The United States of America: Born Illegitimate

Making the District of Columbia a state would be "an act of historical vandalism as grotesque as those committed by Jacobin mobs roaming our streets,”
--Senator Tom Cotton, R-OK

Born a bastard.
That was Mad Dog's original title for this post but he knew that would provoke a Twitter storm of distracting proportions, should the post ever see the light of day.

Cotton picking 

But if slavery is the original sin of this country, then our Unite States Senate is the original swindle. 

For Thomas Jefferson and the Southern gentry who formulated the plan for our national government the idea of land being something more than space, but something magical, a right, an inheritance, a source of wealth and power, a creature to be possessed and controlled, a giver of status--this idea of land was a given.

One thinks of that scene from "Gone With the Wind" where Scarlett O'Hara stands on a hill overlooking the cotton fields and pastures of Tara with her father who cries, "The land is the only thing worth working for, worth fighting for,  worth dying for because it's the only thing that lasts!"

Of course, this line came from a fierce advocate of the Ku Klux Klan, a vehement white supremacist, Margaret Mitchell. 

Vote by Population 2016

But the idea that our country is not simply the people who live here, who may possess unalienable rights--rights which are not transferable, not to be denied or taken away--but who do not necessarily possess land--the idea that our nation is not people but the land itself, its rivers, lakes, mountains, gold deposits, the oil beneath its firmament.

And so, when Jefferson and company struck a deal to allow for land to be represented in the US Senate, they were striking a deal for land owners to hold power that mere citizens did not.

It was this swindle which got written into the Constitution.

And this is how it played out:

"In 1889, Republicans knew they were in political trouble. Americans had turned against their conviction that the government must protect big business at all costs, and that any kind of regulation or protection for workers amounted to socialism. In 1884, for the first time since the Civil War, voters had elected a Democrat to the White House. Grover Cleveland promised to use the government to protect ordinary Americans, and to stop congressmen from catering to wealthy industrialists.

To regain control of the government, in 1888, Republicans pulled out all the stops. They developed a new system of campaign financing, hitting up rich businessmen for contributions, and got employers to warn workers that if they didn’t vote for the Republican candidate they would be fired. Nonetheless, Republican Benjamin Harrison lost the election by about 100,000 votes.

But he won in the Electoral College.

Republicans immediately set out to make sure no Democrat could ever win the White House again. They rushed South Dakota into the Union in 1889, along with North Dakota, Montana, and Washington—all Republican regions-- to pack the Senate and the Electoral College. The next year, they rushed in Wyoming and Idaho, too, boasting that they would dominate government for the foreseeable future."

--Heather Cox Richardson, historian

So South Dakota has the same number of United States Senators as California.

Power in these United States

California has has many citizens as the 18 least populous states combined and it has two US Senators.  So, from #31 Iowa to #50 Wyoming, all those states combined have fewer people than California. 

We could, of course, combine Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Nevada, and New Mexico into one state. And we would be looking at a state which shares a lot in terms of geography, water rights and needs, economy.  We could divide California, Texas, Florida and New York into two states each and then we would have some political entities which share common problems.

But we never will, of course, because there are too many people who have needs right now, whose jobs and incomes depend on maintaining the current system. Sort of like Jefferson and slavery: He knew it was wrong, but he was dependent on it for his comfort and income. He wasn't going to allow something called "fairness" wreck a good thing.

Trump on Mt. Rushmore

In reporting about Donald Trump's speech at Mt. Rushmore, his detractors once again get sucked into his method and are left sputtering inanely, much as the taunted school yard boy loses control, throws a punch and becomes the offender, hauled off to the principal's office, while the inciter walks off laughing, having won the fight by provocation without having to actually win anything.



Trump's tactics are reliable:
1.  Tell them who the enemy is and vilify that enemy.
2.   Establish that you are not racist by embracing one or two very visible Black folk, in this case Martin Luther King and Frederick Douglass.
3.  Ignore evidence of your appeal to white supremacists by your past statements and never acknowledge or repeat those, until the next convenient time.
4. Create a "history" of mythological heroes who embody the values of strength, dominance and winning.

ESTABLISH YOUR NON RACIST CREDENTIALS:

"We embrace tolerance, not prejudice.

