Notices by Waldo Jaquith (waldoj@mastodon.social), page 5

The Delaware Department of Transportation declines to comply with my request for the number of toll bills that they’ve issued to people with Palau license plates in the past two years, because a) I’m not a Delaware resident and b) they would need to “write a program” to get the data. This is almost certainly untrue, but I don’t think this is a fight worth having.

OK OK I FOIAed the data.

cc: @infrequentbrilliance, @mwichary

I'm paying a toll for driving in Delaware. They want to know if my license plate is from Palau, a small island nation north of Indonesia that was last part of the U.S. in 1962. There aren't even Palau license plates—the nation has 16 states, each issuing their own license plates. Most states have a population numbering in the hundreds (three states have under 100 residents).

I am fighting the urge to issue a FOIA request to find out how many Palau plates they've seen. https://tollbyplate.ezpassde.com/Login.aspx

Remember Google’s algorithmic premise? The more links to a page, the more prominent it should be in search results? Now remember how spammers gamed that? The exact same thing is unfolding in the scientific world, where the number of incoming citations has become an indication how authoritative that a paper is. https://www.science.org/content/article/citation-cartels-help-some-mathematicians-and-their-universities-climb-rankings

Congratulations to the IRS, USDS, and 18F teams that worked on this for so long! A quiet launch day is always the dream, and they did it. https://directfile.irs.gov/

@emilygorcenski what the fuck

@emilygorcenski And this is how I just learned that Yascha Mounk has written about me. 😒

It's not until the ninth paragraph that we learn that these violent political threats are coming almost entirely from Trump supporters. In fact (as the article makes clear much later), they're all directed at his declared enemies, and are celebrated by Trump and Republicans in congress. Bomb threats were called into 18 state capitols in just one day last week. This stochastic terrorism is a tactic of the right, used to undermine democracy. https://wapo.st/3TSQSj9

Trump’s lawyer argued in court today that Trump, as president, could have had Joe Biden assassinated by Navy SEALs, and that he should be immune from prosecution for doing so because it was an official act as president. So, that's where American democracy is at now.

@emilygorcenski CLT…always CLT

@emilygorcenski And we lost the flight to PHL this week. :(

Boy, I sure know *a lot* of people with Covid right now, some of whom feel like absolute death. They're all vaccinated, nearly all of them have had Covid at least once, and most of them are surprised to find that they're sick.

I recommend changing your behavior for at least the next few weeks. Don't go to that crowded indoor gathering. Wear a well-fitting N-95 in that store. Bask in seasonal hygge in your own home.

The right is using asymmetrical shame warfare against the left. Trump has taught Republicans to never be ashamed of anything they’ve done, no matter how heinous or indefensible their actions. Democrats, OTOH, still have consciences. So Republicans can hound somebody like Claudine Gay out of her job, knowing that the same attack will not work against their own. They will repeat this playbook as long as it keeps working.

My home’s air quality monitor and thermostat use different smart home standards, so they cannot communicate. This leaves me as the human bridge between the two, turning the whole-house fan off and on as is required by air quality and humidity.

This is the stupid future I was promised.

Accusing somebody of plagiarizing their doctoral thesis *because of language in the acknowledgments* is incredibly stupid and it’s appalling that the Times is falling for this Rufo propaganda. This claimed plagiarism is extraordinarily minor. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/us/harvard-claudine-gay-plagiarism.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Hk0.RFjx.qjDxqVPvd4PM&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Maryland is creating a state digital service! They're starting by hiring a product lead and a UX lead, and they're now accepting applications. These positions are going to have a great deal of impact, and I hope they get a lot of applications. Pay is $102–164k.

Two caveats: 1. These positions need to report to an office two days a week, in Anne Arundel County. 2. The application period closes *January 1*, because HR. 🙄 https://www.jobapscloud.com/MD/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=23&R2=004776&R3=0001 https://www.jobapscloud.com/MD/sup/bulpreview.asp?R1=23&R2=004776&R3=0002

We’re about to see Trump argue in two court cases simultaneously that a) only states have any say over elections and b) states have no say over elections.

I have worked with a few of these people over the years, and the sad truth is that they don't understand that they're nepo babies. They believe that they've worked really hard and super smart, and that they've succeeded in spite of the terrible headwinds that they face as Republicans. When confronted with actual difficult professional problems they are completely helpless, because they have basically had a Fisher Price playset version of a career.

A political phenomenon that not enough people are aware of is that right-wing political groups (especially the Koch network) employ any right-winger with a pulse as soon as they graduate college. It's a full employment plan for Republicans. They're given make-work and increasingly important job titles, to provide an illusion of competence and experience, so they can be hired in Republican administrations.

It's basically reputation-laundering for mediocre white people.

The U.S. General Services Administration has launched Notify.gov, a government text messaging service! They've implemented GOV.UK Notify (developed by the GDS), which was subsequently reused in Canada as GC Notify. Now the U.S. is reusing this public domain, open source system, making it available to state and local governments to communicate with the public about access to benefits. Wisconsin, Washington, Norfolk, and Montgomery County MD are the first four customers. https://www.gsa.gov/blog/2023/12/14/gsa-launches-pilot-partnerships-to-help-people-get-benefits-through-text-messaging