Podcast

James and Nick welcome Eilidh Lowery to the show. Eilidh is Chair of the Portland Public School Board and was the officiant in Nick's wedding! We talk about what's going on with PPS going back to school in the fall, the achievement gap and state funding for schools. 

No guest this time, but we felt it was necessary to address the racial tension going on in the world right now. Email james@jamesaball.com if you want to get involved. 

In a bit of a change from our regular style of guest, James and Nick welcome Ray McMillin, a former Democrat, comedian, and strip club DJ who operates the Facebook page Rainman McMillin to talk about our various frustrations with party politics. 

James and Nick welcome back Xander to discuss the 5th Article of the Democratic Party of Oregon platform. 

James and Nick welcome Allen Alley and Jim Pasero from the show Abrams, Alley and Pasero on 101FM KXL (8am Sunday mornings). We started talking about COVID-19 and the conversation turned to China and culture. 

Since everyone is on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic we thought it was a good time to revisit our series on the DPO Platform. Nick and James welcome back podcast regular Xander Almeida to break down Article 4.

James and Nick welcome an anonymous guest to talk about vaccines and take the alternate view that the state should not require vaccines.

James had the opportunity to sit down with Alyssa Vinsonhaler who is running for Portland City Council. As of posting, Alyssa has suspended her campaign. Alyssa is an activist in Portland, fighting ANTIFA and standing up for 2nd Amendment rights. 

For the first time in many episodes, we don't have a guest! In this episode, Nick interviews James and we discuss why James is running for office in House District 36 and what he's going to focus on once elected. 

James and Nick welcome Norman Turrill who is the President of the League of Women Voters Advocacy Fund and one of the chief petitioners for People Not Politicians which is a ballot measure designed to set up a bipartisan commission to redraw district lines after every census. 

James and Nick welcome Martin Mederios, a local author, speaker and attorney who specializes in negotiation and persuasion. The goal was to talk about Martin's specialty but we ended up talking about vaccines, logging and autonomous vehicles. 

In this episode James and Nick welcome Alexander Flores, 2018 Republican candidate for Oregon Senate District 15. We talk about issues that affect the Latino community in Oregon and how the GOP can be more friendly to Latino voters. 

James and Nick welcome Karl Rohde, an openly gay local politician who also happens to be a Republican. We talk about how Karl became a Republican and why he has decided to stay in the era of Trump. We also touch on morality and how it plays a part in modern politics.

James and Nick welcome back Xander Almeida and friend-of-the-pod Jacob Vandever to discuss the Democrats' priorities for the environment. 

Nick couldn't make it for this recording, but James, Xander and Peter take a stab at Article 2 of the DPO Platform. We discuss a lot of issues on the topic of education and the government's role in educating our children. 

James and Nick welcome back Xander and Peter, our guests from the ORP Platform Convention podcast to tackle another important document: The Democrat Party of Oregon platform! This will turn into a series so stay tuned for more episodes.

 James and Nick welcome Deputy Secretary of State and former State Representative Rich Vial. We talk about partisanship Oregon, priorities in the SoS office and how we can do better.