We are the country of Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Frederick Douglass.  We are the land of Wild Bill Hickock and Buffalo Bill Cody.  (Applause.)  We are the nation that gave rise to the Wright Brothers, the Tuskegee Airmen — (applause) — Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, Jesse Owens, George Patton — General George Patton — the great Louie Armstrong, Alan Shepard, Elvis Presley, and Mohammad Ali.  (Applause.)  And only America could have produced them all.  (Applause.)  No other place."

[Notice how he mixes such dispirit historical figures as Andrew Jackson (slave owner, creator of the trial of tears) General George Patton (a segregationist), Buffalo Bill Cody (who made Indians into circus clowns) with Frederick Douglass, the Tuskegee Airmen, Harriet Tubman, Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali. The effect is disorienting but effective.]

"We must demand that our children are taught once again to see America as did Reverend Martin Luther King, when he said that the Founders had signed “a promissory note” to every future generation.  Dr. King saw that the mission of justice required us to fully embrace our founding ideals.  Those ideals are so important to us — the founding ideals.  He called on his fellow citizens not to rip down their heritage, but to live up to their heritage.  (Applause.)"

[The man who sees "very fine people" among the Nazis in Charlottesville now finds inspiration in Martin Luther King and claims King as an ally.]

"They would tear down the principles that propelled the abolition of slavery in America and, ultimately, around the world, ending an evil institution that had plagued humanity for thousands and thousands of years.  Our opponents would tear apart the very documents that Martin Luther King used to express his dream, and the ideas that were the foundation of the righteous movement for Civil Rights.  They would tear down the beliefs, culture, and identity that have made America the most vibrant and tolerant society in the history of the Earth"

"It was all made possible by the courage of 56 patriots who gathered in Philadelphia 244 years ago and signed the Declaration of Independence.  (Applause.)  They enshrined a divine truth that changed the world forever when they said: “…all men are created equal.”

"These immortal words set in motion the unstoppable march of freedom.  Our Founders boldly declared that we are all endowed with the same divine rights — given [to] us by our Creator in Heaven.  And that which God has given us, we will allow no one, ever, to take away — ever.  (Applause.)"

"Our people have a great memory.  They will never forget the destruction of statues and monuments to George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, abolitionists, and many others."

"The first Republican President, he rose to high office from obscurity, based on a force and clarity of his anti-slavery convictions.  Very, very strong convictions.

He signed the law that built the Transcontinental Railroad; he signed the Homestead Act, given to some incredible scholars — as simply defined, ordinary citizens free land to settle anywhere in the American West; and he led the country through the darkest hours of American history, giving every ounce of strength that he had to ensure that government of the people, by the people, and for the people did not perish from this Earth.  (Applause.)"

"He served as Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces during our bloodiest war, the struggle that saved our union and extinguished the evil of slavery.  Over 600,000 died in that war; more than 20,000 were killed or wounded in a single day at Antietam.  At Gettysburg, 157 years ago, the Union bravely withstood an assault of nearly 15,000 men and threw back Pickett’s charge."

"Lincoln won the Civil War; he issued the Emancipation Proclamation; he led the passage of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery for all time — (applause) — and ultimately, his determination to preserve our nation and our union cost him his life.  For as long as we live, Americans will uphold and revere the immortal memory of President Abraham Lincoln.  (Applause.)"

"We believe in equal opportunity, equal justice, and equal treatment for citizens of every race, background, religion, and creed.  Every child, of every color — born and unborn — is made in the holy image of God.  (Applause.)"

CREATE THE MYTH:

THE PRESIDENT: "We gather tonight to herald the most important day in the history of nations: July 4th, 1776.  At those words, every American heart should swell with pride.  Every American family should cheer with delight.  And every American patriot should be filled with joy, because each of you lives in the most magnificent country in the history of the world, and it will soon be greater than ever before.  (Applause.)
Our Founders launched not only a revolution in government, but a revolution in the pursuit of justice, equality, liberty, and prosperity.  No nation has done more to advance the human condition than the United States of America.  And no people have done more to promote human progress than the citizens of our great nation.  (Applause.)"

[Of course when you think of Frederick Douglass's remarks on the Fourth of July, the idea that "no nation has done more to advance the human condition" becomes laughable, but Trump breezes right past this.]

"Seventeen seventy-six represented the culmination of thousands of years of western civilization and the triumph not only of spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy, and reason.

