-- 30 YEARS AGO The Sejm elected Tadeusz Mazowiecki as Prime Minister. -- WHY DIDN'T MAZOWIECKI HEAD THE POLISH CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATS? - ARTICLE BY KATARZYNA CHIMIAK FROM WIĘŹ (2018): http://wiez.com.pl/2018/10/27/najwiekszy-blad-tadeusza-mazowieckiego/ -- ADAM BODNAR ON THE SHAPING OF CURRENT PUBLIC DEBATE - in conversation with Grzegorz Wysocki in GW: “Our debate is shaped in such a way that once every few days it needs a new topic to capture public attention. And the arrest of a suspect in the brutal murder of a young girl is, let's be honest, a 'gratifying' topic for the media. Previously, it was LGBT and child adoption, there was Leszek Jażdżewski supporting Donald Tusk, there were Jews and the issue of reparations. Then Ikea and a fired employee, events in Białystok… Every now and then a topic enters the media that consumes everyone's attention for three or four days, allowing all politicians and commentators to voice their opinions, and then suddenly a completely new thread emerges.” -- I DO MY JOB, I DON'T CALCULATE IF SOMETHING WILL PAY OFF FOR ME - BODNAR CONTINUES: “If I suspect a violation of individual rights or a threat to institutions protecting individual rights (such as courts), I don't wonder what will happen to me as a result, whether it will pay off, or whether there will be a big storm. I simply do my job.” -- SHOULD I SAY, 'LET'S WAIT A FEW DAYS BECAUSE IT'S NOT PROFITABLE NOW'? - BODNAR CONTINUES: “Within the KMPT (Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights), we have always reacted to all significant events – there was a statement regarding convictions for police officers using torture, there was one about Stachowiak... And imagine now that I receive a signal from my colleagues and experts cooperating with us that there is the case of Jakub A.'s detention and we should react, and I say: 'No, you know, something like that isn't profitable for me right now, maybe let's wait three days?'” -- TO WHOM SHOULD THOSE WHOM SOCIETY WOULD PREFER TO FORGET EXIST TURN FOR HELP? - BODNAR CONTINUES: “And indeed – yes, I am also a defender of Mr. Trynkiewicz. To whom else should Mr. Trynkiewicz and each of those 66 other individuals turn for help? To whom? Excuse me, but for that very reason (using beautiful euphemisms for curses from 'Tytus, Romek i A’Tomek'), I am here! To deal with those whom the government and part of society would prefer to forget even exist.” -- BODNAR'S INTERESTING TAKE ON HOW MANY THINGS HAPPEN BY CHANCE - when asked by Wysocki what he's reading: “Grzegorz Gauden on the Lviv pogrom. But I also devour a lot of comics – I like Jason Lutes's triptych about Berlin, for example. I also read 'Ameryka.PL' by Dorota Malesa and 'Obcy alfabet' by Rzeczkowski. One can disagree with some of Rzeczkowski's theses (I generally think that many things happen by chance, not as a result of some preparations), but that's a matter of interpretation. Overall – valuable reading.” http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,25114396,adam-bodnar-mowia-o-nim-ostatni-bastion-normalnej-polski.html -- EVERYTHING CRUMBLES WHEN A CROWD APPEARS - WRITER ŁUKASZ ORBITOWSKI in conversation with Michał Nogaś in GW: “If a gay person or a transgender person and some young man from the nationalist camp were to sit at the table next to us now, on their own, I'm convinced they would talk normally. Without our help. But when a crowd appears, when the possibility of dissolving into some collective consciousness arises, everything crumbles. Kaplica (chapel – slang for 'it's over').” -- THESE AREN'T HALF-ANIMALS - ORBITOWSKI CONTINUES: “Above all, however, it would be fitting to offer these young nationalists something. Because I strongly dislike the portrayal of these people as a mob, a gang, a rabble, half-animals. These are not half-animals, but people nobody cared about before. Except for one option. So instead of dehumanizing them, we should find some offer for them. Because this young nationalist was looking for an identity, asking about it. And he gets a clear answer from his friends, so he blindly follows them. And if he asked me or you what we have to offer him, what would he