-- JOACHIM BRUDZIŃSKI ON BEING THE LAST TO SCARE PEOPLE WITH GAYS - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/03/11/

-- ŁÓDŹ PLATFORM IS FURIOUS WITH SCHETYNA - DZIENNIK ŁÓDZKI'S JEDYNKA ON COUNTIES NOT DELEGATING ANYONE TO THE LISTS BECAUSE THE PLATFORM GOT THIRD PLACE FOR JOANNA SKRZYDLEWSKA, WHILE PAWEŁ BEJDA FROM PSL IS HIGHER. CURSE WORDS WERE REPORTEDLY EXCHANGED DURING A ROW BETWEEN ZDANOWSKA AND SCHETYNA - writes the Łódź newspaper.

-- PAWEŁ BEJDA ON KE'S NUMBER TWO IN ŁÓDŹ: https://dzienniklodzki.pl/wybory-do-pe-posel-pawel-bejda-bedzie-kandydatem-psl-w-eurowyborach-z-listy-koalicji-europejskiej-w-okregu-lodzkim/ar/13951159#wiadomosci

-- AGATA SZCZEŚNIAK ON TVP'S INCITEMENT AGAINST DULKIEWICZ - SHE WON'T GET RID OF SECURITY QUICKLY BECAUSE OF WIADOMOŚCI: "PiS has a program, Civic Coalition has no program, but the mayor of Gdańsk buys vodka in a discount store. The purchase of alcohol is intended to discredit not only her but the entire opposition. This is the story presented to millions of viewers by yesterday's 'Wiadomości'. 'Thanks to TVP, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz won't get rid of her security anytime soon.' https://oko.press/1-wodka-2-cole-3-ochroniarzy-wiadomosci-atakuja-prezydent-gdanska-aleksandre-dulkiewicz/

-- PIOTR WÓJCIK IN KRYTYKA ON THE IRRESPONSIBLE DEMAND FOR RAPID EURO ADOPTION: 'Slovakia is not an isolated case – I chose it because, economically and socially, it is the country closest to Poland among the Eurozone members. A comparison of Poland and Slovenia would be similar. When Slovenia adopted the euro in 2007, its development level was 87 percent of the EU average, while ours was 53 percent. In 2017, Slovenia reached 85 percent – losing 2 percentage points to the average, while we gained 17 points in that time.' https://krytykapolityczna.pl/gospodarka/euro-w-2024-to-nieodpowiedzialnosc-wojcik/

-- RENATA GROCHAL IN NEWSWEEK ON SZCZERSKI THE MAJORDOMO: 'They say in the palace that the doors to his office are often open so he can control who enters Andrzej Duda's office. He takes such care of the head of state's comfort that malicious people call him a 'majordomo.' – When the president travels abroad, Szczerski makes sure he lacks nothing, that he has the best hotel. Andrzej likes foreign visits, he travels the world, sees the sights, and doesn't pay for it – says someone familiar with the palace's inner workings. – But does anything come of it for Poland? Not really – he adds sarcastically.'

-- THE PRESIDENT'S WIFE WAS VERY IRRITATED WITH SZCZERSKI - GROCHAL CONTINUES: 'It took the president's chief of staff, Krzysztof Szczerski, as long as three days to realize he made a mistake by saying on Polskie Radio Program 3 about teachers demanding raises that they 'are not obligated to live in celibacy' and that 'social transfers, such as 500+, also apply to them.' This statement enraged teacher unions, who announced a strike, as well as the opposition, which demanded Szczerski's dismissal. But not only them, because – as one of my interlocutors in the presidential palace admits – President's wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, who is a teacher herself, was also very irritated.' https://www.newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/majordomus/kh1rd7f

-- WIN AGAINST PIS BY AT LEAST ONE SEAT - TOMASZ SAWCZUK ANNOUNCES AN INTERVIEW FOR KULTURA LIBERALNA WITH SCHETYNA: 'In the conversation, which we will publish tomorrow in 'Kultura Liberalna,' Schetyna clearly defines his political goal: in the European Parliament elections, he wants to win against PiS by at least one seat. This would show that Jarosław Kaczyński's party's power is slowly crumbling. Schetyna's method is also clearly defined. The Civic Platform leader does not want to compete with PiS on promises and generally does not want to talk much about the political program. Within PO, there is a conviction that if the party proposes too specific postulates, PiS will later announce them as their own, taking away the opposition's tools for action.'

