Sponsored by SimpliSafe

This is Tara Ross's moment - an extended moment. She is one of the country's foremost experts on the Electoral College. This institution was put in the spotlight in 2000. And again in 2016. Tara Ross is the author of "Enlightened Democracy: The Case for the Electoral College"; a children's book, "We Elect a President: The Story of Our Electoral College"; and the forthcoming "The Indispensable Electoral College: How the Founders' Plan Saves Our Country from Mob Rule."

Jay asks her a series of questions: Why do we have it? Is it fair? What should be changed about it? And so on.

As Jay says at the end, Tara Ross is a superb teacher - clear as a bell. Think of this episode as Civics for All.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/americas-college/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: http://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

Sponsored by Zip Recruiter

"University Challenge" is a British quiz show, watched all over the world (particularly on YouTube). A major star of the recent season was Eric Monkman, of Oakville, Ontario. He was the captain of a Cambridge team. And he wowed the world with — as Jay says — "his amazingly extensive knowledge; his unaffected, individualistic style; and his obvious generosity of spirit."

A hashtag flew through the Internet: #monkmania. Jay confesses, happily, that he is a monkmaniac.

Eric is Jay's guest on this "Q&A," and Jay asks many questions — including one that Eric has no doubt gotten all his life: "How do you know so dang much?" They also talk about such issues as "elitism" and a "post-factual" age.

Eric Monkman is something distinctive under the sun. And, like Canadians in general, unfailingly polite and modest. You'll see.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/monkman-and-monkmaniac/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: http://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

Sponsored by Zip Recruiter

Venezuela is spinning out of control: starvation, desperation, chaos, fear. Hannah Dreier, the Associated Press correspondent in Caracas, is in the midst of it. In a briefing with Jay, she gives us the latest.

What does the latest include? The slums - the ruling party's strongholds - turning against the party. The supreme court nullifying the congress. And then reversing itself. Opposition politicians seeking refuge in embassies. People getting thinner and thinner. People trying to leave, if they possibly can. Grandmothers protesting in the streets, along with the youth - something very rare.

Rare, too, is Hannah Dreier's eyewitness reporting.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/venezuela-awful-latest/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: http://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

Sponsored by Zip Recruiter

With his old friend Mark Farrell, the golf pro, Jay talks Masters 2017 - the shoot-out between Sergio Garcia of Spain and Justin Rose of Britain. Also, should golf be an Olympic sport? (Rose is the reigning gold medalist - the only one there has been, in the modern era.) Also, whatsamatter with Tiger? And so on. Mark Farrell is a guru and a treat. Even the un-golf-minded might well enjoy.

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/old-masters-new/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

Sponsored by SimpliSafe

With Norman Podhoretz, you can talk about practically anything - so Jay does. They talk about writing, of course. Few do it as well as NPod. They talk about his friend Shakespeare, and his friend Yeats. They talk about novels. (Podhoretz rates "Anna Karenina" number one.) They talk about music and ballet. Even math and science. And also politics, including Trump. And Europe - its fate. And Israel - its.

Lucky him, Jay has had many conversations with this extraordinary man. After this "Q&A," Jay remarked, "This was maybe the best - along with all the other ones, of course."

Join the conversation and comment on this podcast episode: https://ricochet.com/podcast/being-norman-podhoretz/.

Podcast listeners: Now become a Ricochet member for only $2.50 a month! Join and see what you’ve been missing: https://ricochet.com/join/.

Subscribe to Q & A, Hosted by Jay Nordlinger in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.