Thenappan (Thenu) Chandrasekar, MD

I wish conservatives understood this: Without blue states, America would look like a developing country — patchy internet, collapsing schools, no tech, no medicine, no future. Red states cash the checks. Blue states write them. You don’t fund the nation — you drain it. The loudest shouts come from the emptiest hands.

A message from a Kindergarten teacher: After forty years in the classroom, my career ended with one small sentence from a six-year-old: “My dad says people like you don’t matter anymore.” No sneer. No malice. Just quiet honesty — the kind that cuts deeper because it’s innocent. He blinked, then added, “You don’t even have a TikTok.” My name is Mrs. Clara Holt, and for four decades, I taught kindergarten in a small Denver suburb. Today, I stacked the last box on my desk and locked the door behind me. When I started teaching in the early 1980s, it felt like a promise — a shared belief that what we did mattered. We weren’t rich, but we were valued. Parents brought warm cookies to parent nights. Kids gave you handmade cards with hearts that didn’t quite line up. Watching a child sound out their first sentence felt like magic. But that world slowly slipped away. The job I once knew has been replaced by exhaustion, red tape, and a kind of loneliness I can’t quite describe. My evenings used to be filled with construction paper, glitter, and glue sticks. Now they’re spent filling out digital reports to protect myself from angry emails or lawsuits. I’ve been yelled at by parents in front of twenty-five children — one filming me with his phone while I tried to calm another child mid-meltdown. And the kids… they’ve changed too. Not by choice. They arrive tired, anxious, overstimulated. Their tiny fingers know how to swipe a screen before they can hold a crayon. Some can’t make eye contact or wait in line. We’re expected to fix all of it — to patch the gaps, heal the trauma, teach the curriculum, and document every move — in six hours a day, with resources that barely fill a drawer. The little reading corner I once built, full of soft beanbags and paper stars, was replaced by data charts and “learning metrics.” A young principal once told me, “Clara, maybe you’re too nurturing. The district wants measurable results.” As if kindness were a weakness. Still, I stayed. Because of the small, holy moments that no spreadsheet could measure — a whisper of, “You remind me of my grandma.” a shaky note that read, “I feel safe here.” a quiet boy finally meeting my eyes and saying, “I read the whole page.” Those tiny sparks were my reason to keep showing up. But this last year broke something in me. The aggression grew sharper. The laughter in the staff room turned to silence. The light went out of so many eyes. I watched brilliant teachers — my friends — vanish under the weight of burnout, their joy replaced by survival. I felt myself fading too, like chalk on a board that’s been wiped one too many times. So today, I began my goodbye. I pulled faded art off the walls and tucked thirty years of handmade cards into a single box. In the back of a drawer, I found a letter from a student from 1998: “Thank you for loving me when I was hard to love.” I sat on the floor and cried. No party. No applause. Just a handshake from a young principal who called me “Ma’am” while checking his notifications. I left my rocking chair behind, and my sticker box too. What I carried with me were the memories — the faces of hundreds of children who once trusted me enough to reach out their hands and learn. That can’t be uploaded. It can’t be measured. It can’t be replaced. I miss when teachers were partners, not targets. When parents and educators worked side by side, not in opposition. When schools cared more about wonder than numbers. So if you know a teacher — any teacher — thank them. Not with a mug or a gift card, but with your words. With your respect. With your understanding that behind every test score is a heart that cared enough to try. Because in a world that often overlooks them, teachers are the ones who never forget our children.

🎯

Putting wheels on this cross to bear is the best possible metaphor for American Evangelicalism

Ilhan Omar: “Here’s a president that is always unhinged, always creating chaos and division. I feel embarassed for him. They expose themselves for how stupid they are. Our country is being led by idiots”

We are fast becoming a banana republic, with two standards of justice. If you oppose the leader, you go to jail just for speech. If you're a loyalist, you get immunity for your crimes. That's what happens in Iran - not the United States. This is a decision moment for America.

I wish conservatives understood one thing: If it weren’t for blue states, the U.S. would be a third world country with broadband holes, broke schools, and zero innovation. Red states take the federal money. Blue states make it. You don’t fund the country, you drain it. Bad ideas. No revenue. And the loudest voices are always the ones who bring the least to the table.

@UclaUrology @uroegg @UCLAHealth @AmerUrological @UroOnc @UChicagoUrology Congrats @uroegg !

We are thrilled to announce and welcome Dr @uroegg as the new chair of Urology at @UCLAHealth A thought leader in @AmerUrological @UroOnc and at @UChicagoUrology , we look forward to seeing the impact of your leadership here in Los Angeles.

And BRIDGE!

