Post New Article

The Headlines Have Caught Up to Mike Rowe.
Now What?

Original Article

Posted By: Judy W., 3/11/2025 9:19:04 AM

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania -- Alex Bambino, 21, is the son of two educators. He's busy working, welding a piece of material that will be used on a heavily armored military vehicle when finished. Despite two college-educated parents, who teach at the local Cambrian County schools, he wanted nothing to do with college following high school. "I like working with my hands, being part of making something that is important, and I had no interest in starting my adult life in debt," he said. So he went to Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center. (Snip) And he became part of something bigger than himself in the machines he helped make.

Comments:

Mike Rowe is one of the most valuable people around. He is the savior of countless young men, guiding them into good futures and giving them the esteem they need. Kind of like a practical Jordan Peterson.

Post Reply

Reminder: “WE ARE A SALON AND NOT A SALOON”

Your thoughts, comments, and ideas are always welcome here. But we ask you to please be mindful and respectful. Threatening or crude language doesn't persuade anybody and makes the conversation less enjoyable for fellow L.Dotters.


Reply 1 - Posted by: JHHolliday 3/11/2025 10:01:57 AM (No. 1912648)
Great to see this. I ended up spending over 40 years in the insurance business pushing paper and becoming well-to-do but, I was happiest working on my sports car and racing it. I don't regret it but working with my hands and seeing the results was a lot more gratifying. My plumber is just about to retire as a wealthy man. He earned it, and I don't think he would have been happy doing anything else.
33 people like this.

Reply 2 - Posted by: Bob2021 3/11/2025 10:02:27 AM (No. 1912649)
That's a great article. I was in academia for 17 years and constantly urged people to consider getting a skill. X-ray tech, plumber, HVAC, etc. The ones who took my advice have prospered, but some of them who got sociology or psychology degrees still work at Starbucks. Learn to fix stuff, learn to make stuff. You'll always be in demand.
43 people like this.

Reply 3 - Posted by: navybrat 3/11/2025 10:22:08 AM (No. 1912656)
Many do not understand the value and importance of acquiring a marketable skill. A skill that someone wants and will pay you to perform.
21 people like this.

Reply 4 - Posted by: sunshinehorses 3/11/2025 10:42:22 AM (No. 1912670)
While my career in IT required a degree (which was stupid btw), I urged my grandsons to consider other fields that wouldn't put them thousands of dollars in debt. One is a diesel mechanic and the other is still finding his way but won't be going to college - I had hopes of his becoming an electrician, but he isn't listening to grandma yet :)
15 people like this.

Reply 5 - Posted by: hurricanegirl 3/11/2025 10:44:52 AM (No. 1912675)
I am proud of my nieces and nephews, as well as many of my friend's kids, because they are becoming plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, and nurses, just to name a few. I tell young kids today to get a two-year degree in a field that they want to go much further in. That way, if they decide they can't finish their long-term degree, they can at least get a job in a field that interests them. They can also work part-time in this same field while they continue their education. Some of those with two-year degrees make more than I do with a four-year degree!
16 people like this.

Reply 6 - Posted by: DougTN 3/11/2025 11:30:11 AM (No. 1912704)
I hope Trump gives Mike Rowe a Presidential Medal of Freedom. It’s not that he deserves it as much as his ideas need amplified. Academic work has been overrated as the only path for too long.
22 people like this.

Reply 7 - Posted by: zephyrgirl 3/11/2025 11:50:35 AM (No. 1912719)
I hired a plumber from a handyman service to work at my house. We started talking, and come to find out he used to be a CPA working for a big accounting firm and hated it. He talked to his manager who thought he was just burned out and suggested he take a few weeks off. He did, and when it came time to go back to the accounting firm, he decided he wanted to do something else. He liked to work with his hands, so he became a master plumber and was starting his own business. Another plumber I hired years ago lives in a multi-million dollar house in a nearby neighborhood. He has a huge business now. Good work pays off.
16 people like this.

