Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Elaina Plott is a national political reporter for the New York Times. Before that, she worked for National Review, Washingtonian magazine, and The Atlantic. She and Jay are old friends. Elaina grew up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and is currently working on a story about Jeff Sessions, the ex-senator from Alabama (who wants to be a senator again). Elaina went to Yale. With Jay, she talks about reading... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jim Harbaugh is the coach of the University of Michigan football team. For 14 seasons, he was a quarterback in the NFL. He has coached both at the college level and in the pros. Last month, he and Jay had a leisurely conversation about many things. (They are old friends.) Now they have done Round 2. Today’s subjects include: a recent RV trip; dreaming about playing; the Chicago Bulls of the 1990s... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit against Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education, for her department’s new Title IX regulations on campus. These have to do with the rights of accusers and accused. Nadine Strossen was president of the ACLU from 1991 to 2008. On this issue, she disagrees with the ACLU and agrees with DeVos. With Jay, she talks about this and much else: including her... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jeb Bush knows a thing or two about being a governor – including in bad situations. That’s when you really have to “suit up,” as he says. With Jay, he talks about governors in a time of pandemic. The politics of lockdown. And so on. Other subjects include China; Bush 43; the coming campaign (will there be conventions?); balloting (is mailing in okay?); and the beauty of George H. W. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

As regular listeners know, Robert Costa is one of Jay’s favorite journalists and people. Costa is a national political reporter at the Washington Post. He is the moderator of “Washington Week” on PBS. And he is a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. With Jay, he walks about reporting in a time of pandemic. The White House press operation. The nature of Donald Trump. The weirdness of the... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

As Jay points out at the beginning of the show, Mark Helprin has been thinking about pandemics longer than most of us have. Here is a piece he published in 2006. “We face a danger that approaches steadily from the far distance like a tsunami in slow motion. It will almost certainly strike in one form or another, it could strike tomorrow . . .” Helprin, as you know, is the novelist... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay’s guest is his erstwhile podcast partner and always friend, Mona Charen. They talk about this period of home confinement. And when to “reopen” the economy. And the question of the World Health Organization and China. And a lot more. Mona has been baking lately, as many people have, which has led to a shortage of yeast. Mona has always baked when at home for extended periods. It is her “comfort... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jim Harbaugh is the coach of the University of Michigan football team. He quarterbacked that team, too, in college. Then he went to the NFL, for 14 seasons. After his pro career, he turned to coaching, at both the pro and college levels. (University of San Diego; Stanford; San Francisco 49ers; Michigan.) He and Jay are old friends, having grown up together. They talk about sports – everything from... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Alberto Mingardi is a writer and political scientist who heads the Bruno Leoni Institute in Milan. This is Italy’s free-market think tank. He is an old friend of Jay’s, and a familiar guest on “Q&A.” Italy has been very hard hit by the coronavirus, and Milan and its environs have been particularly hard hit. Jay asks Mingardi to talk about this, in personal, social, and political ways. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Katie Harris is an expert on languages and a YouTube star. You will find her in “ Easy Italian” videos. You will also find her at joyoflanguages.com. Jay talks about one of his favorite subjects – languages – with a master, and a delightful one at that. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe