December 4, 2019

America is in a creepy downward spiral... or so it appears in this awful juxtaposition at The Washington Post.

At 5:29 this morning, I took the screen-grab of the right top corner of the WaPo website.



Everything is dead or dying. Everything is wrong.

Imagine hitting this animal with your car, stopping, and picking it up — thinking it's a dog — and laying it down in the backseat:



Oh, but is it not a metaphor for the election of Donald Trump?

86 comments:

J. Farmer said...

America is in a creepy downward spiral

That about sums it up.

Michael K said...

Depression is not good for you. These people are sick and have no idea what our grandparents went through. Empty lives.

The Crack Emcee said...

How injured must a wild coyote be to let a human handle it?

Trump's really done a number on himself this time.

This is The Crack Emcee, Ace Reporter.

J. Farmer said...

But is this really a new phenomenon? How long has the phrase "if it bleeds it leads" been around?

tim in vermont said...

I saw one of those walking down the sidewalk across the street and my first thought was “that’s odd, a dog without a collar” then I looked closer.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

The driver of the car should check with their state. Many states pay a bounty for everything coyote skin turned in. It's not much money but better than nothing.

Darrell said...

Remember my warning last week about NOT using the WaPo to line birdcages? You didn't listen, did you?

David Begley said...

This reminds me of Ann’s post about the Wisconsin video about how to shoo away a coyote. That inspired me to write, “Coyotes of Austin.”

tim in vermont said...

The biggest takeaway I get from the “impeachment report” is that American education has gone down the crapper in the past few decades. I am not saying that my education in the ‘70s at "State U” was first rate, but I never would have gotten away with only characterizing the arguments against whatever the thesis of my paper was, instead of quoting them directly and rebutting them to the best of my ability.

I would have gotten back a paper so covered in red ink it would remind you of the shower scene in Psycho.

tim in vermont said...

WaPo is an embarrassment, and the New York Times is only better than the WaPo, which is faint praise indeed. Every time the New York Times commits journalism regarding a Democrat, they get excoriated. It’s like the old guy who is at the mercy of his nursemaid, the nursemaid being Twitter. The New York Times has forgotten who is in charge, and Twitter is so easy to game and there are so many non authentic voices on their pushing agendas that they won’t openly discuss, but that make lying OK.

tim in vermont said...

Twitter is full of Al Gore’s “Digital Brownshirts,” and like always with brownshirts, they are for more and more government power over us and rush to quell any signs of dissent.

whitney said...

The only reason cops have authority is because we as a community decide they have authority and accept that. If we don't, they can easily be overwhelmed by the community guns or no guns. Putting two cops into a community that actively hates them is more than putting their lives in danger, it's sending them to their deaths

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

WaPo still stunned their queen lost the election. the pain and the misery... the revenge - it will never end.

DEMOCRACY DIES IN DARKNESS!

samanthasmom said...

The story says the coyote was unconscious when the kind man picked it up and took it with him. I live out in the woods, and there's a pack of coyotes nearby. I wouldn't try to pet them, but they aren't all that menacing. There's a lot of natural prey around for them so they're well-fed. I keep an eye on my dog when she's out in the yard, but I've never seen one that close to the house. Walking in the woods I've come across the remnants of a wild turkey feast.

Fernandinande said...

The Whappo is also advertising Samjiyon, but as a future failed socialist utopia, and doesn't use the strings "resort", "tour" or "authentic".

Mike Sylwester said...

Democracy Dies in Darkness!

Anonymous said...

Coyote waits....literally, in your back seat.

Francisco D said...

How long has the phrase "if it bleeds it leads" been around?

There was a General Manager in Chicago who wound up working at the local CBS, ABC and NBC affiliates in the 1970's and 80's. He was an ace who drove up ratings at each of the stations. His motto was "If it bleeds, it leads." Unfortunately, I cannot remember his name.

Fernandinande said...

Everything is dead or dying.

Just one article about one dead woman, which is a pitiful excuse for a creepy downward national spiral.

tim in vermont said...

