Editorial cartoonist Ted Rall and political analyst Jamarl Thomas deprogram you from mainstream media every weekday at 9 AM Eastern time.

Today we discuss:

• Immigration advisers in the UK are charging up to £7,000 to fake asylum claims for Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals to pretend they are gay.

• Senior diplomats from Lebanon and Israel met in Washington as their host, Marco Rubio, tried to reach a ceasefire. It was attended by Lebanon’s ambassador to the US, Nada Hamadeh Moawad, and her Israeli counterpart, Yechiel Leiter. Leiter said they had agreed on a long-term vision that there should be a “clearly delineated border between our countries.” Trump says leaders of the two nations will talk today; Lebanon denies that.

• The U.S. launches an online portal next week that lets businesses request refunds for tariffs ruled illegal by the Supreme Court. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), will boot up CAPE, for Consolidated Administration and Processing of Entries — so companies can submit claims for up to $175 billion. Customs is putting the burden on the importer. Customs is not figuring it out.

• In September 2024, Amandla Thomas-Johnson was a Ph.D. candidate studying in the U.S. on a student visa when he briefly attended a pro-Palestinian protest. In April 2025, ICE sent Google an “administrative subpoena”—not issued by a judge—requesting his data. The next month, Google gave Thomas-Johnson's information to ICE without giving him the chance to challenge the request