Victoria Forman

Loving change-makers and innovators that solve big problems, and the curious minds that help them along.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Great to see, and we need much more.

Ban all stock trading by members of Congress and their immediate families to eliminate conflicts of interest.

Require full public disclosure of all donations and lobbying contacts with real-time reporting.

Cap defense spending at three percent of GDP and mandate an independent audit of Pentagon finances.

Imposing a lifetime ban on former lawmakers becoming defense industry lobbyists.

Create an independent anti-corruption commission with subpoena power to investigate congressional misconduct.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

and Grok tells the stupid story:

1. The rate is tiny, but the compliance burden is massive
0.2% sounds harmless (20 cents on $100), but tracking every single exchange/transfer/custody transaction involving an Illinois customer, determining jurisdiction, collecting/remitting, and dealing with audits is expensive and complex. Global exchanges will either:
• Raise fees/spreads for everyone (so Illinois users pay more to use crypto).
• Geoblock or restrict services for IL users.
• Spend heavily on compliance systems that smaller/innovative players can’t afford.
This is classic regulatory capture + tax friction that favors big incumbents and kills startups.
2. It directly discourages adoption and drives businesses/talent out
Crypto and blockchain companies are highly mobile. They can incorporate, hire, or serve customers from anywhere with better policy (Wyoming, Texas, Florida, etc., have been courting this space with lighter touches). Illinois already struggles with population and business flight due to high taxes, pensions, and governance issues. This adds one more reason for “builders” to leave or avoid the state entirely.
The CCI letter nails it: this creates a regime that “uniquely and disproportionately burdens residents for simply using digital assets” and impairs the state’s ability to attract entrepreneurs. https://t.co/uRlaBRRJEV
3. It’s discriminatory and anti-technology
Why single out blockchain-based assets? An investor trading stocks, bonds, or even sending money via traditional rails doesn’t face an equivalent extra layer of tax just because of the medium. Taxing the delivery method (blockchain) instead of the economic substance is as dumb as taxing email correspondence more than snail mail.
It picks winners and losers based on the tech used, which is terrible tax policy.
4. $60 million is chump change compared to the economic damage
Illinois’ budget is ~$56 billion. $60M is rounding error. But the deadweight loss — reduced trading volume, fewer companies operating or hiring in-state, lower investment, slower innovation — will likely cost far more in lost economic activity and other tax revenue over time. This is the “kill the golden goose” approach.
5. Rushed, low-quality process with zero upside
It was jammed into an omnibus budget bill with minimal stakeholder input from the industry. CCI and others called for a line-item veto because it arrived right as Illinois was implementing its own new digital asset consumer protection rules. Bad timing + bad policy. @daily-tax-report-state
6. Illinois context makes it extra dumb
The state is already not exactly a magnet for high-growth tech/finance. Piling on targeted taxes on the digital economy (this + social media taxes + digital ad taxes in the same budget) signals hostility to the future while the rest of the country (and world) competes for this activity. Other states are figuring out how to attract crypto innovation; Illinois is figuring out how to tax it punitively first.
Bottom line
This isn’t some aggressive 10-20% transaction tax that would obviously crush things. It’s a small-but-annoying 0.2% layered on top of everything else, justified as “just a little fee.” But in a competitive, global, borderless industry like crypto, even small frictions + hostile signaling matter a lot. It makes using and building with digital assets more expensive and annoying specifically in Illinois for no good reason.
The CCI post (and letter) is right to call it out as the most punitive of its kind — because it’s basically the only one of its kind. It’s stupid policy dressed up as revenue. Classic big-government move: create a new problem (or tax) to “solve” budget issues instead of fixing the structural ones. Users and businesses will respond rationally by avoiding or leaving, and Illinois will be poorer for it.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@milesjennings One very good reason to relocate, among so many. I am so sick of the hate, grift, corruption, and regulatory burdens strangling our country. So ugly, through and through.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Grok explains the stupidity:
1. The rate is tiny, but the compliance burden is massive
0.2% sounds harmless (20 cents on $100), but tracking every single exchange/transfer/custody transaction involving an Illinois customer, determining jurisdiction, collecting/remitting, and dealing with audits is expensive and complex.

