Noem Out, Mullin In

      Does it make a difference?  There are questions about what DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was spending her department's money on, especially the fat stack of cash resulting from the giant omnibus bill Congress passed, but both she and current U. S. Senator/possible new Secretary Markwayne Mullin are pretty much in lockstep with the rest of the Trump Administration on immigration and other issues.  If he avoids making a new series of TV commercials with himself as the star in the public's dime, and maybe sells off a luxury jet or two, I'll count it as a slight gain.

     The Senate will be short one Republican until Oklahoma's Governor appoints a replacement (and despite his recent showing of independent spirit, you can count on the new one being a Republican, too) -- but the slim GOP majority in that body already falls well short of the 60 votes needed to steamroller Democratic opposition.

     "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss," except, presumably, for his taste in shoes.  I've have never been terribly impressed with Senator Mullin's verbal abilities.  He comes off looking a bit light on intellectual horsepower, but the job calls for administrative ability and we'll see how he does.  He likes to present himself as a brawler, which often doesn't augur well in a leadership job.

     I'm not a fan of deporting otherwise law-abiding wage earners who pay taxes just like the rest of us; it seems to me that if you could ease 'em into citizenship, it would count as a win.  But present policies are not going to change, despite the new name at the top.