HMM: US needs mechanics and nurses, but kids want to be influencers.

Young people with realistic goals are likely to succeed. But few students get useful career guidance, writes Anne Kim, senior fellow at FutureEd, on The 74.

Counselors are in short supply, and high schools are still pushing “college for all,” writes Kim. “Despite increasing interest in alternative pathways,” many students — and high school counselors — are “unaware of the careers they could pursue, the availability of jobs locally, and the skills required.” In a 2024 survey, two-thirds of young adults ages 16 to 24 said they “do not know exactly what career they want to pursue.”

The dream career for nearly half of Gen Z respondents in a 2025 Morning Consult survey is “content creator,” notes Kim’s Future Shock report. Working in “media and entertainment” is also a popular goal. They think it’s an easy path to riches. Only a third want a “traditional job.”

No different than kids from previous generations wanting to grow up to be baseball players or movie stars, really.

WHEN SECONDS COUNT…:

…Europe is nowhere to be found.

CIVIL RIGHTS UPDATE: Wolford Enforcement: DOJ Sues Maryland County for Prohibiting Carry in Churches, Synagogues. “Houses of worship are often targeted by people with murder on their minds. That’s especially true of synagogues, which were disproportionately attacked even before October 7 and have since been on the receiving end of the ‘antizionist’ reframing of hatred of Jews. But in Montgomery County, Maryland, officials recently renewed efforts to forbid the carrying of firearms within 100 yards of ‘places of public assembly,’ including churches and synagogues. Now, some security volunteers are defying the intrusive law as they await the outcome of courtroom pushback against the restrictions.”

THE NEW SPACE RACE (AFFORDABILITY EDITION):

Exit quote: “The SLS is a constituency management program wearing a rocket as a costume.”

IT’S COME TO THIS: Dre Greenlaw wonders if Antarctica is ‘a lie’ during 49ers’ Australia trip.

Many San Francisco 49ers plans are experiencing Australia for the first time this week.

Yet, 49ers star linebacker Dre Greenlaw seems to be more concerned with another continent. He made that known during a wild exchange Greenlaw had with reporters on Tuesday morning.

A reporter asked Greenlaw, “Do you have any questions you’d want to ask Australians?” per ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. San Francisco is in Australia ahead of their NFL regular season opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

“I mean, how far are we from Antarctica? That’s what I got. We’re right on top of it, huh? Does It snow probably pretty bad here? So Antarctica, is it a lie?” Greenlaw responded.

After being told the continent is indeed there, Greenlaw said, “Y’all been there before?”

Hey, back in 2023, NPR warned us that “Antarctica is melting and we all need to adapt, a trio of climate analyses show.” I blame Trump for how quickly it completely disappeared.

SCIENCE, UNSETTLED: Bombshell Great Pyramid of Giza Study Retracted. “A scientific journal has retracted a study that claimed satellite radar could reveal hidden structures inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, finding “serious methodological flaws and statistical errors” that undermined its conclusions. The retraction matters because the paper provided a scientific foundation for increasingly extraordinary claims about what may lie beneath one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites.”

BIG MONEY: $1.3 Billion In Attempted Medicare Fraud. “An illegal alien from the country of Georgia allegedly spent five months running a Pennsylvania medical equipment company that filed $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims against Medicare and private insurers, then funneled the proceeds to a Russia-based criminal network.”

A REMINDER TO KEEP YOUR POWDER DRY (AND KEEP LOTS OF POWDER):

TRUMP WARNED US THERE WOULD BE AN ADJUSTMENT PERIOD…: Trumponomics triumphs in US jobs report — just in time for the midterms.

American manufacturing is on the rebound — and that good news could hardly come at a better time for President Donald Trump, as Republicans gird themselves for the midterm elections just two months from now.

Manufacturing isn’t the only sector that’s on a hiring spree; businesses across the board added 162,000 new jobs in August.

Even The New York Times called the latest employment numbers “zesty.”

The paper quoted T. Rowe Price’s chief US economist, Blerina Uruci: “It’s a very good report . . . And it perhaps shows that financial conditions more broadly are not that tight.”

The workforce participation rate rose as well — which matters, because people who drop out of the labor force are invisible in unemployment rates that only count those who are looking for work.

This economy is pulling Americans who’d given up hope off the sidelines and putting them to work.

That’s a success not only for Trump’s economic policy, but for his immigration crackdown, too.

…and it looks more and more like we’re through the worst of it.