Oh look, Bill and Hillary Clinton caught in yet another lie!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7748467/Bill-Hillary-Clinton-frequent-guests-Jeffrey-Epsteins-New-Mexico-ranch.html

Big Mike said...

Understatement from the coyote article: “In the meantime, they’re warning others that putting a large predatory mammal in the back seat of your car isn’t a good idea.”

You’d think people would know that without being told.

Anonymous said...

Skylark: I would have gotten back a paper so covered in red ink it would remind you of the shower scene in Psycho.

There's an aphorism in there, waiting for a better wordsmith than I. Something like "when teachers no longer cover papers in red ink, the streets will be covered with blood..."

Well, as I said, it needs a better wordsmith than I.

Hagar said...

Never touch a wild animal that lets you touch it.
Rabies, tularemia, etc., are not fun diseases to catch.

Big Mike said...

Oh, but is it not a metaphor for the election of Donald Trump?

No. You’d think someone so blasé about corrupt politicians that she’d vote for Hillary Clinton would know better. But you’d be wrong.

tim in vermont said...

"Well, as I said, it needs a better wordsmith than I.”

You will have to settle for The Gods of the Copybook Headings.

Anonymous said...

Love the ominous Barr headline. Makes the withdrawal of police from certain "communities" sound like a straight-up Stalinist threat to political enemies. ("Bend the knee or we'll leave you at the mercy of the lurking large predatory mammals!") Bet the article isn't any richer in context.

Anonymous said...

Big Mike to AA: "Oh, but is it not a metaphor for the election of Donald Trump?"

No. You’d think someone so blasé about corrupt politicians that she’d vote for Hillary Clinton would know better. But you’d be wrong.


I'm pretty sure AA was being droll there. Made me laugh, at any rate.

R C Belaire said...

In my little piece of Michigan, coyotes have pretty-much eliminated groundhogs/woodchucks, which saves me a lot of time live-trapping those pests. Haven't trapped a coyote yet, but maybe soon...

Michael The Magnificent said...

Dems must impeach Trump before he exposes any more Democrat corruption, and before he cleans out any more deep staters in the intelligence agencies.

Big Mike said...

@Angle-Dyne, that is one interpretation. I have a different one.

stevew said...

I almost feel badly for how miserable these folks at WaPo and NYT are... almost.

tim in vermont said...

I don’t blame anybody for their choice they made on election day of 2016. But anybody who defends Hillary today is either ignorant or a shill.

Leland said...

Apparently not dark enough for WaPo, but they also suck at upping their game. So I guess Democracy won't die like they hope.

Quaestor said...

Every time the White House press corps convenes for a briefing they should be viscerally reminded of what furtive moral coyotes they are.

mockturtle said...

Angle-Dyne observes: Love the ominous Barr headline. Makes the withdrawal of police from certain "communities" sound like a straight-up Stalinist threat to political enemies.

That's the way I read it.

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tim in vermont said...

https://twitter.com/AZachParkinson/status/1201931258412109824

Mayor Pete says we’re all racists! The way to run against him is to let him run his mouth. That’s the problem when you are so coddled by the press. You lose touch with the country as a whole. Did Indiana vote for Trump? Does he think his home state is infested with racist yahoos?

mockturtle said...

The coyote woke up and seems to be thinking, "WTF??" BTW, did he/she get treated? Released?

Anonymous said...

Big Mike: @Angle-Dyne, that is one interpretation. I have a different one.

But of course, and you may be correct. My bias is always in favor of the consciously-committed drollery.

Bob Boyd said...

Police Officer caught fondling a dead woman's breasts.

Better late than never, was his reasoning, apparently.

Dave Begley said...

With the con law professors today, I certainly hope Ann watches and gives it the full Althouse treatment. Ann is, after all, a distinguished law professor emerita.

Michael K said...

Good Austin Bay column on how Trump is using psychological war on enemies.

With some help from the NY Times (inadvertent, of course)

Ah, but in late October, American commandos killed the truly evil Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was hiding in a Syrian village not far from the Turkish border. The Pentagon had spent months planning the raid. Alas, The New York Times reported Trump's withdrawal decision "disrupted the meticulous planning and forced Pentagon officials to press ahead with a risky, night raid ..."

