1. Have the Biden administration’s energy policies made gas prices higher?
2. Will the recently passed infrastructure bill make Pete Buttigieg a more powerful player in Democratic circles than Vice President Kamala Harris?
3. Did prosecutors botch the Rittenhouse case?
4. Has corporate consolidation made America’s inflation woes worse?
5. Should the U.S. abolish the TSA?
6. What steps can the U.S. take to strengthen democratic governments in Africa?
7. Would passage of President Biden’s social infrastructure bill help or hinder Democratic chances in the 2022 midterms?
8. What role, if any, should the Federal Reserve take in the fight against climate change?
9. Is a U.S. diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics an empty gesture?
10. Are electric vehicles the future of American transport?
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 recent Russian provocations. Over the past week, Russia has added to global anxieties by testing an anti-satellite weapon – causing the crew of the International Space Station (ISS) to seek cover from space debris – and massing troops on its border with Ukraine. France and Germany warned Russia earlier this week that harming Ukraine’s territorial integrity would met be met with “serious consequences.”
Earlier this week, Russia tested a direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile against a satellite target, scattering thousands of pieces of orbital debris and heightening the risk of collisions between objects in space.@nktpnd explains what happened: https://t.co/AWeT1fMl3C
— Carnegie Endowment (@CarnegieEndow) November 18, 2021
Ukraine says Russia is massing as many as 114,000 troops to the north, east, and south of the Donbass, a mostly Russian-speaking region where Russian-backed separatists have fought government forces since a pro-western revolution in Kyiv in 2014 https://t.co/fmDQ8RduBL pic.twitter.com/vk064wbSHB
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) November 16, 2021
Russia poses a significant geopolitical threat to Ukraine, not only in terms of the energy sector but across the political, economic, and security spectrums, writes Eugene Chausovsky.https://t.co/xnaBpYqtYn
— Foreign Policy (@ForeignPolicy) November 18, 2021
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
1. Will the Supreme Court eventually find that the Biden administration’s vaccine requirement is constitutional?
2. Should all U.S. schools adopt a “mask optional” policy?
3. What can Democrats do to stop a “red wave” in 2022?
4. Will the recently passed infrastructure bill help the U.S. economy?
5. Is Chris Christie a “dark horse” presidential candidate?
6. If Russia invades Ukraine, how should the U.S. respond?
7. What should the Biden administration to do reduce migrant flows at the Mexican border?
8. Should the U.S. invest more in nuclear power?
9. Will the embrace of equity policies by schools further increase the achievement gap?
10. How would the rise of a “metaverse” affect American society?
1. Should governments abandon lockdowns as part of their COVID mitigation policies?
2. Will Seif al-Islam win Libya’s presidential election?
3. Why is Germany having a hard time stopping a new surge in COVID cases?
4. Will the EU win its showdown with Lukashenko?
5. Should the UN impose any conditions on future food aid to Afghanistan?
6. Would it be wise for Russia to avoid a larger military conflict in Ukraine?
7. Should the “right to die” become a global human right?
8. What can cure Latin America’s “democratic recession”?
9. Was Nicaragua’s recent presidential election fair?
10. What does India need to do to win its long-term rivalry with China?
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 inflation in the U.S. economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported this week that consumer prices rose by 6.2% in October and inflation is standing at its fastest increase since 1991. Shortages of consumer goods due to supply chain issues, all of which exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, are making the problem worse and are wiping out some recent wage gains made by American workers. The inflation issue is also becoming a political problem for President Joe Biden, who is seeing his approval ratings crash near the end of his first year in office.
The stock market is soaring. Company and household bottom lines look strong. Yet corporate executives across the U.S. are obsessing over inflation — and some think the White House isn’t grasping the extent of the problem.https://t.co/arDenKCvub
— POLITICO (@politico) November 10, 2021
U.S. inflation rose at the fastest pace in three decades in October. These charts show how prices increased more in some parts of the country than in others. https://t.co/yltFUkAzT7
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) November 11, 2021
With the @federalreserve confronting many hard questions, from inflation to climate change, the current chair, Jerome Powell, is decidedly not the man for the moment, @JosephEStiglitz contends. https://t.co/VyQFwjTBN9 pic.twitter.com/wfMwa1pq8v
— Project Syndicate (@ProSyn) November 10, 2021
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
1. Is Xi Jinping’s “cultural revolution” working?
2. Will the pledges at COP26 be enough to prevent a significant rise in global temperatures by 2050?
3. Should the ICC do more to investigate American war crimes in Afghanistan?
4. Will Portugal’s snap elections prove fatal for its governing Socialist Party?
5. How can South Africa’s ANC recover from a dismal municipal election showing?
6. Should the Bank of England wait to raise interest rates?
7. What role should developing nations play in global climate change efforts?
8. Is the Bangladeshi government doing enough to quell religious violence?
9. Should the international community continue to provide food aid to North Korea?
10. How should the Iranian government approach new talks with the U.S. over its nuclear program?
1. Will the results of the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial elections cause the Democrats to back off of President Biden’s social infrastructure plan?
