Rob Reiner was known to millions as a TV actor and film director.

But the Brentwood resident, known for the classic films “Stand by Me” and “When Harry Met Sally,” was also a political force, an outspoken supporter of progressive causes and a Democratic Party activist who went beyond the typical role of celebrities who host glitzy fundraisers.

Reiner was deeply involved in issues that he cared about, such as early childhood education and the legalization of gay marriage.

Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, were found dead inside his home Sunday, sparking an outpouring of grief from those who worked with him on a variety of causes.

Ace Smith — a veteran Democratic strategist to former Vice President Kamala Harris, Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Gov. Jerry Brown and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton — had known Reiner for decades. Reiner, he said, approached politics differently than most celebrities.

“Here’s this unique human being who really did make the leap between entertainment and politics,” Smith said. “And he really spent the time to understand policy, really, in its true depth, and to make a huge impact in California.”

Reiner was a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the organization that successfully led the fight to overturn Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage. He was active in children’s issues through the years, having led the campaign to pass Proposition 10, the California Children and Families Initiative, which created an ambitious program of early childhood development services.

Proposition 10 was considered landmark policy. Reiner enlisted help in that effort from Steven Spielberg, Robin Williams, and his own father, comedy legend Carl Reiner.

“He wanted to make a difference. And he did, and he did profoundly,” Smith said.

After Proposition 10 passed, Reiner was named the chair of the California Children and Families Commission, also known as First 5 California. He resigned from the post in early 2006 after the commission ran $23 million in ads touting the importance of preschool as Reiner was gathering support for Proposition 82.

The measure, which was unsuccessful, would have taxed the wealthy to create universal preschool in California.

The filmmaker and his wife spent more than $6 million on the failed proposition. They also donated significant sums to support national Democratic Party groups and candidates including Jerry Brown, Gray Davis, Ed Rendell and Andrew Cuomo.

Bruce Fuller, a UC Berkeley professor of education and public policy, called Reiner “a caring and vigilant advocate for children. He added cachet and cash to California’s movement to open preschools for tens of thousands of young families over the past quarter-century.”

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who had known Reiner since he was a state lawmaker in the 1990s, worked with him on Proposition 10 and was impressed with how Reiner embraced the cause.

“He was a man with a good answer. It wasn’t politics as much as he was always focused on the humanity among us,” Villaraigosa said. ‘When he got behind an issue, he knew everything about it.”

“Just a really special man. A terrible day,” the former mayor said.

Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that she was “heartbroken” by the day’s events, saying Reiner “always used his gifts in service of others.”

“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” the mayor said.

“I’m holding all who loved Rob and Michele in my heart,” Bass said.

Newsom added, “Rob was a passionate advocate for children and for civil rights — from taking on Big Tobacco, fighting for marriage equality, to serving as a powerful voice in early education. He made California a better place through his good works.”

“Rob will be remembered for his remarkable filmography and for his extraordinary contribution to humanity,” the governor said.

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) two Senate seats, thanks to e victory was enough to save Senator John McCain’s deci- ope for 2020. I was especially in South Florida over a GOP of good work as president of rt campaign.
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a film on the late King Hussein esperately ill with cancer, came lenge the Palestinians to make also weighed in, diplomatically, ying in a press conference that with nine U.S. presidents and as much for peace as I had, and ish the job. With his life ebbing him. Soon I would be marching 1. He was a brave, good man, and d by his son Abdullah, who along Palestinian by birth, have contin- peace and fairness in the Middle in CGI, and have been uncom- Hillary and me.

Page 373, Citizen, by William Jefferson Clinton (2024)

2017-2020: Back to the Foundation

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Throughout 2018 and 2019, the Miami Herald had been pub- lishing stories about the financier Jeffrey Epstein, who in 2008 had been convicted and jailed in Florida for sex crimes. In part because of that rigorous journalism, Epstein was arrested again in 2019 for those and other crimes, this time by federal authori- ties in New York. The Herald stories and his rearrest raised questions about several well-known people’s connection to him, including me. They deserved answers and I gave them. In 2002 and 2003, he invited me to fly on his airplane to support the work of the foundation, and in return for flying me, my staff, and my Secret Service detail who always accompanied me, Epstein asked only that I take an hour or two on each trip to discuss politics and economics. He had just donated $10 million to Har- vard for brain research and he asked a lot of questions. That was the extent of our conversations. My only other interactions with Epstein were two brief meetings, one at my office in Harlem and another at his house in New York.
I had always thought Epstein was odd but had no inkling of the crimes he was committing. He hurt a lot of people, but I knew nothing about it and by the time he was first arrested in 2005, I had stopped contact with him. I’ve never visited his island. When it was suggested that I traveled there without my round- the-clock Secret Service detail, which would explain why there’s never been a record of me being there, in 2016 the Service took the extraordinary step of saying I had never waived protection and they had never been there. Another person reportedly said she’d seen me on the island, but that I didn’t do anything wrong. However, in early 2024, unsealed depositions showed that she’d only heard I was there but didn’t actually see me. Then there was one of my former staffers who fed the story to Vanity Fair. He knew it wasn’t true when he said it.
The bottom line is, even though it allowed me to visit the work of my foundation, traveling on Epstein’s plane was not worth the years of questioning afterward. I wish I had never met him.

In May, I went to the University of Virginia, founded by Thomas Jefferson, to address a symposium on the presidency. I worked

11/2024

FIRST ON FOX: Seeking to tackle persistent cost pressures on American families and small firms, the Small Business Administration (SBA) is unveiling a new initiative that will review and roll back federal rules the administration says have driven up prices in sectors ranging from housing to food production.

The Deregulation Strike Force, led by the SBA’s Office of Advocacy, will coordinate a government-wide review aimed at identifying regulations that hinder economic growth.

FROM MORTGAGES TO CAR LOANS: AFFORDABILITY RISES AND FALLS WITH THE FED

Trump administration officials say the effort is intended to eliminate what they describe as excessive Biden-era regulations that have imposed an estimated $6 trillion in cumulative compliance costs on American families and small businesses.

“Bidenomics brought historic new highs in inflation that crushed working families and small businesses, driven in part by the massive bureaucracy that heaped trillions in new federal regulations onto the backs of hardworking Americans,” SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler wrote in a statement.

TRUMP INSISTS PRICES ARE ‘COMING DOWN,’ BLAMES BIDEN — BUT VOTERS SAY THEY’RE STILL GETTING SQUEEZED

“Through our Deregulation Strike Force, SBA is leveraging its unique authority to deregulate across the federal government and cut senseless red tape that drove up costs for small businesses and consumers, especially in industries hit hardest by Bidenflation,” Loeffler said, adding that the initiative will build on President Trump’s push to reduce costs across the country.

Citing what it describes as four years of excessive regulatory overreach, the SBA said its strike force will target cuts across key small-business sectors, including housing and construction, healthcare, agriculture and food production, energy and utilities, transportation and other goods and services across the supply chain.

They also argue the latest deregulation campaign reinforces President Donald Trump’s economic message heading into the new year, positioning regulatory relief as a central tool for tackling high prices.

The SBA said it has already played a key role in eliminating an estimated $98.9 billion in federal regulations since Trump’s return to office.

Some of these actions include changes to reporting rules, energy-efficiency standards and diesel exhaust fluid requirements, which the agency says have contributed to nearly $200 billion in total regulatory savings.