Staten Island Voices?

Staten Island is a really good community. We export a lot of media. Staten Island’s GDP is like $22 billion so you know we’re hard workers, much like our neighbors all over New York City.

Could we kick off a public reporting corporation that intakes, records, captions, streams, transcribes, and publishes the words of real people from the community, every day 24/7? Kind of like open court, but for profit, but honest about it?

I see it hitting big in today’s “don’t know who to trust for news” economy. I see it locking arms with community stakeholders eager for exposure.

Look at Mirabai Knight and what she built for free, and the businesses that were built from that. What are the possibilities if we start engaging with local and online communities to funnel money back to ours?

If I were a better fundraiser I’d have $10 million for that. We’d double it under half a decade.

And it sounds crazy but the money being poured on the field is irrational. Do they really expect the courts to stop being cash-strapped soon? No. They’re after the big law guys. Leaving untold amounts of money on the table for what our skills can provide the public.

What do you all think?

Jackie Mentecky: It’s Deception. It’s A Bait and Switch…

(CDA stands for Christopher Day Annotation in this text.)

“We need antitrust monopoly. We need an employment lawyer.”

Cheri Marks speaks to FL stenographer Jackie Mentecky

ME: Where are you from and are you currently working as a stenographer? And how did you get started in that field?

JM: I’m originally from England, but I grew up in the states, I lived in Pittsburgh for a long time. I moved down to Florida 28 years ago, and I’ve been reporting for since 1998. My entire career has been in Florida.

ME: How has the work been going recently? And can you tell me about when and how you started working with the reporters in Florida?

JM: I’ve always worked for the big boxes, but it was more recently I started asking myself, ‘what’s going on with our career?’ And I started nose diving and down rabbit holes, pulling up lawsuits, pulling up billing. And it was when I saw the writing on the wall that I decided to open my own agency.

ME: Could you give me some examples of things you were finding, what the bad practices entailed? I’m also curious where you seek out news, sources and information about abuses in the field of stenography. Is there good communication within the field?

JM: I can tell you this. Going into a job, attorneys were very vocal in asking, ‘why is my bill so high? What is going on?” And I would talk to my girlfriends, and again– more and more attorneys are complaining about their invoices. I’m like, ‘sir, I haven’t seen a bill since 2006. I don’t know what they’re billing you’.

We never got a copy of the bill. We never knew what they were billing. Attorneys, law firms, whatever it was, everything was kept in the dark, hush hush. Nothing. Nothing. We used to get copies of the bills that went out to the law firms–

ME: The bills were coming from who?

JM: The big boxes. So we used to get copies of the bills when they invoiced their clients, but then they stopped. Looking back, that’s kind of when things started going south.

Everything was hidden behind a back door, don’t ask questions, you know? And it was very, you could sense it. You knew it. You would bring it up once in a while, but, God, you were so busy! You just kept working, right? We were busy. You knew something wasn’t right, but you think, well, I’m still making good money, so leave it alone.

ME: Don’t make waves.

JM: And then you’d forget about it, until somebody else would bring it up..

JM: About six years ago, my son started having really bad seizures. And I stopped going out on live jobs, so I was working from home. I was working for a big box, already either appearing by phone or transcribing audios, before it was even cool.

So the first year of COVID I ended up going back to one of the big boxes because Zoom was now popular. It was a lot easier for me to go back to being a stenographer that was doing hearings and trials and depositions. We were having, oh, gosh, two, three jobs a day during COVID when people finally learned how to use Zoom, and we were slammed. Like, even if you tried to get a day off, they were blowing up our phones:

“Open job”, “do this”, “we need that”, “we need help”, “help. I understand you’re off tomorrow, but can you please take this job?”

I mean, we were slammed. And then, all of a sudden, it wasn’t so slammed anymore.

But attorneys were like, oh, my God. We’re still on backlog, we’re busy, busy, busy, busy. We gotta go to trial. And the court stenographers were saying, ‘what’s going on?’ Our two jobs a day are now, if we’re lucky we got two or three a week.

So, what is going on?

Covid was the perfect opportunity for these firms to do this to us, because we weren’t in the office together. We weren’t seeing each other all the time. Everybody was working by zoom now. So this was their big chance to cry ‘shortage’ and hire digitals, get them trained, and then try to get rid of the court stenographers. For them to say, we’re too slow, and then come to find out that they have digital reporters in Texas taking Florida work.

I started doing some research. I knew something was up. I knew that this had got to be over profits. I mean, they’re paying these typists $20 an hour. I did legal transcription for over 20 years at a big box firm. I know what AI software they’re using, and how much they’re paying their typist, everything.

Because that’s what it is. They get these digital court reporters, they’re paying them $20 an hour, but they’re still billing the law firms as if a professional stenographer showed up. And then they bless them with this title, ‘court reporter’.

ME: No way!

JM: It’s deception. It’s bait and switch, you know? You hear ‘court reporter’, you’re thinking, court stenographer. And there’s someone sitting there with a machine just pressing ‘record’. And then they input it into a system.

ME: Geez. Is there a Stenography Union?

JM: Well, Florida’s not big on unions. We have the Florida Court Reporters Association. And I always thought it was funny that the big box companies always had people on the board, right? The same people that have tried to strip us of our profession were on the board making decisions on whether we should get legislation to protect our careers. Weird, right?

ME: Yeah.

JM: And it’s so funny because they were all on the FCRA, and they would be big sponsors for conventions and stuff. Then Covid comes and they’re no longer doing that. They’re part of the AAERT, which is the electronic 8th-grade-comparable test to become a court reporter.

(CDA: In full disclosure, I’ve actually read AAERT’s best practices manual, and I believe if best practices were followed all the time, decent transcripts could be made. Best practices are not followed all the time and some of the transcripts I’ve seen over the years have been atrocious. But I suppose that’s not entirely unlike our own field, where some of us do not join into the “excellence culture.”)

ME: Wow.

JM: They were on the board, but they’ve been playing this for years. Covid was the best thing that ever happened to them.

ME: Right. Do you feel like there’s potential for individual court reporters to unionize as a way to push back against this? I don’t know If there’s much conversation between states, or if you’ve done any kind of organizing?

JM: Well, it’s still getting out. At all the agencies, all the managers would always tell us, ‘your job’s protected. We wouldn’t be an agency without the court stenographers’. But behind our backs, they were training digitals. I don’t know how much you know about Veritext, but they buy out to small agencies. They have a school to pump out digitals.

(CDA: BlueLedge.)

ME: Wow.

JM: And then especially, with Zoom, they’re able to get away with using a digital, and they’re billing clients as if a professional stenographer showed up.

I don’t know how New York does it, but down in Florida, we have an appearance rate, which is just us showing up, as an hourly rate. So, I’ll give you an example of a trial. For a court reporter to show up, let’s just say $1,100 for the day. The court reporting agencies would pay the court stenographer anywhere between 65% to 70%. So you’re looking at, you know, $650-700

So they made, like, you know, what, 400, $500 up, sending the court stenographer there.

‘Shortage. Shortage. Let’s send it digital!’. And we’re gonna pay the digital $20 an hour to hit ‘record’.

And then when I started doing the deep dives and the rabbit holes, and I’m seeing how much they’re telling us ($5 a page), versus how much they’re charging them, ($60!) I was going into courthouses and looking up lawsuits. Agencies were suing attorneys for non-payment, and they have to attach the bills– they’re charging them for litigation packages and storage fees and reads. And, you know, this poor court reporter probably only made a third of that bill.

