-- ON SATURDAY IN THE VERY CENTER OF WARSAW, MAŁGORZATA KIDAWA-BŁOŃSKA WILL OPEN A MODERN VOLUNTEER CENTER - 300POLITYKA has learned. Press briefings by the candidate will also take place there. Kidawa's campaign staff want to show that her political base is changing with this new meeting place - we hear. -- MACIEREWICZ ANNOUNCES ANOTHER REPORT FROM HIS COMMISSION FOR APRIL 10 ON TV TRWAM: “I am very often asked recently whether the 10th anniversary of the Smolensk tragedy will also bring information about what really happened, how it happened, who is responsible for it, in short, whether there will be a report that shows the actual course of events. Yes. Such a report will be.” -- MACIEREWICZ REVEALS WHAT WILL BE IN THE REPORT: “This report consists of, or rather, discusses four basic issues. Firstly, the matter related to the repair of the TU-154 aircraft, and this repair was carried out under immense Russian influence, especially by Russian special services with the support of some special services operating in Poland and some politicians who facilitated, who made this operation possible.” https://wpolityce.pl/smolensk/487941-macierewicz-zapowiada-raport-dot-katastrofy-smolenskiej -- WHAT DOES BEER HAVE TO DO WITH AN ALLIANCE WITH THE AUTHORITIES? VERY MUCH - Leszek Kostrzewski, Tomasz Nyczka in GW on Kompania Piwowarska sponsoring Gazeta Polska's Man of the Year: “Such cooperation and lobbying (unprecedented in the vodka or wine industry) bring results. - The laws binding breweries are excellent for them today, and breweries are doing everything to prevent them from changing - there is no doubt in Krzysztof Brzózka's mind. And he provides examples. - It is incomprehensible to me that there is no legally defined definition of beer in Poland, and therefore breweries can add whatever they want to beer. Moreover, beer is the only alcohol that can be advertised, and this has a huge impact on sales - adds the expert. Interestingly, cider cannot be advertised, even though it often has less alcohol than beer. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced two years ago that he would lift these restrictions for cider. He hasn't done so to this day.” -- WHY IS BEER EXEMPT FROM THE SUGAR TAX - FURTHER IN GW: “The latest privilege is related to the sugar and 'monkey' tax, invented by PiS to save the budget. It is to come into effect from July 1. It will cover vodka, wine, but not... beer. - Flavored beers were excluded from the sugar tax law, and regarding the second tax, the 'monkey' tax, the government stipulated that an additional fee would be paid for alcohol packaging up to 300 ml. Meanwhile, small beers have a capacity of 330 ml. And now tell me, can anyone be surprised that breweries want to get along well with the authorities - asks Krzysztof Brzózka.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,155287,25716639,jak-najwiekszy-browar-w-polsce-wspomaga-zwolennikow-pis-i-co.html -- A BLUNDER WITH THE CAMPAIGN MANAGER - BOGUSŁAW CHRABOTA, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF RZ: “I have no idea how lawyer Jolanta Turczynowicz-Kieryłło ended up leading President Andrzej Duda's campaign, but it must have been a miracle, because usually an experienced politician is put in such a sensitive position. Experienced, meaning someone who combines personal achievements with an exceptional sense of rhetorical matters; after all, a campaign, apart from minor programmatic issues, is mainly about rhetoric! And what matters most are the words spoken in it. At the right moment and according to a precisely laid plan.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/200229966-Chrabota-Inauguracyjna-wtopa-u-Dudy.html -- DUDA IS STUCK - PAWEŁ WROŃSKI IN GW: “President Andrzej Duda loves to be photographed against the backdrop of local scenes in folk costumes, but the campaign no longer looks colorful. It's rather a string of mistakes and misunderstandings. For the first time, the president is not setting the agenda, and it's unclear where the great strategist Jarosław Kaczyński has gone.” -- THE CAMPAIGN IS NOT GOING WELL FOR THE PRESIDENT - FURTHER FROM WROŃSKI: “The campaign is not going well for President Duda. Saturday's election convention was supposed to impress with its splendor, voters in Góralska and mining costumes. The presentation of 'full agreement of political and party authorities.' The president wanted to convince voters that he is the guarantor of the stability of the PiS government, which has brought so much good to Polish society. However, this has consequences. PiS seems to have exhausted its mobilization possibilities, and it's hard to make new social promises with the worsening economic outlook approaching. The president thus seems to accept his role as Adrian in the hallway of the PiS leader and counts on voters to accept it too. But the voter might ask: why do I need such a president?” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25717397,duda-sie-zacial-kampania-prezydenta-w-defensywie.html -- KIDAWA HAS REAL CHANCES - ŁUKASZ PAWŁOWSKI FROM KULTURA LIBERALNA ON ONET: “Just a few months ago, many opposition supporters were waiting for the arrival of a battle-hardened knight on a white horse. Today, it turns out that the dam against Jarosław Kaczyński's plans – one of the most effective but also most ruthless politicians in the history of the Third Republic – can be built by a woman who once, in a fit of great anger, broke her great-grandmother's porcelain saucer. Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska – especially in the face of the mistakes made by Andrzej Duda and his entourage – has real chances of winning the May elections.” -- PAWŁOWSKI ON KIDAWA'S POSITION WITHIN HER OWN CIRCLE - CONSIDERED SINCERE AND TRUSTWORTHY: “If someone knows that something bad is happening to someone in the club – especially when it comes to women – because, for example, someone's husband got sick, there's already a well-trodden path. You go to Małgosia with it, and she organizes support for that person in various areas. She's really like that,” MP Joanna Mucha tells me. She adds that “the entire group of women from Platforma have been meeting for many, many years at the invitation of Małgosia Kidawa-Błońska.” Several MPs I spoke with about the PO candidate also emphasize that she is considered sincere and trustworthy within the party.” -- NITRAS ON KIDAWA - SHE IS AS REAL AS LECH KACZYŃSKI: “There is no one else in the Sejm who could so politely, yet firmly, say what is good and what is bad. And in a sincere way,” MP Sławomir Nitras assures me in our conversation. “I deeply respect the trait she possesses. Namely: she is sincere, which is an exceptionally rare trait in politics.” In his opinion, Kidawa-Błońska is very similar in this regard to... Lech Kaczyński. What's the similarity? “He was also authentic. He was rough around the edges, it was easy to label him, but everyone knows he was authentic. He had his scientific, official, and political achievements. You could disagree with him, but that guy was real,” Nitras states.” -- A PERSON WITHOUT COMPLEXES IS HARDER TO EMOTIONALLY BREAK DOWN - FURTHER FROM PAWŁOWSKI ON KIDAWA: “Another long-time acquaintance of Kidawa-Błońska, however, convinces me that it is exactly the opposite, that the potential brutality of the PiS campaign will not have a major impact on the PO candidate. “She is indestructible in this regard. Even if everything is burning and falling apart, she will keep moving forward. She is not a person who falls into extremes – and even when something bad, hurtful, or unpleasant happens, she is able to absorb it and move on. Perhaps this is the advantage of someone who has no particular complexes or problems with themselves. Such a person is simply harder to break down emotionally,” I hear.” -- A GANG WAR, NOT A POLITICAL FIGHT - BANAS LIKE A WITNESS FOR THE CROWN - SŁAWOMIR SIERAKOWSKI ON ONET: “What is happening in Poland now more closely resembles a gang war than a political fight. As is often the case in the history of crime, a group consciously breaking the law and trying to escape the courts has fallen out, and some are starting to betray others. Gangsters attack their families, send armed police in balaclavas after each other, search homes, and rat on the police. 'Pancerny Marian' [Armored Marian], thanks to the immunity he retained from his friendship with party leaders, can function like a witness for the crown. And he is now betraying PiS, just as 'Masa' betrayed the Pruszków mafia.” -- THE DEFICIT OF DEMOCRACY IN POLAND LOOKS LIKE A CRIMINAL CHRONICLE - FURTHER FROM SIERAKOWSKI: “When attempts to reach an agreement failed, both sides went to war. The Minister of Justice ordered the prosecutor's office to search the office of the President of NIK [Supreme Audit Office], and the President of NIK ordered an inspection of the National Public Prosecutor's Office. 'Pancerny Marian,' like the arrested 'agent Tomek,' were former MPs of the party who became inconvenient for it. The deficit of democracy in Poland looks like a criminal chronicle.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/opinie/slawomir-sierakowski-swiadek-koronny-pancerny-marian-opinia/802efh5 -- PIS IS FALLING APART - writes Fakt: “Jarosław Kaczyński met with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (52) at Nowogrodzka until late last night. This afternoon, Minister Zbigniew Ziobro (50) appeared at the PiS headquarters. 