-- THE CURRENT RULING COALITION IS APPROACHING THE 270 SEAT MARK - ZUZANNA DĄBROWSKA ON RZ SURVEY: "With voter turnout exceeding 60 percent, the latest IBRiS poll shows no change in the order of support for political parties. PiS leads with 33.9% of the vote, followed by Civic Coalition with 30.2%. Third Way is achieving a very good result – 16.9%, Lewica – 9.3%, and Konfederacja – 6.3%." -- THE BONUS FOR THE RULING CAMP STEMS FROM THE RESULT OF THIRD WAY, WHICH WOULD HAVE 78 SEATS, OR 12 MORE. LEWICA ALSO GAINS – PROF. FLIS CITED BY DĄBROWSKA IN RZ: "According to calculations by Professor Jarosław Flis from Jagiellonian University, the coalition of KO, Third Way, and Lewica could count on 267 seats. Currently, after the elections on October 15, 2023, they have 248. – Civic Coalition has the same mandate result as in pre-election polls, i.e., 155 seats. The bonus for the ruling camp thus arises from the result of Third Way, which would have 78 mandates, i.e., 12 more. Lewica also gains, receiving 34 mandates, compared to the 26 it secured in October – the sociologist calculates. He emphasizes that, according to the poll, PiS would gain only 177 seats in the Sejm – currently, they have 198. Konfederacja would receive 16 seats." https://www.rp.pl/polityka/art39698541-sondaz-koalicja-bliska-wyeliminowania-prezydenta-andrzeja-dudy -- INTERIA'S INFORMATION INDICATES THAT THE FATE OF KRZYSZTOF BOSAK'S SEJM LEADERSHIP POSITION SEEMS DECIDED – ŁUKASZ ROGOJSZ IN INTERIA: "Information from Interia suggests that although the fate of Krzysztof Bosak's position in the Sejm leadership seems decided, the final decision will be made on the morning of January 16. This is when the parliamentary club meetings of the groups forming the October 15 Coalition will take place, as well as a meeting of the presidium of the lower house of parliament." https://wydarzenia.interia.pl/kraj/news-duze-zmiany-we-wladzach-sejmu-niemal-pewne-skandal-uderza-w-,nId,7271209 -- FOR THIRD WAY. FOR A SPECIFIC PERSON, NAMELY MICHAŁ KOBOSKO – JAKUB ŻULCZYK IN CONVERSATION WITH GRZEGORZ WYSOCKI IN GAZETA.PL: "- OK, so who did you vote for? For Third Way. For a specific person, namely Michał Kobosko. - Why? Because he's someone I've met and trust, an expert type. I voted for the democratic opposition; no other option was on the table for me. I have many criticisms and reservations about this opposition, it didn't carry me to the ballot box with fan energy... - But? But over the last few years, this country has been, f***, plundered, managed in a terribly bad way. Some great civilizational chance has been botched. And this has nothing to do with the left, right, conservatism, or liberalism." -- WHAT PO IS DOING WITH TVP NOW IS SOME KIND OF AWKWARD, UNNECESSARY OPERATION IN MY OPINION. IT REALLY COULD HAVE BEEN DONE MORE GRACEFULLY, WITHOUT FEEDING KACZYŃSKI FOR YEARS TO COME – ŻULCZYK CONTINUES WITH WYSOCKI: "Every party, in a sense, bribes its electorate. What PO is doing with TVP now is some kind of awkward, unnecessary operation in my opinion. It really could have been done more gracefully, without feeding Kaczyński for years to come – this is precisely bribing that most hardcore electorate. You see, we said we'd destroy them? Well, we're destroying them." -- YOU WON'T JUST TAX SOLORZ, KULCZYK, AND DEVELOPERS BECAUSE THEIR LOBBYISTS HOLD THE GOVERNMENT HOSTAGE – ŻULCZYK TELLS WYSOCKI: "Including through fraudulent financial instruments sold as loans. The truly wealthiest are impunity, and they're the ones who need to be dealt with, but how? You can't just tax international business because they'll go invest elsewhere. You can't just tax the Saudi fund for buying 10,000 apartments because they sell us oil. You can't just tax Solorz, Kulczyk, and developers because their lobbyists hold the government hostage. It's easier, like Zandberg, to talk about hitting people who own more than three apartments with a cadastral tax." -- I AGREE WITH PIS ON, FOR