Reply 8 - Posted by: DVC 3/11/2025 2:06:12 PM (No. 1912778)
Mike Rowe is a neat guy, doing a great thing here. I was down to the last few paragraphs when I thought, "This has to be a Selene Zito article". I had not checked the byline before reading it, being a big Mike Rowe fan.....and when I checked, of course is IS a Selene Zito piece, ALWAYS worth reading. Engineering was perfect for ME, but is NOT necessarily good for a lot of people. We need top brains in our skilled trades, for certain. In my life I have friends who are heavy equipment manufacturing mechanics, carpenters and other skilled trades who are very smart people and who add a LOT to their jobs. I'm much in favor of Mike Rowe, but also there ARE still places for college educations. But not for the BS, even destructive sort of 'fill in the blank' studies which basically teach hate, division and destruction. I went to college to become an engineer, and even when I finished with my bachelor's degree in MechEng, I KNEW that I wanted to learn more technology, that I didn't meet MY requirements for being a good engineer. So, I took the Master of Engineering degree, and by the end of a couple of years more of carefully selected graduate level engineering courses, I felt ready to go and "do engineering". And I enjoyed, had a great 45 year career in several industries and consulting with various clients from art museums to high end travel trailer manufacturers. And I often worked with skilled tradesman to make things REALLY get made.
5 people like this.

Reply 9 - Posted by: wilarrbie 3/11/2025 2:07:46 PM (No. 1912779)
I hope Mike Rowe occasionally has the ear of our Labor Dept.
10 people like this.

Reply 10 - Posted by: BirdsNest 3/11/2025 6:47:05 PM (No. 1912858)
I always enjoyed watching Mike Rowe on his show.
6 people like this.

Reply 11 - Posted by: YorkieMom 3/11/2025 11:30:12 PM (No. 1913042)
Mike Rowe would be a great president. Smart and full of common sense.
2 people like this.

Reply 12 - Posted by: Common Sense Girl 3/12/2025 10:22:10 AM (No. 1913231)
FTA: "...but somebody has flipped a switch in our culture.". That "somebody" is Donald Trump - both as a candidate and now as President. He brought common sense back into vogue...most Americans had it, but had been intimidated into submission by the "woke" (DEI, CRT, etc.) cancel culture crowd. The wheels came off that movement when those Americans said "ENOUGH!"!!!
2 people like this.

Reply 13 - Posted by: SALady 3/12/2025 10:11:10 PM (No. 1913537)
Sadly, with AI booming like a giant Sunami wave, most of the jobs that college graduates do will be replaced by AI in the next 20 years. Accounting, engineering, architecture, education -- all will eventually be done faster and better by very smart machines (which is heartbreaking, but also reality). But climbing in hot attics to fix electrical wiring problems and digging under slabs to fix leaky water pipes will still need the human touch for many years to come.
1 person likes this.

Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Judy W."
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Most Recent Articles posted by Judy W."
Elite University Targets Student For Trying
To Uncover Where Millions In Federal Funds
Are Going
15 replies
Posted by Judy W. 4/2/2025 7:45:56 AM Post Reply
Brown University has opened an investigation into a student for sending emails to administrators asking them what they do in a day. The 20-year-old sophomore at the university, Alex Shieh, sent emails to all 3,805 administrators at Brown asking them to “Describe what tasks you performed in the past week.” Now the school is investigating him for inflicting “Emotional/Psychological Harm” on the staff, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. School officials accuse Shieh of obtaining confidential information and are requiring him to send proof he has deleted the content, essentially requiring the student to incriminate himself, something that Brown’s policies are supposed to protect him from.
I’ve recognized manipulation in the
past, and I see it now on the Supreme Court
5 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/31/2025 8:25:08 AM Post Reply
Anyone with common sense can tell when there’s a setup for a big problem, and the Supreme Court keeps setting things up. (Snip) And then there was my perplexity in 2005 when I found myself wondering why G.W. Bush had appointed Roberts, the “new guy,” directly into being Chief Justice of our Supreme Court rather than elevating a more experienced judge to that position. At the time, he seemed like a lightweight compared to Scalia, Thomas, and Alito. I thought he should be learning from them rather than being the chief. We have a Chief Justice who belongs to the same secretive “club” as patently evil Judge Boasberg, chief judge
Afghanistan cost Democrats dearly 11 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/26/2025 7:47:59 AM Post Reply
The Democrat Party is down and I am all for kicking it as hard and as often as we can. DC is all a-flutter over this as they watch helpless as Trump takes down the evil empire Democrats made of the federal government. The swamp was drained 200 years ago when they built the city. He is simply cleaning house. (Snip) Democrats are gazing at their navels trying to figure out what to do next. The Resistance of 2017 won’t work this time because they cannot bogeyman Trump because Americans have already experience on Trump presidency. They know he’s not Hitler.
Purpose vs Passivity 3 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/25/2025 7:07:20 AM Post Reply
Setting aside any "national security" concerns arising from letting The Atlantic's Russia-hoaxer Jeffrey Goldberg in on the Administration's Houthi-bombing call, I doubt that any creature more sentient than an amoeba can have been surprised to learn that US cabinet members "loathe" European "freeloading". (Snip) Are you shocked by Hegseth dismissing the Continent as "pathetic"? Well, you should have been around in the Obama era, when Victoria Nuland, She-Wolf of the Donbass, was rather pithier: F*** the EU! Chief Justice Roberts, the designated non-binary voter on the Supreme Court, has demanded, re the ongoing judicial coup, that Trump allow the lethargic appellate process to play itself out.
An EdTech Tragedy 4 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/24/2025 7:53:20 AM Post Reply
In The Anxious Generation, we focused on the emergence of the adolescent mental health crisis that began in the early 2010s. However, since the book’s publication one year ago, we have learned even more about worrisome trends in education that closely mirror those in mental health: after decades of stability or gradual improvement, test scores in the U.S. and around the world began declining notably in the 2010s. (Snip) One plausible explanation is the arrival of the phone-based childhood. However, there is a related hypothesis that is more proximal to the educational decline: the sudden appearance of a laptop or tablet on every student’s desk.
Micromanaging Microschools 3 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/20/2025 8:40:57 AM Post Reply
In 2020, the concept of home-based “pandemic pods” went viral. (Snip) A microschool is the reimagining of the one-room schoolhouse, where class sizes are usually fewer than 15 students of varying ages, and the schedule and curriculum are tailored to fit the needs of each class. Most microschools are independently parent-led, but some are affiliated with a formal network that offers paid, in-person instructors. Lessons are taught in various environments, such as homes, libraries, and other community centers. The government, however, is very intrusive in this area. (Snip) According to the National Microschooling Center, even with the stringent government mandates, there are now about 1,000,000 microschooled students in 44 states.
Getting rid of the federal Department
of Education is just the beginning
5 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/20/2025 8:05:59 AM Post Reply
Few federal agencies warrant dissolution as much as the Department of Education. A bill in Congress to achieve just that has been introduced, the “States’ Education Reclamation Act.” Jeffrey A. Tucker explains that the Act won’t just save taxpayers $70 billion. More importantly, it will return education to the states completely, which is an essential first step to fixing the whole system. The target is to return education to families and communities in both financing and control. That is the American system. Nothing else will substitute. However, returning education to the states is not the same thing as returning it to families and communities.
Doug Burgum’s ‘4 Babies’ Plan for
US Energy Dominance
2 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/20/2025 7:11:39 AM Post Reply
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum outlined the Trump administration’s aggressive strategy to restore American energy leadership through what he called the “four babies” approach: drill, baby, drill; map, baby, map; mine, baby, mine; and build baby build. In a wide-ranging interview Wednesday with Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matt Boyle, Burgum said he’s committed to drilling for oil and gas, mapping America’s natural resources, mining them responsibly, and building more power generation. (Snip) In addition to drilling, Burgum emphasized the importance of mapping America’s resources through the U.S. Geological Survey. He celebrated “The Map That Changed the World,” describing how geological mapping of Britain led to a century of industrial dominance.
