-- ZANDBERG, BIEDROŃ, SCHETYNA, KACZYŃSKI AND MORAWIECKI - SATURDAY CONVENTIONS IN A NUTSHELL:https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/05/11/

-- ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ ON THE SEKIELSKI FILM: “I fear one thing – that the reactions to this film will be predictable. Hardline Catholics, supported by right-wing politicians, will attack the Sekielskis, blindly defending the Church. And the political and worldview left will use the film to attack faith.”

-- WYBORCZA.PL ON THE SEKIELSKI FILM: “Although Tomasz and Marek Sekielski’s film lasts two hours, it has not a single wasted minute. The Sekielskis mercilessly expose the hypocrisy of the Polish Church and also try to answer how it is that pedophiles in cassocks go unpunished.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,24773851,tylko-nie-mow-nikomu-film-tomasza-sekielskiego-wstrzasnie.html

-- THE PREMIERE OF THE SEKIELSKI FILM TOOK PLACE TODAY ON YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrUvQ3W3nV4

-- PIOTR ZAREMBA ON TUSK’S LECTURE - he writes in RZ: “Well, Tusk’s speech or lecture was all about covers, just titles. He listed global problems – from climate change to the problem of youth internet addiction. He shone them over Polish greyness, over the banality of our petty squabbles. But his views on all these issues remained unknown. Am I throwing out an idea, and you are to catch it? But who is supposed to catch it? Grzegorz Schetyna and Ewa Kopacz, present in the university hall? Engaged in composing another charade against the ‘evil Kaczor’ and his monstrous system of government?”

-- JAŻDŻEWSKI VS. TUSK, ALTHOUGH THE PIGS WEREN’T ABOUT THE CHURCH - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “But by the way, Jażdżewski spoiled Tusk’s core message, calling everyone to cooperate. The passage about pigs loving wallowing in mud did not, in fact, concern – as its defenders point out – the Church (although it was the only entity named). However, this is a classic example of one of the worst traits of contemporary discourse, where admonishing others for their style and unwillingness to dialogue is accompanied by one’s own insults and contempt. Editor Jażdżewski, not the first and not the last, declared war for peace: on his latest opponent. A war in which no stone is to be left unturned. He did this at Tusk’s expense.”

-- ZAREMBA ON THE CURIOUS PHENOMENON OF MAKING A “NAME” FOR ONESELF: “This allows us to move more boldly to the next thread. One thing is certain: Jażdżewski did not help Tusk, and may have even harmed him. We will only see how sensible this method of supporting the European Coalition’s chances is. Certainly, however, the publicist helped himself. Moving from the status of a niche commentator to the position of someone whom even mainstream media, which are currently turning up their noses at him, will more often ask for an opinion. He made a name for himself in one afternoon. This is one of the interesting, albeit curious, phenomena of our times, visible in politics, and even more so in the media. Moreover, also in social life, and even sometimes in academia.”

-- TUSK DID NOT REPRIMAND JAŻDŻEWSKI - ZAREMBA’S CONCLUSION: “Secondly, the mechanism of not hindering someone who shouts louder than others was more reminiscent of the right. The Pawłowicz phenomenon is a classic example. If Tusk was dissatisfied with Jażdżewski, he did not even decide to gently admonish him. And if he was not dissatisfied? Well, that's even worse news.”

-- ZAREMBA ALSO WRITES ABOUT THE PHENOMENON OF PAWŁOWICZ, SADURSKI, ZIEMKIEWICZ... https://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/305099938-Piotr-Zaremba-Od-Ziemkiewicza-do-Jazdzewskiego-czyli-poczet-hejterow-polskich.html

-- FACING ELECTIONS, PIS RISKS EVEN RELATIONS WITH THE USA - ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ ON ONE: “In the ongoing election campaign, under pressure from the national right-wing Confederation, PiS has begun to sharply attack Americans over Law 447, which concerns the restitution of property to Holocaust victims. This shows that in the face of elections, PiS is risking everything, even issues as fundamental as relations with America. If the PiS leaders have forgotten the lessons learned from the uproar over the IPN law, the Americans will remind them sooner or later. For instance, Trump during a meeting with Duda. Because it was Trump who signed Law 447.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/opinie/co-trump-da-dudzie-komentarz/jsry3zx

-- ADAM BIELAN TELLS PIOTR ZAREMBA THAT A SECOND TERM FOR PIS WILL CALM EMOTIONS: “I regret the temperature of the dispute, but the logic of political warfare also necessitates it. If we win the elections, this temperature will drop, and the politics of polarization will disappear with Schetyna.”

