In Part 2 of “Sick in a Hospital Town,” we look at how a century-old community hospital in Albany, Georgia, became the only hospital in town — and grew into a sprawling health care system by waging a yearslong battle to eliminate its competition.

Here are three news stories Democracy Docket published today. If you agree that independent, pro-democracy media is more important now than ever before, please support Democracy Docket with a membership today. hubs.ly/Q03CbHTt0

Bike to the sunset 🌅 🫠 🚵‍♀️

Found a Fox, check out the thicc tail!

Found some mushrooms! #fungifriends #mushrooms

Live your life in such a way that you never find Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov blowing smoke up your ass. bbc.com/news/article...

Trump hung up on a ProPublica reporter after being asked whether his Florida mortgages were similar to those of others he had accused of fraud. 🤔

I've outlined the structure and presumptions of the National Security Strategy so you can more easily see how much of it builds off wildly false assumptions about America's strength. www.emptywheel.net/2025/12/08/t...

Democratic congressional candidate @nateforutah.bsky.social breaks down his plan too mobilize CD1 voters and bring grassroots energy to deep red Utah. Can it flip the script in a GOP stronghold? #utah #politics #utpol

“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh Good morning my friends! I hope that your day is delightful ❤️

#306 Daily Reboot 📆🥾☀️🏡❤️🤣 Visit EdwinAndPete.com for more 😂😅 #comic #cartoons #funny #comedy #Art #EdwinAndPete #porch #metal #rock #love #freedom #peace #kindness #smile #hope #joy #laughter #happiness #reboot

10 Monday AM Reads -Tariff Refunds -How Netflix stole Warner Bros from David Ellison -For Gen Z, cash isn’t king. It’s a joke -Microdosing on Obesity Drugs -Blame Our Love of Booze on Our Primate Ancestors -Buying Instead of Building ritholtz.com/2025/12/10-m...

LOL ‘Trump’s Own Mortgages Match His Description of Mortgage Fraud, Records Reveal’ It was only a matter of time before this was reported. You can set your watch to the revelation of his hypocrisy. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

“I think it’s really important that people see what it looks like when the full force of the United States military is turned on two guys who are clinging to a piece of wood and about to go under, just so that they have sort of a visceral feel for what it is that we’re doing.” — Rep. Jim Himes, D-CT

How did a century-old community hospital in a small Georgia city grow into a sprawling healthcare system that dominates the local economy? By waging a years-long battle to eliminate its competition and become the only game in town. (THREAD)

Another insightful & inspiring essay by Dr Heather Cox Richardson Together, all of us- black, yellow, brown, white, young, middle age, senior, straight, LGBTQ - will overthrow The Current Regime & make the Epstein Class (1% & big business) pay their fair share open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...

*cough* If you're gift shopping for anyone interested in how the world works, do consider these. Storm in a Teacup is all about the physics of everyday life and Blue Machine is all about how the ocean works - the water itself, which is the biggest story on Earth. Share the joy of nature & science!

Together, all of us- black, yellow, brown, white, young, middle age, senior, straight, LGBTQ - will overthrow The Current Regime & make the Epstein Class (1% & big business) pay their fair share.

“All good cons [or bad cons with easy marks] eventually crumble, and we’re starting to see the earliest signs that the MAGA movement – one of the greatest [dumbest] and most destructive cons in American history – may be poised to fall. It’s coming, I tell you. And it’s going to be spectacular.”

Affordability @bagleycartoons.bsky.social

NEW: In a five-part series, “Sick in a Hospital Town,” ProPublica’s @gingerthompson.bsky.social pursues the question: Why are people in Albany, Georgia, so sick when its most powerful institution is a hospital? Start with Part 1 here:

10 Sunday Reads -Chanos on Strategy’s biz model problem -Zombie Mortgages -Bank Deregulations' Catastrophic Costs -Summers Banned for Life -US Funding Less Science + Medicine -Sex Crimes. State Crimes. War Crimes -Fighting for Right to Control Our Garage Door Openers ritholtz.com/2025/12/10-s...

