-- HOW TO UTILIZE POLAND'S HYDROGEN POTENTIAL - 300GOSPODARKA REPORT: The report "Hydrogen Alternative [PDF]," prepared by the new economic debate platform 300GOSPODARKA, shows how major Polish corporations and smaller companies, as well as scientific and research institutes, are working on such solutions. It points out areas worthy of investor attention and actions needed from the state for the broad commercialization of technologies. http://300gospodarka.pl/analizy/2019/04/23/jak-wykorzystac-wodorowy-potencjal-polski-raport-300gospodarki/

-- PRESIDENT KACZYŃSKI HAS AN OFFER FOR TEACHERS - front page of DGP (Patrycja Otto, Artur Radwan, Klara Klinger): "Returning to earlier retirement and the voluntary choice of working hours – these are among the proposals intended to achieve a 'painless' increase in workload. DGP has learned the main assumptions of the plan being developed at Nowogrodzka Street. Those responsible for education in PiS have already had initial talks with Jarosław Kaczyński. The leader has instructed them to formulate written proposals for teachers."

-- 100 THOUSAND TEACHERS FOR EARLY RETIREMENT? - CONTINUES DGP: "The key element is to be precisely the increase in working hours – even up to 24 hours per week. At the same time, for one or two years, it is proposed to reinstate a provision in the Teachers' Charter that would allow teachers to retire early after 30 years of service, including 20 years in education (with so-called 'chalk money'), regardless of age. This privilege was taken away from teachers in 2008. PiS experts estimate that about 100,000 teachers could benefit from such a solution. This would disarm the trade unions' argument that increasing the workload would lead to massive layoffs." https://edukacja.dziennik.pl/aktualnosci/artykuly/596459,strajk-kaczynski-oferta-pis-dla-nauczycieli.html

-- TEACHER NOT NEEDED FOR MATURA EXAM - front page of GW.

-- POLISH-POLISH SCHOOL WAR - front page of RZ.

-- WILL THE GOVERNMENT OUTSMART THE TEACHERS? - headline in RZ.

-- THE GOVERNMENT HAS TAKEN MATURA STUDENTS HOSTAGE - ROMAN IMIELSKI in GW: "PiS is not solving the problem; it is waging a total war with teachers. It insults them in its media. It threatens local governments that want to compensate striking teachers for lost wages during the protest with inspections and fines for violating budgetary discipline. It signs an agreement with the 'Solidarity' trade union, whose head is a PiS district councilor, which even the rank-and-file members of 'S' have recognized as a betrayal of their interests. No, Prime Minister Morawiecki, it is not the teachers who have taken this year's matura students hostage, who without classification would not be able to take their final exams. Your government did it, consciously opting for a confrontation with the educators of our children." http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24696233,premier-morawiecki-wzial-maturzystow-na-zakladnikow.html

-- DEFEATED, FRUSTRATED PEOPLE WILL RETURN TO SCHOOLS IN SEPTEMBER, THERE WILL BE NO OTHER TEACHERS, A PYRRHIC VICTORY WILL CERTAINLY NOT MAKE SCHOOLS BETTER - Tomasz Pietryga in RZ: "The problem will not solve itself, however. In September, the strike may erupt with renewed force, and in the best-case scenario, defeated, frustrated people who have risked their authority and achieved nothing will return to schools. Can we speak of a government victory in such a situation, when the education of future generations lies in the hands of the defeated? A Pyrrhic victory will certainly not make Polish schools better." https://www.rp.pl/Opinie/304249926-Innych-nauczycieli-nie-bedzie---komentuje-Tomasz-Pietryga.html