Don't buy that. The raid was intricate and its execution meticulous. Special operations helicopter crews train to operate at night. Nighttime is commando time. Turkey knew U.S. helicopters were flying along the border and didn't mention it.


Now, he is threatening the Mexican drug cartels.

Actually, designating Mexican cartels as terrorist organizations could have severe political consequences for U.S.-Mexico bilateral relations.

The threat bluntly tells the Mexican government to improve its own security efforts in northern Mexico.

However, the threat clearly targets the sick psyches of the drug lords running the cartels. Ambush Americans on Mexican highways and they pay. Jail? No. A visit from Delta Force and its dogs, or a 2,000-pound Air Force joint direct attack munition.

Trump is suggesting narco-comandantes reconsider their criminal behavior.

Big Mike said...

@mockturtle, the coyote was turned over to wildlife conservation officers who took it to a treatment facility. The animal had some head trauma, and was lethargic, but after a while in the facility it appears to be regaining its alertness and appetite. Plan is to release it in the wild "far from any roads."

Clyde said...

The mataphor would work better would work better if the driver had hit a roadrunner. The Democrats are the ones who keep blowing themselves up with the Acme dynamite and having anvils fall on their heads. Very coyote-like.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Bill in Texas said Many states pay a bounty for everything coyote skin turned in. It's not much money but better than nothing.

Yup. I don't believe we have a bounty, but there are periods where the ranchers are allowed to cull a certain amount of coyotes.

Typically we hear them at night, yip yip yipping down below us and across the river. Kind of romantic and wild sounding. BUT.... This means that a calf, fawn, lamb, injured deer or sick cow has bit the dust and is being dismembered. We can see their tracks in the snow around our house and across the deck next to the river bluff. Don't leave your small pets outside and make sure your chickens are secured at night too. Recently we have had an explosion in the population of grey foxes.

Link to a long ago post on my defunct blog with photos of coyote on fence. The whole fence was decorated for quite a distance with dead coyotes. A warning for the others I suppose. LINK My first thought...aaw how sad to put the coyotes on the fence. What a waste of fur. Coyote fur makes fabulous coats!

Such is life in the country. We don't anthropomorphize wild animals and treat them like cute pets. No matter how cute they are they are still wild creatures and often dangerous or just damned pests....I'm looking at YOU ...you raccoons.

Anonymous said...

Skylark: "Mayor Pete says we’re all racists!"

From Sky's link:

"Anyone who supported this President is at best looking the other way on racism, at best."

Tells you something that there are apparently sane, thoughtful people out there who think that someone who talks like this is a "moderate", or "the adult in the room", or "the non-crazy one".

But this sample of nasty demagoguery is not an anomaly in Buttigieg's campaign rhetoric. And yes, it is populist demagoguery. Just targeted at a different demos.

Remarkable how some people are so selectively exquisitely sensitive to populist demagoguery, that they can hear it in one candidate's "good morning", but are deaf to far more florid instances of it from another.

Seeing Red said...

Is it me or does it seem Brexit is a foregone conclusion?

PM said...

In times like these of national disgrace the laughingstock of the world™

Big Mike said...

@mockturtle and @Angle-Dyne, communities pay for their own police. The federal government does offer grants to support local policing, but I gather that only a relatively small number of localities get them and there are conditions attached. I interpret Barr's statement to be commonsense observations that communities which do not support their local police departments will find the best officers quitting, leaving them with a police department that is understaffed and such staff as exists will not be very good.

mockturtle said...

Big Mike: Of course I knew what Barr meant. I was referring to the way it was presented--to make it sound like a threat.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Big Mike sums up my thoughts on Barr's statement

Police are people doing a very difficult and dangerous job. If you show them NO respect, protest against them.....then their jobs become even more dangerous.

Why would they want to continue to try to make YOUR neighborhood safer when you obviously hate them, want them to die and just make their already hard jobs harder.

Bye bye. Police yourselves then.

Anonymous said...

