As the spathe gradually opens, the spadix releases powerful odors to attract pollinators, insects which feed on dead animals or lay their eggs in rotting meat. The potency of the odor gradually increases from late evening until the middle of the night, when carrion beetles and flesh flies are active as pollinators, then tapers off towards morning.
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President Donald Trump once again unleashed what’s become his presidential hallmark: a bizarre, winding, threatening press conference, this time following his White House meeting with Democratic leaders Friday to try to break the impasse causing the government shutdown.
In a long, meandering briefing in the Rose Garden, Trump told reporters the partial shutdown now heading into its third week could go on for months, even years, if Democrats don’t give him the $5.6 billion he’s demanding to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall. The Democrats have steadfastly refused. The shutdown has affected some 800,000 federal workers — 420,000 of them forced to work without pay — since Dec. 22.
“This is national security we’re talking about,” Trump said. “We’re not talking about games.“
When asked if there was any “safety net” for workers going without pay as the shutdown continues, Trump responded: “The safety net is going to be having a strong border.”
Trump also floated another way he could get his wall: declaring a state of national emergency over border security to build it without congressional approval.
“I could do it if I wanted,” Trump said.
