"WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' trust and confidence in the mass media 'to report the news fully, accurately and fairly' has dropped to its lowest level in Gallup polling history, with 32% saying they have a great deal or fair amount of trust in the media. This is down eight percentage points from last year.

"Gallup began asking this question in 1972, and on a yearly basis since 1997. Over the history of the entire trend, Americans' trust and confidence hit its highest point in 1976, at 72%, in the wake of widely lauded examples of investigative journalism regarding Vietnam and the Watergate scandal. After staying in the low to mid-50s through the late 1990s and into the early years of the new century, Americans' trust in the media has fallen slowly and steadily. It has consistently been below a majority level since 2007."

"The House Government Oversight Committee subpoenaed three key figures in the Hillary Clinton email scandal to testify at a hearing Tuesday. Two declined to testify, citing their Fifth Amendment rights. A third refused to show up at all.

"One of those who took the Fifth was Paul Combetta, a technician at Platte River Networks, the company that handled Clinton's email system. Combetta is the man who actually deleted Clinton's email archives in March 2015, using the now-notorious BleachBit program. The Justice Department reportedly gave Combetta immunity in its investigation, yet he still refused to talk to Congress. ...

"After the hearing, I asked Gowdy for a reaction to what had happened. He was particularly angry about the immunity situation. After all, it seems clear from the partial set of documents the FBI has released that Combetta destroyed the Clinton email archive after -- not before -- Congress had issued a subpoena for it. If Combetta had immunity, why couldn't he talk to Congress? The question is particularly important since the FBI summary report on the Clinton affair says Combetta not only changed his story between interviews but refused to answer a few questions for the investigating agents, too."

"We have no doubt that Mrs. Clinton can produce a full and honest medical report in the same way she produced the billing records of the Rose law firm: if and when it suits her. But despite her campaign's shockingly successful effort to cow the media into forgoing investigation of the question, her health is a real issue and ought to be investigated as such. If anything, her secrecy regarding the matter should whet the appetites of self-respecting journalists, if any are left on the Clinton beat.

"We'd be grateful if Mrs. Clinton would start telling the truth about her health. We'd be grateful if she'd start telling the truth about a good deal more than that, too."

"Questions about Hillary Clinton's health threatened to put the Democratic nominee's campaign on pause after she hastily departed a 9/11 commemoration in New York Sunday and was videotaped from at least two angles requiring physical assistance to get into her van with shaky legs.

"A health condition initially described by Clinton's campaign as a brief episode of overheating during the outdoor event -- a situation downplayed by a stronger-looking candidate in the afternoon -- was identified later as pneumonia when the campaign released a four-sentence statement from Clinton's physician. The campaign did not disclose detailed medical records or test results, nor did it make the doctor available for questioning.

"Along the way, Clinton's communications team fielded criticism for withholding information and not keeping journalists in the press pool accompanying Clinton informed of her movements. The U.S. Secret Service was accused of not following protocol when the candidate became ill and was whisked away in a motorcade. And some Democrats griped that Clinton's campaign team had overscheduled the nominee if they had understood last week that she had a serious respiratory infection."

"Louis Brandeis was absolutely correct about sunlight's being the best disinfectant, but Mrs. Clinton is a creature of the shade. Given her history of rampant, craven, deep, broad, sustained, overarching, continuous, relentless dishonesty about practically every aspect of her personal and public lives, is it really so implausible that she'd lie about her health? No. She'd lie about her health even if there were nothing to lie about, just to keep in practice. ...

"Is Mrs. Clinton as sickly as some say? Or is she just a dotty old bat of the ordinary sort? We can be absolutely sure that we will not get the truth of it from Mrs. Clinton, and we can be reasonably sure that we will not get the truth of it from reporters and editors who have renounced all curiosity on the question.

"Mrs. Clinton's health is a legitimate issue."

"Republicans in Congress are barreling toward a September showdown with the White House over its plan to give up oversight of the internet, as the Obama administration tries to rally support from the tech and telecom industries.