EXAMPLE, THE FACT THAT THE MOST IMPORTANT MATTER IN POLAND IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS, AND I NOW HAVE IMMENSE FEARS THAT THE LIBERAL-DEMOCRATIC CAMP WILL RUIN IT – ŻULCZYK CONTINUES WITH WYSOCKI: "Grzesiek, really, I thought we were talking like adults. I want to talk about reality, not Smurf stickers. I agree with PiS, for example, on the fact that the most important matter in Poland is the development of nuclear power plants, and I now have immense fears that the liberal-democratic camp will ruin it. But does that make me a PiS supporter? No, still not." https://weekend.gazeta.pl/weekend/7,177333,30589207,przez-ostatnie-lata-ten-kraj-byl-k-a-rozkradany-jakub.html -- PIS AND DUDA CANNOT DO ANYTHING AND WILL NOT DO ANYTHING. THEY MUST EAT THEIR OWN INSTANT NOODLES – MICHAŁ DANIELEWSKI IN OKO.PRESS: "PiS, hand in hand with President Duda, carried out an inept systemic revolution, dismantling all safeguards that would mitigate those in power. Now they are victims of the system they themselves created, a state operating on the principle of 'they can jump wherever the master can kiss his backside.'" -- IN 2015, THE LAW AND JUSTICE CAMP STAGED A REVOLUTION IN THE STYLE OF SUPERMARKET INSTANT NOODLES, ONLY THEY DIDN'T FORESEE THAT IN EIGHT YEARS THEY THEMSELVES WOULD HAVE TO EAT IT – DANIELEWSKI CONTINUES: "Thanks to PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, and Andrzej Duda, we now live in a country of paper, an instant-type state: quick, very sharp, ready in five minutes for only 6 PLN. Because in 2015, the Law and Justice camp staged a revolution in the style of supermarket instant noodles: they broke the rules, added spices of grand words, poured in political force with boiling water, covered it with a lid of propaganda, and after five minutes were already serving everyone the resulting concoction, convincing them it was a gourmet soup, prepared according to all culinary arts. They just didn't foresee that in eight years they themselves would have to eat it." -- BY CREATING THIS BLACK HOLE, PIS ACTED TO ITS OWN DETRIMENT – BECAUSE WITHOUT STRONG AND WIDELY RECOGNIZED CONTROL INSTITUTIONS, DONALD TUSK'S GOVERNMENT HAS GREAT FREEDOM TODAY – WRITES DANIELEWSKI IN OKO: "By creating this black hole, PiS acted to its own detriment – because without strong and widely recognized control institutions, Donald Tusk's government today has great freedom in removing PiS appointees from positions and influence. It is using this freedom and will certainly continue to use it. Until it limits itself by building a legal and institutional order largely from scratch." -- THE TOOLS AT KACZYŃSKI'S CAMP'S DISPOSAL ARE EXTREMELY MEAGER – DANIELEWSKI CONTINUES: "The problem is that this strategy will bring no real political results: we will witness bangs, flashes, attempts to destabilize the situation, but the tools at Kaczyński's camp's disposal are exceedingly meager. They boil down to writing letters, issuing statements, and delivering further tirades with a stern face." -- DUDA'S SABOTAGE WILL EVEN BENEFIT DONALD TUSK'S CAMP – THEY WON'T HAVE TO RUSH ANYTHING – DANIELEWSKI CONTINUES IN OKO: "And the government, after taking public media and control over the prosecution from Law and Justice, can calmly wait 1.5 years. Duda's sabotage will even benefit Donald Tusk's camp – they won't have to rush anything." -- PIS SIMPLY HAS NO TOOLS; PRESIDENT KACZYŃSKI CONSCIOUSLY DRIVES HIS PEOPLE INTO A CORNER TO CONTROL THEM BETTER – DANIELEWSKI'S CONCLUSION: "Therefore, everything we will see in the coming days and weeks in the Sejm, on the streets, in the language of statements and threats will not be an attempted coup, or even an effective torpedoing of Donald Tusk's government's actions – PiS simply has no tools for that. When we observe these spectacles, it is worth remembering all along that this is just President Kaczyński consciously driving his people into a corner to control them more