state of play: 08/31/2018
-- A RECORD YEAR FOR TOTALIZATOR SPORTOWY IN NEW CONDITIONS - 300GOSPODARKI PROFILE: https://300polityka.pl/gospodarka/2018/08/30/rekordowy-rok-totalizatora-sportowego-w-nowych-warunkach-profil-300gospodarki/
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-- WILL WUJEK SAMO ZŁO RUN WITH ŚPIEWAK FOR WARSAW COUNCIL? - as Michał Wojtczuk writes in Stołeczna: "The street will be renamed Kaczyński/ Decommunization - something like that?/ This should have been done long ago/ We need to decorate the Palace of Culture" - is this song the election program of Wujek Samo Zło? Will he run in the Warsaw local government elections with the support of activist Jan Śpiewak?” http://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/7,54420,23844784,wujek-samo-zlo-wystartuje-w-wyborach-samorzadowych-z-poparciem.html
-- BARBARA NOWACKA HEADING TO PLATFORMA, WILL APPEAR AT CIVIC COALITION CONVENTION - we write in 300POLITYCE: “Barbara Nowacka was to appear at the Civic Coalition convention, which will be held next Saturday – this unofficial information circulated in the political world on Thursday. According to three independent sources, it is possible that Inicjatywa Polska would be "swallowed" by Platforma, which would mean a serious obstacle to the creation of a "new left." Even earlier, on the upcoming Saturday, the board of Inicjatywa Polska was convened, the proceedings of which may be so turbulent that our sources do not rule out a split in this already quite small organization. Left-wing politicians with whom we spoke all evening did not hide their disappointment if the rumors about Nowacka's capitulation and withdrawal from building a larger left-wing front were to be confirmed.”
-- NOWACKA DENIES AND DOESN'T DENY - 300: “Barbara Nowacka – when asked late in the evening by 300POLITYKA if she would propose Inicjatywa Polska joining KO – stated that she did not know where such information came from. "I have no such proposal planned," she added. On Saturday, the IP board will meet to discuss the pre-election situation. "It is possible that specific decisions will be made – one way or the other," suggests one person closely associated with Inicjatywa. Newsweek wrote about Nowacka's talks with PO two weeks ago, albeit about running for the Sejm, but for months it has been speculated that she would replace Danuta Huebner at the head of PO's Warsaw list in the European elections.” https://300polityka.pl/news/2018/08/31/pogloski-o-wsparciu-inicjatywy-polskiej-dla-koalicji-po-ale-nowacka-dementuje/
-- MARCIN ANTOSIEWICZ ALSO WRITES ABOUT NOWACKA IN PO IN NEWSWEEK: “The head of IP has been talking for months with Grzegorz Schetyna about joining the Civic Coalition, which Platforma Obywatelska is forming together with Nowoczesna. The talks are going so well that Nowacka's closest associate, Dariusz Joński, has received the first place on the Civic Coalition's list for the Łódź regional assembly, and she herself intends to submit a motion at the board meeting for Inicjatywa Polska to join the PO and Nowoczesna alliance. The reason? As she explains in an interview with "Newsweek," "the left does not want to cooperate" because parties prioritize their left-wing labels over implementing a left-wing program in a large coalition.”
-- NEWSWEEK ON THE SPLIT IN NOWACKA'S ASSOCIATION:"In politics, a team and the ability to implement a program are important," Barbara Nowacka repeatedly says in conversation with me, knowing that her proposal will be rejected by many activists. According to our information, the strategy of Nowacka is most criticized by members of the IP board: Tomasz Lewandowski from Poznań, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw's Bielany, Grzegorz Pietruczuk, and Warsaw councilor Paulina Piechna-Więckiewicz.”
