It looked like spring the other day, so I took a mini road trip around the area in an effort to avoid the beginning of gardening season. While checking out the paving project on Route 27, I pulled in to check up on Ms. Pigette. As expected, she was standing on the side of the road holding up her mailbox and greeted me with a one-finger salute, and a direct order.

It’s about time you stopped, she barked. I am out of juice so plug in my smartphone into your car’s charger.

I hadn’t intended to stay long enough to bring her phone up to snuff, but it was a nice day, the sun was shining and I wondered what was bugging her.

As you know, I am a longtime supporter of women and their issues, she said. So I wondered what ever happened to Gov. Janet Mills' lawsuit trying to block the feds from yanking breakfast and lunch funding from our schoolkids?”

Funny you should ask, I answered. My phone just told me the feds caved in and settled it.

Really, said Ms. P. But I thought the president was adamant that our 172,000 kids wouldn’t get some $250 million in federal school lunch funds unless Mills and Co. kicked two transgender kids off their school girls sports teams.

I didn't have an answer for her. I don’t know the reason why, but it looks like the governor just won, I told her.

OK smart guy, what else happened over the last week while my phone was out of juice?

You know the White House has spent a lot of time issuing executive orders on this and that. Many of them were blocked by judges. These judicial rulings got under the skin of the White House gang and they have spent a lot of time bad mouthing the judges. In addition, we are reading reports that some of the MAGA crowd are piling on and harassing judges by targeting their families and relatives. Now, it looks like the judges are punching back. One supreme court justice spoke at a judicial conference and said these attacks are aimed at undermining justice and the rule of law. The CJ also warned about punishing judges for their rulings.

The next thing up was the way the White House deported immigrants using an 18th century anti-invasion law. They claim the targeted immigrants are gang members invading the nation. Recently, several judges ruled the old anti-invasion law does not cover the situation involving current immigrants. Thus, the existing law requires the government to provide immigrants hearings and other protections before deportation. While your phone was out of juice, social media land and the TV pundits burned up the internet arguing this question. No one would be surprised if this whole mess winds up in the lap of the Supreme Court.

What happens next is anyone’s guess. Five of the nine jurists are considered conservative. Three of those were appointed by the current president. Does this mean the White House will prevail? This, my dear Ms. Pigette, is the $64,000 question.

What else is going on, asked the smiling icon. Well, we could talk about tariffs the White House imposed on just about every nation and how they turned the stock market and fiscal markets into a tizzy. Even conservative Republicans are nervous when the White House utters the word tariffs. What does it mean for the ordinary American? Have your pals checked their retirement savings accounts lately? There is your answer.

Finally, our U.S. senators, Angus King (I) and Susan Collins (R), joined the senatorial effort to take the power to impose tariffs away from the White House. Only a tiebreaker vote by the Veep defeated the bipartisan rebellion.

Wait a minute. Time out, yelled Ms. P. Does this mean we are hearing rumblings of mutiny out of the halls of Congress? Does that mean the folks we elected are beginning to represent us and not just rubber stamp the White House edicts?

I told her I didn’t know the answer to that one, but it seems the combined weight of the stock market gyrations, pressure from big business, and the wishes of the remnants of the real GOP seems to be having an effect on national policy. It is worth watching.

Well, said Ms. P, I see we had a local municipal election the other day. To me, the most interesting thing was the total turnout. It looks like more Boothbay folks turned out for a recent protest against the White House policies than bothered to vote in a town election.

Fortunately for me, about that time, Ms. Pigette's phone was fully charged and she started getting calls from her minions of followers. So I unplugged her phone and split.