Random Wednesday Morning Thoughts

• It's "Did you have a nice Christmas?" day. 
• The following people were pardoned by Greg Abbott late Friday on Christmas weekend (when the press doesn't have time to snoop around.) Why these people for minor crimes who have paid their punishment years ago? Give me an hour and I can come up with a list of hundreds of former clients who are worthy are complete forgiveness from the government. 
• Javier Rojas Jr., 39, for unlawful possession of marijuana in 1997 (El Paso County). Rojas was sentenced to six years' probation and a $1,000 fine.
• Raymond Eldon Lindholm, 46, for unlawful possession of marijuana in 1997 (Morris County). Lindholm was sentenced to five years' probation and a $2,000 fine.
• Pamela Hawon Wren, 46, for theft between $200 and $750 in 1999 (Denton County). Wren was sentenced to 180 days' probation and a $100 fine.
• Reginald Charles DeCuire, 53, for theft in 1983 (Jefferson County). DeCuire was sentenced to five days in jail.
• Joseph Clinton Blackwell, 39, for burglary of a vehicle in 1996 (Tarrant County). Blackwell was sentenced to 15 days in jail.
• Ruth Anne Griffith, 22, for assault causing bodily injury in 2014 (Harrison County). Griffith was sentenced to 100 days in jail.
• When you think about it, it's still our money: 
  
• The days leading up to Christmas need to be cold.
• The number of alarm clocks/phones that go off on holiday weekdays has to be astronomical. (That theory is based upon the sample size of those in my home.)
• One of the weirdest stories of the holidays was the Secretary calling the heads of the major banks in the U.S. from a vacation in Mexico and then issuing a statement on Sunday that the banks had “ample liquidity”. Something going on we need to know about? If not, why issue that statement causing another stock market plunge? 
• An odd TV programming event on Sunday. Local Fox, after the early NFL game, ran a bunch of spare "science fun tricks" shows and then began an abbreviated version of "Fox 4 News at 5:00" at 5:45. I wonder if this was a Christmas snafu?
• Odd gift I threw in for Ms. LL. She was reading it last night:
  
• In case you missed it: Wise County spent $10,000 on a couple of drones. (Let's make a mental note as to how often they are used and/or useful.)
• My favorite purchase of the year was a timer for the Christmas lights.
• Random people posting pics of a current trip via train from Moscow to Beijing.