So when I came across Chris and https://stenonymous.com/ I reached out to him. But a lot of the reporters just didn’t believe us.

ME: Really?

JM: Because the agencies kept saying, oh, no, your job is secure. They didn’t want to believe it. It’s denial. I’ve talked to Chris a couple of times. We should really unionize and try to get this going, but it’s also true that the perpetrators have a lot of money.

(CDA: I have spoken to an attorney and have extensive knowledge on this. Unionization, especially unionization alongside digitals with contractual ratios would change the game forever in our favor.)

ME: Yeah.

JM: And they have big dollar investors, millions and millions and millions of dollars. And if you even type ‘court reporter’ into Google search, all you see are the big box names. They bought up so much advertising.

You have to sort through so much to really find out really what’s going on. Though, the law firms are beginning to become educated. They’re like, what do you mean, ‘there’s a digital’? What’s a ‘digital’? They don’t know. The companies think the law firms don’t care, but they do care.

(CDA: Some care, some don’t.)

ME: Maybe if there were some kind of team effort between the stenographers and the law offices? Maybe my next interview should be with a lawyer, to see what their take on this is…

What’s the state of your work now?

JM: Well, now I’m busy. I’m making more money now than I ever have. But I hustle and I work for a couple small firms that take good care of me, and I have my own clients.

I keep telling every single court reporter, leave the big boxes. Go back to the boutiques, they have great clients. In that way, I’m doing well. But it makes me angry when I find out my friends aren’t busy. I’m like, you’re a real time reporter. How are you not paying your rent?

ME: Have you thought of starting a class action lawsuit or anything?

JM: I mean, they monopolized our market.

I started going on LinkedIn, and I started following some of the big law firms and other court stenographers, and I started posting the truth about what’s going on. And it was shocking, to find out how many lawyers did not know that a digital reporter doesn’t actually type the transcript or ever look at it, that they just make the audio.

They tell the lawyers, ‘this is a digital court reporter who’s making a recording, it’s transcribed by stenographic means’. But it’s not!

They don’t tell them that it’s going through AI. They don’t tell them that if it’s a 100 page transcript. There could be five typists that go through it. That’s why it’s all messed up.

I’ve consulted with a few lawyers in a small court reporting agency. She called me and said that she needed a stenographer. She had called to the big boxes, and they’d said, oh, yeah, we have a stenographer. Well, they end up sending a digital. And it was expedited. It was an all day export. And when they got the transcript back– 150 pages were duplicated!

ME: Oh, my God.

JM: And the transcript was trash. She called me up, and I explained to her exactly what happened. And what to say to the big box agency that did it, and what to say to the judge.

And they won!

So, I think we need to educate the lawyers about what’s really happening with the digitals and what the agencies are doing with their audios– how they’re being charged to expedite. They’re getting charged $16 a page, but they’re paying somebody $2 to do it. And then saying, ‘it’s because there’s a shortage, and we were trying to save money’.

So, when a court reporter shows up, in Florida, they don’t have to order. They can say, I don’t need that yet, so they don’t order it. But if they order it, that’s where the money is. But it depends how many attorneys are there. So usually it’s like two attorneys, plaintiff and defense.

But you could have two attorneys or you could have ten attorneys. You can see on the notice how many parties are on a lawsuit.

So when a court reporting agency goes, ‘Oh, look at this lawsuit. There’s one plaintiff and five defendants. That’s six copy sales right there. Yeah, let’s send the digital– because we’re gonna make a ton off the per diem. We only have to pay somebody $2 a page to do the audio and fill in the gaps’ (which are wrong, by the way).

And then they have five copy sales. And in Florida, a copy sale can range anywhere between $4-6. Up to $30 to 100 page transcript. That’s 100% profit margin to them. If there was a court stenographer, a real professional court stenographer that showed up, it’d be 70% of the entire amount that went to the court stenographer.

ME:Yeah.

JM: Digital is 100% profit margin. It’s not a shortage. It’s corporate greed, and profit margins.

ME: Totally.

JM: And then, once again, they don’t even tell the lawyers.

ME: It’s like, they’re taking advantage of this complex exchange. They’re exploiting it for profit. And it’s subtle.

JM: Yea. I want to say it was 2017 that Veritext, US Legal, and Esquire all got bought out by private equity firms. Like, within three months, all the big boxes got bought out. And it was so weird, too, that I was also finding newspaper articles and stories stating there’s a shortage of court stenographers.

(CDA: My memory differs here. I believe at least Veritext was already owned by private equity. It may have changed hands around that time period though. I have no memory of the status of U.S. Legal Support or Esquire.)

Isn’t that weird? All these articles started popping up, right when all these biggest private equity firms were buying up the big box companies for millions and millions and millions of dollars. Why would a private equity firm buy a company when they were crying shortage?

(CDA: I remember this being more like 2019 when all the articles were popping up. But it hardly matters. It was happening.)

And then I found Veritext’s patent, their big AI software and recording devices, and that the plan was to just get rid of stenographers altogether.

It went through during COVID last year, and I posted it. And I thought, is it just me, or does it seem like Veritext is really trying to make us all quit?

They’re really rude to us on the phone. They’re starving us. And then the work that we do get, it’s paltry, and there’s no write ups. It’s like they’re purposely giving us the jobs that they know aren’t going to write up, and we’re just getting a bad per diem.

And then, we started talking on Facebook, posting stuff. And then people were like, yeah, me too. And I’d preciously had stenographers reaching out to me at Facebook, I would take overflow for them. I would call them and ask, what’s going on? And they’d say ‘We’re fully staffed. We don’t need you anymore’.

We need antitrust monopoly. We need an employment contract lawyer.

ME: Yes.

JM: Because in 2011, Veritext, US legal, and Esquire all got sued. There was a class action. Did you know about this in Florida?

ME: No.

JM: There was a class action lawsuit because attorneys were very upset that the word indices at the end of their [transcripts]. They were getting charged per page, like it was a regular transcript from the court reporter.

And the word index is all at the end of the transcript. If you said the word ‘the’ 100 times, it’ll tell you every time in that transcript where you said the word, ‘the’.

So, you know, it could be a hundred page transcript, but it could be a 30 page word index. And they were getting charged page rates, and they were fighting it. So they filed a class action lawsuit saying this is unethical. This isn’t part of the transcripts, it’s not part of the record.

And they ended up losing.

ME: What?!

JM: Because the court reporting agencies went in, and they said, this word index is part of the court reporters word product. It’s part of the transcript.

(CDA: In actuality, it’s more like tying a product under the antitrust laws. You can, and court reporters absolutely do, create transcripts without word indices.)

And that’s how they lost. Now, it’s funny because when that lawsuit came out, it’s running rampant in the office. We were all hearing about it. But, the court reporting agencies were like, don’t talk about it. Don’t talk about the clients. It’s an ongoing litigation. And then we just never heard about it again.

ME: Right.

JM: So when I started doing my deep dives and I was trying to find out what’s going on and what are the real rates, I happened to ask my friend, ‘whatever happened with that?’

ME: That lawsuit?

