The Project Veritas board has fired back at recently ousted founder James O'Keefe, accusing him of financial malfeasance — including spending $60K on musical theater-style "dance events." https://t.co/myzqRTwHiU
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) February 21, 2023
They can’t fire him, he QUITS!!! The lamentations and threats from all the usual right-wingers on twitter are completely unhinged at this point, although a consensus seems to be emerging that it’s all due to Pfizer, who didn’t like O’Keefe promoting a particularly unhinged anti-vaxx video recently. Officially, “James O’Keefe Resigns From Project Veritas After Employee Complaints”:
… In a video to Project Veritas employees, O’Keefe promised to start a new, rival organization doing similar undercover activist work…
O’Keefe, who became a star on the right by targeting journalists and liberal groups in hidden-camera stings, was placed on paid leave earlier this month amid a dispute with the nonprofit’s board. The board reversed O’Keefe’s firing of two top executives, and received a lengthy memo from unhappy employees detailing O’Keefe’s allegedly “outright cruel” conduct.
A video of O’Keefe announcing his exit was posted to the video website Vimeo. In it, an emotional O’Keefe, standing in front of his desk and a Project Veritas backdrop, claimed he had been pushed out by the board after telling its members to either quit themselves or face his resignation—a gambit that apparently failed. In the 45-minute video, O’Keefe got choked up, quoted Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, and appeared to wipe away tears as he announced his plans for a new Project Veritas-type group…
In a statement posted Monday night responding to O’Keefe’s video, Project Veritas’s board claimed it was legally required to call a board meeting after it discovered O’Keefe committing what it described as “financial malfeasance.”
According to the statement, the board’s list of alleged misspending incurred by the nonprofit at O’Keefe’s direction included a $14,000 charter flight to meet someone who could repair his boat. Other alleged expenses included $150,000 over 18 months on private “black cars”and thousands of dollars on “DJ and other equipment.”
The board also accused O’Keefe of wasting $60,000 on “dance events.” O’Keefe, a former high school musical theater performer, has been accused in the past of spending the nonprofit’s money on his own musical interests. Last year, Project Veritas acknowledged improperly spending more than $20,000 to help O’Keefe star in a performance of the musical Oklahoma!
“Even with all of this public fallout, the Board still wants to speak with James,” the statement reads, adding it wanted to “work things out.” “We did not fire him, nor do we want him to resign.”
[We’re just worried about Mr. O’Keefe’s… welfare. He’s been under so much stress…]
In his video, O’Keefe also posted screenshots of what he claimed were the minutes of the board meeting where he was put on unpaid leave and offered “mental wellness care,” pending the results of a financial audit. Those alleged expenses, according to screenshots provided by O’Keefe in the video, included frequent private-car trips and a $12,600 expense at a wedding hall that O’Keefe claimed was used for the organization’s holiday party.
O’Keefe defended his management style in the video, saying he had sometimes had to make hard choices as Project Veritas’ leader.
“Leadership has a price, and results often come at a human cost,” O’Keefe said.
The news that O’Keefe had been sidelined in the group he founded provoked outrage on the right, with many conservative pundits tweeting that Project Veritas would be nothing without him. Project Veritas’ board and remaining executives had tried to heal the rift, insisting in a bizarre tweet last week under the organization’s name that O’Keefe was “alive and well.” Just days before the resignation, the board put out a statement insisting that its members “all love James.”…
Insert LET.THEM.FIGHT gif. (Normally I wouldn’t use a tweet with an O’Keefe photo, but I like the subtle suggestion that he’s growing out a Hitler ‘stache.)
dmsilev
Please tell me there is undercover video of the various meetings and that both sides will put out deceptively edited versions that push their respective slants.
RaflW
When bad things happen to the people who deserve it. Not a frequent enough thing in politics. And, he’s a political operative, not a journalist, not a nonprofit leader, not a person who does ‘under cover stings’.
He’s a dumb, lazy update on Roger Stone.
