"The tax bill threatens the integrity of our elections and all of our tax-exempt organizations," Maggie Garrett, the legislative director for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in an emailed statement. "No one wants to turn our charitable nonprofits, houses of worship and foundations into political campaign tools."

This provision, Adam Bozzi of End Citizens United explained to Salon, would create "a gaping loophole in our campaign finance system." Bozzi explained it could "allow a big political donor who wants to make a contribution through the back door to give to a church, which could then endorse a candidate and engage in electioneering."

To make it even worse, the tax-exempt status of churches and charities means that any millionaire or billionaire who funneled political spending through such a group could then turn around and claim that donation as a tax writeoff. Money given to a pastor in order to buy his endorsement wouldn't look any different on paper than money given to a church for its charitable work or other legitimate purposes. Republicans are creating a loophole that will allow rich people to shelter political donations from taxes while influencing election campaigns in total secrecy.

The proposed House bill supposedly limits charity or church workers to political endorsements "in the ordinary course of the organization’s regular and customary activities in carrying out its exempt purpose." But that language is both fatally vague and functionally useless. The entire point of the Johnson Amendment is to keep political endorsements out of the usual course of an organization's activities. This bill wouldn't merely let pastors preach from the pulpits in support of a favored candidate; it would also permit Planned Parenthood to recommend candidates to patients who come in for medical care, or permit the Salvation Army to endorse candidates when providing its services to poor people.

https://www.salon.com/2017/11/23/hidden-in-gop-tax-bill-a-plan-to-turn-churches-into-dark-money-spigots/

Some employees at Fox News were left embarrassed and humiliated by their network's coverage of the latest revelations in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling, according to conversations CNN had with several individuals placed throughout the network.

"I'm watching now and screaming," one Fox News personality said in a text message to CNN as the person watched their network's coverage. "I want to quit."

"It is another blow to journalists at Fox who come in every day wanting to cover the news in a fair and objective way," one senior Fox News employee told CNN of their outlet's coverage, adding that there were "many eye rolls" in the newsroom over how the news was covered.

The person said, "Fox feels like an extension of the Trump White House."

This Paramedic Who Rescued Harvey Victims May Be Deported If Trump Ends DACA
“It was like getting an extra kick to the face when you’re already down.”

Artemio Muniz, chair of the Texas Federation of Hispanic Republicans, said DACA recipients in the areas affected by the hurricane were hit with a double whammy over the last few days.

"The timing is just so bad,” Muniz told BuzzFeed News. “Some of them lost their homes and are trying to recover from the hurricane."

Nearly 790,000 young undocumented immigrants received work permits and protection from deportation under DACA, according to the latest figures from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The program, created by Obama in 2012, faces an uncertain future in the coming days, with Trump expected to announce a decision about its fate on Tuesday.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/adolfoflores/daca-rescuer-hurricane-harvey?utm_term=.vqGV5aA93