JM: Yeah. So I googled it, and I read the order when it was dismissed, and I was like, oh, my God. It got dismissed because they’re saying it’s part of our work product. It’s part of our official transcript. And she was like, wow. So why aren’t they paying us for it?

We have never gotten one penny for a word index. Yeah. I think somebody owes us a lot of money.

ME: Yeah!

JM: So, I was just finding out so much. So I called a lawyer. And I asked, was this dismissed because they were saying the word index is part of the court reporter’s work product? And he said yes. And when I told we never got paid for that, he said are you serious? I almost had a heart attack.

ME: Wow

JM: What a mess. Yeah. It’s so shady. I do believe there’s handholding. I do believe these agencies are in it. There’s no doubt. I believe there’s handholding because the AAERT, the two biggest big boxes are on the Association’s membership boards.

I mean, come on.

ME: What are your next moves? What are your hopes for the future of this community and for communications across the board?

JM: Definitely to get more information out. I think what’s going to save us is educating the lawyers. They need to know that if they want to protect their record, they need to have a stenographer.

ME: Yeah.

JM: If they’re gonna go with the digital, then you get what you pay for. When you’re paying for a professional, you should demand a professional.

ME: Yeah.

JM: You know? It’s very overwhelming. Chris and I were sending stuff back and forth all the time. I got very busy with work. I’m hoping we can get back on it. I would love to get a Florida court stenographer association up, and a campaign to educate the law firms and lawyers and really just bring everything to light.

ME: That sounds like a good path forward.

JM: Here’s my favorite example: this is from a trial transcript and appeal transcript out of Broward county, which is in Fort Lauderdale.

I live 20 minutes north of there. And the guy was charged with “lewd and lascivious molestation”.

The digital transcript says he was guilty of “ruining the gas”. The city’s gas station.

The transcript is on my LinkedIn page.

ME: Oh my god, so wild. Okay, I’m gonna end your interview with that amazing quote. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today.

JM: Bye.

NCRA Board: Yes, We Disbanded Strong, But Our Consistent Failure to Communicate Has the Association’s Best Interest At Heart…

(Note: There is heavy cursing in this post as part of a dirtbag left performative media style. Sorry to those this style offends. I will try to be better about openly labeling offensive material.)

I was sent something from the NCRA by a Stenonymous source. I think the best way to do this is to bold my comments and put parentheses around them. Consider it Christopher Day’s annotations to what’s probably a bunch of bullshit.

(Take it from the king of bullshit.)

Good afternoon,

Please see the following statement from the NCRA Board of Directors. Thank you.

(Thanks Kristin.)

Kristin M. Anderson, M.A., RPR, CRI, CSR, FCRR

NCRA President, 2023-2024

NCRA Board expands advocacy efforts

President-Elect Keith Lemons and the NCRA Board of Directors would like to share with you, our members, what we envision for NCRA’s advocacy efforts this coming year. (That took a while.) President-Elect Lemons has decided to create a new broadly focused Government Relations Team (GRT), which will act as a multi-focused fast response team that will focus on a wide variety of issues of critical importance to the membership. This is not being done to detract from the years of work and current focus of STRONG on AI. Rather, it recognizes the breadth of issues confronting NCRA’s members and the current needs of NCRA’s Government Relations staff, which are much broader. (This sounds nice, but also gives no information as to what the actual plan is, which is a good indicator that there is no actual plan.) We also would like to explain how NCRA’s governance process works and how this new initiative fully complies with NCRA’s Constitution and Bylaws in order to counter the unfortunate rumors and disinformation that have been spread.

Before we get into the details, the NCRA Board wants you, our members, to know that we take our advocacy efforts very seriously. (That’s why we let the Speech-to-Text Institute, a fraudulent organization with no net assets, wreck our collective shit until Christopher Day stepped in to dismantle them with the help of a handful of supporters.) We also take the process of governance of the Association, legal liabilities, and the best practices for managing the business of the Association equally seriously. NCRA can and will proceed with our established procedures and best practices in how we operate and communicate with our members. (Which is to say, we will not communicate unless and until we are being openly attacked by a significant portion of the membership.) NCRA does not conduct official business on social media platforms (hence the term social, not business) (News for you all, your very existence is dependent on the social good will of court reporters. Fucking morons.) or allow back-and-forth discussions that include personal attacks, slander, defamation, or criticism of specific companies or their products that could cause legal liability for NCRA. We need to be above that and also cannot allow NCRA to be exposed to potential liability for such improper communications. (Because, as we all know, in the free country that is America, criticizing people opens up legal liability. We’re not stupid. Go fuck yourselves.)

We are a professional association that has been around for 125 years because NCRA works in a deliberate and effective manner. (So effective, it’s been bleeding membership for the last 10 years.) While it may not be popular in a “I want it now” way and in the combative and destructive mentality (And there we go, taking shots at anybody that criticizes the machine, like you fucking love to do.) that seems to permeate our societal discussions today, NCRA will take its time to try to get our decisions correct to make sure they benefit the membership as a whole. It is not a matter of hiding something but trying to get it right. While we may not accomplish it 100 percent of the time, please remember the VOLUNTEER Board and committee members are donating their valuable time to make all our lives better. (You know who’s not a volunteer? The guy you pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to in order to get it right. Sorry, Dave, I know nobody’s got a magic wand. I do acknowledge that.)

It is also important to remember that this year, NCRA has more than 25 committees and more than 150 volunteers working on various critical projects. ALL of these committees are important, and all believe that their specific charges and tasks are vital to the future of the Association. No one committee’s work is more important than others, as that would diminish the vision of the leadership (who have a global understanding of how all the pieces of all the committees fit together) (We know more than you, trust us.) and devalue the efforts of other volunteers doing good work on other committees. All committees are valuable, and more importantly, all the volunteers’ work on every committee is important and deserves equal credit in moving NCRA forward.

Here is a short version of how committees work within the governance of a professional association.

Committees are established to handle specific tasks deemed critical for the success of the organization and membership, meaning the committees work FOR the parent organization, not the other way around. (We own you. You don’t like it? Leave.)

Most committees are only constituted on a year-to-year basis (in 2023-2024 NCRA had 28 committees). There are only a very few standing committees, meaning they are essential to the ongoing operations and are specifically identified in NCRA’s Constitution and Bylaws (C&B). These standing committees are the Executive Committee, the Council of the Academy of Professional Reporters, the Council on Approved Student Education, the Committee on Professional Ethics, the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and the Distinguished Service Award Committee. (So we can amend the bylaws and make Strong a permanent committee? Because I bet members would go for that.)

Every year the incoming President meets with staff and other industry colleagues to review the charges of the current committees, discuss the successes and opportunities of the committee, and review if committees have met their charges and whether they need to continue as-is, or with amended charges, or evolve into another iteration, or not be continued. Committees are always evolving. Just because there was a committee the year before does not mean it continues ad infinitum. (So staff said Strong has to go? Good to know. Good to know.)

The incoming President also solicits input from other Board members, staff members, and other sources to seat the best people who they feel can accomplish the charges and help the committee be successful.

At this point, under the C&B, the incoming President then has the sole and exclusive authority to decide what non-standing committees to create for the President’s upcoming term, the charges for those committees, and who will be the members and serve as chairs. Under the C&B, the Board of Directors then is responsible for approving the committees, charges, members, and chairs of the non-standing committees created by the incoming President (as well as for the standing committees). The Board of Directors, however, may not create other committees on its own initiative.