Sucks to be him. As it should.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
I can only hope he doesn’t learn from his mistakes. I want his next venture to be a personal failure, too. Or.. I hope he drops out of political theater and moves to some small town somewhere and to do community theater.
piratedan
am happy to watch his downfall. I can only hope that the flames continue to burn. The amount of damage that this self-righteous bastard did at the expense of the people who really needed help continues to grate.
Sister Golden Bear
<inserts Loki gif> Yes, very sad. Anyway….
Shalimar
I know O’Keefe’s worst stunts cost Project Veritas a lot if money in lost lawsuits, but at least he did bring them the attention that got them shadow billionaire funding in the first place. Have they ever done a single thing that he wasn’t involved in? I’m not sure why the board and other employees think they have a viable organization without the asshole.
Mike in NC
O’Keefe will shortly be Steve Bannon’s ball washer. Eeeew!
Ohio Mom
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: Oh, don’t wish him on those good-hearted souls who do community theater.
VOR
Someone on Twitter suggested taking his 45 minute video and editing it down to a deceptive 15 seconds. Sounded appropriate to me.
Raoul Paste
So the total zero is quoting the Fountainhead, as if he were the acme of humanity. Please…..
I really hope this guy is unemployable, but he’ll probably stumble upon some wingnut welfare
JAFD
A few of you have asked me what I do with my time since I retired. So have taken a few photos, put them up at
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=568010
for the world to see.
Sent these pics to Ms. WaterGirl earlier, possibly for ‘On the Road’, but she wasn’t impressed. Darn. Anyway, feel free to comment there, or ask a frontpager to pass on email to me yf you’ve questions.
SFAW
This may have already been mentioned/covered in another thread, but:
Speaking of deceptively-edited videos: apparently Squeaker MqQarthy has given Fucker Carlson full access to Jan 6 Capitol security footage. I’m sure Fucker will only use that access for not-at-all-dishonest purposes which will in-no-way-whatsoever compromise the security of the Capitol and Democrat members of Congress. Naturally, MqQarthy did not consult with Leader Jeffries before reaching that decision.
I hope that motherfucker* burns in Hell, sooner rather than later.
* MqQarthy, although I’d be OK if Cucker were included.
The Moar You Know
Gosh, I hope he doesn’t keep guns in the house.
Inventor
…all he ever wanted to do was dance, dance, dance!
dmsilev
@Inventor: To my eternal regret, I saw a clip from his music video. He may have wanted to dance, but he most certainly was not capable of doing such.
The Moar You Know
@Shalimar: this is all some sort of performative bullshit kabuki, because you are of course right; he IS the organization. I give him that much credit. He’s a monster, but kind of a unique one and without him they have nothing.
P Thomas
“Please send more money to……”
Inventor
@dmsilev: Thank you for your service.
piratedan
@SFAW: and this pisses me off even more because we KNOW that DJT and members of the J6 riot club were corresponding with MOC during the events and those fuckers should be under investigation, if not under indictment.
Have seen it speculated that giving the unadulterated unedited J6 video is the same as giving it to the GRU, which could just as easily imply that now, ALL members of Congress could be at risk, all security is now compromised to anyone that is planted at Faux with any outside entity or even anyone who shares those sympathies that coincide with people that just attempted a coup.
McCarthy just gave that all away, with no consultation and to me, it wasn’t his to give and certainly not in the name of “transparency”.
It’s time for some people to get arrested as national security threats.
Carlo Graziani
So, on the bizarre spectacle of the PV board claiming that
Here we have a fantastic example of the US institutional culture militating against public corruption that I was pointing to in Part 4 of The Resumption of History.
Think about it. An organization dedicated to subverting and exploiting journalistic standards to furnish Chuck Colson-grade special effects for the benefit of the Republican party has a board of trustees charged with ensuring that funds donated by other psychopaths who believe in the cause are not misspent as personal funds. And the consequences of violating this trust is swift and sure dismissal of the offending organization founder.
