Governor Hochul Considers CEO Safety Hotline in New York

This has got to be a joke, right?

We have a hotline for people that want to report illegal conduct, threatening conduct, and other emergency-inspired conduct. It’s called nine-one-one (911).

It says they’re concerned with businesses relocating and endangering New York City’s $1.286 trillion GDP. I say let’em go. New York is one of the safest big cities in America when it comes to gun violence. Any business that’s planning to relocate if they don’t get a hotline is ran by a reactionary idiot that’ll put your trillion-dollar GDP in jeopardy anyway with their sheer stupidity.

They’re gonna get homeland security and all these counter terrorism folks together in a circle jerk and go “yeah, yeah, more funding for us because terrorism is bad.”

I am beyond disgusted. I hope the hotline gets clogged with bullshit calls from dawn until dusk and they’re forced to shut it down for how much time and energy it wastes.

Improve 911. Improve safety for everyone. If businesses aren’t happy with that, they need to leave. They don’t need special treatment because of their feelings. Do any of us get special treatment from the NYPD when we’re afraid? I mean, not for nothing, but I went to a precinct during my psychosis episode years ago to report that I believed I was being poisoned and they told me to go away, no questions asked. We can argue whether they were wrong or right because obviously the truth of the matter is I had not been poisoned. But we sure as hell didn’t roll out a special hotline when several people were shot by NYPD on the subway, and we shouldn’t roll out a special hotline now.

How many people have family members gunned down by gang violence? Where’s their hotline?

I don’t care if it costs a dime. Waste of time and money better spent on almost anything else.

I did take the time out to let the governor know this.

Stenonymous sends hilarious message to Governor Hochul of New York State.

Freedom of speech is an art.

Am I an artist?

Provisional Senior Court Reporter Opening, 3rd Judicial District, New York State Unified Court System

Albany seems to be hiring. Check out New York Courts Careers. Deadline is January 14, 2025.

Note that it is a promotional opportunity so applications from “lower court” court reporters are what they are seeking.

Personally I’m uncertain if I would move from a permanent position to a provisional one — so be careful if you’re in that boat and ask questions.

The Ohio Supreme Court Works For Corporate Interests, Says Boneless Doesn’t Mean Boneless

A dear friend sent me this video.

And there are lots of articles on it.

Bottom line is a dude allegedly goes to get some boneless wings, the boneless wings have a bone inside, and he gets injured. Like I said the other day, I’m not a lawyer, but this is a very straightforward negligence case, issue to be put to a jury.

The trial court dismissed his case on summary judgment and the appellate court upheld the ruling.

Generally, in summary judgment, the court is supposed to look at the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and decide “could a jury find in favor of this person?”

The trial court decided that boneless doesn’t mean boneless, but describes the manner in which the meal is cooked.

Yeah. Seriously.

So could a jury find this corporation at fault because it had bones in its boneless wings and this guy got injured?

The Ohio Supreme Court says no.

I say fuck the Ohio Supreme Court. These shysters hide behind legalism and say “we shouldn’t be influenced by the media.” Um, here’s some more media from someone who’s been around enough lawyers to know this is a garbage ruling.

Ohio Supreme Court bows down to corporate power and decides boneless doesn’t mean boneless

Maybe when you’re deciding cases shouldn’t even go to trial because they might not go well for corporations you’re bought and paid for and need to be ripped off the bench by the masses. That’s what would happen in a civilized country, but thank God for all of you, we live in America, a nation of laws.

Of course, this is as always, my stupid dirtbag left performative style. I would never advocate for actual violence against judges that are ready to sell our country out to corporate interests because “muh economy.” But I will not be silent about it.

I would brand them treacherous snakes. Maybe the legislature needs to write into law that the court can’t make up definitions of words and that they’re subject to immediate removal when they do? I don’t know. But you can’t leave this alone. This is the denial of trial by jury by, again, treacherous snakes who deserve no respect and bring great disrespect to the rule of law through their hideous actions.

The dude’s case is dead in the water. Others should not suffer the same fate.

As the lawyer in the video says, nobody is saying the guy deserves money. We merely suggest that there’s enough evidence at a glance to send the matter to a jury.

This country’s infected man. I’m waiting for people to rise up.