This process starts in the spring and is ultimately voted on before the summer conference. In many cases, the charges for the committees being put forth and the selection of the candidates for said committees are not finalized until after the conference due to the sheer number of volunteers needed to fill the committees and the extensive planning for the annual conference.

The committees then begin their assigned tasks and report back to the Board on their progress throughout the year.

This is the established and accepted process adopted by most professional associations. (This is a straight up lie by the way. There’s no way on God’s Earth that anyone knows what most professional associations do. There are simply too many. It would be like saying most people wash their hands for 2 minutes after using the bathroom. Oh really? Did you take a fucking survey?)

Now, on to the specifics of the NCRA STRONG committee, which is not continuing in its current form (No shit?). On February 19, 2019, NCRA’s Executive Director suggested to then NCRA President, Sue Terry, that NCRA create a rapid response task force to combat electronic recording in the states. President Terry embraced the idea and on March 5, 2019, they presented the fleshed-out concept along with suggested charges to leadership. The new proposed committee was to be called the Member’s Electronic Recording Rapid Response Committee (MERRRC). It would be comprised of a group of member advocates solely dedicated to combating the dangerous use of electronic recording in the public and private sectors. A wise decision was made to rename the committee, and that is the genesis of STRONG.

The STRONG committee (past and present) has been recreated and approved each year by the Presidents and Boards that followed. It has been blessed with dedicated members for the past five years who have donated their time and expertise to that committee and have created tools that states and individuals can use for advocacy of the stenographic profession. Recently the committee has been focused primarily on artificial intelligence (AI) and has become subject matter experts in AI as it relates to speech-to-text in the court reporting and captioning industry. The committee has put together various content-heavy presentations and, with the help of an NCRA-hired consultant, assembled an excellent white paper on the dangers of AI in legal settings. NCRA has continually and publicly thanked the committee for its work on AI. That appreciation has been continuous and carries on to this day (It also hamstrung us often, but we’ll forgive that, since you thanked us and appreciated us.).

As with every professional endeavor, we must evolve and so will the mission of the committee. Incoming President Keith Lemons’ vision of advocacy is all-inclusive and means that NCRA will focus on all issues affecting our members. The Board recognizes that AI is an important issue, but it is not the ONLY issue that affects our members. To that end, incoming President Lemons wants to utilize the good work that STRONG has developed and go back to the concept of a rapid response team called the Government Relations Team (GRT). This new year-to-year committee will be designed after a very successful quick response task force NCRA had in the past and sunsetted due to budget issues. To some extent, it will be patterned after NCRA’s former Reporting Advocacy and Information Network (RAIN) program, which was a network of experienced reporters and captioners that reviewed legislation and rules pertaining to ALL legislative, regulatory, and judicial matters affecting the profession (And the reason we couldn’t do both things is…).

We will be securing members for the new GRT committee who have decades of experience in advocating for the profession, and we are actively seeking individuals in different states who excel in this legislative and regulatory acumen to review all the issues facing the profession and who will offer their expertise to assist the states and NCRA with formulating responses to protect our members. While AI is one issue, many reporters across the country are facing losing their CSR licensure language (IL, TN to name just two), official salary adjustments that have not kept up with other members of the court family, official page rate issues, contracting and other unethical issues, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rules, employee vs. independent contractor classification (Which we are conveniently on the wrong side of.), digital recording threats, and many more issues (So many, we’re not even going to attempt to tell you what they are.). The new GRT team will assist the Government Relations staff in reviewing state and Federal legislative and regulatory actions and suggest grassroots efforts to help our members out in the states (Just look away from the fact that we’re deleting our current grassroots efforts to make new grassroots efforts, which is basically sabotage dressed up as assistance. Certainly none of us have been bought off by the big boxes who we can’t dare criticize in any way ever because, you know, convenient legal liability issues.).

NCRA, once again, commends the STRONG committee for their work and hopes that members of that committee will want to be part of this next evolution of our advocacy efforts if they are interested. NCRA strongly believes that we are better when we work together (Too late for that Keith. You burned them. And they’re coming for you.).

It is important to reiterate, however, that NCRA will not engage in social media and will not tolerate personal attacks, abuse or defamation of members, staff, or Board members, or possibly actionable comments about particular companies or their products, on the organization’s platforms (NCRA’s tolerated everything Stenonymous has thrown its way. You’ll continue to tolerate it because you are bought cowards who are sabotaging our profession under a false veneer of “professionalism.”). While constructive discussion is welcomed, anarchy, chaos and exposing NCRA to possible liability are not, and individuals inciting that type of behavior will be removed. Being part of the NCRA social world or listservs is a privilege, and there are rules to that access. NCRA will not allow people to be bullied, shamed, called out, or trashed on our platforms because a small group of dissatisfied people on a single issue do not like the direction or a specific stance (This is a propaganda technique. By calling us a small group, they minimize us and seek to make us voluntarily disband. Again, go fuck yourselves.).

Finally, it is important to remember that what you read on social media or through some hearsay discussion is not the only side of the discussion, or even accurate at times (But we won’t tell you what’s inaccurate because then the people we’re deriding can turn around and sue us for defamation, because, ultimately, we are spineless cowards.). Unfortunately, we live in a society where the loudest voices demand attention, but that is not always the best course of action or, once again, the full story. NCRA will continue to accept suggestions and respectful constructive debate in our formal channels of communication. NCRA has had hundreds of committees over the century we have been in existence. Committees are created, complete their charges, and are sunsetted. In the past five years alone, nearly 13 percent of committees have evolved or been sunsetted (13% is not the flex you think it is, bro.). Please remember that just because you do not see a response from NCRA immediately, it does not mean NCRA is not being transparent or is hiding something. Many times, the organization is simply getting everything together so as not to roll out something that is incomplete or challenging to administer with limited resources and volunteer time (And we are definitely not waiting to see which way the wind is blowing before we make announcements. Definitely.).

We hope that our explanation alleviates some of the miscommunication pertaining to this issue and also provides a better understanding of our advocacy outlook and general plan as we move forward in accomplishing all our strategic plan goals.

2023-2024 NCRA Board of Directors

I gotta be honest. It didn’t really answer a lot for me. It’s basically more of the same: We’re gonna do what we’re gonna do, and there’s nothing you can do about that.

Don’t be surprised when people push back. You fucking deserve it.

Side note, it’s come to my attention that NCRA was asked to stream the business meeting and stated it was too expensive. Using OBS software combined with Twitch, streaming is actually free, so again, more lies from an organization chronically afraid of change and criticism. Members should propose a bylaws amendment and force them to stream the business meeting. Then they’ll have to take that expense and shove it up their ass. Or they can have their parliamentarian make up a reason why it can’t be done and show everyone who they really are.

But what the fuck is up with forcing us to make a bylaws amendment for every single fucking thing we’d like to see done? And what the fuck is up with some volunteers being more valued than others? Our volunteer board is beyond criticism but we fuck our Strong committee volunteers at will with basically no notice?

You won’t win this by huddling in darkness and whining about how you’re treated on social media. Our “small group of dissatisfied people” is just going to grow and dismantle you in whatever way presents itself as the path of least resistance. In my case? That’s running the biggest alternative publication in the court reporting industry. How long until you tick off someone with some fundraising finesse and I make a new friend who’ll help this platform grow for a piece of the pie?

