Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has incurred the ire of some open carry supporters for his statements earlier this week seemingly discounting the possibility of passing an open carry law this legislative session.

The Austin American Statesman reports:

“Second Amendment rights are very important, but open carry has not reached the level of being prioritized at this point,” Patrick said during a Texas Tribune event Tuesday morning. “I don’t think there’s support in the Legislature to pass it.”  There have not been enough votes to send an open-carry bill to the governor in past legislative sessions, he said, and this session, “I haven’t had anyone bring it up to me.”

It’s too early for an “I told you so”, but see Red’s predictions for 2015.

Sen. Cornyn displayed why he is better suited to serving in the U.S. Senate than practicing his chosen profession of attorney in yesterday’s brilliant questioning of U.S. Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch.

Cornyn: “Let me just stipulate, you’re not Eric Holder, are you?”

Lynch: “No, I’m not, sir.”

We learned a lot from that exchange.  Move on Sen. Cornyn.

Cornyn then launched into a long, laundry list of Tea Party criticisms of Eric Holder before asking,

Cornyn:  “How will you be different from Eric Holder?”

Lynch:  “I will be myself, I will be Loretta Lynch.” 

At least those troublesome identity questions are all cleared up.

State District Court Judge Bert Richardson denied Rick Perry’s request to dismiss his indictment for abuse of official capacity and coercion of a public servant.  Perry’s legal team argued that the statutes under which Perry was indicted were unconstitutionally vague as applied and that the indictment on the charge of coercion failed to negate the exception for a government official acting in their official capacity.  Richardson dismissed both complaints and it seems fairly clear from his opinion that Perry’s lawyers have a tenuous grasp on the ins and outs of Texas criminal procedure.  The Houston Chronicle reports:

Richardson said that state law doesn’t allow him to decide at this point in the process whether the law was unconstitutionally applied to Perry, as his lawyers contend.

“Simply put, the court’s hands are tied,” Richardson wrote.

Perry’s high-profile defense team contended that the case against Perry violates his constitutional rights and his authority as governor. In a signal of the high stakes, Perry has paid them more than $1 million from his campaign fund.Perry’s team on Tuesday quickly filed notice that he will appeal the decision.

Hopefully, none of the more than $100,000 in taxpayer money that has gone to Perry’s defense was used to make the seemingly frivolous arguments made in the futile attempt to avoid a trial for the ex-Governor.

New Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick trimmed down the number of Senate committees from 18 to 14 as one of his first acts to establish control of the chamber. Patrick axed panels on open government, jurisprudence, economic development and government organization.

Open Government – Clearly there is no commitment to this as Patrick will rely on a so-called citizens’ committee comprised primarily of big money Republican donors.  No need for the common folk to see what is going on behind the smoke and mirrors.

Jurisprudence – Why have a committee that might actually oppose further restrictions on the rights of ordinary folks to sue?

Economic Development –  Not interested in anything beyond more tax breaks for big business.  No committee needed for that.

Government Organization –  We want our government to be as disorganized as possible.