Alec Hamilton

It’s a nervous time for all the entire region for all of the current governments and given that Egypt is the cornerstone for Israel’s peace policy in the entire region, Israel’s proba...

We feel really strongly that all New Yorkers have a right to breathe clean air. The US Surgeon General said there is no safe level of exposure to second hand smoke, and that is where ...

If I were an Iranian leader like Ahmadinejad and the mullahs, I would be terrified, because as we well know, in the last year or so Iran has witnessed a great deal of social upheaval,...

I’m just stunned at what is going on. The United States seems like it really has lost the plot and is behind the curve on this. — Blake Hounshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy

There’s no question that Mister Assange dislikes me quite intensely, I don’t think he likes Mister Keller very much anymore... It’s not exactly an embrace. — John Burns London bureau...

A number of polls have looked to the people to try to divine where Americans would most support belt-tightening. The New York Times made a game in which readers could try their own ...

We got to make sure everyone feels a little of the pain, so that – I’ve got an eleven year old daughter – so that we feel that their future is secure, and we’ve got to be adults, and ...

President Obama has said again and again, he has warned tyrants around the world that they’re on the wrong side of history. And he promised people around the world fighting those ty...

On the one year anniversary of the Citizens United campaign finance decision, the ruling remains as contentious as ever, with efforts under way to alternative mechanisms to fund campaigns, and attempts to change the law itself.

As President Obama gets ready to address the country on the State of the Union on Tuesday, here at It’s A Free Country we thought we ought to do our own check-in, so here are some stats on where we stand. 

Republican leaders in Congress have started the debate about repealing the health care overhaul legislation, and plan to vote on the repeal on Wednesday. In advance of the vote, It's A Free Country takes a look at how other repeal efforts in American history have fared.

It's A Free Country tracks the departing, new, and remaining White House positions.

What you are hearing in the media is not true. The pension funds are not underfunded. — Greg Floyd, president of Teamsters Local 237

After the last four years of dysfunction and corruption and watching New York spin down the drain, there’s at least hope now — cautious hope, given what we’ve seen — but at least ther...

There was a recognition that the United States was ultimately a bond formed among the people themselves, not just between the states. — Geoffrey Stone, Chairman of the American Const...

Governor Andrew Cuomo has named many of the people he is bringing in to run the administration. Here's the official It's A Free Country guide to Cuomo's team (so far). Better bookmark this now — there's no telling who might need a letter someday.

»» Also check out our guide to Cuomo's Agency Heads

Governor Andrew Cuomo has named many of the people he is bringing in to run the administration and state agencies. Many departments and agencies are facing potentially deep cuts to the services they provide. Here's the It's A Free Country guide to the people who will be enacting Cuomo's "rightsizing," in order of their agency budget size.

»» Also check out our guide to Cuomo's Team in the Governor's Office

If future compromising will mean that Obama basically keeps extending tax cuts and lives up to so many conservative principles, I’m all for compromise. —Karol Markowicz, It's A F...

On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court decided in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that limiting corporate spending on political campaigns was a violation of free speech rights. In the elections last month, we saw our first example of just what that ruling brings to the process -- but many questions about the long-term ramifications on democracy still remain.  

We are transforming ourselves into an administrative state, issuing more and more regulations that are throttling our freedom of action. I don’t think people recognize the extent to w...