-- NOWACKA WANTS TO SUPPORT THE LEFT BUT BIEDROŃ IS NOT INTERESTING TO HER - ANTOSIEWICZ CONTINUES: "I don't know what Robert will propose in his movement on economic and social issues. I don't know how decisively he will want to speak on freedom issues about women's equality, the right to abortion. This is not a question of his personal views, but of the strategy he will adopt," Nowacka tells us, admitting that today she neither follows nor is interested in Biedroń's plans.” http://m.newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/barbara-nowacka-z-inicjatywa-polska-dolacza-do-po-i-nowoczesnej,artykuly,432184,1.html
-- EFFECT OF 500 PLUS? LOW-INCOME WOMEN SUPPORT PIS, ALTHOUGH THEY SIDE WITH THE EU IN THE COURT DISPUTE - KRZYSZTOF PACEWICZ DISCUSSES IPSOS POLL FOR OKO:“In the August IPSOS poll for OKO.press, as many as 19% of PiS voters believe that the EU Court of Justice has the right to halt judicial reforms if it finds they violate European law. Surprisingly many, for such a usually disciplined electorate. As many as 54% of all Poles, and 73% of those who do not support PiS, hold the same view. Jarosław Kaczyński has lost the propaganda battle for the courts. We were intrigued by this group of 19% of non-orthodox PiS supporters who side with the Union in the court dispute. Who are they? It turned out that as many as 75% of non-orthodox PiS voters are women, primarily aged 18-59, meaning they have underage children. The second distinguishing factor for this group of PiS voters, besides gender, is... low income.”
-- AMONG PiS VOTERS WITH THE LOWEST INCOMES, 25% SIDE WITH THE EU ON COURT ISSUES, THEY CHOOSE PiS DUE TO SOCIAL BENEFITS - PACEWICZ CONTINUES: “Among PiS voters with the lowest incomes – below PLN 1500 – as many as 25% side with the European Union. We are likely dealing here with mothers (or women planning their first or subsequent child) who generally do not buy into PiS's narrative about the need for revolutionary changes in the state, but choose this party due to the 500 plus program and possibly other social benefits already introduced by the Law and Justice government (e.g., the PLN 300 school starter pack) and others they might expect from a party that cares so much about Polish families.”
-- NON-ORTHODOX PiS VOTERS VOTE RATIONALLY FOR SOMETHING THAT WILL IMPROVE THEIR LIVING CONDITIONS: “It is evident that the non-orthodox electorate does not strongly identify with Law and Justice. These are mainly young and middle-aged women, often in difficult financial situations, who likely vote rationally – for a party that offers them something that has improved their quality of life and expect further "plus" programs.” https://oko.press/efekt-500-niezamozne-kobiety-glosuja-na-pis-choc-popieraja-ue-w-sporze-o-sady-sondaz/
-- TRZASKOWSKI ANNOUNCES SLOGAN, GUZIAŁ CLAIMS IT'S PLAGIARISM - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2018/08/31/
-- CRITICISM OF TRZASKOWSKI'S "BLUNDER" ON TWITTER - DOMINIKA DŁUGOSZ-GIERSZEWSKA: “So Trzaskowski's campaign team nicely blundered with the slogan for Warsaw. Amateurs everywhere.”https://twitter.com/domidlugosz/status/1035455166055673856?s=12
-- BARTŁOMIEJ RADZIEJEWSKI FROM NOWA KONFEDERACJA: “I bet that Trzaskowski's campaign team simply didn't notice it. Which is, of course, a mistake at the level of tying shoelaces. Most of the people in this formation are so self-absorbed that they barely see the external reality. It is with this, above all, that they lose, not with PiS.” https://twitter.com/radziejewski/status/1035445106806087680?s=12
-- SEBASTIAN KALETA FROM JAKI'S CAMPAIGN TEAM:“Rafał @trzaskowski_ a few months ago mocked 'słoiki' (migrants from rural areas moving to cities), after which he decided that he would promote himself with a slogan about connection, borrowed from @PiotrGuzial. His campaign team is completely lost.” https://twitter.com/sjkaleta/status/1035451150831628288?s=12
-- WILL PIS BREAK THE OLD GUARD? - FAKT ON A POLL GIVING MAJCHROWSKI A MARGINAL LEAD OVER WASSERMANN: https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/nowy-sondaz-wyborczy/3x3zqhg
-- ON THE FRONT PAGE OF GW, WORDS FROM THE FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER SAYING FRANCE WILL NOT PAY FOR POPULISTS, AND IN THE ARTICLE, A COMMENT FROM KONRAD SZYMAŃSKI: “According to Szymański, Warsaw has been working on "potential budget negotiation scenarios" for two years. "I fear that the room for maneuver for many member states is narrower today than before. This makes these negotiations the most difficult in the history of the EU. This is a real problem," he says. How will the dispute with the EU over the rule of law affect budget negotiations? According to Szymański, it is a "rhetorical pretext." "If it weren't there, there would be another one. It is primarily those countries that simultaneously declare themselves very pro-European that want to pay less to the EU. This is a strange paradox," explains the Polish minister.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75248,23842435,szef-francuskiej-dyplomacji-nie-bedziemy-juz-placic-na-polske.html
-- DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE OPPOSITION'S BILLBOARDS, OVERCONFIDENCE HAS ALREADY UNDONE MORE THAN ONE TEAM - FRAGMENT OF PIOTR SKWIECIŃSKI'S TEXT FROM THE INTERNET: “The liberal opposition is unbelievable in the role of defender of "ordinary Poles." But its current campaign should not be underestimated. Because overconfidence has already undone more than one ruling team.”
-- NO CAMPAIGN HAS EVER BEEN SO LYING - SKWIECIŃSKI CONTINUES ABOUT BILLBOARDS:“Of course, it is the opposition's roguish right to generalize everything and hold the rulers responsible for everything. PiS itself did this many times before 2015, and was not always right. Nevertheless, the current campaign is special in this regard. I repeat – lying. Not in the sense of the untruthfulness of some descriptions of the situation contained in the slogans (e.g., "everything is getting more expensive"), but the obvious suggestion (although, of course, the billboard creators would deny it with pharisaic indignation) that there is a logical cause-and-effect relationship between "PiS taking millions" (I understand this refers to the infamous bonuses) and the words after the comma. That is, for example, that inflation started because ministers received bonuses. Something so intellectually monstrously primitive and appealing to the way of understanding the world by the least mentally developed individuals (yes, this is a synonym for the word "stupid") has not existed in Polish politics until now, at least on such a scale. Not even the SLD campaign in 2001, then considered the height of demagoguery, was like this. Nor has it reached – until now – this level, the ongoing wrangling of Platforma and PiS since 2005.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/410055-skwiecinski-w-sieci-nie-lekcewazyc-billboardow-opozycji
-- SKWIECIŃSKI ON THE MOTIVES BEHIND THE IMPEACHMENT MOTION LODGED BY SCHETYNA: “And this is the absurdity of impeachment. Directly, it could not bring anything, for the reasons described above. But the whole farce would take place during the presidential campaign. It would allow, during this campaign, to hound the incumbent, but also a candidate president. To present him as a figure harmful to the state. Which – as current opposition members hope – would influence the Polish voters' verdict. So that a new, proper president would occupy the palace on Krakowskie Przedmieście. Of course, nothing currently indicates that this is a realistic scenario, because its first element is the opposition winning the parliamentary elections, and the polls so far are decidedly unfavorable to them. But if this situation were to change despite everything, it is likely that the liberals would try to realize this vision.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/410125-o-co-chodzi-z-impeachmentem-sens-opozycyjnego-scenariusza
-- THE STRATEGY OF APPEALING TO CATHOLICISM MAY BE EFFECTIVE - writes Adam Szostkiewicz: “This strategy may prove effective because – as the poll shows – right-wing views, and often this means support for the Church, are strongest in the youngest generation, and among PiS sympathizers, Morawiecki's words were liked by an overwhelming majority of respondents. Right-wing leaders therefore know what they are doing. The majority of Polish Catholics are not concerned with disputes about the secular nature of the state, the democratic rights of non-Catholics and atheists. PiS is systematically and consistently building a foundation for a modern version of the Polish nation's Catholic state. This was the goal of the extreme right before the war. The war and communism prevented the realization of this project. Now the "united right" is opening the gate.” https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1762038,1,premier-zawierza-polske-czarnej-madonnie-a-polacy-sa-za.read
-- JACEK WOJCIECHOWICZ ON THE FACT THAT 2 NEW METRO LINES ARE POPULISM - says in Gazeta Stołeczna: “– Of course, first of all, the second metro line must be completed. Extending the first or second line, for example, to Zielona Białołęka or Ursus, may also make sense. We certainly need to start building the third metro line and consider its further route, beyond Gocław. That much is realistic within 10 years, two terms. The claim that a fourth and fifth line can be built in this time is simply a lie.”