Corporatists beware, people like me are starting to get into legislatures. We’re in all the branches of government in fact. And before long you’ll be purged from government one way or another. Votes, rulings, laws — we will fight and we will win because America will be stronger for it.

Just call us the bad guys.

NVRA President: NCRA STRONG and Stenographic Writers Can Join Us for Real Institutional Support!

From National Verbatim Reporters Association President Patrick Stephens:

Hello, reporting community!

For those of you that don’t know me, my name is Patrick Stephens. I have the pleasure of serving as the current president of the National Verbatim Reporters Association – no, the V is not for voice! The association strives to cater to the needs and wants of voice writers and machine writers alike.

In the past few months, I’ve become aware of some concerns machine writers have regarding a committee they’ve poured a lot of their time, energy and hearts into, the STRONG Committee. I wanted to write a piece to let you know that your concerns did not fall on deaf ears at the NVRA. First, presidents in most societies have the right to disassemble and rearrange committees that are NOT standing committees of a society. Removing a standing committee, though, requires the voice of the members, as it would constitute a Bylaws amendment, and, in a lot of instances, an amendment to an association’s Articles of Incorporation. Because of this, it is my belief that the NVRA’s Legislative Issues Committee would be the perfect place to work toward addressing these complicated and critical issues, as the committee reports to the entire NVRA Board of Directors and is not subject to removal on the wishes of one person.

“AI lacks the capacity for contextualization that humans possess.”

NCRA White Paper, 2023.

Who would understand this more so than the voice writer? While voice writers use Dragon Professional software, it is a tool, just like steno theory is a tool to produce the words. With these tools, there is always a human in control discerning and making sure that speech is transcribed correctly. Speakers, homonyms, dialects, parentheticals and punctuation must be transcribed correctly, and nothing replaces the human mind as the only proven method that can do so. With a human, the transcript certification has been a single point of quality assurance, as the reporter swears that the transcript is a truly verbatim record. Even if AI could certify a transcript, can we as humans truly trust it? AI systems are owned by corporations; individual reporters are not. Most certifications tell the reader that court reporters are not financially tied to the parties involved in the case. Furthermore, court reporters have an ethical obligation to tell parties if the deponent or parties in the case are related to them or if there is a conflict of interest. AI will have none of these responsibilities.

Voice writers use voice codes, which are comparable to brief strokes and pen-writing. It is the same thing as a human being having control of steno strokes, which is a theory and a program just as a voice writer’s theory uses Dragon Professional, sometimes referred to as “oral stenography”. Additionally, computer-aided transcription (CAT) software we all use aid the theory/method that we use. For machine steno, CAT software utilizes the theory to make words; for voice, the CAT software utilizes Dragon’s speech recognition engine to make words.

In steno, a stroke is written, the stroke goes to the theory and looks for that specific stroke and selects the correct word; voice writers say a word, it goes to the speech recognition engine (Dragon) and makes an educated guess of what was said. *

If a machine writer makes the correct stroke, the right word will appear. Because voice writers dictate to Dragon’s speech recognition engine, which is an imperfect AI, if a mistake is made, the voice writer can correct it in real-time and the correct word will appear.

“The leading speech recognition tools misunderstand Black speakers twice as often as white speakers,” wrote the research team. “To close the gap, we must create more linguistically diverse and inclusive datasets.”

NCRA White Paper, 2023.

I would argue that you should just use a court reporter. Accents and dialects are converted by the court reporter continuously and daily. The voice writer’s input in this context is critical for the AI to run effectively, given these differences in accents and dialects. Any speech recognition engine is simply a program that will take sounds, run it through its vocabulary base and make an educated guess at the words you said.

“Court reporters, whether practicing machine or voice stenography, have the opportunity to work together to protect the profession we love so much. Our ability to be the person to certify the record – not a transcriber from a far-off land or a computer algorithm – is one of our strongest selling points, not to mention real-time and read-backs! We have a duty to the record; we have certifications and ethical obligations we must meet to protect the record. Working together toward a common goal can build bridges and increase momentum toward greater understanding of what we do and why we love our profession.”

Tori Pittman, (Machine/Voice Writer – NVRA Education Committee & Director)

Of note is that only the machine writer and the voice writer pass certification exams at the same speeds, scores and test durations, with both national exams being validated by credentialing entities, and many states use these certifications as an entry requirement for licensure, what we’ve all come to know as reciprocity. It’s time to combine our efforts in hopes for a better future for the students and working professionals we’ve come to know and support!

