GOP welcomes/detests Trump:

Donald Trump is set to meet with about two dozen of GOP elite tomorrow. WaPo says the gathering will be “off-the-record” but “several members of the House and Senate are expected to participate, plus a bevy of consultants and veteran power brokers”.  So, why are GOP bigwigs lending him an ear at a secret meeting?

“…his allies hope[it] will improve his relationship with the congressional GOP and the party’s Washington establishment, according to two people who were invited.”

While some GOP elite appear to be getting comfortable with the idea of Donald as president, another group is ready to fight him at every turn. It starts with “a delegate-by-delegate lobbying effort” says NY Times,  and may include tossing in an independent candidate:

“Among the recruits under discussion are Tom Coburn, a former Oklahoma senator who has told associates that he would be open to running, and Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who was suggested as a possible third-party candidate at a meeting of conservative activists on Thursday in Washington.”

Raining money in Oregon:

Oregon is flush with cash after the first month of taxable recreational marijuana sales came in.  Nearly $3.5 million in tax revenues were recorded. The state has 300 licensed cannabis retailers.  Yahoo reports $13.9 million worth of pot was sold in January.  Initially, the state planned on getting about $8 million in taxes during the first two years.

Twitter keeps it to 140 characters

The Donald will be heartbroken.  ICYMI for awhile words were flying that Twitter was considering upping the limit of characters on a tweet to 10,000.  C-NET helpfully tells us that’s roughly 2,000 words. For reference, I plugged Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven into MS Word and it shows about 1086 words. Imagine Donald Trump, twitter-lover that he is, given free reign over 10,000 character tweets.  He could insult so much longer and use so many more of his “best” words.

American Samoa:

Along with Utah and Arizona, Tuesday is caucus day in American Somoa.  Judging by The Green Papers, there are a total of nine delegates up for grabs here.  6 bound to winning candidate(s) and then 3 party leaders “will attend the convention as unpledged.”  And if you thought polling for Arizona was slim try finding anything on American Samoa.

•  Quickhits:

• Some coffee lovers are suing Starbucks saying the chain is cheaping out when it comes to lattes. The suit, filed in the U.S.D.C. for the Northern District of California claims the shops have been cheating customers since 2009 by under-filling the lattes by about 25 percent.
•  President Obama and his family are spending a few days in Cuba. He’s expected to give a speech, take in the tourist sites, and catch a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National team.
• While the Obama’s were busy packing for the trip, a cruise ship on Friday reportedly saved 18 people who fled Cuba in a life raft. Nine others died on the journey. The group was en route to Florida.
•  Donald Trump at a rally Friday asked the audience about Mitt Romney faith. “..are you sure he’s a Mormon? Are we sure?”  Trump was asked about the remark on ABC’s This Week and, turns out, it was all a big joke. “The Mormons are very smart people, and I said it in a joking way, but they can take it any way — you can take it any way you want.”

Today is Palm Sunday.  The start of Holy Week. It is also UN French Language Day.   The United Nations made this a special day. Best as I can tell, you’re suppose to learn French. And do it today.

Cooler’s filled!

But it does need to be filled from time to time. Get in line down below and talk up something you saw here or drop in something you found elsewhere. If you thought it interesting, maybe others did too. That’s the Water Cooler, always Open Thread.

*all emphasis mine