US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 11/06/14 By Michael Shank and Casey Harrity Yemen is teetering on the verge of an all-out sectarian civil war. Recent peace deals may prove to be fleeting. The Houthis, a Zaydi-Shiite group based in northern Yemen, stormed the capital, Sanaa, over one month ago, resulting […]
HUFFINGTON POST 11/03/14 By Michael Shank and Erica Marshall On November 4 the voters in the District will turn out to choose our City’s next mayor. On the same ballot, after casting a vote for David Catania, Muriel Bowser or Carol Schwartz, voters will be asked to choose between five […]
THE HILL 10/29/14 By Michael Shank and Peter 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, wealth […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 10/28/14 By Michael Shank and Julia Trezona Peek Members of Congress should refuse campaign donations from fossil fuel industries. Despite the fact that the American people mobilized in historic numbers last month to demand climate solutions, with the march in New York City drawing up […]
ROLL CALL 10/23/14 By Michael Shank and US Rep Steve Cohen (D-TN) This month, the first-ever global ranking of countries based on the quantity — and quality — of their jobs was released. The JustJobs Index uses empirical data to provide workers around the world with a simple answer to […]
HUFFINGTON POST 10/21/14 By Michael Shank As the Ferguson fight rages on, a potentially more courageous Congress stands ready to return, post-elections, to shut down that which rightfully enraged protestors initially. Last month, Republicans and Democrats in the Senate and the House of Representatives finally took a stand against the […]
NATIONAL JOURNAL 10/20/14 By Clare Foran and Jason Plautz WHAT INSIDERS ARE SAYING WHAT’S THE VALUE OF DIVESTMENT? ExxonMobil this month criticized the divestment movement, which seeks to pressure investors to drop stock in oil and gas companies. Does divestment have symbolic and financial value? Are there costs, and who […]
THE HILL 10/20/14 By Michael Shank and Rep Scott Peters (D-CA) Last month 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 […]
RIA NOVOSTI 10/15/14 NEW YORK, October 15 (RIA Novosti) – The Pentagon should ditch plans to gift 13,000 armored Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected (MRAP) vehicles to US police and avoid further militarization of American communities, Friends Committee on National Legislation analyst Michael Shank told RIA Novosti Wednesday. “Given that the Pentagon has […]
NATIONAL JOURNAL 10/14/14 By Clare Foran, Ben Geman and Jason Plautz WHAT INSIDERS ARE SAYING WHAT’S THE IMPACT OF FALLING OIL PRICES? Which nations have the most to gain from the recent downward trend in prices, and which have the most to lose? “With ‘demand for petroleum products declining worldwide, […]