In conclusion, voice and machine writers all know the ubiquity of artificial intelligence in this modern age. Voice and machine writers work around the flaws in automated speech recognition every day and are uniquely positioned to speak out on its pros and cons.

NVRA’s Legislative Issues Committee, a standing committee that cannot be disbanded by incoming presidents, is being given a new mission: Court reporters of both modalities will come together to investigate and recommend legislative action that will ensure that technology is working for the communities we serve under the supervision and direction of certified court reporters only. We will work to build a coalition with other professionals concerned with the application of AI in their own fields, and together, make our voices heard.

Let this be a call to those ready to make a difference in the future of our profession. The National Verbatim Reporters Association is prepared to give its committee and general members the institutional support needed to make changes to ensure that reporters reap the benefits of technology and that its harm is eliminated.

For more details and information regarding this committee of NVRA, feel free to E-mail us at legislation@nvra.org. If you’re interested in membership, please visit us at NVRA.org. Please note that if you’re an RPR seeking to join the NVRA, the deadline to submit your application for RPR reciprocity with the NVRA’s CVR needs to be received by December 31st, 2024. Please E-mail nvramembership@nvra.org to begin this process.

From Christopher Day, Stenonymous.com:

I think this is a clear sign that everyone in the industry knows what was done to NCRA STRONG was wrong. I think the NVRA is willing to get behind its reporters, give an actual budget, and not mothball important initiatives. To my allies over at the National Court Reporters Association, consider picking up an NVRA membership today and getting involved. I see a real chance for change and an organization that’s willing to do what must be done to grow and create a healthy, enduring profession. This is also an opportunity to join a committee that cannot be easily disbanded, like Mr. Stephens made clear.

I offer this message for download below so that it may be shared more easily.

Docx:

Patrick Stephens Message Download

PDF:

Patrick Stephens Message Download

Brianna Boston Arrested: “Delay. Deny. Depose. You People Are Next!” Free Speech or True Threat?

This will shed a little light on what I’m talking about.

To be completely fair, I haven’t reviewed the Florida statute that she’s charged under. But basically she calls Blue Cross Blue Shield about some denied claims. Gets angry. Says “Delay, Deny, Depose, you people are next!” And gets charged with terrorism or something like that, with $100,000 bail. Apparently she’s a mom with no history of violence and no criminal history.

My gut reaction? The authorities are in fear mode. They know that there were a lot of people happy about the recent shooting I blogged about, and they think they can contain that stuff by making people afraid of what the law might do to them if they step out of line.

But screw my gut feeling. Let’s be real. Under American law, speech is not protected by the First Amendment if it is a true threat.

So I googled true threat and let the AI do the work for me.

A true threat is a statement that a reasonable person would interpret as a serious expression of intent to commit unlawful violence against another person.

Well, I can kinda see problems with this prosecution already. Does a reasonable person believe “you people are next” from a mom that’s angry about her claim being denied really mean she’s going to commit unlawful violence against them? I see how we could get there. But I also think there are much more “violent” statements that the police would never arrest anyone for.

For example, I was once told by the relative of someone I was dating that if I hurt her, they would kill me. And you know, when he said it, I was actually a little scared. Now, I didn’t run to the police. But I know the vibe of cops on Staten Island, and I have a feeling that if I went to them and recited this, they’d laugh at my face and tell me to go away. I’ll never know for sure.

But I know for a fact that when a doorman called the NYPD during my medical incident in Manhattan years ago, where that doorman obviously felt the situation required police intervention, they just never showed up. So, you know, for us little people, at least anecdotally and from stories I’ve heard over the years, it’s hit or miss on whether the cops are going to help you, shoot you, or no show. But when you make an off comment to an insurance company employee? Boom. Arrested. 100k bail. I know it’s different states. I concede that.

I think the hinge here is intent. Did she intend to communicate a threat of violence? And I guess that depends very much on the definition of intent.

Did she intend to threaten the person on the other end of that phone?

What will the courts ultimately decide? I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer and I could easily see myself arguing it either way.

But my gut, again, is telling me this is a not guilty situation. It’s more a crime of stupidity than any actual terrorism.

Then again, we live in a country where people who post legal annotations online have been called terrorist.