Surprised we didn't see this:

Broken hands on broken ploughs,
Broken treaties, broken vows,
Broken pipes, broken tools,
People bending broken rules
Hound dog howling, bull frog croaking,
Everything is broken

Seeing Red said...

Downward spiral like the 70s and early 80s.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Big Mike: I interpret Barr's statement to be commonsense observations that communities which do not support their local police departments will find the best officers quitting, leaving them with a police department that is understaffed and such staff as exists will not be very good.

Well, uh, yeah. Among other factors. I was criticizing the over-the-top bias of the headline, not buying what it was trying to sell me.

Robert Cook said...

“[Americans] have to start showing, more than they do, the respect and support that law enforcement deserves,”

Rather, law enforcement officers throughout the land should start treating the citizens they purportedly serve with the respect and support their communities deserve...rather than treating us all as potentially violent perps.

But...it's too late for that.

Bob Boyd said...

Oh, but is it not a metaphor for the election of Donald Trump?

Not seeing it. Trump's an accident victim in need of help?
American's thought Trump was tame, but turns out he's a wild animal? Doesn't fit.

Trump's not the coyote, he's the road runner.

gilbar said...

Robbie Cook said....
law enforcement officers throughout the land should start treating the citizens they purportedly serve with the respect and support their communities deserve.


Robbie can't decide who our police should emulate: the Stasi, or the NKVD.
But, he IS sure, that We NEED a Government that treats people like (he thinks) they Deserve

gilbar said...

Non Boyd pointed out, that..
Trump's not the coyote, he's the road runner.

Brought to you, by the ACME media company.
Need a sure fire way, to crush that Trump? trust ACME media!! They've got what it takes!

Fernandinande said...

Putting two cops into a community that actively hates them is more than putting their lives in danger, it's sending them to their deaths.

Hence the "Ferguson Effect".

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Rather, law enforcement officers throughout the land should start treating the citizens they purportedly serve with the respect and support their communities deserve...rather than treating us all as potentially violent perps.

When was the last time you attended an event that honored and praised your local police/sheriffs? Went to the town council or board of supervisors and expressed your respect and support for law enforcement? Socialized with a law enforcement officer? Stepped up and bought a cop a breakfast or cup of coffee at a restaurant? Anything??????

When you are a cop and all you see are assholes every day, you do tend to think that all there are IS assholes. It is up to you...to us...to try to change that perception.

Maillard Reactionary said...

You know what would have been ironic? If the coyote woke up and found himself inside one of these: https://classics.autotrader.com/classic-cars-for-sale/plymouth-roadrunner-for-sale

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Can we see the body cam footage?

Maillard Reactionary said...

I'm no naturalist, but anybody looking at that animal and thinking it was a dog needs to start paying attention to something besides their smart phone.

Separately, Hagar's advice is sound. Even if the animal is not rabid (or worse) you'll never get all the fleas and ticks out of your car later.

Bob Boyd said...

Can we see the body cam footage?

Yeah! Let's see the video. It's not really fair to judge the guy otherwise.

Howard said...

It's those dead eyes Phidippus. If that gaze doesn't render a significant pucker factor, you're asking to become road kill. Reminds me of the eyes of the real Irishman who painted houses.

Seeing Red said...

Epstein’s banker committed suicide.

Howard said...

More logic derived from single data points projected to infinity. I'll prototypical female soap opera. The wapo is just a mirror for you people in a sick symbiosis

Calypso Facto said...

Nah, that's no creepy, downward spiral. If a laid-off cop felt up a dead coyote's breasts though, you'd be on to something.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Communities that hate cops and don't want them should get what they ask for.

Roughcoat said...

Coyotes are so cool. Sacred animals. If I came upon an injured coyote and it wasn't acting erratically I would certainly put it in my car and take it to the vet's. And you actually can get the fleas and ticks out of your car, or wherever.

mockturtle said...

My observations about black communities and the police are complex. On one hand, members of the community do phone the police for help and there are situations where their complaints go unheard because of a laissez-faire attitude by the police. At the same time, the police often feel threatened by real situations and attitudes of many in the community. I've known elderly black people in largely black communities who were robbed and intimidated by young locals and received little or no protection. Then there is the 'mama bear' who will go all out to protect her criminal youngsters from arrest. Overall, it's a no-win situation. I should think the trepidation on the part of police is similar to that of the 'revenuers' approaching Appalachian moonshiners.

