-- AGROUNIA IN CIVIC COALITION TO KICK OFF POST-HOLIDAY CAMPAIGN RESTART, MORAWIECKI WRITES ABOUT PUTIN SYMPATHIZERS, PETRU RESIGNS FROM SENATE RUN - 300LIVE: http://300polityka.pl/live/2023/08/16
-- ŻUKOWSKA POSTS PHOTO OF KOŁODZIEJCZAK WITH BĄKIEWICZ: https://twitter.com/AM_Zukowska/status/1691726497097162932?s=20

-- PIS POLITICIANS RECALL KOŁODZIEJCZAK'S WORDS ABOUT TUSK: https://twitter.com/Bogdan_Rzonca/status/1691715257368994121?s=20

-- CENTER FOR MONITORING RACIST AND XENOPHOBIC BEHAVIOUR ON FB A YEAR AGO: WE WARN AGAINST KOŁODZIEJCZAK – HE IS PERMANENTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE FAR-RIGHT
https://www.facebook.com/137358556439286/posts/1740458356129290/

-- ANOTHER VOICE FROM TWITTER - ANNA SIKORA: “I remember Kołodziejczak's protest in Sieradz in 2018. All the big names: Winnicki and Piotr Rybak, convicted for burning a Jewish effigy. They put the EU flag on the pavement and covered it with cabbage. Międlar and Marcin Rola were in the crowd. Greetings to the left side of KO”
https://twitter.com/lsnienie/status/1691722242348962200?s=20

-- DEFENSELESS OPPOSITION - JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: “Has Donald Tusk learned from the lost elections in 2015? Much suggests he has not. Things might change, but currently PO seems defenseless against the narrative promoted by PiS. Similarly, the rest of the opposition. (...) Kaczyński's party has ridiculed the initiative that Paweł Kukiz vociferously championed. The referendum has become an electoral cudgel against Tusk and the opposition. But it serves its purpose. There is no more important topic in the discussion than the referendum.”
https://www.rp.pl/polityka/art38954821-jacek-nizinkiewicz-bezbronna-opozycja

-- THE SCANDAL SURROUNDING GERTYCH'S CANDIDACY IS THE BEST THING THAT HAS HAPPENED TO LEWICA IN A LONG TIME - JAKUB MAJMUREK IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “The campaign hasn't started badly for Lewica. The scandal surrounding Giertych's candidacy for the Senate is the best thing that has happened to it in a long time. In the subsequent Twitter tirades, the media patron is elevated to the status of a sinister power capable of imposing his will on the entire Senate pact and blocking the candidacy of a lawyer perfectly embedded in the elites, who successfully sells his image to the media as a diabolically effective political player. Considering that Giertych is so unpopular among opposition voters that ultimately none of the other parties gave him a viable Senate district, opposition voters might feel primarily gratitude towards Magda Biejat for blocking his candidacy.”

-- IN THE NEXT POLITICAL CYCLE, RETAIN THE ABILITY TO ACT AS AN INDEPENDENT POLITICAL FORCE - MAJMUREK CONTINUES: “In these elections, Lewica is playing for two things: first, to the extent possible, to maintain its 2019 parliamentary standing. Second, to retain the ability to act as an independent political force in the next political cycle. This includes situations where, due to the exhaustion of all constitutional steps, we might have to go to elections at the beginning of 2024.”
https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/lewica-wybory-2023-prognozy/

-- IF UNDECIDED VOTERS SENSE EVEN A HINT OF FALSEHOOD IN THE MESSAGE, ESPECIALLY ON THE SLATES, AT BEST THEY WILL STAY HOME, AND NEW ELECTORATE WILL NOT REACH THE OPPOSITION BUBBLE - PRZEMYSŁAW SZUBARTOWICZ IN INTERIA: “To the necessity of strong election slates – the opposition's last resort before confronting the all-ready, party-state behemoth of PiS – credibility must be added. If the opposition has been trumpeting for eight years about the authorities destroying the state's system and the rule of law, and recently about ruthless accountability for the ruling team, yet simultaneously – on a micro and macro scale – presents itself as an internally divided organism, plagued by unhealthy ambitions, incapable of finding answers to an extraordinary situation, it appears to citizens as a team lacking vigor, at the very least. The opposition leader certainly realizes that if undecided voters sense even a hint of falsehood in the message, especially on the slates, at best they will stay home, and new electorate will not reach the opposition bubble. The question is whether he will translate his personal lack of illusions into political action.”
https://wydarzenia.interia.pl/felietony/news-listy-tuska,nId,6962739

-- MINISTER OF DIGITIZATION JANUSZ CIESZYŃSKI RESPONDED TO THE NOTORIOUS INTERVIEW WITH THE HEAD OF THE FILMMAKERS ASSOCIATION, JACEK BROMSKI, IN RZ: “Jacek Bromski wants Poles to pay more for films and music online so that his association has even more money for its statutory activities. Previous expenditures for this activity include, for example, the purchase of what he himself claims to be a 'modest guesthouse' by the beach in Sopot.”
https://twitter.com/jciesz/status/1691017591400140800?s=20

-- THE SPIRIT OF COMMENTS UNDER THE DISCUSSION OF BROMSKI'S INTERVIEW ON MONEY.PL: “The creator, director of Titanic, mortgaged his house and life to make the film of his life, and you, Polish post-communist pseudo-filmmakers, only want to be given handouts, and you create film sinecures and nepotism.”

