Political cartoonist Ted Rall and CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM EST.

Today we discuss:

• Orwellian, much? The U.S. Border Patrol is monitoring millions of American citizen drivers nationwide in a secretive program to identify and detain people whose travel patterns it deems “suspicious.” A secret network of cameras scans and records your vehicle license plate information, and an algorithm flags cars based on their route. Federal agents then flag local police. Cops cite speeding, failure to signal, the wrong window tint or even a dangling air freshener blocking the view.

• Trump delivered a prime-time address to the nation and promised $1,776 checks to troops. The same day, the White House attached a predecessor-trolling Walk of Fame to the outside of the building.

• Centrist Republicans revolt, join Democratic discharge petition on ACA subsidies.

• Farmers block roads in Brussels to protest EU-Mercosur free-trade deal. The accord, which would eliminate tariffs on nearly all goods traded between the EU and five Mercosur nations — Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia — over 15 years, faces mounting resistance.