"The lethal confrontation between African-American Trayvon Martin and 'white Hispanic' George Zimmerman elicited a presidential editorial about the shared racial affinity between the victim and the president. (The president did not include the half-Peruvian George Mesa Zimmerman in such ethnic intimacy.) 'Ferguson' is casually dropped as a racial fillip by the president, as if he is unaware that his own Justice Department did not find officer Darren Wilson culpable in the shooting of strong-armed robber Michael Brown, who rushed him. Even Sandra Fluke, in her quest for cosmic justice in campaigning for the federal government to cover her own birth-control expenses, earned a presidential phone call, as warranting her Susan B. Anthony-like struggle.

"There was no such outreach concerning the tragic fate of Kate Steinle. Her senseless death, for the president, proves so far not a wake-up call about any dubious government policy or dangerous trend in American social life. He apparently does not believe that arbitrarily suspending federal law is scary (cf. his own executive orders), much less that doing so in the case of convicted felons is only doubly so.

"Perhaps the president, who is an advocate of the sort of de facto amnesty that empowered Francisco Lopez, was embarrassed over Kate Steinle's death, and so kept uncharacteristically mum. Perhaps the ethnic divide this time around was not rich enough to be mined -- a felon and shooter of color and an innocent victim without color. Perhaps Obama was afraid that he might say something inane and untoward, in Trayvon Martin style, about the physical resemblance or non-resemblance of the victim to one of his possible offspring. It was this president, remember, who established the principle that, in controversial criminal matters, the chief executive would seek political traction, and thereby has found himself morally wanting through his abject silence in the Steinle case. ...

"Let us be honest: San Francisco's legal nullification is not an act of racial blindness and fairness under the law, but one of political pandering, ethnic chauvinism and misplaced liberal narcissism....

"San Francisco has become one sick city."

"Americans who purchase health insurance on the Affordable Care Act's exchanges should buckle up. Within the month, state regulators will begin approving premium hikes for plans sold in every state. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has already released the premium increases that health insurers have requested for their 2016 plans. By law, insurers must receive regulatory approval for any increase more than 10% -- and more than 10% is what many of them want.

"The numbers are staggering. According to the rate requests posted on Healthcare.gov, nearly every state has multiple plans that are facing a more than 10% premium increase. Many plans -- including some offered by state-market leaders -- could see hikes of more than 30%, 40% or even 50%. Though most of these requests have not been approved, nor have all of the rate hikes that are less than 10% been unveiled, it is undeniable that millions of Americans are facing double-digit premium increases for health insurance next year."

"A little bit of common sense and discretion might have prevented the killing this month in San Francisco of Kathryn Steinle -- a victim not only of random gunfire but of the mindless handling of the city's immigration policy. ...

"Kathryn Steinle's death ought to be a cause for sober reevaluation of sanctuary policies. Without a cease-fire and a working agreement in this war that has pitted local law enforcement against federal immigration authorities, there will be more innocent casualties."

"President Obama was right on Tuesday to hail his nuclear agreement with Iran as historic, though not because of his claim that it will 'prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.' The agreement all but guarantees that Tehran will eventually become a nuclear power, while limiting the ability of a future President to prevent it. ...

"[T]his means that the deal leaves Tehran as a nuclear-threshold state even if it adheres to the terms, able to continue its nuclear research and retain its facilities while it waits for U.N. supervision to end. The other nations of the region will take that point, no matter Mr. Obama's assurances. Instead of eliminating a revolutionary regime's nuclear ambitions, the Vienna accord promises to usher in a new age of nuclear proliferation."

"From the initial reports we can already conclude that this agreement is an historic mistake for the world.

"Far-reaching concessions have been made in all areas that were supposed to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability. In addition, Iran will receive hundreds of billions of dollars with which it can fuel its terror machine and its expansion and aggression throughout the Middle East and across the globe.

"One cannot prevent an agreement when the negotiators are willing to make more and more concessions to those who, even during the talks, keep chanting: 'Death to America.'"

"Look out, Grandma: Medicare said on Wednesday it wants to start paying for end-of-life counseling.

"It's being sold as 'death with dignity,' but it'€™s more like dying for dollars. Seniors are nudged to forego life-sustaining procedures and hospital care to go into hospice. That enriches the booming hospice industry and also frees up dollars for the left's favored social causes.

"Why is the government meddling with how we cope with death? The Institute of Medicine does't mince words. Scrimping on seniors will free up money 'to fund highly targeted and carefully tailored social services for both children and adults.' Just like ObamaCare. Robbing Grandma to spread the wealth."

"Washington (CNN) -- FBI Director James Comey said Thursday that the bureau thwarted ISIS terrorist plots linked to the Fourth of July holiday that were intended 'to kill people in the United States.'

"He would not discuss the number or nature of the plots, but earlier Thursday, U.S. officials told CNN that the thwarted plots included targets 'coast to coast,' and in fitting with calls by ISIS to attack in any way possible, they were unsophisticated, relying on guns, knives and other weapons.

"Also fitting with recent patterns, investigators believe the plots, though not directed by overseas terror groups providing specific means of attack or specific targets, were 'enabled' by actors abroad, including recruiting the suspects and encouraging them to carry out attacks on U.S. soil."

"Puerto Rico and Greece are now going broke, and California is on its way. What it is about coastal weather that makes people want to sip coffee in cafes all day while complaining that government doesn't do enough for them?

"The Greeks created philosophy. So who would guess that a country full of philosophy majors couldn't repay its debt to a U.S. government filled with gender-studies majors? A country with all those Greek letters in its name could be mistaken for a fraternity, and thus will get nothing from this administration -- except maybe a false rape story in Rolling Stone.

"You will see Greece coming to Obama for a bailout disguised as 'humanitarian help.' Obama will say, 'Up yours, Zorba! Come back when you are a U.S. public sector union or a solar energy company and political supporter with no chance of making it.'"

"[T]oo many of Trump's GOP primary competitors, afraid of angering his fans, stand mute or mumbling. Republicans are fielding the best candidates in a generation, but Trump is poised to make them chumps by association. He has no chance of becoming president, but he has the huge potential to deny his alleged party a White House victory in 2016. And when that happens, he will of course stay a celebrity, but he will have traded his fame for infamy, even among those now cheering him on."

"Democratic primaries have always featured liberal insurgent candidates, but perhaps none quite so liberal or insurgent as the socialist senator from Vermont. Sanders' comments are a reminder of just how far the second-place Democratic presidential candidate stands from the American mainstream on some issues, and the looming reckoning Democrats face with their party's leftward drift."