Maybe I’m a terrorist too?

Unidentified Drones Over Staten Island, Elected Officials Call For Answers in December 13 Press Release

The following was transcribed from a press release posted by Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis’s Facebook. It was transcribed by everyone’s favorite Staten Island stenographer, Christopher Day.

(He was not, in fact, anyone’s favorite stenographer.)

In full disclosure, I’m not paid by any of these people, and they probably find my usual brand of activism repulsive. But I felt this a matter of importance that people should be allowed to read through without having to watch the entire 17-minute video. Shout out to r/StatenIslandPulse on Reddit and Staten Island Neighbors on Facebook. I would like to voice the opinion that we should not be suggesting people be allowed to shoot down the drones, as Mr. Fossella appears to suggest. If they’re to be shot down, let them be shot down by the authorities that be in some controlled, calculated manner. People shooting into the sky in a city and borough as populated as ours has too much potential to hurt or kill people.

Transcriptions of factual events are not copyrighted. Share this wherever you want.

A PDF download will be made available followed by a plain text version below.

______________________________________________

12132024 Press Release Posted by Nicole Malliotakis Download

ATTENDANT SPEAKERS:
VITO FOSSELLA, STATEN ISLAND BOROUGH PRESIDENT
NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JESSICA SCARCELLA-SPANTON, NEW YORK STATE SENATE
MICHAEL TANNOUSIS, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
DAVID CARR, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
KAMILLAH HANKS, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
JAMES CLINTON, RICHMOND COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
On behalf of District Attorney Michael McMahon

DENISE PACHECO, NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
On behalf of Assembly Member Michael Reilly.

MR. FOSSELLA: Um, good morning, everybody. My name is Vito Fossella, and I just want to pose a question I think is on millions of people’s minds around here. What if there were 3,000 reports of drones or manned aircraft sightings over the U.S. capital, or the White House, or the State House in Albany? What would happen? There would be an immediate and intense response to figure out what they were, and to solve the problem. And yet millions of people around here, New Jersey, of course here in Staten Island, and beyond, are getting nothing but, “don’t believe what you see.” You know, there’s a saying we had after 9/11, “if you see something, say something,” I think that’s become “if you see something, don’t worry about it, ’cause we saw it too.”

And the people of Staten Island deserve answers. The people of this city, and state, and region deserve answers of what the heck is going on. Just last night, in my neighborhood, my neighbor sent a video of whatever it is flying over our house. And yet we’re told “don’t believe what you see.” It’s shocking to us that here we are almost a month later, 3,000 sightings, drones, manned aircraft, at least — and our folks don’t have an answer.

We’re calling upon not just the New York City Police Department, but others, to get involved, get aggressive, figure out what these things are, and help at least alleviate some of the frustration, anxiety that many people share. This is 2024, they’re either lying, or they’re incompetent, or they’re both. How can we, the United States of America, have this going on, and we’re told just look the other way, ignore it, it’s no big deal?

We know for a fact that there may be some who, you know, are performing some type of surveillance. Well, let’s be honest with the American people and treat them like adults and tell them what it is. Yet here we are standing because we know recently the reports over this asset, the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, here we are with Fort Wadsworth, oldest military installation in the country. There was, we believe, a drone flying above the bridge. We also know on the other side of the island there was a drone flying over New York container port and the Goethals Bridge. And we’re supposed to just let it be?

Come on, folks, step up to the plate and be honest and truthful with the American people, the people of Staten Island, and solve this problem once and for all. We’re in this together. I know we have many folks around this region who are weighing in now. It’s about time. We started a couple of weeks ago asking, along with the Congresswoman, to include at least Staten Island in any investigation going on with the FAA and FBI. This is not to take away from them. They didn’t start this problem. But they have an obligation to let us know what the heck is going on.
As I said, we’re all in this together. And representing us in D.C. and Congress is our Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis.

MS. MALLIOTAKIS: Thank you, Vito. 20 years ago they filmed War of the Worlds on Staten Island, and now we feel like we’re characters in that movie. What is happening is outrageous. Thousands of drones and unmanned aerial systems flying above us, and our government is not telling us who’s operating them, and for what purpose.

