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This site is full of ideas. Some of them might make you cringe. They may not align with your worldview, perspectives, or experiences. That’s a great thing.

“Celebrate similarity”

Nearly five years ago, one of the first Bubbler posts I wrote was called “Celebrate similarity.” Back then, it was simply affirming Prince questioning what we hoped to gain by celebrating what divides us instead of celebrating what unites us. Because we don’t really teach US history anymore, fewer and fewer people understand this. But the United States was founded on a set of principles that attracted a diverse set of people from all around the globe – all of whom were united by one core idea: Freedom. They came to build a better life. Hard to say whether…

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A choice between crazy or normal

For the first time in my lifetime, and GOP may have accidentally veered into messaging. Last night, Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave the Republican response to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. In it, she did something you rarely hear from any Republicans. She had a concise message that resonated: Democrats and Republicans give you a choice between “crazy or normal.” She didn’t spend as much time as I would have liked, and only mentioned it two more times, but she cited as her examples CRT (which she should have defined), racism, indoctrination, use of LatinX, COVID mandates, and…

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Republicans can’t ignore LinkedIn

LinkedIn feeds, seen by millions, have gotten increasingly political in the past few years – especially in the tech sector, and the Republican Party representation is, as always, nowhere to be found. Political activism has always been a component of LinkedIn, whether better pay for women in the tech sector, salary transparency, their company’s climate activism, or diversity in the workforce. But when COVID hit, people started airing out their mental illness. Probably not surprising this coincided with transgender activism. And then when the Dobbs Supreme Court decision was decided, everyone took great pride on coming out to talk…

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Battling corruption: the Republican winning message

The Republican Party needs a winning message – not just for the 2022 midterms, but for the 2024 general election, as well. Nothing could be more powerful than fighting corruption. The country is terribly divided right now. It’s accentuated by the fact that the parties, and those who defend them, are so aggressively at each other’s throats about, well… everything. It used to be that the two parties wanted the best for America, but disagreed on how to get there. Now they disagree on the fundamental direction of the country, and many will tell you we can’t come back…

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GOP has no one to blame but themselves

The GOP’s inability to effectively respond to the raid on Trump’s home in Mar-a-lago is nothing more than a complete marketing failure. There is no purpose or unity in Republican marketing because there is no marketing department with a strategy and a message. Republicans are all out there saying whatever they think (and, being Republicans, there’s a lot of independent thought out there to corral), with no unity or strategy, or not saying anything at all. This story requires a coordinated offensive – especially because they don’t have any media or cultural support to amplify their message. Democrats have…

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Postcards from Big Tech

Many Americans don’t truly understand just what goes on in big tech companies and how much attempted indoctrination takes place. Back in January of 2022, I screenshat a string of posts from a Twitter member called Hazard Harrington. It perfectly captures what’s happening in tech companies across the country and how they then appear within LinkedIn. Without permission from Hazard, this is what was written: “I work in Big Tech. A name you would know and have probably used before. Wanted to give a rundown of what it’s like from the inside right now. Obviously insanely radically leftwing. BLM/LGBTQ….

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Showing up should give you priority

Lately, I’ve been finding that when I go to a restaurant to order food, I find myself standing there waiting for service while the staff runs around in the background preparing all of this food for seemingly absent clientele. As I stood there watching Uber and DoorDash drivers come in and out of the restaurant picking up that food while I stood there waiting for service, I realized that priority was being given to online orders. Obviously, ordering online is convenient and helping these places make money, so that’s great. But when someone does the work, makes the effort,…

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How to build a thriving city – 2022

I recently hopped in my car and drove from Seattle to Boise, Salt Lake City, Santa Fe, Flagstaff, Vegas, Bakersfield, then San Francisco, and back to Seattle. Coming from Seattle, a city that is clearly thriving in nearly every way, I started to notice little similarities in some of these other cities. Boise had a small tent city near the Capitol. Salt Lake City had obviously consolidated it’s roadways for bike lanes. And on it went. I was also recently in Milwaukee, and noticed this same trend. It was starting to adopt some of the ideas that made Seattle…

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Sharing your conversation with the world… at 7am

I’m in a hotel, and outside of my room I hear someone talking. At first, I think they’re walking by, so I pay it no mind. But then it just persists, getting louder and softer, almost like someone is running by my door having a conversation. It was 7am, and I was already up. But I went out to look at who was talking in the hallway. When I opened my door, I saw guy talking loudly on the phone, pacing around the hallway. Apparently, it never occurred to this guy that no one on the floor wanted to…

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Happy 2022

2021 was an amazing year for the sheer amount of horrible that went on. In comparing notes with others, I believe I won for the worst 2021 of all. (Hardly a contest I’m proud to win…) But that’s all behind us, and the time to look forward is always now. Last June, I stopped writing here regularly to focus on my new book. It’s just about finished and undergoing the fine tooth comb of an amazing editor, as we speak. Likewise, our crack design team is putting the finishing touches on the cover. Last year, we said we’d publish…

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