Till next time.

Stenonymous releases July 2024 readership statistics

Stenograph Unveils NexGen to Milk Stenographer Technology Beliefs

Stenograph’s new machine is out. It has some interesting features. Details inside. Sorry, SG, don’t want to do too much marketing for you. You still never came out and denounced the STTI even though you had the good sense to distance from it as it defaulted on its lawsuit (slight exaggeration).

To understand why I wrote the title that way, let’s just say that we stenographers used to shame each other when people didn’t buy the newest machine or purchase the support because we needed to “support our vendors, stay on top of our game, and use the latest technology.”

I’d know. I was laughed at because I never went keyless.

The stenographic software key of Christopher Day, Stenonymous.com, who knew that as keys were phased out it would put stenographers in a position where they had less control over their software and business. It is currently held together by duct tape.

This is basically a cognitive dissonance, peer pressure thing. If everybody believes the thing, and you don’t believe the thing, you feel pressure to change “your truth” to match the truth that everyone else confidently supports. Because all those people can’t be wrong, right? But in truth the group can just be stuck in groupthink mode and resistant to novel ideas. This is why the testimony of one witness is sufficient to convict in this country. Logical people understand that no matter the quantity of witnesses, it is the quality of evidence that controls.

Said another way: If no one understands you, it might be a “you” issue. If no one takes the time to understand you, it might be a “them” issue, no matter how smugly they enjoy their own ignorance.

I’m not a big fan of changing machine models every time a new one is dreamed up. They know some of you do just that. In the video game business, you are what’s referred to as a whale. You are a high-value customer to the company because you will spend your money on them unimpeded by the critical thinking stage of “do I really need this?”

There’s nothing wrong with that. Buy products if they’re useful to you. But remember that if they’re not, the companies will be happy to sell them to you anyway.

Again.

And again.

Then they’ll take your money and use it to start a product line for the workforce that the STTI Bloc wants to replace you with.

Business is a strange game. Sometimes, for the consumer or buyer, the only winning move is not to play.

P.S.

Website Update:

Added some new disclaimers at the bottom of the Stenonymous.com front page. Maybe they were long overdue. Maybe they’re useless. Guess only time will tell.

Love advice, more geared to lonely young men:

We celebrate our marriage tomorrow. I don’t expect to post. My side of the aisle is stenographer city though. Her side of the aisle is the best family I could’ve found. If there’s anybody reading that struggles in the whole dating, love arena, just know that things can get pretty dark before you find your person. You may face the extreme loneliness that turns young men into incels, mocking and derision that shakes your sense of self, or the abuse that turns the abused into the abuser. You must resist. Carry on being a good person the best you can in the face of adversity. Do not be afraid to let go of toxic relationships.

To some extent, this is all math. Millions and billions of humans. You’ll never meet them all. But if you don’t keep trying, you may never meet the one you’re “meant to.” And if you find yourself on that dark road of hatred or abuse, just remember that you don’t have to keep on that road. It’s dangerous for you and others.

A large percentage of Americans believe in angels. When I found mine, I started to believe too.

Stenonymous Proposes Joint Venture with Veritext

Christopher Day publicly posts an offer to the court reporting and digital court reporting firm Veritext mailed a week before 3/25/24.

Christopher Day breaks his promise to stop talking about the court reporter shortage fraud.

Christopher Day makes a check to CASH as a sign of good will to whoever opened that envelope. Workers of the world unite!

Christopher Day prepares to put his proposal in an envelope before mailing it.

Christopher Day tells an unknown operative about Leonard Green & Partners’ Corporate Looting of Hospitals

Christopher Day pushes unionization for deposition court reporters.

The rest of this post is a creative writing exercise. You are not expected to read it.

———————————————————–

Universal healthcare & higher wages,

‘Cause peace of mind’s better than pages.

And if you’ll just be courageous,

maybe it’ll be contagious.

Go on, amaze us.

Tase us.

Sell us quarter pounders and grazes.

Wage theft! Your money? Blazes.

Kellogg’s dinners embrace us.

Boeing’d ‘cause winners racist.

Politicians need LASIK.

Had to hit 31

Had to do and be done.

A flex of free speech

or a porous pun.

I told you, son,

you never met a man with a loaded gun.

Thank God you never met a man with a loaded gun.

He made sure I won.

Made sure I live.

‘Cause like me, he give and give.

Writer too.

Through and through,

he wrote Mystic Faerie War for you.

Ever notice that our politics

tell you who to hate

but they never fix

the dangerous tricks

that make kids want to Eat the Rich?

Who’d have thought all you need for a lurid rise

is to call yourself “leftist” with all that implies?

Now they’re all scared to put it in print.

I’ve taken the hint.

So I’ll shout from my soul till you all give in.

‘Cause that’s all these posers had to do.

Was pretend to be kin.

And offer a few bucks too.

I could do that.

I would, in fact.

This is my pact.

Where you truth tellers at?

Don’t leave me be.

Plant a tree.

Make sure I never end up on Hell Gate NYC.

Or why give a shit

about a glade in whose shade you’ll never sit?

Taxation be theft.

Just ask the Economic Left.

Or Take Med Back — Take Back Med?

Would Dr. Mitch Li diagnose me as screwed in the head?

More Perfect Union’s right.

Corporate media hides it from the light.

I’ll bellow with all my might.

Money might be tight.

But I’ll tighten the screws.

Prospect’s looting’s a snooze.

MPT scammed the Jews.

And now I can’t lose.

They can’t show this on Fox News.

My coalition will bruise

companies tightening the noose.

Laissez-faire getting loose.

Time to loosen a tooth.

Slaying propaganda with truth.

And that psychotic break.

A real give and take.

A choice you make.

As the walls begin to crack,

Remember Patriots Against Corporatism, PAC.

…………….

Best friend’s got a voice among

the chosen ones.

I wish he’d share sometime,

before our time runs.

If the crowd demands,

he’ll shake the stands.

How loud. Do you hear me?

A brother that wouldn’t flee.

The success of the cowboys three.

…………….

But by blood, a game designer.

He’s smarter than a Minecraft miner.

If you pay for his opine,

you’re gonna fatten up your bottom line.

That world building you got real fine.

Guess I could never say it all.

My favorite memories are from when we were four feet tall.

…………….

I lose all my words with you.

We vibe all day. True?

I’ve been on this courtroom grind.

It’s made it hard to unwind.

But darling just let me promise you this.

We’ll ride into the sunset soon. -Chris

…………….

You’re a pusher by a different name.

I’m scared as hell Leonard Green’ll be in your game.

Walking that circle was sick.

For once in my life I felt slick.

Another time and another place,

we’d cure the entire human race.

And all the pain would melt away.

Nothing like watching you in that play.

…………….

This guy’s like clockwork,

TikTikTok.

While I doomscroll, we talk.

When the news hit we got

a brotherhood that won’t stop.

To hell with the rest, he’ll get us over the hump.

Google’s your friend.

But LIC’s whistling.

You better write that script.

I’m ‘bout to write reality trips.

I’ve come to grips

with the horrible hostile inside my head.

Made me think I’d be dead.

You were there.

Rise from the wheelchair.

…………….

Another cannot.

Cerebral palsy, drat.

We need more money stat.

Chuck Schumer, where you at?

