-- TUSK MOST INFLUENTIAL IN EUROPE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2023/11/29/donald-tusk-najbardziej-wplywowy-w-europie-wedlug-rankingu-politico-u-progu-nowej-ery-tuska-a-wiatr-zmian-znow-wieje-pisze-politico/ -- POLITICAL AGENDA FOR WEDNESDAY: SEJM ON IVF, LEX TUSK AND CARRIER PROTESTS, START OF SENATE SESSION - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2023/11/29/ -- “MOTHER, WIFE, AND MISTRESS”. PUBLIC LYNCHING OF DOMINIKA CHOROSIŃSKA - THE NEW MINISTER OF CULTURE FROM PiS - PAULINA BŁASZKIEWICZ IN GW: “Which politician has their former mistresses, divorces, and romantic episodes brought up? Few people are interested in that. Meanwhile, they write about Dominika Chorosińska like this: “Married. With her husband Michał, they have five children together, and they also raise a child from Chorosińska’s extramarital affair.” But do we really have the right to “attack” someone like that just because they are from PiS? (...) Is this why we condone publicly lynching her and bringing up her affair from years ago again and again? Because a woman isn’t allowed to? And as punishment, for the rest of her life, one must emphasize that she was a mistress?” https://torun.wyborcza.pl/torun/7,48723,30450523,matka-zona-i-kochanka-publiczny-lincz-na-dominice-chorosinskiej.html -- RULE OF LAW WITHOUT DELAY. WE MUST ESCAPE THE TRAP OF LEGAL FORMALISM - MAREK SAFJAN IN GW: “We often hear that helplessness is dictated by caution, respect for the constitution and prevailing laws, and any solution proposed today to exit the structural crisis should be protested as violating the law. Indeed, we are walking a fine line over a dark abyss, where the demons of anti-law reside, and we thus risk the very existence of the rule of law in the future. However, we must also remember what the alternative is to this, some may say, overly risky journey. It is waiting and doing nothing. This, in turn, will lead to the permanent maintenance of unconstitutionality, the violation of fundamental rights and the axiological framework of a democratic state governed by the rule of law, to remaining in this metaphorical abyss perhaps forever. Therefore, perhaps we have no choice.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,30449535,panstwo-prawa-bez-zwloki-trzeba-wyrwac-sie-z-pulapki-prawniczego.html -- FROM CHRISTMAS EVE WITHOUT SHOPPING TO CHRISTMAS EVE WITHOUT WORK. AN UNEXPECTED ALLIANCE OF THE LEFT AND PiS - ANNA ZALESKA IN GW: “- The real cost of introducing a day off on Christmas Eve would be low. Instead of maintaining this fiction, let's simply give people time to prepare for Christmas Eve calmly – he said. And he got down to specifics: it would be good to adopt such a solution next year, before the next holidays. Unexpectedly, he was supported by the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Family, Stanisław Szwed. - If a majority is found, the Law and Justice party club will gladly support this solution – he declared. In his assessment, it is a good time to discuss the introduction of a completely work-free Christmas Eve in parliament.” https://wyborcza.biz/biznes/7,147743,30452703,od-wigilii-bez-handlu-do-wigilii-bez-pracy-nieoczekiwany-sojusz.html -- PiS WILL DO EVERYTHING TO ENSURE TUSK'S COALITION GOVERNMENT TAKES OFFICE ALREADY TIRED, ATTACKED, AND DIVIDED - MARIUSZ JANICKI IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE OF TYGODNIK POLITYKA: “PiS will do everything to ensure Tusk's coalition government takes office already tired, attacked, and divided. It depends on the resilience and political awareness of the voters who recently supported democratic change in Poland whether this breakthrough they voted for will come into effect and hopes will be fulfilled. PiS will tirelessly urge impatience, doubt, irritation, and nostalgia for the old order. It will use all methods and friendly media to achieve this. Succumbing to these moods would largely mean negating the civic movement of October 15th of that memorable year.” -- THE ABORTION ISSUE SHOWS A MUCH BROADER PROBLEM. THERE MAY BE MORE POST-ELECTION DISAPPOINTMENTS WITH THE NEW, STILL NON-EXISTENT GOVERNMENT, FUELLED BY PiS'S PR WHIZZ-KIDS AND THEIR PEOPLE IN THE MEDIA - JANICKI CONTINUES: “The abortion issue shows a much broader problem. There may be more post-election disappointments with the new, still non-existent government, fuelled by PiS's PR whizz-kids and their people in the media. That