1. Should presidents continue to give the State of the Union in person?
2. What impact will higher gas prices have on the 2022 midterm elections?
3. To what extent will Beto O’Rourke’s failed presidential bid be used against him in the Texas gubernatorial election?
4. What should President Biden do if Russia launches massive cyberwarfare attacks on the United States?
5. Should President Biden seek out a new Secretary of Energy?
6. Do more states need to mirror Florida’s example and create an Election Crimes Agency?
7. Should the Biden administration lift its moratorium on federal executions?
8. Will complications with California’s reparations efforts scuttle a larger, national effort?
9. Is it too late for President Biden to salvage his domestic agenda?
10. Will Jessica Cisneros win her runoff election with Representative Henry Cuellar?
Today’s R&D is brought to you by Prepd (pronounced “prepped”). Prepd is building debate technology that helps extempers and congressional debaters research, practice, and compete. Visit www.prepd.in to learn more.
This week’s R&D from Prepd covers President Biden’s nomination of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Justice Brown, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is currently on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. If confirmed, she would be the first African-American woman to serve on the Court. The Senate is expected to confirm Brown, who’s nomination cannot be filibustered as per Senate rules.
The Senate Judiciary Committee announced it will hold four days of hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. https://t.co/rr9at04i3o
— U.S. News & World Report (@usnews) March 3, 2022
“One of the nation’s top legal minds, who will continue Justice Breyer’s legacy of excellence,” Biden says about his SCOTUS nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, during the #SOTU.
Read about her here: https://t.co/kg48mf6YcC
— The Brookings Institution (@BrookingsInst) March 2, 2022
Ketanji Brown Jackson isn’t expected to need GOP votes to be confirmed to the Supreme Court.
But a handful of Republicans are torn over whether to cross party lines and vote for the first Black woman justice. https://t.co/QkV6BWlcuU
— POLITICO (@politico) March 3, 2022
The 2021-2022 postseason has begun, with state tournaments taking place in Montana, Maine, Alaska, Illinois, Arizona, and New Mexico. Extemp Central congratulates all of those who made the finals of their respective state championships, and also congratulates those who won state titles.
From now until May, Extemp Central will be providing recaps of state tournaments. Sometimes these columns will appear weekly. Sometimes monthly. But regardless, we will do our best to give recognition to extempers doing great things at the state level.
We will also be rolling out our NSDA national qualifying boards, with more information to come about those next week.
Here is a roundup of results for state championships in the states listed above:
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
1. What impact will sanctions against Russia have on the U.S. economy?
2. Will former President Trump’s comments on the Russia-Ukrainian War come back to haunt him in 2024?
3. If confirmed, how would Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson affect the dynamics of the Supreme Court?
4. Does the U.S. need to use new metrics to inform policymakers decisions on COVID-19?
5. What lessons should U.S. defense officials learn from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine?
6. Could Russia’s invasion of Ukraine be a springboard for Republican moderates to regain control of the party?
7. Will facial recognition by U.S. Customs make America safer?
8. In light of recent international events, should the Federal Reserve still raise interest rates?
9. Should the Biden administration attempt to revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership?
10. Is self-censorship a growing problem in American higher education?
1. Are the Baltics next?
2. Does Russia’s invasion of Ukraine illustrate the need for procedural reforms at the UN Security Council?
3. How will international sanctions against Russia affect the global economy?
4. Should Finland join NATO?
5. Will refugees from Ukraine push the politics of Eastern European countries further to the political right?
6. How can the democratic world regain its footing against the world’s authoritarians?
7. Why is inflation surging in Brazil?
8. Has globalization made the ability to sanction bad international actors harder?
9. Should Cambodia cast its lot with China or the United States?
10. Is Kuwait backsliding on human rights?
Updated standings for the 2021-2022 Extemp Central National Points Race have been posted! You can find them by clicking on the “National Points Race” tab at the top of the page or by clicking here.
The new standings reflect the results of last weekend’s Harvard National Forensics Tournament and the California Invitational. Harvard’s winner, Marc Zavarro of Western High School (FL), earned 150 points for his win, while Thomas Vandenberg of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) earned 100 points for winning the California Invitational.
Extemp Central had also planned on counting the Marshall Mini-Spectacular since the Marshall Speech Spectacular was typically a big Midwestern event. However, only four extempers competed at the Mini-Spectacular last weekend so Extemp Central made the executive decision not to count it in this year’s standings.