-- BIELAN ON SOCIAL PROGRAMS: “We are implementing long-awaited social programs. Their scope is certainly enormous for many people, but the scale of state revenue growth in recent years is also unprecedented. In 2014, revenues amounted to PLN 283 billion. In 2019, they were planned at PLN 387.7 billion. This is a fantastic result. At the same time, the deficit has decreased, we are not raising taxes, and we are even announcing tax cuts. And we plan to increase funds for investments, including such massive ones as: Via Carpatia, Central Communication Port.” https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/opinie/artykuly/597516,bielan-ue-unia-europejska-eurowybory-pis-po-opozycja-zaremba.html

-- WE ARE ON THE VERGE OF GERIATRIC POPULISM - PIOTR TRUDNOWSKI IN RZ: “Because that is precisely the alternative: one can spend PLN 11 billion on ensuring current electoral mobilization, or, for example, finance part of the Central Communication Port. We are on the verge of geriatric populism. Its first symptom was the lowering of the retirement age, the second – the unfortunate thirteenth pension for retirees. This is not a matter of the distant future, but a challenge here and now.”

-- TRUDNOWSKI ON THE ANGER OF THE YOUNG: “Looking at the increasingly heated passions in Western democracies, if this very sharp generational conflict is not balanced by some democratic mechanism, I fear that the anger of the young towards the old may lead to some dangerous anti-elderly radicalism, as an attempt to respond to the dominance of geriatric populism in political life.” https://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/305099933-Piotr-Trudnowski-Grozi-nam-dyktat-emerytow.html?cid

-- IT WAS PIS THAT FAILED ON THE DIRECTIVE ISSUE - RÓŻA THUN in conversation with Natalia Waloch in GW: “The truth is that there are many products that differ; for example, chips in Germany are fried in sunflower oil, and in Poland, in a worse one, palm oil. I managed to convince the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection to allocate 800,000 euros in the budget to research and compare many products on the European market. Producers explain that the powder in Poland smells different because Poles prefer that smell, while Germans or French prefer another, so what’s the fuss about. But if someone tells me that Poles prefer sweet jellies and Germans prefer sour ones, that’s suspicious to me, because I don’t believe that two peoples living on opposite sides of a river have different taste buds. Simply, in one country, more care is taken not to accustom children to sweets so much, while in another, the Ministry of Health is asleep and people are addicted to sugar. I blame PiS for botching this matter, and now they are defending themselves by attacking.”

-- THUN ON THE FACT THAT THE DIRECTIVE PIS USES AGAINST THE EC IS INSIGNIFICANT: “During the vote in Parliament, the Council’s proposal gained a majority, with large countries like Germany and France winning, which do not have this problem because no one sells them inferior products. PiS voted with them. I wrote an amendment, gathered well over 100 signatures, but I couldn’t get it passed, so I voted against the entire proposal because these provisions are dead, they solve nothing.”

-- IT IS THE PIS GOVERNMENT THAT BUYS COAL FROM RUSSIA, AND THE PRO-PUTIN RIGHT APPLAUDS THEM IN THE EP - THUN CONTINUES: “Some absurd accusations are made against me regarding Kozłowska, as if I were cooperating with Russian oligarchs, but it is the PiS government that buys 18 million tons of coal from Russia annually. In the European Parliament, Ms. Beata Szydło is most loudly applauded by people from pro-Putin groups. Russia benefits from every anti-EU news item: we invent safer cars, and they write about mandatory speed limiters; we combat double product quality, and they write that neighboring countries are making a dump out of us. The entire anti-German rhetoric also contributes to weakening the Community’s image. In Poland, it is quite difficult to speak directly ill of the Union because Poles have a positive attitude towards it; it is easier and more effective to point to the Germans.”