Just finished Sorkin’s book on the masters of the stock market who gave us the Great Depression Same old same old Mar-a-Lago even makes a cameo back then

We sat down with BMW's charging and battery experts to learn what went into the extremely impressive iX3. insideevs.com/news/781057/...

A sensational claim by Glenn Beck’s outlet suggesting a conspiracy among law enforcement to frame Trump supporters over Jan. 6 has gone up in flames. Now the outlet is facing the fallout. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/the-blaze-...

In the 4.5-mile bike ride to pick up my kids from school, I found the following in painted bike lanes: at least 6 trash bins, a parked car, a parked firefighter truck (likely lunch break), and a parked city maintenance vehicle. This is unacceptable, and another reason why paint is not infrastructure

So many people are asking how I took my kids home from school on a bike. It’s an electric cargo bike. I’m surprised people haven’t seen one of those. They’re pretty common in cities and bikeable towns, and becoming more popular. But happy to introduce folks to the idea

Some information about Special Operations Forces. My latest in @thebulwark.com

10 Weekend Reads: Hudson River is Minting Billions Middle class struggles with affordability The Airport-Lounge Wars Ozempic is changing how we spend money and time The New German War Machine Oceans Are Going to Rise—but When? Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation? ritholtz.com/2025/12/10-w...

A Decade-Long Study Shows Cycling Helps Older Adults Live Longer, Healthier Lives. momentummag.com/a-decade-lon...

The Derangement of the Conservative Mind (Cont'd) open.substack.com/pub/charlies...

Quiet, Piggy

Conspicuously absent from the list of prohibited words are Nazism, Christian nationalism, white culture, "Jews will not replace us," Confederate slogans, "White lives matter," etc. So you can hold a Christian nationalist rally on Utah college campuses, but not talk about DEI. Got it.

Important: Alvin Holsey, the commander who oversaw Trump's boat bombings and resigned w/no explanation, had concerns about legality of operation, WSJ reports. Recall that Rep Adam Smith told me he sought Holsey's testimony. Pentagon said No and Rs won't push for it. newrepublic.com/article/2025...

See this: ritholtz.com/2016/09/harv... and this: ritholtz.com/2024/10/harv...

My morning WFH reads: Brexit is an unmitigated economic failure, Office-to-Residential Conversions Are Booming, Bean Soup Theory, Data on Self-Driving Cars, Mass Surveillance Recordings, Noah ❤️ AI, Ukraine’s Drone Battle and Time for Pete Hegseth to Go ritholtz.com/2025/12/10-t...

2017 Same same. No change

It is well known that #exercise is linked to better #cancer survival, but the mechanisms behind this are poorly understood. It now seems tumour growth is reduced by exercise due to muscle cells outcompeting cancer cells for sugar. @newscientist.com #health 🧪 www.newscientist.com/article/2506...

Each "At the Money" episode is on a single topic in finance. The musical intro always hints at that week's subject. Some are obvious, some are a bit obscure, but all are fun. And, I made a playlist of them! open.spotify.com/playlist/3aP...

ADP employment data has not closely followed Non-Farm Payroll -- it's a measure of mostly older and larger companies; it misses newer, smaller firms, which make up so much of the economy... There is some signal there, but a whole lot more noise ritholtz.com/2011/06/adps...

Thank you!

Too many takers, not enough water

TurboTax. Because there’s nothing more American than paying a tax on filing your taxes.

One of the four elements of malignant narcissism is sadism.

Cartoonists are under threat around the world. Please contribute to saving this crucial part of journalism cartoonistsrights.org/donate/

My bipartisan IRS MATH Act with Senator Bill Cassidy is now law. Now, if you mess up your taxes, the IRS has to tell you where you made a mistake and how to fix it. No more spending a fortune on lawyers or hours to find errors. That means fewer headaches and more money in your pocket.

Here’s the key