Next weekend will kick off the postseason phase of the national circuit as the Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin will take place in Nashville, Tennessee. Seven of the top ten competitors in the National Points Race will suit up and compete in an event that could produce more shifts in the standings.
Today’s R&D is brought to you by Prepd (pronounced “prepped”). Prepd is building debate technology that helps extempers and congressional debaters research, practice, and compete. Visit www.prepd.in to learn more.
This week’s R&D covers America’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began two nights ago. President Joe Biden has initiated economic sanctions against Russian financial firms. While Western Europe has supported this, allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) like Poland and the Baltic states have demanded more action to solidify their security. Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that actions taken to thwart the Russian advance in Ukraine will be “unprecedented.”
Russia’s assault on Ukraine is unlike anything Europe has seen since World War II. As the U.S. and allies respond, which American trait will prove uppermost: a desire to protect democracy or a reluctance to wade into foreign fights? https://t.co/Wh9pqC34fi
— The Christian Science Monitor (@csmonitor) February 24, 2022
What role will U.S. troops play?
The Biden administration has repeatedly said U.S. troops will not fight in Ukraine or rescue Americans trapped there.https://t.co/kdfRzAY1Gg
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 24, 2022
The U.S. intelligence community successfully unearthed Russia’s secret planning and accurately predicted President Vladimir Putin’s intentions to invade Ukraine, stripping the Russian leader of his capacity to go to war on a false pretext. https://t.co/9LNsJwd2Ym
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) February 24, 2022
The University of California-Berkeley hosted eighty-two extempers this year in a virtual environment for its California Invitational, one of the largest and most competitive tournaments on the West Coast. In the cumulative tournament, Thomas Vandenburg of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) defeated #7 William Chien of the Harker School (CA) by two ranks to claim the title. Chien was attempting to win back-to-back titles after capturing the Palm Classic’s International Extemp Championship a week earlier.
Vandenburg will earn 100 points in the National Points Race for his win as the California Invitational is a third tier event.
#24 Natasha Banga of Coppell High School (TX) was the only out of state finalist. She reached her second National Points Race final round of the year and finished fourth.
Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) had two finalists. Majid Shabbeer was third and #21 Francis Olakangil was fifth.
Akul Murthy of Lynbrook High School (CA) rounded out the final, taking sixth.
#14 Michelle Jin of the Harker School was the defending champion but her run in the tournament ended in quarter-finals.
Other National Points Race notables who dropped in the quarter-final round included #18 Vansh Mathur of Cupertino High School (CA) and #22 Theodore Gercken of the College Preparatory School (CA).
All elimination round participants earned a qualifying leg to the Extemp TOC at Northwestern University, while all semi-finalists and beyond earned a qualifying leg to the UK TOC.
Here are the results of the 2022 California Invitational (Click here for tab sheet):
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
Harvard’s 48th annual Harvard National Forensics Tournament lived up to its reputation as the biggest high school regular season tournament as 184 extempers dueled in an online environment last weekend and Monday. When the dust settled, #3 Marc Zavarro of Western High School (FL) won a tightly contested final round over Katelyn Cai of BASIS Scottsdale (AZ) and #1 Daniel Kind of Lake Highland Preparatory School (FL). Zavarro defeated Cai and Kind by one rank and was the only competitor to capture two first place ranks among the final round’s five judges. Cai defeated Kind due to judge’s preference, three to two.
Zavarro’s victory keeps the Harvard title in Florida, albeit at a different school, becoming the third Floridian in the last four years to win Harvard. His victory prevented Kind from winning consecutive Harvard titles, something that has not been done since at least 2002, and broke Kind’s six-tournament winning streak in National Points Race events.
Florida had the most final round participants with three, with #24 Jack Ververis of Trinity Preparatory School (FL) placing fifth.
Other finalists included Iesh Gujral of Eden Prairie High School (MN), who placed fourteenth at last year’s NSDA National Tournament in International Extemp, and #9 Gabriel Frank-McPheter of Gabrielino High School (CA), who was participating in his fourth National Points Race final round this year and was coming off of a runner-up finish in U.S. Extemp at the Palm Classic. Gujral placed fourth, while Frank-McPheter finished sixth.
