Old Days and All that Jazz

That's Chicago.

The first night of the Democratic convention last night was a look back and a passing of the torch.  Hillary Clinton was there to pretty much say to voters that she warned us about Trump in 2016 (without mentioning that other who warned us about Trump In 2016 also warned us that Hillary couldn't defeat him), and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez the Killer slayed Trump with her slashing rhetoric against Trump's alliance with the wealthy and powerful (when in fact, he's neither of those things, but Republicans pretend otherwise).

President Biden's farewell address to the convention wasn't much more than a recapitulation of his record, and the most memorable moment for me was when he said how in no other country could a kid from Scranton could one day sit behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office as his country's leader.  I guess that makes sense; after all, how many countries have oval-shaped presidential or prime ministerial offices with a desk made of timbers from the H.M.S. Resolute?  (The King of England has one, but he was literally born into his job.)  And how many other world leaders would have come from Scranton?  

It was a bittersweet farewell for Biden, which brings to mind the subject of the bitter (not sweet) farewell of New Jersey's senior U.S. Senator.  Robert Menendez serves his long-awaited last day today in the Senate. His replacement, who will hold the seat until the election in November, is former gubernatorial aide George Helmy, whom Governor Phil Murphy appointed to fill out the reminder of Menendez's term.