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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2643 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 26, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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EDIT: I didn't realize this was the Sunday thread, please ignore, this is Monday thread material. Thank you for steelmanning in the Sunday thread.

is to set up a parallel budget where money is raised and spent outside the official Congressional budget process, all backed by more or less soft threats of government coercion

The problem with these sorts of explanations is that eventually you'll step on a rake like this one. I recognize this process, and it's already happening to accomplish what couldn't be done legislatively or through unilateral executive action.

This is called a settlement, or the in the more extreme form a consent decree. The democrats have used it to funnel settlement money to aligned NGOs as a method of slush funding. They have used consent decrees to impose restrictions and extract money that could not be done through the normal legislative process.

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