Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Gulchehra Hoja works at Radio Free Asia, in Washington, D.C. She is a Uyghur, a Uyghur American. The Chinese government has imprisoned more than a million Uyghurs in a new network of concentration camps—a new gulag archipelago. Among the prisoners are many of Gulchehra Hoja’s relatives. She and her colleagues at RFA have paid a terrible price for their truth-telling; so have their families. Ms. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

As Jay says in his introduction, Donna M. Hughes is “an academic and activist—a righteous warrior.” She is a professor of women’s studies at the University of Rhode Island. Her specialty is sex trafficking. No one knows more about it than she. She works against it day after day. In recent days, she has published an article involving the transgender movement, which caused a furious reaction... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Ellen Bork is a veteran analyst of Far Eastern affairs—and a devoted friend of freedom and democracy. Perry Link is an eminent professor of Chinese and Chinese literature—and a friend and helper of dissidents, over the years. They are part of a new effort called the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong. The Chinese government has cracked down ferociously on that city, that outpost. For Taiwan, too... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

That’s a phrase that David French uses in this episode: “a Darwinian mêlée.” He is talking about the survival of the fittest in the NBA—but the phrase applies to other arenas as well. Jay hosts his golden gurus—David, Sally Jenkins, and Vivek Dave—in this discussion of, yes, the NBA, and also the NCAA (including in the Supreme Court), along with the Masters and more. A discussion both lively and... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Michael Wooldridge is the chairman of the computer-science department at Oxford University. He is a specialist in artificial intelligence, and the author of a new brief history of the subject (which Jay has reviewed). Driverless cars are coming. What else is coming? Should we worry or rejoice? Anyway, a fine talk with the AI Man. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Peter Meijer is a new congressman from Grand Rapids, Mich. He is the son of Hendrik Meijer, with whom Jay did a “Q&A” three years ago (here). The Meijers own a chain of “superstores” in Michigan (and beyond) where virtually everyone shops. Peter went to West Point, Columbia, and NYU. He served in the Iraq War. Three days after he was sworn in as a congressman, a mob attacked the Capitol. To Jay... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay talks with Jonah Goldberg about his writing life, his dogs, his political thought. Bill Buckley, Charles Krauthammer, Donald Trump. Music, sports, food. “Life its ownself,” or at least significant slices. Jonah is in splendid form, expressing joy even when the topics are unjoyful, somehow. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Michael Powell is a national reporter for the New York Times. He has had many beats in his career, including sports. Today, he has a tricky one, you might even say a dangerous one: free speech, campus life, intellectual debate. Recently, he published a blockbuster piece headed “Inside a Battle Over Race, Class and Power at Smith College.” Jay talks with him about this—and about his career... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Steven B. Smith is indeed an American, Chicago born. (The line is Saul Bellow’s, cited by Smith in this “Q&A.”) He is a political scientist, a political theorist, a famous professor at Yale. His new book is “Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes.” He and Jay talk about patriotism (naturally) and nationalism and many other issues—including “wokeness” on campus and baseball. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

On Twitter, Claire Berlinski bills herself as a “rootless cosmopolitan.” She has styled her new newsletter “The Cosmopolitan Globalist.” There is such a thing as “owning the insult.” In other words, if they’re going to call you those things anyway … Berlinski is a writer and scholar who specializes in international relations. She has lived in various places and is now in Paris. With Jay... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe