Q & A, Hosted By Jay Nordlinger

All eyes are on Venezuela — to the extent they’re on Latin America at all. But spare a glance for Nicaragua. The Nicaraguans are going through hell right now as the dictator, Daniel Ortega, has cracked down hard. He has made a special villain out of Felix Maradiaga — Jay’s guest on this “Q&A.” The regime has good reason to fear and hate Maradiaga: He is a bold and thoughtful advocate of democracy. Source

Asma Khalifa is a young woman from Libya — a Berber. She is also a human-rights activist and democracy leader. She is one of Jay’s favorite people. He says he considers her a heroine. Jay recorded this “Q&A” with her in Mexico City, where she was participating in a meeting of the Oslo Freedom Forum. During the Libyan Civil War, she sided with the rebels, against Qaddafi. She volunteered to be a... Source

Madeleine Kearns is a young journalist from Scotland. She works at National Review. She has recently been on an unusual beat: transgenderism as it relates to children. She has written, “… some American children are on irreversible cross-sex hormones as young as 12 and have double mastectomies as young as 13.” When you hear about these cases, she says, you want to ask, “Is this really happening?”... Source

In an earlier episode, Jay talked with Charles Hill. Now he talks with another Grand Strategist at Yale, Professor John Lewis Gaddis, who is best known for Cold War history. His biography of George F. Kennan won the Pulitzer Prize. Jay talks with him about Kennan, of course — and about Paul Nitze and many another Cold War figure. They also talk about figures more recent, including George W. Bush. Source

Jay’s guest is a legendary teacher at Yale University: Charles Hill, a retired Foreign Service officer and a diplomat-in-residence, among other things, at Yale. He is especially known for Grand Strategy. In previous times, he was an aide to Kissinger, Shultz, and, at the United Nations, Boutros-Ghali. With Jay, he talks about his upbringing in New Jersey, his life in the arena, his career in the... Source

Jay does a sportscast — but with a twist at the end: a discussion of Star Wars, Star Trek, etc., with two experts on the subject: David French and Sopan Deb. David is one of Jay’s regular sports gurus, and so is Vivek Dave. They are both present. Sopan is a ringer, a guest guru: a writer for the New York Times, a stand-up comedian, a musician, and more. The gang talks about the NBA... Source

Otto Reich is a former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela. He’s also one of Jay’s favorite people. They talk about the current crisis: where it stands, how it developed, and what might happen next. Source

Eric Edelman is one of our top diplomats (retired though he may be) and one of our top foreign-policy thinkers. In a long career, he was ambassador to Finland and ambassador to Turkey. Before that, he was an assistant to George P. Shultz. Some years before that, he was a doctoral student at Yale, writing about post-war Italy. Jay reviews some pressing concerns with him, past and present... Source

Megha Rajagopalan is a foreign correspondent for BuzzFeed News. She is one of Jay’s favorite reporters. She grew up in Maryland, and for years reported from China. She is now in the Middle East. She and Jay talk mainly about China: the pleasures and perils of reporting from there; the mass round-up of the Uyghurs; the ability of ordinary Chinese to find out the truth about their country; and so on. Source

Peter Wood is the president of the National Association of Scholars. He is also an anthropologist. Jay is an old anthro major. So, they talk anthro major to anthro major, so to speak. What happened to this once-proud field? They also talk about higher education. And lower education. And online education, for college students. Is that a bright prospect? A dim one? Toward the end, Jay asks Mr. Source

In a sportscast, Jay asks David French and Vivek Dave about last night’s championship game – Alabama vs. Clemson. Or should that be Clemson vs. Alabama? They also debate the college-football playoff system: Should more teams be involved? Later, there is talk of the NFL – including the dreaded double doink (a field-goal attempt that doinks once, doinks again, and then fails). Finally, the NBA... Source

Michael Rubin is a wide-ranging authority on the Middle East, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. In this “Q&A,” Jay simply picks his brain: about Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Rubin has a lot to say, and he says it very, very clearly. At the beginning, Jay asks him about his background: Rubin grew up in a family of veterinarians. He was allergic to... Source

How goes college football? What about the playoffs? What about the latest retirement of Urban Meyer? How goes the NFL? What about Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Colin Kaepernick? How goes college basketball? Is the season too long? Or just right? How goes the NBA? Is there trouble in the paradise of the Golden State dynasty? How’s LeBron working out in L.A.? Jay has with him two gurus... Source

On last week’s National Review cruise, Jay sat down with Kevin D. Williamson and asked him to talk – about conservatism, cities, Bush 41, Twitter, “elites,” social-media mobs, restaurants … Every word is interesting. And if one happens not to be – well, that is interesting in itself. Source

There are few things Jay likes to do more in life than talk with Rob Long, and he got to do it on last week’s National Review cruise. Sitting in a lounge, Jay asks Rob about books, music, TV, standup, food … They talk about Groucho, the Stooges, Gleason, Pryor, Johnny, Letterman, “Cheers,” “The Simpsons,” “All in the Family” … Pork chops, ham, pig’s feet … Jay could not have had a better time... Source

Returning to “Q&A” is Richard Brookhiser, the historian and journalist – Jay’s colleague at National Review. Brookhiser’s latest book is “ John Marshall: The Man Who Made the Supreme Court.” Jay talks with Brookhiser about the man and the Court. What was Marshall like? What about his education? (Any, of a formal nature?) What about his slaveholding? What about his relationship with Jefferson? Source

With good reason, people are wanting to know about Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince in Saudi Arabia. Jay’s guest today is Rami Khouri, a veteran journalist and teacher, associated with the American University of Beirut and the Kennedy School at Harvard. He talks about the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, whom he knew. And about U.S.-Saudi relations. And about the Arab world more broadly. Source

Robert Kagan is one of America’s best scholars of foreign policy. He has now written a book with a remarkable title: “The Jungle Grows Back” (here). In other words, if you leave liberal democracy untended, the jungle will grow back – as it seems to be doing now. Kagan talks with Jay about this and many other issues: personal, national, and international. A compelling conversation. Source

Bret Stephens is a columnist for the New York Times and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize. For many years, he was a columnist and editor at the Wall Street Journal. Before that, he was editor of the Jerusalem Post. He grew up in Mexico City. With Jay, he talks about Mexico, and Latin America in general, and the Middle East, and China, and Russia, and many other subjects. Often, when Stephens writes a... Source

Andrew Roberts is a major historian and biographer: of World War II, Napoleon, etc. He has now written a life of Churchill, his subject of subjects. This is the one he has been waiting for, preparing for, says Roberts. Jay talks to him about all matters Churchill, or many matters: his intelligence, his literary skill, his American side, his moods, his marriage, his personal habits... Source