-- JAKI IN SOFIA ABOUT THE METRO, 300POLITYKA: TODAY KUKIZ WILL ANNOUNCE JAKUBIAK, MUSZYŃSKI WITHDRAWS HIS CANDIDACY - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2018/08/23/

-- GRZEGORZ SROCZYŃSKI DEFENDS RAFAŁ WOŚ: YOUR JOB IS TO WRITE POLEMICS, NOT TO IMPOSE GAGS: “Some journalists are calling for a boycott of Woś after his article 'Left, it's time to cooperate with PiS.' I will quote a few emails and SMS messages I received: 'This article is a scandal, disgusting, you shouldn't have published it.' 'From now on, I won't shake Woś's hand.' 'With this article, Woś has excluded himself from the 'Polityka' editorial team.' 'After this national-socialist article, I withdraw my participation in your show because you also invite Woś.' All of this reeks of a certain nobility, wounded pride, and 'bearing witness.' But it is also dangerous. If a journalist's natural reaction to an article they strongly dislike is not to write a furious polemic, but to prohibit it ('the article should not have been published'), fire a colleague ('he has excluded himself from our editorial team'), and boycott ('I won't come to the studio with him'), then things are very bad with us.”

-- SROCZYŃSKI ON IDENTITY MEDIA FROM ANOTHER ERA: “Identity media (i.e., ideologically homogeneous) are a relic of a rapidly changing era. It might still seem that people want this type of media, but it's a dying trend. When something truly important happens – a war, a financial crisis – people don't go to Cejrowski's blog, they rush to traditional media for relatively objective information, diverse opinions, and to form their own judgment.” http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,161770,23813367,sroczynski-do-dziennikarzy-jestescie-od-pisania-polemik-a.html

-- UNDER LECH KACZYŃSKI HE HAD NO CHANCE, UNDER HGW'S PRESIDENCY HE DID - FRAGMENT FROM AN RZ ARTICLE ON MAREK M.'S ARREST (Zawadka, Kacprzak): “When Lech Kaczyński was the mayor of the capital, the tenement collector had no chance to shine, but under Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz's presidency – he did. M. consolidated claims to dozens of addresses and took over, among others, buildings at Hoża, Saska, Dahlberga, Otwocka, and Krakowskie Przedmieście streets. He often transferred ownership to his mother. The most spectacular acquisition was a property at Hoża Street, in the very center, for which M. bought the claim for 50 PLN. After taking over the building, he also demanded about 5 million PLN from the city for its use over the years. The court awarded him 1.6 million PLN, but he lost in the appellate court.”https://www.rp.pl/Reprywatyzacja-w-Warszawie/308229941-Koniec-hossy-krola-reprywatyzacji.html

-- JAN ROKITA PRAISES JUDICIAL REFORM: “Jan Rokita also recalled one of his conversations with Professor Andrzej Rzepliński, former president of the Constitutional Tribunal, with whom he had the 'honor of closely cooperating for a long time.' He told me: 'Sir, if we don't pry the judges away from the National Council of the Judiciary, nothing can be done with the Polish justice system.' We have known this for years, but the fear that the judicial community would say it's an attack on judicial independence, an attack on fundamental democratic values, paralyzed politicians,' Rokita recalled. He also noted that 'Professor Rzepliński's idea' of removing judges from the KRS was one of the foundations of the constitutional change project he was preparing, which the PO-PiS coalition was supposed to develop after the parliamentary elections in 2005. However, the coalition never formed. 'Everyone knew that this needed to be done [to reform the Polish judiciary - editorial note]. The inability was widespread, I experienced it myself,' stated Rokita. 'This reform is not just about personal matters. It is fundamental and systemic because it decides – if it doesn't collapse at some point – about one thing that should survive PiS's rule. Namely, that the co-optation system for selecting judges will disappear. That is, judges and their chosen ones will no longer exclusively decide who will be a judge in the future,' said the former PO MP.” http://www.dziennik.pl/amp/579724,jan-rokita-reforma-sadownictwa-rzad-pis-konstytucja.html

-- AGGRESSIVE DEMONSTRATIONS AND BEING LIKE KLEMENTYNA SUCHANOW ARE NOT THE WAY TO DEFEAT PIS - ŁUKASZ PAWŁOWSKI IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “The PiS government, in the way it has been conducted for the past three years, is dramatically harming Poland. But the way to change this state of affairs is not through top-down calls for mobilization, universal unification, 'constitutional anniversaries,' aggressive demonstrations, and 'being like Klementyna Suchanow.' I am glad that editors Janicki and Władyka are also reaching this conclusion. I hope they will stick with it for longer.”

-- PLATFORMA FAILS TO BUILD A POSITIVE BOND WITH THE VOTER - PAWŁOWSKI CONTINUES IN KL: “And it's not because PO has to compete with other parties – and therefore everyone should unite – but because it cannot build a positive bond with the voter. It gives them no reason to be proud of supporting Platforma.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2018/08/22/pawlowski-wladyka-janicki-polemika-polityka/

-- ONE CAN ENVY SOFIA'S METRO MILEAGE INCREASES - WITOLD URBANOWICZ FROM RYNKU KOLEJOWEGO IN NEWSWEEK: “Even a faster-developing metro cannot fully compensate for the shortcomings of surface transport: not everyone lives within walking distance of a station, and travel in such large agglomerations often involves transfers. This is reflected in the numbers: according to current data, over 350,000 passengers use Sofia's two metro lines daily. After the construction of the third line, this figure will increase to about 500,000 travelers. It is worth noting that this is still less than the number of people using just the first metro line in Warsaw. In total, the number of passengers traveling daily on the Warsaw metro currently exceeds about 750,000 travelers per day. Although, of course, one can envy Sofia's mileage increases. For now.” http://m.newsweek.pl/polska/warszawa-vs-sofia-kilometry-metra-o-jakosci-komunikacji-nie-swiadcza,artykuly,431753,1.html

-- THE MOST IMPORTANT BATTLE FOR THE COUNTRYSIDE - Agata Kondzińska and Iwona Szpala in GW: “- A single-digit result for the agrarian party in local elections could weaken them so much that for the first time they will not cross the electoral threshold for the Sejm. That's what we're counting on,' one of Jarosław Kaczyński's advisors tells 'Wyborcza'.”

-- PIS HAS A PLAN FOR PSL - GW CONTINUES:“An advisor to chairman Jarosław Kaczyński says he hasn't heard of a 6% drop, but admits PiS has a plan. – For years, we have been courting the electorate that votes for us in national and presidential elections, but chooses the PSL in local elections. It's a significant group. If we win them over and keep them, we will defeat the agrarian party,' he predicts.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,23814686,kluczowa-bitwa-dla-wladzy-pis-chca-politycznie-wykonczyc-psl.html

-- A STRONG BIEDROŃ IS A THREAT TO KACZYŃSKI, NOT SCHETYNA - Jakub Bierzyński in GW: “The conclusion of this analysis is simple: regardless of short-term fluctuations in the ratings of individual parties, the trend is that PiS is strengthening, and the liberal opposition is weakening. There can be only one conclusion: we won't get far this way. Repeating the same strategy with the hope of a different outcome after almost three years since the elections is extreme naivety, but the campaign that Civic Platform is launching for the local elections leaves no doubt that the negative campaign will continue. There's no point expecting a change, although the result can only be one – PiS will win the autumn elections, and by a large margin. Information about Robert Biedroń's entry into national politics offers a chance for this long-awaited change in political strategy.”

-- BIERZYŃSKI WRITES THAT THE UNITY BONUS FOR THE OPPOSITION IS A MYTH: “This data is unambiguous – the unity bonus is a myth. Voters of Civic Platform and Nowoczesna are simply punishing their parties for the merger – according to Ipsos, the cost of unification is almost 9 percentage points, according to IBRiS, 6. The latest Ipsos poll for OKO.press confirms the general trend: Civic Coalition can count on 22% of the votes, while with separate lists, their combined result increases to 24%. Although it looks great in theory, the myth of the opposition unfortunately does not withstand confrontation with the research results. Adding the left to this mosaic – contrary to the dreams of enthusiasts of uniting everyone with everyone – will unfortunately not raise the opposition's ratings. On the contrary: the cost of unity will grow as parties as different as Civic Platform, Nowoczesna, SLD, and Robert Biedroń's new project merge into one entity.”

-- PIS VOTERS WILL NOT VOTE FOR LIBERALS - BIERZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “The ratings of Jarosław Kaczyński's party are not decreasing for a very simple reason – voters disappointed by the greed and arrogance of the government have nowhere to go. They will not vote for liberals, the post-communist SLD is obviously outside the scope of consideration, and the new left is so ideological, radical, and uncompromising in its worldview postulates that it is unsuitable as an electoral alternative. A moderate, center-left social movement is capable of attracting those voters who were once the natural political resource of the left but were lost by it to PiS's social slogans.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23815333,jakub-bierzynski-dla-wyborczej-premia-za-jednosc-opozycji.html

-- ROBERT BIEDROŃ SAYS TWO OPPOSITION BLOCKS GET MORE - quoted by Krzysztof Pacewicz in Oko: “The OKO.press poll shows that there is a great demand among Poles for a political alternative to the PO-PiS duopoly – contrary to what both these parties want us to believe. It would be good if the leaders of the parliamentary opposition, who have been telling us for years that only rallying around PO offers a chance for change in Poland, also reconsidered the results. By defending themselves against the formation of new factions, they are only looking after their own particular interests – the two-party system benefits both PiS and PO. Polls have shown for a long time that two opposition blocks together receive more votes and thus take more from PiS than a coalition under the Platforma banner.”

-- ŚPIEWAK FOR TWO OPPOSITION BLOCKS: “In Warsaw, we have already created a broad coalition of urban and progressive movements. This will be a great test for these circles. After the elections, I hope there will be further consolidation. Two opposition blocks should run in the parliamentary elections: a liberal-right bloc and a center-left bloc.”

