Treating patient that the doctors don’t know what to do.

Igros Moshe (Choshen Mishpat II #75.6) Question: Doctors don’t know how to cure patient should he be treated anyway?Answer It is obvious that he needs to be attended to so that he lacks nothing for what remains of his life.  He should not be abandoned  but he needs to be under the care of expert doctors to assure that he is fed properly and he lives the best he can for his remaining years and that he doesn’t die prematurely. It should not be viewed that there is no benefit to continue living. He therefore needs to be treated for those conditions which are curable and thus extend his life to the degree possible.  Life and death are in G-d’s hands and one should not give up hope because of the evaluation of doctors. Therefore he should be given what is good for him as well as some medical treatment so that he doesn’t give up hope. There isn’t anything more harmful than giving up hope. 

Fact-checking Trump and Miller’s claims of a ‘migrant invasion’ in California

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/06/10/fact-check-trump-california-migrant-invasion/

President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard to California, saying the troops need to “liberate” Los Angeles from a “migrant invasion.” White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, a key architect of the president’s immigration crackdown, said on social media that the city is proof of how migration “unravels” a society.

But federal and state data tell a far different story about the Golden State than the political fury unfolding in Washington and on the streets of Los Angeles, where the administration has sent 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops as protests continue over recent immigration raids.

In California, violent crime is down, and the unemployment rate is close to the national average. The state recently overtook Japan as the world’s fourth-largest economy. It has the highest number of immigrants — both legal, most of them citizens, and undocumented. But in recent years, the state has lost hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants to their homelands or to more-affordable states. Unauthorized immigrants in California remain well below the peak of nearly 3 million more than a decade ago for reasons that often have little to do with enforcement — or Trump.

“Even the surge that we’ve seen more recently in undocumented immigration, a lot of that has not come to California,” said Eric McGhee, policy director and senior fellow at the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. “If I were to hazard a guess, it’s because California’s expensive.”

New York’s Assisted-Suicide Mistake

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/new-york-assisted-suicide-bill-kathy-hochul-amy-paulin-4b41c605?mod=hp_opin_pos_3

Gov. Kathy Hochul can veto a law with few safeguards and no waiting period.

New York’s Legislature embraces every progressive cause, and the latest is making it easier for people to kill themselves. The state Senate voted 35-27 Monday to pass the Medical Aid in Dying Act, and let’s hope that Gov. Kathy Hochul has the courage to veto it for the sake of society’s most vulnerable.

One irony is that New York passed the first U.S. law that banned assisting death in 1828. Eight years ago the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the state government “has an interest in preserving life and preventing suicide.” But times and morals have changed. Life itself is less valued today than a life that is supposedly worth living. For Assemblywoman Amy Paulin this means being allowed to “end unbearable suffering.” Eleven states and the District of Columbia have legalized assisted suicide since 1997.

New York’s proposal is for “mentally competent” adults who have been given prognoses of six months or less to live. This sounds compassionate, but around the world it has proved to be a slippery slope. In Canada the “medical assistance in dying” program has become at least the fifth-leading cause of death since 2015. The law has shed its original safeguards and in 2027 will be available to those with mental illness alone. It already is in parts of Europe.

RFK Jr. Conducts His Vaccine Purge

 https://www.wsj.com/opinion/rfk-jr-vaccine-advisory-committee-purge-acip-hhs-pharma-2249465f?mod=hp_opin_pos_1

His claims about conflicts of interest proved to be nothing.

We’d like to conclude we were wrong to oppose Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Health and Human Services Department, but alas, no. The latest evidence is his purge of a vaccine advisory panel.

Mr. Kennedy announced his not-so-clean sweep of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in these pages on Tuesday. The panel of outside experts advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on vaccine schedules. Its recommendations determine which vaccines insurers must cover without patient cost-sharing.

Donald Trump Lists Confederate Fort Names He Plans to Restore

 https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-restoring-confederate-fort-names-including-robert-e-lee-2083684

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said that he's restoring the name of Fort Robert E. Lee and other current or former military instillations that were previously named after soldiers that led the Confederacy during the Civil War.

The Republicans Against Trump account posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Donald Trump just announced he will restore the names of Fort Robert E. Lee and six other military bases honoring Confederate traitors. Because nothing says patriotism like honoring enemies of the United States."

