METAPHOR ALERT: SF Mayor Says Her City Is Drowning In Poop.

“There is more feces on the sidewalks than I’ve ever seen growing up here,” Breed told KNTV. “That is a huge problem and we are not just talking about from dogs — we’re talking about from humans.”

The streets of San Francisco are littered with a “dangerous mix of drug needles, garbage, and feces”, KNTV’s investigative team reported in February after surveying the city’s streets.

“We see poop, we see pee, we see needles, and we see trash,” preschool teacher Adelita Orellana told KNTV. “Sometimes they ask what is it, and that’s a conversation that’s a little difficult to have with a 2-year old, but we just let them know that those things are full of germs, that they are dangerous, and they should never be touched.”

There are about 7,500 homeless people living in San Francisco according to the city, which will spend nearly $280 million this year on housing services for the homeless.

Incentives matter.

HARDBALL: US rejects EU plea for sanctions exemption.

Some of Europe’s biggest firms rushed to do business with Iran after the nuclear deal was implemented two-and-a-half years ago.

In 2017, EU exports to Iran (goods and services) totalled €10.8bn (£9.5bn; $12.9bn), and imports from Iran were worth €10.1bn.

Last month, ministers from the UK, France and Germany wrote a letter to Mr Pompeo and Mr Mnuchin saying that persevering with the existing nuclear deal was the “best basis on which to engage Iran” and address President Trump’s concerns.

The ministers warned against taking actions that could prevent EU member states from continuing to abide by their commitments under the nuclear deal.

That included imposing “secondary sanctions” on European companies and individuals doing business in Iran, particularly those involved in the pharmaceutical, healthcare, energy, automotive, civil aviation and banking sectors.

Mr Pompeo and Mr Mnuchin formally rejected the request for exemptions in a letter to European ministers that was leaked to the media on Sunday night.

Well, good.

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: Not Ready for Prime-Time Player.

BLUE STATE BLUES: These Tax Laws Are Holding Back California’s Housing Market. “The state’s efforts to save homeowners money are now keeping many of them locked in their homes — and potential buyers locked out.”

Virginia Postrel:

In pricey areas, two enormous tax distortions will still encourage California homeowners to stick to the old homestead. One is the federal capital gains tax, which kicks in on any profit of $250,000 or more for an individual or $500,000 for a couple. In a state where tiny bungalows routinely go for well over $1 million, that’s not much of an exemption. “There are people in San Francisco who won’t sell until they die because of the capital gains,” says Kevane.

Even when they die, their houses may never hit the market. In the same 1986 election in which voters passed Prop 60, encouraging older owners to move, they passed a different measure with the opposite effect. Known as Prop 58, it created a new class of landed aristocrats: the descendants of people who bought their homes at low prices.

The law lets homes (and up to $1 million in other property) pass from parents to children without a step-up in assessed value. Another initiative, Prop 193, does the same for grandchildren when their parents are deceased. Together these exclusions all but guarantee that a significant portion of California homes will never go on sale. They can, however, be rented out at market prices.

Maybe Sacramento ought to try passing a law against unintended consequences.

KEEP VOTING UNTIL THE POPULAR WILL PROPERLY REFLECTS ELITE SENTIMENT: New Brexit referendum ‘is only way to end deadlock.’

LIZ SHELD’S MORNING BRIEF: Trump Meets with Putin and Much, Much More. “Today, the president is in Helsinki, Finland, to meet with RUSSIAN President Putin and everyone is freaking out. The meeting comes on the heels of a conveniently-timed announcement that the Mueller investigation has indicted a posse of RUSSIAN operators for meddling in U.S. elections. Really, how about that timing? Right before Trump meets with Putin. It’s just so wild.”

THE LEFT EATS ITS OWN: California Dems snub Sen. Dianne Feinstein for longshot rival, in ‘clear-eyed rejection’ of party establishment.

SOFT LIMP POWER: Why Europe Gets No Respect.

Victor Davis Hanson:

In most high-stakes diplomacy—denuclearizing North Korea, attempting to make China play by international norms of trade and commerce, keeping Vladimir Putin within his borders, destroying ISIS, isolating a theocratic and potentially nuclear Iran, and the perennial Israel and Palestinian problem—Europe is largely a spectator. Its once heralded “soft power” of the 1990s and early 21st century is more soft than powerful. The friends of Europe no longer count on it; its enemies do not fear it.

The high-tech revolution that birthed Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft passed Europe by. Judged by the great historical determinants of civilizational power—fuel, energy, education, demography, political stability, and military power—Europe is waning. It is spending a mere 1.4% of its collective GDP on defense. Most analysts conclude that even what Europe does spend on security does not translate directly into military readiness, at least in comparison with the U.S. military. And with a fertility rate of less than 1.6%, Europe is slowly shrinking and aging—hence the short-sighted immigration policy of Angela Merkel who apparently sees immigration also as a solution to the demography crisis and a shortcut to low-cost labor.

Across the continent, laws against fracking, German dismantling of nuclear power plants, and massive green subsidies for erratic wind and solar generation—all self-inflicted wounds—have made European gasoline and electricity costs among the highest in the world. Europe remains dependent on Russia, Central Asia, and the OPEC countries for much of its energy needs. In the Times Higher Education World University Rankings of the world’s top 20 universities, only 1 was a continental European university; in contrast, 15 were American and 4 British.

