NATIONAL

“It’s clear that being physically brutalized hasn’t taught Harry Reid more discretion. And if you’ve been watching cable news amid his unapologetic exit from the stage, you’ll notice he’s hardly alone in his party. In fact, the parade of Democrats on the airwaves this week excusing Reid’s blatant and shameless lies about Mitt Romney based on “that’s just politics” is truly breathtaking.” – Scott McKay/American Spectator

“BREAKING: IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS FAIL TO MEET DEADLINE FOR THIRD TIME THIS MONTH. But screw that. Let’s talk about Indiana.” – Every Joe

“What interests and concerns me about the fight over Indiana’s religious freedom law is not its implication for gay weddings and whether pizza will be served at them. Much more important are the basic principles that are being invoked to argue against the Indiana law. These arguments set out to define religious freedom out of existence, and they end up defining all freedom out of existence.” – The Federalist

“The issue of gay marriage is not one that generally comes up when talking about a pizzeria. Neither is straight marriage, for that matter. Local pizza joints aren’t generally hotbeds of wedding receptions. Yet, Marino found herself wandering into Memories Pizza to get the unsuspecting owners to weigh in on an emotional issue which has never come up in the course of the business’s nearly 10 year existence.” – Daily Caller

“Barack Obama can run for office as an anti-gay-marriage candidate — which he did, more than once — and that is a ho-hum business, because nobody believed him to be sincere. Brendan Eich was driven out of the company he helped found for holding a substantially identical view sincerely — and that sincerity is an unforgivable sin in a society in thrall to the teapot-totalitarian temptation. When there is no private property — the great legal fiction of ‘public accommodation’ saw to its effective abolition — then everything is subject to brute-force politics, and there can be no live-and-let-live ethic, which is why a nation facing financial ruination and the emergence of a bloodthirsty Islamic caliphate is suffering paroxysms over the question of whether we can clap confectioners into prison for declining to bake a cake for a wedding in which there is no bride.” – Kevin Williamson/National Review

“Webb aside, it’s now expected for Democrats to denounce RFRAs, just as large corporations are denouncing them. In doing so, all of the critics are on the wrong side of public polling. According to a March edition of the Marist poll, 54 percent of Americans agreed with ‘allowing First Amendment religious liberty protection or exemptions for faith based organizations and individuals even when it conflicts with government laws.’ By a two-point margin, 47-45, even a plurality of Democratic voters agreed with that.” – Bloomberg

“I think the biggest question as we look to 2016 is, how do you bring back the millions of conservatives who have been staying home?” Cruz said. “Looking at the field, there are a lot of good people, but I don’t see a lot folks that are likely to motivate and energize and mobilize the millions of conservatives to come out. I think we’re in the best situation, based on my record, to do that.” – The Hill

“There’s a hypothesis circulating among Republicans that Mitt Romney lost in 2012 because a large number of previously reliable conservatives who turned out in past elections stayed home. Here’s the problem: It’s not accurate.” – Karl Rove/WSJ

“Al-Shabaab confirmed it’s behind the bloody assault on a Kenya university that has killed at least 15, with unofficial death tolls much higher.” – PJ Media

“A man born without an anus has reported Sun columnist Katie Hopkins to the police because she tweeted less than respectfully about his condition, which leaves him little control over his bowel movements.” – Breitbart

“Southern California and much of the southwest is in the grips of a massive and apparently persistent drought. There’s no point in arguing about that. Of course, whenever a crisis arises, it gives politicians a chance to do what they like best… impose more regulations.” – Hot Air

LOUISIANA

“House Majority Whip Steve Scalise said he was ‘frustrated’ and ‘hurt’ by the media coverage of his speech to a white supremacist group, arguing his past work helping African Americans in New Orleans was deliberately ignored.” – The Hill

“Reuters news agency reported Wednesday that Gov. Bobby Jindal accepted $60 million in federal funds provided under Obamacare while working to scrap the law. But the Jindal administration said the dollars coming to the state had nothing to do with the health insurance exchanges or expansion of Medicaid – the guts of the federal Affordable Care Act.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Traffic congestion in metro New Orleans is terrible, NOLA.com readers agree. But a recent report that ranked the region as among the worst areas for gridlock in the world had readers a little divided on its cause.” – NOLA.com

“The proposed revamp of TOPS, the state’s popular tuition-paying program, will lead to another bill that would allow university administrators, rather than legislators, to set the price of tuition. Legislation to give universities authority to set the tuition rates will be filed in a few days, state Sen. Jack Donahue announced Wednesday at a news conference lauding a different measure: one that would set a ceiling on the annual stipend, which legislators would have to vote each year to raise, meaning some parents and students may eventually have to pay some portion if tuition rises but the TOPS award does not.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Students and families receiving Louisiana’s popular TOPS college scholarship program could end up having to cover more of their tuition bills if new legislation passes this spring. State Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville, and state Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, have proposed adding an extra step to the automatic increase in TOPS awards that approximately 53,000 of students received this year.” – NOLA.com

“Louisiana’s top higher education leaders are rallying behind a proposal to put cost controls on the TOPS free college tuition program, to address concerns about its ballooning price tag.” – Lake Charles American Press

“How much is it worth for Louisiana taxpayers to have movies made throughout the state? Apparently, quite a lot. Recent studies have shown that for every new dollar created in jobs, equipment, catering and all the spin off income, Louisiana taxpayers are paying out four times that amount. Bring a dollar in and pay from the state treasury four dollars out. What kind of deal is this?” – Jim Brown

“Baton Rouge Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks-Daniel spent more than $350 of her campaign finance contributions last year on clothing, beauty supplies and getting her hair and nails done.” – Baton Rouge Advocate

“Louisiana Shrimp Task Force members voted unanimously Wednesday (April 1) to support the repeal of state legislation adopted in 1987 that prohibits Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents from enforcing federal turtle-excluder device regulations, Wildlife and Fisheries announced.” – NOLA.com

“Former New Orleans Saints player Darren Sharper is now in the St. Tammany Parish jail. He arrived Thursday, according to the jail’s website.” – Fox 8 Live