wither

But, what’s causing them to wither and die—is it the water quality?

“If we don’t have the legislation to do that, then our credentials to sit there will slowly wither away and we will lose investment, scientific talent and the boost to our economy to other countries.”

Instead, the bookworm twins are forced to witness their father, Percy, further wither and drink himself away: He’s a former Parisian juggler in a wheelchair after being hit by a drunk driver.

We can and will debate in the years to come whether this is because we allowed local journalism to wither and die on the vine, or whether it’s because we allowed capitalism to swallow journalism, just as it swallowed state courts and local governments.

Pummeled by these and similar crises from other climate-change hot spots, the international cooperation that lay at the heart of Washington’s world order for the past 90 years would simply wither, leaving a legacy even less visible than that block of the Berlin Wall in midtown Manhattan.