Please believe me, this kind of thing is essentially inconceivable in most of the nations of the world. There exists an attachment to institutional propriety in the habits of Americans that infiltrates and perverts even organizations inimical to American institutionalism. Irrespective of their other political pathologies (which are considerable), Americans simply can’t stand corruption.
Be glad of that. It’s still alive, and it gives our institutions some measure of protection that many peoples lack.
West of the Rockies
Maybe he and Milo can do a modern-day Lewis and Martin thing. They’re both such charmers.// Maybe Guiliani and Hershel Walker can join them for a 2023 (genuine) Rat Pack gig.
NotMax
Not normally any fan of no compete contracts, but in this case willing to make an exception.
//
NotMax
In Preen-o Veritas.
//
Mike in NC
MSNBC reports that the US Naval Acadmy has renamed Maury Hall (named after a Confederate traitor) to Carter Hall, after the president who graduated from there. BZ!
Omnes Omnibus
@Mike in NC: Cool.
NotMax
@Mike in NC
Phew. For a fleeting second worried you were going to say Custer Hall.
Trivia:
Carter Hall is the civilian name Hawkman uses when he’s on Earth. On his homeworld his given name is Katar Hol.
karen marie
@Carlo Graziani: Yeah, but it’s been going on for a while. My guess is the money is an excuse.
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: Custer was USMA and at least he was on the right side in the Civil War.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
Bet he comes with a hammer.
gwangung
@NotMax: Well, that was seven or eight retcons ago….
I’m not sure how they fit it all together now….
@HumboldtBlue: Well, a BIG f@#king mace….with spikes.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Did someone say Navy?
Steeplejack
@Raoul Paste:
Just want to point out that Project Veritas is wingnut welfare. It’s got 60-70 employees and tens of millions in funding. O’Keefe will have a hard time duplicating that (I hope).
NotMax
@Steeplejack
As a wise lush put it, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”
;)
ian
@Omnes Omnibus: Custer fought for the North because he was from Michigan. He and his family were prominent Copperheads. Custer was known as a “McClellan man” for his long loyalty to the ex-general and his support during the 1864 campaign. His treatment of black people was barely any better than Confederate standards. And that is before we get to how he viewed Native Americans (when he wasn’t forcing some of them to be his mistresses).
Should you have time to look for it in your local library, I recommend Cavalier in Buckskin: George Armstrong Custer and the Western Military Frontier. By Robert Utley, University of Oklahoma Press (2001). Custer shouldn’t be remembered fondly just because he fought for the Union.
Steeplejack
@NotMax:
True.
Betsy
This is great. I’ve always hated that wormy fucker.
sralloway
The boy;s song.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=by+by+by+baby+goodbye&view=detail&mid=F5D265C20A811BA80212F5D265C20A811BA80212&FORM=VIRE0&ru=%2fsearch%3fFORM%3dAFSCWO%26PC%3dAFSC%26q%3dby%2bby%2bby%2bbaby%2bgoodbye
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Mike in NC:
you mean it wasn’t named after Maury Povich?
WhatsMyNym
OT: via The Guardian
Feathers
@Mike in NC: Good news! Alexandria, VA had a Maury Elementary which is now named Naomi L. Brooks Elementary School, after a longtime teacher who had attended, and fought against, Alexandria’s segregated schools.
In a weird renaming coincidence, the TC Williams whose racism is why the school from Remember the Titans is now called Alexandria High School, is apparently completely unrelated to the racist TC Williams whose name was removed from the University of Richmond School of Law.
Tim Ellis
@Carlo Graziani: Thanks for pointing this out; it never would have occurred to me, but you’re absolutely right of course. It’s a truly remarkable thing that the board of directors processes worked correctly even in this deliberately underhanded organization, and is a genuinely good sign.
smike
@Tim Ellis:
And maybe some investors are getting tired of their “asset”?
Sebastian
I guess I buried the lede in Adam’s Ukraine post.
I started a society.
We are on Twitter.
A moneyless barter economy of acts of service. More in Adam’s post.
