Month: January 2018

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1. Should an independent counsel be appointed to investigate the FBI?
2. How can public schools better fight chronic absenteeism?
3. Is a booming oil industry adding power to U.S. foreign policy?
4. Should the Justice Department take more vigorous legal action against states that have legalized marijuana?
5. Will there be a bipartisan deal on the status of “Dreamers”?
6. Should Congress pass Trump’s infrastructure plan?
7. Would the creation of a 5G wireless network aid U.S. national security?
8. Should the U.S. side with Kurdish interests in the Middle East even if that puts American interests in conflict with those of Turkey?
9. What should President Trump call for in his State of the Union?
10. Should there be regulations on social media to prevent “fake followers”?

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1. Has Assad triumphed in the Syrian Civil War?
2. Can the use of Mexican troops in high crime areas reduce the nation’s rising homicide rate?
3. Should African nations play a role in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
4. Why are African nations confronting an obesity crisis?
5. Should Grace Mugabe be arrested?
6. Is China a military threat to Australia?
7. Are West African nations prepared for the return of Ebola?
8. What grade does Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno deserve as he nears the end of his first year in office?
9. Is Juan Orlando Hernandez the legitimate president of Honduras?
10. How can Germany’s SPD return to power?

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Clay Owens competed for Perry High School in Massillon, Ohio. He is a former Ohio state champion and won the national final round of the 2017 NSDA national tournament in International Extemp.  Clay agreed to sit down with Extemp Central to discuss his career and his thoughts on extemporaneous speaking.

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1. Are Pope Francis’ political positions creating a significant schism within the Catholic Church?
2. Could the Olympics pave the way for a peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula?
3. Should Great Britain hold a second Brexit referendum?
4. Does the EU need to do more to secure its borders?
5. Is it in India’s best interests to form a closer relationship with Israel?
6. Should African states rethink the aid that they get from China?
7. If the EU sanctions Poland, will it lose the rest of Eastern Europe to Russian influence?
8. Will Brazil embrace the left or the right in its next presidential election?
9. Can international pressure on Venezuela’s military spark the ouster of the Maduro regime?
10. Is the Taliban still a significant threat to the Afghan government?

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1. Has the American media been too harsh on the Trump presidency?
2. Is the Wisconsin special election result the “canary in a coal mine” for the Republicans as the 2018 midterms approach?
3. How much credit does President Trump deserve for America’s current economic performance?
4. Will New California become the fifty-first state?
5. How is President Trump reorienting American foreign policy in the Middle East?
6. Will the recent government shutdown backfire on Democrats?
7. Should the U.S. support the establishment of a Kurdish state?
8. How much responsibility does the U.S. bear for the current political and economic situation in Haiti?
9. If the Democrats win the 2018 midterms, would it be politically wise for them to impeach Trump?
10. Does the resignation of ten members of the National Party System Advisory Board reflect poorly on the leadership skills of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke?

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The first standings of the 2017-2018 season have been released, reflecting results through the Sunvitational and the James Logan MLK Invitational.  To access the standings, you can click on the National Points Race tab on the right of the main page or click here.

The next National Points Race competitions will take place in two weeks when Emory University hosts the Barkley Forum in Atlanta, Georgia and Marshall High School hosts the Marshall Speech Spectacular in Marshall, Minnesota.  The Barkley Forum will be a fourth tier event, while Marshall will be a fifth tier competition.

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Last weekend at the NSU-University School Jose Quinones of Cypress Bay High School (FL) triumphed in the 2018 Sunvitational. Quinones edged out MBA invitee and New York City Invitational winner Christopher Maximos of the Delbarton School (NJ) on judges preference after both competitors tied in the final round with a score of ten. Lekha Sunder of Lamar High School in Houston (TX) was the third place finisher.  The victory is the first for Quinones on the national circuit this season.

All told, Florida placed very well compared to other states that attended the tournament. Three of the finalists in the tournament were from Florida and the state made up half of the competitors that reached the semi-final round.

Quinones will earn seventy National Points Race points for his win at the Sunvitational and all competitors who reached the semi-finals will earn points per the fourth tier requirements of the National Points Race. The standings of the 2017-2018 race will be posted later in the week.

All of the extempers who reached the quarter-final round and beyond earned a bid to the 2018 Extemp TOC at Northwestern, while all finalists and semi-finalists earned a bid to the University of Kentucky TOC since there were more than seventy-three entries in the tournament.

