-- DONALD TUSK TURNS 61 TOMORROW.

-- DZIENNIK ŁÓDZKI ON ITS FRONT PAGE: KOPCIŃSKA RESIGNS HER CANDIDACY, BUDA TO RUN FOR PIS: “Things are heating up in PiS. According to our information, government spokesperson Joanna Kopcińska has refused to run for the office of Mayor of Łódź. - More precisely: Joanna was allowed not to run - says our source from PiS headquarters. The most likely candidate now is MP Waldemar Buda, though this is not yet certain.” http://www.dzienniklodzki.pl/wiadomosci/lodz/a/dosc-zaskakujacy-zwrot-akcji-w-pis-joanna-kopcinska-odmowila-startu-na-prezydenta-lodzi-kandydatem-prawdopodobnie-zostanie,13113290/

-- MARCIN FIJOŁEK ON THE GOVERNMENT'S VISIT TO THE USA: “Minister Błaszczak's visit is not the only undertaking in this regard. In the coming week, a strong economic and scientific delegation from Mateusz Morawiecki's government will also travel to the United States. The USA will be visited by, among others, Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin, his deputy in the Ministry of Science and Higher Education - Piotr Dardziński, Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology Jadwiga Emilewicz, and Deputy Speaker of the Senate Adam Bielan.”

-- FIJOŁEK ON A POSSIBLE MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND TRUMP: “According to our findings, the most likely date for a meeting between Andrzej Duda and Donald Trump is autumn of the current year. Although President Duda will be in the United States in May, in New York, on the occasion of Poland taking over the presidency of the UN Security Council (member states take over the presidency on a rotational basis for 1 month; Poland's second presidency will be in the second half of 2019), our sources point to a different date for Andrzej Duda's bilateral visit to Washington. There is increasingly frequent talk of the second half of the year. Politicians we spoke with indicate that it would be good for the meeting with Trump to take place after the issue of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance has been settled, and it is not certain whether the Constitutional Tribunal will deal with this matter by the President's May visit to the United States.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/391223-tylko-u-nas-ofensywa-w-relacjach-polska-usa-w-stanach-ministrowie-blaszczak-i-gowin-jeszcze-w-tym-roku-prezydent-duda-w-bialym-domu

-- DUDA'S VISIT TO PROTESTERS IS A FEAT - Michał Danielewski: “We know who Duda is, Duda is Duda. But his visit to the protesters in the Sejm is a real feat – first of all, in terms of image, and secondly, in some sense, axiologically, showing citizens that the state is not on some pedestal, but is normally among the people. If this is the beginning of an election campaign, it will be a very effective campaign on the president's part.” https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=835863106621198&id=100005925496819

-- IF THINGS ARE SO GOOD, HELP THEM IMMEDIATELY - Fakt.

-- PIS REMEMBERS THAT THE BUDGET IS NOT MADE OF RUBBER AND LAWS ARE NOT PASSED IN 2 DAYS - Witold Gadomski in GW: “Suddenly, President Duda and Prime Minister Morawiecki, in the face of a group truly in need of help, remembered that the budget is not made of rubber. And Minister Rafalska - that laws should not be passed overnight and voted on at night.”

-- PIS DOES NOT CONDUCT RATIONAL SOCIAL POLICY, BUT BUYS VOTES - Gadomski continues: “The impasse the government finds itself in shows that it is not actually conducting a rational social policy, but is buying voters' votes with taxpayers' money. In every society, there are groups that, due to unfortunate circumstances, find themselves in a difficult situation and cannot cope without support from public funds – like the families protesting in parliament. Assistance for them is the duty of society and the state that society represents. And it is precisely for those who are in the most difficult position, who need help the most, that there is a lack of money and empathy from politicians. For PiS politicians, this is too small a group to decide the election.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23300697,brak-empatii-w-prawie-i-sprawiedliwosci.html

