Why We Celebrate The 4th of July: Independence Day

Why We Celebrate The 4th of July - USA from Chuck Thompson

Above is the 7th Virginia planning their war strategy for an upcoming battle.

The largest cavalry battle of the American Revolution took place right here in Gloucester, Virginia.

We fought for our Independence from England partially because of taxation without representation.  Does anyone see anything similar today?

The king thought he had a right to treat his British subjects in these colonies as he saw fit.  The American colonies were flourishing in part because we gave up trying to use the kings coin for trading and debts and instead created our own script.  The king outlawed us using our own script nearly bankrupting the colonies.  The extra taxes without representation was insult to injury.

The British burned our houses and destroyed our crops.  But never our spirit.

The French came to our aid in the battle.

The Marquis de Lafayette came over with his and the king of France's frigates and infantry to assist us.

With perseverance we won the day against tyranny.  We need to stand up once again and claim what is right and demand our inherent rights no longer be infringed upon.   Happy 4th of July and may America see many more with great pride and dignity.

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A Whirlwind of Events

The past several months have been a whirlwind of spectacular events all around the Hampton Roads and surrounding areas.  Above is a picture taken Friday evening, June 7th, 2015 of the L'Hermione in Yorktown.  It was the maiden voyage from France to the United States and Yorktown was the first stop.

L Hermione at Yorktown, Virginia 2015 from Chuck Thompson

We scanned in the brochure that was given away at the event as well as a copy of the boarding pass.  Take a look to learn more about the L Hermione.

We spend 4 days in Yorktown taking pictures of all the events and shows going on.  We took over 3,000 pictures and some HD video that we still need to process and get up.  The above is some art we created from the event.

The weekend before that was the Hampton Blackbeard Pirate Festival.  3 days of non stop entertainment.  We only went on Sunday for a few hours but still managed over 700 photos from the event.  We have them up on Google + and Flickr.

If you are a history buff, the events are non stop fun.  Pirates are the most fun to work with when it comes to photography.  Many of them are real hams.  Above is a few of the folks from the Motley Tones.  The female is Ring Tone pictured above and in the background purposely  messing up the photo is Flintz Tone.  I love those names.  They have real character.  You can visit their website at
http://motleytones.com/

The weekend before that was several great events for history buffs.  Civil war reenactments in Yorktown and American Revolution reenactments in Gloucester at the Courthouse Circle.

We managed over 1,500 photos between these two events.  Talking about a lot of shooting.


And a few weeks prior to these was a Pirate invasion in Yorktown.

At this one we only created about 300 photos total.  We were there more for the enjoyment of the event than to shoot anything.  But I just can't resist taking a bunch of pictures anyway.

Virginia is graced with a host of incredible places to visit and events to attend throughout the entire year.  For us, we love history so that is usually where you will find us the most.  We make a lot of friends at these events and share our works as much as possible.

And then there is always the fun of taking pictures where ever you are.  Events or not.

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L Hermione Frigate, Last Chance on Sunday June 7th, 2015 To See Her In Yorktown, VA

The L Hermione Frigate from France is here in Yorktown, Virginia for one more day.  If you have not come out to see this ship yet, you need to come out by Sunday, June 7th, 2015 to see her.  She is stunning.  This is a recreation of the ship that the Marquis de Lafayette came over to the Continental United States on.  She cost an astounding $36 Million to build and took about 20 years.  An amazing floating and sailing museum.  The crew are as nice as can be.  This is her maiden voyage from France and the first time she has ever been seen in the United States and we are the fortunate ones to see her first in the US.  

  That in and of itself is history.  So far we have over 1,500 photos of this ship that we will be getting online over the next few weeks.  Until then we have put up an initial 72 photos on Google Plus and Flickr.  Throughout historical Yorktown and the Riverwalk are a bunch of reenactors creating an atmosphere that simply should not be missed for anyone with even a passing interest in American history.   

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The Gloucester Magazine, Vol. 1 Issue 2 - 7th Virginia Regiment

The Gloucester Magazine Vol 1 Issue 2 from Chuck Thompson

The Gloucester Magazine, volume 1 issue number 2.  This month we feature the 7th Virginia Regiment who will be here this coming weekend for Memorial Day weekend.  36 pages of American Revolutionary delight for those who like a bit of history.  We have more advertisers for this issue and we have managed to come up with even more for next months issue.