2. Is Eric Adams the future of the Democratic Party?
3. Does the Democratic Party have a messaging problem?
4. Will the Supreme Court strike down New York’s concealed carry restrictions?
5. Does the U.S. need to get more involved in the Tigray War?
6. Is Europe’s new COVID-19 wave a warning sign for the U.S. this winter?
7. Do states need to do more to make juries racially equitable?
8. Are American commitments going far enough at COP26?
9. Will the Minneapolis question 2 vote destroy ongoing progressive efforts to defund police?
10. Should states require high school students to pass an ethnic studies course?
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 the COP26 Summit, the twenty-sixth meeting of nations that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 and later agreed to the Paris Climate Accord in 2015. The leaders of the attending nations are trying to work out a framework to prevent global temperatures from increasing by 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit over the next twenty years.
COP26 news: Coal phase-out boosts hope for limiting warming to 1.5°C https://t.co/4f5ou1KraU
— New Scientist (@newscientist) November 4, 2021
As long as multilateral engagement is defined by nationalism, power politics, and emotion, rather than solidarity, law, and science, our future will continue to grow bleaker, warns @ecfr‘s @markhleonard. #COP26 #climatechange https://t.co/djwaY5x5zJ
— Project Syndicate (@ProSyn) November 4, 2021
“COP is sort of turning into a greenwash campaign, a PR campaign, for C.E.O.s, world leaders, politicians,” said Greta Thunberg at an event on the sidelines of COP26. https://t.co/e2MzJMNgiw
— NYT Business (@nytimesbusiness) November 4, 2021
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 the Florida Blue Key, which was a fifth tier event. The next National Points Race competition will take place in a little over two weeks at the Glenbrooks, which will be the first third tier tournament of the season.
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
Last weekend the University of Florida hosted its thirty-eight annual Blue Key Speech and Debate Tournament in a virtual environment. National Points Race leader Daniel Kind of Lake Highland Preparatory School (FL) won a crushing victory over the field, picket fencing the final round and winning his second National Points Race title of the season by six ranks. Kind’s victory will allow him to extend his National Points Race lead as McKinley Paltzik of Phoenix Country Day School (AZ) did not attend the tournament.
Marc Zavarro of Western High School (FL) reached his second National Points Race final round of the season and was the runner-up by one rank over Chirag Choudhary of Unionville High School (PA).
The final three placings in the final round were close as Michelle Jin of the Harker School (CA) took fourth by one rank over Plano West Senior High School (TX) teammates Gabriel Bo and Kyle Letterer, who finished fifth and sixth respectively.
Even though it did not have any finalists, Bellarmine College Preparatory (CA) had six extempers represented in the semi-finals and quarter-finals, the most of any school.
All of the finalists at Blue Key will receive National Points Race points. Since the tournament had seventy-six entries, all those competitors who reached semi-finals will earn a qualifying leg to the University of Kentucky TOC in April. And all extempers who made elimination rounds will receive a qualifying leg to the Extemp TOC at Northwestern University in May.
Here are the results of the 2021 Florida Blue Key (Click here for tab sheet):
1. Should the Biden administration retreat from its support of vaccine mandates?
2. What steps does Portland need to take to rein in destructive protests?
3. Is inflationary pressure in the U.S. economy here to stay?
4. How should states spend the money they are receiving from opioid pharmacy settlements?
5. Does Congress need better ethics rules to prevent insider trading?
6. How will FDA approval for COVID-19 vaccinations for children affect school operations across the country?
7. Should U.S. states decriminalize prostitution?
8. How will criminal charges against Andrew Cuomo affect the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial primary next year?
9. Does President Biden have enough political capital to pass his adjusted social infrastructure bill?
10. What should Eric Adams prioritize when he becomes New York City’s next mayor?
1. How will Sudan’s military coup affect Israeli-Palestinian relations?
2. Will COP26 be able to implement a successful global climate plan?
3. Why are military coups increasing in Africa?
4. How should the LDP respond to the results of Japan’s recent election?
5. Is the WTO doing enough to advocate the benefits of free trade?
6. Will the inevitable re-election of Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus as the head of the WHO hurt the organization going forward?
7. Is the Ethiopian government losing the Tigray War?
8. Should Taiwan welcome the presence of U.S. troops in its country?
9. Are price controls hindering the Argentinian economy?
10. Should NATO be concerned about the growing arms race in the Balkans?