Trump has used the Army's anniversary as the centerpiece for a military parade set for Saturday—an event that also marks his 79th birthday. Tanks and other military vehicles will roll through city streets, symbolizing how the Republican president is reshaping the armed forces following his return to the White House this year.

Serving as a counterpoint to the parade, "No Kings Day" protests are planned nationwide on Saturday, organized by critics who oppose what they view as the administration's increasingly authoritarian policies. Earlier Tuesday, Trump vowed to escalate immigration raids and warned that any further demonstrations would be met with an even stronger show of force.

How to Get Porn Out of Our Yeshivas by Raffi Bilek

 Update with comments of  SnugglyKindness and Ted video

Guest Post  http://www.frumcounselor.com/

http://www.baltimoretherapycenter.com/

The problem hardly needs elaboration anymore. Fewer and fewer people continue to deny that pornography viewing and addiction are extant if not commonplace in even the most traditional and the most insular communities. The reach of the internet knows almost no boundaries.

So far initiatives to arrest this problem have been few and far between. GuardYourEyes.com is, in the words of Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twersky, “the only weapon we have” in the fight against pornography. It is a very robust tool, but it is not enough. Nor do we have any preventative measures in place. One rosh yeshiva I approached with a proposal to speak to the bochurim about the issue responded that “the rebbeim already speak to the boys individually about this issue.” I would wager an awful lot of money that the rebbeim in that yeshiva are not approaching bochurim to discuss with them the dangers of pornography. Perhaps the rosh yeshiva was referring to sporadic shmuessen on the topic of shmirat einayim or similar topics. This is not nearly enough.

Apart from prevention programs, what do we need to preserve our boys (and girls) from the destruction of pornography? As Rabbi Twersky reports, when the “Just Say No to Drugs” campaign was launched in the 80’s, some adolescents responded with a question: “Why? What else is there?” Pornography is just another drug. (Indeed, studies have shown that the effect it has on the brain is comparable to the effects of heroin.) In order to beat pornography, we have to offer our children something better.

Perhaps you think I am going to turn here to laud the value and primacy of Torah. While I do not deny either, I humbly submit that this is not the answer. When we say we need to offer something “better,” we aren’t speaking about “good” in its moral sense. “Better” to a teenager means more interesting, more satisfying, more gratifying. Developing an appreciation for Torah is a lifelong pursuit; we cannot expect of our youngsters to feel an emotional connection to and deep appreciation of it in their adolescent years, much as we don’t expect children to willingly choose healthy alternatives to junk food (even when they may be just as tasty), or fine wines over sugary sodas.

Pornography is indeed interesting, satisfying, and gratifying – but only superficially and temporarily. The urge, once fulfilled, remains so for only a brief time until it rears its ugly head again. Torah, of course, is much deeper and more permanent, but it is a fine wine, and we can’t rely on Torah learning in its pure form to compete with the quick-and-easy stuff for the minds of our youth when they live in a world so deluged with opportunities for instant gratification. Of course, the deeper pleasures in life only come with effort; but there is a ladder to climb in learning to appreciate this truth.

Thus, in order to assist our youth in climbing this ladder, we need to provide them with endeavors in which they can participate that do take effort and do provide a more lasting satisfaction. And let’s be honest: not every bochur is cut out for full-time learning. Not every bochur is even cut out for more than a small quantity of itim k’vuim (and even then, gemara is simply not on the metaphorical or literal table for many). This is not a chiddush to anyone; yet the system has few answers for these bochrim.

Students who do not enjoy learning will not find it an attractive alternative to pornography. True pleasure comes from using the skills and talents with which one has been bestowed by the Creator in productive and meaningful pursuits. Research has found that people are happy when they are using those skills in a forum that challenges them, but that does not present goals that are hopelessly out of reach. And let us reiterate: for many people, those skills do not involve logical reasoning, linguistic deliberations, or any of the other requirements of serious learning. (I am not suggesting we not cultivate those skills in our youth; I am merely proposing that those skills take time to develop, and that while they are developing, they are not terribly effective as weapons against a very well-developed yetzer hara.)

