British authorities sentenced a Dorset man to 18 months in jail for inciting hate and violence on X in the heated aftermath of the 2024 Southport stabbings that left three children dead and another 10 people injured.
Luke Yarwood's posts were viewed a total of 33 times before being taken down. If I've done my math correctly, that's nearly 17 days of jail time per view. If I know anything about people, half of those views were Yarwood checking his mentions.
There's no denying the nasty nature of Yarwood's posts, sent to X before the identity of the killer — 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana — was known, but was widely misreported to have been a Muslim immigrant. Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, but his parents were evangelical immigrants from Rwanda.
Yarwood's posts called for "slaughter in the streets" of Muslims and encouraged people to "Head for the hotels housing them and burn them to the ground."
"Violence and murder is the only way now. Start off burning every migrant hotel then head off to MP houses in Parliament. We need to take over by force," he wrote.
Even a veteran of intemperate tweets like myself would never post anything like Yarwood did, but still, 33 views? This guy barely incited more racial hatred than Martin Riggs and Roger Murtaugh in all three Lethal Weapon movies combined. See, that's funny because one is black and the other is white and they're basically family and race hardly comes up. I miss movies like those.
Judge Jonathan Fuller said Yarwood had a "preoccupation with immigrants" and an "obsession with Islam," alongside "extremely right-wing views."
And now he has almost 17 days of jail time for each time those views were seen by the public.
Message sent and received, five by five.
Yarwood pled guilty and so did not receive a jury trial — although I can't help wondering if he might have entered a different plea if he'd understood in advance that he might face such an outrageous sentence. The right jury might have even chosen to nullify the case.
And Another Thing: Don't even get me started on that fourth so-called Lethal Weapon movie. Despite the welcome presence of Chris Rock and Jet Li, that one was a pale shadow of the first three (and only) films. When the "funniest" moment consists of Rock and Joe Pesci shouting "That's how they screw you!" at each other, you've got problems. Still, I did love the part where Li disassembled Riggs's pistol in nothing flat.
But even long shots like jury nullification are now impossible in cases like Yarwood's. Earlier this month, UK Justice Secretary David Lammy announced an end to jury trials for anything other than serious offenses with possible sentences of three years or more. Lammy explained that the "reform" is meant to deal with the UK court system's serious backlog, but I sense something much more sinister going on in Keir Starmer's hardcore Labour U.K.
No free speech. No jury trials for speech offenses. It's safe to conclude that the old notion of "English liberty" was murdered — a crime for which there will be no indictment, no jury, no judge, and no sentence.
Recommended: Wait, Nancy Pelosi Just Said WHAT?
Want more of the unvarnished truth? Get exclusive columns, podcasts, and video live chats with your PJ Media VIP membership — now 60% off during our FIGHT promotion.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member