Carlos Ghosn, former chairman of Nissan Motor Co., as he leaves his residence for a pre-trial hearing at the Tokyo District Court in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, May 23, 2019. Photo: Toru Hanai/Bloomberg via Getty Images In 2019, when former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn was facing financial misconduct charges in Japan, he did what any wealthy person in an untenable situation would do: he fled, on a private jet, hidden inside of a large box usually used for transporting loudspeakers. He landed in his native Lebanon, which does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. Ghosn has since been enjoying great popularity in his home country, hired a Hollywood agent, and seems to be doing pretty well. Of course, one doesn’t pull off escaping house arrest in a foreign nation by oneself. Ghosn hired U.S. Army Green Beret veteran Michael Taylor and his son Peter to pull off this elaborate scheme. But even though he escaped justice, the Taylors weren’t so lucky. They were arrested in May 2020 and have been sitting in a Massachusetts jail until Monday, when they were finally turned over to Japanese officials to stand trial there on charges of aiding a fugitive from justice. The Taylors’ legal team has been resisting extradition since the father and son were locked up last year. According to the AP , they hired former Trump administration attorney Ty Cobb as an “attempt to get Trump to block the extradition before he left office,” but were unsuccessful. In February, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer denied the bid to put the Taylors extradition on hold. Shortly before Michael Taylor was arrested, he gave an interview to Vanity Fair , detailing the incredible, cinematic story of Ghosn’s escape. According to the magazine, Taylor, experienced in difficult extraction missions, met with Ghosn’s wife Carole, who told him that her husband had been treated “like a POW,” subjected to 8-hour long interrogations while in Japanese prison. “I felt he was a hostage,” ...
Biden to Pull Neera Tanden’s Nomination
Tanden’s “mean tweets” doomed her with Joe Manchin. Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images The White House is planning to withdraw the nomination of Neera Tanden for the position of director of the Office of Management and Budget, according to multiple media reports. Tanden’s confirmation had run into trouble after Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced he would oppose her on grounds that her history of abrasive social media comments would affect her ability to work with people on both sides of the aisle in Congress. The decision to pull the nomination likely indicates that efforts to bring a Republican senator –most recent reports have suggested Lisa Murkowski as the top target – into supporting Tanden to offset the Manchin defection have gone for nought. Speculation on a possible substitute for Tanden has been well under way for a while, with some Democrats touting former Hillary Clinton advisor (and more problematically, Gavin Newsom chief of staff) Ann O’Leary , while progressives began to coalesce around Clinton-Obama economic advisor Gene Sperling . The path of least resistance for Team Biden, though, may well be to promote their nominee for deputy OMB director, House Appropriations Committee staff director Shalanda Young, who has been floating towards an easy confirmation thanks to support from Senate Republicans accustomed to working with her on bipartisan appropriations bills. Aside from her confirmability, Young, who is Black, might assuage those angry that Tanden faced discrimination as a woman of color. There will be some talk about Tanden’s withdrawal being a major blow to the Biden administration, but a quick and successful substitution would make that judgment fade. As for Tanden, she may well be offered a high-ranking White House position that does not require Senate confirmation, or much direct interaction with the objects of “mean tweets.” ...
Neera Tanden Withdraws from OMB Nomination, Biden’s First Defeat
Neera Tanden withdrew her nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Tuesday evening. In a statement, Tanden wrote: Dear President Biden, I am writing to you to withdraw my nomination for Director of the Office of Management and Budget. It has been an honor of a lifetime to be considered for this role and for the faith placed in me. I appreciate how hard you and your team at the White House has worked to win my confirmation. Unfortunately, it now seems clear that there is no path forward to gain confirmation, and I do not want continued consideration of my nomination to be a distraction from your other priorities.I am incredibly grateful for your leadership on behalf of the American people and for your agenda that will make such a transformative difference in people’s lives. Sincerely, Neera Tanden The White House confirmed the withdrawal. BREAKING: White House confirms @neeratanden requested her name be withdrawn from considerion as OMB Dirctor. Full statement from @POTUS : pic.twitter.com/CmkEdg2rS9 — Sarah Ewall-Wice (@EwallWice) March 2, 2021 Tanden was facing bipartisan opposition from senators due to past comments she made on her Twitter feed. The news breaks as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said she met with Tanden on Monday. Murkowski acknowledged she had not made a decision and was still doing her “assessment.” Tanden reached out to senators after her confirmation was harpooned by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (D-VT) tough line of questioning and Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-WV) revealed “no” vote against her. Tanden has met with 35 senators on both sides of the aisle, according to a source involved with the confirmation process. Biden’s cabinet picks have mostly sailed through the Democrat-led Senate. Still, Biden’s choice to lead the OMB, which heads efforts to ensure an administration’s priorities are reflected in legislation and regulations, was derailed when Sanders questioned Tanden about ...
New York Lawmakers Strike Deal to Strip Gov. Andrew Cuomo of Pandemic Emergency Powers
New York state lawmakers reached an agreement on Tuesday to strip Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) of his emergency powers in regards to the coronavirus pandemic. “I think everyone understands where we were back in March and where we are now. We certainly see the need for a quick response but also want to move toward a system of increased oversight, and review. The public deserves to have checks and balances. Our proposal would create a system with increased input while at the same time ensuring New Yorkers continue to be protected,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said in a statement. This story is developing. Check Breitbart News for updates. ...
‘Throuple’ Tells How They Won Right to List Three Dads on Baby’s Birth Certificate
A gay, polyamorous “throuple” details in an upcoming book how they became the first people to list three parents on a birth certificate. “The fact that Piper has three parents is just not a big deal. I have three parents myself — my mother, father, and stepmother — and no one thinks anything of it,” said Dr. Ian Jenkins, who is listed as a parent on the certificate and is the author of Three Dads and a Baby: Adventures in Modern Parenting . “Some people seem to think it’s about a ton of sex or something, or we’re unstable and must do crazy things. [But] it’s really remarkably ordinary and domestic in our house and definitely not Tiger King,” he continued. The book explains how Jenkins and his partners, Jeremy Hodges and Dr. Alan Mayfield, became parents and the legal battles that took place during that time, the Washington Examiner reported: Jenkins and Mayfield originally met in Boston, with Hodges joining the picture later, first as a friend and then as an additional romantic partner. After five years of the three being together, the group decided to consider adding to their family with children. That’s when a friend, Delilah, offered up her services as a surrogate. The process was complicated and expensive, with the trio spending $120,000 over the next year on legal fees and a process to adopt an embryo so that each man had equal parenting rights. When one of Delilah’s embryos was not viable and another did not implant correctly, the men were forced to start the process over again. A friend named Meghan later donated her own eggs. After working through multiple issues, they were awarded the right to have a “poly birth certificate” just before Piper, who is now three years old, was born. According to the book’s profile on the Simon & Schuster website, it was “Ultimately the grace of women” that helped them “complete their family with one perfect girl, and become the first polyamorous family ever named as the legal parents of a ...