I thought you was a Democrat.

You cool with that?

You’ll never need again if I win with this strat.

You and your cat.

…………….

Get up you son of a gun.

That’s what you told your son.

Relax everybody, it’s a Rocky pun.

I knew a social worker who was number one.

We barely spoke.

The things that tore us apart were a joke.

In the end, nobody would snicker.

I’ll make Parenting in Today’s Society a collector’s picker.

…………….

You might be a pig,

but you’re a gamer too.

My only regret is I never play with you.

How are the boys in blue?

Are they your new crew?

I hope you remember that I’m one of you too.

A real Serpico.

Imperfect though.

Fighting an imperfect foe.

Writing on the wall until the cracks start to show.

Corporate consolidation breaking down the law.

They don’t cover this in McGraw.

It’s like a sushi roll,

Cold.

A massive toll,

Bold.

A pain in my brain that I can’t let go.

You told me so.

I know you know.

My heart hurts every time I say no to snow.

We’d better do something big before we’re below.

…………….

This one goes out to the kids.

Even the ones doing bids.

Raise the Age doesn’t stop the trauma.

To be honest, neither did Obama.

I told those R’s what they wanna hear.

If my plan works, you’re all privateers.

No, I meant pioneers.

With dying fears.

Evolving nears.

Am I just another white bread with lying tears?

I was you.

Look up Greenburgh, boo.

I was one of wild few.

If only every New Yorker knew,

there’s a man who really cares about you.

They’re all pivotal players.

Takes 6 to take a plea.

Ignore the naysayers.

You’re all too good to me.

But we need to find the money,

we need to ring a bell.

I can’t live in honey.

While these kids live in hell.

On that subject, what’s the deal?

IG silent on the squeaky wheel.

We grow these kids up to deny them, real?

They’re all capable of great things.

Some play b-ball while their sister sings.

Stay away from the drinks

even though the hand dealt stinks.

Apparent to anyone that thinks

that you’ll go far.

Doesn’t matter who you are.

Hard work will make you a star.

I’ll concede competition‘s paramount.

But a lot of them just looking for a way out.

I know we can’t give everyone first place.

But at least give kids a chance at winning the race.

…………….

I guess I owe an explanation.

I care for my nation.

So I’ll become a sensation.

It’ll be amazing.

They’ll say I’m entertaining.

I’m training.

For a battle of words. Waiting.

Inflating wages with a bit of baiting.

Reinstating the subtle art of hating.

Doing it under the guise of crazy.

I thought those boys would tase me.

But they made me.

A hospital let me see

we might be the bad guys in reality.

Don’t get me wrong.

I’m Law & Order strong.

But I’d rather sing a song

than risk a revolution!

I used to say I’d take a bullet for the system.

Now I think I’ve got a life not worth risking.

…………….

To all of you Chris Day fans.

Sorry for some of these rants.

You only deserve the best.

I really hope you’ll be impressed.

In fact, be blessed.

See, I might be an atheist.

But I can’t resist

habitually loving the religious.

It’s anyone’s guess

how to get out of this mess

They’ll call me obsessed.

I’ll point them west.

The sun will set.

One day they’ll be glad we met.

My haters too.

My baiters approved.

I want to get the money to repay you.

If I never do,

I’ll be blue.

But saying sad don’t pay the bills is true.

…………….

To the ones that deserve and apology,

I didn’t do it because in my psychology

it’s worthless to.

To make me feel good?

It’s like a laptop made of wood.

If I ever hit it,

promise you will too.

If I never get it.

Guess one day I’ll be goo.

Consolation prize?

Ducker’s Demise.

You think these lies?

These are outcries.

From a flailing kid to an enterprise.

That flailing bid opened up tired eyes.

Martha Mitchell Effect.

Sure made an impact.

Cassandra Syndrome too.

Everyone will focus on me hatin’ you.

I feel so bad about what I done.

Couldn’t say Lightning Law’s #1.

Let’s cut it short.

Here’s the deal.

I end up in court,

you front the bill.

…………….

MA. Person and state.

The best of the best, truly great.

MCRA needs donations now.

They’ll put it to better use than Stenonymou.

You’ll just have to sic it.

When I met MA my heart caught a speeding ticket.

Cricket, cricket, cricket.

But I’m serious.

Not delirious.

Imperious.

I’ll bow to my superiors.

…………….

Protect Your Record Project’s pens

reached the East Coast.

Just in case you ever want to boast.

We gotta get PYRP on cinnamon toast.

Wage a branding war like Pepsi v Coke.

Make it woke.

That’s what lands.

Just say trans.

Bring back book bans.

Bring back gun safety plans.

Run, hide, fight, dance.

Violence is in demand.

How can I tell?

They both said the word

“bloodbath,” ya heard?

…………….

Those who mentored me,

They’d not agree,

with my form of art

where I pick apart

things from end to start.

And sometimes I think I’m smart.

But you know I’m really not.

And if one day I’m shot,

It wasn’t me that got

an urge to do you-know-what.

Never would.

Too much to live for in my new ‘hood.

But paranoia’s back.

Am I wrong about Testifying While Black?

Am I wrong to attack?

Am I wrong to risk all to save none?

Am I wrong to put myself number one?

It’s wrong to punch with the force of a metric ton?

But if I could find the funding,

we’d pass them all.

If I could hit the ground running,

would I survive the fall?

…………….

Bro, how’s your shoulder?

You’re getting older.

Wiser.

You’re the human exerciser.

The man that taught me to relax.

While the Gallery was telling fibs

you was telling facts.

This impacts the social contracts

that we had in place.

Doesn’t anyone read Wikipedia?

Can’t you see big oil enslaved the media?

This threatens the human race.

Now it’s in your face.

Temperature’s in the red.

In 1985 a man named Carl Sagan said,

“hey guys if we don’t pay attention,

our great grandkids might be dead.”

The Congress gave a giggle.

The neoliberals gave a laugh.

They want to cut your social security in half.

And fill your gas with lead.

Sorry man, just had a flashback.

Fucking ghosts inside my head.

It’s like that game of blackjack.

“Did you just say ‘help me,’ kid?”

You taught me more about God

Than I’d ever known before.

A subtle nod,

to the beauty at your core.

…………….

Know a man. How you been?

Sometimes I close my eyes and count to ten.

Sometimes I pace around my den.

Sometimes I stare into the abyss.

Bliss. Like a glow stick.

Low lit.

Lost writ.

RMPs riding up on clients.

It’s science.

The law demands compliance.

MAKE DONATIONS TO RELIANCE.

Quiet on the Set flyers.

Car fires.

Flat tires.

Yes, you may inquires.

Did I stammer?

No, I just had bad grammar.

I’m a poor planner.

Time to drop the hammer

on old Kentuckiana.

Stopped choosing my words,

It’s absurd,

how much you can hurt,

be kicked to the dirt,

to get up and keep walking along.

Terrorized by the weak and the strong.

Had to unlearn the violence I was taught.

Had to find a way to undo all the damage sought.

It was like being in a spiderweb caught.

I thought everybody that I loved was bought.

We can make a world where everybody’s safe.

I’ll take that truth to my grave.

Humanity’s great.

It alters fate.

Pygmalion Effect makes us articulate

worlds of our own.

The great unknown.

Why do we fight?

