-- WIKIPEDIA WARNS OF THE ACTA2 DIRECTIVE, WHICH THE POLISH MINISTRY OF CULTURE DEFENDS: “The Wikimedia Polska Association, which runs, among other things, the Polish version of Wikipedia, warns against the introduction of new copyright regulations by the European Union. - Article 11 could lower the quality of Wikimedia projects that rely on volunteer searching for specialized sources. In turn, Article 13 could significantly discourage volunteers from publishing their own content, created by compiling available sources - alarms Wikimedia Polska.”

-- FEWER LINKS TO SMALL AND NICHE PUBLISHERS - WIKIMEDIA SOUNDS THE ALARM: “- Based on the proposed wording of Article 11, any use of third-party press content that does not fall within the narrow limits of copyright exceptions and limitations (fair use) would require the publisher's consent – informs Wikimedia Polska. - Websites aggregating press texts would display fewer links to niche, specialized, and local press whose publishers have not taken care to express appropriate consent.” https://www.wirtualnemedia.pl/artykul/wikimedia-polska-zaniepokojona-dyrektywa-o-podatku-od-linkow-i-filtrowaniu-tresci-to-obnizy-jakosc-w-internecie

-- WYKOP VS. ZWIEFKA - WP WAS PRESENT AT A MEETING WITH NGOS, WYKOP, AND OLX, AND WAS CRITICIZED FOR SUPPORTING INTERNET CENSORSHIP BY ZWIEFKA: “Zwiefka is definitely worth praising for his willingness to meet with opponents of the directive. After all, many politicians avoid dialogue. Unfortunately, I believe he did not dispel the interlocutors' doubts. The debate further revealed that the new regulations will only create further problems. - The new directive could result in as many as 28 different regulations in the European Union, different in each member state - emphasizes Natalia Mileszyk from the Digital Center. - The paradox is that the directive was intended to unify regulations, talking about a 'single digital market' after all. For now, the opposite seems likely - she adds.”

-- I WAS CONCERNED BY ZWIEFKA'S COMMENT ABOUT USERS - WRITES A WP JOURNALIST: “Additionally, I was concerned by one comment from the MEP, which he will likely regret in time. When asked how a portal like Wykop is supposed to ensure its users don't post copyrighted content in comments, Tadeusz Zwiefka replied: 'users should know not to do it.' https://tech.wp.pl/wykop-kontra-tadeusz-zwiefka-bylismy-na-debacie-o-acta-2-6269045795321473a

-- GERSDORF AT DUDY'S AT 4 PM, AT THE SEJM AT 5:30 PM:https://300polityka.pl/live/2018/07/03/

-- MORAWIECKI HAS STRENGTHENED - Dominika Wielowieyska: “Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has significantly strengthened his position recently. He is gradually removing people from the government with whom he doesn't get along: Antoni Macierewicz, Jan Szyszko, and Witold Waszczykowski are gone, and now he has gotten rid of the Minister of Agriculture, Krzysztof Jurgiel, a close friend of Kaczyński. The Prime Minister has gained more influence in KGHM and PKN Orlen, although he did not manage to remove Daniel Obajtek, the current head of the fuel concern.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23620627,morawiecki-rosnie-w-pis-ziobro-moze-podzielic-los-macierewicza.html

-- DUDA TO MEET TRUMP - Fakt: “Resolving this issue has made it highly probable that President Duda will meet and speak with Donald Trump in Brussels. Moreover, the expectation is that he will return from this conversation with, for example, a declaration to transfer some of the US troops currently permanently stationed in Germany, at the famed Rammstein base, to Poland. – Poland is ready for the permanent presence of American troops. Consultations are ongoing on this matter and the atmosphere of the talks is positive. This is not ruled out – said the Minister of National Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak (48), on TVP.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/duda-spotka-sie-z-trumpem/7m08mdp