I don’t believe that the United States of America, with its military capabilities, does not know what these objects are. And what I’m asking, and what we’re all asking, is for you to be straight with us, and just tell us what is going on. As Vito says, this is — this is creating havoc. People are confused. They’re concerned. They have anxiety. They don’t know what’s going on. There’s all sorts of theories that are out there. And the best way to address this is to just be honest and tell the American people what is going on. These are not recreational drones. These are not, I don’t believe, commercial drones, because if they are, they are violating existing rules and regulations which say that they need to be under 400 feet and they can’t be operating in the middle of the night between sunset and sunrise.

So that leaves two options. It’s our government, or there’s a foreign nexus. And so either our government is doing some type of surveillance activity or surveying, or, what really would concern, I think, everyone, there’s a foreign government that is doing this type of activity and surveillance, and they’re doing it above sensitive infrastructure, Verrazzano Bridge, this U.S. Coast Guard base, the army installation across the water, power plants, ports, and so, again, just be straight with us. Tell us what it is. And let’s address it the best possible way so we can calm everyone down and make sure that these don’t pose a threat to our national security and public safety. Because even if it is not nefarious, the fact that these things are flying all over is a public safety issue. There can be an accident. There could be an explosion. There could be a crash. This is a very densely-populated area. And going back to the FAA restrictions, you cannot be flying these things above and around buildings if it’s commercial or recreational.

So something’s not right here, and we need our government to give us answers, and also put in place restrictions so that this does not continue, and enforce the existing regulations and restrictions. And that means our government needs to follow those rules as well. Thank you.
MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Nicole. You know, recently we had — just a few days ago, we had announced the city, in partnership with the MTA, Port Authority, and others, actually took 70,000 ghost vehicles off the roads, bikes, E-bikes, mopeds, motorcycles, and cars. And yet here we are helpless with these ghost drones flying above. We also know, as Nicole said, this is a public safety issue, because of the reports out of New Jersey, how somebody who needed to be medevac’d to a hospital was prevented from doing so because of the drones. And we’re just supposed to take this lightly?

With us at the state level is State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton.

MS. SCARCELLA-SPANTON: Thank you. Good morning. You know, one of the best sayings is that sunlight is always the best disinfectant. And leaving people and our community up to their own devices to decide what these drones might be, could be, and not giving the people answers from the top, from the government officials who are way higher up than any of us here locally, it’s not right to us as we get hundreds upon hundreds of constituent requests and questions asking them what this is about, that we have no answers.

So this is us standing today demanding an answer. We need to be able to tell our constituents what is going on, and even if you just could provide a little bit more information. Is this something of ours? Is this something that you need to do for security purposes? Even if it’s vague, an answer is better than “look away. Don’t look up.” That’s unacceptable.

And the people of New Jersey, which I have friends who are complaining that there are dozens upon dozens above her house. She lives by a military installation in Jersey. Every single night. And nobody is doing anything. We need answers and we need them now. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Jessica. Now, there’s also reports of “why don’t you shoot them down?” Perhaps the President of the United States, or the Governor of the State of New York or elsewhere should say or issue an executive order to allow people to shoot the things down. There are those who have said in public life, “well, don’t — don’t be concerned.” Some of those people actually said they don’t know what they are, but don’t be concerned. You can’t have it both ways. How can you not know what they are and say you shouldn’t be concerned? So we’re getting to the point of reckless. Reckless rhetoric. Reckless behavior. And basically, as I said before, you’re either lying or incompetent to the people. State Assemblyman Michael Tannousis.

MR. TANNOUSIS: Thank you to the borough president for holding this press conference today. You know, tons and tons of constituents have contacted my office. I know they contacted the offices of my colleagues. And we just don’t know what to tell them. We just don’t know what to tell them because we’re not getting any answers. And it’s completely inexcusable. They owe it to the taxpayers. We owe it to the taxpayers. We, as representatives of the taxpayers, need to be able to inform our constituents of what the investigation has yielded, and we have none of that. We have none of that.

They’re either lying or they’re incompetent. It’s 2024. You mean to tell me that we don’t have the means to find out what these are within our own borders over New Jersey, over Staten Island, over the tri-state area? Completely inexcusable. And I call not just from the federal government. I call on the New York State Police. I call on the NYPD to get involved, coordinate, investigate, so we can finally get some answers for our constituents. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Michael. Well, point of personal privilege, at 10:02, I just became a grandfather.

(Cheering).

