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The steep price of tolerance

December 31, 2025

Andy Caldwell

OPINION by ANDY CALDWELL

I truly feel sorry that Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered in cold blood by their own son. It doesn’t matter to me that I did not agree with Reiner’s politics.

Besides being a severe drug addict, Reiner’s son had been in drug rehab some 18 times in his life. It makes one wonder if the therapy protocols were any good or if he was, in fact, incorrigible.

I was surprised that Reiner and his wife practiced tough love to some extent as they allowed their son to be homeless at some point in his life because of his poor choices and coping skills. I have spoken to several recovered drug addicts; they believe that hitting rock bottom was what saved them.

However, instead of hitting rock bottom, things got worse as it has been reported that Reiner’s son had also been diagnosed with schizophrenia. This mental disease is extremely difficult to treat.

Supposedly, his doctors were adjusting his meds, and it made him worse. A significant number of the drugs used to treat mentally ill people can make them violent including self-harm and harming others. Obviously, not all people diagnosed as mentally ill are violent. But some are obviously violent and their arrest records prove it. In fact, a significant number of school shooters and other mass murderers were on such drugs.

This brings up a stunning failure in our society as it relates to the mentally ill with long arrest records and little to no time served. That is, we don’t know how to deal with these ticking time bombs. Rob Reiner is reported to have told several friends that he was afraid his son would harm him and his wife. Yet, what could he do about his fear?

We have seen one murder after another in our society, often in broad daylight and in public places, wherein somebody with a very long history of mental illness and criminal acts has been allowed to roam free on our streets creating one victim after another.

Iryna Zarutska comes to mind. She was the Ukrainian refugee murdered on a light rail line in North Carolina by a suspect who had been arrested some 14 times in his life and who had served time in prison. According to his mother, around the time he was in prison he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

His parents tried to get him some help, but our system, except for some temporary holds, won’t force somebody into treatment until after they have committed a heinous crime. This is a nightmare for the families of the mentally ill, not to mention the victims of their crimes.

It has been reported that the night before Reiner and his wife were murdered, they were at a Hollywood party. It was obvious to several of the guests that Reiner’s son was out of his mind. These guests wanted to call in cops and mental health professionals and have him temporarily committed but supposedly the host refused.

Reiner is dead because of the recalcitrance to call the authorities. He is also dead because we don’t have the will to deal with the mentally ill unless and until they commit such crimes. We need to revisit institutionalizing these people before more victims are hurt, or worse, murdered.

Another issue we need to deal with is how is it that our society is producing so many people that have mental health issues? As it turns out, just as we don’t force any type of institutionalization on people dealing with severe mental health problems, neither do we treat drug users as criminals. Yet, drug use is surely a public health and safety issue.

The following charts are taken from information from this website.

This chart demonstrates that a significant source of mental illness has to do with drug use.

Furthermore, the prevalence of mental illness is also a function of age, including an age rife with experimentation and fraught with obvious life long consequences.

It is painfully obvious that people who are experimenting with, or routinely taking drugs, are playing a game of Russian roulette with their lives and their loved ones, along with the members of the public who end up having to deal with the ramifications and consequences of their actions and choices. Our society is paying a steep price for its pursuit of tolerance. Will we ever learn?

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Your TDSis getting the best of you, you need to go get some help.


TDS is mental illness too sweetheart!!!


3

Ah yes. TDS. The magasperes answer to coping for people who call out a pedophile. Sleep easy.


-1

Meanwhile, Scientific American fails to understand there are only two genders…..according to science.


6

((violin))


Ronnie knew long ago…


“The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so”-Ronald Reagan, 1964


2021

Pew Study: White Liberals Disproportionately Suffer From Mental Illness


2024

The Evidence That Radical Leftism Causes Mental Illness Is Mounting


2025

Data Shows Democrats Really Are the Party for the Mentally Unstable


How does that go from Libocrats, oh yeah, “REEEEEEEEEEE!”


#NEVERVoteDemoNcratAgain


American/Californian Patriot #Hispanics4TRUERepublicans and the Rule of Law. ⚖️


POTUS DJT #45-47


Winning!


-4

My guess is you didn’t read the link provided? I would ask where you get your information from but I am afraid you might tell me. “In America, anyone can become president. That’s the problem.” Edith Bunker


-1

You don’t even have to BUY dictionaries anymore. They are FREE. You don’t even have to go that far – just ask your phone for the definition of a word. It will give you the best from the best of the best of ALL the dictionaries.


-14

No, it won’t. Look in any dictionary, in any language, from any part of the planet, published in 1940, and discover the actual hard left political assignation of Socialism and Fascism, while the free world was at war with…socialism and fascism.


Google, will lie to you.


3

Ah, the clown show is in town I see. Too bad this character and those like him are unamusing and far more dangerous than those he criticized.


-40

^–

Just another one on the wrong side of issues within the 80/20 crowd.


Being a lifetime contrarian has to be soul sucking. However, with ZERO self-awareness, that’s clearly not a problem for the (actual) sub 20% cult.


Everything DemoNcrats touch turns to feces.


#NEVERVoteDemoNcratAgain


-3

My opinion is that the term “mental illness” is used way too often. Remove the drugs / alcohol / substances and there would be very few “mentally ill” amongst us. Offer them help once. Maybe lock them up as a form of treatment. Stop feeling sorry for those who put themselves in the position.


22

Americans with Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other mental health conditions don’t “put themselves in the position”. Stupid statement.


-6

Blue Oak didn’t say that. Do not twist words to satisfy your bias.


He admits that brain disorders are relevant and should be institutionally treated, but are categorized with substance abuse, which is wholly a choice.


