ROBBED

It's been a week since the arrival of the wretched news that Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were murdered in their home in L.A.

This news would have been a gut-punch in any case, but it was magnified coming on the heels of several days of high-profile violence, like the shootings at Brown University in Providence and the antisemitic massacre at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia.

They were magnified further, of course, by the President's loathsome online response, in which he stated that the Reiners deaths were caused by "the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS."

Although it now appears that the perpetrator was a family member and the crime had nothing to do with the President or with Reiner's politics at all, The President seems to have jumped to the conclusion that it was the act of one of his followers, similar to what happened to Nancy Pelosi's husband.

I admit that this thought crossed my mind as well.

What's astounding is our Scumbag-in-Chief's suggestion that it was Reiner's own fault if some MAGA maniac did this to him. It's an epic achievement in the annals of blaming the victim.

Even many of the President's supporters seemed to find this disgusting, and grateful as I am for anything that moves the needle with them, I have to wonder--this is what did it? Diasappearing people off the streets, extra-judicially blowing up boats, turning our back on Ukraine, you got no problem; making the tragic death of a beloved Hollywood star all about him is the bridge too far?

Also: "Trump Derangement Syndrome?" Enough with that crap. It's not a thing, when applied to opponents of the President. It's another attempt by the President and his followers to use grown-up words without the intellectual equipment. Just to be clear: there is nothing whatsoever irrational, let alone deranged, about being horrified, revolted, frightened and enraged by this President.

As for Reiner himself, it turns out he's one of those celebrities so ingrained in our collective experience of pop culture that we may have taken him for granted. For those of us who came of age during his long run as Mike "Meathead" Stivic on All in the Family, he was more like a family member than an actor.

Then he switched to directing, and rolled out, arguably, the most successful string of durable, quotable popular hits in American movie history: This is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, A Few Good Men, and The American President. He certainly proved he was far more than just Carl's son, or Archie's son-in-law.

A day or two later came word of the passing of a far less prominent show business figure, actor, collector and "gorilla man" Bob Burns, at 90.

I interviewed Bob in 1999 for what turned out to be maybe my favorite story I ever got to do for the Phoenix New Times. I chatted with him several more times thereafter but never managed to get to Burbank to see his famous collection. But his book, It Came From Bob's Basement...

...has been on my shelf since 2000; he repeats the same story in it that he told me about a troubling experience he once had in Phoenix. Really nice guy.

RIP, Rob and Bob.