  You can download free copies of this magazine through SlideShare or you can share the link for the magazine or even embed the magazine on other websites.  To download a free copy all you have to do is sign up with SlideShare for a free account.  Once you have that you can download any of our works for free.

  Other magazines in the works include the American Revolution, Civil War, pirates and more.  We also publish the Official Unofficial Photo Magazine of Colonial Williamsburg.  We will also be creating special one time magazines of historic Yorktown and the battlefields.  Early American history and Tall ships are also being planned.  These magazine are not sold in stores.  They are strictly online editions.  The good news is they have an indefinite shelf life because of this.  

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York County Virginia's Racist General District Court And Judge Hudgins Place In It?

We fought the American Revolution to free ourselves from tyranny.  The American Revolution ended in York County, Virginia in Yorktown.  A beautiful area loaded with incredible American history and heritage.  The issues we see today is that tyranny is far from dead and is in fact alive and well and practiced in our court rooms each and everyday where justice simply does not prevail, but instead tyranny against the people flourishes unrestrained.

  I was in the General District Court witnessing some of the cases being held in that court on April 21st, 2015.  Judge Stephen Ashton Hudgins was presiding in the court and is the chief justice for the York County General District Court.  Even though this man may have been wearing a black robe, what I saw, he should have just worn his white sheet with the three common KKK letters on that sheet as well as the Commonwealth Prosecutor for York County.  (My opinion).

  Each person who appeared to be of African American decent, (Black to cut the politically correct garbage), that went before Judge Hudgins while I was there were all, what seemed to be, prosecuted to the full extant of the charges against them and held on the side for processing.  Now its by design that you can not hear what is going on with each case in that court room, so I can not say what each of them was charged with and what determination was used to prosecute them.  If you were white and dressed half way decent, you at least got to leave the court with having to pay your fees, fines, and or court costs.  Not one person was innocent no matter what.  No white people that I saw were held for processing.

  Those folks who were black were also treated with contempt if they so much as moved in a funny way by a female bailiff in that courtroom.  It was a very vulgar atmosphere in that courtroom.  I was there with a friend who was being, in my opinion, fraudulently charged by a trooper who according to the rules of the court, never signed two summons, traffic tickets, against her.  She filed two motions that the court and the Commonwealth fully ignored in violation of the rules of the court.  Judge Hudgins refused to acknowledge the filings as did the Commonwealth Attorney and they railroaded her with the full knowledge they did not have a case nor proper subject matter jurisdiction to do so.  Again, this is my opinion based on what I have read of the case and saw in the courtroom.

    

York County, Virginia General District Court Filing Traffic Court 

The above is a redacted copy of most of the paperwork that went before the court and to the Commonwealth Attorney.  The name of the person who was, again in my opinion, falsely charged, has been removed and some of the additional evidence that has little bearing on this story was redacted for privacy.  As shown before on this site, whenever any law-enforcement gives you a summons, including what is commonly referred to as a traffic ticket, the law-enforcement officer is required to sign that summons according to the rules of the court.  The rules they say you have to abide by when you go into court.  They are also supposed to abide by them but I have yet to see one court do so.

  Judge Hudgins it seems ignored the rules of the court and the rules of judicial conduct that all judges are required to uphold and the Commonwealth attorney it seems is also in violation of the rules of the court.  How is anyone expected to trust the courts with this kind of nonsense going on?  The courts are not fair.  They are corrupted from everything I am seeing.

  I recently found a form to file with the Department of Criminal Justice System here in Virginia.  https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/forms/privatesecurity/pss_c.pdf


The above linked PDF form can be used to file complaints against anyone in government whenever they violate your rights.  Judge Hudgins as well as the Commonwealth Attorney seemed to have violated the civil rights of the person in the above case as well as the civil rights of a number of folks of what appears to be of African American decent.  They appear to have been very racist.  The ACLU should try sitting in this courtroom for a few days to observe cases and see if they see the same issues I am describing here.  I am going to file a complaint with the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice System over these issues.

  I even recognized a Federal Government Employee sitting in the courtroom who also appeared to be watching cases and going through what looked like a law notebook.  What he may report could prove to be interesting.  Is it that there are known issues within this court as I am presently describing and its being looked at very closely?  One can only hope.

  Again, these are my observations and opinions.  They are not meant to be taken as legal advice or considered in any way as practicing law.  I am not an attorney with the BAR in any state.  What I am is disgusted with what I am witnessing in the courtrooms around Virginia as are a growing number of people whom I am in contact with.

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