-- FOLLOWING INTERVENTION BY THE MINISTER OF INTERIOR AND ADMINISTRATION, THE VOIVODE DECLARES MOURNING IN THE POMERANIAN VOIVODESHIP - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/01/15

-- AGATA SZCZĘŚNIAK ON TVP INFO'S INCITEMENT: "One word: shame. Or rather, shamelessness" – this is publicist Łukasz Warzecha's comment on how TVP's "Wiadomości" (News) presented the assassination of Adamowicz. Blogger Kataryna is more blunt: "For something like this, I have an inelegant term: ' dziennikur...two' [a crude portmanteau of 'dziennikarz' (journalist) and 'kurwa' (whore)]. If I were Ziemiec, I would cry into my pillow every night. Not necessarily sober."

https://oko.press/wiadomosci-szczuja-w-dniu-smierci-adamowicza-winny-owsiak-i-tusk/

-- IF PIS WANTED TO DO SOMETHING DECENT, THEY WOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT MP PAWŁOWICZ - PIOTR ZAREMBA ON FB: "I agree with the priest's remarks. With one reservation, however. If PiS genuinely wanted to do something decent, they would do something about MP Pawłowicz. No, I don't think she is guilty of the crime of a mentally unstable criminal who was released from prison a month ago. But when her colleagues called for silence and prayer, she broadcast attacks on Owsiak at night, presenting him as guilty. It would be worth starting with works on human empathy. "Wiadomości" certainly won't start; in a classically propagandistic piece, they just noticed sharp statements from Tusk, Schetyna, Sikorski, Komorowski, and Wałęsa, and... no one else. But enough with the hate speech! These people will serve propaganda even on the day of the world's end."

https://m.facebook.com/100011509202636/posts/709878999405734/

-- THE AUTHORITIES TURN A BLIND EYE INSTEAD OF SHOWING FIRMNESS - Bogusław Chrabota in Rzeczpospolita: "Public authorities turn a blind eye to such supposedly harmless happenings, instead of showing exceptional firmness and inflexibility in this matter. In this sense, they are as responsible for the events in Gdańsk as the internet haters and the authors of hateful magazine covers. Furthermore, contemporary times, where the line between the world of pathology and brutality and the real world is blurring, carry the risk of intensifying the wave of aggression. In such an environment, the fear that the intensification of political struggle on the occasion of three consecutive election campaigns could give rise to more Niewiadomskis, Cybas, or Stefan W.s becomes understandable. This makes our civic responsibility for the standards of Polish public life even greater."

https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/301149897-Chrabota-Koniec-wieku-niewinnosci.html

-- ADAM MICHNIK ON THE BLOW TO THE CORE OF DEMOCRACY: "The white and red flag of the Republic of Poland is draped in mourning today. The murder of Paweł Adamowicz is a blow to the essence, to the core of Polish democracy."

http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24362800,zegnaj-drogi-pawle.html

-- MADMEN FEED ON OUR HATRED - Krzysztof Jedlak, Editor-in-Chief of Dziennik Gazeta Prawna: "One must be very careful when attributing any responsibility, let alone guilt, for violence, especially fatal violence, to anyone other than the perpetrators. However, one cannot escape the impression – and not just an impression – that Polish public life, and consequently our social life in general, has been overflowing with mutual hostility and contempt for many years. 'And it is strange that man despises man for so many years.' Aggression and boorishness proliferate from all sides with great force – but contrary to the expectations of the usually silent majority and to their dismay. 'This world is strange, the world of human affairs, sometimes it's shameful to admit. And yet, it often happens that someone kills with a bad word as if with a knife.' Let's not make it easier for madmen to cross further boundaries, let's not fuel their madness. They kill not only with words."

https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/opinie/artykuly/589165,pawel-adamowicz-nozownik-atak-morderstwo-smierc-prezydent-gdanska-stefan-w.html

-- IN THE FACE OF DEATH, POLITICS MUST TAKE A BACKSEAT - ŁUKASZ PAWŁOWSKI IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: "So I will remind you that we do not know this. We do not know what state of mind the attacker was in, we do not know what he was doing recently, we do not know when and under what circumstances he decided to attack. And the task of a journalist (Paweł Rabiej was once a journalist too) is to base their statements on facts, not on 'wishful' interpretations of reality. One could just as well say that the 'culture of violence' promoted by video games or football hooligans is behind the attack on Paweł Adamowicz, because who among us knows for sure whether the attacker isn't a fan of 'shooters' or a friend of stadium thugs? Honestly, I don't understand what motivates the authors of comments like those quoted above. I don't understand not because I want to defend PiS or Public Television, but because in such moments PiS and TVP don't matter. Similarly, PO and the opposition. In the face of a politician's death, politics must take a backseat. Someone might say that PiS politicians behaved similarly after a party activist was tragically attacked in Łódź. Frankly, I don't care much. If the justification for one's meanness is that someone else has committed the same meanness before, then we can throw morality in the trash."