Jackie
@Mike in NC: The Rachel Maddox show had a fascinating piece regarding Carter in charge of disassembling a nuclear reactor in Canada. He was 28 yrs old. Here’s the WaPo version:
”The world was in the grip of the Cold War in 1952 when a nuclear reactor began melting down.
That reactor, located at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, had suffered an explosion on Dec. 12. Radioactive material had escaped into the atmosphere, and millions of gallons of radioactive water flooded into the reactor’s basement. Thankfully, no one was injured, but the Canadians needed help to disassemble the reactor’s damaged core.
The United States sent 28-year-old Jimmy Carter…”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/02/20/jimmy-carter-nuclear-reactor-navy/
frosty
@dmsilev:
Whoa! That’s way better than the standard “rooting for injuries”! Detail! Specific requests! I’m waiting with popcorn.
frosty
@JAFD: That’s a cool hobby, but I guess it’s a stretch for OTR. It could be a post on its own for “Hobbyists in our midst.” I used to make ships in bottles when I was young and desperately looking for work. I have pictures. It’s worth an email to WG maybe?
Tony Jay
Nothing else for it now. O’Keefe will simply have to strap up the knee that Uncle Joe ‘s goons broke and take that wildcard to the Regional Street Dance heats being held in the big city.
If he beats Hunter ‘Cyber’ Biden into second and wins a place on the National team, those old men on the board will have to give him his job back. Won’t they? That’s just how these things work.
frosty
@Mike in NC:
That’s truly awesome. What an honor for Jimmy Carter.
Quaker in a Basement
Not the Onion? Really?
Amir Khalid
@Quaker in a Basement:
Actually, bankrolling James O’Keefe’s musical theatre career is a much less socially harmful use of Project Veritas’ money than its usual projects. So I guess I’m all for it.
lurker
this seems like a situation where the board looked at some of the spending and said if someone else finds out about this, and we did nothing, we would personally be liable … and it is hard to get members of a board of directors to be personally liable, so while the details seem somewhat laughable (as with much of the right), our overly litigious society is managing to give us a bit of a win (for now)…
you hate to see it [that’s the phrase in this situation, right, ‘cuz it just seems rough how they are treating young jimmy o’keefe, such a nice boy … ; – )]
NotMax
@JAFD
Linked site borked at the moment. Presumably gaming miniatures? “The dip*” has relegated spray sealer all but extinct, last I heard.
*Trade name escapes me. Been years upon years (as in well before this century) since I occasionally dabbled in miniatures. So old can remember when Ral Partha figures were made of lead. Imagine that with the advent of 3-D printing there’s been a sea change in the hobby.
opiejeanne
@Quaker in a Basement: I’m curious about this performance, but also afraid to look for it because, well, O’Keefe.
NotMax
@opiejeanne
The Nairobi Trio far, far more entertaining.
:)
Keith P.
@dmsilev: It’s like he saw Tucker on DWTS and said “THIS…is my future!”
opiejeanne
@NotMax: You never disappoint. I’ve never seen that before, and I wonder how I’ve missed it.
Chyron HR
My “James O’Keefe is alive and well” tweet has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my tweet.
Hangö Kex
In other news, Putin seems to be smoking something he shouldn’t: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-64713099
Baud
@Hangö Kex:
Maybe the problem is he’s not smoking something he should.
Hangö Kex
@Baud:
Could be, now that you mention it.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
We’re looking at a cold storm arriving here in LA Thursday with lots of rain and very low snow levels(like in the LA basin). It should be loads of fun.
Baud
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA:
Stay warm and dry!
eclare
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: What do you consider cold?
Baud
@eclare:
Southern California. Cold is being forced to wear socks.
Gregory
Please replace “hidden camera stings” with “deceptively edited videos.” –Your Editor
eclare
@Baud: Good rule of thumb.
Baud
@Gregory:
👍
sab
I know JamesOKeefe was must less than that and a bit more.
Bye for now you Twerp.