MR. FOSSELLA: First grandchild, Miley Parker (names phonetic), so congratulations to Kierstan — sorry about that — sorry about the baby. Anyway.

With us, a great fighter locally in the City Council, a great — not just a great representative, great person. Councilman David Carr.

MR. CARR: Thank you so much, Borough President. Congratulations. And we appreciate your leadership. Even when family duty calls, you’re here with us today fighting. And I particularly want to thank also the Congresswoman who has been on top of this since this issue first emerged. She’s been absolutely a fighter for us in DC and here in New York.

The truth of the matter is that the people just want to know what’s going on. Communication breeds confidence. Silence breeds insecurity. And if this is really nothing, right, then just get us the answer and tell us what it is. When sightings of this nature happen of this magnitude and above sensitive locations, above people’s homes, they have a right to want to know what is going on. They have a right to answers, and that’s all we’re seeking. We’re seeking answers so that we can calm the situation down, if indeed it is something that is not a big deal. And if it is a big deal, the people also need to be secure in the knowledge that whatever it is, that their government at every level, federal, state, and city, is acting in their best interest, is acting to protect them and their families. And they’re never gonna know that unless they get the answers we’re all here seeking today. So I thank my colleagues here in Staten Island and throughout the region for their leadership in seeking those answers, and we commit to our constituencies that we’re going to get them the security they deserve. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you very much councilman. And joining us from the West Shore, a great person indeed, a good friend, Council member Kamillah Hanks.

MS. HANKS: Congratulations. Thank you so much. Once again — once again — you have the entire Staten Island elected officials standing before you today, because these times are uncertain. And in these uncertain times, every day adds a new issue that affects our public safety. So the latest are now drones. So I’m not going to belabor the point, for time and warmth, to repeat everything that my colleagues have said here behind me. But I am here to make sure that the hundreds of constituents that reached out to our office, that I am here with you, Staten Island elected officials are here with you, we are here demanding answers from the NYPD, our government, and anyone and everyone who can let us know what’s happening.

Again, these times are uncertain and people are afraid. Every day there’s a new calamity, a new thing that is threatening our public safety. So I thank our Borough President, our Congresswoman, and my colleagues standing behind me. It’s wonderful to have such colleagues that are always on call and always there fighting for the betterment of Staten Island. Thank you so much, stay warm, and happy holidays.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you, Council member. Michelle, you’re not going to speak?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MR. FOSSELLA: From Council member Borelli’s office, Michelle. And from DA McMahon’s office, James Clinton. James, you want to say something?

MR. CLINTON: Sure. Thank you. Good morning, folks. James Clinton here on behalf of Staten Island district attorney Mike McMahon. I want to congratulate the Borough President. Also thank him for gathering us here today. Now, you heard some of the potential public safety risks associated with these drones. It’s very easy to imagine a worst-case scenario here. But we deserve to know what’s flying in our skies. We deserve to protect our airspace. Staten Islanders deserve answers. So too do our neighbors in Jersey. All right?

And there’s another concern here, which is we’ve seen this over the past four years, really, is that when the federal government is not readily forthcoming, or even local government is not readily forthcoming with critical information that Americans are demanding, it’s very easy for misinformation, disinformation, and fear to spread, which is something we all want to prevent. Right? So the best way to prevent that is transparency. And right now we’re not getting those answers. So yes, as the Assemblyman stated, we’re calling on the NYPD. We’re also calling on federal law enforcement to empower local law enforcement, make sure that we get the resources, technology, and necessary people power here on the ground to conduct a thorough investigation, find out what is going on here, and get those answers back to the American people. The DA’s office is here today because this is a nonpartisan issue. This is about government transparency and public safety. Thank you.

MR. FOSSELLA: All right, James. Thank you. From Assemblyman Michael Riley’s office, Denise Pacheco.

MS. PACHECO: Good morning. I am Denise Pacheco. I represent Assembly Member Michael Reilly. I apologize, the Assembly member could not be here this morning. Like his colleagues before us, he is deeply concerned about the recent drone activity reported in our community. As you’ve seen today, we are committed to working with our partners in government and law enforcement to investigate this matter and will continue to monitor the situation as it develops. The safety and security of our community — I apologize for that. For our community, of course, is our top priority. Assembly member Reilly encourages Staten Islanders to report any suspicious drone activity to local authorities by calling 311 or 911. Thank you and have a great day.