easily. Because losing control of the party would be more painful for him than losing control of Poland." https://oko.press/pis-i-duda-nic-nie-moga-i-nic-nie-zrobia -- MANOWSKA ON THE SITUATION IN THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE JUDICIARY: I AM GETTING LOST MYSELF. WE ARE HEADING FOR CATASTROPHE – 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2024/01/16/ -- CHAOS SURROUNDING THE DISMISSAL OF NATIONAL PROSECUTOR DARIUSZ BARSKI MAY START TO DEEPEN – TOMASZ PIETRYGA IN RZ: "This chaos is going deeper. The risk of dualism means that prosecutors at the very bottom of the hierarchy will have trouble deciding whose decisions to respect, acting not on the basis of political sympathies, but stable legal frameworks. If a line prosecutor receives two decisions – from both the 'old' and the 'new' national prosecutor, what should they do? Thousands of investigators with no connection to politics may soon face such a dilemma." -- LAWYERS WILL HAVE NO SCRUPLES TO USE THE CHAOS IN THE PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE TO CHALLENGE THE AUTHORITY OF INVESTIGATORS – PIETRYGA CONTINUES: "Lawyers defending accused persons in the most serious cases, often involving tens of millions of zlotys, where decades-long prison sentences are at stake, will have no scruples to use the chaos in the prosecutor's office to challenge the authority of investigators." https://www.rp.pl/opinie-prawne/art39700131-tomasz-pietryga-do-czego-moze-doprowadzic-konflikt-w-prokuraturze -- INSTEAD OF DEFUSING TENSION IN THE INTEREST OF THE STATE, PRESIDENT DUDA IS INTENSIFYING CONFLICT IN AREAS THAT CONSTITUTIONALLY DO NOT BELONG TO HIM AT ALL – BOGUSŁAW CHRABOTA IN RZ: "Instead of defusing tension in the interest of the state, President Duda is intensifying conflict in areas that constitutionally do not belong to him at all. This is my interpretation, of course: the president understands all this perfectly well, but he is again playing on the opposite side to the government. Instead of defusing tension in the interest of the state, he is intensifying conflict in areas that constitutionally do not belong to him at all. Because the 1997 Constitution grants the president no competencies in the sphere of the prosecution." https://www.rp.pl/komentarze/art39698071-boguslaw-chrabota-konflikt-miedzy-andrzejem-duda-i-donaldem-tuskiem-narasta -- TODAY'S PROPONENTS OF THE DE-ESCALATION THESIS MUST PREPARE FOR ITS RADICAL ESCALATION – PRZEMYSŁAW SZUBARTOWICZ IN INTERIA: "Today's proponents of the de-escalation thesis must prepare for its radical escalation. A broad compromise is a mirage. However, those for whom politics is a matter of interests are keeping their fingers crossed for the decomposition of PiS and the alleged rationality of the presidential camp, hoping that some new non-populist and rational right-wing will emerge from this froth on this side of the political spectrum. Although I personally believe that a camel passing through the eye of a needle is more likely." -- FOR MINISTER OF JUSTICE ADAM BODNAR OR OTHER LESS POLITICALLY EXPERIENCED PEOPLE IN THE NEW GOVERNMENT, BRUTALITY MAY BE A CERTAIN DISCOMFORT – SZUBARTOWICZ CONTINUES IN INTERIA: "Of course, for Minister of Justice Adam Bodnar or other less politically experienced individuals in the new government, ruthlessness might be a certain discomfort, as they have not had to take responsibility for merciless accountability and difficult decisions until now. However, the prime minister has left them no illusions. In a doctrinal sense, the new government operates on the premise that law must be above politics, so it must be strictly enforced, and wherever it was consciously broken to build an autocratic system, legality must be restored using almost any methods. In such a world, any sign of weakness is exploited by the opponent, so there should be no leniency towards the would-be builders of Budapest in Warsaw." https://wydarzenia.interia.pl/felietony/news-bez-litosci,nId,7270475 -- ARE WE FACING A SERIES OF PIIS MARCHES? – PAULINA PACUŁA IN OKO.PRESS: "PiS once again wants to save Poland from annihilation. The threat, according to Kaczyński, comes from Tusk and Brussels, dictated by the 'strongest' – Germany, sometimes France. Morawiecki confesses in an interview with a British tabloid that he 'understands why Great Britain decided to leave the EU.' The PiS narrative about the EU and Poland's place in the community has not significantly changed since, for example, the campaign before the October parliamentary elections. But it has certainly become even fiercer, more total, and more definitive." -- JAROSŁAW KACZYŃSKI'S PARTY IS FIGHTING TO STAY AFLOAT BECAUSE LOSING THE NEXT ELECTIONS WILL BE EXTREMELY PAINFUL FOR THEM – PACUŁA CONTINUES IN OKO: "Jarosław Kaczyński's party is fighting to stay afloat. Because losing the next elections will be extremely painful for them. The topic of treaty reform, raised at the EU level, or the fact that sooner or later we will have to face the issue of joining the euro zone, gives it new fuel: PiS does not go into details, does not engage in substantive debate about, for example, how the EU should change to be able to accept new members, which PiS fervently supported until recently. It twists and abuses facts, building a narrative that is a great manipulation." https://oko.press/pis-broni-polske-przed-ue -- YES, THE RULE OF LAW CAN INDEED FRIGHTEN PRESIDENT DUDA TODAY. BECAUSE FOR YEARS HE EMPLOYED PARTY TERROR AGAINST THE RULE OF LAW – ROMAN IMIELSKI IN GW: "He readily signed laws in recent months that cemented the arrangement in the National Prosecutor's Office – all to ensure that Zbigniew Ziobro's people continued to rule it. Here too, party interest was more important than the good of the citizens. And these are just a few legal offenses. Yes, the rule of law can indeed frighten President Duda today. Because for years he applied party terror against the rule of law." https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,30594709,praworzadnosc-przeraza-prezydenta-dude.html -- THERE HAS PROBABLY NEVER BEEN A PERSON IN POLISH HISTORY SO SCOLDED, INSULTED, CONDEMNED, DESPISED, AND ABusED AS TUSK – MAGDALENA ŚRODA IN GW: "There has probably never been a person in Polish history so scolded, insulted, condemned, despised, and abused. And this is regardless of whether he is in opposition or in power, whether he is in Poland or far from it. In the Sejm, on the streets, in the media (the portal wPolityce.pl dedicates a dozen or so articles to Tusk daily – hurling insults is written there in parts, as is happening in other, very 'independent' organs praising Kaczyński). The subject of insults includes his physiognomy (redhead, ginger, 'wolf eyes'), origin (Kashubian, German, Russian), place of residence (Warsaw, Sopot, Brussels), the positions he holds, the quality of his knowledge ('zero level'), political skills (even worse), and practically everything he says, does, plans. Tusk is a traitor, an annihilator (of the homeland), an incompetent, a spy, a 'dictator in the service of foreign interests, additionally supported by the services' (you know which ones)." https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,30596159,o-obrazaniu-czyli-tusku-wytrzymaj.html -- LEGAL BODNAREWSZCZYZNA ATTACKS AND DESTROYS THE STATE – JACEK KARNOWSKI: "An 'act of historical justice' as a justification for lawlessness. This is another statement by the Minister of Justice that will go down in history as an example of 'legal Bodnarewszczyzna' – meaning actions that use legal terms stripped of their real meaning, while rejecting the entire legal heritage of Latin civilization. This must be stopped, because only ruins will remain of Poland." https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/678396-prawna-bodnarewszczyzna-wciaz-niszczy-panstwo -- BIRTHDAYS: Georgette Mosbacher (77), Radomir Szumełda, Lech Jaworski, Dariusz Lasocki.