-- THEY DON'T HAVE TO LIKE EACH OTHER TO MARCH TOGETHER - FURTHER FROM PAWŁOWSKI: "I can imagine the highest representatives of the authorities and the opposition participating in one of the many marches against violence organized in Polish cities. They walk in the front rows, in silence, just as the most important French and world politicians walked together after the terrorist attacks in Paris. They don't have to like each other, they don't even have to talk to each other, they don't have to (and shouldn't even) speak after the march. It's enough for such an image of momentary unity in the face of tragedy to emerge and be sent out to Poland. Through all the media. President Duda has already come up with such an initiative, and I hope it will come to fruition. Because if we cannot jointly condemn even a murder, it means we are good for nothing. An attack on a state official – regardless of their background or views – is not an attack on him alone. It is an attack on all of us, on the state and society. From the highest authorities, opposition politicians, and the media, we must expect one thing in these moments – decency. We can deal with finding causes and discussing the culprits later."

https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2019/01/14/pawlowski-adamowicz-gdansk-rzad-opozycja/

-- MICHAŁ OKOŃSKI ON HOW WE ARE IMMERSING OURSELVES DEEPER IN SOWING HATRED INSTEAD OF SILENCE: "The thing is, silence is not media-friendly, it doesn't make for front-page news – and that's probably why we shouldn't be surprised that it wasn't observed this time either. Most media outlets and social media platforms look as if they were just waiting for such an opportunity – and Stefan W.'s attack serves them to confirm long-held theses, just as the murder of Marek Rosiak in the PiS parliamentary office in 2010, the suicide of Piotr Szczęsny, or the Smoleńsk catastrophe served them before (to mention only cases where someone's life was at stake). We are sinking deeper and deeper into political struggle and the sowing of hatred, and it truly doesn't matter now who started it or who added more fuel to the fire."

https://www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/po-smierci-pawla-adamowicza-157194

-- JAGIENKA WILCZAK ASKS IF THERE WAS PERMISSION TO ATTACK ADAMOWICZ: "Why did this happen, why did some scoundrel attack Him specifically? Was it because it seemed to be impunity? Because there was a tacit approval to attack Adamowicz, without mincing words? Why did it have to happen during the final of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity, of which Adamowicz was a devoted musician, devoted for many years?"

https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1778448,1,gdansk-bez-adamowicza-wosp-bez-owsiaka.read

-- ALEKSANDER HALL REMEMBERS ADAMOWICZ IN WIADOMO.CO: "I think that if not for this tragic death, he could have had a future in national politics. It desperately lacks people with great class, loyal to themselves and their convictions, and talented at the same time. And Paweł Adamowicz was just such a person. This is a great loss for Gdańsk and for Poland. For his loved ones, and I was among them, it is a very personal loss."

-- HALL ON TVP'S HUNTING CAMPAIGNS: "The atmosphere, in which there are too many negative emotions and slander in public life, in which a television calling itself public television organizes hunting campaigns against people like Paweł Adamowicz, could have contributed to the stimulation of negative emotions, frustration, and hatred."

https://wiadomo.co/prof-aleksander-hall-to-byl-czlowiek-ktory-mial-jedna-twarz/

-- ŁUKASZ ROGOJSZ IN GAZETA.PL REMEMBERS A VIDEO THAT WAS ALSO SHOWN IN THE "FAKTY" REPORT: "After the stabbing of President Paweł Adamowicz, a video from a recent local election campaign gained popularity on social media. It was made by the campaign team of another candidate for the Gdańsk mayor's office – Kacper Płażyński. In the less than half-minute video, you can see Adamowicz and Płażyński meeting while distributing donuts to residents in the morning. It seems like nothing, but the conversation is full of mutual kindness and conducted in a cheerful atmosphere. A somewhat exotic sight in the realities of the bloody Polish-Polish war."

http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,24363564,piec-twarzy-pawla-adamowicza-jak-zapamietamy-zmarlego-prezydenta.html

-- HE BECAME A DECISIVE POLITICIAN - ANDRZEJ GAJCY IN Onet: "Adamowicz certainly was not afraid to provoke controversy and engage in disputes with political opponents. He openly criticized the PiS government, among other things, for the appropriation of courts or the destruction of the Constitutional Tribunal. Years ago, dismissively called 'Pudding' by some for his lack of distinctiveness, others considered him a defender of democracy and a promoter of progressive European values. After '50', he became a decisive politician, evoking emotions, an active participant in debates."