Why not mankind —

invest in greater plans,

to meet the demands,

of the modern pops,

Give it 100 years, tops.

We can make this right.

We can win the fight.

But I need to reach

Enough of you to preach

about a better future.

Even if today’s pretty good.

Just imagine it.

See you at dinner real soon.

…………….

Most days I feel

they’ll never give me the satisfaction.

Like a muscle contraction.

Painful.

Like a bullshit cause of action.

Shameful.

Can’t Lyft like I did.

But my mind’s sharper than the trends on Con Ed.

Know a bleepity bleep.

He Who Shall Not Be Named.

He’s one of those digital court reporters

that’ll reinvent the game.

His competition’s lame.

It’s insane.

This guy will rise

as long as he tries.

I know this implies

that we have close ties.

But I tell no lies.

With love, “I despise.”

With love I excise

those that violate rights.

That TFB 85%?

I’d get that to 95 written in cement.

Don’t get me started when it comes to this edition

of Racial disparities in automated speech recognition,

this artificial transition,

this power play,

listen,

I see what you’re doing.

There’s trouble brewing.

Energies renewing.

Corporations screwing.

A societal regression.

A confession?

For a moment, I stood silent,

I thought a thought so violent.

The rights of women set back

49 years of precedent.

Like a lawyer dawg, this is wack.

It’s like I’m on crack.

Not that I’d know.

But just goes to show

the expressions we’ll allow ourselves to make

if we drop the P.C. policing and culture of shame.

The culture of fame — chasing.

Chasing your dreams.

But while you have your head up in the clouds

The rich and powerful operate in shrouds.

Sometimes for the greater good.

Sometimes they’ll blow up a neighborhood.

Gas leaks ‘cause we can’t fund inspections.

Just like we can’t afford to fight infections.

Can’t afford to light intersections.

A morally bankrupt society via cash injections.

Just like Craigslist missed connections

It’s “Infectiously precious,”

it’s the only message that meshes

expresses

the depth of thought and its egresses.

Oh, but I’ll try.

Wolf PAC.

Oh, but I’ll buy.

Wolf PAC.

Awoo!

Citizens United! Janus too.

I know some union leaders of a finer brew.

I tried to deviate and they told me it was rude.

I’m pretty sure I’m not going far with that attitude.

But I had a choice, do, die, or brood.

Will we all agree

when it’s time to flee?

Sometimes, you know you should.

Then again, no trouble fighting.

I even fight quite fair.

But when wrongs need righting.

I don’t know why I care.

How exciting.

System’s indicting.

Almost as rare as an Anir Dutta sighting.

Or is it the people that urge me not to fight

that are really wrong?

It’s a valid question for one looking to belong.

If you hadn’t rigged the game,

I would’ve worked real hard.

Instead I was given blame

for failing to draw the lucky card.

Having to buy from an oligopoly

isn’t really free.

Tastes worse than the sea.

Nor is it good.

Try not to misunderstand me,

I am misunderstood.

What can I say?

These corporations be cray.

Pushing obesity with my buddy Don Jay.

Maybe I could make a name as the liberal Tom MacDonald.

Or maybe I could start to fall apart like Mitch McConnell

Or maybe I could write this stuff and someone could perform.

“Maybe I should write this bluff and cause a Super Storm.”

When they saw my letter

Thought I was having a break.

Told them I was better.

Said the letter was fake.

When you think that there’s a right way

every other solution gets the boot.

I’ve mastered morally gray

because they get the loot.

…………….

This has been a creative expression for nonviolent action and free speech promotion.

Many lines have hidden or multiple meanings. Please ask if you need more information. For example, the part about Jews was to say that MPT scammed everybody, obviously not just one group. But it was also to denounce those that single out Jewish people unfairly.

War of Mercy in early non-functional development. War of Mercy will showcase the magical kingdom of Seedberry, the heart of an empire whose mystical berry seeds take on different properties dependent upon the kingdom they’re planted in. Donations may be made via Zelle to ChristopherDay227@gmail.com. Do not donate if your disposable income is less than $200,000.

Thank you.

First Draft: Stenonymous’s Proposal for Addressing the New York State Mental Health Crisis – March 2024

The mental health crisis in New York is a big topic of discussion online and off. I had an online interaction recently that sparked that more activist side of myself. So many of us are busy working people with not much time to protest or make our voices heard. Consequently, so many voices go unheard, and problems we experience go unsolved.

The core of my idea is creating a lawful process by which police are not just allowed, but required, to investigate problem incidents and people. As I’ve admitted in the past, I’ve seen the NYPD not show up when people call for help. I’ve read articles about how the NYPD ignores things it considers beneath it. A lot of cops, I’ve admitted in the past, I feel are heroes. But I’ll throw a bone to the ACAB crowd. Consequences are a universal human language. If there are no consequences, people will often opt to do the easiest thing. The easiest thing, by far, is to denigrate low-level complaints as “not worth the time,” or “a civil matter,” or whatever, and swear up and down that there are more important crimes to investigate, and then do nothing. Just how it is. I get it. This is a really nuanced issue, thinking of cops’ attitudes towards district attorneys declining to prosecute, and if I go into it any more this is going to be 9 years long. Let’s continue.

After you create a process by which the police MUST act on community complaints and create a process by which the police may detain or arrest for the purpose of assessment, amend the law to create consequences for people who stop treatment after having been assessed as requiring. Basically, if you don’t handle your problems, the consequences compound. And I don’t want to compound anyone’s problems, but this is just how it works. If you’re showing the system that you want to be a nuisance as opposed to just being someone in need of services or help, it ramps up consequences on you until you comply. Or you never comply, and eventually, bad things happen to you.

Now, there are definitely flaws in my idea. There may be case law that makes this difficult or requires this to be tweaked. On some level it might be redundant. We have initiatives for mental health. We’ve had initiatives like this challenged recently, though I don’t know the outcome as of writing. There are valid concerns about weaponizing mental health laws to allow police abuse versus “just” funding healthcare. But as I see it, this is silly binary thinking. We are human. We are imperfect. Our law is imperfect. You do the best you can to ascertain the impact of a law. If it seems good, you pass it. As the results come out, you tweak it to better suit the needs of the population.

Sometimes leadership is about making the best of a sea of bad decisions. Our leaders can’t say that because they like to be elected and the media likes to make them look ridiculous. The media’s terrified of me because I do not give a fuck if I look ridiculous. The more followers I get, the more I get to play leftist Elon Musk and use America’s obsession with the rich and powerful to fuck with the rich and powerful (in my case, the lawbreakers.) Today, I don’t have a lot of money. But I bet you there are millions of people who would throw down one or two bucks for the chance at creating a media personality that would make anti-retirement talking heads like Ben Shapiro beg for universal healthcare. Go ahead. Publish about me. Grow my follower count.

Maybe if we’re so concerned about the NYPD harassing people with mental health issues we should create a process by which those who feel they are experiencing harassment can bring it to the attention of a court, whether it’s an Article 78 proceeding or some other similar petition, and then maybe even get a court-issued order for the institutional harassment to stop, with penalties charged that go right to the aggrieved if they don’t stop. I’ll say in the NYPD’s defense that when I spoke to a sergeant recently about my 61 Broadway claims, he was professional, nice even, and as of yet, nobody’s harassed me. Again, nuanced, I have some benefits thanks to systemic issues in our society. There are arguments to be had a court process wouldn’t be accessible to the poor. I can go on for 9 years. I won’t.

