-- 30 YEARS AGO the first issue of Gazeta Wyborcza was published. -- KWAŚNIEWSKI ON PiS BEING THE MOST POWERFUL PARTY SINCE PZPR, BRUDZIŃSKI DEFLECTS ATTACKS - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/05/08

-- THE UNIVERSITY WASN'T OUTRAGED WHEN HOMOPHOBIC “LECTURES” WERE GIVEN WITHIN ITS WALLS - ADAM LESZCZYŃSKI ON FB: “Karpieszuk reminds us that the university wasn't outraged when homophobic 'lectures' were given within its walls. However, there is nothing to suggest that both professors have any clear idea of what can and cannot be said. Nothing suggests they have thought this through in any way. At what point exactly and why did Jażdżewski cross the boundaries of permissible debate, in their opinion? Where are the limits of academic freedom of speech? Who is to judge when they have been crossed? Yes, this really needs to be explained. If anyone, an academic should be able to justify it convincingly. I would respect sincere explanations such as: 'I don't want to risk angering the authorities,' 'I must protect the substance of the university in times of dictatorship,' or 'I am a conservative and I love the Church, our mother.' Then at least we would know where we stand.” https://www.facebook.com/adamles75?__tn__=%2CdC-R-R&eid=ARB4C-__dY94BNcCG0eXte6e3Yd9DPSUzPgEzaD31RZBSFFj1tA1TPGg2NqSCIsKiHJaeZ3bXUMoeIxC&hc_ref=ARTY8wmPFJ5AOQcYMDIQ1rOeA4JDzUfykT0EqsppnqNH3ETzbVTI0qxopRL61Iz1ceM&fref=nf

-- ACCORDING TO PARR ANALYSIS, PiS LEADS BY 4 POINTS - ONET: “38.7% for Law and Justice, 34.5% for the European Coalition, 8.7% for Spring, and 5.2% for Kukiz'15 – this is the result of the European Parliament election forecast conducted by PARR and Badania.pro for Onet. The data was compiled based on the averaged support for political parties from twelve April surveys. The seat allocation simulation gives PiS 23 seats, KE 20, Spring 5, and Kukiz'15 3. Compared to the multi-poll summarizing March, PiS's lead over KE is increasing. In the forecast from March 1, the difference in favor of PiS was 2.1 percentage points; on April 1, it was already 3.4, and on May 1, it was 4.3. The study assumes a 30% voter turnout.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/sondaz-wybory-2019-kto-wygra-wybory-do-parlamentu-europejskiego/sp2jffz

-- PIOTR PACEWICZ ANALYZES SURVEYS AND WRITES THAT THE OPPOSITION'S BEHAVIOR DEVIATES FROM ITS VOTERS' VIEWS: “As a series of IPSOS surveys for OKO.press shows, the electorates of PO, as well as SLD and especially .Nowoczesna, are largely in favor of introducing modern legal regulations in Poland, contrary to the Church's teachings on so-called sexual ethics. They also support limiting the role of the Church in public life and are highly critical of the institution's stance on controlling and accounting for sexual abuse by priests. The ideological liberalism (in PiS's language, 'leftism') of Civic Platform voters is surprisingly similar to the stances of Spring supporters; the only major difference concerns the right to same-sex marriage. Supporters of PO (and the broader European Coalition) find themselves, along with Biedroń's supporters, on the opposite pole of social attitudes compared to the conservative electorate of PiS.”

-- 60% OF PSL SUPPORTERS FAVOR THE RIGHT TO ABORTION UP TO THE 12TH WEEK: “The views of Nowoczesna and SLD supporters are generally slightly more liberal than those of PO. The PSL electorate is usually somewhere between liberals and the right, although as many as 60% of Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz's supporters would surprise their leader by supporting the right to abortion up to the 12th week of pregnancy.”

-- CIVIC PLATFORM POLITICIANS COWARDED, SCARED OF THE BISHOP AND JAROSŁAW KACZYŃSKI - PIOTR PACEWICZ CONTINUES: “Standing in a symbolic gesture against the backdrop of the Jasna Góra monastery with the Bible in one hand and the Constitution of the Republic of Poland in the other, Biedroń pointed out the Coalition's indecision: 'I accept with embarrassment the reactions of politicians who want to call themselves civic and European, but hide in a corner at the raised voice of President Kaczyński. Civic Platform politicians have chickened out. They got scared of a bishop, they got scared of a priest. Most importantly, they got scared of Jarosław Kaczyński. They apologize for the brave and just statement [by Jażdżewski – ed.], who had the right to say what many of us think and what pains Poles.'” https://oko.press/koalicja-europejska-nie-nadaza-za-elektoratem-jej-wyborcy-maja-dosc-ingerencji-kosciola-sondaze/

-- A SERIOUS POLITICAL MISTAKE - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “The detention of Elżbieta Podleśna by the police (contrary to earlier reports, she was not arrested) and Joachim Brudziński's triumphant online post on the matter are a serious political mistake. Firstly, Podleśna is a known opposition activist, and any steps taken against her – especially being transported to Płock, questioned for several hours, and then released – bear the hallmarks of political harassment. The force used by the state against her was senseless, and moreover, disproportionate to any potential penalty.”