-- PIS CANNOT TELL PARENTS 'IT CAN'T BE DONE' - Jakub Majmurek: “The PiS government also cannot simply tell desperate parents 'it can't be done'. After all, it had been telling the whole society something quite the opposite. Government-controlled TVP "Wiadomości" repeated daily how under Beata Szydło and Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish economy was developing, salaries were rising, and the country and its inhabitants were getting richer.” http://m.newsweek.pl/opinie/opiekunowie-niepelnosprawnych-dzieci-protestuja-w-sejmie,artykuly,426280,1.html

-- ŁUKASZ WARZECHA ON MORAWIECKI'S EMERGENCY POPULIST MOVE: “Morawiecki therefore devised – perhaps his new image consultants devised it – the worst possible solution: a solidarity tax, from which a fund to support the disabled is to be created. Of course, the prime minister provided no details – we are not talking about a well-thought-out, well-analyzed idea, but an emergency populist move. However, remembering how Mateusz Morawiecki, in one of his interviews, set the wealth threshold at 6,000 gross per month, there is reason to be afraid.” https://opinie.wp.pl/lukasz-warzecha-pis-czyli-populizm-i-socjalizm-6243286146467969a

-- JAN ŚPIEWAK WANTS THE PALACE OF CULTURE TO BE SURROUNDED BY "CENTRAL PARK": https://www.google.pl/amp/s/wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/jan-spiewak-chcemy-otoczyc-palac-kultury-parkiem-centralnym/37m74hk.amp

-- PIOTR LISIEWICZ ATTACKS ZIOBRO IN GAZETA POLSKA: “The most unfavorable version for Ziobro suggests that he is not interested in the truth about Smolensk, because the closure of the case as a flight accident would strengthen his position. Thus, Antoni Macierewicz would be 'compromised', and the 'Smolensk narrative' would have to be replaced by something. This would naturally accelerate the change of leadership in the United Right, and the natural successor to Jarosław Kaczyński would be Ziobro, who is decisive on other matters (except Smolensk).” http://m.niezalezna.pl/223175-zeby-pis-byl-pisowski-jedyne-realne-zagrozenie-to-sojusze-frakcji-z-postkomuna

-- GOD REWARD YOU FOR SUCH SYMMETRY - PIOTR ZAREMBA IN RZ ON THE DEBATE OF SCIENTISTS ON THE EVE OF THE WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING ANNIVERSARY - writes in RZ: “I recall Janicka's voice, even though it was spoken from the audience, because it was representative of the atmosphere in that auditorium. Dr. Grabski announced his support for Jan Tomasz Gross's thesis that Poles killed more Jews than Germans during the war. This 'truth,' also unsupported by any evidence, became the subject of discussion for Aleksander Smolar, who appeared at the meeting as an honorary guest in the front row (along with the Israeli ambassador Anna Azari). Smolar considered the thesis interesting, merely announcing that perhaps the same observation applies to the French. God bless such symmetry, but what guarantee does the head of the Batorego Foundation have that the very starting point for his considerations is true?

-- ZAREMBA ON THE MIXING OF SCIENTIFIC MISSION WITH POLITICAL PASSIONS: “However, I have the impression that the leading figures of the Center for Holocaust Research are mixing their scientific mission with almost political passions. Dr. Grądzka-Rejak from the Institute of National Remembrance approvingly cited a sensible remark by Dr. Jacek Leociak about two treacherous visions of those times: an idealized one, seen through Polish eyes, and a uniformly black one, emerging from the stories of survivors. But what can I do if this same Dr. Leociak recently appeared as an expert for 'Gazeta Wyborcza' stating that present-day Poland fully inherits the legal and moral guilt and obligations of March '68, from Gomułka's and Moczar's Poland. On what basis did he formulate such a categorical judgment? What does this have to do with science? And does it contribute to the credibility of scholars who, at other times, discover truths that are painful and shameful for Poles?”