-- ANOTHER RANDOM COMMENT: “I'm humming a song while shaving, where do I have to pay royalties? I hammered a nail into the wall and hung a picture on it. Where do I have to pay royalties to the hammer manufacturer?”
https://www.money.pl/gospodarka/polscy-filmowcy-chca-pozwac-rzad-usilowano-nas-zmylic-6930478207658784a.html

-- MANFRED WEBER SERVES POLAND, EVEN IF HE EXCLUDES PIS - JĘDRZEJ BIELECKI IN RZ: “The conditions for cooperation between the moderate right and more radical groups presented by Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP, align with Poland's raison d'état. Even if they exclude PiS. (...) The conditions for cooperation between the moderate right and more radical groups presented by Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP, align with Poland's raison d'état. Even if they exclude PiS.”
https://www.rp.pl/komentarze/art38954261-jedrzej-bielecki-manfred-weber-sluzy-polsce-nawet-jesli-wyklucza-pis

-- I SUPPORT THE ABOLITION OF THE BORDER BARRIER WITH BELARUS - PAULINA SIEGIEŃ IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “The fence is just an escape tool because it allows one to avoid a serious discussion about the problems of the Polish army, air defense gaps, and the deficiencies (to put it very mildly) of the fleet. And about the political instrumentalization of the military and uniformed services. Similar escapism is expressed in the third, racist and vile question of the PiS referendum, which is merely an expression of unwillingness to face the challenges of the present, let alone the future. Migrations, legal or not, will not end even when one hundred percent of people in Poland mark the appropriate box on the ballot. But the discussion about migration policy has become a hot, even toxic potato in Poland, which no one wants to touch, especially during an election campaign. This is precisely how blackmail works. I wish there were politicians who would say directly that they do not agree to this blackmail. In the case of the fourth question, the matter is really simple. Symbolically, the fence on the border with Belarus is an expression of the failure and bankruptcy of Polish Eastern policy.”
https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/pis-oglasza-pytania-referendalne-czy-chcesz-zniesienia-bariery-na-granicy-z-bialorusia/

-- WHILE ENJOYING AN INCREASINGLY STRONG ARMY, WE MUST REMEMBER: IF TUSK COMES TO POWER, HE WILL ONCE AGAIN TURN EVERYTHING INTO ASHES - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI: “This is not a time for experiments, this is not a moment for any boredom. While enjoying an increasingly strong army, we must remember: if Tusk comes to power, he will once again turn everything into ashes. That's how PO governed between 2007-2015, and his people have presented such an approach – always contrarian to building Polish strength – for the last eight years.”

-- EVEN TODAY, THEY, THE ECONOMIC FAILURES, WORRY ABOUT THE DEBT FOR ARMS PURCHASES! IT'S PAINFUL TO WRITE, BUT THEY WOULD PROBABLY PREFER TO BE OCCUPIED - KARNOWSKI CONTINUES: “Even today, they, the economic failures, worry about the debt for arms purchases! It's painful to write, but they would probably prefer to be occupied. We prefer to be indebted than occupied. When we are safe, we will pay everything off without a problem. Constant mockery, ridicule, manipulation directed against the rebuilding of the army. Even today, on Polish Army Day. For the German press published for Poles, Polish military effort, in the face of a vocal threat, is a pretext for dressing up as 'Four Tank-Men and a Dog.' We have armored troops, we have rebuilt them. Who is the German dog today, wagging its tail on command from Berlin to the criminal Putin, everyone probably knows.”
https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/658615-mamy-wojsko-ale-jak-wroci-tusk-obroci-wszystko-w-zgliszcza -- PEKAO ART_STORIES: COMPETITION FOR YOUNG ARTISTS - VOGUE: “Bank Pekao S.A. has launched a competition for artists called 'Pekao ART_stories' on its Instagram profile @bankpekaosa. What needs to be done to participate in the competition? The task will seem simple to everyone endowed with creative energy. Participants are asked to present their interpretation of Bank Pekao S.A.'s mobile banking, referencing the application's anniversary. Importantly, the technique is arbitrary – the competition rules allow for painting, graphics, photography, as well as animation or video. The main prize is PLN 20,000, and there are three additional prizes of PLN 2,000 each. Selected works will be published in a gallery on the website www.pekaoartstories.pl and on the bank's Instagram @bankpekaosa. Winners can therefore also count on the promotion of their works and creativity.” https://www.vogue.pl/a/konkurs-dla-mlodych-artystow-pekao-artstories

-- BIRTHDAYS: Krystyna Mokrosińska, Jacek Karnowski, Jan Łopata.