-- BELIEVERS ALSO DESERVE RESPECT - SZUŁDRZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “When we talk about tolerance, it is probably worth remembering from time to time that religious people, Catholics, also deserve respect and tolerance. And there is no reason why they should always have to turn a blind eye to the desecration of their sacredness, while only getting outraged when the symbols of other religions are defiled. I would understand the indignation of Jews or Muslims if someone were to play with their symbols. And I expect understanding when someone violates symbols sacred to Polish Catholics.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/190509578-Matka-Boska-w-teczowej-aureoli-A-jednak-obraza.html

-- RELIGIOUS POLICE - GAZETA WYBORCZA FRONT PAGE.

-- PiS IS GOING FOR A RELIGIOUS WAR - PAWEŁ WROŃSKI IN GW: “The chaotic and uncoordinated election campaign of PiS – lurching from 'Kaczyński's fifth' to the 'cow plus' program – is given meaning and significance by framing the rivalry in terms of a heated 'civilizational dispute.'” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24761559,piec-powodow-dla-ktorych-pis-idzie-na-religijna-wojne.html

-- KE PUSHED TOWARDS ANTI-RELIGIOUS EXCITEMENT - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI: “Firstly, the European Coalition, planned as a calm alliance of pro-European sensible forces, has been pushed by Jażdżewski's speech towards extreme anti-religious and godless excitement. Partly, it has been forced to explain that this happened beyond them, without their knowledge, and that they applauded reflexively. This completely ruins Schetyna's plan, who wanted to build the campaign on the classic Civic Platform axis: a mad, greedy, ideological PiS (with posters of right-wing politicians' faces altered in a Nazi style) versus the calm, moderate, European US (posters of a beautiful mommy and her sweet baby displayed at the same time). In this way, the European Coalition's main campaign asset was laid on the altar of Tusk's political ambitions and Jażdżewski's vanity on May 3rd.”

-- THEY'VE CORNERED THE OPPOSITION INTO MADNESS - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI CONTINUES: “If we look at this series of events, initiated by Jażdżewski's speech about the evil clergy, pigs, and sorcerers, with some distance, if we discard emotions, we will see that he personally gained fame as a Bolshevik atheist, but at the same time (together with Tusk) he pushed the entire opposition camp into the wall of madness, into a tailspin that will be difficult to escape.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/445651-jazdzewski-pchnal-opozycje-na-sciane-szalenstwa

-- MY GOAL IS TO CORNER THE PLATFORM - ROBERT BIEDROŃ FOR NATEMAT: “I know what can be done with PO. Spring is needed to form a government, so that PO can say: 'It's because of Biedroń that we have to liquidate the Church Fund, introduce civil partnerships, move away from coal, because he set conditions, and otherwise, there will be no coalition.' The Civic Platform, cornered, will have no choice. This is my goal. If people's lives improve, I am ready to do it.” https://natemat.pl/272057,robert-biedron-nie-zdejmie-krzyza-w-sejmie-co-mowi-o-kosciele

-- THE RELIGIOUS WAR RELEASES THE OPPOSITION FROM THE OBLIGATION TO PRESENT A PROGRAM - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “Donald Tusk has won once before by provoking a worldview war: in 2011, he garnered votes from almost all undecided voters by accusing PiS of aggression, cynically using elements of mourning for the Smoleńsk tragedy. Now he may want to repeat the same maneuver. Perhaps in agreement with PO leaders, or perhaps independently. It is certainly a tempting prospect for opposition leaders because it indirectly absolves them of the obligation to present a program.”

-- IT COULD LEAD TO A CULTURAL BREAKTHROUGH AS SOROS WANTS - JACEK KARNOWSKI CONTINUES: “Playing the worldview war certainly serves to mobilize the hard electorates of both sides of the dispute in the EP elections. In the longer term, however, it may trigger a wave of false revolution that will bring the opposition not only victory but also a cultural breakthrough, which is the true goal of many important centers within the Soros circle. How to defend oneself against leftist aggression and at the same time not play into someone else's script – this is the fourth, and perhaps the most important, question.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/445599-wojna-kulturowa-jako-droga-do-wladzy-czy-to-plan-tuska

-- THE WORLD IS CONCERNED WITH SERIOUS MATTERS, WHILE WE ARE CONCERNED WITH A BANANA PROTEST - ŁUKASZ ROGOJSZ IN GAZETA.PL: “Because while the world is dealing with Washington's trade war with Beijing, the impending civil war in Venezuela, bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, or the specter of armed conflict on the US-Iran line, in Poland we are talking about beating a Judas effigy (styled as an Orthodox Jew) with sticks in Podkarpacie, two installations removed from the National Museum and the subsequent 'banana protest,' or the police detaining an activist who was posting images of the Virgin Mary with a rainbow halo around the city. I won't even mention the speech by the editor-in-chief of a niche quarterly criticizing the Catholic Church, which brought the entire nearly 40-million country to its feet for several days.”