Do We Have 677 Unelected Presidents? 21 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/16/2025 6:44:13 AM Post Reply
There are almost 700 federal district court judges. I say “almost,” because while officially there are 677 of them, some retired judges have taken senior status and may sit from time to time on cases, so the figure is inexact on any given day. Since President Trump was sworn in for a second term, there have been an avalanche of cases seeking relief from executive actions. Last month alone district court judges issued 15 temporary restraining orders. “That’s more nationwide injunctions than there were issued for the first three YEARS of the Biden Administration. District court judges are out of control.“
We Should All Be Much Much Richer. Every
Single One
2 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/15/2025 8:39:07 AM Post Reply
I don’t know whether you caught Howard Lutnik, Trump’s Commerce Secretary on CBS Thursday, but it thrilled Absurdistan to bits. Trump’s plan, he says, is to eliminate income tax on those making less than $150,000. To me, that and regulatory reform accompanied by cutting the admin state by 30%, will change not just the States but the entire world. I see towns and counties across America lit with sun and life.The energy and creativity that will unleash, the happy family formation, the independence of people, will soar. With that, engaged citizens will reform their own politics, slipped of the iron ring of servitude to the state most of us experience.
The Headlines Have Caught Up to Mike Rowe.
Now What?
13 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/11/2025 9:19:04 AM Post Reply
JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania -- Alex Bambino, 21, is the son of two educators. He's busy working, welding a piece of material that will be used on a heavily armored military vehicle when finished. Despite two college-educated parents, who teach at the local Cambrian County schools, he wanted nothing to do with college following high school. "I like working with my hands, being part of making something that is important, and I had no interest in starting my adult life in debt," he said. So he went to Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center. (Snip) And he became part of something bigger than himself in the machines he helped make.
Hamas Alarmed About Emigration of Young Gazans 11 replies
Posted by Judy W. 3/11/2025 8:22:43 AM Post Reply
Much of the world has chosen to dismiss or denounce Trump’s proposal for the Gaza Strip. (Snip)Not all Gazans appear determined to remain in the Strip; some — especially among the young — are eager to leave. These are the people who find Trump’s proposal neither laughable nor offensive, and who hope it can be achieved. Now the IDF has found Hamas documents revealing the terror group’s great worry: that the young people in Gaza don’t want to remain where they are; they are sick of being used as human shields, sick of the war begun by Hamas on October 7, sick of being forced to remain among the rubble
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Dem Sen. Cory Booker Speaking on Senate
Floor for More Than 13 Hours:
29 replies
Posted by Imright 4/1/2025 12:32:14 PM Post Reply
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has been speaking on the Senate floor for more than 13 hours, and has stated he will speak for as long as he is “physically able” to do so to protest what President Donald Trump was doing. In a pre-recorded video on X, Booker explained he would be speaking on the Senate floor and talking about what Trump was doing to the United States.Booker also referenced how on April 2, reciprocal tariffs will be imposed on all countries that have tariffs on U.S. exports and noted that the tariff would lead to “more reckless steps taken” that would increase prices for Americans.
WATCH: Tim Walz’s Daughter, Hope, Skips
Grad School Citing Lack of Student Protest Support
22 replies
Posted by Imright 4/1/2025 6:53:28 PM Post Reply
The daughter of failed Democrat vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is opting out of graduate school to stand against a lack of support for student protests. In a video she posted on TikTok, Hope Walz on Sunday laid out her reasons for the decision, Fox News reported. The young woman stated: I applied for one school. I kind of had my heart set on it. That’s what I wanted to do. I am not going to name the institution. But given recent events, I am not going to give my money, go into debt for, or support institutions that don’t support their students and the right
Liberal wins first major 2025 statewide
battleground election in race turned into
Trump-Musk referendum
21 replies
Posted by Harlowe 4/1/2025 10:42:37 PM Post Reply
WAUKESHA, Wis. - The liberal-leaning candidate is projected to win a high-profile and historically expensive election in Wisconsin on Tuesday, protecting progressive majority control of the battleground state's Supreme Court, which is likely to rule on crucial issues like congressional redistricting, voting and labor rights, and abortion. The Associated Press projects that Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford will defeat Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general who currently serves as a state circuit court judge in Waukesha County. Schimel, the conservative-aligned candidate in the race, was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Val Kilmer Dies: ‘Top Gun,’ ‘Doors’
& ‘Batman Forever’ Star Was 65
18 replies
Posted by Dreadnought 4/2/2025 12:27:55 AM Post Reply
Val Kilmer, the Juilliard graduate with leading man looks known for taking on roles that went far beyond his appearance, has died. His his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed to the New York Times that the actor had passed away after battling pneumonia. He was 65. Kilmer’s early films included comedies like Top Secret! (1984) and Real Genius (1985), as well as breakout role as LT Tom “Iceman” Kazansky opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun (1986). That was followed by the fantasy film Willow (1988). His breakout as a leading man came with his mesmerizing, leather-clad portrayal of Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s The Doors.