MR. FOSSELLA: Thank you Denise. Anybody else? Got everybody. So here you have it. You know, we’re speaking with one voice. I think we’re speaking on behalf of the voice of people — half a million people in Staten Island, millions across this region. I dare say, for those who dated ourselves, perhaps it’s time to call in the drone ranger.

(Laughter).

MR. FOSSELLA: I know. I’m ridiculous. Sorry about that. Anyway, the mommy and the baby are doing great. That’s most important to me right now, so.

(END OF VIDEO POSTED ON NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS’S FACEBOOK.)

Transcribed by Christopher Day, Stenonymous.com

The Sad State of Blog Publishing

Bit of a rant. But it’s absolutely shocking to me what gets attention sometimes.

My most popular article was my stupid Walden parody this year.

Stenonymous releases 2024 stats as of 12/13/24

Meanwhile, my political writing gets more attention than the revelation that the number of court reporter jobs is going down — on a blog meant for court reporters!

Stenonymous releases December 2024 stats as of 12/13/24

I mean, what does this tell me? I’ll get more hits if I blog about movies and news than court reporting. Maybe that was an easy conclusion to come to. But it’s kind of sad for me, because it means a lot of the stuff I put time and energy into probably wasn’t worth it.

My passion is in speaking out against injustice and the autocrats threatening America and American workers, big and small. But I guess, being that many of us are doing well in our personal lives, we don’t all see the cliff I’ve seen and the inevitable worker glut that I believe is coming. Fair enough. Maybe someday there’ll be enough people in my base to do something about it.

I think I’m going to do more political and news-related stuff. It brings in the readers. I’m sorry to those that tune in exclusively for the court reporting news, but if my dream of turning this blog into a real operation is ever to be realized, it’s going to need more funding, and at this point, it’s pretty clear to me I’m not going to get that funding from court reporters. Thanks to those that got us this far.

To those that tune out, I get it.

Everybody else, enjoy the show.

Bulletin: Why We Can Discuss Rates

A long time ago I made the Court Reporter Rates Discussion group on Facebook. Anyone can join and we do a bit of group policing to keep the spam low.

For years this wasn’t a thing. Our associations trained us we couldn’t discuss rates because we are independent contractors. And in recent years there have even been a few people who have made the claim what I am facilitating is illegal.

There are two reasons why I’m basically immune to any sort of prosecution in this regard, as best I can tell.

First of all, for the FTC to go after me, they risk bringing to light that they didn’t go after the consortium of businesses that conspired to raise prices under the Speech-to-Text Institute. They’d be arguing Christopher Day is more of a threat to the monopolization of the market than Veritext et al.

Second of all, the indisputable legal truth is that the vast majority of us are misclassified employees with an absolute right to discuss our pay and working conditions. Again, this is something companies would never come after me for, because it would blow up in their face. Imagine a judge confirming what I am saying for all of you.

There are digital court reporters figuring this out and talking about unionization. Change is coming. It may take a decade or more or it could be next year. But we each have a decision to make — lead the charge or watch the battle and hope the winner is benevolent.

Coincidentally it’s the same way fascism has been fought through history.

Hey Staten Island Neighbors, Be Wary of Digital Court Reporting!

I’m in a local community Facebook group called Staten Island Neighbors. Fun group. Highly suggested to any of my readers from Staten Island.

I thought I’d raise to my community a more national issue that I’ve been raising consumer awareness on for years now because, sure as hell, it impacts us locally, specifically jobseekers.

If you want to skip the story bits, scroll down to the next bolded part.

I’ve been a stenographic court reporter for about 14 years now. There are many of us on Staten Island. We’re the people you see in court with those funny stenotype machines. It’s a good living. And there are much more reputable Staten Islanders that I bet would agree.

And when I went to school for what I’m doing, I was told a great many things about the outlook of the career. Lots of nuance to that discussion. But if you want to become a court reporter for the New York State Court Unified Court System, stenographic court reporting remains the way to do it.

Over the years I documented a private sector plot to fool lawyer and student consumers into accepting something called digital reporting, that is, the recording and transcribing of testimony. Digital’s been around for many decades in one form or another and hasn’t supplanted stenography because it’s less efficient. About half a decade ago, a shift started to happen, and long story short, large corporations in our field started spending A LOT of time and money on digital reporting. The end goal is pretty simple. They want to push us stenographers out of the market, put in lower paid digital reporters, and pocket the difference. And their money and influence even spread to our College of Staten Island.

