Anger management

I've always hated men that hit women. Any man that would strike a woman, except in self-defense of course, is a gutless piece of shit. There is no excuse. No reason. No explaining.

There are two kinds of men in the world: those who wouldn't think of striking a woman, and the cowardly fucks who would.

Couple of winters ago, Feb 2007, there was an incident up here on the northwest side of Chicago that shocked the hell out of people. A Chicago cop named Anthony Abbate, who checks in at about 250 lbs., beat the heall out of bartender Karolina Obrycka, who's 5'3" & 115 lbs. The whole thing was caught on surveillance video, which had recently been installed at Jesse's Shortstop Inn on Belmont Ave.

Because of where I work, I have much contact with the Chicago police, and they make up a sizable percentage of my customer base. Simply put, the northwest side is loaded with cops, firefighters, and teachers (due to Chicago's residency requirement for city employees.)

It's a very tightly knit group, the police. They network like nothing I've ever seen before. There is one customer, I'll call him George the Detective (because that's his name), who has sent me no less than 20 of his fellow cops. They talk.

Also, the northwest side is loaded with Polish immigrants. I work with many Polish people, and believe me, it is also a very tightly knit community. For the most part they are honest, hard working people. Great neighbors. Great employees. Happy as hell to be living in America. Karolina Obrycka is a Polish immigrant.

In the wake of Abbate's brutal attack on Obrycka, anger ran high. Very high. Couple of the Polish guys that work for me know the owner of Jesse's Shortstop Inn, and they assured me that if Abbate doesn't get justice, it will be extracted by other means.

Polish immigrants in Chicago often speak of "justice, Polish style." For the most part, they don't bother calling the cops in Poland. You beat up somebody's wife, or girlfriend, or their child, they will come and find you, and they will beat the living shit out of you. Break your legs and shit.

I told my guys that my Chicago cop friends were just as outraged, and I repeated several stories I'd been told about this Abbate prick. Despite not having a record, it's not the first time this guy's been in trouble, and he had no support at all from his fellow cops, at least the ones I know. He was an outcast. (Some think that Chicago's police superintendent, who resigned shortly after, did so because of the Abbate incident.)

My Polish friends expressed their doubts. It's no secret that some Chicago cops treat immigrants as less than 2nd class; there are many cases of cops shaking down Poles for their pocket cash under the threat of calling ICE.

My Polish friends told me they expected the cops, and the courts, to stick together on this thing.

Abbate's defense hack, Peter Hickey, had the nerve to claim that the drunken thug was acting in self-defense despite the incriminating video, and the fact that Abbate has Obrycka by about 150 lbs. He said that Karolina was the aggressor, the instigator, despite the fact that Abbate is caught on the same surveillance video roughing up another bar patron earlier in the evening.

Well, yesterday, Cook County judge John Fleming announced Abbate's sentence.

2 years of probation, and 130 hours of community service.

People are stunned this morning. Absolute disbelief.

In "explaining" the "rationale" behind the feather light sentence, Fleming said “If I believed sentencing Anthony Abbate to prison would stop people from getting drunk and hitting people, I’d give him the maximum sentence."

To me, that makes no sense at all. Literally none. Since a stiff prison sentence wouldn't solve the problem of drunken mayhem, there is no reason to put Abbate behind bars? If I murder someone, a judge is going to give me a light sentence, because a heavy penalty won't stop other murders from occurring? If I steal a car, I'll get a slap on the wrist because my prison time won't stop car theft? What the fuck is that?

This is an outrage.

I should mention that Abbate has also been instructed to enter anger management classes.

I got news for you folks, at this point in time, Abbate is just one of a large number of people whose anger needs to be controlled, and I will not be surprised if Anthony Abbate winds up in traction. This thing isn't over. Not yet.