For many people – all kinds of people! – the skills they need to call upon to actualize themselves are far more varied. G-d has created artists in His world, creative writers, actors – people who need to invent new ideas, express them, share them. He has created people who are athletic, who are physically nimble or strong or active and for whom nothing could be more fulfilling than pushing their bodies to the limits, whether it be on a hike, in the gym, or on the court. He has created “people people,” who thrive when engaging with others socially and emotionally, not just academically. All of these kinds of individuals will need pursuits that match their personalities and skill sets. Gemara simply isn’t enough of an answer. When adolescents are in front of a computer screen with free time, considering the options of how to spend it, it will be only a very few who will choose to look up a Ritva rather than browse a site that may be off-limits. But there are decidedly more who might be willing to try out a new illustration program, or look up recipes to try in the kitchen, or write a meaningful letter to soldiers out in the field – and how much more so would this be true if these activities were valued in our community, not merely tolerated (at best). To an artist, creating art feels productive and good. To an engineer, building a model or a robot or a prototype feels productive and good. THIS is the tool that will help us fight the scourge of pornography. THIS is what can ward off the emptiness that invites the filth in with open arms.

None of this is a contradiction to the primacy of Torah. For most of Jewish history, Jews held up the Torah as the central value and guiding light of our nation, yet only a very few were privileged to learn a significant portion of it, let alone all day every day. And yet the Jewish nation has indeed survived the millennia, and the Torah has not been lost from us. It is vital to imbue our youngsters with the wisdom and vitality of Torah; but that does not equate to turning every child into a kollel yungerman. G-d did not design us so. And when we deny our children the outlet that their very nature yearns for, learning will not provide an adequate substitute. The result is the lack of fulfillment that pushes our youngsters to the supremely accessible drug of pornography.

Saving the next generation from the vice that already has many of them – and many among the older generations as well – in its clutches will not be a matter of doing what we are already doing, just better and harder. It will take an approach that is different – but that is after all not so different from what we did for so many centuries before last.
===================================================
update

SnugglyKindness . • 2 hours ago

For those of you who deny that Internet pornography is harmful on the brain i would like to point you to the following links. Internet pornography addiction is harder on the brain then hard street drug addictions and this is scientifically proven as you will discover in the following videos and links.

I can't imagine that viewing Internet pornography even casually in a non addicted manner could be healthy or normal. if Internet pornography addiction does have such a strong impact on the brain even stronger then a heroin or crack addiction i can't imagine viewing it several times a week for short periods of time would not be harmful.

Would a person using heroin or cocaine casually once in a while or a few times a week not be harming and making detrimental changes in his brain? (and don't tell me these kind of people don't exist they absolutely do and i know so first hand from people iv known in my past before becoming Torah observant). maybe the damage wouldn't be as bad as someone who uses those drugs all the time but i can't imagine even once in a while would not be harmful (and maybe you would like to prove me wrong).

If the following links i post are true and Internet pornography addiction is more harmful to the brain then drugs including the hard ones then viewing them casually is going to have negative impacts on the brain.

And i don't think this is even important when you consider that its prohibited by the Torah which is whats really relevant here but for those of you who deny the Torah or pick and choose from it the following will be of interest (and probably of interest to Torah Jews for informational purposes and to better explain to Torah youth's the long lasting and permanent damage that can occur to there brains and sexual outlook for the rest of there lives by viewing Internet pornography).

Keep in mind also that all these links and information were compiled and created by a man named Gary B Wilson who is not religious and not even anti-pornography. he typically believes as is common today that people should be able to do what ever they want as long as they don't hurt anybody (live and let live type stuff).

He only does this to show the science behind it in order to help those who have been negatively affected by pornography addiction why they have so many problems with (number one being) erectile dysfunction, lack of motivation, depression, inability to view normal women as attractive and a multitude of other problems related to pornography addiction that you will find quite shocking.

Also to mention that youths are harmed way more then adults by Internet pornography and recovery from it takes a much longer time with many brain changes remaining permanent and irreversible.

So without further ado (and a warning to the extremely sensitive or completely guarded individuals that these videos do contain pornographic terms that you may or will not be familiar with that if you understood them you might not be comfortable. although there is no outright sexually explicit material in these videos that i remember):




Your Brain On Porn: website explaining pornography's negative impact on the brain hosted by Gary B Wilson
http://yourbrainonporn.com/

The Great Porn Experiment (TED Talk):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Your Brain on Porn 6 part youtube playlist (a detailed scientific explanation on pornography addiction and its impact on the brain):
....

Adolecent Brain meets high speed Internet porn (Internet pornography addiction harms youth's way worse and permanently then it does adults)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
so check out these videos and draw your own conclusions but its impossible to deny the science behind this stuff and if you do well...