Global exchanges will either:
• Raise fees/spreads for everyone (so Illinois users pay more to use crypto).
• Geoblock or restrict services for IL users.
• Spend heavily on compliance systems that smaller/innovative players can’t afford.
This is classic regulatory capture + tax friction that favors big incumbents and kills startups.

2. It directly discourages adoption and drives businesses/talent out
Crypto and blockchain companies are highly mobile. They can incorporate, hire, or serve customers from anywhere with better policy (Wyoming, Texas, Florida, etc., have been courting this space with lighter touches). Illinois already struggles with population and business flight due to high taxes, pensions, and governance issues. This adds one more reason for “builders” to leave or avoid the state entirely.
The CCI letter nails it: this creates a regime that “uniquely and disproportionately burdens residents for simply using digital assets” and impairs the state’s ability to attract entrepreneurs. https://t.co/uRlaBRRJEV

3. It’s discriminatory and anti-technology
Why single out blockchain-based assets? An investor trading stocks, bonds, or even sending money via traditional rails doesn’t face an equivalent extra layer of tax just because of the medium. Taxing the delivery method (blockchain) instead of the economic substance is as dumb as taxing email correspondence more than snail mail.
It picks winners and losers based on the tech used, which is terrible tax policy.

4. $60 million is chump change compared to the economic damage
Illinois’ budget is ~$56 billion. $60M is rounding error. But the deadweight loss — reduced trading volume, fewer companies operating or hiring in-state, lower investment, slower innovation — will likely cost far more in lost economic activity and other tax revenue over time. This is the “kill the golden goose” approach.

5. Rushed, low-quality process with zero upside
It was jammed into an omnibus budget bill with minimal stakeholder input from the industry. CCI and others called for a line-item veto because it arrived right as Illinois was implementing its own new digital asset consumer protection rules. Bad timing + bad policy. @daily-tax-report-state

6. Illinois context makes it extra dumb
The state is already not exactly a magnet for high-growth tech/finance. Piling on targeted taxes on the digital economy (this + social media taxes + digital ad taxes in the same budget) signals hostility to the future while the rest of the country (and world) competes for this activity. Other states are figuring out how to attract crypto innovation; Illinois is figuring out how to tax it punitively first.
Bottom line
This isn’t some aggressive 10-20% transaction tax that would obviously crush things. It’s a small-but-annoying 0.2% layered on top of everything else, justified as “just a little fee.” But in a competitive, global, borderless industry like crypto, even small frictions + hostile signaling matter a lot. It makes using and building with digital assets more expensive and annoying specifically in Illinois for no good reason.
The CCI post (and letter) is right to call it out as the most punitive of its kind — because it’s basically the only one of its kind. It’s stupid policy dressed up as revenue. Classic big-government move: create a new problem (or tax) to “solve” budget issues instead of fixing the structural ones. Users and businesses will respond rationally by avoiding or leaving, and Illinois will be poorer for it.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@SenMarkey Address corruption please:

[Ricardo @Ric_RTP]

This AI just exposed the BIGGEST legal insider trading operation in America.

A platform called GovGreed built a seven-layer machine learning system that cross-references every stock trade disclosed by every sitting politician against the bills their committees control, the campaign donations they receive, and the companies their votes directly impact.

It scored all 540 politicians currently in Congress. And the numbers are crazy:

56% of every stock purchase made by Congress in the last 16 months was on a stock directly affected by a bill the buyer later voted on. That is 6,170 out of 11,016 total purchases.

More than HALF of all congressional stock buys are on companies whose fate that same politician is about to decide.

343 of 540 Congress members actively trade stocks while holding access to nonpublic legislative information.

That is 63.8% of the entire legislature making market bets with an informational edge that would put any hedge fund manager in prison.

The AI identified 752 active "Triple Signals" in the current Congress. A Triple Signal fires when three conditions line up at once:

The politician sits on the committee controlling a bill, they traded stock in a company affected by that bill, AND they received campaign contributions from that same industry.