Here’s the deal for anyone that clicked that Ed 2 Go link, these people are not trustworthy people. Ed 2 Go is known to have worked with fraudsters like Brian Kennedy. Veritext, one of the plot pushers, is owned by Leonard Green, a private equity group known for looting hospitals for poor people. BlueLedge digital court reporting training is either owned by or heavily affiliated with Veritext. There’s a whole rabbit hole that’s not appropriate for this post. But these are not people that we can trust with our futures or our kids’ futures.

I documented this stuff so well that when you Google Veritext fraud, my stuff comes up, and the multimillion dollar Veritext hasn’t sued because it would only cause the evidence against the company reach a courtroom.

TLDR: The bottom line is that a lot of time and money is being spent on convincing Staten Islanders that digital court reporting is a good job when in reality it is lower paid and has fewer job opportunities than stenographic reporting. Tell your friends and family if they’re considering a digital court reporting career.

Happy to answer questions in the comments. I’m a lifelong Staten Islander. The media and government are ignoring what has been documented despite the illegal actions of these corporations, so it is down to us to protect each other through information sharing. That’s what this website brings to the table. That’s what Staten Island Neighbors brings to the table. And to all those that believe in honest business, and believe businesses shouldn’t violate the law to get ahead, thanks for sharing.

North Dakota: Goodbye Stenographers. Want To Make A Record?

Fortunately for me the National Court Reporters Association has summed this up quite nicely.

They’re looking to do away with stenographers in yet another state. I provided what I feel is a most unusual spin on the situation, and hopefully it helps win the day.

You can make your voice heard this December, if you so choose.

What I wrote:

Regarding the termination of court reporters in North Dakota:

To Sally A. Holewa, State Court Administrator, and

Petra H. Mandigo, Clerk of the Supreme Court

My name is Christopher Day. I’m a long-time advocate for stenographic reporting all over the country. I’m not going to hang my hat on the efficiency of stenographic reporting over digital. What I am going to do is talk plainly in dollars and cents so that policymakers may come to understand why it is a bad idea to replace stenographic reporters with digital reporting wholesale.

Most notably, with the presence of both methods on the market, page rates and salaries are at an all-time low. Factually, when looking at the Bureau of Labor Statistics median wage for court reporters over the last few years, I found that despite the private sector’s insistence that there was whopping demand, our median wages were falling.

It comes down to a very simple calculation of supply and demand. If the supply of court reporters continues to rise as it is forecasted to by anyone that is not using the former Speech-to-Text Institute’s debunked and fraudulent materials, and the demand remains roughly the same, prices will freeze or fall. Indeed, in my own hometown of New York City, this is precisely what has happened. Adjusted for inflation, rates are the lowest they’ve been in over 30 years. Notably, after the Speech-to-Text Institute was called out for fraud, it got sued and shut down its website.

Succinctly, the elimination of stenographic reporters from your pool of choices leaves a sort of monopoly to the digital recording and digital reporting sellers. They will be able to, through actual collusion or tacit parallelism, raise prices on your court system. And there will be basically no going back, because the elimination of stenographers will have indicated to the public that the demand for stenographers doesn’t exist. This is in stark contrast, again, to the claims of many courts around the country claiming that they want and need stenographic court reporters.

We can point to digital solutions from other parts of the world to see that they are bad for business. Take VIQ Solutions, for example, a stock price hovering around 20 cents, with net losses of millions upon millions of dollars every quarter. Though I can’t speak to VIQ specifically, I can say that companies like this have a very specific playbook. Drive the price through the floor on the backs of investors, kill the competition that doesn’t have such cash reserves, and then once the competition is killed, jack up the price as high as it’ll go. This is the future of North Dakota if it allows the complete replacement of stenographers.

Truly it is in the best financial interests of the taxpayer to maintain a state of competition. Lean to one side or the other, and the so-called “winner” has no reason not to take advantage of their newfound dominance in the marketplace.

Thank you for your consideration.

Addendum:

My comment was rejected because it didn’t follow the notice. I’ll be reworking it to follow the notice, which I’m making available for download below.

Notice – Comment Download