-- JANICKI AND WŁADYKA'S APPROVAL OF PO IS COMPARABLE TO PASSENT'S APPROVAL OF JARUZELSKI AFTER MARTIAL LAW, MEANING SMALL BUT RESULTING FROM A REALISTIC ASSESSMENT - says Rafał Kalukin in conversation with Łukasz Pawłowski on KL: “Mariusz Janicki and Wiesław Władyka of 'Polityka' are certainly not uncritical enthusiasts of the Civic Platform (PO). I think Janicki and Władyka's approval of the PO is comparable to Daniel Passent's approval of General Jaruzelski's regime after martial law. That is, it's small, but it's a stance resulting from a realistic diagnosis of the situation – in line with the tradition of this magazine. Of course, Passent was wrong back then; his realism turned out to be a bad advisor. He simply didn't foresee the positive geopolitical conjuncture for us. But today, no one in their right mind predicts that either.”

-- OBVIOUSLY, THE CIVIC PLATFORM IS ACTUALLY BAD, BUT NOTHING COMES FROM SUCH A CONCLUSION - says Kalukin on KL: “If our goal is fundamental political change after 2019, then we should look for ways to strengthen the relationship between the liberal electorate and the political force that is the only one capable of defeating PiS. And if we constantly repeat that the Civic Platform is bad, that Trzaskowski is no good, it has the opposite effect. Of course, the Civic Platform is actually bad, but no positive outcome results from such a conclusion. They only become more entrenched, and the electorate becomes demobilized.”

-- IT'S A DISGRACE THAT A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE IN THE SUPREME COURT HAD NO SERIOUS SUPPORT - says Kalukin: “No, let's not say we have to force ourselves to support the Civic Platform, because that provokes gag reflexes. Let's simply realistically assess the situation. Without considering the Civic Platform, no political strategy makes sense. The problem is that it can do a lot, but it does almost nothing sensible. It doesn't utilize its own resources. Especially in Europe, where it has sensible people, contacts, know-how. Meanwhile, the action to pressure the European Commission to sue the Supreme Court Act before the European Court of Justice was organized under partisan conditions by a handful of passionate experts. It's a disgrace that they didn't have serious support.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2018/07/03/kalukin-symetryzm-sroczynski-wos-pis-polityka/

-- JADWIGA STANISZKIS TELLS WP ABOUT A DEVASTATED KACZYŃSKI: “People like Jarosław Kaczyński are lawyers and are aware of what they are doing. I think these actions are a result of their frustration and obsession. I don't understand it because these are actions that, instead of strengthening the state, only destroy it. I know Kaczyński, and I think he is internally devastated, hence these actions of destroying everything around him.” https://wiadomosci.wp.pl/jadwiga-staniszkis-ws-sadu-najwyzszego-znam-kaczynskiego-jest-wewnetrznie-zdruzgotany-6268987595449985a

-- THE EU PROCEDURE FOR JUDGE REMOVAL WILL NOT STOP THE CHANGES FOR NOW - Ewa Siedlecka: “A possible decision to suspend the provisions on the 'removal' of judges could appear no earlier than September. (...) If the law is challenged by the Commission in court, a temporary order suspending the provisions will still make sense, as more Supreme Court judges will reach retirement age. It will likely also halt the appointment of new judges to the Supreme Court, since the procedure for their appointment will also be challenged. Of course, the government could accelerate the Supreme Court appointment procedure to get ahead of the Court's temporary order. This would signify extremely bad faith on their part, but the Polish government has shown this on more than one occasion during the Article 7 procedure, so this would be nothing new.” https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/swiat/1754602,1,procedura-wszczeta-przez-ke-wycinki-sedziow-na-razie-nie-zatrzyma.read

-- ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ ON KACZYŃSKI'S DEEP DISLIKE FOR GERSDORF: “The key factor is Jarosław Kaczyński's deep, personal dislike for Małgorzata Gersdorf. When, in the spring of 2016, along with Michał Szułdrzyński, I conducted an interview with the PiS leader for 'Rzeczpospolita,' we asked him about Gersdorf's critical assessment of PiS's actions concerning the Constitutional Tribunal. He replied, visibly agitated: — Please don't remind me of the president, who shouldn't be a lawyer, but should be selling at a market. In the authorization, this market stall comment was removed, and he added his own remarks that Gersdorf is no legal authority to him.”