Bills carrying these insider indicators pass at 5.4 TIMES the normal rate.

Now look at the individual leaderboard:

- Nancy Pelosi's estimated portfolio sits at $194 million with a Greediness score of 98.1 out of 100
- Ro Khanna made 13,231 trades across 800+ different tickers
- Michael McCaul made 32,302 trades and filed 6,670 of them late
- Thomas Suozzi filed 86.4% of his trades late with an average delay of 396 days, meaning his disclosures landed over a YEAR after he made the trade

And then there is Lisa McClain, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House. She has made 1,443 trades in three years, more than 98% of all politicians tracked.

She violated the STOCK Act twice in a single year, disclosing up to $900,000 in trades months after the legal deadline. Her husband bought up to $250,000 in Elon Musk's xAI, which quietly converted into SpaceX equity before last Friday's $2 trillion IPO.

The penalty for all of this? A $200 fine.

The number of Congress members ever prosecuted under the STOCK Act since it passed in 2012? Zero.

And the cruelest part is this:

A bill to ban congressional stock trading was introduced in January 2026. It has bipartisan support. Over 80% of American voters want it passed.

But Congress is sitting on it, because the people who would have to vote yes are the same people making millions from the system staying exactly the way it is.

They write the insider trading laws, they exempt themselves from enforcement, they trade on the information those laws generate, and when they get caught, they pay a fine that is basically nothing.

The AI didn't discover anything Congress was hiding. It just organized what was already public into a pattern so obvious that nobody can pretend it isn't there anymore.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@jonah_sanders @milesjennings So many have no party. Too much stupid on both sides, and pervasively corrupt.

Unhealthy for all.

Sorry I opened X this morning. Little good comes from it unless you just checkout a few favorite accounts.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Great to see, and we need much more.

Ban all stock trading by members of Congress and their immediate families to eliminate conflicts of interest.

Require full public disclosure of all donations and lobbying contacts with real-time reporting.

Cap defense spending at three percent of GDP and mandate an independent audit of Pentagon finances.

Imposing a lifetime ban on former lawmakers becoming defense industry lobbyists.

Create an independent anti-corruption commission with subpoena power to investigate congressional misconduct.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@itsm_hope Skin

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Putin and Trump: Two massive failures rooted in cruel inhumane mentalities.

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

Amid the risk of social collapse in the Russian Federation, figures in Putin’s inner circle are increasingly calling for a swift end to the war – The Telegraph

Vyacheslav Markhayev, a Communist Party deputy in the State Duma, publicly urged the Kremlin to present a plan to end the war, stating that the country is "on the verge of a social explosion." He cited corruption, massive population losses, economic hardships, and Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory as key problems.

Previously, another deputy from the same party had called for a "swift end" to the war, stating that the Russian economy might not withstand a continuation of the conflict.

The report also notes growing discontent within the Russian Federation, driven by internet outages, sluggish progress at the front, and Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian infrastructure.

The state of the economy is a particular cause for concern: according to analysts, military spending already accounts for 46% of the federal budget, with nearly one in every two rubles going toward the war effort.

[Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 @jurgen_nauditt]

"Bread and circuses": To mark Trump's birthday, UFC fights are taking place in front of the White House today for the first time.

While the US grapples with political crises, social division, and the consequences of his own policies, Trump stages bloody cage fights in front of the White House to mark his birthday. This is reminiscent less of a modern democracy than of ancient Rome: bread and circuses—spectacle over responsibility.

A president who turns the nation’s highest institution into a stage for bloody entertainment reveals one thing above all: his penchant for self-aggrandizement, displays of power, and distraction from the country’s actual problems.

