MesaZona > Table of Contents : Here's The Menu. Enjoy

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Ready for This? Never-Ending War

Niall Ferguson

March 12 2017, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Trump already has his war — it was started in Cyberia and will never end

Source: The Times London

Blogger's Note: Over-joyed that Niall Ferguson is my most frequent sender of tweets

To each American administration, its war.

For Truman and Eisenhower, Korea.

For Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon, Vietnam.

For Carter and Reagan, the culmination of the Cold War. For both Bushes, Iraq. For Clinton, ex-Yugoslavia.

For Obama, Afghanistan.

Which will be Donald Trump’s war?

There is good reason to fear it could be the Second Korean War. Or it could be yet another quagmire in the Middle East. His most excitable critics warn that the Third World War will happen on his watch. But I am more worried about the First Cyber War —because that war has already begun.

Pros & Cons: 50 Days of Trump > Fooling Some of The People All The Time

Counting-down the days

Published on Mar 12, 2017

Duration: 04:15

Some highlights from Trump's presidency.

STAT > Exercise Caution with 'WorkPlace Wellness'

That is the story in Politics from StatNews.com

House Republicans would let employers demand workers’ genetic test results

By Sharon Begley

March 10, 2017

A little-noticed bill moving through Congress would allow companies to require employees to undergo genetic testing or risk paying a penalty of thousands of dollars, and would let employers see that genetic and other health information.

Giving employers such power is now prohibited by legislation including the 2008 genetic privacy and nondiscrimination law known as GINA.

The new bill gets around that landmark law by stating explicitly that GINA and other protections do not apply when genetic tests are part of a “workplace wellness¹” program.

The bill, HR 1313, was approved by a House committee on Wednesday, with all 22 Republicans supporting it and all 17 Democrats opposed.

It has been overshadowed by the debate over the House GOP proposal to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act², but the genetic testing bill is expected to be folded into a second ACA-related measure containing a grab-bag of provisions that do not affect federal spending, as the main bill does.

“What this bill would do is completely take away the protections of existing laws,” said Jennifer Mathis, director of policy and legal advocacy at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, a civil rights group. In particular, privacy and other protections for genetic and health information in GINA and the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act “would be pretty much eviscerated,” she said.

Employers say they need the changes because those two landmark laws are “not aligned in a consistent manner” with laws about workplace wellness programs, as an employer group said in congressional testimony last week.
Employers got virtually everything they wanted for their workplace wellness programs during the Obama administration:
The ACA allowed them to charge employees 30 percent, and possibly 50 percent, more for health insurance if they declined to participate in the “voluntary” programs, which typically include cholesterol and other screenings; health questionnaires that ask about personal habits, including plans to get pregnant; and sometimes weight loss and smoking cessation classes.
And in rules that Obama’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued last year, a workplace wellness program counts as “voluntary” even if workers have to pay thousands of dollars more in premiums and deductibles if they don’t participate.

Share your workplace wellness concerns

Do you have experience with a workplace wellness program that you feel has been coercive or unhelpful, or deprived you of privacy protections? Tell reporters from Stat News here

AbSciCon 2017 Here In Mesa April 24-28 2017

AbSciCon 2017 will provide a forum for reporting on new discoveries, sharing data and insights, advancing collaborative efforts and initiating new ones, planning new projects, and educating the next generation of astrobiologists.

The conference will feature plenary sessions on current and thought-provoking topics, topical sessions, evening programs, and public and educational events.

Meeting Location and Date

The Astrobiology Science Conference 2017 (AbSciCon 2017) will be held April 24–28, 2017 in Mesa, Arizona at the Mesa Convention Center (263 N Center Street, Mesa, AZ 85201) and the Phoenix Marriott Mesa (200 North Centennial Way, Mesa, Arizona 85201).

Purpose and Scope

AbSciCon 2017 is the next in a series of conferences organized by the astrobiology community.

The theme for AbSciCon 2017 is “Diverse Life and its Detection on Different Worlds.” Mars and icy worlds in our solar system are increasingly recognized as habitable, even as increasing numbers of exoplanets in their stars’ habitable zones have been discovered. The focus is shifting from identification of habitable worlds, to detection of life on them.

Among other topics, the conference will address:

Setting the Stage for Geochemistry
Setting the Stage for Biochemistry
Biomarkers of Life in Anaerobic Ecosystems and Different Evolutionary Stages
Biomarkers of Anaerobic Ecosystems
Biogeochemical Cycles on Water Worlds Near and Far
Biosignatures on Exoplanets
Preparing for Life Detection: Astrobiology Education and Public Outreach

More information > here

Organizers /Institutional Support

Lunar and Planetary Institute
Universities Space Research Association
National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA

Conference Chair

Steven Desch, Arizona State University

Science Organizing Committee

Ariel Anbar

Arizona State University

Linda Billings

George Washington University

David Catling

University of Washington

Mary Droser

University of California, Riverside

Hilairy Hartnett

Arizona State University

Nicholas Hud

Georgia Institute of Technology

Betul Kacar

Harvard University

Karen Meech

University of Hawaii

Daniella Scalice

NASA Astrobiology Institute

Britney Schmidt

Georgia Institute of Technology

Sara Imari Walker

Arizona State University

Paula Welander

Stanford University

Mary Voytek (ex officio)