it's too slow, not enough, not in the right way, they said one thing, promised another, and it's not happening. But it's not one party that should rule now, doing as it pleases, but a coalition. And in a coalition, each party has as much say as its share of the vote, as allocated by the voters; all solutions – abortion, social, economic, climate, and any other – must be the result of negotiation and compromise. However, they will now fall within the democratic order, civilized discourse, and the rational sphere connected with the EU legal culture. The alternative is Kaczyński's party, under which there was and is no talk of systemic standards, elementary equality, or genuine debate. It would seem that this difference is not difficult to understand, to see the senselessness of being offended and criticizing in advance, before anything has even begun. But, as it turns out, that's not always the case.” -- THE REALITY IS THAT PARTIES SUPPORTING ABORTION LIBERALIZATION UP TO THE 12TH WEEK GAINED A TOTAL OF 39% IN THE ELECTIONS, WHILE GROUPS THAT DISAGREE WITH THIS GAINED 61% - JANICKI CONTINUES: “The reality is that parties supporting abortion liberalization up to the 12th week gained a total of 39% in the elections, while groups that disagree with this gained 61%. Neither PiS, nor Trzecia Droga or Konfederacja hid their views on the issue of abortion. Kosiniak-Kamysz and Hołownia (we write about the new Sejm Marshal in the article “Straight on a Winding Path”) are presented today as brakes, although they always said: a return to the so-called compromise and a referendum. Despite this, they received 14.4%, and Lewica – a mere 8.6%.” https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/2236582,1,lekcje-cierpliwosci.read -- WILL PLATFORMA HELP JACK SUTRZYK WITH RE-ELECTION? SOME WOULD LIKE TO, OTHERS ARE AFRAID - ARTUR BRZOZOWSKI IN GW: “When asked directly by "Wyborcza" if he would run for mayor of Wrocław, Jaros replied evasively, explaining that PO would “begin talks with our partners and consultations with urban movements and NGOs.” - All options and solutions are currently on the table – he assures. Apparently, he himself is not entirely decided whether to run and is still hesitating. However, in the party, he is strongly urged by his supporters. Nevertheless, in Wrocław's Platform, there are two factions, competing for influence and having different visions of cooperation with the mayor. The first is primarily composed of: Jaros, Zdrojewski, and Renata Granowska, the deputy mayor – they want to replace Sutryk. And for some time, they have not hidden their intentions.” https://wroclaw.wyborcza.pl/wroclaw/7,35771,30449764,czesc-platformy-dystansuje-sie-od-sutryka-i-chce-wystawic-swojego.html -- HOŁOWNIA VS MORAWIECKI. DELIGHTFUL IRONY, CULTURAL EXECUTION - PIOTR PACEWICZ IN OKO.PRESS: “Morawiecki, almost rudely, retorted that he should “not listen to propaganda, as it is unbecoming of an office,” to which Hołownia commented: “Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for your concern. Concern in politics is a rare commodity, and you care about me very much.” That's Hołownia through and through! The irony, which would make a mammoth stumble, angered PiS MPs, who began to grumble, but the marshal, with his sweetest asymmetrical smile, silenced them: “Please do not shout when I am exchanging pleasantries with the Prime Minister.” Checkmate. On this occasion, Hołownia misspoke, saying that the projects would be “processed from today,” and when an uproar arose that he had used the wrong word, he commented, “My deepest apologies, but sometimes the word process comes to my lips so strongly that I cannot resist.” The question even arises whether Hołownia, the master of this marshal's performance, really misspoke, or whether he had prepared another bon mot?” -- SATISFACTION COMES FROM OBSERVING THE HELPLESSNESS OF THE FORMER RULERS, WHO MOREOVER CANNOT YELL "RUDENESS," BECAUSE THE MARSHAL IS SO POLITE - PACEWICZ CONTINUES: “Hołownia's ostentatious politeness disarms and paralyzes PiS politicians, who get drawn into polite conversation and cannot use their favorite weapons: lies, demagoguery, rudeness. The source of our (if I may) deep satisfaction is not building anything, because we don't want to build anything with Czarniek, Witek, Morawiecki, or Kaczyński, and they are the ones who inhabit the Sejm building. Satisfaction comes from observing the helplessness of