Make your Friday count with Caught My Eye! I’m skipping the fluff and sticking to the facts (and a little common sense). Check out today’s lineup:
- Katie Lane Nominated
- Trump is Toxic
- Spending on Groceries
- Operation Metro Surge
- Partial Government Shutdown
- One More Thing
KATIE LANE NOMINATED:
President Donald Trump announced that he had nominated Katie Lane to serve as a judge on the United States District Court for the District of Montana.
Here is Trump’s statement on social media:
I am pleased to announce the nomination of Katie Lane to serve as Judge on the United States District Court for the District of Montana. Katie brings fantastic experience to her new role, previously serving as Deputy Solicitor General of Montana, a State I love and won big three times! Katie has also played a critical role in stopping Voter Fraud as Senior Counsel for Litigation at the Republican National Committee. She received her J.D. from George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, and B.A. from Furman University, before clerking for Judges Timothy Tymkovich and Thomas Varlan. Katie is Highly Qualified and Respected, and will boldly defend our Constitution. Congratulations Katie!
If approved by the U.S. Senate, Lane will be the second federal judge (Bill Mercer) Trump has placed on the bench in Montana.
If this source is correct, Trump has placed about 200 Federal District Court Judges on the bench. He’s placed about 60 judges on the Court of Appeals and has had three U.S. Supreme Court Justices confirmed. Lifetime appointments.
That is why elections are important.
TRUMP IS TOXIC:
Axios reported this week that President Trump has become so politically toxic that voters now say Joe Biden — whose unpopularity forced him into early retirement — did a better job as president, according to three new polls.
One poll, the right-leaning Rasmussen Reports, found that “48% of likely voters say Biden did a better job as president, compared with 40% who chose Trump.”
Harvard CAPS/Harris (Jan. 28–29): Mark Penn’s polling firm found that 51% of registered voters say Trump is doing a worse job than Biden, compared with 49% who say he’s doing better.
YouGov/Economist (Feb. 6–9): This survey found that 46% of U.S. adults say Trump is doing a worse job than Biden, compared with 40% who say he’s doing better. Another 7% said “about the same.”
Young voters have cratered: The YouGov/Economist poll found Trump at -42 net approval among 18–29 year-olds — a 51-point swing from +9 at the start of his presidency.
This is devastating news for the Republicans as we approach midterms, and wonderful news for Democrats.
I hope his staff keeps this under wraps, because if Trump catches wind of this, we’re one “Executive Order” away from a 500% tax on everything or a spontaneous border skirmish just to keep his ratings up.
SPENDING ON GROCERIES:
New from WalletHub…
Grocery prices have surged in recent years, increasing by nearly 30% since 2019, according to the USDA. Income growth hasn’t kept pace with these rising costs, making groceries less affordable and forcing households to spend a larger share of their earnings on food.
To examine the impact, WalletHub analyzed the prices of 26 commonly purchased grocery items across all 50 states. We then totaled these costs and compared them with each state’s median household income to identify where residents devote the largest percentage of their income to groceries.
Mississippi came in first, spending the most money (2.6%) on groceries. Montana is ranked #12, which is pretty bad (2.15%).
I hope the midterm elections change the landscape somewhat and make groceries more affordable (MGMA).
You can read the complete report from WalletHub HERE.
OPERATION METRO SURGE:
President Trump’s Border Czar, Tom Homan, stepped out of his five-star hotel in Minneapolis Thursday morning and did not see his shadow. That means that the immigration operation called “Operation Metro Surge” is coming to an end.
The Associated Press (AP) reports:
The Trump administration is ending a massive immigration crackdown that swept across the Minneapolis-St. Paul area and other Minnesota communities, border czar Tom Homan said Thursday, concluding an operation that led to thousands of arrests, angry mass protests and the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens.
It was also reported by the AP that Operation Metro Surge, which started in December, resulted in more than 4,000 arrests, according to Homan.
PARTIAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN:
It appears that once again, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, a partial government shutdown is highly likely to begin at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, February 14, 2026, primarily affecting the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
God Bless America!
ONE MORE THING:
If people don’t like you, it’s OK.
You only need to be concerned if dogs don’t like you.
Then it is time for some self-reflection.
## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##
The Western Word 
If the feds really picked up 4,000 in Minneapolis, which is probably gross exaggeration like everything coming out of that administration, and they had all those agents there (peaking at nearly 4,000) for over two months, that’s one immigrant per agent for the cost of a 2-1/2 month deployment. Not very cost effective. Would have probably cost taxpayers less to just leave most of those people in place and working their jobs and contributing to taxes and the economy.
Hopefully at least a few of the alleged 4,000 were actual dangerous criminals instead of little school kids.
In other immigration news, a judge in Chicago released evidence in the case of the woman Bovino’s border patrol agents shot five times, and officer body camera footage clearly shows the officer driving his car was the one who initiated the traffic accident that led to the shooting. Naturally the officers and everyone else on up to the White House had tried to claim she “weaponized her vehicle”.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/marimar-martinez-border-patrol-exum-body-cam-texts-released-rcna258549
Thanks for your comments. I found it interesting that the Czar did not have a breakdown of how many of the 4,000 were very dangerous criminals. Seems that would be something you would want to provide. The sad thing is that two people died. -JmB
Saw a comment from Sen. Klobuchar to the effect that there were a total of three murders in Minneapolis in January, and two of them were committed by the Trump administration.
Interesting. Thanks. -JmB