Dr. Daneshmand has been doing truly WILD testis cancer surgery for well over a decade now. The skill and dedication required to achieve these outcomes CANNOT be overstated. The term ‘center of excellence’ is often overused these days, but if anyone has ever earned that title, it’s @siadaneshmand for retroperitoneal surgery. auajournals.org/doi/epdf/10.10…

Civic duty fulfilled. May the best woman win

Since her appointment, Dr. Greene has expanded our department with 14 hires... made significant quality of life improvements for faculty & residents... championed a vision of #UVAUrology as a triple threat, exemplifying excellence in research, education, & patient care...

BREAKING: The former chief marketer for NBC apologizes to the American people for giving us Donald Trump by helping to sell “The Apprentice” myth to the American people. This is humiliating for MAGA… “I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster,” writes John D. Miller in a piece entitled “We Created a Monster: Trump Was a TV Fantasy Invented for 'The Apprentice'” for U.S. News & World Report. “For nearly 25 years, I led marketing at NBC and NBCUniversal,” Miller explains. “I led the team that marketed ‘The Apprentice,’ the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns.” He goes on to state that his team “created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty” which was a “substantial exaggeration” that “created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.” Miller points out that Trump had to declare bankruptcy four times before the show premiered and at least twice over the course of its 14 seasons. “The imposing board room where he famously fired contestants was a set, because his real boardroom was too old and shabby for TV,” writers Miller. In a section that is certain to bruise Trump’s ego, Miller states that he was the “perfect choice” for the show because “more successful CEOs were too busy to get involved in reality TV and didn’t want to hire random game show winners onto their executive teams.” Meanwhile, Trump “had no such concerns” and “plenty of time for filming.” “I never imagined that the picture we painted of Trump as a successful businessman would help catapult him to the White House,” writes Miller, likening all of their advertising around the show to “fake news” because it was so “highly exaggerated.” “I discovered in my interactions with him over the years that he is manipulative, yet extraordinarily easy to manipulate,” he goes on. “He has an unfillable compliment hole. No amount is too much. Flatter him and he is compliant. World leaders, including apparently Russian strongman Vladimir Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, have discovered that too.” Miller calls Trump “remarkably thin-skinned” and describes his adversarial relationship with the show. The future president would claim that the show was number one in the ratings, even when the numbers refuted that claim. Not surprisingly, Trump was full of bad suggestions for the show. He wanted to make “a team of Black players compete against white players.” Miller tried to convince him against it by appealing to Trump’s greed and telling him that it would alienate sponsors. “While we were successful in marketing ‘The Apprentice,’ we also did irreparable harm by creating the false image of Trump as a successful leader. I deeply regret that,” writers Miller. “And I regret that it has taken me so long to go public.” “Now America is facing a critical choice. Should this elderly, would-be emperor with no clothes, who is well known for stretching and abandoning the truth, be president again?” he asks. “I spent 50 years successfully promoting television magic, making mountains out of molehills every day,” he continues. “But I say now to my fellow Americans, without any promotional exaggeration: If you believe that Trump will be better for you or better for the country, that is an illusion, much like ‘The Apprentice’ was.” “Even if you are a born-and-bred Republican, as I was, I strongly urge you to vote for Kamala Harris. The country will be better off and so will you,” concludes Miller. Please retweet and ❤️ to thank Miller for speaking the truth and owning his mistake — and join the growing exodus to Tribel, a new pro-democracy social network that is exploding in popularity. Please follow us on Tribel to get all of our breaking news alerts sent straight to your phone or computer by clicking the following link: tribel.app.link/okwPIHYCIqb

@RaisBahrami @ONealCancerUAB @UABUrology @NCCN @UABHeersink @JNCCN @DanLinMD @TimGilliganMD @uroegg @nirmishsingla @AdityaBagrodia @AnkeetShahMD @AliZUroOnc Great to meet colleagues from around the country managing @TestesCancer at the @NCCN headquarters. In person meeting definitely superior to virtual! Happy to represent @UCDavisUrology @UCD_Cancer @UCDavisHealth

Thankful for this fun and fulfilling day representing @ONealCancerUAB @UABUrology serving on the @NCCN testicular cancer guideline panel with this amazing roster of multidisciplinary experts!

Online now: Peri-operative outcomes following radical prostatectomy in the setting of advanced #ProstateCancer @tchandra_uromd @UCDavisUrology doi.org/10.1111/bju.16…

@UCDavisUrology @EmmanuelTavares @monda_steven @UCDavisHealth @mdallera @noahcanvasser @GabyGonzalezMD @BernalCharondo @UroAcademic @UroResidency @UroResidentsCS @auawest Slightly better angles! @mdallera @monda_steven @EmmanuelTavares @UCDavisUrology

Great night celebrating two excellent chief residents @EmmanuelTavares @monda_steven for @UCDavisUrology @UCDavisHealth graduation!

Great start to @UCDavisUrology Davis Urology and #graduation with VP @siadaneshmand @USC_Urology @SUO_YUO @UroOnc

Great time connecting with past, present, and future @UCDavisUrology friends @AmerUrological annual meeting 2024!