-- GAJCY ON ADAMOWICZ'S CAMPAIGN STYLE: "The way he conducted his campaign says pretty much everything about him. He spent most of his time on the streets of Gdańsk, where, during conversations with ordinary residents, he convinced them of his vision for the city and his social mission. What was that vision? He wanted to be the president of all Gdańsk residents, without exception. And that is likely how he will be remembered in the hearts and minds of many Poles."

https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/pawel-adamowicz-nie-zyje-odszedl-prezydent-wszystkich-gdanszczan/dfzhemk

-- HE GREW IN BOTH SUBSTANCE AND INNER STRENGTH - RAFAŁ KALUKIN IN POLITYKA: "However, I observed his subsequent terms from a distance. We sometimes crossed paths in passing, and managed to exchange a few words. I had the impression that each year he greeted me with a stronger handshake. His face became more expressive, his words carried more weight, and he gained both substance and inner strength. He was increasingly unlike his former self. Of course, 20 years in the same office is a long time. But people more often become sluggish, bureaucratic, fall into routine. With Paweł Adamowicz, it was the opposite. He emerged from formlessness (not by chance was he maliciously called 'pudding' in the past!), then gradually gained self-awareness, crystallized, as if he was becoming himself and heading somewhere. Unfortunately, we will never know where. But his presidency will long remain a point of reference, a kind of caesura in the recent history of Gdańsk. No one can take that away from him."

https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1778580,1,jak-zmienial-sie-gdansk-i-pawel-adamowicz.read?src=mt

-- EDWIN BENDYK ON HOW ADAMOWICZ FOUGHT AGAINST HATE SPEECH: "It's hard to believe, hard to recover. Paweł Adamowicz is dead, a man whose energy fueled and could have moved not only Gdańsk for many more years. He was murdered by a specific perpetrator, but a much more dangerous force killed him – hatred. The murderer must be judged and punished, he can be isolated, but hatred cannot be locked in a prison cell with him. No court can stop hatred, only we can do it. Paweł Adamowicz showed how to approach this task; his last words about Gdańsk and the generosity of its residents during the Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity were the best example. When a campaign of racist, even Nazi rhetoric against refugees and immigrants was underway, Paweł Adamowicz, together with the residents of Gdańsk, made Gdańsk an open city, implementing exemplary immigration policy. He earned recognition for this beyond Poland's borders."

https://antymatrix.blog.polityka.pl/2019/01/14/pawel-adamowicz-pozegnanie/?nocheck=1

-- THE CHECK WAS A BAD OMEN. HE WENT OUT AND KILLED - headline in Rzeczpospolita.

-- A PIS POLITICIAN IN TOMASZ ŻÓŁCIAK'S ARTICLE IN DGP ON THE POLITICAL PROBLEM WITH SECURING EVENTS: "We ask one of the PiS politicians about possible actions. Some changes are necessary, but it's a delicate matter. When we classified Przystanek Woodstock as a high-risk event, we were bombarded with criticism that we wanted to suppress Jerzy Owsiak's festival. On the other hand, when Poland discussed the 'Duma i Nowoczesność' association and the problem of Nazi movements, we proposed an amendment to the law on public collections. It ended with an uproar that it was an attack on non-governmental organizations, and especially on WOŚP," says a politician from the ruling party."

https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/polityka/artykuly/589196,smierc-ktora-kaze-zadac-pytanie-o-bezpieczenstwo.html

-- DGP ON CHANGES PIS IS CONSIDERING IN THE TAX SYSTEM - as written by Marek Chądzyński and Grzegorz Osiecki: "Various solutions are being considered, from raising the tax-free allowance to a new lower PIT rate," a government member tells us. "Work on possible solutions has been ongoing for several weeks."

https://gospodarka.dziennik.pl/podatki/artykuly/589163,pis-podatki-kwota-wolna-przychod.html

-- RZ ON GERMANY'S HESITATION REGARDING NORDSTREAM: "The letter, revealed by 'Bild' on Sunday evening, caused outrage on the Spree. All the more so as Grenell, associated with the alternative right, has been accused several times of interfering in Germany's internal affairs. However, the warning may deepen growing skepticism in Germany towards the $11 billion investment, which was theoretically supposed to be completed by the end of this year. In April last year, Chancellor Merkel admitted that the project has a geopolitical dimension, not just an economic one. As Bloomberg reported, at the end of last year, SPD representative on the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, Nils Schmid, stated that Nord Stream 2 should not be launched until Ukraine and Russia sign a new gas transit agreement. The Social Democrats have so far unequivocally pushed for the construction of Nord Stream 2."

https://www.rp.pl/Swiat/301149906-Niemcy-wahaja-sie-z-Nord-Stream-2.html&template=restricted

-- BIRTHDAYS: Agnieszka Romaszewska, Paweł Stremski, Jonny Daniels, Ewa Lieder, Danuta Walewska, Jacek Protas, Michał Pihowicz.