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Globe decides it doesn't want its columnists talking about urinating on people's food, no matter how odious

The Globe ran an online column today in which Luke O'Neil called for the permanent ostracizing of Kirstjen Nielsen, ousted as head of Homeland Security for not throwing enough babies in cages.

But the Globe did a bit of editing between the time O'Neil's column first went up and now. Here's his original beginning:

One of the biggest regrets of my life is not pissing in Bill Kristol’s salmon. I was waiting on the disgraced neoconservative pundit and chief Iraq War cheerleader about 10 years ago at a restaurant in Cambridge and to my eternal dismay, some combination of professionalism and pusillanimity prevented me from appropriately seasoning his entree. A ramekin of blood on the side might have been the better option, come to think of it. He always did seem really thirsty for the stuff.

Here's what the Globe re-wrote that as:

One of the biggest regrets in my life was serving Bill Kristol salmon and not telling the neoconservative pundit and chief Iraq War cheerleader what I really thought about him. That was 10 years ago, at a restaurant in Cambridge, and I was reminded of that episode this week when Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen, the purportedly reluctant triggerman for Donald Trump’s inhumane policies of ethnic cleansing, announced she would be stepping down from her post at the president’s request.

The Globe also spiked this line:

As for the waiters out there, I’m not saying you should tamper with anyone’s food, as that could get you into trouble. You might lose your serving job. But you’d be serving America. And you won’t have any regrets years later.

The Globe also stuck an editor's note at the top:

Editor’s note: A version of this column as originally published did not meet Globe standards and has been changed. The Globe regrets the previous tone of the piece.

On his Twitter feed, O'Neill responded:

I would like to apologize for my commentary regarding the warden of the baby jail.

H/t Ron Newman.

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Comments

They should correct this part too: “Luke O’Neil is a journalist”

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I have no problem with O'Neil's assessment of Kristol -- the guy is famous for being wrong about everything, is on record advocating lying to the public, and has contributed to a lot of very bad policy. ONeil's idea of peeing on Kristol's food, however, is not good, because:
A. It would not accomplish anything. Fresh urine from a healthy person is sterile, so it's not likely that Kristol would be harmed. He might find the meal unappetizing, but unless O'Neil told him what he'd done, Krystol would not take away any message from that.
B. If O'Neil did tell what he'd done, he could be criminally charged. While Kristol would then know that this one guy really didn't like him, that knowledge is not likely to change him.
C. Presumably, there were other people eating in the restaurant. Seeing somebody whizz on food would certainly ruin their meal, and probably their whole day.
D. It would be a waste of presumably good food,and might negatively affect the restaurant's reputation.

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...Krystol?

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His entire schtick is that he’s an edgy contrarian. He’s a good writer, but once you realize that’s his “thing”, it gets old real fast.

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who would believe it?

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Pissing in people's food? I love when Democrats reveal themselves to be deplorable. Oh and that goes for the current state of "journalists" too. Just label yourselves as political pundits because that's all history will remember you as.

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to the gentle rhetoric of conservatives

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Are we snowflakes and wimps or are we deplorable.

I'd say "make up your mind" but you are clearly out of yours to defend anything this POS child abuser and racist has done.

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It is telling that you are more mad about a piss joke than about kids dying in cages in Trump's detention centers. History will remember Trump and his supporters as pathetic white supremacists.

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If you're angry with Democrats about this, just wait until you hear what the Republicans have been doing!

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They should have left it alone so the readers can judge for themselves.

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Very inappropriate, but more sad that Globe editors would allow this column to run.

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Protected his tweets. Maybe tough guy didn't like people dredging up old tweets where he called people "retards", and threatening violence.

https://twitter.com/MarkHannonballs/status/1116071308125773828

Zero chance Luke has the balls to say anything to anyone's face, but maybe the toughest Internet tough guy around!

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You can't? (How does "protecting" work? I hardly ever use Twitter.)

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Protecting means that you've made your tweets private. So far as I know, people who are already following you at that point will still see your tweets, while new followers need to request to see your tweets.

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Like I say .... rarely agree with you but I agree on this one.,

Luke is uhhhhhh hipster gone bad.

I remember when he wrote for the Metro, was a good reporter. He kinda went the way of Farone who is cynical now which causes yellow journalism.

Luke is the same. Dude's also really let himself go...

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I see what did there.

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Seriously though, the dude is jacked and strikingly handsome.

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And the average Trump supporter is, like Trump, obese and in terrible shape.

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Handsome is relative... his twitter account picture makes him look like a dirty hipster and that a shower is needed.

Jacked doesn't make the person hot. I know far too many meathead assholes who are "jacked"

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Like me!

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Without the drive, talent, or charisma.

For real, the dude's a complete poser.

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Unfortunately- big difference with Bonni- is A.C.'s not around these days to write songs about O'Neil

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So you mean the globe did the right thing because of people start imagining if the waiters and waitresses are pissing or mucking with peoples food there will be problems and those problems will end in rightfully out of work wait staff I won’t have one bit of sympathy for no matter how righteous they think they are.

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Let’s not judge the man until the facts come out- the most important one being the man’s phenotype. If he appears cowardly with low muscle tone, a weak chin, and goofy permanent-smile, we will know he deserves perpetual scorn and disrespect. If he has a strong and admirable phenotype, then he should be celebrated.

Everyone thought it was cool when Brad Pitt peed in the soup in Fight Club. Ed Norton had to adopt the Brad Pitt alter ego in order to pull that stuff off. Had he done that as his former loser self, he would have been fired from his job and arrested.

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People like Kristol and Nielsen are literal honest-to-god monsters and people can say whatever they want about them.

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to find the Globe has editors.

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IU'm very busy with my schedule but I review everything I can, I'm working on the yearbook now!

And of course my dictionary has a phraseology to describe this:

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Piss%20on%20your%20chips

#don'tpeewhereyoueat
#metoo

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to find the Globe still has readers.

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What a crude, classless piece. Trust me, I'm no pearl clutching prude but I do appreciate good journalism, and this isn't it. Such dreck would be better suited to the amateurish Dig than to the Globe, long in decline though it has been.

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It was reported elsewhere that an intermediate edit, between the original and final versions shown here, appeared briefly before being changed again. It was no better than the first so The Globe really screwed up twice. If they wanted to retain any credibility they would have pulled the piece totally. Also, Globe editors Tweeted or re-tweeted the original column so they certainly cannot claim it snuck through without proper approval. They knew, they approved, they backtracked, and now they are digging in. Shameful.

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It was tweeted out from the Globe Ideas twitter handle initially, as well as by the editor Ms. Leung herself. Clearly they supported this piece until hit with backlash.

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The link to this essay no longer works.

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Network that constantly complains about censorship pressures major newspaper to censor an opinion piece. Hypocrisy at its height? Nah, its just Friday in the United States.

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If I were Nielsen, I'd be afraid of this bozo and get a restraining order asap. He has said he feels no remorse and encourages others to harass her as well. That's more than enough grounds for a restraining order.

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