Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger

Ildar Dadin is a political prisoner in Russia. He has the unwelcome distinction of being the first person imprisoned under an onerous new law: a law that effectively bans protests of the government without permission from that same government. Dadin has been tortured. He feared that he would be killed. Just recently, he was transferred from one prison, in Karelia, near Finland, to another... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Piotr Anderszewski is one of the leading pianists in the world. He paid a visit to New York, where Jay caught up with him in the offices of the Steinway company (in the Lady Gaga conference room, specifically). (Really.) Anderszewski has recently returned to concert life from a short sabbatical. During this sabbatical, he made a film about Warsaw. He and Jay talk about this and many other issues... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

The Venezuelan situation is hard to believe: hunger, violence, a reversion to the primitive. Yet there is beauty there too, and human goodness. Hannah Dreier is on the scene for the Associated Press. And, once again, she is Jay’s guest on “Q&A.” They talk about parents who give their children away, or even kill them. And people who rob and murder with impunity. You need to have “bricks of cash,”... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Kimberley Motley is an American attorney and human-rights activist. She has been working in Afghanistan. She has been of particular help to girls and women. Last week, she traveled to Cuba, where she hoped to represent Danilo Maldonado. Maldonado is a dissident and street artist nicknamed “El Sexto” (which means, “The Sixth”). Jay wrote about him here. He has been in and out of prison: and he is... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay calls Larry Diamond “Mr. Democracy.” Professor Diamond has devoted his career to the study and advocacy of democracy — a very important thing to study and advocate. “The worst system of government except for all others.” In this “Q&A,” Jay covers some basic questions with his guest: Why is democracy so important? The United States is a republic, not a democracy, right? They also talk about... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

As regular listeners may know, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the veteran congresswoman from Miami, is one of Jay’s favorite politicians: favorite politicians, favorite Americans, favorite people. She is a champion of freedom the world over, not just in her native Cuba. But it is about Cuba that Jay talks with her in this “Q&A.” Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen fled with her family when she was eight. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Fazil Say is a famous pianist, and a composer as well. He is particularly associated with the music of Mozart. Years ago, he took Mozart’s Rondo alla turca and made a jazzy arrangement of it – an arrangement that has gone all around the world, prized by concert pianists and amateurs alike. Say himself is a Turk. He is the most famous Turkish musician, certainly in the classical world. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay wanted to turn to Lincoln Diaz-Balart, to get his thoughts on the death of Fidel Castro. Diaz-Balart is a veteran Miami lawyer and politician. He served in Congress for nearly 20 years. His family has been prominent in politics, both in pre-Castro Cuba and in the United States. His father, Rafael, was a friend of Castro’s; his aunt, Rafael’s sister, married Castro. But soon... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

Jay ditches a traditional “Q&A” – a proper “Q&A” – to do a music program: a program of music related to Thanksgiving, or at least to thanksgiving: expressions of gratitude. You have some Baroque, including Bach, and some Beethoven, and some Strauss (Richard Strauss), and some Barber, and, finally, a cherished familiar hymn. Happy, happy Thanksgiving. Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe

David Clarke is one of the most famous lawmen in America. He is the sheriff of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. He is a commanding personality who has much experience and much to say. And he says it very well. Sheriff Clarke is a guest on National Review’s current cruise. Jay sat down with him for a “Q&A” in front of an audience. They talk about his upbringing: Sheriff Clarke’s father was a military... Source Get full access to Onward and Upward at www.jaynordlinger.com/subscribe