[Coin Bureau @coinbureau]

🚨BRUTAL: U.S. DOLLAR HAS LOST 30% OF ITS PURCHASING POWER OVER THE LAST 6 YEARS, PER NYT

Most Americans report worsening finances as the LOSS in purchasing power is increasingly visible across the economy, with real disposable income up just 0.4% YoY.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Nuances and Considerations: These systems aren’t “soft on crime”—they hold offenders accountable but address underlying factors (e.g., poor judgment in a heated moment, potential bias in the initial confrontation) more holistically. Success depends on voluntariness, support services, and case specifics (e.g., premeditation vs. sudden escalation). Critics note challenges with severe violence or unwilling parties, but data often shows better long-term societal outcomes (lower recidivism, higher victim closure) than high-punishment models. In the U.S. context, some states experiment with RJ for juveniles, but it’s less systemic.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Carmelo Anthony should never have been asked to leave. That single decision appears to have set the stage for this tragedy and may have been a key factor in the events that unfolded. It’s possible the same underlying tensions contributed to him carrying a knife. At its core, this incident seems rooted in prejudice and poor judgment. Additionally, the sentence he received feels disproportionately harsh considering the full context of what occurred.

I cannot defend a decision to fatally stab someone for facing bullying, yet minors and even most adults do not have the clear-headedness to safely handle weapons when confronted.

In the end, hate incited this and must be acknowledged and discussed/processed publicly in the aftermath of this sick incident.

What justice is served by putting Carmelo in orison until he is roughly 36 years old. Our justice system is out of order, punitive and ineffective at rehabilitation/reintegration. What a mess it is.

Grok, answering my question for better;

Brief Examples of Alternative Approaches in Countries with Strong Justice Systems
Countries often ranked highly for effective, humane, or low-recidivism justice systems (e.g., via metrics like the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index, low imprisonment rates, and rehabilitation focus) tend to emphasize restorative justice (RJ) principles—focusing on repairing harm, accountability, victim involvement, and offender reintegration rather than purely punitive long sentences. This aligns with your view that restorative justice seems better suited here. Below are brief, real-world examples relevant to a youth/teen case involving escalation, a weapon (knife), and a fatal outcome in a confrontation:
• Norway (frequently tops global rankings for rehabilitation and low recidivism ~20%): For serious youth offenses, the system prioritizes mediation and restorative processes. A young offender might participate in victim-offender mediation or family/group conferencing, where the perpetrator acknowledges harm, the victim’s family expresses impact, and a tailored plan (e.g., community service, counseling, education, or supervised reintegration) is developed. Long prison terms are rare for first-time or situational cases; emphasis is on “normalizing” life with open prisons and support. This reduces reoffending while addressing root causes like conflict escalation.
• New Zealand (pioneer in legislated RJ, especially for youth via Māori-influenced models): Family Group Conferencing is standard for many youth cases, including violent ones. The offender, victim, families, and community meet to discuss the harm, agree on reparations (e.g., apologies, restitution, programs addressing anger/weapons), and recommend sentencing to the court. This diverts many from formal prison, focusing on healing and accountability. Evaluations show high victim satisfaction and reduced recidivism; even in homicide-related youth cases, it can influence lighter, rehabilitative outcomes.
• Canada (strong use of Indigenous healing circles and community conferencing): For youth or first-time serious assaults, diversion to restorative circles is common, involving broader community input. Outcomes might include intensive supervision, counseling, cultural/educational programs, and victim restitution instead of decades in prison. The Youth Criminal Justice Act promotes proportionality and rehabilitation; studies indicate lower reoffending compared to purely retributive approaches.
• Netherlands (pragmatic, low-incarceration model with expanding RJ): Mediation and restorative dialogues are integrated pre- or post-sentencing. For teen violence, focus is on “ Halt” programs or similar for diversion, emphasizing harm repair and behavioral change. Sentences prioritize community sanctions and rehab over long incarceration, with strong results in de-escalating cycles of conflict. 🧵

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@DavidSacks As if anything coming from this corrupt-to-an-extreme administration can be trusted, verified, or deemed in the interest of its public.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@mjfree Wow. How absurd.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Regulation is killing us.
Regulation is protecting us.
We need regulation.
Regulation accounts for market failures.
Priority should be given to fixing the regulatory mess that contributed to anger and populist revolt. Our innovators, and beyond have been screwed. I see this closely myself.