LA Protests: Trump's National Guard Move Sparks Legal Concerns

 https://www.newsweek.com/la-protests-trump-national-guard-move-legal-concerns-2082432

President Donald Trump's announcement of the deployment of the National Guard in California to quell protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) actions has raised legal concerns.

The law referenced in Trump's proclamation allows National Guard troops to be placed under federal command, and permits this under three conditions: if the U.S. is invaded or faces the threat of invasion; if there is a rebellion or imminent rebellion against federal authority; or if the president is unable to enforce federal laws using regular forces.

‘Fabricated crisis’: Retired General reacts to Trump's deployment of troops to L.A.

'An unbelievable, oversized reaction': Claire McCaskill rebukes Trump over National Guard order

War on the rule of law’: Nicolle Wallace on the intentional chaos unleashed by Trump in Los Angeles

Sotah :miracle or psychological?

Ramban (Bamidbar 5:20) Now there is nothing amongst all the ordinances of the Torah which depends upon a miracle, except for this matter, which is a permanent wonder and miracle that will happen in Israel, when the majority of the people live in accordance with the Will of G-d;

Rambam(Moreh Nevuchim (3:49) Since accusations of adultery and suspicions of it are very numerous concerning a woman, we have been commanded in the laws of Sotah. For this matter causes every married woman to guard herself very carefully and to make as many precautions as possible for herself, lest her husband's heart be offended by her, for fear of the ceremony of Sotah. For even if she were pure and confident in herself, most people would redeem themselves with all their wealth to avoid the ceremony of Sotah, and would even prefer death to that great disgrace, which involves the uncovering of her head and the loosening of her hair as well as the ripping of her clothes and walking around the Temple while being watched by the public audience of men and women as well as the judges of the Sanhedrin. This concern prevents serious problems that upset the order of many homes

Accurate Biographies or Inspiration?

R. Shimon Schwab (Selected Witings 234) What ethical purpose is served by preserving a realistic historic picture? Nothing but the satisfaction of curiosity. We should tell ourselves and our children the good memories of the good people, their unshakeable faith, their staunch defense of tradition, their life of truth, their impeccable honesty, their boundless charity and their great reverence for Torah and Torah sages. . .. Rather than write the history of our forebears, every generation has to put a veil over the human failings of its elders and glorify all the rest which is great and beautiful. That means we have to do without a real history book. We can do without. We do not need realism, we need inspiration from our forefathers in order to pass it on to posterity.’

Stories of gedolim are often fabricated for inspiration

 Originally published 6/14 - relevant to the current discussion of the Chofetz Chaim's Dybuk.

Rav Hillel Zaks (Mishpacha – "Living the Legend" page 55 June 2, 2014): Rebbetzin Faiga Chaya Zaks was once quoted as having said that 85 percent of the stories told about her father aren't reliable. In response, Rav Hillel and his brother Rav Yaakov Yehoshua asked, "How could di Mamme have said that? It's surely over 90 percent?!" 

In the family, the biography written by Rav Moshe Meir Yoshor is considered the most reliable of all that's been written about the Chofetz Chaim, in part because it was done during his lifetime. Reb Yisroel Meir once left a certain work on the Chofetz Chaim on the table just to see Rav Hillel's reaction to it. 

"You know, the writer of this book is afraid to face me," Rav Hillel remarked. 

"What's wrong with it?" Reb Yisroel Meir's wife asked. 

"Let me show you," said Rav Hillel. Opening to a random page, he read out loud a story about a Radin bochur who went to take leave of the Chofetz Chaim before going home, The Chofetz Chaim looked at him and said, "Is that the way a ben Torah looks when he goes home?" At that, he went into the back and came out with a jacket to replace the torn one the bochur was wearing. 

"Now, what do you think," Rav Hillel said. "The Chofetz Chaim had a rack of clothes in the back and said, 'You know, you look like a 45 regular'? The only part of the story that could be true is that somebody came in to say goodbye to him." 

Twenty-two years ago, Rav Hillel, Rav Yaakov Yehoshua, and Rav Yisroel Meir sat shivah in Yerushalayim for their mother. A visitor sat down in the front and said, "I know for certain that the Chofetz Chaim had a ramp in his house, which he'd practice running up and down in anticipation of the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash." 

