’ve seen “Shivery Sherlocks” 37 times, you know all the gags, you […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION, MAY 18-20, 2018) — You take the high road, and we’ll take the low. But what ‘ere ye do, lad and lass, make sure those roads dunna go through Pittsfield — Old Scottish Proverb. THE PLANET has heard TONS of reports, feedback, […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, WEDNESDAY MAY 16, 2018) — Since the exodus of GE, Pittsfield has led the league in the number of useless traffic light, bad pizza joints (Papa Joe’s on Newell Street the grand exception for its crown-jewel repastes), and mercenary politicians. There are numerous other […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, MONDAY MAY 14, 2018) — A job is work done for hire that a person does for someone else (including corporations, because under the law, they, too, are people) in exchange for an agreed-upon compensation called wages or pay. Wages can be barter or […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE, THE WEEKEND EDITION MAY 11-13, 2018) — Do you belong to a group officially designated as a “minority?” Do you have a past conviction for drugs? Do you live in a low-rent neighborhood with high arrest rates for doping? Have you been previously jailed? […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY MAY 9, 2018) — We stated Monday that “all dichotomies are false” and left it there — at least until the redoubtable scholar and semanticist Dr. Charles Trzcinka issued an implicit challenge against such brevity, philosophical, poetic, or otherwise. In doing so, the […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE MONDAY MAY 7, 2018) — Today, THE PLANET attenuates, annotates, and otherwise attends to brevity’s infinitesimal side, a stock that’s best sold short. Hence: ——— 000 ——— All dichotomies are false. ——— ooo ——— Think on it. That’s it. ———————————————————————————————— “You don’t know what you’ve […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION MAY 4-6, 2018) — THE PLANET might call this one “News on the March” after the blaring old newsreels that in movie palaces offered current events. Reference the newsreel sequence of history’s second greatest film, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. * NEWS ITEM: Rosenberg Resigns […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY MAY 2, 2018) — As one of the greatest failures in city history hibernates in amber-encased “lacktivity,” the fiduciary guardians of the public trust continue to ignore disaster. THE PLANET shall explain a bit later on in the column. First, we take note […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY APRIL 30, 2018) — aND nOW fOR sOMETHING tRULY dIFFERENT … (MUSIC UP) (CUE VOICE OVER) Witness if you will a string of observations that spell a riddle. The answer to this puzzle lies in its initials, spelling out a profound truth that […]
BY DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLIUTUDE THE WEEKEND EDITION APRIL 27-29, 2018) — THE PLANET called the flip-flop of Donna Todd Rivers long before Tuesday night, when she “got religion” and voted to approved borrowing for a $74 million upgrade to the Pittsfield sewer facility. When she first ran for […]
DAN VALENTI PLANET VALENTI NEWS AND COMMENTARY (FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE WEDNESDAY APRIL 25, 2018) — The degrees of separation exist in Pittsfield on a series of membranes so thin as to make manhole covers out of communion wafers. This rarified region occupies a Don Knotts level of thin. Take just about any issue in the […]