-- THE ROUND TABLE IS A PROPAGANDA SETUP - JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ in RZ: "The education round table promises to be a propaganda setup. Parents are to be represented by the new Elbanowskis, and teachers by licensed 'Solidarity with PiS' trade unionists. Paraphrasing Andrzej Gwiazda and quoting his presidential advisor Prof. Andrzej Zybertowicz, the authorities will meet with their educational 'agents' with whom they will fix the education system. I would like to believe it will be different, but today the education round table – apart from its name – has little in common with the Round Table. It's not about an agreement, but about a propaganda success for the authorities." https://www.rp.pl/Analizy/190429767-Jacek-Nizinkiewicz-Okragly-stol-ws-oswiaty-czyli-propagandowa-ustawka-rzadu.html

-- EDWIN BENDYK WRITES ABOUT THE SOCIAL MOVEMENT THAT HAS EMERGED AROUND TEACHERS: "The school protest has rallied representatives of different generations, different social classes, and the female dominance resulting from the feminization of education gives it an additional dimension of a women's strike as a new subject on the social and, hopefully, political scene. A social movement cannot be planned; it emerges when many factors meet at one time and place. All these factors: anger, social mobilization, leadership, consolidating organizational structures, common symbolism and elements of protest culture, tactical and strategic goals, an adversary whose attitude fuels anger – are in hand. It takes little for these components to produce a nationwide social movement that will develop after the strike ends (and regardless of its outcome)."

-- SOMETHING NEW HAS A CHANCE TO EMERGE FROM THIS CHAOS - CONTINUES BENDYK: "So what next? The strike continues, although it is clearly visible that fatigue and frustration are mixed with determination and anger. The round table, even if it takes place, will be a farce with the absence of key social partners. It looks a bit chaotic, yet signs are clearly visible that it is from this chaos that something new has a chance to emerge, which will concentrate the energy of anger and the will for agency, shaping it into a social movement for the future of Polish education, and in fact, for the future of Polish society. " https://antymatrix.blog.polityka.pl/2019/04/24/strajk-szkolny-narodziny-ruchu/?nocheck=1

-- A STAGED PRODUCTION FOR PROPAGANDA PURPOSES - ADAM SZOSTKIEWICZ: "'Good Change' (Dobra Zmiana) used a similar tactic to defuse the protest of the so-called resident doctors. Today they say they were deceived. 'Round tables' convened by 'Good Change' whenever it encounters social opposition are a similar ploy. They are meant to feign the goodwill and openness of the rulers. But everyone can see that dialogue without the participation of credible representatives of the protesters, but supervised by politicians of the ruling party, is a staged production for propaganda purposes. The aim is to portray the protesters as irresponsible, and the authorities as wise and just dispensers of rewards and punishments. How are the protesters supposed to respond to this? The decision is theirs. But the good of the students cannot be separated from the good of the teachers. And it is improper to pit one against the other." https://szostkiewicz.blog.polityka.pl/2019/04/24/decydujacy-moment-protestu-nauczycieli/?nocheck=1

-- BRONIARZ SPEAKS OF A "WISH CONCERT" AT THE NATIONAL STADIUM - in an interview with Piotr Pacewicz in OKO: "In my opinion, this is a great failure of the government, which resorts to such bending of the law to resolve the conflict it has with teachers. It had at least four months for this, but it ignored us, underestimating the teachers' determination and, consequently, the enormous scale of the protest. And now the government is introducing an almost state of emergency in education. It will pay a high price for this; no 'wish concert' at the National Stadium will save it." https://oko.press/broniarz-konca-protestu-nie-bedzie-a-rzad-zaplaci-wysoka-cene-nie-uratuje-go-koncert-zyczen-na-stadionie/

-- THERE IS NO WIND OF CHANGE TODAY THAT WILL BLOW PIS AWAY - MARCIN FIJOŁEK: "I have carefully read the results of the survey commissioned by 'Polityka,' and even taking into account the estimated margins of error in the poll, the main conclusion is one: there is no wind of change in Poland today, no climate that could bring hope to Platforma [Civic Platform] for a great 'wind of change' that will blow away Law and Justice in the autumn."

