***Monday May 4, 2015  One of the other two tenants left, absentmindedly taking the other's car.

***Tuesday May 5, 2015  The bad tenant was back, not bringing the car.

I think this was when I began to feel I was in a soap opera.  Without the sex.

***Wednesday May 6, 2015 NYTimes opinion piece on Catholicism had 666 online comments when I looked at it.

***Freelancers Union event:  "Branding Yourself as an Expert."

***Thursday May 7, 2015  National Day of Prayer, proclaimed by the President.  Free story idea:  What happens if the US ever has an openly agnostic or atheist President?  The tradition would probably continue.

***UK elections.  Whenever I begin thinking the US would be better off with a parliamentary system, either the UK or Canada will helpfully prove this wrong.

***Linden Hills Adult Children Anonymous meeting.

***Sunday May 10, 2015 "The United States could relearn a thing or two from British politics -- specifically, how to relocate the pragmatism that once prevailed on this side of the pond."  Subheading of opinion piece in the Star Tribune (Minneapolis daily paper.)   The continuation is headlined "Polarization is less present in British politics."  Author?  "Lawrence R. Jacobs is director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School of Public Affairs."

Harry Turtledove, Joe Steele.  ROC, 2015

Alternate history:   Stalin's parents emigrate to the US, and he's born here rather than in the Tsarist Empire.  He changes his name to "Steele" rather than the Russian equivalent.

He gets the 1932 Democratic Presidential nomination, after Franklin Roosevelt's unfortunate death.  Wins the election, stays President till his death.

After an interval in which it looks like the US will stop being a dictatorship, a worse man takes over:   J. Edgar Hoover.

Do I recommend it?  If you're a history buff or a political junkie, yes.  Otherwise, worth a look to see if you want to continue reading.

Googled for fantasy quidditch leagues.  They exist.