-- MATH AND TIME - SAWCZUK ON SCHETYNA'S METHOD: 'Instead of tempting Poles with more or less attractive proposals, Schetyna has concluded that it is necessary to build the largest opposition force, and the rest will be handled by mathematics and time working together. Mathematics is important because a large electoral bloc will be rewarded by the electoral law. But time is perhaps even more important.' https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2019/03/11/sawczuk-w-poniedzialek-schetyna-i-tusk-to-polityczne-blizniaki/

-- PLATFORM IN A TRAP SET BY PIS - WITOLD GADOMSKI IN GW: 'The Platform has fallen into a trap set by PiS. If it supports Kaczyński's proposals, as Leszczyna announced, voters will ask: don't you have your own? If it pushes its own ideas further, reducing budget revenues or increasing expenditures, it will come across as an even more irresponsible party than PiS.'

-- THESE ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF TREATING VOTERS LIKE IGNORAMUSES; SOCIAL VOTERS WILL SUPPORT PIS ANYWAY, PO SHOULD NOT VOTE FOR HANDOUTS - GADOMSKI CONTINUES IN GW: 'These are the consequences of treating voters as ignoramuses who have no economic knowledge whatsoever and react only to populist promises. Social voters will, in their majority, support PiS anyway, as Kaczyński's party offers simple handouts, doesn't bother with nuances, and has populism emblazoned on its banners. More conscious voters expect PO to halt the devastation of the rule of law, depoliticize the economy (i.e., resume privatization), and pursue responsible fiscal and foreign policies. PO voters, as studies have shown, know perfectly well that the government does not have its own money and that by giving to some, it takes from others. The damage is done, and now PO should discreetly clean it up. It should not vote for PiS's ideas using simple arguments – we don't trust this government, we don't know the real state of finances. We will propose our own, better solutions when we gain power.'

-- PLATFORM SHOULD FOCUS ON TOPICS UNCOMFORTABLE FOR PIS, NOT COMPETE ON POPULISM - GADOMSKI'S CONCLUSION: 'In the campaign, PO and the entire opposition should focus on issues that are uncomfortable for PiS – numerous scandals, the government's anti-European policy (many of whose members dream of salaries in euros), the violation of the rule of law, the increasingly poorly functioning state institutions that are paralyzed by the chaos of PiS's rule. If the opposition competes with PiS on populist proposals, it will lose, even if it removes Kaczyński's party from power in the autumn and has to implement promises harmful to Poland made by its opponents. http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24534194,platforma-w-pulapce-populizmu.html#S.-K.P-B.1-L.6.glowka

-- SCAREMONGERING ABOUT HANDOUTS LEGITIMIZES PIS PROPAGANDA - JACEK ŻAKOWSKI IN GW. ŻAKOWSKI WRITES ABOUT EMPATHETIC LIBERALISM: 'Scaring people with 'handouts,' 'entitlement,' 'socialism' only legitimizes PiS propaganda that if the opposition wins, it will take away everything PiS has given. (...) The opposition's liberal populism only serves authoritarian power. The only effective remedy for empathetic authoritarianism is the empathy of democrats. The effective response to the compassionate conservatism of authoritarian power is the compassionate liberalism of the opposition.'

-- THE OPPOSITION MUST FIRMLY CUT TIES WITH CELEBRITIES WHO DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT DEMOCRACY FALLS WHEN THERE IS NO COHESION ARISING FROM EMPATHY - ŻAKOWSKI CONTINUES: 'The matter is serious. The stakes are democracy, the rule of law, Poland's place in the world, and the future of the European order. In the long run, these values cannot be defended if the opposition fails to firmly distance itself from celebrities who do not understand that democracy collapses when there is a lack of cohesion arising from credible empathy.' http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24535636,potrzebny-jest-nam-empatyczny-liberalizm.html

-- AFTER SOMETHING LIKE THIS, NO ONE WILL BELIEVE IN A CENTRIST MORAWIECKI - JAKUB MAJMUREK IN NEWSWEEK: 'After something like this, no one will believe in a centrist Morawiecki – it is too evident how extreme a party stands behind him. The radical polarization of the political scene and PiS's shift to the far right in recent years already made it difficult for PiS to break out of its bubble. Focusing the campaign on the 'fight against homophobia' will ultimately tie PiS to the right. From this position, it is impossible to effectively govern Poland – even if such a formation wins, it will face constant resistance from a significant part of society and a never-ending political civil war.' https://www.newsweek.pl/opinie/morawieckiemu-nie-pomoga-wywiady-w-tvn-jesli-osia-kampanii-uczyni-nagonke-na-gejow/hxc0404

