-- THE PRESIDENT ON POLAND'S SUCCESS IN STRENGTHENING US PRESENCE, HOŁOWNIA PRESENTS HIS MOVEMENT, OVER 600 NEW CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS TODAY - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/07/31/ -- THERE WILL BE A BANG AND ASHES, AND POLAND WILL EVEN PAY FOR IT - ON THE PLANS TO BLOW UP A 114-YEAR-OLD BRIDGE IN LOWER SILESIA - WITOLD MROZEK IN OKO: “The producers of the film 'Mission Impossible 7' want to blow up a 114-year-old railway bridge in Lower Silesia. The Polish taxpayer will pay for any eventual revitalization. Poland will also contribute 5 million to the film production. (...) The bridge was built in 1906 as part of the German line from Jelenia Góra to Lwówek Śląski. Initially, it was an overpass – it was only in 1912 that the Pilchowice dam was built, then the largest stone-concrete dam in Europe. It is considered one of the highest railway bridges in Poland – its parabolic arch is 38 meters from the bottom of the Bóbr River bay. It survived the war and attempts to blow it up by the Germans. It turned out that the withdrawing troops of Nazi Germany were unable to demolish the structure from the era of Imperial Germany”. https://oko.press/resort-glinskiego-sie-cieszy-z-wysadzenia-zabytku/ -- ENTREPRENEURS FEAR THE TAX OFFICE WILL START ACTING LIKE IT USED TO - ANNA CIEŚLAK-WRÓBLEWSKA IN RZ: “Entrepreneurs, however, fear that the state's actions will be limited to simply tightening the screws. That the tax authorities will again pursue not so much criminals and tax fraudsters, but all taxpayers indiscriminately. That the times will return when the tax office entered companies not because it had a reasonable suspicion of irregularities, but because it operated on the principle of 'give me a man, and I'll find a law for him.' Let's hope these are just dark scenarios that won't come true, and that the provisions about a friendly tax office won't just remain on paper.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze-ekonomiczne/307309873-Anna-Cieslak-Wroblewska-Fiskus-zglodnial-w-pandemii.html -- WITHDRAWING FROM THE CONVENTION TODAY WOULD BE A POLITICAL MISTAKE – IT SERIOUSLY DAMAGES POLAND'S IMAGE WHEN WE HAVE MUCH TO GAIN ON THE EUROPEAN STAGE – JOANNA LICHOCKA IN GAZETA POLSKA CODZIENNIE: “Withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention today seems like a political mistake – it seriously damages Poland's image at a time when we have much to gain on the European stage. A radical move, carrying a strong image effect in domestic politics, would make sense if the convention's provisions actually forced the government to introduce interpretations unacceptable to Poland, of which there are indeed several in this document.” https://niezalezna.pl/343532-gest-ktory-przyniesie-straty -- PIS AVOIDS BEING PUSHED TO THE EXTREME RIGHT AND WANTS TO BE THE INTEGRATOR OF THE RIGHT – WRITES 300POLITYKA: “As talks with the Americans regarding the DCA on relocating an additional thousand US soldiers to Poland are nearing completion, the decision to send questions about the Istanbul Convention to the Constitutional Tribunal is meant to protect the ruling camp's true political success – the further increase of the permanent US military presence in Poland. At such a moment, international press headlines and potential questions in Congress do not help the matter. PiS is to remain the integrator of the centre-right and not lean in any particular direction, which – according to our sources from the largest party of the United Right – would mean aiming for the electoral results of Solidarna Polska or Gowin's Polski Razem when they ran alone in the European elections in 2014.” https://300polityka.pl/news/2020/07/31/pis-unika-wepchniecia-na-prawa-sciane-i-ma-pozostac-integratorem-prawicy-w-tle-polityczna-ochrona-zwiekszenia-amerykanskiego-kontyngentu-status-na-prawicy/ -- MORAWIECKI'S CLEVER MOVE, HE DIDN'T FALL INTO THE TRAP – MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “But in reality, it's a clever move. Morawiecki did not want to fall into the trap set for him by Zbigniew Ziobro, but at the same time he did not want to humiliate him by rejecting the motion to withdraw from the convention. The Prime Minister therefore decided to buy time. And the convention now becomes a problem for the Constitutional Tribunal, not for the Prime Minister, the government, or the ruling camp more broadly. The case will therefore go to the small palace on Szucha Avenue, where President Julia Przyłębska presides, for many months. One could even say that the Prime Minister has thrown the hot potato that Zbigniew Ziobro tossed him over the fence – the Tribunal is, after all, adjacent to the Prime Minister's Chancellery.” -- SZUŁDRZYŃSKI REMINDS OF THE PROTOCOL THAT POLAND WILL APPLY THE CONVENTION ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONSTITUTION: “What adds spice to the matter is the fact that the Prime Minister's motion to the Constitutional Tribunal has little factual significance, because by ratifying the convention, Poland submitted a separate protocol stating that it would apply it solely in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland. Therefore, even if the Constitutional Tribunal deemed the convention to be inconsistent, it would not affect its application in Poland anyway. But one must also be aware that if Morawiecki had wanted to withdraw from the convention, he would have done so. The motion to the Constitutional Tribunal is therefore an evasion, but it indicates rather that PiS does not want to make this move.” https://www.rp.pl/Opinie/200739977-Michal-Szuldrzynski---Przerzucanie-goracego-kartofla.html -- THE END OF THE RIGHT'S FEARS – RZECZPOSPOLITA ON REPORT WS 447: “Law 447 was supposed to threaten with great claims. Its result is a short report.” (...) The matter of Law 447 was used as a totem. Groups that are not large parties, but fight for visibility, usually look for things where there can be a shadow of emotion – assesses sociologist Prof. Jarosław Flis.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/307309909-Ustawa-447-Koniec-lekow-prawicy.html -- RZ ON BANAS'S NEPOTISM AT NIK – AS WRITTEN BY GRAŻYNA ZAWADKA AND IZABELA KACPRZAK: “Rzeczpospolita” ten days ago asked the NIK press office about the role played by the son of President Marian Banaś – Jakub Banaś – in the Chamber's work. Is it true that he is a social assistant, that he has a permanent pass to NIK, that he brings 'people from the street' into the building and uses the President's official apartment at the Chamber's headquarters? We were told that 'The broad scope of topics raised by you requires us to verify many details. We will send the answer immediately after collecting all necessary data and information.' After a few days, we were replied that the Chamber 'does not comment on matters and media reports related to NIK employees and private individuals.' https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/307309892-Syn-Banasia-spolecznym-doradca-prezesa-NIK.html -- IF THE RIGHT-WING "SNOWFLAKES" DON'T WANT TO PRETEND TO BE FALSELY OUTRAGED, IT'S TIME THEY DEALT WITH DISCRIMINATION AND AGGRESSION TOWARDS LIVING PEOPLE, NOT MONUMENTS – JAKUB BODZIONY IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “The term 'snowflake' is popular on the internet, used by politicians like Donald Trump or Nigel Farage to describe their opponents. It was meant to imply that these 'snowflakes' have an exaggerated sense of uniqueness, cannot cope with opposing opinions, and are overly emotional individuals. Originally, this term was used for people with liberal or left-wing views, but the reactions of the Polish right to any deviation from 'normality' show that it fits them too. So, if the right-wing snowflakes don't want to pretend to be falsely outraged, it's time they dealt with discrimination and aggression towards living people, not monuments.” -- PROTESTS IN POLAND ARE STILL MILD AND SYMBOLIC – BODZIONY CONTINUES: “There is no symmetry between the action of a few anonymous activists and the statements of church hierarchs, journalists, or politicians, whose words reach millions of people every day. The actions of the anarchists are a reaction of protest against real discrimination. I try to understand people with different sensitivities who condemn both hate speech towards LGBT and happenings related to monuments. But, as with the Polish right's reactions to racial protests in the United States, here too there has been a complete reversal of priorities. Some prominent Polish commentators, observing events in the USA, were far more concerned about the defacement of the Tadeusz Kościuszko monument than about the death of George Floyd. Now, outrage is caused by a colorful flag, and the fact that people from the LGBT community are regularly committing suicide in our country, hounded by discrimination, is forgotten. What's more, protests in Poland are exceptionally mild and symbolic. Decorating a monument with a flag and sticking a note with demands cannot be called vandalism.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2020/07/31/lgbt-do-prawicowych-sniezynek-bodziony/ -- PHOTO. Jean-Étienne Liotard, The Chocolate Girl, c. 1744, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden. -- THE PORTAL NIEZŁASZTUKA.NET ON THE CHARM OF THE CHOCOLATE GIRL – There are no objectively beautiful things. Everyone has their own definition of beauty. One of mine is embodied by the servant captured in her daily duties and transferred to vellum by the Swiss artist Jean-Étienne Liotard. Her beauty consists of many factors, but above all it is determined by the way she has been depicted. Liotard took care to give a unique setting – style and technique create the unique character of the work – to a simple, unpopular subject at the time. The longer the viewer looks at the carefully painted profile of the girl, the stronger the impression of undisturbed peace and ideal harmony they are overcome by. It is this that constitutes the beauty of The Chocolate Girl. This cup, carried by the girl portrayed by Liotard, is filled to the brim with dark, thick chocolate. The drink made from cocoa beans, in the mid-18th century, was considered as luxurious as Meissen porcelain. Chocolate gained its popularity in Europe thanks to the Spanish royal family, and especially thanks to two princesses – Anna of Austria and Maria Theresa. Wives of successive kings of France, Louis XIII and Louis XIV, popularized among the French aristocracy the custom of drinking hot chocolate. Although the theme of drinking chocolate also appeared in Liotard's later works (e.g., in Breakfast from the Alte Pinakothek collection in Munich), and was successfully realized by other contemporary artists, such as François Boucher, a leading artist of French Rococo, it was The Chocolate Girl that became the ambassador of cocoa in the United States. During a visit to Dresden, Henry Lillie Pierce, president of Walter Baker&Company, the oldest chocolate factory in the USA, was delighted by it. The American industrialist, charmed by the beauty of The Chocolate Girl, did not want to part with it and decided that the heroine of Liotard's pastel would stay with him forever – as the logo of his company. In 1883, The Chocolate Girl became a key element of Walter Baker&Company's visual identity. It appeared not only on boxes and cans of cocoa, but also on posters, flyers, postcards, and even on the cover of a cookbook published by Pierce's company. https://niezlasztuka.net/o-sztuce/jean-etienne-liotard-czekoladziarka/ -- BIRTHDAYS: Paweł Łączkowski, Jacek Ambroziak, Stanisław Jurcewicz, Rev. Kazimierz Sowa, Małgorzata Ostrowska, Arkadiusz Litwiński.