Last week, the State Department announced their plans to pull the United States out of the Open Skies Treaty. This agreement allows the 35 countries involved to conduct unarmed aerial surveillance over the territories of the other member countries. This is the third little, yet significant arms control agreement that the Trump Administration has left. In this episode, Drew and Alex discuss the problems with leaving important arms control agreements. They talk about how the Trump administration seems to only want to commit to "perfect" international treaties and pulls out of any ones that may be flawed but crucial. It seems that the US and Russia have been dismantling many of their Cold War era arms control agreements. This is problematic because they have made the world safer and have allowed transparency and dialogue between the United States and Russia. If this trend continues, could the world be a less safe place?

Last Thursday, President Trump created even more controversy when he signed an Executive Order that aimed to “narrow tech companies’ protections from liability over the content posted on their platforms. This was after Twitter had flagged the president for posting an inaccurate tweet about mail-in voting. In this episode, Drew and Alex ask WHY NOW? They frame the discussion around Trump, Twitter, and whether the company should be able to flag and block content. Have social media companies finally overstepped their boundaries or is Trump just irritated and playing the victim?

China plans to pass unilateral security controls over Hong Kong, and in response, the US plans to revoke Hong Kong's unique economic status. What does this mean for business and politics in the region? Let's Catch Up and discuss!

Occam’s Razor is a philosophical and problem solving method that states that “entities should not be multiplied without necessity.” In simpler terms, this means that the more assumptions one has to make, the less likely the explanation is to be true. In this episode, Drew and Alex discuss popular political conspiracies and discuss how Occam’s Razor can help determine their feasibility. First, they take Occam’s razor to cut into some whacky theories like “Flat Earth” and “Ancient Aliens.” Then, they also relate the theory back to relevant ones such as the many conspiracies surrounding the origins of the Coronavirus in Wuhan, as well as the conspiracies around Bill Gates and vaccinations. Later, the two mention the popularity of political conspiracies by the political party that is out of power and also discuss some Cold War conspiracies that ended up to be true.

The U.S. has tried to combat Huawei, a Chinese tech giant, by prohibiting its tech companies from selling to Huawei. However, this hasn’t worked. Now on May 15th, the U.S. decided to try a different tactic - they are looking to target Huawei’s in-house microchips by saying that no American tools can be used in making them. This is a bold action because although microchips are an American invention, their production has mainly gone global. Drew and Alex break down Huawei’s complicated and troubling past. Both feel that Huawei is a dangerous company that is linked to the Chinese government and is infringing on the privacy of their customers. They discuss whether a company that many consider to be “an arm of the Chinese government” should be the world's leading provider of 5G. They also talk about the growing tensions between the U.S. and China and potential solutions to how the west should deal with this issue.

In this episode, Drew and Alex take a deep dive into assassinations. They have one question at the heart of the matter: when can assassinations be justified? The two have a discussion that morphs history, politics, and hypothetical scenarios in order to see if these extrajudicial means of “justice” can ever be the right course of action. They also touch on some of history's most famous assassinations and look into how the United States has tried to end these forms of justice.

Last Friday, President Trump announced the firing of another one of his Investigator Generals, this time it was Steve Linick, the IG watchdog for the State Department. He was fired soon after his investigation into Mike Pompeo's actions was ended. This is yet another occasion in which Trump has fired an IG after they have been critical of his administration or have investigated the inner workings of his administration. Is this a purge? Is Trump just exercising his right to fire Investigator Generals? Or is this a worrying trend that may jeopardize the role of the IG, which is to limit corruption inside of the government? In this week’s episode, Alex tries to catch everyone up on this growing issue.

This week, a bipartisan amendment to protect web search history failed to pass in the Senate. However, a 2-1/2-year extension on parts of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) did pass on Thursday. Also, controversy continues to surrounds Attorney General William Barr’s dropping of the Michael Flynn case. In this episode of the Tonic Accord, Drew and Alex discuss these revelations and whether the government should be expanding their surveillance powers. They also discuss the many flaws of the FISA process and relate it back to government accountability. They end by reacting to William Barr’s handling of the Michael Flynn case.

The Cheyenne River and Oglala Sioux of South Dakota have set up checkpoints on highways to contract trace the spread of COVID-19. South Dakota's governor thinks that this is illegal. Today, Drew looks at the current context and compares it with past case law to catch you up on tribal sovereignty and state authority in the United States.

In this episode, Drew and Alex discuss, and debate, how different countries have responded to the coronavirus pandemic. They talk about the difficult balance that is needed between saving lives and trying to limit economic devastation. Then they look into the feasibility of the herd immunity argument and the misguided polarization of the crisis in the United States. The two also compare government responses between the United States, Sweden, South Korea, Hong Kong, and more. Will lockdowns be necessary for the foreseeable future? Or will they become unsustainable when their secondary effects become apparent?