"GOP lawmakers have long warned that the administration's plan to relinquish its authority over ICANN, the global nonprofit that manages the internet's domain name system, could give authoritarian countries like China and Russia an opening to make an online power grab. Now, as the actual date of the transition approaches -- Oct. 1 -- Republicans are looking at throwing up new obstacles.

"Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is pledging to make the issue his primary focus this month, beginning with a floor speech on Thursday, in which he's expected to rail against the Obama administration's strategy. Cruz has already launched a website claiming the president is 'giving away the internet,' complete with a spinning countdown clock against a black background. And he's scheduled a hearing of the Senate Judiciary oversight subcommittee he chairs next week to 'investigate the possible dangers' of the plan."

"Lawmakers are plunging into another fight over Iran sanctions with economic restrictions on the country set to expire at the end of the year.

"Both parties acknowledge that there are enough votes in the House and Senate to renew the sanctions -- but the agreement ends there.

"Outraged by President Obama's nuclear deal, Republicans are seeking to put new restrictions on Iran. And a few moderate Democrats appear willing to go along.

"But the White House is in no mood to negotiate. It has said strengthening the sanctions law could be interpreted as going back on the nuclear deal, meaning the president would likely veto tougher legislation."

"In 37 states and the District of Columbia, any qualified voter may cast a ballot in person during a specified period before Election Day. This includes Oregon, Washington, and Colorado -- which automatically mail ballots to all voters. In 2012, a little more than 31 percent of Americans cast their ballot before Election Day.

"Early voting now represents a good idea run amok. New laws that aimed to make casting a ballot easier and more convenient for busy voters have created Election Month. In some states, voters have six weeks to pull the lever. 'Campaign season' has become 'voting season.' Candidates' political operations may find these rules particularly convenient -- every vote you know you've turned out before Election Day is one less you have to worry about on a particular Tuesday in November -- but the trend will almost inevitably come back to bite voters. ...

"This year, the earliest of ballots will be cast before any of the three presidential debates or the vice-presidential debate. Suppose in the final debate, Hillary Clinton has a sudden mental breakdown and begins barking like a dog. (Again.) Or imagine that Donald Trump declares that he loves reading Hitler's speeches, or some other statement completely beyond the pale. Some voters would suddenly realize they had already cast a ballot for a candidate they cannot abide, and there is no way to un-do their decision."

"Though it was not their primary mission, FBI agents who investigated Hillary Clinton's email collected significant evidence suggesting she and her team violated federal record-keeping laws, including persisting to use a private Blackberry and server to conduct State Department business after being warned they posed legal and security risks, government sources tell Circa. The evidence was compelling enough to convince FBI Director James Comey that the Clinton team had not complied with record-keeping laws and to cause at least one witness to raise their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during an investigative interview, the sources said.

"In public, the FBI recommended not filing criminal charges against Clinton on national security grounds. But in private, the Bureau chose to defer to the State Department on whether to recommend anyone to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution on records law violations, the sources said, speaking only on condition of anonymity. Each email transmission of a government document that was not preserved or turned over to the State Department from Mrs. Clinton's tenure could theoretically be considered a violation of the Federal Records Act, the main law governing preservation of government records and data.

"Other federal laws make it a felony to intentionally conceal, remove or destroy federal records as defined under the Act, punishable with a fine and imprisonment of up to three years. A single conviction also carries a devastating impact for anyone looking to work again in government because the law declares that any violator 'shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States.'"

"Despite a funding cut-off threat from the Justice Department, over 300 so-called 'sanctuary cities' are protecting thousands of illegal criminal immigrants from federal arrest and deportation, according to a new analysis.

"The Center for Immigration Studies on Wednesday published a new interactive map identifying the cities, towns and counties that have so far protected at least 17,000 criminal illegals instead of handing them over to federal authorities. Of those, 68 percent have prior criminal records.

"'Across the U.S., there are over 300 cities, counties, and states that are considered "sanctuary cities." These jurisdiction protect criminal aliens from deportation by refusing to comply with U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement detainers or otherwise impede open communication and information exchanges between their employees or officers and federal immigration agents,' said the analysis from experts."