-- THUN ON JAŻDŻEWSKI’S WORDS: BUT WEREN’T THEY TRUE? “I think Jażdżewski, as a co-host of Tusk’s lecture, should have tactfully introduced the guest we came for, not delivered his own declaration uncoordinated with the speaker. And that is my only criticism of his speech. Well, perhaps he also spoke too quickly and was hard to hear. So I listened to him again, calmly – and I understand that it is difficult and unpleasant for us Catholics to hear such harsh criticism, but let’s hit ourselves on the chest: weren’t those words true?http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,24772869,roza-thun-zgodzmy-sie-ze-sie-roznimy.html

-- PIS HAS BECOME THE WORLD CHAMPION OF SCAREMONGERING - JAKUB MAJMUREK IN GW: “In the oldest, best-established liberal democracies, politicians have appealed and continue to appeal to fear. However, Kaczyński is exceptionally faithful to this method and very consistent. In the oldest, best-established liberal democracies, politicians have appealed and continue to appeal to fear. However, Kaczyński is exceptionally faithful to this method and very consistent. All the figures that PiS has used to frighten Poles over nearly two decades of its presence on the political scene could form a universal atlas of fears.”

-- SOMETHING MORE THAN FREEDOM FROM FEAR IS NEEDED - MAJMUREK’S CONCLUSION: “However, most importantly – let us remember that fear is not the only emotion that mobilizes people. There is also: cooperation, solidarity, a sense of dignity, justice, and decency, and finally, hope for a better future. PiS itself, by the way, knows how to combine fear with appeals to a sense of dignity and justice. No one will win against the master of horror, Kaczyński, with fear alone – including if he scares people with the prospect of his continued rule. A message of some modest hope is needed. Something more than freedom from fear.” http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,24772997,od-pustej-lodowki-do-gejow-i-bezboznikow-jak-pis-zostal.html

-- KAJA PUTO CRITICIZES THE EC - ON KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “This is not only a disregard for voters on the part of the EC – a thoughtless repetition of the mistake that Platforma made in 2015 – but also a sign that the committee, in its current or similar form, is incapable of forming a government or governing the country. Which, incidentally, is unlikely to happen anyway, because, lacking any idea for Poland and the Union ‘for, and even against,’ it will not attract voters from outside the hard anti-PiS bloc. Well, but – as Maciek Lipka commented on Facebook – how can one have a program when the constitution is being violated?” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/felietony/kaja-puto/po-co-ke-program-kiedy-lamana-jest-konstytucja/

-- KAJA PUTO ON THE GROWING RADICALIZATION OF YOUNG MEN: “Young men are massively identifying with radical right-wing ideas: we already know that. It was primarily they who were swayed by the anti-refugee hysteria of 2015; women were somewhat more resistant to it. A year later, young girls went to the Black Protests, and the boys – to queues for patriotic t-shirts. Opinion poll findings were confirmed by research from the Center for Research on Prejudice at the University of Warsaw from 2014 and 2017.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/felietony/kaja-puto/mamy-problem-z-chlopcami-i-co-dalej/

-- ZIEMOWIT SZCZEREK ON THE LEFT’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS ISLAM: “But it is these absurdities, inconsistent, incoherent, and so on, that set the public debate today, in which we search in vain for any logic. There is no logic there. There are only raging emotions. Both here, and in Islam or Judaism. There is no room for logic here, just as there was none in the Middle Ages, just as there is none in fairy tales. Let us finally break free from this unfortunate leash of left-wing political correctness and ‘respect for cultural diversity,’ because within its framework, we are dying on the margins of support, and our place in the symbolic fight against all religions is being taken over by right-wing, anti-Islamic fanatics who will drag our entire civilization down.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/felietony/ziemowit-szczerek/europa-islam-a-oswiecenie/

-- BIRTHDAYS: Anna Komorowska, Anna Streżyńska, Jan Ołdakowski, Joanna Górska, Patryk Jaki, SUNDAY: Witold Koziński, Marcin Makowski.