1

His words, not mine. Can’t twist his words- in fact, his words were quoted.


-1

“Remove the drugs / alcohol / substances and there would be very few “mentally ill” amongst us”





That is the quote you need to read. People who freely, consciously, and willingly use drugs and alcohol, should not be listed with those who actually have a mental disorder they didn’t ask for, nor created.


Drugs and drinking will cook your brain, but you didn’t start out that way.


Yes, you twisted his words to fit your bias.


1

I remember well the asylum in Camarillo, the Camarillo State Hospital. It is now Channel Islands State University. In high school we took a field trip out there to visit and intermingle with patients. It was quite an experience. This was when the mentally ill were treated, not jailed. Today’s drug abusers demand a new approach. It should be clear, however, that the well documented “homeless industrial complex” is an abuse of tax funded help and is the wrong approach. This HIC seems to operate on the “the more the better” approach, which makes the administrators very rich but never solves the underlying problem. Typical of today’s California and it’s one party rule.


55

The “homeless industrial complex” is well established in the County of San Luis Obispo, with one city that is purported to be among the “Happiest” cities in America.


44

Case in point: Various allegations of misconduct involving Nancy Welsh, the Tenant Commissioner of Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo (HASLO). Welsh shares half of the responsibilities for the approval of the housing agency’s annual budget and sets policies, and was finally fired by the SLO City Council on the 15th of December. https://pub-slocity.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=22812


33

Not sure Camarillo is an example we would like to emulate. It has a checkered and controversial history, including allegations of electro-shock therapy on patients who had not given their consent, and abuse of foster children. Do some research before you pine nostalgically for a place you had no experience with.


This is a nuanced issue, but unfortunately the MAGA crowd simply wants black and white. They believe that liberals must be responsible for today’s explosion of homeless and mentally ill, but most historians would say it started in California with budget cuts to mental health by Gov. Ronald Reagan and later federal cuts by Pres. Ronald Reagan.


In his defense, many sociologists of the day recommended more localized community health operations and applauded Gov. Reagan’s efforts to close places like Camarillo (that hospital was finally closed by Wilson in 1997, but had been severely defunded). Unfortunately, when Pres. Carter tried to pass a landmark mental health law in 1980 (Mental Health Systems Act) which provided ample funding to local facilities, Reagan promptly reversed it in 1981 after he took office. Reagan wanted a free market approach to mental health, which is basically what he got. Today we have a complicated myriad of mental health infrastructure which is a Frankenstein monster of state laws and private industry (private industry means that a stockholder makes a profit on your mental health which means poor people are often not treated).


Indeed, if you look at many of our current problems you may just find they originated with the Neo-liberal economics of Milton Friedman and his disciple, Pres. Reagan (a man I have personal high regard for—I met him a couple of times when I was a teen, a prince of a man who always seemed legitimately interested in you). If you are unaware of Neo-liberal economic policy, as most of my MAGA brethren appear to be, I suggest you inform yourself. Though I have often thought that Mr. Trump had the right idea when he ran in 2016 (after all, a large percentage of Bernie Sanders’ voters switched to Trump in 16 when Clinton became the Dem nominee) his second presidency has descended into a white nationalist fever dream. Not sure if you had talked to Trump 25 years ago, he would have agreed with anything he’s doing today.


-2

ALL asylums of that era have a reputation, dude. Remember when they would drill a hole into a patient’s skull and scrape the cortex with a knife? Lobotomies were performed by the 10’s of thousands. Medicine evolves like any other human endeavor. Let’s not lose focus here,

The issue is how California screws up the homeless and drug abuse problems by graft and theft. Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan have nothing to do with it. It’s California’s current administration class, one-party rule, “throw money at it” mentality, and “get nothing done” results that are the problem. Something in your finely crafted left-wing college-level screed that was avoided altogether. Even you, “Adam Trask,” can see the pattern in California. Billions thrown at problems that NEVER get solved because of crappy, greedy bureaucrats headed by a knucklehead governor who hasn’t a clue. Thanks for reminding me of why college today is a useless endeavor.


1

I’ll rest my case that MAGA simply sees black and white and if something is wrong it must be the liberal’s fault. The economics that created today’s homeless problems have roots in both Republican and Democratic policies over the last 45 years. But I’m sure you feel better after your ad hominem attack. I disagree with you, so I must be evil. Maybe if the Republicans were not quite so doctrinaire they could elect a statewide official. By the way, I was a Republican for over 50 years of my life, but around 2000 it was clear they were simply a party of corporate greed. I did vote for McCain in 2008, but he’s the last R I ever supported.


-2

Love these thoughts. Ultimately, the illness being treated resulted in a side effect of treatment. Psychiatry is a behavioral science… that is why MD’s call their business’s practices. They are practicing science; not generating consistent outcomes.


28

It’s easy to point out issues with the mental health and criminal justice systems. Of which there are objectively many. It’s much harder to find solutions. Instead of pointing out the obvious, be useful a propose meaningful solutions.


-29

Make Asylums Great Again (MAGA)


(mic drop)


30

Sure, Andy, let’s bring back forced incarceration for the mentally ill, and while we’re at it we should bring back electro-shock therapy and lobotomies as well.


-25

Well, at least there would be less feces on the streets…..


6

Forced incarceration is needed now. Advanced medications are available. The mentally ill roaming the streets are not going to seek help. I’ve been attacked by a person who refused meds to be administered by family guardians. His mom was screaming for help after he attacked her and went on to attack me and an architect as we discussed routine job site matters. Just a normal day until the architect was knocked out bleeding and I had to threaten the individual with a hammer to get him to leave. Fuck that. Lock them up.


1