hear? Probably only words of condemnation, and that won't help in converting these people.” -- ORBITOWSKI ON HAVING A PROGRAM ON TVP KULTURA: “And whom exactly did I betray? This question implies another: to whom should I be loyal? I have one answer – let everyone who wishes to see this program and form their own opinion on whether I sold out. I repeat ad nauseam that the condition for producing my television programs is freedom. I decide on the choice of guests and what we discuss. In 'One. Kobiety kultury' (Women of Culture), for example, radical feminists appeared, and in 'Dezerterzy' (Deserters), Romek Kostrzewski from the band KAT, and on the other side, Antonina Krzysztoń. Losing influence over what I do in the program and with whom I talk would mean the end of my cooperation with TVP. Regardless of who would be managing it. If freedom ends, I will move on, without regret, but satisfied with what I have done. Besides, I see nothing shameful in working for public television.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75517,25114106,lukasz-orbitowski-kosciol-cieszy-sie-w-polsce-nieuzasadnionymi.html -- ZIOBRO SHOULD PAY JUST FOR THE LEVEL OF HIS STAFF - PIOTR ZAREMBA: “Let's start with the fact that Piebiak wins the award for pyramidal stupidity. One would think twice about cooperating with a person unknown to him, an internet volunteer Emilia Szmydt, in committing obvious villainies. Meanwhile, an important politician, one of the heads of the Ministry of Justice, behaved like a primary school student. Ziobro should pay just for the level of his staff.” -- THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE DEMONSTRATES DISREGARD FOR THE PROBLEM - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “Another story must also cause deep concern. The death of boxer Dawid Kostecki is one of several mysterious prison deaths of individuals who knew something about the so-called Podkarpackie affair. The very construction of suicide in a cell is so far-fetched that only a naive person or someone mechanically defending the current government could be fooled by it. If we are dealing with such stories, it means that the mafia, in one form or another, feels impunity in Polish prisons. The prison system falls under Minister Ziobro's jurisdiction. And the names of important PiS politicians appear in the Podkarpackie affair. In each of these stories, the prosecutor's office demonstrates disregard for the problem or helplessness. Not by chance, because investigators don't know if they won't catch their superiors red-handed, guilty of at least neglecting their duties, if not something worse.” -- KACZYŃSKI IN A TRAP? - ZAREMBA'S CONCLUSION: “Or perhaps Ziobro has too much knowledge, including about the people in the current ruling establishment, to be gotten rid of? If this last argument is decisive, it means that the omnipotent leader has been caught in a trap.” https://polskatimes.pl/afera-hejterska-w-ministerstwie-sprawiedliwosci-piotr-zaremba-ciezko-uwierzyc-ze-zbigniew-ziobro-nie-wiedzial-co-dzieje-sie-w/ar/c1-14369569 -- THIS CAMPAIGN SAIL CAUGHT NO WIND - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI ON SCHETYNA'S SIX POINTS: “The opposition and its media also see this clash in the field of real, tangible politics. Despite using all methods, they failed to break through the current ruling camp's relationship with Poles, and they did not manage to build their own connections. Civic Platform itself quickly forgot about 'Schetyna's Six,' and I am convinced that Mr. Schetyna himself no longer remembers it. It's no wonder – this campaign sail caught no wind.” -- THE OPPOSITION CAN CREATE EMOTIONAL UPHEAVALS - KARNOWSKI CONTINUES: “Here we touch upon what I believe is the greatest failure of the ruling camp: after four years in power, the opposition can generate multi-day emotional upheavals on any topic at the flick of a wrist. Our friends from Hungary couldn't believe how unchanged this worked here. But that's exactly how it is.” -- MORAL PANIC IS MEANT TO UNDERMINE THE RIGHT'S SELF-CONFIDENCE - KARNOWSKI CONTINUES: “The goal is not truth, but precisely this moral panic, undermining the foundations of the right-wing camp's self-confidence. By the way, it's becoming increasingly rumored that one of the press publishers, who recently had significant legal troubles, also played in this game. Someone from his team was supposed to be an intermediary and pass a ready-made package to those who blew the story open.