From head to toe, George Washington represented the strength, grace, and dignity of the American people.  From a small volunteer force of citizen farmers, he created the Continental Army out of nothing and rallied them to stand against the most powerful military on Earth.

Through eight long years, through the brutal winter at Valley Forge, through setback after setback on the field of battle, he led those patriots to ultimate triumph.  When the Army had dwindled to a few thousand men at Christmas of 1776, when defeat seemed absolutely certain, he took what remained of his forces on a daring nighttime crossing of the Delaware River.

They marched through nine miles of frigid darkness, many without boots on their feet, leaving a trail of blood in the snow.  In the morning, they seized victory at Trenton.  After forcing the surrender of the most powerful empire on the planet at Yorktown, General Washington did not claim power, but simply returned to Mount Vernon as a private citizen.

When called upon again, he presided over the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and was unanimously elected our first President.  (Applause.)  When he stepped down after two terms, his former adversary King George called him “the greatest man of the age.”  He remains first in our hearts to this day.  For as long as Americans love this land, we will honor and cherish the father of our country, George Washington.  (Applause.)  He will never be removed, abolished, and most of all, he will never be forgotten.  (Applause.)

Thomas Jefferson — the great Thomas Jefferson — was 33 years old when he traveled north to Pennsylvania and brilliantly authored one of the greatest treasures of human history, the Declaration of Independence.  He also drafted Virginia’s constitution, and conceived and wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, a model for our cherished First Amendment.

After serving as the first Secretary of State, and then Vice President, he was elected to the Presidency.  He ordered American warriors to crush the Barbary pirates, he doubled the size of our nation with the Louisiana Purchase, and he sent the famous explorers Lewis and Clark into the west on a daring expedition to the Pacific Ocean.

He was an architect, an inventor, a diplomat, a scholar, the founder of one of the world’s great universities, and an ardent defender of liberty.  Americans will forever admire the author of American freedom, Thomas Jefferson.  (Applause.)  And he, too, will never, ever be abandoned by us.  (Applause.)

Theodore Roosevelt exemplified the unbridled confidence of our national culture and identity.  He saw the towering grandeur of America’s mission in the world and he pursued it with overwhelming energy and zeal.

As a Lieutenant Colonel during the Spanish-American War, he led the famous Rough Riders to defeat the enemy at San Juan Hill.  He cleaned up corruption as Police Commissioner of New York City, then served as the Governor of New York, Vice President, and at 42 years old, became the youngest-ever President of the United States.  (Applause.)

He sent our great new naval fleet around the globe to announce America’s arrival as a world power.  He gave us many of our national parks, including the Grand Canyon; he oversaw the construction of the awe-inspiring Panama Canal; and he is the only person ever awarded both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Congressional Medal of Honor.  He was — (applause) — American freedom personified in full.  The American people will never relinquish the bold, beautiful, and untamed spirit of Theodore Roosevelt.  (Applause.)"

[Of course, Roosevelt was also the man who looked at immigration of colored people into the United States and warned the US was committing "racial suicide." Like many of his aristocratic class, he unabashedly considered whites as the master race. Of Jefferson, the slave owner who wrote of the evils of slavery while profiting from it to his death, a whole academic industry has been spawned. ]

"Abraham Lincoln, the savior of our union, was a self-taught country lawyer who grew up in a log cabin on the American frontier."

[Lincoln, the "great emancipator," who freed some of the slaves but left others in bondage, one can only say he was our greatest President, but no angel. Trump somehow knows that Lincoln is everything he cannot be. Lincoln, with all his complexities and his capacity for growth, and Trump the simpleton, with no capacity for growth. Trump fears growth; he fears the new. One of the most pathetic images of Trump was his staged interview before the statue of Lincoln at the Lincoln memorial. This great pretender in front of the image of true greatness.]

CREATE AND VILIFY THE ENEMY:

[Notice how much more time he spends on this part of the formula]

"And yet, as we meet here tonight, there is a growing danger that threatens every blessing our ancestors fought so hard for, struggled, they bled to secure.

Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values, and indoctrinate our children.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —"

THE PRESIDENT:  "Angry mobs are trying to tear down statues of our Founders, deface our most sacred memorials, and unleash a wave of violent crime in our cities.  Many of these people have no idea why they are doing this, but some know exactly what they are doing.  They think the American people are weak and soft and submissive.  But no, the American people are strong and proud, and they will not allow our country, and all of its values, history, and culture, to be taken from them.  (Applause.)"

"AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

THE PRESIDENT:   One of their political weapons is “Cancel Culture” — driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters, and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees.  This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America.  (Applause.)  This attack on our liberty, our magnificent liberty, must be stopped, and it will be stopped very quickly.  We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation’s children, end this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life.  (Applause.)"

"In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance.  If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras, and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted, and punished.  It’s not going to happen to us.  (Applause.)"

"Make no mistake: this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution.  In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence, and hunger, and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery, and progress.

To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol, and memory of our national heritage.

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Not on my watch!  (Applause.)"

"THE PRESIDENT:  True.  That’s very true, actually.  (Laughter.)  That is why I am deploying federal law enforcement to protect our monuments, arrest the rioters, and prosecute offenders to the fullest extent of the law.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  Four more years!  Four more years!  Four more years!

THE PRESIDENT:  I am pleased to report that yesterday, federal agents arrested the suspected ringleader of the attack on the statue of Andrew Jackson in Washington, D.C. — (applause) — and, in addition, hundreds more have been arrested.  (Applause.)

Under the executive order I signed last week — pertaining to the Veterans’ Memorial Preservation and Recognition Act and other laws — people who damage or deface federal statues or monuments will get a minimum of 10 years in prison.  (Applause.)  And obviously, that includes our beautiful Mount Rushmore.  (Applause.)

The violent mayhem we have seen in the streets of cities that are run by liberal Democrats, in every case, is the predictable result of years of extreme indoctrination and bias in education, journalism, and other cultural institutions."

"Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country, and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes, but that were villains.  The radical view of American history is a web of lies — all perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted, and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition.

This movement is openly attacking the legacies of every person on Mount Rushmore.  They defile the memory of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt.  Today, we will set history and history’s record straight.  (Applause.)

Before these figures were immortalized in stone, they were American giants in full flesh and blood, gallant men whose intrepid deeds unleashed the greatest leap of human advancement the world has ever known.  Tonight, I will tell you and, most importantly, the youth of our nation, the true stories of these great, great men.

No movement that seeks to dismantle these treasured American legacies can possibly have a love of America at its heart.  Can’t have it.  No person who remains quiet at the destruction of this resplendent heritage can possibly lead us to a better future."

"The radical ideology attacking our country advances under the banner of social justice.  But in truth, it would demolish both justice and society.  It would transform justice into an instrument of division and vengeance, and it would turn our free and inclusive society into a place of repression, domination, and exclusion.

They want to silence us, but we will not be silenced.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

AUDIENCE MEMBER:  We love you!

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Thank you very much.

We will state the truth in full, without apology:  We declare that the United States of America is the most just and exceptional nation ever to exist on Earth.

We are proud of the fact — (applause) — that our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and we understand — (applause) — that these values have dramatically advanced the cause of peace and justice throughout the world.

We know that the American family is the bedrock of American life.  (Applause.)

We recognize the solemn right and moral duty of every nation to secure its borders.  (Applause.)  And we are building the wall.  (Applause.)

We remember that governments exist to protect the safety and happiness of their own people.  A nation must care for its own citizens first.  We must take care of America first.  It’s time.  (Applause.)

We support the courageous men and women of law enforcement.  (Applause.)  We will never abolish our police or our great Second Amendment, which gives us the right to keep and bear arms.  (Applause.)

We believe that our children should be taught to love their country, honor our history, and respect our great American flag.  (Applause.)

We stand tall, we stand proud, and we only kneel to Almighty God.  (Applause.)

This is who we are.  This is what we believe.  And these are the values that will guide us as we strive to build an even better and greater future.

Those who seek to erase our heritage want Americans to forget our pride and our great dignity, so that we can no longer understand ourselves or America’s destiny.  In toppling the heroes of 1776, they seek to dissolve the bonds of love and loyalty that we feel for our country, and that we feel for each other.  Their goal is not a better America, their goal is the end of America.

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE PRESIDENT:  In its place, they want power for themselves.  But just as patriots did in centuries past, the American people will stand in their way — and we will win, and win quickly and with great dignity.  (Applause.)