'PiS is falling apart' – PiS activists are increasingly whispering among themselves. They worry that rifts in the coalition and further scandals shaking the party may herald a scenario similar to 2007.” https://www.fakt.pl/wydarzenia/polityka/pis-traci-spada-poparcie-dla-partii-wsrod-jej-czlonkow/7339wlp -- CBOS REPORTS DECLINE IN PRESIDENT'S RATINGS: “According to CBOS data, 57% of respondents currently view Andrzej Duda's presidency positively, which is a decrease of 3 percentage points compared to the previous month. 36% of respondents evaluate the presidency negatively (an increase of 5 percentage points).” https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,25715032,cbos-o-kolejnym-pogorszeniu-notowan-andrzeja-dudy-rosnie.html -- THE OPPOSITION IS FINALLY IN A CYNICAL GAME, ALTHOUGH A LEVEL FIGHT IS STILL FAR OFF - PIOTR GŁUCHOWSKI IN GW: “Democracy has not fallen, fascists are still a marginal phenomenon, over 40 percent of society sincerely supports PiS. But another 40 percent supports anti-PiS, which, after a five-year series of blows and lashes (nearly ending in a knockout, or even death), is beginning to shake itself off, starting to see the opponent, and tentatively delivering the first blow. Although a level fight is still far off.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25717769,opozycja-wreszcie-w-cynicznej-grze.html -- MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI ON KUKIZ - HOW A RADICAL BECAME A CLAPPER FOR THE SYSTEM - PERHAPS HE HAD TO? “So much for the description. We all know who we're talking about. But the name isn't the most important thing here (perhaps he had to?). Because what we are seeing is also the conclusion of an important and, at one time, exciting discussion within pro-Polish circles. It concerned whether, when challenging the post-communist system, one should rely on proven structures and leaders, thus attracting the unpleasant (though untrue) accusation of partisanship, or whether another, civic and free, path is possible. The gentleman mentioned above argued for the second thesis. Many supported him. It's understandable – it's much more pleasant to assume that one can fight without the corset of compromises and obligations, without acknowledging hierarchies and authorities. Except that it's nonsense. A costly, as we can see, illusion.” -- THOSE WHO DID NOT GIVE IN TO PRESSURE WERE RIGHT - FURTHER FROM KARNOWSKI: “Those who did not give in to such pressures, who were not fooled into playing the game of rocking the boat – regardless of the price involved in choosing consistent work for the construction of free and independent Polish institutions – were right. The Eye of Sauron notices such people quickly and targets them first.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/487921-jak-radykal-stal-sie-klaskaczem-systemu -- A GIGANTIC PROBLEM FOR PIS - ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ ON ONET: “The vulgar gesture of a PiS MP after a parliamentary vote concerning the transfer of PLN 2 billion to TVP instead of oncology has become a gigantic problem for PiS. It has dominated the beginning of the presidential campaign, shattering PiS's image as a party close to the people. In this situation, the ruling camp has resorted to special services – something it has done many times before, for example, by filing prosecutorial charges against opposition politicians precisely during an election campaign. The simultaneous searches of Marian Banaś and his children, as well as the detention of Tomasz Kaczmarek (i.e., Agent Tomek) – it's hard to consider this a coincidence. Especially since both operations were carried out by the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Białystok. This is a special prosecutor's office. It is headed by Elżbieta Pieniążek, a former CBA agent, a confidante of Minister Mariusz Kamiński, who is responsible for the special services.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/wojna-pis-z-banasiem-nie-biora-jencow-newsletter/8w8c7e3 -- ANNA KALITA TALKS TO A FIREFIGHTER WHO PARTICIPATED IN RESCUE OPERATIONS DURING MAJOR CATASTROPHES: “- I had a complete mental and physical breakdown. I left the fire brigade for a year. Then apathy set in,” says Zbigniew Zawiślak, a firefighter who participated in, among other things, the operation after the plane crash in Kabacki Forest and in Karlino – after the largest oil spill in Europe.” https://weekend.gazeta.pl/weekend/1,152121,25706592,najgorszy-byl-placz-dziecka-ten-wyraz-twarzy-przerazenie.html -- BIRTHDAYS: Jan Krzysztof Kelus, Czesław Fiedorowicz, Kazimierz Kleina, Małgorzata Potocka, Sławomir Kłosowski.