Democrat Demands Trump ‘Return’ Deported
Gang Members to U.S.
17 replies
Posted by ConservativeYankee 4/1/2025 4:44:13 PM Post Reply
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, is demanding that President Donald Trump fly hundreds of suspected gang members, deported to El Salvador last month, back to the United States. “I call on my colleagues … to demand that the Trump Administration comply with all judicial orders while appealing whichever ones they want to appeal, and to demand the return of people unlawfully taken to El Salvador on that so-called plane full of ‘gang bangers,'” Raskin said at a hearing on Tuesday. Raskin was referring to two planeloads of
Elite University Targets Student For Trying
To Uncover Where Millions In Federal Funds
Are Going
15 replies
Posted by Judy W. 4/2/2025 7:45:56 AM Post Reply
Brown University has opened an investigation into a student for sending emails to administrators asking them what they do in a day. The 20-year-old sophomore at the university, Alex Shieh, sent emails to all 3,805 administrators at Brown asking them to “Describe what tasks you performed in the past week.” Now the school is investigating him for inflicting “Emotional/Psychological Harm” on the staff, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. School officials accuse Shieh of obtaining confidential information and are requiring him to send proof he has deleted the content, essentially requiring the student to incriminate himself, something that Brown’s policies are supposed to protect him from.
Why Are Democrats So Opposed to Eliminating
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse?
15 replies
Posted by Imright 4/1/2025 6:07:50 PM Post Reply
If it weren’t for the fact that it is Democrats doing it, it would almost be shocking that there is so much opposition to the efforts of Mr. Trump, through DOGE, to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government. What person, in their right mind, could possibly be against having THEIR tax dollars used wisely, not wasted on frivolous, unnecessary projects, or just flat being abused by unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats? Even Bernie Sanders, back in 2008, is on tape saying that government waste should be excised. Why such hostility now?
Kristi Noem defends El Salvador mega-prison
photo op as something ‘people need to
see’: ‘Consequence of someone who
is a terrorist’
15 replies
Posted by Mercedes44 4/1/2025 4:17:22 AM Post Reply
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem acknowledged Monday that she was trying to send a message to migrant gang members and the American people when she was filmed and photographed inside El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison last week. “People need to see that image,” Noem said of the striking pictures of her surrounded by rows of tattooed inmates standing obediently inside their crammed cells at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador. “They need to see that the United States is going to use every tool that we have to make our communities safer, that that is a consequence of someone who is a terrorist,”
PATHETIC: Journalists of White House Correspondents
Association Considered a ‘Sit-In’
Protest Over Changes in Seating Chart
14 replies
Posted by Imright 4/2/2025 9:00:38 AM Post Reply
As the Gateway Pundit recently reported, the Trump administration is planning to take over the seating chart in the briefing room, a power once held by the far-left White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA). Members of the WHCA, who are apparently a bunch of toddlers throwing a tantrum over the change, considered doing a 1960s style ‘sit-in’ protest in order to object to the changes. The left views the entire world as a liberal college campus. This is just more proof of that.
Trump Administration Nears Historic Deal
as DOGE Reportedly Finds Millions of Illegals
on Social Security Rolls
14 replies
Posted by ConservativeYankee 4/1/2025 4:47:50 PM Post Reply
President Donald Trump’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is nearing a historic deal with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency that will allow agents to more efficiently locate and arrest illegal aliens already ordered deported from the United States. The IRS-ICE agreement, which anonymous sources told Politico is close to being finalized, will see the tax revenue agency open its databases to ICE agents when they need to confirm the names and addresses of illegal aliens who have been ordered deported by a federal immigration judge. Politico, which interviewed opponents of the plan, admits that it is likely the partnership between the IRS and ICE
Federal Judge Edward Chan from San Francisco
Blocks Trump from Ending Temporary Protected
Status for 350,000 Venezuelan Illegal Migrants
14 replies
Posted by Imright 4/1/2025 7:19:36 AM Post Reply
Federal District Judge Edward Chen, a Barack Obama appointee, took his turn at playing President of the United States on Monday. Chen blocked President Trump from ending the temporary protected status for 350,000 Venezuelan illegal migrants. Judge Chen’s move is a godsend to the estimated 350,000 Venezuelans who entered the country illegally. Many of these same illegal migrants have been wreaking havoc across the US since they entered the country under Joe Biden. Judge Chen wants these illegals to stick around a while longer.
New York Times Publishes Explosive Investigation
Article Showing U.S. Military Boots on
Ground in Ukraine, and CIA Operation to
Target Russian Federation with Drones
and Missiles
13 replies
Posted by earlybird 4/1/2025 10:07:05 PM Post Reply
The New York Times published two articles {HERE and HERE} revealing: 1) that U.S. military boots are on the ground in Ukraine. (2) The U.S. military is actively involved in the ongoing targeting of strikes into Russia. (3) The CIA is operating in Ukraine and conducting targeted strikes into the Russian Federation mainland.New York Times – […] [F]or nearly three years before Mr. Trump’s return to power, the United States and Ukraine were joined in an extraordinary partnership of intelligence, strategy, planning and technology whose evolution and inner workings have been known only to a small circle of American and allied officials. […]
Post New Article