There were many notables that made the other elimination rounds. #8 Gabriel Bo and #19 Phoena Lin of Plano West Senior High School (TX) reached semi-finals. #6 Kyle Letterer of Plano West and #13 Mukta Dharmapurikar of Durham Academy (NC) made it to quarter-finals. And #4 Cameron Roberts of Jack C. Hays High School (TX), #5 McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School (AZ), #15 Charles Hou of Plano West, #17 Swadesh Sistla of ModernBrain (CA), and #24 Madeline Tsao of Plano West dropped in octo-finals.
All quarter-finalists and beyond earn bid legs to UK TOC and the Extemp TOC. And all elimination round participants will earn points in the National Points Race, with new standings released by Sunday.
Here are the results from the Harvard National Forensics Tournament (Click here for tab sheet):
1. Was France’s mission against jihadists in the Sahel a success?
2. To what degree is rising inflation a threat to Erdogan’s leadership?
3. Should OPEC continue to allow oil prices to rise?
4. Could Russia win a new Cold War with the West?
5. Has inflation become a bigger threat to the global economy than the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic?
6. Does a safer world require a high amount of American military spending?
7. Has the British Conservative Party become too fractured to govern effectively?
8. Is the international community doing enough to stop a famine in the Horn of Africa?
9. In hindsight, was NATO expansion into Eastern Europe a bad idea?
10. Should the IOC enact more punishing sanctions on Russia?
1. Should the U.S. support the Holy Land Confederation plan to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
2. Will Missouri determine party control of the U.S. Senate in 2023?
3. If Russia ever deployed troops to Latin America, how should the Biden administration react?
4. Does consumer sentiment about the U.S. economy match the reality?
5. Should Democrats cease using Iowa as the first leg of their presidential primary process?
6. Will Mayor Eric Adams’ safety plan make New York City’s subway system safer?
7. What updates does the U.S. need to make to its energy grid?
8. Will House retirements cause Democrats to lose control of the chamber in 2022?
9. Should American schools continue a virtual option after the COVID-19 pandemic?
10. Is Meta losing the race for the metaverse?
Today’s R&D is brought to you by Prepd (pronounced “prepped”). Prepd is building debate technology that helps extempers and congressional debaters research, practice, and compete. Visit www.prepd.in to learn more.
This week’s R&D covers war tensions between Russia and Ukraine. The United States, Great Britain, France, and Germany have made diplomatic overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin to avert war with Ukraine. Russia is demanding that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) not made Ukraine a member and draw back some of its forces in Eastern Europe, conditions that Western countries have said are unacceptable. Even though reports in the middle of the week suggested that Russia was drawing back some of its troops, other accounts have questioned those assertions, noting that Russia maintains a sizeable troop buildup in Crimea, on its proper border with Ukraine, and along the border that Ukraine shares with Belarus. Since Russia controls 10% of the world’s oil supply, any war that causes a disruption to those supplies, especially because the United States is threatening punitive sanctions on Russia if it invades, it could cause gas prices in the U.S. to rise.
Russia could carry out electronic warfare as part of an invasion. Here’s what to know about this invisible kind of military technology. https://t.co/g35caObmUa
— Popular Science (@PopSci) February 18, 2022
Russia expelled the deputy U.S. ambassador, the State Department said, in what U.S. officials called an “escalatory step” that could limit diplomatic solutions for the crisis on Ukraine’s borders. https://t.co/JjUWYL7ZOV
— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) February 18, 2022
Ukrainian President Zelensky’s attempt at a patriotism-boosting Unity Day received lackluster attention among Ukrainians as the threat from Russia remains, writes @jacklosh from Kyiv. https://t.co/Wy1bNFMj9B
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) February 18, 2022
Updated standings for the 2021-2022 Extemp Central National Points Race have been posted! You can find them by clicking on the “National Points Race” tab at the top of the page or by clicking here.
The new standings reflect the results of last weekend’s Palm Classic, a tournament that substituted for this year’s Stanford Invitational, which was cancelled. It was a fifth tier event, giving its International Extemp winner, William Chien of the Harker School (CA), and United States Extemp winner, Swadesh Sistla of Modern Brain (CA), forty points. The top six extempers in each extemp category received National Points Race points.
This weekend there will be a trifecta of National Points Race events. Harvard will award the most points as it is a second tier event that will give 150 points to its winner and give points to all extempers that reach octo-finals. The other two will be the California Invitational, a third tier event awarding 100 points to its champion and credit to all quarter-finalists, and the Marshall Speech Mini-Spectacular, a fifth tier event that will give 40 points to its winner and points to all other finalists. These will be the last regular season tournaments until the circuit post-season begins.