The Political Page, T+247 -- September 24, 2017

We will get to politics in a minute but first a word about Texas high school football -- where coaches don't take a knee when the national anthem is played.  From The Star-Telegra Northeast: it pays to be in Texas, home of the $98,668 high school football coach. Some data points:

• 2017 Texas high school football season opener -- first time that the University Interscholastic League (UIL) allowed live broadcasts of Friday night games
• Lake Travis High School: sixth state title in 2016; in 2011 they became the first team in history of Texas high school football to win five consecutive state championships
• currently, the coach: Hank Carter
• Carter is the highest-paid high school football coach in Texas: annual salary of $155,156
• $30,000 more than the principal at the same school; triple the average salary of the school's teachers
• median household income in his district: $103,000; million-dollar homes dot the shores of Lake Travis
• Texas has no limit on what Texas high school football coaches can be paid, as long as school boards vote to approve contracts set by administrators
• Katy, TX: home of Morton Ranch High School and home of a new $72 million stadium; Katy Tigers are eight-time state champions; the coach is paid $133,102.
• statewide, the average for football coaches: $98,668
• statewide, the average teacher's salary: $55,221
• statewide, the average salary for principals in the large schools: $117,744
• DFW-area suburbs: some of the highest paid coaches in the state, $106,619
• down the road from us, Bedford: $110,000
• reason: supply and demand
• at a typical school, there are 40,000 applications from those who want to become a 3rd-grade teacher
• hard to find a winning coach
• most coaches wear two hats: the other -- athletic director

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The Political Page 

Takeaway: after seeing the scenes from NFL's opening national anthems today -- for the players, coaches, and owners, "it's all about me. Screw the veterans." One brave Pittsburgh Steeler stood for the veterans.

But a sad day for America! Owners, coaches, multi-millionaire athletes who got a free ride and a college scholarship all agree that the national anthem is not worth respecting. And millionaire owners taking the side of those who disrespect the national anthem. It's important to remember, President Trump did not start this. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sunday night football. I don't recall ever purposefully turning to another channel when the SNF opening came on, but tonight I did. I'll catch the game later on, but not interested in the opening segment.

Hardball. Undermining ObamaCaare. Death by a thousand cuts. Administration will take down Healthcare.gov on some hours during enrollment period. LOL. Administration says the Obamacare enrollment site will be down for "maintenance." LOL.

The Trump administration plans to shut down healthcare.gov, a website consumers use to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, for 12 hours on nearly every Sunday of the coming ACA enrollment season.

The outages, which the administration says are for maintenance, will occur from midnight through noon on every Sunday other than Dec. 10. This year’s enrollment season, which the administration has shortened to half the length of previous years, will run from Nov. 1 through Dec. 15 for states that use the federal marketplace.

As usual, the headline "exaggerates" things. Give me a break. Midnight to noon? On Sundays? That's it? And The WSJ is alarmed! But if ObamaCare enrollments are down, we now know that The WSJ will blame a) the Russians; and, b) Trump for taking down the ObamaCare enrollment website. Wow.

Hardball. Residential solar energy. Death by a thousand cuts. Headline over at The WSJ: Trade decision roils U.S. solar industry. American panel makers see a godsend; panel sellers and installers fear higher prices for consumers.

Hardball. Amazon takes over the world. The comments, as usual, are the best part of the "article." This one paragraph from the article told me all I needed to know about this essay:

At New York University’s business school, where I teach, I have for years kept a close watch on which firms are winning the competition for the most talented students. A decade ago, the top recruiter was American Express , with investment banks vying for second position. Now the clear winner is Amazon: 12 students from my most recent class have opted for a life of rain and overrated coffee in the Pacific Northwest.

Opted for a life of rain and overrated coffee in the Pacific Northwest? Or NYC? LOL.

Annual precipitation (google search):

• NYC: 45 inches
• Seattle: 37.49 inches

NYU professor needs to do some basic fact checking when writing his essays. But yes, there are significantly more sunny days in NYC than in Seattle (224 vs 152).