-- Prime Minister Jan Olszewski turns 88 today.

-- Tomorrow marks the 78th birthday of Maria Kaczyńska.

-- JAKI COMPARES 27 KM OF METRO BUILT IN SOFIA TO ONLY 10 KM IN WARSAW AND ANNOUNCES A STUDY TRIP FOR JOURNALISTS TO SOFIA - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2018/08/20/

-- PLATFORMA POLITICIANS CANNOT ACCEPT THAT DEMOCRACY IS NOT A SYSTEM WHERE PO RULES - JACEK ŻAKOWSKI in GW: "Nearly three years after losing power, the leading politicians of Platforma still cannot come to terms with the fact that democracy is not a system where PO rules, but one where citizens freely decide who rules. Freely, meaning by choosing not only between the authoritarian conservatives from PiS and the liberal conservatives from PO.

-- THE OPPOSITION WOULD HAVE VICTORY IN THE BAG IF PO HADN'T INSISTED ON ITS OWN CANDIDATES - CONTINUES ŻAKOWSKI: "This is a path to catastrophe, from which (as polls show) the blunders made by PiS are not saving us. This is best seen in Warsaw and Gdańsk, where the opposition would have victory in the bag if PO hadn't insisted on its own (candidate) and hadn't made an effort for it to be a candidate of a broad coalition. PO could also have created an alliance, not a conflict, with Biedroń's emerging formation, but preferred to wage a local war with him in Słupsk." http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23803428,platformy-sen-o-monopolu-na-opozycje-wiedzie-nas-do-katastrofy.html

-- PO IS NOT PERCEIVED AS A FORMATION CAPABLE OF INDEPENDENTLY REMOVING PIS, THIS BENEFITS BIEDROŃ - Dominika Wielowieyska in GW: "The fatigue of left-wing voters with the constant tug-of-war between SLD and Partia Razem may lead them to look with hope at a new force. It also benefits Biedroń that PO is not currently perceived as a formation capable of independently removing PiS from power. In any case, this is what party preference polls show."

-- BUT WILL BIEDROŃ BE ABLE TO OUTPLAY CZARZASTY? - CONTINUES WIELOWIEYSKA: "And here I have doubts whether Biedroń is of a political caliber who will be able to outplay Czarzasty or come to an agreement with him. Biedroń has a very difficult task: on the one hand, he cannot surpass PiS in its social promises; on the other hand, the SLD electorate is an electorate longing for the PRL, part of which is socially conservative, and novelties like registered partnerships don't appeal to them at all."

-- IT'S HARD TO BE SURPRISED THAT BIEDROŃ WANTS TO TEST THIS ON HIS OWN SKIN - WIELOWIEYSKA'S CONCLUSION: "Does the left even have a chance to seriously establish itself in Polish, rather conservative, society? I don't know, but it's hard to be surprised that reasonably popular politicians want to test it on their own skin." http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23803430,mam-watpliwosci-czy-biedron-bedzie-w-stanie-ograc-czarzastego.html

-- TVN WARSAW ON THE CROWDS AT JAKI'S MEETINGS - Karolina Wiśniewska in TVN Warszawa: "Jaki cannot complain about the turnout at his district meetings. Especially the latest ones. He visits five locations: Ząbkowska, Plac Hallera, Golędzinów, Szmulki, Michałów, and in almost every one, crowds greet him. These are mainly middle-aged and older people. More women than men."

-- JAKI FEELS GOOD IN A CROWD - continues Karolina Wiśniewska in TVN Warszawa: "Patryk Jaki feels good in a crowd. He asks older people how they are doing, high-fives children. When a few-year-old girl addresses him as 'Mr. Minister,' he replies: 'For you, I'm Patryk.' Others laugh, the atmosphere is exceptionally relaxed. - I'm upset because you have so few points lately - one of the older ladies scolds the candidate. - But we're catching up, we're catching up - Jaki replies. There's laughter and applause again."

