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

Today we discuss:

• Sudan’s military government has offered Russia what would be its first naval base in Africa and an unprecedented perch overlooking critical Red Sea trade routes, reports the WSJ.

• Negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine focused on where the de facto border with Russia would be drawn under a peace deal. Russian President Vladimir Putin — who will meet with President Trump's envoy today — wants the entire Donbas region.

• A lawsuit by an immigration judge fired by Trump has the potential to scramble the federal workforce and upend foundational civil rights laws. She says she was dismissed because of her gender, her status as a dual citizen of Lebanon and the fact that she once ran for municipal office in Ohio as a Democrat, all in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the First Amendment. The government has responded by arguing that the president's power to oversee the executive branch under Article II of the U.S. Constitution essentially overrides that core civil rights law.

• A small, highly anticipated study shows a glimmer of hope in the long effort to control HIV without medication and search for a cure for a virus that attacks immune cells. In six participants, the virus rebounded slowly and stayed at a low level for months, and one person’s immune system kept the virus in check for more than a year and a half.