Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team.

This week, Baratunde Thurston enters the chat room. He's a standup comedian; digital director for The Onion; co-founder of Jack & Jill Politics, which claims to offer "a black bourgeois perspective on US politics"; and a prolific tweeter. You can suggest questions in advance by tweeting @afreecountry using #chattuesdays - or just join us here to take part in the conversation!

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we bring you a political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team.

This week, we invite participants and judges from the Data Viz Challenge to discuss their work. They tried to take the daunting U.S. tax structure and make it visually appealing. In the slideshow below, you'll find screenshots of the finalists and links to the full projects. Judge for yourself: Did they work? Which are your favorites? Did they make you think about your taxes in a new way? We'll discuss it all Tuesday, April 19th, at 12noon EST. Join us!

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team.

This week, Karen Greenberg of NYU's Center on Law and Security enters the chatroom to talk about the death of Osama bin Laden. What does his death mean for our battle against Al Qaeda? What does the fact that key information came from a detainee at Guantanamo? Karen is the author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days and an expert on homeland security, detention policy, and counter terrorism. You can suggest questions in advance by tweeting @afreecountry using #chattuesday - or just join us here to take part in the conversation!

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team.

This week, a discussion of Governor Chris Christie and the latest in New Jersey politics, from property taxes to school funding to Cory Booker's efforts in Newark. Bob Hennelly and Kerry Nolan of WNYC help lead the conversation.

Today we bring you a special Twelve O'Clock Tuesday conversation, live from the Philanthropy New York annual meeting, where Brian Lehrer and Nate Silver talk politics and numbers. The next Twelve O'Clock Tuesday chat will return June 1st at noon.

Nate Silver, founder of the blog FiveThirtyEight, accurately predicted the winner of the November 2008 presidential election in 49 of the 50 states and also correctly predicted the winner of all 35 Senate races that year. He talks with Brian Lehrer about political forecasting at Philanthropy New York’s 32nd Annual Meeting on May 23rd at 4:30 p.m. If you're on twitter, use the hashtag #blnate538 to add your thoughts.

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team. Plus, you!

This week, we come to you live from the Personal Democracy Forum, a yearly conference that gathers leaders in tech, politics, and policy to discuss the intersection of technology and democracy. We'll be joined by two PDF participants and leading tech thinkers: former New York Times reporter and tech consultant Jennifer 8. Lee and University of Virginia professor Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of The Googlization of Everything.

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team. Plus, you!

This week, with the passage of same-sex marriage legislation in New York State, we ask what's next. Will this bolster efforts in other states, or rally opponents? Will pressure be applied at the federal level, by President Obama, or will it be decided in state legislatures? Plus, a nuts-and-bolts discussion of what changes in New York for gay couples, from taxes to benefits.

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team. Plus, you!

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team. Plus, you!

This Tuesday, we welcome Colby Hamilton, brand new blogger for WNYC's Empire blog, which focuses on New York City and State politics. Joining Colby are his compatriots in blogging, Azi Paybarah of The Observer's PolitickerNY blog; and Celeste Katz of the Daily News Daily Politics. We'll talk about everything local politics, from a wild legislative session in Albany, to what to expect from the special election in NY's 9th district. Plus, WNYC's Brian Lehrer joins in as well from the Varick St Studios.

Every Tuesday at noon at It's A Free Country, we invite you to join a free-flowing political chat: Big guests, big ideas, real conversation. It's A Free Country's Jody Avirgan hosts, along with Brian Lehrer, Anna Sale, Caitlin Thompson and others from the IAFC team. Plus, you!

Today: The real-world effects of the debt ceiling debates, from treasuries to interest rates and more.