🐾BillinGlendaleCA
@eclare: Below freezing. Where I shot last week it was 21.
eclare
@🐾BillinGlendaleCA: That is cold!
Baud
@eclare:
Agreed. Respect to SoCal.
Baud
Morning Joe is pretty good this morning if you’re a Biden supporter.
eclare
@Baud: Good, I tape it and watch on the DVR. I bet Joe, Mika, and Willie regret taking yesterday off.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Ohio Mom: I would have felt that way years ago. Small towns are so Trumpy these days, even in community theater. That mught be the only place that he’d fit in.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I just realized I don’t have a single piece of yellow clothing. I’d like to wear blue and yellow on Friday. Plenty of blue, no yellow.
Just ordered a flag pin.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Time to go shopping!
zhena gogolia
@Baud: There is actually a crew-neck yellow sweater somewhere, but it’s too warm for this weather.
hueyplong
Really liking the recent trend of multiple Schadenfreude post titles. Very encouraging.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: I suddenly remembered I have a beautiful blue shawl with yellow irises on it —
but it’s Russian 🫤
different-church-lady
@Mike in NC: what a weird coincidence that they’re both named Hall.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Haha. You are a living Tolstoy novel.
brantl
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: What have you got against communities?
Baud
@brantl:
Communities are the gateway drug to communism.
horatius
@Jackie: I knew it. That radiation made him a superhero. And he continues to help humanity 70 years later.
Kay
Good story on an antiwoke warrior in Florida:
They interviewed some of her students, who say she regularly expresses her racist and homophobic views in class- even outside of class- challenging black children at a public swimming pool on whether they know how to swim or not, for example.
This is the person choosing curriculum in Florida. Good job, antiwokesters! Excellent work!
Ken
@dmsilev: From Cheers, the bar is watching a video of Diane’s dance performance:
DIANE: All my life I’ve wanted to dance so badly!
NORM: You got your wish.
eclare
@Kay: Those poor kids, being cheated of an education.
Baud
@Kay:
Opportunity to post this.
https://hbcugameday.com/2023/02/20/howard-swim-team-graces-the-cover-of-sports-illustrated/
Steeplejack
@eclare:
I happened to be watching in real time. Jonathan Lemire, the Way Too Early guy, had to hold the fort with Elise Jordan and the always useless Katty Kay. I think they even had second-tier guest pundits on. Who knew Presidents’ Day was such a big holiday for the commentariat?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Dear god, what were they thinking?
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Oh man.
Paul in KY
@Inventor: That nugget about O’Sleaze sounds like something from South Park! LOLing.
Baud
@Baud:
Interesting coincidence. I just saw this posted on Reddit.
https://i.redd.it/nwjpjlx2veja1.jpg
eclare
@Steeplejack: I guess Joe, etc all needed new mattresses. Yeah I caught yesterday on the DVR, and they all seemed caught off guard.
I talked with my aunt yesterday, and she said she wondered “you know Poland is right next door”…
eclare
@Baud: Not familiar, are romance fans like K-Pop fans?
Ken
@eclare: It’s romance writers, and they’re more like the Bacchae. I’m trying to remember the name of the last person who was ripped to shreds by them online.
eclare
@Ken: Thanks!
WaterGirl
@frosty: In all fairness to me :-) as I recall, I suggested that it was more “artists in our midst” because it didn’t really fit with On the Road. JAFD said he had photographed them but hadn’t made them,, so I thought we ruled out the Artists post together.
But your hobbies idea is a good one!
Quaker in a Basement
@Kay: Ugh. Escambia County. That’s Gaetz’s district and it’s where I went to public school long, LONG ago. Hasn’t changed much in all those years.
JAFD
@NotMax: TheMiniaturesPage.com closes for updates, about 3-4 AM EST – been running on the same software since the Year One …
‘Minwax’, I think your referring to. Some folk like it, my problem that I’m living in studio apt in ‘senior citizens’ building’, and the fumes therefrom smell awful.
Hope all is going well for you !