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/460702-kurs-opozycji-jest-jasny-wywolac-na-prawicy-panike-moralna -- NO ONE DRAWS MORE PROBLEMS TO PIS THAN ZIOBRO - JACEK GĄDEK ON GAZETA.PL: “There are no irreplaceable people in the PiS camp – except for Jarosław Kaczyński. Zbigniew Ziobro also cannot be certain of his position, especially since no one else draws more problems to PiS than the Minister of Justice. However, as long as he hasn't been caught with a smoking gun in his hand, he remains a useful element of the puzzle for the leader (Kaczyński) when thinking about winning the next election.” http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,25114467,nikt-nie-sciaga-na-pis-wiekszych-problemow-niz-zbigniew-ziobro.html -- JACEK ŻAKOWSKI ON POLAND UPSIDE DOWN: “A lot of Poles have died prematurely, children are learning a bit less, several people have mysteriously died in prisons, a group has survived traumas from the blows of government trolls, the army is a bit weaker. Culture is shrinking, giving way to directly reproduced tradition. The pain is still relatively small. But it will grow with a roughly predictable outcome. The state – like a human being – cannot stand on its head indefinitely. The only question is what happens next. That is, how to stand on one's feet when everything has been turned upside down.” https://opinie.wp.pl/zakowski-polska-na-glowie-opinia-6416647638066817a -- ALL AFFAIRS HAD DELAYED EFFECTS - LUDWIK DORN: “Secondly, this affair will have serious, long-term consequences for PiS, extending beyond the timeframe of the autumn elections. And long-term consequences are the most important in the case of serious affairs. Let's recall that the Rywin affair erupted at the end of December 2002, and its destructive effects for the SLD became apparent over three years, until the electoral defeat in 2005. The beginning of the 'tape affair' (the one with the octopuses and 'theoretical state') was in June 2014, and the bitter electoral harvest for Civic Platform occurred almost a year and a half later (a 15 percentage point drop in voter support).” -- DORN ON THE POLITICAL OVERLOAD OF PIS: “The 'Piebiak and company' affair, which may turn into the 'Ziobro and company' affair, has unleashed a political dynamic that inevitably leads to the structural political overload of PiS. This party, regardless of the outcome of the autumn elections, may postpone decisions under the influence of overload, thrash about, and seek superficial solutions, but in the long term, there is no possibility of effectively dealing with such strong pressure. For the next year and a half, PiS will crack and crumble under it. And after the autumn parliamentary elections, the next political bottleneck in this process will be the spring presidential elections. And responsibility for the PiS format of the justice system rests not only with Jarosław Kaczyński, Mateusz Morawiecki, and Zbigniew Ziobro. Constitutionally, President Andrzej Duda is also responsible. He is silent for now, and it's no wonder. What could he say?” https://www.tvn24.pl/magazyn-tvn24/pis-bedzie-pekac-i-kruszec,231,3981 -- ZIOBRO IS KACZYŃSKI'S NIGHTMARE - WOJCIECH CZUCHNOWSKI IN GW: “Today, history repeats itself. The party has received a blow from its very core. Ziobro and the 'establishment' – this time created by him in his ministry – are again in the lead role. Kaczyński could have dreamt of such a thing in his worst nightmares, although another question should be asked: did the PiS leader also know about the hate campaigns of Ziobro's people?” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25115728,juz-raz-zbigniew-ziobro-zadal-smiertelny-cios-rzadom-pis-minister.html -- A YEAR AGO, JOHN MCCAIN DIED, 2 YEARS AGO, SENATOR ANNA KURSKA. -- BIRTHDAYS: Jerzy Polaczek, Beniamin Bielecki, SUNDAY: Zdobysław Milewski, Cezary Tomczyk, Andrzej Potocki, Krzysztof Smiszek, Piotr Kotomski.