-- WE ARE A LIGHTLY RIDICULOUSLY WEIGHTY PLAYER - ROGOJSZ CONTINUES: “Meanwhile, what has been keeping Polish politicians of all parties awake at night in recent weeks and has been boiling over Polish public debate shows that as a country, we are a lightly ridiculously weighty player. Completely detached from contemporary problems, living in our own imaginary world and having the irrational conviction that this can last forever and bring no consequences.” http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,24759718,swiat-zajmuje-sie-wojnami-i-wielka-polityka-polska-biciem.html

-- TUSK AND KACZYŃSKI ARE RAISING THE TEMPERATURE OF THE DISPUTE - TOMASZ KRZYŻAK IN RZ: “And there is no respect for the institutions of the Church to be found in Jażdżewski's speech – despite the fact that his criticism was fully justified in places. Tusk did not notice these shortcomings, although in Poznań he again repeated words about the need to rebuild national unity. (... Common work for the good of Poland by all political forces is necessary and most desirable. However, community cannot be rebuilt if we constantly egg each other on. And Tusk speaks well, but at the same time constantly raises the temperature of the dispute. Jarosław Kaczyński too.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/305079915-Krzyzak-Pojednanie-podlane-benzyna.html

-- ONLY PiS HAS NO PROBLEM WITH LESZEK JAŻDŻEWSKI'S STATEMENT - DOMINIKA DŁUGOSZ: “On the political scene, only Law and Justice has no problem with Leszek Jażdżewski's statement and only this party would like to hear it as often as possible.” https://www.newsweek.pl/polska/polityka/niewygodny-support-z-wystapieniem-jazdzewskiego-problem-maja-wszystkie-partie-poza/ywwrdqn

-- BRUTAL SOCIAL CUTS CAUSED EUROSKEPTICISM - IN CONVERSATION WITH GRZEGORZ SROCZYŃSKI - Dr. Anna Skrzypek, senior research fellow at FEPS - Foundation for European Progressive Studies: “Many disturbing phenomena, frustrations, and euroscepticism are the result of the policy pursued after 2008 during the economic downturn. Brutal cuts began across Europe. A policy of cold enforcement of treaties was pursued, and social policy took a back seat. Most European societies learned from the crisis that the Union means cuts in education, health, and pensions. And constant incantations about the need to tighten our belts. In fact, no country deviated from the policy of austerity, governments eagerly blamed Brussels for the cuts; only after several years did the leftist government of Portugal take a different path, with excellent results, by the way. The crisis showed that when states are contractually obliged to observe strict deficit norms and monetary policy, they look for ways out of pressure where they still have some room for maneuver, i.e., in cuts to the social sphere.”

-- THE UNION IS ASSOCIATED WITH CUTS - DR SKRZYPEK CONTINUES: “We have been dealing with austerity policy since 2008, and during these 10 years, there has been practically no instance of pro-social legislation. Everyone is starting to associate the Union with the necessity of cuts: in Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy. Even in countries where there was no such need, governments cleverly took advantage of the opportunity and also cut public spending.”

-- ORBAN AND KACZYŃSKI WILL NOT BE HARMED IF THEY DO NOT EXPROPRIATE WESTERN CORPORATIONS - SKRZYPEK CONTINUES TO SROCZYŃSKI: “And how is it possible that Poland is dismantling an independent judiciary, which is considered sacred in various EU documents – and yet nothing is happening? Although many grand declarations are made, the European Union was founded on the principles of economic cooperation. And when it comes to the moment of truth – and the great crisis of 2008 was such a situation – economic interests still come first in the European construct. So, as long as Kaczyński or Orban do not come up with the idea of expropriating Western corporations, they will not suffer any harm. And this also frustrates voters, including those who are the most pro-EU in Poland or Hungary.” http://next.gazeta.pl/next/7,151003,24702091,jak-bruksela-wyhodowala-populistow-nawet-w-krajach-ktore.html

-- ADAM MICHNIK ON THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF GW: “We are contemporaries of reborn Poland. We are also part of its great historical success – civilizational, economic, and democratic, although today Polish democracy is undergoing a serious test of strength in the fight against the nationalist-populist government.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24761366,michnik-na-urodziny-wyborczej-porwalismy-sie-z-motyka-na.html

-- BIRTHDAYS: Andrzej Leder, Bogdan Klich, Kamila Gasiuk-Pihowicz, Izabela Kloc, Danuta Pietraszewska, Jacek Pilch, Witold Mrozek, Józef Płoskonka, Zygmunt Miłoszewski.

-- THE FORGOTTEN REVOLUTION - A BOOK BY LEDER, WHO IS CELEBRATING HIS BIRTHDAY TODAY: Who are we really and who do we want to be? Essays on the 'stolen' revolution – the great 20th-century transformation of Polish society, now marginalized in our collective consciousness.