DAILY PER DIEMS MOUNT AS TIM MOORE'S OVERRIDE GAMBIT CONTINUES: House Speaker Tim Moore says he's working on getting the Democratic votes he needs for an override. Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Darren Jackson insists Moore's mission will never succeed, and he and all but a few House Democrats sent Moore a letter to that effect this week. Republicans are basically playing a numbers game, putting the override vote on the floor calendar every day in hopes that enough Democrats will be absent to allow them to get the override the votes they have. "They're just paying for us to sit around and not talk to each other. Honestly, that's what's going on," said Jackson, D-Wake.
https://www.wral.com/meter-keeps-running-on-legislative-session-as-budget-stalemate-drags-on/18571225/

NC STATE DEAN STEPS DOWN FOR TWEETS THAT UPSET CONSERVATIVE SNOWFLAKES: A top N.C. State University official is stepping down after posting critical tweets about Republicans. Mike Mullen, N.C. State’s dean for academic and student affairs since 2012, resigned that position Thursday afternoon. However, he will remain on as a professor. The announcement Thursday didn’t say why Mullen resigned. But it came hours after an N.C. State student who has been active in conservative politics wrote that Mullen’s tweets made him and other conservative students feel alienated. In an April 15, 2018, tweet, according to screenshots shared by critics, Mullen replied to the conservative activist Charlie Kirk and said that “But, now the GOP is the party of the NRA, neo-Nazis, the KKK, and all manner of Alt-right crazies. You have betrayed your history.” On Thursday, N.C. State senior Luke Stancil, who has worked for several Republican political campaigns, wrote about that tweet and others in a blog post for the conservative website The College Fix.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article234053457.html

ACLU FINALLY SUCCEEDS IN GETTING TRANSGENDER INMATE TRANSFERRED TO WOMEN'S FACILITY: North Carolina officials have transferred a transgender inmate to a women's prison. News outlets report the state Department of Public Safety announced Thursday that Kanautica Zayre-Brown was moved to Anson Correctional Institution in Polkton. The move comes after months of review by prison officials and the threat of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union. The state had classified Zayre-Brown as a man and placed her in a men's prison, where she said she constantly feared assault. The state still lists her by her birth name, Kevin Chestnut, but she is believed to be the state's only post-operative transgender prisoner. Zayre-Brown has been serving a sentence of up to nearly 10 years since 2017 after being convicted as a habitual offender on insurance fraud charges.
https://www.wral.com/north-carolina-transgender-inmate-moved-to-womens-prison/18571853/

TRUMP HAS LOST HIS MIND, NOW HE WANTS TO "BUY" GREENLAND: The presidential request has bewildered aides, some of whom continue to believe it isn’t serious, but Trump has mentioned it for weeks. The two people with knowledge of the presidential demand spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to reveal such White House planning. As with many of Trump’s internal musings, aides are waiting for more direction before they decide how seriously they should look into it. Among the things that have been discussed is whether it is even legal, what the process would be for acquiring an island that has its own government and population, and where any money to purchase a giant landmass would originate. Greenland’s foreign minister said Friday that the island is not for sale. “We are open for business, but we’re NOT for sale,” Ane Lone Bagger said in a comment to Reuters.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/16/america-first-greenland-second-is-trumps-latest-w...

JULY 2019 WAS THE HOTTEST MONTH ON RECORD: United States government scientists on Thursday confirmed that July was the hottest month on record, edging out the previous record-holder, July 2016. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that the global average temperature last month was 62.1 degrees Fahrenheit (16.7 degrees Celsius). That is 0.05 degree Fahrenheit higher than July 2016, and 1.7 degrees higher than the average for the 20th century. The findings are in line with those of European scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service, who said earlier this month that July was 0.07 degree Fahrenheit higher than three years ago. Copernicus, NOAA and other agencies around the world use different sets of temperature data in their calculations. NOAA’s dates to 1880. Including last month, the five hottest Julys have occurred in the last five years, and nine of the 10 hottest have occurred since 2005, NOAA said. Through July, NOAA said, this year was tied with 2017 as the second hottest ever, with 2016 still the hottest.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/climate/hottest-july-noaa.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Ho...