Politically, the European Union has not squared the circle of uniting diverse peoples, languages, and cultures with long historical grievances into a pan-European nation—at least without a level of coercion that is inconsistent with democratic values. Instead, members increasingly find European Union dogma at odds with human nature, at least in terms of entitlements, immigrations, and national security. For a continent that celebrates diversity, the European apparat is quite intolerant of dissident voices.

Of course they do. If the European Union tolerated genuine dissent, there wouldn’t be a European Union for long.

UNEXPECTEDLY: Turkey’s Erdogan flexes new powers with decrees on second anniversary of coup.

THE PRICE IS RIGHT? Pentagon Nears New F-35 Deal.

Ellen Lord, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, announced the preliminary deal in a statement on the eve of the biennial Farnborough Air Show, though last week she canceled plans to attend the U.K. event, citing other commitments.

The F-35 is the world’s largest military program and already accounts for about a quarter of Lockheed’s annual sales, as well as significant shares at partners including Northrop Grumman Corp. , BAE Systems PLC and United Technologies Corp. , the latter of which finalized a deal on the engines for the new jets earlier this year.

Pentagon officials have grown frustrated with efforts over the past three years to cut the cost of buying and flying as many as 2,400 of the radar-evading jets. The F-35 fleet would replace most U.S. jet fighters over the next 30 years at a cost of more than $400 billion. U.S. allies plan to buy up to 500 more jets.

Ms. Lord didn’t provide a contract value. Lockheed and its partners have already cut the average price of the F-35A model used by the U.S. Air Force to around $95 million, from $122 million five years ago.

They aim to reduce the price to roughly $80 million by the end of the decade. But Pentagon leaders want bigger cuts as annual production climbs toward 150 jets in the early 2020s, from 66 last year.

$80 million a copy isn’t all that much more than a less-capable and less-survivable Block 52 or Block 60 F-16.

DAVID MILLS: What Schumer and Pelosi Pretend They Don’t Know About Judges.

SLEEP TIGHT: Russia Says Its New Aircraft Can Disable U.S. Satellites. Could This Trigger a Nuclear War?

“The work is currently underway to develop an aircraft equipped with jamming systems that will replace Il-22PP Porubshchik [electronic warfare aircraft], which are currently being delivered to the Russian Aerospace Forces,” an unnamed Russian defense industry source told Sputnik News. “This machine will receive a fundamentally new on-board equipment, which will allow to conduct electronic suppression of any targets—ground, air, sea—and disable enemy satellites that provide navigation and radio communication on the ground.”

Disabling the electronics on satellites? This would seem to be a different challenge, and how Russia plans to tackle it is unclear. For example, what does it mean to “turn off” a military satellite? Convince the satellite to shut down its systems, perhaps by spoofing a command signal from ground control? Or does it mean hitting the satellite with some kind of powerful beam that fries its electronics or disrupt its systems? And how powerful a system could be mounted on what is essentially a medium-sized airliner?

Always take Russian claims with a bolshoi grain of salt, but the vulnerability of our satellite fleet is a serious concern.

ESPIONAGE: The Story of How Mossad Stole 100,000 Iranian Nuclear Docs. “For those willing to hear the truth, Trump’s dumping of the nuclear deal is looking better and better.”

And here I’ve been all this time, thinking the deal couldn’t possibly look any worse.

HEH: NATO Rejects ‘Obsolete’ Label in Telegram to Trump.

CRY ME A RIVER: Demanding change from toxic men is exhausting.

DAVID SOLWAY ASKS: Healing the World — Can We Safely Rescue Those Who Wish Us Harm?

TYLER O’NEIL: Papa John Erased From History For Making Remarks About History. “His N-word comment was about public relations, not supporting racism.”

SCRAPPLEFACE: Trump Dumps on May Way to Brexit, Wrecks It.

FAIL, BRITANNIA: Teenage girl brutally raped and abused by SEVENTY men – and most are still walking the streets.

Kate Elysia, who was 18 when she was first raped, says she believed she was an inhuman “sex thing” after being repeatedly attacked.

A victim of grooming gangs, she says she was trafficked “all over England” and given to many men – sometimes up to 10 in one night.

“They degraded me to the point where I’d become this sex thing, this thing that wasn’t human, but just an object,” she says in a harrowing new book, titled No Way Out.

“To the point where I believed that’s what I was.”

Eventually, the horrific sexual abuse seemed like “normal life” to Kate.

She ended up addicted to drugs and suffering from severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Good Lord.

“ARTISTS”: Artists create “F–k Trump” crop circle in UK field along Trump’s helicopter path.

POLL: Americans Believe They’re Better Off Financially Under Trump than Obama.

MICHAEL LEDEEN’S FALL FORECAST: An Anti-Leftist Electoral Rout.

I’d add a Ledeen-esque “Faster, please,” but the date of the election is established by the Constitution.

CREDIBILITY: Joy Reid Sees 20-Percent Ratings Drop After Fallout From Unverified Hacking Claims.

80% are still watching?

BUT THE NARRATIVE! Income Tax Revenues Are Up 9% This Year — Is Trump Tax Cut Paying For Itself?

ALLIES: Trump Says NATO Members Agreed to ‘Substantially Up’ Contributions; Macron Says It’s Still 2%. “Alliance communique put target at 2014 agreement with 2024 target date; president tweets that he wants increases effective immediately.”