We will never let them rip America’s heroes from our monuments, or from our hearts.  By tearing down Washington and Jefferson, these radicals would tear down the very heritage for which men gave their lives to win the Civil War; they would erase the memory that inspired those soldiers to go to their deaths, singing these words of the Battle Hymn of the Republic: “As He died to make men Holy, let us die to make men free, while God is marching on.”  (Applause.)

.My fellow Americans, it is time to speak up loudly and strongly and powerfully and defend the integrity of our country.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

THE PRESIDENT:  It is time for our politicians to summon the bravery and determination of our American ancestors.  It is time.  (Applause.)  It is time to plant our flag and protect the greatest of this nation, for citizens of every race, in every city, and every part of this glorious land.  For the sake of our honor, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our union, we must protect and preserve our history, our heritage, and our great heroes.  (Applause.)

Here tonight, before the eyes of our forefathers, Americans declare again, as we did 244 years ago: that we will not be tyrannized, we will not be demeaned, and we will not be intimidated by bad, evil people.  It will not happen.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

THE PRESIDENT:  We will proclaim the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, and we will never surrender the spirit and the courage and the cause of July 4th, 1776.

Above all, our children, from every community, must be taught that to be American is to inherit the spirit of the most adventurous and confident people ever to walk the face of the Earth.

Americans are the people who pursued our Manifest Destiny across the ocean, into the uncharted wilderness, over the tallest mountains, and then into the skies and even into the stars.

We are the culture that put up the Hoover Dam, laid down the highways, and sculpted the skyline of Manhattan.  We are the people who dreamed a spectacular dream — it was called: Las Vegas, in the Nevada desert; who built up Miami from the Florida marsh; and who carved our heroes into the face of Mount Rushmore.  (Applause.)

Americans harnessed electricity, split the atom, and gave the world the telephone and the Internet.  We settled the Wild West, won two World Wars, landed American astronauts on the Moon — and one day very soon, we will plant our flag on Mars.

We gave the world the poetry of Walt Whitman, the stories of Mark Twain, the songs of Irving Berlin, the voice of Ella Fitzgerald, the style of Frank Sinatra — (applause) — the comedy of Bob Hope, the power of the Saturn V rocket, the toughness of the Ford F-150 — (applause) — and the awesome might of the American aircraft carriers.

Americans must never lose sight of this miraculous story.  You should never lose sight of it, because nobody has ever done it like we have done it.  So today, under the authority vested in me as President of the United States — (applause) — I am announcing the creation of a new monument to the giants of our past.  I am signing an executive order to establish the National Garden of American Heroes, a vast outdoor park that will feature the statues of the greatest Americans to ever live.  (Applause.)

From this night and from this magnificent place, let us go forward united in our purpose and re-dedicated in our resolve.  We will raise the next generation of American patriots.  We will write the next thrilling chapter of the American adventure.  And we will teach our children to know that they live in a land of legends, that nothing can stop them, and that no one can hold them down.  (Applause.)  They will know that in America, you can do anything, you can be anything, and together, we can achieve anything.  (Applause.)

Uplifted by the titans of Mount Rushmore, we will find unity that no one expected; we will make strides that no one thought possible.  This country will be everything that our citizens have hoped for, for so many years, and that our enemies fear — because we will never forget that American freedom exists for American greatness.  And that’s what we have:  American greatness.  (Applause.)

Centuries from now, our legacy will be the cities we built, the champions we forged, the good we did, and the monuments we created to inspire us all.

My fellow citizens: America’s destiny is in our sights.  America’s heroes are embedded in our hearts.  America’s future is in our hands.  And ladies and gentlemen: the best is yet to come.  (Applause.)

AUDIENCE:  USA!  USA!  USA!

THE PRESIDENT:  This has been a great honor for the First Lady and myself to be with you.  I love your state.  I love this country.  I’d like to wish everybody a very happy Fourth of July.  To all, God bless you, God bless your families, God bless our great military, and God bless America.  Thank you very much.  (Applause.)"

[And then he adds a new thing: He attacks the left for something which even some on the left agree with him about--the intolerance of the left:]

"We want free and open debate, not speech codes and cancel culture.

Upon this ground, we will stand firm and unwavering.  In the face of lies meant to divide us, demoralize us, and diminish us, we will show that the story of America unites us, inspires us, includes us all, and makes everyone free."