-- PIS ARGUMENTS ARE LIKE FROM A FASCIST ZOO AND PAUPER BLOGS - MICHAŁ SUTOWSKI IN KRYTYKA: 'When in trouble, it's worth resorting to moral panic. And the easiest way to provoke it is through concern for children. Threatened, harmed, demoralized, reshaped into someone else's mold by gender ideology, homosexuality, and the culture of death. Along with the PiS leader's speech at the party's regional convention in Jasionka on Saturday, arguments straight out of a fascist zoo, pauper blogs masquerading as scientific periodicals, as well as pubs serving five beers at once and forums of men trembling for their masculinity – have entered the mainstream.'

-- THE HARM DONE TO THE YOUNG SHOULD BE ASSOCIATED WITH GAYS, NOT WITH FATHER JANKOWSKI AND SISTER BERNADETTA - SUTOWSKI CONTINUES: 'By launching an onslaught against 'enemies of the family' and alleged 'sexualization of children,' Kaczyński has reached for a topic that has not previously ignited the politically conservative majority of Poles; according to internal research, even PiS voters are not as homophobic as one might think. Therefore, the simplest and most disgusting tactic was employed: provoking fear for children and twisting the narrative so that the slogan 'harm to the youngest' is associated with gays and feminists rather than Monsignor Jankowski, the parish priest from Tylawa, and Sister Bernadetta. Can a topic framed this way be 'hostilely intercepted'? Can concepts be turned upside down and the real harm to the youngest made into a truly political issue?' https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/kaczynski-jasionka-lgbt-dzieci-komentarz/

-- PIS IS NOT BREEDING A COALITION PARTNER ON THE RIGHT - ŁUKASZ LIPIŃSKI ON POLITYKA PORTAL: 'Saturday's PiS convention in Jasionka doesn't suggest that. The main element of Jarosław Kaczyński's message was the announcement of an anti-gay crusade under the slogan 'stop the sexualization of children.' PiS likely hopes that a large portion of voters is negatively disposed towards LGBT communities and will buy into this rhetoric, just as they bought into the scaremongering about refugees and 'parasites' in 2015. Such a narrative is simultaneously calculated to win voters from the far right. So, it appears that no 'breeding of a coalition partner' by PiS will occur in this campaign. And incidentally, it's interesting whether PiS will manage to maintain a centrist course at the same time. Urban voters might not like this kind of rhetoric at all. But that's a separate issue.' https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1785264,1,czy-pis-hoduje-sobie-koalicjanta.read?src=mt

-- ADAM SZOSTKIEWICZ ON PIS'S THREE TRICKS FOR THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS: https://szostkiewicz.blog.polityka.pl/2019/03/09/trzy-chwyty-pis-na-eurowybory/?nocheck=1

-- MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ WRITES THAT TRZASKOWSKI SAVED PIS: 'Thirdly – and most importantly – the LGBT issue is simply uncomfortable for the Civic Coalition. Why? Because there is no consensus within PO itself regarding such a left-wing course. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz distanced herself from Trzaskowski's actions, and Giertych's text stating that the mayor of Warsaw made a mistake was recommended on social media by influential PO politicians like former Minister of the Treasury Włodzimierz Karpiński. Furthermore, what is happening in the capital is also a significant problem for the conservative electorate of the Polish People's Party. By announcing their entry into the culture war, Kaczyński is putting Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz in an increasingly difficult position. As a result of just a few sentences spoken at the PiS convention, Kaczyński has achieved quite good results.' https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/190319990-Szuldrzynski-Jak-Trzaskowski-uratowal-PiS.html

-- PLATFORM HAS CHANGED AND REGRETS NOT INTRODUCING UNIONS - BARBARA NOWACKA IN A CONVERSATION WITH JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: 'For eight years in power, PO hedged on the issue of civil partnerships and did nothing. And that was a mistake. But the Platform has changed. I look at Rafał Trzaskowski, Jacek Jaśkowiak, and I see a change. Grzegorz Schetyna has also changed. PO regrets today that it did not introduce civil partnerships.'