-- STANKIEWICZ DESCRIBES GERSDORF'S RESPONSE TO KACZYŃSKI: “Then, when I conducted an interview with Gersdorf for Onet in the spring of 2017, she responded in kind: — I read Jarosław Kaczyński's interview, in which he told you that it's unclear whether this Gersdorf is an authority. Mr. Kaczyński should know who this Gersdorf is, because we lived in the same courtyard in Żoliborz, Warsaw. And I knew his brother very well because he was – like me – a labor lawyer. Jarosław was always a politician who destroys. I never had such an assessment of Lech.”

-- STANKIEWICZ ON A GROUP WITHIN PiS BELIEVING Gersdorf's REMOVAL WAS A MISTAKE: “There is a significant group within PiS who believe that removing Gersdorf was a mistake — an influential lawyer associated with PiS, who was involved in attempts to negotiate with the judiciary, told Onet. — The interpretation that her constitutional term can be shortened by using retirement regulations for judges carries enormous legal risk.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/rewolucja-pis-w-sadzie-najwyzszym/9jjw5j6

-- SIGNS OF PiS WEAKNESS - Michał Szułdrzyński in RZ: “By retreating on both these fronts, PiS acted rationally on one hand, but on the other, it signaled its weakness and perhaps encouraged Brussels to take an even tougher stance on the Supreme Court issue.” http://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/307029878-Szuldrzynski-Sygnaly-slabosci-PiS.html&template=restricted

-- PiS IS WORKING TOWARDS AN IMPEACHMENT TRIAL - Tomasz Walczak in SE: “As of today, the Supreme Court act shortening the terms of its judges and its First President is in effect. This is another step by PiS to subordinate the judiciary and the first time the ruling party has so clearly violated the constitution. The previous demolitions in the Constitutional Tribunal or the judiciary could still be justified with convoluted sophistry, but in the case of the purge in the Supreme Court, there is no doubt – PiS is changing the constitution through an act.” https://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/polityka/tomasz-walczak-komentuje-pis-pracuje-na-trybunal-stanu-ktorego-nie-bedzie-aa-Emft-sx8y-qGzx.html

-- THEY ARE TURNING LOT INTO RUIN - Fakt:“Not so long ago, the government, pro-government journalists, and the management of PLL LOT were delighted with the company's results and the colossal progress it had made since the Civic Platform's rule, when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. But the last few weeks have been a terrible streak for the Polish carrier.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/politycy-psuja-narodowego-przewoznika-pll-lot/9f7wc1k

-- 250 PASSENGERS CAME CLOSE TO DEATH - Fakt's front-page story: ”After the turn, the problems intensified: oil pressure dropped sharply in the right engine. The crew contacted Warsaw again. After consulting with the Operations Center, a... change of decision occurred! Instead of flying to the nearby Miami, the plane was to turn back and fly to... New York. Why this decision? Our sources at PLL LOT have no doubts: it was about money. – In Miami, they would have had to provide passengers with accommodation and meals, and send another aircraft to pick them up – says our interviewee. Passengers would have had to wait in the airport's transit zone because... they didn't have US visas! But at JFK Airport in New York, they could board a plane ready for departure, although it was prepared for other passengers.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/lot-narazil-zycie-pasazerow-lotu-z-meksyku/vwdjspt

-- SE WRITES THAT KACZYŃSKI WILL DISCARD PIĘTA:“This is the end of the political career of MP Stanisław Pięta (47)! As 'Super Express' has established, these were the words supposedly spoken by Jarosław Kaczyński (69) at one of the recent meetings of PiS authorities! - The Pięta affair has been very poorly assessed in the party's inner circles and by the leader himself – a prominent PiS politician tells us.” https://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/polityka/kaczynski-wyrzuci-piete-prezes-pis-ma-dosc-posla-uwiklanego-w-romans-aa-MNCQ-WF3Z-rtcD.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Jerzy Buzek turns 78, and Leszek Miller turns 72. Also celebrating birthdays are Adam Wajrak, Małgorzata Naukowicz, Czesław Ryszka, and Krzysztof Pacewicz.