Overwhelmed with various obligations and sleepy from insomnia, I stopped working at 3 pm yesterday. Curled up on the sofa, I played dumb phone games for three hours; I failed to write my newsletters and queue them up for a 5 am release. That’s always bad news for readership because many people like to read their newsletters at 5 am -are you crazy, people? — so, stuff that arrives later usually doesn’t get read. 

Ah well, better late than never. 

Fat, Drunk, and Stupid is No Way to Go Through Life

Too Fat and Illiterate to Enlist

The Pete Hegseth confirmation was both must-see TV and depressing as hell. One side bit of depressing info was the discussion that the US Army is having trouble recruiting young people for the military, especially guys. Why? Because they are obese and illiterate. 

According to the Department of Defense, 77 percent of youth — ages 17 -24 — are unqualified to serve in the military, because they are overweight, hooked on drugs, or have medical/mental health issues. More depressing statistics at Vox and the CDC. Perhaps it’s a good thing that we’re moving towards drone warfare. Fat dudes can operate the drones from big comfy chairs with Big Gulps.

Read more at Apt. 11D, the newsletter