Rick.T. said...

Don't even think about armadillos and leprosy!

Michael said...

WaPo lives on a different planet. The problem is that they want to bring us all there to keep them company. Or because they need subjects.

Christy said...

Messing with a trickster god is never a good idea.

Robert Cook said...

"Robbie can't decide who our police should emulate: the Stasi, or the NKVD."

They already emulate both. As you consistently show poor reading comprehension, (or intellectual dishonesty), it is no surprise you missed (or pretend to have missed) that this was my point. Weak tea, brah.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Roughcoat: I agree, coyotes are great and have their place in Nature. We could use more of them here in the Pinelands to keep the deer population under control. The few that we do encounter tend to be quite shy of people and cause no trouble.

If you're confident that you can handle an injured one safely, more power to you.

Bilwick said...

Given the rising respectability and even enthusiasm for socialism, State-cultism and collectivism among voters--especially those of the Dumbest Generation--I wouldn't be surprised if the US were indeed on a downward spiral.

traditionalguy said...

The great Newspapers are dead and gone.What prints today using their Names are 100% distraction creators who present fictional narratives using fake facts. They then quote the fake facts as proven facts since they all spewed them simultaneously last week.

Big Mike said...

Rather, law enforcement officers throughout the land should start treating the citizens they purportedly serve with the respect and support their communities deserve...rather than treating us all as potentially violent perps.

Maybe Cookie needs to get out of New York City more often. In the course of my seventy-plus years I can recall only one interaction with a police officer where I was not treated with respect. That was during a creepy-crawly trip around the infamous Washington Beltway when the Maryland state policeman in front of me flashed his lights, stopped his car, and with a very red face stormed back to my car and screamed at me about my alleged tailgating. Considering that I was a half car length behind him and traffic was moving at ten mph or less, I found his attitude to be ridiculous, though I didn't say so and in the end he didn't ticket me. Maryland being a deep blue state, and having lived in that state for over twenty years I figured, well, that's how the state government gets its jollies is harassing citizens. (I moved to Virginia less than two years later.)

Well, okay, one more. There was that smirk on the face of the policeman in Aurora, CO, when I drove past a speed limit sign going too fast in my rental car. I was playing with the dash buttons trying to get the dashboard to show my speed instead of whatever it was that the digital dash was showing (miles to empty, perhaps). Yes, I should have pulled over into a parking lot and figured it out instead of distracting myself while rolling down the road. So, my fault.

Howard said...

BM rubs his white privilege In Cracks face. Cops let me off with warnings 2x more than write ticket. I'm sure my medium and tight haircut helps too. I hardly ever get pulled over. These blacks are whining crybabies trying to get free stuff and affirmative action jobs instead of working hard being upstanding like me.

bagoh20 said...

Assuming you need your job, and it was your chosen career, but where you currently work each day the people there openly hated you and disparage your work and you personally for doing it, how well would you do that job? Would you try real hard to help them out, or would you avoid any difficult work and only do what you needed to get your check? Pretty obvious what Barr was saying, unless you need to see it otherwise.

tim in vermont said...

"If I came upon an injured coyote and it wasn't acting erratically I would certainly put it in my car and take it to the vet’s.”

This reminds me of the time I had to talk my fishing buddy out of free gaffing a swordfish that was resting in the shadow of our boat so he didn't throw it on the deck still green and full of energy with its weapon at the ready.

tim in vermont said...

I heard another story of a state trooper who got called when a blue heron was injured by the road and he simply shot it. He then told a story about somebody who took one to the vet, and when it came to unexpectedly, it put its great beak right into the forehead of somebody standing by. Those herons are pretty good and pretty quick with those beaks.

tim in vermont said...

I can’t vouch for the second story... Details probably wrong, but the point stands.

madAsHell said...

it put its great beak right into the forehead of somebody standing by.

Hilarious!! Remember this one......"Rectum? Hell, no!! Killed'im"