Author: Andrew Chesnut File Type: pdf R. Andrew Chesnut offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a skeleton saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees over the past decade. Although condemned by mainstream churches, this folk saints supernatural powers appeal to millions of Latin Americans and immigrants in the U.S. Devotees believe the Bony Lady (as she is affectionately called) to be the fastest and most effective miracle worker, and as such, her statuettes and paraphernalia now outsell those of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Saint Jude, two other giants of Mexican religiosity. In particular, Chesnut shows Santa Muerte has become the patron saint of drug traffickers, playing an important role as protector of peddlers of crystal meth and marijuana DEA agents and Mexican police often find her altars in the safe houses of drug smugglers. Yet Saint Death plays other important roles she is a supernatural healer, love doctor, money-maker, lawyer, and angel of death. She has become without doubt one of the most popular and powerful saints on both the Mexican and American religious landscapes.

Author: Mike Lofgren File Type: epub The New York Times bestselling author of The Party Is Over delivers a no-holds-barredexpose of who really wields power in Washington Mike Lofgren is back with a book perfectly pitched for the frenzied circus of the primaries. His argument this time is that for all of the backstabbing and money grubbing of the campaign season, the politicians we elect have as little ability to shift policy as Communist party apparatchiks. Welcome to Mike Lofgrens Washington, D.C.a This Town, where the political theater that is endlessly tweeted and blogged about has nothing to do with actual decision making. The real work gets done behind the scenes by invisible bureaucrats working for the vast web of agencies that actually dictate our foreign policy, defense posture, and security decisions. Have you ever wondered why Obamas policies look so much like Bushs? Seek no further Hillary v. Jeb is just window dressing. Actual power lies in the Deep State, Washingtons shadowy power elite, in the pockets of corporate interests and dependent on the moguls of Silicon Valley, whose data-collecting systems enable the U.S. government to spy on our every move, swipe, and click. Drawing on insider knowledge gleaned in his three decades on the Hill, Lofgren offers a provocative wake-up call to Americans and urges them to fight to reinstate the basic premise of the Constitution. **Review ***Praise forThe Deep State *Lofgren puts a name and a shape to a problem that has often been only nebulously definedthe logic and sophistication of his argument is hard to resist. Salon.com** The books greatest value is Lofgrens depiction of Washington, DC. . . In Lofgrens telling, Washington is in the grip of a fossilised military-intelligence bureaucracy that no ordinary reform can affect. . . [A] sobering diagnosis. TheFinancial Times Lofgren leaves no president or party unscathed. . . Although The Deep State might sound like an expose on, say, the governments assasination of JFK, or a cover-up of UFOs, the real story is much more insidious, realistic and troubling. *Pittsburg Post-Gazette* With echoes of Dwight D. Eisenhowers Farewell Address warning in 1961 about the military-industrial complex, Lofgren offers a compelling vision of what happens when a democracy becomes a plutocracy, when political dysfunction reigns supreme over democratic deliberation, and when the war on terrorism leads to the militarization of our foreign policy. . .A must-read for anyone interested in the health and sanity of our body politic. *Library Journal* Praise for The Party Is Over A fast-moving, hard-hitting, dryly witty account of the radicalization of the Republican Party, the failures of Democratic rivals and the appalling consequences for the country at large. The Party is Over is forceful, convincing and seductive. --The Washington Post Lofgrens often comedic take on the grim political reality in Washington is no joke. . . . He wields not only a rare integrity in this town, but credibility, too. --The American Conservative Lofgren describes the Republic Party as an apocalyptic cult given to lying and delusional thinking. . . . He writes about how the party took advantage of a profoundly ignorant electorate, an easily conned and distracted media, and a cowed Democratic Party to press the ideological struggle in spite of the deep unpopularity of many of its positions. If all of this had come from a Nation columnist, it would have been unremarkable. Instead, it came from a mild, inconspicuous Hill staffer who hadnt written a political word in thirty years in Washington [and] had the feel of a long-repressed confession and the authority of an insiders testimony, like the anti-war views of a decorated infantry officer. --George Packer, *The New Yorker *A pen in Lofgrens deft hands, combined with his deep understanding of political history and acid sense of humor, becomes a sharp, deeply penetrating harpoon aimed at the heart of his subject. In addition to harpooning the bloated degenerate Republican whale, Mike harpoons the Democrats by demonstrating subtly, yet persuasively, how their growing uselessness arose out of an enervating sense of entitlement to power. --Counterpunch About the Author Mike Lofgren is The New York Times bestselling author of The Party Is Over. He spent twenty-eight years working in Congress, the last sixteen as a senior analyst on the House and Senate Budget committees. He has appeared on Bill Moyers, Hardball, Chris Hayes, and To the Point, among others, and lives in Alexandria, Virginia.