-- WIŚNIEWSKA'S ARTICLE FEATURES A DEBATE BETWEEN THE TWO MAIN CANDIDATES REGARDING JAKI'S MEETINGS: "Rafał Trzaskowski, the Civic Coalition candidate for mayor of Warsaw, spoke coolly about his opponent's campaign. - We need to talk, not do PR stunts, like standing by one house or one tenement building and learning something in 10 minutes - he stated at a meeting in Ursus on Monday. - Sometimes you need to sit on a bench and talk to one person for half an hour, sometimes you need to talk at meetings with 200-300 people, and sometimes you need to stop on the street and talk, not just shout slogans - he said. Patryk Jaki, on the other hand, when asked about his opponent's campaign, replies with a hint of malice. - My esteemed opponent met with bees yesterday. I have nothing against bees, they have their advantages, but they certainly won't criticize things like transport issues - he quipped at a meeting near a block of flats in Ursus." https://tvnwarszawa.tvn24.pl/informacje,news,kandydat-jaki-pod-blokiem-stoi-dla-ciebie-jestem-patryk,268822.html

-- GRZEGORZ SROCZYŃSKI ON THE PLAGUE OF IDENTITY-BASED JOURNALISM - writes on Gazeta.pl: "I don't want to defend my own article here, but I would like to defend a principle. Dear Readers, publicists are needed for you to express your own views (not yours) and to be reasonably independent of the circles in which they operate. They should not flatter the views of colleagues, editors-in-chief, or readers. The latter is particularly important today. If I wrote that Duda's veto is worthless because it's just a setup with Kaczyński - I would get enthusiastic comments. This is tempting, of course. A plague of such identity-based journalism is spreading in the media on both sides of the barricade; these texts can be recognized by their - usually - poor style and enthusiastic comments ('Bravo! Kaczyński is destroyed!' / 'Tusk is destroyed, bravo!'). Some of the comments under the texts are the work of students hired for trolling (it is known from leaks that PiS and PO pay PR firms to generate specific comments under journalistic texts in larger media)."

-- SROCZYŃSKI ON IDENTITY JOURNALISM - WOŚ'S HEADSTAND IS BETTER THAN 10 OF LIS'S OP-EDS: "I dislike and do not value identity journalism; it is aimed at fans, mobilizes the already mobilized, and convinces the already convinced, and its only tangible effect is payment for the article. Journalists who provide you with texts that you strongly agree with are ripping you off and wasting your time. When a person reads mainly things they agree with, they become intellectually degraded. Therefore, identity media - although full of grand words and calls to action - actually lull you and reinforce the stalemate in Polish politics. Conversely, all those who try to go beyond this pattern work. That is why an anti-PiS reader would benefit more from reading an op-ed by, say, Rafał Woś, which would infuriate him to the max (but would also give him food for thought and allow him to better formulate his own anti-PiS arguments) than from reading ten op-eds by Tomasz Lis. Everything that breaks us out of our ruts serves change in Polish politics, while everything that locks us into echo chambers and strengthens polarization - serves to maintain the status quo." http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,161770,23800893,wez-sie-czlowieku-puknij-w-ten-durny-leb-czytelnicy-zlorzecza.html

-- IT IS POSSIBLE THAT IN AN ELECTION YEAR WE WILL MANAGE TO MAINTAIN THE CURRENT LEVEL - MINISTER CZERWIŃSKA in an interview with Bartek Godusławski in DGP: "The final shape of the budget will be decided by the Council of Ministers; it is not my sole decision. As for the desired direction, it should be fiscal consolidation. Our ambitious assumption is that the deficit will not exceed that of the previous year. This is an ambitious goal, but achievable, even taking into account the perspective of an election year."

-- CZERWIŃSKA ON THE FACT THAT 1000 PLUS WOULD BE COMPLETELY UNREALISTIC: "We do not foresee an increase in child benefits; such a move would be an expense of over PLN 40 billion annually. For someone with even a minimal understanding of the state budget, this is unthinkable. Among the large and new expenditure items for next year, we have the school starter pack and pensions for mothers with at least four children. Furthermore, we must adhere to the indicators of defense and healthcare spending relative to GDP. There are also significant demands regarding wage increases in the public sector, raised by trade unions." http://gospodarka.dziennik.pl/news/artykuly/579522,teresa-czerwinska-wywiad-budzet-podwyzka.html

