National Analysis

NEWSWEEK 03/17/17 By Michael Shank and U.S. Congressman Hank Johnson As thousands of Native Americans protested across the country this weekend, led in part by the Standing Rock Sioux, taking the protest to the White House and to Trump Tower, it’s important to remember that Standing Rock was recently a […]

HUFFINGTON POST 03/09/17 By Michael Shank America has a dangerous and deadly addiction to plastic. If recent trends in New York State are any indication, it’s not going away anytime soon, thanks, in part, to multi-million-dollar lobbying by the plastic manufacturing industry. Yet the recent showdown over plastic bag fees […]

THE HILL 02/17/17 By Michael Shank and Danya Hakeem This year is set to witness one the greatest rollbacks of environmental protections in Republican history. Even if Scott Pruitt hadn’t been confirmed this week as the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) administrator, Republicans are already easing the restrictions on coal mining […]

TIME 02/17/17 By Michael Shank and U.S. Congresswoman Yvette Clarke As President Donald Trump’s Cabinet confirmation hearings continue, it’s shocking to see how far the President has deviated from Republican presidential precedent when it comes to selecting his Cabinet. President Richard Nixon, for example, after reading and reacting to the […]

THE HILL 01/09/17 By Michael Shank and Former US Congressman Michael Honda Meryl Streep concisely summed up America’s increasingly violent temperament at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony this week, “When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.” Streep said it plainly and powerfully. “Disrespect invites disrespect. […]

HUFFINGTON POST 12/16/16 By Michael Shank This week, in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks for Departments of State, Energy, and Interior, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, mayors from Canada, Europe, Latin America and Australia sent a sharply worded letter to mayors of American cities, noting that […]

HUFFINGTON POST 12/07/16 By Michael Shank As President-Elect Donald Trump stacks his cabinet with climate deniers – including Scott Pruitt, the Oklahoma attorney general suing the Environmental Protection Agency, to head the EPA – it’s helpful to keep reminding the country that not too long ago Republicans were acknowledging and […]

TIME 11/17/16 By Michael Shank and Maxine Bedat With President-Elect Donald Trump publicly stating plans to remove, roll back, rescind and deregulate America’s environmental commitments—from the Clean Power Plan, which reduces emissions from dirty coal-fired power plants, to the Paris climate agreement, which aims to slow global warming—one wonders where […]

HUFFINGTON POST 10/13/16 By Michael Shank This month, the Obama Administration decided to refrain from bailing out the health insurance industry. In doing so, the U.S. Department of Justice dismissed multimillion-dollar lawsuits from two big healthcare insurers, a move that would’ve circumvented Congress and was roiling Republicans who were threatening […]

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 09/16/16 By Michael Shank Patriots come in all shapes and sizes, not just in American uniforms. Laudable service to your country can, and should, include caring for the “least of these,” protecting the environment and volunteering locally. Those are all equally important ways one can […]