Here were the results of the 2018 Sunvitational (Click here for tab sheet):

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The National Points Race is a season-long competition that seeks to identify the top extempers across a select group of prestigious national circuit events.  Extemp Central recognizes that in some years the top extemper in the nation may not win the National Points Race due to the inability of some competitors to travel extensively.  Still, five national champions (two CFL and three NSDA) are among the six previous National Points Race winners.

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1. Is Oprah Winfrey a credible presidential candidate?
2. What parameters should Donald Trump’s attorneys insist on if he is to be interviewed by Robert Mueller?
3. Are U.S. efforts to encourage anti-government groups in Iran counterproductive?
4. Should the Trump administration take back its decision to eliminate TPS status for Salvadoran migrants?
5. Does the naming of winter storms make Americans care more about them?
6. Should America best fight illegal immigration by fining employers?
7. Will the economy allow Republicans to gain seats in the midterm elections?
8. Should Florida be exempted from offshore oil drilling?
9. How should the Supreme Court rule in Jon Husted v. A. Philip Randolph Institute?
10. Has Jerry Brown saved California?

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1. Are North Korea’s overtures to South Korea an effort to stave off a U.S. military strike?
2. Would efforts to construct a more powerful European Union create a right-wing political backlash in member states?
3. Should Benjamin Netanyahu resign?
4. Would land seizures wreak havoc on the South African economy?
5. Should more nations look to copy Iceland’s gender pay law?
6. Would a NAFTA renegotiation actually help Mexico?
7. What economic reforms should Iran make in order to lessen protests against the Islamic Republic?
8. Was Ethiopia’s ban on foreign adoptions justified?
9. Will Bitcoin become a major global currency within the next twenty-five years?
10. Is a two state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict becoming untenable?

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Tomorrow will start the “reboot” of Extemp Central. One thing that readers will see is the release of ten new International and United States extemp questions. These questions will always be posted on Monday as most readers said that was something that they used the most.

The schedule for other things such as quizzes, R&Ds, and the release of local/national results will take place on an as needed (or as able) basis. If you have local results, feel free to send them to me at [email protected]. My aim is to have a weekly column devoted to results at the local level. When sending results, put the name of the tournament, the names of the finalists and their placing, and what school they are from. This makes it very easy to get these results on the site. With this weekend’s Sunvitational, I am also hoping to get something typed up about that tournament, so when results are finalized if someone can send me those I would appreciate it. I am also looking into calculating the standings for the National Points Race and releasing that in the coming weeks as well, possibly by the Barkley Forum in a couple of weeks.

Finally, readers will see a PayPal donation button like the one below affixed to tomorrow’s questions. There is also a donation page that is on the right sidebar as well. If you click this button, you can donate funds to keep this website operating. The more money we raise, the more content can be included on the site. All funds go back into the site in terms of time for resources, the cost of purchasing subscriptions for news content, and the trophy for the National Points Race. My initial aim for Extemp Central was to provide resources for free so I am not keen on putting things behind a paywall. As always, contributions of any amount are appreciated.

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Since the 2017-2018 season kicked off, and a little bit before, I received a great deal of e-mails asking for Extemp Central to return due to its provision of practice resources for extempers and teams across the country.  I have also been asked at many tournaments about the site’s “closure” (although our page remained active for the past year).  As a result, I have decided to “reboot” Extemp Central and a new rollout of content will occur next week.

Do note that the “rebooted” website will not have the constant content updates on a daily basis that veteran readers might be accustomed to.  This is due to my work commitments and I do not want to stretch myself too thin or make promises that cannot be kept.  The weekly IX/USX questions, which were a staple of the website from its inception back in the summer of 2006, will remain, but I do welcome feedback on what other features people would like to see.  You can comment here, comment on our Facebook page, or comment on Twitter.

I will make a post on the weekend about a new content schedule for the rest of the 2017-2018 season and explain some ways that my running of this site can be made better with the help of the speech and debate community.  One thing that you will see is a PayPal button on our weekly questions postings where people can donate funds to the site, which is appreciated for the work that goes on here (and for paying for a National Points Race trophy – and yes, that might return for 2018 assuming that I can gather enough results).  For now, I have spent my post-MBA Round Robin Monday acquiring results for the national title, national circuit, and major championship pages from 2016-2017 and from this year so far.  If anyone has any state tournament results from 2016-2017 (I just need champions), please e-mail them to me at [email protected].