-- IN RZ, CZERWIŃSKA SPEAKS ABOUT TAX CHANGES: "No. I have already said that we are maintaining the upper VAT rate at 23 percent. However, in the autumn, we will present a reform of the VAT matrix. In this matrix, we have some paradoxical situations where similar products have different VAT rates, depending, for example, on their expiry date or ingredients. We want to eliminate these ambiguities, or even paradoxes, mainly by equalizing rates downwards, i.e., applying the 5% rate instead of 8% where possible. This will primarily affect essential goods, food products widely purchased by households, and feminine hygiene products. In some cases, rates will need to be adjusted upwards, but in very few. VAT is, after all, an instrument of social policy. The possibility of differentiating rates allows for supporting less affluent households." https://www.rp.pl/Budzet-i-Podatki/308199928-Teresa-Czerwinska-minister-finansow-Zalezy-nam-na-dyscyplinie-budzetowej.html

-- PAWEŁ MUCHA ON THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION BEING INVALID BY OPERATION OF LAW - tells Jacek Nizinkiewicz in RZ: "Regarding the alleged suspension of the application of certain provisions of the Supreme Court Act, this is not any action. The Supreme Court does not have such an authorization. This part of the Supreme Court's decision is invalid by operation of law. The Code of Civil Procedure from 1964, in the scope of the institution of precautionary proceedings, is not appropriate for deciding on the validity of laws in Poland. A precautionary measure cannot apply in such a way to entities that are not parties to a given proceeding, and in such a matter."

-- MUCHA ON GERSDORF NOT BEING THE PRESIDENT OF THE SUPREME COURT: "There is no First President of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is headed by the judge with the longest tenure and service among the chamber presidents, i.e., Judge Józef Iwulski. Who does not consider himself the First President of the Supreme Court. By operation of law, he heads the Supreme Court. Regardless of anyone's feelings." https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/308199948-Pawel-Mucha-Nie-ma-pierwszego-prezesa-Sadu-Najwyzszego.html

-- GW'S NUMBER ONE ON THE POLISH RED CROSS AND FUNDING OF PIS CANDIDATES' LOWER SILESIAN CAMPAIGNS: "Money from the Polish Red Cross funded the campaigns of PiS politicians - so testify party activists involved in fraud. But the prosecutors of the 'good change' are digging in their heels and prohibiting reporting on the investigation." http://wroclaw.wyborcza.pl/wroclaw/7,35771,23802878,politycy-pis-finansowali-kampanie-z-pieniedzy-pck-prokuratura.html

-- WITOLD GADOMSKI ON STATE ORDERS NOT TRANSFORMING SHIPYARDS INTO EFFECTIVE BUSINESSES: "If ships are ordered at a military shipyard that we will not buy in Australia or their equivalents, taxpayers will spend a lot of money so that hundreds of people – from officers in the Ministry of National Defence, through the shipyard's management, department heads, procurement officers, to welders – have work for many years. But when the work is finally finished – in 5 or 10 years – the shipbuilding industry will be in the same place as it is today. State-funded orders will not transform shipyards into entities capable of operating in the global market." http://wyborcza.pl/7,155290,23801437,wydatki-obronne-nie-odbuduja-polskich-stoczni.html

-- THE GOVERNMENT PREFERS TO COMPLICATE THE TAX SYSTEM RATHER THAN INTRODUCE A NEW RATE, BECAUSE IT MOST FEARS THE RUMOR THAT PIS IS RAISING TAXES - Piotr Miączyński in GW: "Of course, a much better solution would be to introduce a third tax rate – in addition to 18% and 32% – 36% for the highest earners. And perhaps even higher, so as not to drain money from the Labour Fund, which might be needed when the economic situation changes. And we can be sure it will change soon. However, PiS does not touch taxes. It prefers to complicate the tax system rather than introduce a new rate. It simply fears that the rumor will spread that PiS is raising taxes. It prefers to maintain social inequalities – Polish society is becoming increasingly stratified, social mobility is becoming increasingly difficult, and it is increasingly common for sons and daughters to achieve the same social status as their parents – rather than introducing greater progression in taxation." http://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,23796496,jak-pis-psuje-system-podatkowy-i-dziala-na-szkode-osob-biednych.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Jan Olszewski, Dorota Niedziela, Adam Korol, Barbara Imiołczyk, Jolanta Karasińska, Leszek Jastrzębski, Maciej Maciejowski.