-- ZAREMBA ON THE NEW BOOK BY ENGELKING AND GRABOWSKI ABOUT THE INVOLVEMENT OF POLES IN THE HOLOCAUST: “I will note, however, that the unpublished work is already being shared in fragments with media outlets strongly engaged in political disputes, such as 'Newsweek Polska'. In them, particularly drastic fragments are presented, along with the most unfavorable comments and titles for Poles in general. And yet, the scientific community has not usually been pleased with extracting sentences from one's own work without context. This, however, is about a very specific campaign. Before the more right-wing media, which were not granted access to the text of this book in advance, express their first opinions, a 'authoritative position' will be decreed.” http://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/304199932-Rewizjonisci-w-drodze-donikad.html

-- ANDRZEJ LEDER ON THE NEED FOR AN ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE NEW LEFT AND THE KOD GENERATION - speaking in an interview with Sławomir Sierakowski: “But this has a deeper political meaning. In most European countries, the post-war consensus was based on an alliance of democratic middle-class and working-class representations. If the new left in Poland does not understand the necessity of such an alliance with the KOD generation, and vice versa, they will learn about it in neighboring prison cells, imprisoned by right-wing authoritarianism. Because these are the only anti-authoritarian forces in Poland; others are indifferent. The ONR is gathering in the memorable hall of the Gdańsk Shipyard, blessed by the Pauline Fathers. On the other hand, as long as the left is not capable of mobilizing even a tenth of KOD's support at its demonstrations – which I attend, by the way – it will not be a partner for conversation.”

-- LEDER ON HOW THE CHURCH ABANDONED THE LIBERALS: “Interestingly, Wojtyła's Church did not go along with nationalism, because that was seized by the party. And so, the alliance of moderate church conservatism and weak liberalism became the ideological hegemon for a long time – almost 40 years. Tadeusz Mazowiecki perfectly represented this synthesis. Only somewhere between 2004 and 2010 did the conservatives change their front, stopped supporting liberals, and started supporting nationalists.”

-- THE LIBERAL-CONSERVATIVE CONSENSUS LASTED, ACCORDING TO LEDER, UNTIL EU ACCESSION AND THE DEATH OF JOHN PAUL II: “It seems to me that the liberal-conservative consensus lasted until EU accession and the death of John Paul II. From that moment on, the process of liberals and conservatives diverging began; that is, conservatives sought an ally on the right, not in the center. The divorce was sealed by PiS's political consumption of the Smolensk catastrophe.” http://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/sierakowski-leder-rozmowa-czesc-2/

-- ZBIGNIEW BONIEK PUBLISHES A PHOTO WITH RYSZARD CZARNECKI: https://twitter.com/BoniekZibi/status/987631897101684736

-- NERGAL PROMISES TO GO TO THE POLLS - in an interview with GW: “Of course, I beat my breast. I contributed to PiS's success. I became a victim of my naivety and laziness. As they say in confession: I apologize for my sins and promise to improve. I will vote in the next elections. I hope there will be more people like me.”

-- NERGAL SAYS HE IS A LEFTIST: “I am a leftist myself. I have very left-wing views, but sometimes my hands just drop when I see the stupidity of some people who – perhaps for a very just cause – fight against imaginary enemies. It was probably some Antifa cell from the West, not from Poland. The joke is that it was a photo from a movie set. I was playing Ribbentrop in Machulski's comedy "Ambassada". They could just as well have accused Stanisław Mikulski of promoting Nazism because he wore a Nazi uniform as Kloss. There's probably no need to dwell on it; these accusations simply stemmed from the ignorance of those people.” http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,23297538,nergal-brakuje-mi-kobiet-u-wladzy.html

-- GW ON THE CZARTORYSKI COLLECTION: “Minuses: to the question of what was the point of spending 100 million euros on a collection that could not be taken out of Poland anyway, the minister replies that the collection is finally safe. However, the hastily drawn-up agreement may not be the 100% guarantee that he claims. If Tamara Czartoryska goes to court to prove that the law has been violated, the state may find itself in trouble.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,112588,23299433,msciwa-ksiezniczka-nasze-pieniadze-i-dama-z-lasiczka-wszystko.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Andrzej Mietkowski, Piotr Pałka, Artur Gierada, SUNDAY: Donald Tusk, Roland Freudenstein, Gabriel Janowski, Jan Szafraniec, Elżbieta Gelert, Rafał Szymczak, Mateusz Nowaczyk.