-- HOW MUCH CAN SCHETYNA CATCH UP IN THE LAST MONTH? - CONTINUES FIJOŁEK: "How much can Grzegorz Schetyna catch up in the last month? Two points? Three? Five? Given the teachers' strike (and the public perception of it), even that is incredibly difficult to achieve, but again – assuming the most favorable scenarios and coincidences for the leader of Platforma, it simply won't be enough.

-- WIND OF CHANGE FOR NOW ONLY AT A SCORPIONS CONCERT IN JULY - FIJOŁEK'S CONCLUSION: "If Prof. Waldemar Paruch is right, and our political class and pre-election life are hostages to 10 percent of capricious and unstable voters, then the 'Polityka' poll brings rather a clear conclusion: they are not (at least today) the creators of the wind of change in political Poland. They are not even waiting for it. Of course, this may lull the politicians of the ruling party to sleep, but Schetyna and his people can only sing about the 'wind of change' for now at a Scorpions concert. An opportunity will arise soon, in July, in Gdańsk." https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/443862-zadnego-wind-of-change-nie-ma-analiza-sondazu-polityki

-- HEARING SCHEDULE FOR THE ELECTIONS - Piotr Mączyński in GW: "Before the European Parliament elections, PiS wants to drag the PO party leadership through the mud. On the witness list: Rostowski, Schetyna, Kopacz, Tusk… The hearing schedule is already in place. The entire month of May, the parliamentary committee for VAT will be taking testimony from the most important PO politicians or individuals who could discredit the party. All of this will be broadcast on television." http://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,24694713,przed-wyborami-do-europarlamentu-pis-chce-przeczolgac-partyjna.html

-- ADRIANA ROZWADOWSKA in GW about how the government tricked taxi drivers regarding Uber, while the opposition abstained: "The government has broken its promise to taxi drivers and is not considering any of their proposals. The bill – in almost unchanged form – passed through a parliamentary committee on Wednesday. (...) The second reading in the Sejm is scheduled for Thursday. (...) Ultimately, 15 MPs voted in favor of adopting the bill, five from Civic Platform abstained, and no one voted against." http://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,24694783,500-kontroli-w-10-dni-pis-nie-dotrzymal-slowa-lex-uber-ekspresem.html

-- PKP IN THE BLACK: http://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,24694832,grupa-pkp-zakonczyla-2018-rok-z-zyskiem-470-mln-zl-kluczowe.html

-- PROF. DUDEK ALARMIST ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF CLIMATE CHANGE: "With best wishes to all who will govern Poland in the next decade, when there will be no more time for discussions about the unconstitutionality of parts of the current Constitutional Tribunal, nor even for 'getting to the truth' about the Smoleńsk catastrophe. This will be a time of struggle for entirely different matters: for water, electricity, and doctors, so that there are enough of them even to write death certificates. Of course, the latter could be handled by another 24-hour amendment to the relevant regulations, entrusting them to... well... perhaps funeral entrepreneurs and gravediggers. After all, they know about the deceased no worse than local government officials know about classifying high school students." https://www.facebook.com/100000346627293/posts/2379618472059684?sfns=mo

-- FILIP ŁOBODZIŃSKI ON HOW BIRDS ARE DYING OF THIRST DUE TO DROUGHT: "Does anyone among you have a used cottage cheese container, a purchased salad, or something similar? Yes? Then don't throw it away. Wash it, pour water into it, and place it somewhere on a dry lawn, an empty square where no one walks. Birds have nothing to drink. I recently saw starlings and jackdaws drinking water from detergents at a car wash. This is probably not gourmet, but desperation." https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010862435934

-- A DOE WITH A PLASTIC BOTTLE ON ITS HEAD WANDERS THE FOREST, ECO-GUARD ORGANIZES HELP: http://wroclaw.wyborcza.pl/wroclaw/7,35771,24697225,sarna-z-plastikowa-butelka-na-glowie-blaka-sie-po-wroclawskim.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Kinga Dunin, Jerzy Widzyk, Bartosz Gelner.