-- NOWACKA: AFTER THE EP ELECTIONS, THE COALITION WILL INTRODUCE UNIONS: 'We discussed this within the Coalition, and after the parliamentary elections, if we manage to defeat PiS, civil partnerships will be introduced. I am convinced of this after discussions within the Coalition.'

-- POLAND SHOULD QUICKLY ADOPT THE EURO - NOWACKA CONTINUES AT NIZINKIEWICZ: 'I believe that Poland should adopt the euro. Those countries that have a common currency will be defended. We are in a good economic situation and will remain so for a long time with good policies. We should adopt the euro not only for economic reasons but, above all, for political and security reasons.' https://www.rp.pl/Wywiady-i-rozmowy/190319968-Barbara-Nowacka-Wprowadzimy-zwiazki-partnerskie.html&template=restricted

-- PIS COPIES FROM FASCISTS - MICHAŁ DANIELEWSKI IN GW: 'So, if after Saturday's PiS convention you were wondering what the ruling camp will fight for in the European Parliament, Karczewski's plagiarized graphic from fascists explains it most clearly: it will want to push Poland out of the Union, and then exclude from the nationalist 'community' all dissenting and genetically impure citizens: Muslims, Jews, gays, and lesbians.' http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24535870,pod-narodowym-parasolem-bez-muzulmanow-gejow-i-zydow-czyli.html

-- KACZYŃSKI HAS FOUND A NEW ENEMY BUT MAY OVERREACH - AGATA KONDZIŃSKA IN GW: 'But this is short-sighted politics, aimed at the ruling camp's most ardent electorate. An attempt to mobilize its most fervent followers in a year of double elections. However, PiS may overreach and cause the electorate of large cities, tired of the constant scaremongering about refugees or gays, to mobilize and vote against the ruling formation. In an IPSOS poll for OKO.press in February, as many as 56% of respondents were in favor of granting gays and lesbians the right to enter into civil partnerships, while 38% were against. It is evident that Poles are not as afraid of difference as the tolerant President Kaczyński and his activists. And in the May European Parliament elections, they may express this.' http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24532698,straszac-seksualizacja-dzieci-prezes-kaczynski-moze-przelicytowac.html

-- PIS WANTS TO POUR A LARGE AMOUNT OF CASH INTO THE ECONOMY - GRZEGORZ OSIECKI IN DGP: 'Now PiS has received a chance to realize its dream scenario. And it wants to make the most of it. After all, these will not just be election promises. Before the elections, the bag of candies will become a reality. Hardly any team has structured its agenda so one-sidedly with such a short timeframe for evaluating benefits and costs. Because when you talk to people from PiS, you see that the promised package has two goals. First, political – to tip the electoral scales in favor of PiS. Second – to pour a large amount of cash into the economy at the onset of a slowdown, to delay and mitigate its effects. As one person privy to the intricacies of determining the 'five' (referring to the 'Five Stars' package) said, the process began with an assessment of 20 proposals, the total cost of which far exceeded PLN 100 billion.' https://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/1402274,osiecki-o-poczatku-kampanii-wyborczej.html

-- THIS IS HOW SMALL BUSINESS IS RUINED - LESZEK KOSTRZEWSKI AND LESZEK MIAŁCZYŃSKI IN GW: 'Large Polish companies in Nowy Sącz created a support program for small shopkeepers operating in their area. The idea collapsed due to changes in the law passed by PiS. Not for the first time. (...) monetary benefits (transfers to employees' accounts) and in-kind benefits, such as prepaid gift cards or Christmas packages, are still exempt from taxation, but only up to PLN 1,000 per year. But this does not apply to in-kind vouchers. In this case, tax still applies. This change has shaken the bottom-up support program for local shopkeepers. – In this situation, it is no longer profitable for employers and employees to use gift vouchers as a form of employee support – says Tomoń. – As of today, there are only a few vouchers left on the market. Therefore, we will close the Sądecki Bon Zakupowy project this year. (...) Thus, PiS, which always has the slogan of supporting small trade on its banners, has inadvertently destroyed a program that helped them.' http://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,24530197,chcieli-wygrac-z-lidlem-i-biedronka-tworzac-program-pomocy.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Ewelina Owczarska, Anika Słowińska, Dominika Blachnicka-Ciacek, Grzegorz Cessak, Grzegorz Braun.