-- WOJCIECHOWICZ ON PARTY CRONIES: “Why do we need these throngs of party activists on supervisory boards, in municipal companies? After all, political parties go into local government elections for only two reasons. No, I apologize, for one: for money. Because they need to employ several thousand activists. And whoever has activists, has workers for propaganda, for distributing leaflets. This is preying on the healthy urban organism. I don't have 3,000 cronies. I will hold competitions, I will open the town hall to young people. The campaign is just beginning. There are still two months left.” http://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/7,54420,23843746,wojciechowicz-dwie-linie-metra-w-dwie-kadencje-takie-obietnice.html
-- MONIKA OLEJNIK ON THE SUCCESSES OF POLISH CULTURE VERSUS POLISH POLITICS: “We can be proud of Polish cultural creators. Olga Tokarczuk received the prestigious Booker Prize for her book "Flights." Mariusz Treliński was awarded a standing ovation at the Aix-en-Provence festival. Krzysztof Warlikowski is essentially a national treasure. Rafał Zawierucha will play Roman Polański in Quentin Tarantino's film. Paweł Pawlikowski was named best director at Cannes. Małgorzata Szumowska – winner of the Golden Bear at Berlinale – is a juror at this year's Venice Film Festival, where Agata Buzek will appear in the competition film "Pearl." Against this backdrop, the lethargy of Polish politics is evident. The rulers are somehow stifled by the European Union – although they say they do not want Polexit. They are annoyed that someone wants something from us. They would prefer not to abide by the Lisbon Treaty, signed by President Lech Kaczyński.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23844373,narodowe-wybieranie-olejnik.html
-- THE LEFT SHOULD EXPLOIT THE PEDOPHILIA SCANDAL - JAKUB MAJMUREK IN GW: “For this quiet secularization to bring about changes like in Ireland, someone must politicize it. The outrage over the Pennsylvania scandal, which echoes across the ocean to Poland, allows us to say in a favorable conjuncture what the left has always said: no Church can be above the law, civil society and the state have a duty to require church institutions to comply with jointly established rules. There would be no pedophilia scandals if the Church did not function in many places as a state within a state. If the state had not relinquished significant areas of social life to it, first and foremost education. Undoubtedly, the left should use this in the upcoming election cycle. A sensibily formulated secularization program will allow it to reach new voter groups and mobilize its own voters. This is especially necessary when, due to the excellent economic situation and the 500 plus program, the left has no chance of using economic issues as decisive for the upcoming electoral clashes.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,23844372,skandal-pedofilski-w-kosciele-nie-odmieni-oblicza-tej-ziemi.html
-- FAKT ON THE FRONT PAGE ABOUT KOSINIAK'S PARTNER: https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/szef-psl-wladyslaw-kosiniak-kamysz-sie-zakochal/z92h96y
-- PRIME MINISTER MORAWIECKI EXTENDS CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILY OF PRIME MINISTER MILLER - obituaries in the press.
-- 2nd anniversary of the death of Beata Kolis.
-- BIRTHDAYS: Stefan Frankiewicz, Henryk Woźniakowski.
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