Dana Perino is a star of Fox News — a co-host of “The Five.” She was press secretary to George W. Bush. She is the author of a best-selling new book: “And the Good News Is . . .: Lessons and Advice from the Bright Side.” And she is Jay’s guest on this latest “Q&A.”

They talk about a smorgasbord, including Republicans, Democrats, Bushes, Obama, the media, and the current GOP field. Also, Dana talks a little music — she was once a country-western DJ.

According to Jay, Dana is one of America’s Sweethearts. (The title was first held by Mary Pickford, who was born in Canada. Dana is true-blue — a Wyomingite and Coloradan.)

Jay’s guest is Zineb El Rhazoui, a Moroccan journalist. She is a reporter for Charlie Hebdo. This is the Parisian magazine – satirical, left-wing, and atheist – that was attacked last January by Islamists. Two brothers named Kouachi massacred twelve people. Rhazoui was not there that day. She was on vacation.

She returned to Charlie Hebdo, for a few reasons. One of them, as she told Jay, was solidarity. “I owe something to my colleagues. I can’t abandon them. It’s my duty as a survivor, I think.”

Islamists are furious that they missed killing Rhazoui last January, and they have vowed to hunt her down until she is dead. Rhazoui lives with a permanent security detail. She rarely sleeps in the same place two nights in a row. She is an extraordinary person living an extraordinary and daunting life. She has important things to say to everyone, no matter what one’s political or religious beliefs.

Today, Jay is joined by an old friend, Tucker Carlson, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller, the co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend.” They talk on the air pretty much as they do in private: about the media, about personalities, about politics, and so on.

Jay asks, in effect, “Is global warming a hoax?” And, “What happened to Harry Reid’s face?” And, “Is California over?”

At the end of the ’cast, Jay remarks that talking with Tucker is like popping happy pills or something. See if you agree.

Jay has been working at the Oslo Freedom Forum, the annual human-rights conference in Norway. Among the many attendees is Marina Nemat: a onetime political prisoner in Iran, now a human-rights champion. As Jay explains, she was born in 1965 and was 13 when the Khomeinist revolution triumphed. She was sassy at school – wanting to learn such subjects as math rather than Khomeini-style theology – and was arrested at 16. She spent more than two years in Evin Prison, that dungeon, that nightmare of rape, torture, and murder.

Since the early 1990s, she has lived in Canada, and has written “Prisoner of Tehran” and “After Tehran: A Life Reclaimed.” She is an extraordinary and inspiring woman. Ms. Nemat and Jay have known each other for several years, and they talk over some of the key issues, personal, national, and international.

Q and A, hosted by Jay Nordlinger is now on iTunes! Subscribe here. Also, now on Stitcher here! Or get every show we produce courtesy of Ricochet’s Super Feed. Get it here.

Jay’s guest today is Lou Cannon, the veteran political journalist – formerly with the Washington Post. He is renowned as a Reagan biographer. He also wrote what is surely the finest book on the L.A. riots of 1992. With Jay, he talks about Obama, Baltimore, the media, Reagan, 2016, and more. There’s a lot of experience packed into what he says.

Yes, Q and A, hosted by Jay Nordlinger is now on iTunes! Subscribe here. Also, now on Stitcher here! Or get every show we produce courtesy of Ricochet’s Super Feed. Get it here.

Jay’s latest guest is Daniel Hannan, the British politician and writer. There is an election coming up in the U.K. Jay asks about that, and a lot more.

Why are there so many writers — and crack writers, such as Hannan — in British politics? Is Hannan British or English? Or both?

What are conservatives to think of David Cameron, the Conservative leader? How red is “Red Ed” Miliband, the Labour leader?

At Jay’s prompting, Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) does a tour d’horizon: Iran, Iraq, Syria, Russia . . . Everywhere, there is danger. Everywhere, the United States has choices to make. The senator also talks about the Bergdahl swap: President Obama’s trade of five Taliban leaders for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, now charged with desertion.

Then there is the question of our defenses: Are they dangerously low, as many claim, or are they adequate to our needs? How about Edward Snowden, Russia’s American guest? Yesterday, some admirers put up a bust of him in a New York park.

Cotton also discusses the Obama presidency, the state of the GOP, and, at the end, a little basketball (for he was a hoopster, “a high-school hero and college zero,” he says). In his range, curiosity, and energy, Senator Tom Cotton is something rare on today’s scene.

Jay’s guest is Mark Helprin, who is not to be confused with Mark Halperin. This Mark is the novelist, foreign-affairs analyst, and political writer – the author of “Winter’s Tale,” “A Soldier of the Great War,” and many other acclaimed books. He and Jay have known each other for a long time, and discussed the issues with each other for an equally long time. Today’s topics include Iran, Israel, Obama, ISIS, and the state of our culture. As you can see, there’s nothing small on the table, but there are a few nice asides, regardless.

Q and A, hosted by Jay Nordlinger is now on iTunes! Subscribe here. Or get every show we produce courtesy of Ricochet’s Super Feed. Get it here.