Just then, the brothers heard someone in the back of the room say with obvious dry humor, "Mir dacht zich az der salon fun der Chofetz Chaim iz nit gevehn azoy groys ... [I don't think the Chofetz Chaim's living room was that big]." 

It was the voice of Rav Avraham Yehoshua Soloveitchik.
======== update  6/20/2014

Rav Nosson Kaminetsky (Making of a Godol page xx):  (In composing this book, I have generally accepted as authentic stories about earlier generations even when they were not conveyed by my father or some other unusually reliable individual. I was reluctant, of course, to rely on reports that emanated from people whom I considered unable to judge events properly, but I did not suspect anyone of prevaricating intentionally. Similarly, unless the writer was blatantly' tendentious, I assumed that printed facts were credible. (I have this faith in people despite a report by R' Velvel Kercerg that Rebbitzen Feigel Zaks, the Chafetz-Chaim's youngest daughter, told him, "Eighty percent of what they tell about [my father] is not true." I cannot help but assume that in order to bring out bluntly the idea that not everything told about R' Yisrael-Meir Kagan, author of Chafetz Chaim, is true, his daughter exaggerated the percentage of untruths.)

Rav Nosson Kaminetsky(Making of a Godol page xxv): R' Mordkhai Schwab, however, had a negative view of "storytelling" when he told me, "The Satmarer Rav, R' Yoilish Teitelbaum, never told stories because he said, 'You cannot educate through lies - sheker].'" R' Mordkhai agreed with R' Yoilish in reference to stories intended to glorify their principals while dehumanizing them. R' Yoilish echoed a statement by R' Yehoshua'-Yoseph Preil, Rav of the Lithuanian town of Krok. In a 5656 (1896) review of Toldos Yisroel of Zev Ya'avetz, published a year earlier in Warsaw, R' Preil set down the following ethic: "To create stories that never happened and present them as facts for the sake of teaching morals - woe is to the musar precept built on as brittle a foundation as a lie! '' Even hasidim, the celebrated story tellers who are more suspect than others in creating legends about their leaders (from whom the Satmarer Rav was evidently trying to distance himself by his statement), are careful in separating fact from fiction. I was told by R' Shimon Deutchy that he had asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe, R' Menahem-Mendel Schneerson, whether when writing about the arrest and release of his father-in-law, R' Yoseph-Yitzhaq Schneerson, he should mention or omit the fact that R' Yoseph-Yitzhaq's secretary, R' Hayyim Lieberman, was arrested and released with him. (R' Lieberman was opposed to R' Menahem-Mendel's ascendancy to the Lubavitch throne and did not recognize him as Rebbe after he assumed the position.) R' Menahem-Mendel responded, "History must be written   [true to its truth]" - and explained his redundancy: "This includes not polishing up any word.  Also Pulmus HaMussar  (The Musar Controversy), a book about the dispute in the late 5650's (1890's) in which most of the great Torah figures came out publicly against the Musar movement. The author, Musar adherent R' Dov Katz, tells how "many opinions were heard" by him "that we should avoid the entire affair "; but "several Musar personalities" including R' Yehiel-Yankev Weinberg and R' Hatzqel Sarna insisted not only that he should write about the controversy, but - as R' Sarna put it - that "he set down in writing the full affair without omitting any detail, be what it may." 

Trump deploys Marines amid LA tensions

 https://thehill.com/newsletters/morning-report/5341592-senate-debates-medicaid-cuts/

President Trump on Monday described the Los Angeles protests against his administration’s migrant deportation policies as “well under control” just as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) filed suit against Trump, alleging he overstepped his authority by mobilizing the National Guard when there was no “invasion” against the U.S. government.

Newsom maintains that local law enforcement officers have managed crowd control, highway safety and incidents of property destruction. Police used tear gas and more than 600 rubber bullets and other “less than lethal” munitions among the protesters over the weekend, the Los Angeles department said Monday. Newsom argued that use of military troops in domestic law enforcement added to public tensions and represented an illegal infringement of the governor’s sovereign state authority under law. 

The Associated Press: Trump vows to “HIT” any protester in California who spits on police. He pardoned those who did far worse during the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021.

Newsom, widely viewed as a leading contender for the presidency in 2028, maintains that Trump sought to elbow his way into a weekend drama while failing to evaluate, consult or tap local law enforcement expertise.