Claude says it better that I could:
Regulation isn’t the problem. Bad regulation is.

Most people who hate regulation have actually experienced regulatory capture — when industries write the rules meant to govern them. That’s not regulation working. That’s regulation being hijacked.

What good regulation actually does:

•Stopped LA’s air from burning kids’ lungs at recess (Clean Air Act)
•Keeps lead out of your drinking water
•Keeps your bank from gambling away your savings
•Makes sure the bridge you drive over doesn’t collapse

The real problems with regulation today:

•Regulatory capture — industries fund the campaigns of legislators who then appoint industry insiders to run the agencies supposed to oversee them
•Regulatory moats — big companies love complex regulations because they can afford compliance teams; small competitors can’t. The regulation becomes a wall that protects incumbents
•Stale rules — regulations written for a 1970s world applied to 2026 technology
•Overreach — rules that go far beyond what the underlying law authorized
•Perverse incentives — some industries now profit from compliance complexity (looking at you, carbon credit brokers and certain coal-era provisions)

What actually needs to change legislatively:

•Automatic sunset clauses — every regulation expires unless actively renewed with updated evidence
•Regulatory budgets — agencies must eliminate one rule for every new one added (already partially tried, worth refining)
•Independent funding for agencies — so they aren’t captured by the industries whose lobbying funds the politicians who control their budgets
•Cooling-off periods — no revolving door between regulated industry and regulator for five years, with real teeth
•Plain-language requirements — rules must be written so a normal person can understand what’s required
•Small business carve-outs with accountability — tiered compliance so regulations don’t function as incumbent protection rackets
•Judicial deference reform — courts have already begun pulling back on rubber-stamping agency overreach (Loper Bright, 2024), which is healthy when paired with better legislative clarity
•Performance-based rules over prescriptive ones — tell companies what outcome is required (clean air), not exactly which technology to use to get there

The bottom line:

The market absolutely will not clean LA’s air, test your drugs, or keep your bank solvent. History is unambiguous on that. But captured, bloated, industry-written regulation isn’t the alternative. Reformed, transparent, time-limited, outcome-focused regulation is.

The answer isn’t less government. It’s better government — and those are very different things.

[Sheldon Whitehouse @SenWhitehouse]

The EPA reg requiring carbon capture at power plants is vociferously opposed by industry, which prefers talking points to best available control technology.

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

Boeing partners with Charm Industrial for carbon removal. Startup collects forestry waste, transforms it into bio-oil, and buries it underground. Carbon capture getting creative.

Article: https://t.co/H7U4iuZwbw

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@ZelenskyyUa The insanity that requires this to be your work is mind blowing and resides in the White House as well.

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Remarkable success. Full context great to study/compare/replicate.

Key context from Grok:
• These build on downward trends from prior years (under Eric Adams and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s “precision policing” focusing on guns/gangs/hotspots).
• NYPD credits ongoing strategies like gun seizures (>1,000 in early months) more than new mayoral policies, as big shifts rarely happen in the first half-year. @grok
• Caveats: Some categories (e.g., felony assaults, hate crimes — up sharply in May, including antisemitic incidents) are not declining. Critics question data accuracy or note that declines may be overstated or weather-influenced earlier in the year. https://t.co/757TXsK1yw

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

Thank you, Rep. McGovern. I appreciate having you as my Representative. Tough work these days, and you rise to the heinous occasion.

[Rep. Jim McGovern @RepMcGovern]

If Republicans want to talk about fraud, let’s do it. Trump is responsible for:

✅Defrauding college students
✅Profiting off the presidency
✅Crypto scams
✅Corrupt foreign deals
✅Self-dealing government contracts
✅Shady real estate transactions
✅Pump & dump stock schemes
✅Pardons for political allies

Care to comment, @HouseGOP?

[Victoria Forman @vwforman]

@maddenifico Odd. I was just saying to friends the other night that U.S. leadership defies all the Statue of Liberty represents.

What a heinous time.