the former rulers, who moreover cannot yell "rudeness," because the marshal is so polite.” -- HOŁOWNIA REMINDS ME OF A YOUNG THEN (42-YEAR-OLD) ADAM MICHNIK AT THE ROUND TABLE, COMMUNISTS WERE AMAZED THAT ONE COULD PLAY WITH THEM LIKE THAT, THEY LOOKED LIKE A FROG CONGREGATION STARING AT A SNAKE - PACEWICZ CONTINUES: “Going back 34 years... Hołownia reminds me of a young then (42-year-old) Adam Michnik at the Round Table, specifically in Professor Bronisław Geremek's team (I was his secretary), who negotiated a political agreement with the “party-government side.” Michnik attacked the communists, told them without shame everything we all thought, but he did it with such grace that they were left speechless. They were amazed that one could play with them like that, they looked like a frog congregation staring at a snake. It is pleasant to watch Kaczyński and his ilk gape at Hołownia, who is full of bon mots.” https://oko.press/holownia-kontra-morawiecki-zachwycajaca-ironia-kulturalna-egzekucja -- SEJM SESSIONS ON YOUTUBE ARE GETTING 700-900 THOUSAND VIEWS. ALTHOUGH IT'S NOT A ONE-MAN SHOW, EVERYONE SEES WHO PLAYS THE MAIN ROLE - BOLESŁAW BRECZKO IN GW: “It is the internet users themselves who are waiting and watching the new show of Szymon “Gigachad” Hołownia, who uses his skills and experience from working in television to lead the Sejm of the tenth term. (...) Regardless of how long the viewership of the Sejm sessions and press conferences lasts, it is already clear that one person is benefiting more from this trend than others. It is Szymon “Gigachad” Hołownia, who skillfully and easily builds his political position, thanks to which he will be able to play even more important roles in politics in the future. This is not the first time that someone from the show business world has done well in politics. Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Trump, or Ronald Reagan have already paved this path.” https://wyborcza.biz/biznes/7,177150,30451624,szymon-gigachad-holownia-nie-da-sie-dzis-robic-polityki.html -- THIS IS IMPORTANT - PiS HAS NOT GIVEN UP AND IS ALREADY LOOKING FOR A WAY TO VICTORY. THERE ARE STILL MANY SUCCESSES AHEAD FOR THE INDEPENDENCE CAMP. THEY WILL COME - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “The shape of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's new government is, of course, such an attempt. The role that the prime minister has undertaken is neither pleasant nor easy. On the contrary – it is exceptionally ungrateful. (...) There will be no miracles, but the first effects are already visible. Law and Justice has sent a signal that it is not giving up, that it is not resigning from the fight for Poland. It has also shown that it is capable of making significant changes, presenting a new face. This is important, because the alternative is stagnation, quarrels, settlements, and even the disintegration of structures, a lasting division. And that would be a real tragedy. Today, the most important thing is to preserve the potential, unity, and cohesion of a great political camp. A camp that will still achieve great victories. Perhaps in a little over a year and a half.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/672524-to-wazne-pis-sie-nie-poddalo-i-juz-szuka-drogi-do-sukcesu -- THE CASE OF MP ELŻBIETA WITEK, WHO WAS NOT ELECTED TO THE CHAMBER PRESIDIUM, WILL WEIGH MORE HEAVILY ON THE SEJM THAN HER ELECTION - MAREK DOMAGALSKI IN RZ: “I will not speculate about the future, but PiS likely has no choice and will not put forward a deputy marshal “licensed” by the majority. And this gap in the parliament's leadership, which MP Elżbieta Witek now symbolizes, will weigh more heavily on the current Sejm majority than if she were a deputy marshal. Unfortunately, also to the detriment of Polish parliamentarism.” https://www.rp.pl/rzecz-o-prawie/art39472561-holownia-zateskni-jeszcze-za-witek -- THIS IS A SIGN THAT PIS IS LOSING POWER. OTHERWISE, GENTLEMEN WOULD DOMINATE THE CABINET - JAROSŁAW KUISZ IN INTERIA: “The current Morawiecki government – unintentionally or intentionally – exposes this lamentable procedure. Women receive ministerial positions not only when the government has no chance of ruling. What's more, they receive these positions when the men from the party's front lines do not want to compromise themselves. In the previous Morawiecki government – the one that held real power – there were two women. (...) It