-- WHEN SOMETHING APPEARS AT THE LEVEL OF 16%, IT IS AN ALTERNATIVE - WŁODZIMIERZ CZARZASTY QUOTED BY PACEWICZ: “The research shows that there is a demand for a left-wing party. The sheep and the rams must understand this, I'm also talking about myself. People vote for Platforma because they think there is no alternative. When something appears at the 16 percent level, there is an alternative. SLD can fight for the left-wing electorate on its own, which might eventually succeed. The second option – a grand coalition – is more difficult but faster, and that's why we are choosing it.” https://oko.press/koalicja-lewicy-sld-wchodzimy-w-to-biedron-jest-potencjal-razem-z-sld-nie-ma-mowy/

-- BIEDROŃ MAY BE THE ONLY PRESCRIPTION FOR PIS'S RIGHT-WING POPULISM - Michał Syska in Newsweek: “Robert Biedroń can mobilize those voters who want more than just being scared of Kaczyński. Whether PiS can be removed from power will depend on their presence at the polls. The mayor of Słupsk will not be the Polish Macron. However, he may follow the path of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has just conquered the American political scene.”

-- OCASIO-CORTEZ DIDN'T TALK ABOUT TRUMP, BUT ABOUT SOLVING THE PROBLEMS THAT TRUMP CAPITALIZED ON IN HIS CAMPAIGN - SYSKA CONTINUES: “Ocasio-Cortez, although an equally determined opponent of Trump, spoke very little about the incumbent president. Her campaign focused on specific proposals: free education, universal healthcare, a public housing construction program, regulation of access to firearms. Instead of competing on demonizing Trump to voters in the strongest possible terms, the young activist decided to propose solutions to the problems underlying the social frustration that the current president effectively channeled during his 2015 election campaign using xenophobic slogans.” http://m.newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/robert-biedron-zmobilizuje-wyborcow-ktorzy-chca-wiecej-niz-straszenia-kaczynskim,artykuly,431770,1.html?src=HP_Section_1

-- LUBNAUER ON BIEDROŃ AS A SCHOOLGIRL IN RZ - speaks to Jacek Nizinkiewicz: “New political entities usually receive a significant novelty bonus. In this context, 5% for Biedroń's future initiative does not look encouraging and does not bode well for the project's success. Apparently, there is no longer room for the left. Or perhaps voters are already impatient with Biedroń's capriciousness, who, like a proverbial schoolgirl, would like to but is afraid to.”

-- LUBNAUER ON THE QUESTION OF WHETHER PO-N WANTS BIEDROŃ ON THEIR LISTS: “Of course, that's the whole idea of the snowball effect that Grzegorz Schetyna and I want to achieve. The challenge of the moment is: all hands on deck, and splitters overboard.”

-- LUBNAUER ON NIZINKIEWICZ'S QUESTION WHETHER SHE HAS THE IMPRESSION THAT TRZASKOWSKI IS DOING EVERYTHING TO LOSE: “Are you still beating your wife? You can't answer this question well. So I'm suspending it. Rafał Trzaskowski is an opportunity to build the Warsaw brand as a global metropolis. I also believe that he has not yet fully utilized the asset that Paweł Rabiej, a candidate for deputy mayor from Nowoczesna, represents. I care that this political tandem is more visible.” https://www.rp.pl/Nowoczesna/308229938-Katarzyna-Lubnauer-Rozlamowcy-Za-burte.html&cid=44&template=restricted

-- EUROPE OF MANY SPEEDS HAS EXISTED FOR A LONG TIME - Piotr Wójcik in GPC:“The North of the EU argues with the South about the shape of the Eurozone, and the West of the EU has a completely different view on the new budget perspective than the East. Most countries belong to the Eurozone, but a significant portion do not, the same applies to the Schengen Area. Wage disparities remain enormous. Europe of many speeds already exists. And has for a long time.”

-- WOJCIK WRITES THAT IT IS IN OUR INTEREST TO BE AT THE CENTER OF INTEGRATION: “It is in our interest to be at the center of European integration, because membership in the European Union is a pillar of our belonging to the West. However, let us not be told that the EU is a cohesive organization that we are breaking up with our sulking, and that member states are in agreement on most issues, because they are not. Let us also not be convinced that the future shape of EU reforms is already decided and all that remains for us is to agree to them (i.e., join the Eurozone) or reject them and be left behind. On the contrary, the future shape of changes is still an open matter, and in this discussion, we should be as active and assertive as possible. After all, it will be easier for us to function in the core of the EU if this EU is shaped in a way closer to the Polish perspective. Being at the center does not mean agreeing and accepting what we are told, because such an attitude is characteristic of the periphery, not the center.” https://gpcodziennie.pl/96678-europawielupredkoscijuzistnieje.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Marian Krzaklewski, Antoni Mężydło, Waldemar Dąbrowski, Andrzej Grzyb, Maciej Zakrocki, Radosław Gawlik, Paulina Olak.