These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic.
FOR MY FIRST CHAPTER ON CHARLEMAGNE’S PALADINS CLICK HERE.
ROLAND BATTLES MANDRICARDO – In our previous installment Charlemagne’s Paladin named Roland saved Princess Isabella of Galicia from the Moroccan corsairs who were holding her for ransom.
Now, Roland and Isabella were riding northward to link up with Emperor Charlemagne’s main army as they fought the ongoing Saracen invasion. As always, the Paladin wielded his sword Durindana.
At length they approached a town where there was much consternation. Several soldiers were making their way through the streets but at this distance Roland could not make out if they were friend or foe.
Our hero had Isabella slip down from their horse and hide behind a tree while Roland met with the approaching soldiers to determine their intentions. He saw that they were conducting a prisoner, bound hand and foot.
Finally, Roland could make out the ensigns of the troops – they were men of the Count Anselm, head of the treacherous House Maganza. That House was ever ready to secretly ally themselves with every foe of Emperor Charlemagne. Continue reading
IF YOU WERE A TREE – The SUNY COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & FORESTRY MIGHTY OAKS welcomed the JEFFERSON COLLEGE CANNONEERS. The Mighty Oaks seized control early, leading 47-31 by Halftime and ultimately defeating the Cannoneers by a final score of 96-74. Patrick Emery led SUNY-ESF with his 27 points. 
USCAA OVER D2 – The USCAA’s NEWPORT NEWS APPRENTICE SCHOOL BUILDERS (Shipbuilders) played host to NCAA Division Two’s CHEYNEY UNIVERSITY WOLVES. The Wolves led 41-38 at the midpoint but the Builders outscored them 47-34 from there for an 85-75 victory over the higher division team. Adrion Wall’s 22 points led the Apprentice School. 
THE CAT – Greer Nelson caught on to a conspiracy to take over the world via armies of women clad in superpower-granting costumes. She donned the prototype and called herself the Cat before taking down the entire sinister organization. 
TIGRA THE WERE-WOMAN – After the Cat’s series got canceled from low sales Marvel added Greer Nelson to their 1970s horror characters as Tigra. The Cat was mortally wounded in a battle with Hydra, but Marvel’s race of cat-people saved her life by granting her an amulet that turned her into Tigra the Were-Woman. 
There are plenty of news stories that are still unfolding right now but need another few days for the figurative and literal smoke to clear. I will definitely be covering them in the days ahead. For today plenty of readers have been asking about my view of the continuing U.K. grooming gangs scandal. 
ROTHERHAM REPORT OPINION (September 2nd, 2014) – “Females as young as ELEVEN were being systematically raped and groomed for further abuse by Pakistani Muslims in the U.K for years. Over FOURTEEN HUNDRED VICTIMS (Note: that was the 2014 estimate) have been referred to in just the Rotherham Report with countless other areas of the U.K. weighing in with similar accounts.” 
“I DIDN’T WANT TO BE ACCUSED OF BEING ISLAMOPHOBIC” IS THE NEW “I WAS ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS.” (September 22nd, 2014) – “The atrocities were enabled by U.K. bureaucrats, many of whom willfully ignored the complaints of the rape victims because the assailants were Muslim. Some of the bureaucrats have tried to excuse their actions (or rather their inaction) by plaintively whining that they ‘didn’t want to be accused of Islamophobia.’
As an appreciative shoutout to James Woods, one of the wildfire victims in California, here’s a Balladeer’s Blog look at 8 of his films. 
VIDEODROME (1983) 
BABYLON ELECTRIFIED (1888) – Written by Albert Bleunard. In the tradition of his fellow Frenchman, Jules Verne, Bleunard crafted this work of science fiction with an international cast. 
EVA THE ADVENTURESS – This was the second of the novels that Nellie Bly (Elizabeth J. Cochrane) wrote between 1889 and 1895. They were considered lost until being rediscovered in 2021. 
ARREST AND TRIAL (1963-1964) – Decades before Law & Order came this forgotten television series which used one half of its 90-minute run-time to depict the police tracking down and arresting a suspect and the other half depicting the trial. Ben Gazzara, Chuck Connors and Don Galloway starred. 
Arrest and Trial lasted just one season (yes, some shows did 30-episode and even 39-episode seasons back then). Audiences may have been too used to the comfort food of crime shows where they knew going in who was guilty and who was innocent. Cop shows like Dragnet always showed the police nabbing the guilty and lawyer shows like Perry Mason always showed the defendants being innocent. No such convenience on this show. 
These are the legends about Charlemagne and his Paladins, not the actual history, so there will be dragons, monsters and magic. 
ROLAND BATTLES MOROCCAN CORSAIRS – The Paladins recently freed by Astolpho from the prison of the sorcerer Atlantes all hastened to rejoin Emperor Charlemagne’s army. The war against the Muslim invaders from colonized Spain and North Africa was still raging. 
Balladeer's Blog 