This is Donald Trump at his zenith, straight out of Mein Kampf. 

Unless we study him, we will not defeat him.  As Patton was depicted waving Erwin Rommel's book at the battle where Patton defeated Rommel:

"I read your book, you bastard! I read your book!"

TWiV: Vaccines for COVID19 & Silent COVID19 in Young Carriers

TWiV Episode 631 is one of their more important episodes.
Brianne Barker (immunology), Rich Condit and Vincent Raccaniello discuss papers which actually, this week, are very relevant to what our thinking and behavior should be, at least this week.
As always, they could use an editor, but if you have time walking the dog or on the bicycle, it's rewarding.

Key points:

1/ There is a saliva test from Rutgers available at some CVS's for the virus PCR, i.e. you can tell if you are shedding virus particles, which would suggest you are actively infected.

2/ An Italian study of 20,000 people suggest that in people below 30 years old as many as 70% infected with SARS CoV-2 (Covid19) are asymptomatic, i.e., could be silent spreaders--although previous episodes note more than 80% of infections were spread by 10% of infected people, "super spreaders."

3/ Some people who were infected no longer have the antibodies to the virus, made by B cells, but may retain immunity through their T cells.
Tests for T cell immunity are not clinically available.

4/ Vaccines now being rushed to production overwhelmingly are designed to attack the T spike of the virus. But other components may be more important.  In fact, in order to be well protected vaccines might have to use more parts of the virus to achieve really adequate protection against the virus.

This is really worth listening to.

https://www.microbe.tv/twiv/twiv-631/

Bostock, Gorsuch, SCOTUS & The Emperor's New Clothes

"The only statutorily protected characteristic at issue in today’s cases is “sex”—and that is also the primary term in Title VII whose meaning the parties dispute. Appealing to roughly contemporaneous dictionaries, the employers say that, as used here, the term “sex” in 1964 referred to “status as either male or female [as] determined by reproductive biology.” 
The employees counter by submitting that, even in 1964, the term bore a broader scope, capturing more than anatomy and reaching at least some norms concerning gender identity and sexual orientation. 
But because nothing in our approach to these cases turns on the outcome of the parties’ debate, and because the employees concede the point for argument’s sake, we proceed on the assumption that “sex” signified what the employers suggest, referring only to biological distinctions between male and female. 
Still, that’s just a starting point. The question isn’t just what “sex” meant, but what Title VII says about it. Most notably, the statute prohibits employers from taking certain actions “because of ” sex. And, as this Court has previously explained, “the ordinary meaning of ‘because of ’ is ‘by reason of ’ or ‘on account of’” ...In the language of law, this means that Title VII’s “because of ” test incorporates the “‘simple’” and “traditional” standard of but-for causation...
That form of causation is established whenever a particular outcome would not have happened “but for” the purported cause... In other words, a but-for test directs us to change one thing at a time and see if the outcome changes. If it does, we have found a but-for cause. This can be a sweeping standard. 
Often, events have multiple but-for causes. So, for example, if a car accident occurred both because the defendant ran a red light and because the plaintiff failed to signal his turn at the intersection, we might call each a but-for cause of the collision. ... 
When it comes to Title VII, the adoption of the traditional but-for causation standard means a defendant cannot avoid liability just by citing some other factor that contributed to its challenged employment decision. So long as the plaintiff ’s sex was one but-for cause of that decision, that is enough to trigger the law."
--Neil Gorsuch, opinion

With his Bostock v Clayton County decision Justice Neil Gorsuch reasoned that a company cannot fire a man or refuse to hire him because of his sex, and that means if his sex is "homosexual"  or "transgender" the company has violated his rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Mad Dog was delighted with the outcome, i.e. preventing homosexuals from being fired for being homosexual, but had to wince at the means by which this happy outcome was achieved, not that Mad Dog was at all surprised by this legal sleight of hand--after all Justice Scalia did even more back flips in his Heller decision giving any individual the right to own a howitzer whether or not he was a member of a militia, as stipulated by the 2nd Amendment. Scalia did a back flip with a full twist on that one, whereas Gorsuch did a simple back flip. 

As is now common in Supreme Court decisions, the justice writing the opinion goes to the meaning or possible meanings of words we all thought we understood like "sex"

"Sex" to most people means gender, i.e., are you a male or female, as defined by your genitalia, or, if you've paid attention in class, to your chromosomes, or your hormones.

