CFR 12/04/14 Top of the Agenda Yemeni Al-Qaeda Branch Threatens U.S. Hostage Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released a video on Thursday threatening to kill (AP) Luke Somers, a photojournalist kidnapped more than a year ago in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital. AQAP claimed responsibility (WSJ) on Wednesday for a […]
HUFFINGTON POST 12/04/14 By Michael Shank and Rep Scott Peters This autumn was a significant time for climate action and raising awareness about climate change, featuring the massive People’s Climate March and the United Nations’ Climate Summit. Despite these events, Congress hasn’t acted. But there is an opportunity for Congress […]
NATIONAL JOURNAL 12/01/14 By Clare Foran WHAT INSIDERS ARE SAYING How far will prices have to drop for U.S. production to be significantly curtailed? Which drilling operations will start to feel the sting first? And how are companies with major investments in shale likely to respond? Does Washington have any […]
NPR 11/25/14 By Laura Sullivan For weeks, Ferguson police and local leaders met with community groups and activists to work out a plan for the aftermath of the grand jury’s decision whether to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. But any results of that […]
OZY 11/22/14 By Laura Secorun “Buying partisan is a dangerous game that will divide America further,” says Michael Shank, associate director for legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington D.C., who thinks gerrymandered districts and partisan cable news are doing enough harm. “We don’t need another […]
HUFFINGTON POST 11/18/14 By Michael Shank and Peter J. Hammer The post-industrial dystopia emerging on the streets of Detroit may be shocking, but it is not surprising. The crisis results from the convergent forces of fiscal austerity and structural racism in a region defined by its extreme segregation of race, […]
DAILY BEAST 11/13/14 By Michael Shank and Casey Harrity Guns, drones, and special forces were not enough to stabilize Yemen, and they won’t be enough to stop ISIS. Remember the so-called “Yemen model,” the seeming success story for a U.S. policy targeting terrorists that President Barack Obama pointed to a […]
E&E 11/13/14 By Nick Juliano The ongoing domestic energy boom is fueling an alliance between representatives of U.S. companies that produce natural gas and foreign governments that want to purchase it, documents and interviews show. Intensified interest from foreign governments toward U.S. energy policy is one of the many outcomes […]
THE HILL 11/12/14 The Hill Staff Michael Shank, who served as the associate director of legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation — a Quaker lobbying group — is joining Climate Nexus. Shank’s new title will be the director of media strategy for the group, which advocates for […]
NATIONAL JOURNAL 11/10/14 By Clare Foran, Ben Geman and Jason Plautz WILL OBAMA VETO THE KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE? What political considerations will the president need to weigh in making his decision? If he approves, or rejects, the pipeline, what consequences will he face? “Since our Congress remains hobbled by the […]