is no exaggeration to say that, if by some miracle the third iteration of the Morawiecki cabinet were to last, most of the ladies would immediately disappear from the government.” https://wydarzenia.interia.pl/felietony/news-pseudofeminizm-w-polsce,nId,7176932 -- A SAD SPECTACLE IN WHICH PIS MAKES WOMEN RIDICULOUS - DOMINIKA WANTUCH IN GW: “For eight years, women were insulted. We heard that children are not born because we drink too much (that was Jarosław Kaczyński), that we take Ellaone pills like sweets, even several times a month, and that girls, even under 15, take them (that was Konstanty Radziwiłł), that we put our careers above children because we listen to nonsense, that we don't have to do what God called us to do (that was Przemysław Czarnek), that girls are too fat (that was also the Minister of Education), that women's role at work is limited to creating a pleasant atmosphere and easing tensions (that was Henryk Kowalczyk), and that we are dumber than monkeys (that was Zbigniew Dolata). Now, when PiS has lost the elections and is losing power, PiS is "entrusting" the fate of the state to women. It is they, the new ministers in the paritetic PiS government, who are becoming the face of the party's defeat. Because that's what the male members of PiS decided. Because that's what Jarosław Kaczyński decided.” https://www.wysokieobcasy.pl/wysokie-obcasy/7,163229,30449681,rzad-kobiet-morawieckiego-smutny-spektakl-w-ktorym-pis.html -- MORAWIECKI'S GOVERNMENT WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. IN THE BERGAMOT ISLANDS - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “That is precisely why Morawiecki's government should rule precisely there, in the Bergamot Islands. Because they don't exist. Just like the majority that could support Morawiecki's interim cabinet.” https://www.rp.pl/komentarze/art39480751-michal-szuldrzynski-rzad-morawieckiego-odniesie-sukces-na-wyspach-bergamutach -- THE ONLY INTERESTING PERSON IN THIS GOVERNMENT IS ALVIN GAJADHUR, A MAN WHO IS NOT ONLY PLEASANT AND SMILING – AT LEAST PUBLICLY – BUT ALSO QUITE COMPETENT - PIOTR WÓJCIK IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “The only interesting person in this government is Alvin Gajadhur. He is the current Chief Inspector of Road Traffic, who was responsible, among other things, for overseeing the CANARD system (Automatic Traffic Control Center) and tried to expand the network of speed cameras and section speed controls. He is a man who is not only pleasant and smiling – at least publicly – but also quite competent. He didn't work miracles in his position, but let's remember that we live in Poland, where a speed camera is, alongside Russia and income tax, the most hated thing under the sun.” -- THE PRIME MINISTER FAILED TO ATTRACT PRACTICALLY ANYONE WHO WASN'T A PIS MEMBER OR WHO HADN'T BEEN PROMOTED AFTER 2015 - WÓJCIK CONTINUES IN KRYTYKA: “The composition of Morawiecki's new government is therefore completely compromising. The prime minister failed to attract practically anyone who wasn't a PiS member or who hadn't been promoted to a high position after 2015 – like Ewa Krajewska, the new health minister, who has been the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector since 2021. No one outside the PiS club will vote for these people, unless by mistake.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/rzad-tymczasowy-morawieckiego-2023/ -- THE BATTLE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS. A GREAT TEST FOR POLITICIANS AND THE FUNERAL OF PiS? - ARKADIUSZ GRUSZCZYŃSKI IN GW: “According to Prof. Jarosław Flis, everything indicates, however, that PiS will return to its 2014 level of representation, when it held power in only one regional assembly. – The results for the Sejm are a certain forecast. Based on them, we can assume that PiS will lose even more, and PSL will gain. However, there is one more thing we don't know: who will vote in the spring local government elections – the sociologist wonders aloud. It is not known whether more city dwellers or rural residents, young or old, women or men will go to the polls. Will the new coalition manage to mobilize the electorate that gave it victory last autumn? In 2018, we had an extraordinary turnout according to Flis. It was over 54%. For comparison – four years earlier it was 47%, which is the same as in 2010.” https://warszawa.wyborcza.pl/warszawa/7,54420,30448845,realny-scenariusz-pis-wroci-do-stanu-z-2014-roku-i-odda-wladze.html -- THE SYSTEM HAS CHANGED TOO MUCH TO RESTORE IT TO THE STATE OF THE RULE OF LAW WITH A FEW CLEVER MOVES, AND AT THE SAME TIME IT HAS CHANGED TOO LITTLE TO CLEARLY SAY THAT A BREAK HAS OCCURRED - TOMASZ SAWCZUK IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “The problem is that PiS made changes in the state using a set of legal, quasi-legal [ruling by cheating], and illegal means, which are not easy to untangle now. The system has changed too much to restore it to the state of the rule of law with a few clever moves, and at the same time it has changed too little to clearly say that a break with the previous legal order has occurred – hence some lawful actions in practice legitimize actions inconsistent with constitutional standards or norms of the rule of law. Finally, for similar reasons, there is always the question of whether the current “restoration of the rule of law” will not be considered unlawful by some future PiS government, and then we will have another systemic rollercoaster. It is worth remembering all this when some commentators will once again mock the television ticker that wonders whether we have a KRS or a neo-KRS.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2023/11/27/sawczuk-dwa-paradoksy-przywracania-praworzadnosci/ -- I REALIZED THAT THIS IS A HORRENDOUS MISUNDERSTANDING AND THAT IT HAS DRAMATIC CONSEQUENCES. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING CRAZY - WŁODZIMIERZ KARPIŃSKI IN CONVERSATION WITH DOROTA WYSOCKA-SCHNEPF IN GW: “I was just about to leave home for work, getting ready to go out. At 6 a.m., the intercom rang, my wife said it was the CBA. And it was like another world began. A parallel one, like the matrix. It seemed unreal to me. In fact, I remember little of it except that we drove to Katowice for a long time. There, a doctor examined me, the prosecutor was preparing a request for arrest, and I still couldn't believe it. But he, I remember, was so convinced of it. I was completely surprised and certain at the same time that this would be quickly clarified. After the interrogation, I realized that it was a horrendous misunderstanding and that it had dramatic consequences. I thought I was going crazy. Deprivation of liberty is an experience that shatters a person into pieces.” -- THE BIGGEST DEFECT WAS THE LACK OF OPPORTUNITY TO TALK. THANK GOD THERE WERE SOME BOOKS IN THE LIBRARY. I READ THEM ALOUD SO AS NOT TO LOSE MY VOICE, SO AS TO HEAR A HUMAN VOICE - KARPIŃSKI CONTINUES WITH WYSOCKA-SCHNEPF IN GW: “The officers did their job, as people do – one more friendly, the other less so, but generally they were doing their job. I have no complaints against them. From the age of 15, from the eighth grade, I worked during vacations, I always worked a lot, and idleness was additionally tiring for me. This senselessness, these costs, that such a person has to be supported, that there isn't some solution that would secure the proceedings – it's all absurd. I won't complain about the conditions. Just imagine what 4.5 sq m by 2 m is, a bed, a sink, and a table with a chair, all screwed to the floor so they can't be moved. Spartan conditions. But that wasn't the biggest defect. The biggest defect was the lack of opportunity to talk. Thank God there were some books in the library. I read them aloud, so as not to lose my voice, so as to hear a human voice. Even my own. I couldn't talk much, I couldn't laugh or argue with anyone, or just be with someone.” -- TODAY WE HAVE TO SCRAPE THIS OFF OF OURSELVES somehow. CAN IT BE DONE? I DON'T KNOW. I THINK IT WILL REMAIN SOMEHOW - KARPIŃSKI AGAIN: “And something like that happened to our family. All my loved ones experienced immense trauma. And terrible bitterness. Today we have to scrape this off of ourselves somehow. Can it be done? I don't know. I think it will remain somehow. However, if you ask me if the world has changed, it has certainly changed a bit. First and foremost, I am in seventh heaven that I can touch my wife's hand, hug her. And hug the boys. It is invaluable when I saw them all after such a long time. When letters didn't arrive for weeks, some didn't arrive at all. And when I could talk to my wife on the phone for eight minutes once a week.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,30446291,wlodzimierz-karpinski-czytalem-na-glos-by-uslyszec-ludzki.html -- BIRTHDAYS: Zbigniew Bujak, Cezary Stypułkowski.