If you are really sophisticated and have followed the case of the track star, Caster Semenya, you know that sometimes sex chromosomes and even sex hormone blood levels do not settle the issue of gender, and that gender is something of a definition, a semantic thing more than a biologic thing. 

Gonads are testes; male testosterone levels

But for Justice Gorsuch, if you consider the woman who on Sunday marries another woman and on Monday gets fired because she has publicly declared she is a homosexual, then you have been fired because of your "sex" which is to say the way you prefer your sex, which would, no doubt have surprised every Congressman or Congresswoman who voted for the 1964 act. 

By the same reasoning, if a man is convicted on Monday of having had sexual relations with an eleven year old girl and is fired on Tuesday for his version of "sex" then that man's civil rights have been violated by the company which fired him, because, after all, it fired him for the way he prefers his sex, i.e. with under aged children. (Yes, yes, I understand you could fire him for having committed a felony, but then we could argue about the various understandings of the word "felony.")

You will object, the pedophile is a very different beast from the homosexual and from the trans sexual, but if you are defining sex as "sexual preference" or the way you desire to have sex and with whom, then the pedophile has also been fired because of his sex.

Not the outcome we want.

That's the problem with making rules based on outcomes.

Ross Douthat calls Gorsuch's reasoned decision "an act of sophistry, not interpretation" and of course Douthat is simply stating the obvious.

Gorsuch anticipated the objections, of course.  He tried to disguise his ruling as proceeding merely from step to step: if you accept this, then you must accept that.  And there is that lovely, "there but for this, goes that."  So he claims his hands were tied. He simply had to rule as he did once he read the text of the 1964 law which so clearly stated you could not be denied employment because of your religion, color, or  your sex. 
Of course what Congress what saying was you could not be denied because of attributes which ought not be considerations in whether you can do a job: your religion, which you embrace, your color which you cannot help or whether you are male or female, which is what "sex" meant in the days before transgender medicine. 

Anticipating objections from his colleagues that if Congress had wanted to protect homosexuals it would have said you cannot be fired on the basis of your "sexual preference" and it had plenty of opportunity to do that later but voted that down. And Gorsuch is right to say Congress's failure to be brave subsequently does not relieve you the duty of respecting the law they did pass. 

The problem is, the law they did pass was clear as day: They didn't want your boss firing you for being Black, Catholic or female. If you were gay or transgender or an anti vaxer or and advocate of Free Love or a Free Mason or a nudist or a Communist, you were not protected; out of luck. Congress would protect some classes of people, but not others.

Among Friends

Of course, Justice Alito got to the heart of Justice Gorsuch's claim he was simply constrained by the "text" of the 1964 law and Alito replied this was like a pirate ship flying a false flag while lulling its prey into proximity. Fact is, the text itself was clear and there is no question about what Congress meant by "sex."

You may say this opinion belies Mad Dog's long held contention that he could predict the outcome of any Supreme Court case with significant social/cultural content based on a one paragraph description, that Alito, Thomas, Kavanaguh, Gorsuch and usually Roberts would vote one way and the liberal justices the other, and here Gorsuch surprises. It's the old, "Don't tell me about the law; tell me about the judge" thing from Roy Cohn. 


But in Gorsuch's case, while he is conservative about most everything, he is not about homosexuality; he belongs to an Episcopal church which has gays and the Episcopalians have split over embracing gay clergy and he is with those tolerant of gays. So he voted, had you known this about the man, exactly as you would predict.

Mad Dog got advanced warning of this side of Gorsuch from a Colorado judge, who, at the time Gorsuch's name was proposed as an archetypal conservation told Mad Dog, "He may, occasionally, surprise you...and the Federalist Society."

Mad Dog has long argued that Supreme Court justices decided cases in reverse: Supreme Court law works backwards. You start with where you want to wind up, say legalizing personal ownership of guns, or permitting abortion, or outlawing segregated schools, or endorsing slavery and you work backwards from there, finding laws and reasons or definitions of commonly understood words and arguing or redefining and you claim you began with an open mind, but the text of the law, the original intent of the lawmakers or the founding fathers compelled you to the opinion you wanted to reach all along.

In this case, it worked to benefit society. In the Dred Scott case, in Citizens United, it did not.