NASA

Local Organizing Committee

Steve Desch (Chair)

Arizona State University

Hilairy Hartnett

Arizona State University

Liz McHugh

Arizona State University

Adam Monroe

Arizona State University

Daniella Scalice

NASA Astrobiology Institute

Sara Imari Walker

Arizona State University

Patrick Young

Arizona State University

Friday, March 10, 2017

INFORMATICS: Mesa, Mormons & The Geography of Religion

GIS and the Geography of Religion: Kingdom of Deseret

March 10, 2017 by Mark AltaweelSpatial Analysis

The use of GIS in understanding religious practice and its dynamic changing social construct is evident in research and tools that have been created. Informatics tools, including incorporated spatial analysis and ways to search for information on demographic and social data on different religious adherents has been one area of focus.
Source: GIS Lounge 10 March 2017

Taking that locally since we live here in Mesa, a stop-on-the-way to the mission of Mormons to colonize Mexico in the years before the 1850's, it may be both interesting and informative to use the tools provided for some kind of context to explain how one religious practice both in private and public life created the social construct we live in, both in the East Valley and State of Arizona.
The image shown to the right is an map of the continental United States used as the interactive tool cited in the source report.
Religion is used as the focus for every state. Readers can easily see that one state stands out from all the rest: the State of Utah.

It was carved-out of The State of Deseret, a provisional state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - kind of a Theo-democracy-of-sorts where one religion ruled and all the people adhered to that one religion obeying 'The Elders', a council of 12 in the Church of The Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ still in existence to this day maintaining control over the faithful adherents of that religion who once formed a majority of the population now reduced by 20-21st Century changing demographics [access and use the source].

As another added resource to this post here's a map from 1990 that shows the Mormon percent of the population for every state, that has only increased since then by high-birth rates in the LDS population and active recruitment of new members by the Church.
You can easily see that whereas Mormons did not succeed in establishing The Kingdom of Deseret and the proposed State of Utah got carved-up, the religion has established a foot-hold and brain-hold on the populations of all the adjoining states if you overlay this map on the map for 'the kingdom' where God and religion ruled the lands.

Other historical analysis of map data has indicated that the distribution of religious buildings such as LDS temples has a close relationship to evolving urban patterns. Indeed the first LDS Temple to be built out of Salt Lake City, Utah was opened here in Mesa in 1927. [image to the left]
It stands right across from Pioneer Park where four Mormon 'founders' who formed the city of Mesa in1878 are commemorated in monumental bronze statues.
What seems to be overlooked is the long-established and inconvenient historical fact that for thousands of years before 'the pioneers' arrived this earlier homeland of indigenous native peoples was claimed and sold by Mexico to the U.S. opening new claims on their territory.
Families and descendants of all these cultures and peoples survive, some thriving more than others in changing demographics from an influx of new arrivals after 1950.
In Arizona - and quite recently - more LDS temples, LDS Wards and LDS Stakes are increasing all the time.
For a map of all these go here >>Official LDS Stats: Temples, Wards, Stakes & Congregations
The Mesa Arizona Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, opened in October 1927, was the first temple in Arizona.
The Gilbert Arizona Temple opened in January 2014
The Phoenix Arizona Temple followed shortly thereafter in October 2014.
There are a total of five LDS Temples in Arizona (2016).
A sixth Temple in Tucson is scheduled to open in late 2017.
The other two Temples are located
in Snowflake, Arizona, northeast of Phoenix near Show Low and
in Gila Valley, Arizona, southeast of Phoenix near Safford.

Responding to what they say is a higher calling, Mormons get into politics and have exercised their control over the East Valley and State of Arizona for generations, many former and/or present 'bishops' and 'presidents' in LDS Stakes - an interesting mix of words for religion and politics for sure! - have gained seats in government in local city and higher state and national offices by voting as an electoral bloc, by either anointing their hand-selected same faith-based candidates to succeed them, or resigning from elective office just months ahead of the end of their term to pass on the office to like-minded members of the church.
Recent cases for example: Matt Salmon and Andy Biggs in Congress, Senator Jeff Flake, control of the Arizona State House, and here in Mesa, Mayor Scott Smith to John Giles, who ran unopposed and won in 2016 to continue the long line of Mormon mayors in Mesa's 138-year old history.
In these times and more recent days, the Mesa City Council had a similar history up until last year when two candidates in District 2 and District 3 challenged the entrenched generations-old political machine and got elected. One candidate in District 1, who claimed one of the Founders of Mesa as an ancestor, got elected there in West Mesa where old loyalties still run strong.
As you, dear readers, can see: Communities created by settlers, for instance, influenced economic and social identity as new communities were introduced, shaping fundamentally how economic and social structure are evident today

GIS has become an important historical and contemporary analytical tool used to explain past and current social trends shaping and being shaped by religions.

Source: GIS Lounge 10 March 2017

The Church publishes this