Anyway, so what I’ll do now is share what I’m writing the public officials. Then I’ll put a download to the docx. If anyone wants to join me in trying to attract some attention, please do. I’ll be mailing these next week.

A download of what I’m sending the public offices is below.

New-York-State-Mental-Health-Crisis-Proposal Download

Addendum:

Just a note, I am reminded of something horrifying I saw today, which I believe is an old video out of New Mexico of a cop basically being butchered. It’s something I would think cop haters should see. Criticisms of police are valid enough, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that these people are not putting their lives on the line for us.

EXTREMELY GRAPHIC, DO NOT WATCH if you cannot handle extremely graphic violence, including blood. Video.

If you would like a non-graphic video, check out these simulated shooter drills where they had a police critic try to determine when to shoot and when not to shoot. It really helped balance my perspective when a lot of the cop brutality stuff was coming out years ago.

…nine years of nuance.

3/19 update:

Christopher Day laments the state of law enforcement in the United States, where it is effectively legal for the nation of laws to harass working people with tolls, taxes, and everything else, while the degradation of our quality of life goes unabated and out in the open thanks to politicians afraid to admit difficult truths. Christopher Day has no opinion on any individual case because his duties demand he remain impartial, but feels this is a great example of the things New Yorkers are reading, discussing, and sharing. Just wait until you find out why this is in the third person.

Need Short-Form Video Marketing? Check Out Liam Weckerle!

Many in my audience are small business owners. Some own court reporting businesses. Some own side businesses. Everybody needs some kind of marketing.

If a core part of your business is social media marketing, then I recommend shooting Liam Weckerle an email. He’s a young man that I had the privilege of working with on a project in the past, and I can honestly recommend him for his attention to detail and willingness to go as far as it takes to get the job done. Lweck9844@gmail.com!

I took some time to ask Liam a little more about his business creating these short-form videos. I’ll share what he shared with me below!

Liam Weckerle: What is short-form video?

Requirements to work with Liam Weckerle.

In short, he needs a goal, a target audience, and a budget. Here’s an example of his work (for food business).

Example of work by Liam Weckerle

Imagining your service or product being spotlighted? Write Liam today!

SCAM ALERT: Fake Anir Dutta/Stenograph Scam

It’s come to my attention that there may be texts circulating claiming to be Stenograph President Anir Dutta.

Scammer attempting to fool CaseCATalyst/Stenograph customers by claiming to be its president, Anir Dutta.

Mr. Dutta called me not too long ago (Sunday), and this was obviously not his area code. Nobody should be fooled by this dishonesty, it’s a common gift card scam.

It’s notable that these attacks are frequent on prominent organizations. The data to commit these scams is usually scraped off of organizations’ websites, and as far as I know, not usually the result of any breach.

It’s my sincere hope that more law enforcement emphasis gets put on scam detection, investigation, and prosecution. FTC data shows consumers losing over $8 billion to scams in 2022. That’s over twice the size of our entire industry. Double the money every single court reporter made in 2022.

If you or anyone receive this scam, remember not to fall for it. Respectable people like company presidents and association board members will not randomly ask for gift cards.

Stenonymous Satire Weekends is back with a vengeance tomorrow. We’ll be poking fun at AI art.

Ai-Media Claims LEXI 3.0 Rivals Human Captioning at a Fraction of the Cost

Ai-Media acquired Alternative Communication Services in May 2020. According to the recollection of one source, there was a little buzz about it at the time and there were some who were concerned about the replacement of captioning providers and some that didn’t believe such a thing would happen. Well, they’ve been touting something called LEXI 3.0.

“…uses the power of AI to deliver results rivaling human captions, at a fraction of the cost.” – Ai-Media

“Sad to see this. Rivalling human captioners? You have (or had) an amazing team there — please don’t sell them short in the name of profit.” – Mike Rowell, RDR

This wasn’t the only post done on the matter.

“…AI to deliver results rivalling human captions, at a fraction of the cost.” – Ai-Media

So, I guess I really have to say to captioners what I have said to court reporters. If I get some funding behind me there’s a lot we can do. We could sponsor independent studies into the accuracy of AI versus human transcribers/captioners. What we have so far in that department is promising.

But even short of that level of funding, we could do more advertising to increase public awareness about misleading technology claims and perceptions, something that is hitting mainstream media right now. After all, as I reported on this blog, Microsoft said they had achieved tech as good as human transcribers back in 2016. Then it flopped in the Racial Disparities in Automatic Speech Recognition 2020 study. Verbit flip-flopped between its series A and series B funding, first talking about saving on manual labor and then saying that they would not take the human transcriber out. So now when Ai-Media claims its LEXI 3.0 is rivaling human transcribers, it makes me wonder if this might be just another claim that they’re using to sell, sell, sell.

The best part? They don’t even have to lie to mislead. Check out the post above. “The world’s most advanced and accurate automatic captioning solution!” This is what’s referred to in legal circles as puffery. Even if it’s BS, it’s probably not false advertising. “Watch our video to see how LEXI 3.0 uses the power of AI to deliver results rivalling human captions, at a fraction of the cost.” Well, anybody can declare something rivals something. I declare apples rival oranges and Stenonymous rivals Veritext. It doesn’t mean anything. At the end of the day, if the AI gets 40% and captioners get 90%, they still rival each other, it’s just that one would be a really poor rival. At a fraction of the cost? Does that mean all of the cost savings are passed directly to consumers? It sure isn’t a guarantee.

This is why I’m so forward about educating reporters on marketing tricks and propaganda techniques. We are all subjected to media that influences our thoughts, and those thoughts go on to influence our actions. If a person is constantly inundated with the message that technology is exponentially growing and that it’s coming for all the jobs, they won’t seek out information that challenges that belief, like all the links I posted above that most people probably skip over out. Thanks confirmation bias and busy schedules.

Meanwhile, there’s a totally alternate reality where we start dumping money into calling out these companies and working out exactly how true their claims are so that we can share it with the world.

Captioners, Stenonymous is on your side.

And yes, that’s an example of propaganda. But it’s also true.

Stenograph Customers Start Petition for Town Hall

A petition has been made asking Stenograph to acquiesce to a town hall meeting.

After Stenograph’s actions in Texas and Illinois, as well as the reports of declining service from the past and its questionable partnerships with TransAtlantic and TranscribeMe, Stenograph would ultimately be doing itself a favor to start reuniting with its stenographer base. In my view, all it would take for any of these companies under the Speech-to-Text Institute to sway stenographers back to their side is admitting that the Speech-to-Text Institute got it wrong with regard to the impossibility of solving the stenographer shortage.

Stenographers, now’s the time to make your voice heard. The petition only aims for a thousand signatures, but according to Stenograph’s own numbers, as I recall from the Illinois article, the number of Stenograph customers is much higher, in the 20,000 ballpark. The more we can do to spread the word, the more pressure Stenograph will feel to accept.

There’s a big question about who would moderate, but my money’s on Joshua Edwards. He’s always been fair and professional. He’d ensure no nastiness. Even I’d behave.

I assume they won’t accept. Then again, I’ve learned to never say never. I was told people would never read the blog. Now at least a thousand visit every month. Stenographers have a real chance at being a part of positive change by trying, so go sign today!