6 MAG 2024 · Mohamad Jebara grew up in Ottawa, Canada, the son of Lebanese immigrants. He, and they, were “cultural Muslims.” But he soon became a scholar of Islam, and a philologist. He is a man of formidable learning, and he has a gift for imparting what he knows to a general audience. From ages ten to twelve, he memorized the Koran. It is still there, in his head. He practices while driving or working out. His new book is “https://www.amazon.com/Life-Quran-Eternal-Enduring-Legacy/dp/1250282365/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3HDRKUQ9GZ7IQ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.OnJDuHQ0rp38WGXErnSJLEU7AUmrKeoFqqJgo7_vxRLuCTRP0KfPL0KldscZTxFrenF-UcXDWmqgEA7bSON_hSYp4UFfNlToY68Nhr3MYvSY8rfv_4pmqHPZcZOKIc2BoO3bJkz4IuDbGvjZuyEUXg.X3lquD8btOqApmSM0gaJ9x6y5afbJ94v7K2drdG_N-0&dib_tag=se&keywords=mohamad+jebara&qid=1714662794&sprefix=mohamad+jebar%2Caps%2C121&sr=8-2.” Jay asks him some basic questions, questions to which many may like to know the answers. An interesting and illuminating confab. 

23 APR 2024 · https://law.arizona.edu/person/simone-m-sepe and https://moralscience.arizona.edu/person/saura-masconale teach at the University of Arizona. He is in the law school; she is in the Department of Political Economy and Moral Science. They are both associated with the https://freedomcenter.arizona.edu/. He is from Rome, she is from Verona. They are married, with three excellent children. Jay talks with them about their interests (and his). 

18 APR 2024 · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_L._Smith is one of the leading economists of our time. He was born in Wichita, on January 1, 1927. In 2002, he https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2002/press-release/. Professor Smith has taught at many universities. He is a classical liberal, in the mold of a Smith of yore: Adam. With Jay, he talks about his life, his findings, and freedom—glorious, precious freedom. 

15 APR 2024 · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mundheim is a leading professor of law, who has also worked in the private sector and in government. (He worked on the Iran hostage crisis, in particular.) He started out in Germany in 1933. His wife, https://www.gunasmundheim.com/, is an artist, who started out in Riga in 1936. They have much to impart, in this wide-ranging conversation. 

9 APR 2024 · https://ballotpedia.org/Stephen_Richer has been at the center of election controversies in Arizona. He is the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maricopa_County_Recorder%27s_Office. Donald Trump defamed him. So did Kari Lake. So have many others. Lake, he actually sued. She capitulated. Richer is a conservative Republican who has had a fascinating journey in our democracy—too fascinating for comfort. With Jay, he has a frank, engrossing conversation. 

29 MAR 2024 · Peter Pomerantsev is an authority on propaganda—and counter-propaganda. He is a Soviet-born British writer and teacher. His latest book is “https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Information-War-Propagandist/dp/1541774728/ref=sr_1_1?crid=282Y8IFY9667Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.G3lYneXF9Tbm3KE_n8MrcEDYtvNJGJt1Ar0SPdvwXHWiBku1UoUD8IzosKK6xVMK_V7LlCLdLpEKYUpdBo_Ew3_LKNmF-cD9OFcxwvqXpIGNpetwllmGLDxzi7LZGO6_yOHuhoCD42rca-UOYyfGQ1Cv6xR6SmyndmzMJi2kGjKFGOJc4iZ_KsYi7WDpfLjg7IEtr0vmVSnBeH9CAKRLD397Kj6PNDjjQdjPUZ03AQg._PyEs6vo6JXuoChJiJKPZpVd4wulQq9ncJfHJrZBAbU&dib_tag=se&keywords=peter+pomerantsev&qid=1711728299&sprefix=peter+pomer%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-1.” That propagandist was Sefton Delmer, a fascinating personality. World War II offers parallels to our own day, of course. Pomerantsev is a master of a slippery and critical subject. 

20 MAR 2024 · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Graham_Buffett is, among other things, the head of the https://www.thehowardgbuffettfoundation.org/ that bears his name. He has been “many, many things in life,” as Jay says: “businessman, farmer, politician, lawman, conservationist, anti-poverty activist, author, philanthropist,” and more. To date, Buffett has donated more than $500 million to Ukraine. He and Jay discuss that, plus a range of other issues: law enforcement, drug policy, poverty alleviation, conservation—and growing up as Warren’s son. A superb conversationalist, Howard Buffett is. 

13 MAR 2024 · https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lockshin_(film_director) is a film director, who grew up in both the United States and Russia. (Actually, he grew up in the Soviet Union, too.) He has made a magnificent movie: “The Master and Margarita,” based on Bulgakov’s classic novel. It is a sensation in Russia. It has been denounced by the authorities, for hitting too close to home: for depicting the struggle of artists against dictatorship. With Jay, Lockshin talks about literature, movies, identity, and Russia today. 

7 MAR 2024 · https://www.ned.org/experts/carl-gershman/ was the founding president of the National Endowment for Democracy, serving in that position from 1984 to 2021. Jay talks with him about his life: starting with his boyhood in New York. Along the way, Gershman touches on Max Shachtman, Sidney Hook, Leszek Kołakowski, Pat Moynihan, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Ronald Reagan, Natan Sharansky . . . Wonderful stories, wonderful points—grave and important issues.

1 MAR 2024 · https://twitter.com/prchovanec, as Jay says in his introduction, is a hard man to sum up: an econ whiz; a China man; a politico (of a sort); a writer. Now he is a pilot. His new book is “https://www.amazon.com/Cleared-Option-Year-Learning-Fly/dp/B0CMK6N2GT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=GTW8IBJGPRDN&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.jM8PEJvJLN0I41Y2DNtqLqtH-AeZFsx9sf36Xz-9OM8.EIHy3GBH17bRwjPtyoChYJcYo4OOegRvv9tB4sGIysA&dib_tag=se&keywords=patrick+chovanec+cleared+for+the+option&qid=1709308743&sprefix=patrick+chovanec%2Caps%2C92&sr=8-1.” Jay talks with him about a slew of issues, relating to what Chovanec has done and learned in his life. Get to know this interesting and versatile fellow.