Look at what we can do. Even this. And what will be done about it?

I can't stop thinking about the man in the lower left corner of this photo being beaten by Israeli security forces during the funeral procession for slain Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh.

The Al-Jazeera reporter was shot to death earlier this week by Israeli snipers according to her own outlet and first hand accounts from other journalists on the scene despite the fact that she was wearing a helmet and vest that clearly marked her as press. One might speculate that those identifiers made her a more attractive target. A journalist's life is no more valuable than that of any other average person but the killing of one by the state can often represent a very different type of thing considering the awareness of the increased coverage it will always get.

Look at what we can do. Even this. And what will be done about it?

In this video below you can see the man in the gray shirt being pretty severely attacked by the police. Imagine doing this at any funeral never mind one for someone you just assassinated never mind a famous and beloved media figure.

So he gets his ass kicked and just as the coffin is about to drop to the ground he runs over and holds it up.

Both Discourse Blog and Defector have pieces on the media's inability to describe what we are watching with our own eyes as they actually happened.

In the parlance of American media this is a "clash" between two opposing – and as the term suggests – equally violent sides. The full force of the armed oppressor state on one side and maybe some guy off in the periphery who might have thrown a water bottle (?)

Why would they do this though? Why do this? Why!! Because they can. Because it's what they do.

Steven Salaita is worth reading on the matter:

He writes:

So there’s no need to seek legible reasons for Abu-Akleh’s murder according the rationale of civic decency. The settler doesn’t need a “reason” to kill the native. The settler kills because deracinating the native is a precondition of his social identity. It is a function of his legal status and class position. Israeli forces viciously attacked a crowd carrying Abu-Akleh’s coffin—abusing our beloved martyr even in death—which only affirms the fact that the settler kills precisely when confronted by the native’s vulnerability. There is a higher purpose to his violence. The settler doesn’t kill simply to produce death; he kills to negate the native’s existence.

Meanwhile in what was already an ugly week in a lifetime full of them the most popular news network in America is concerned about another seemingly different but related issue. Here's a quick look at the wall to wall coverage all day on Fox News compiled by Media Matters.

The Israelis beating Shireen Abu Akleh’s pallbearers and the US right shouting in unison that Central American babies are robbing your pure white babies of sustenance are the same picture.

"Why are we feeding illegal babies..." Jesse Watters asks.

I probably don't need to remind you that these are babies that we have chosen to imprison and as such it is our responsibility to treat them at the very least as well as the right would have us treat fetuses.

I'm sorry but I am kind of at a loss for words to describe how seeing this sort of hatred spoken aloud and being considered within the confines of reasonable political discourse makes me feel. There's nothing I can say that wouldn't get me in some kind of trouble I imagine. Maybe you should just read my mind instead.

Asking a baby for its papers before you'll feed it. Jesus fucking Christ.

Incidentally you probably won't be shocked to learn that the baby formula shortage is a result of corporate greed!

What is the White House's guidance on what parents should do if they can't find any baby formula? You guessed it baby: Call your doctor.

You likely read this old Hell World about how ridiculous the idea of just calling your doctor is in America but in case you didn't check it out here.

Don't worry though because the White House has other more important matters to focus on right now such as giving even more money to the police.

Here's an idea that sounds a little crazy but hear me out: Never mind defunding the cops. What if we funded them so much that police departments across the country could hire every single man woman and (legal) child. Next thing we're all cops and therefore incapable of snitching on or turning on one another or prosecuting anyone for anything! Our police violence and over-incarceration problems are solved. Solidarity is achieved. Evil solidarity but still.