- Why have democratic activists failed in Belarus?
- How will U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord impact the global fight against climate change?
- What does Syria need to do to be ready to welcome back its refugees?
- Is Mexico doing enough to combat fentanyl trafficking?
- How will an arrest order against Evo Morales impact the next Bolivian presidential election?
- What is most responsible for Macron’s low popularity ratings?
- Is South Africa’s land seizure law a mistake?
- How much of a threat is Lakurawa to Nigeria’s national security?
- Is there any significance in the ICC’s pursuit of arrest warrants for the Taliban’s leadership?
- How important is Lula da Silva to the Brazilian political left?
- What will be the domestic implications of the U.S. withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO)?
- Were Biden’s pre-emptive pardons necessary?
- Is the American dream dying?
- How will forced departures at the State Department impact U.S. foreign policy?
- Does DOGE violate federal transparency laws?
- Will Musk and Trump eventually have a falling out?
- Which of Trump’s cabinet members will last the shortest amount of time in his administration?
- Will California’s secessionist movement go anywhere?
- Would it be wise for New York City Mayor Eric Adams to embrace MAGA?
- Should the U.S. be more stingy with foreign aid?
Here is this week’s news quiz! Good luck!
- Was 2024 a bad year for progressive policy goals?
- Is Andrew Cuomo positioning himself for a run for New York City mayor?
- Can the U.S. budget deficit be solved only through cuts to the federal government’s workforce?
- Has the U.S. federal government been too involved or not enough in boosting the EV market?
- Are Donald Trump’s statements about expanding American territory a way to distract voters from domestic problems?
- What is a problem that the U.S. federal government must solve in 2025?
- Will Democrats regain the Virginia governorship this fall?
- Has Israel’s war in Gaza strengthened or weakened U.S. national security?
- How far with Trump’s deportation scheme go?
- Has the ERA become the 28th Amendment?
- Who will be the next global dictator to fall?
- What can stop Sudan’s genocide?
- Will political instability in Syria exacerbate tensions between Turkey and Syria’s Kurdish peoples?
- Should Urrutia return to Venezuela?
- Will the Gaza ceasefire lead to a lasting peace between Israel and Hamas?
- What does BRICS membership mean for Nigeria?
- Why has the British Conservative Party lost ground to Reform UK?
- Is outsourcing strengthening or weakening developed economies?
- Have the Houthis become the most powerful non-state actor in the Middle East?
- Is Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism?
Here is this the second news quiz of 2025! Good luck!
- What percentage of the vote will the AfD win in the German federal elections?
- Is Russian influence growing in Central Europe?
- Should Indonesian try to become a global EV exporter?
- Is AUKUS working?
- Can the EU do much to prevent Elon Musk’s involvement in European politics?
- Who should be the next leader of Canada’s Liberal Party?
- What should Denmark do with Greenland?
- How should Panama respond to U.S. President-elect Trump’s rhetoric about the Panama Canal?
- Is ISIS a bigger threat today than it was a decade ago?
- Will 2025 be the year that the Russo-Ukrainian War comes to an end?
- Are right-wing forces winning the American culture war?
- Is the U.S. reward for the arrest or conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro counterproductive?
- Has Senator John Fetterman become another Krysten Sinema?
- Will the Supreme Court rule against Tik Tok?
- What will be President Biden’s legacy?
- How will the Los Angeles fires affect national home insurance rates?
- What is the future of the First Amendment in an age of disinformation?
- Should Democrats make Governor Gavin Newsom the voice of “resistance” to a new Trump administration?
- Will more U.S. cities copy New York City’s congestion pricing model?
- What would be the implications of the U.S. retaking the Panama Canal with military force?
New standings for the 2024-2025 Extemp Central National Points Race are have been posted to reflect the results of the 2025 Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin. Check them out by clicking here or the “Natl Points Race” tab above.
MBA provided a few small changes in the standings but Robert Zhang of Elkins High School (TX) maintains the top spot, now possessing a 98 point leader over MBA winner and fellow Texan Waleed Haider of Hendrickson High School (TX).
The next National Points Race event will be in two weeks when James Logan High School in Union City, California hosts its MLK Invitational. It will be a fifth tier event, awarding points to the finalists of International Extemp and United States Extemp.
Here is this the first news quiz of 2025! Good luck!
Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) in Nashville, Tennessee hosted the season’s first major tournament last weekend, inviting the top 16 extempers in the country for a one of a kind competition. Extempers competed in ten rounds against each other, hitting each other twice.
When the cumulative tournament finished, #10 Waleed Haider of Hendrickson High School (TX) emerged as the winner, winning his first National Points Race tournament of the year in three final round appearances. Haider had not earned points since a runner-up finish at Yale at the beginning of the season but made an impact in Nashville, finishing six ranks clear of #1 Robert Zhang of Elkins High School (TX). Haider took control of the tournament after the fifth round and never relinquished the lead. He is the first Texan to win the title since 2019.
Zhang, who led the tournament after the first round, was a fifth place finisher last season.
NSDA defending national champions #19 Tea Shouldice of Half Hollow Hills East High School (NY) and #6 Anthony Babu of Concord-Carlisle High School (MA) took third and fourth, separated by two ranks. Shouldice briefly led the tournament between rounds two and five. Babu was attempting to win back-to-back National Points Race tournaments as he won the Princeton Classic last month.
#3 Rowan Seipp of A&M Consolidated High School (TX) continued a strong run since November, taking fifth place.
Last year’s National Points Race winner Brandon Cheng of Flintridge Preparatory School (CA) earned his first points of the season, finishing sixth. This was the same placing that Cheng earned at last year’s event.
Haider will receive a big boost in the National Points Race standings for winning MBA, earning 150 points since it is a second tier event. All of the extempers that placed in the top six, the only finishing positions that MBA recognizes, will earn points.
Here are the results of the 2025 Montgomery Bell Academy Extemp Round Robin:
- What will be President-elect Trump’s first legislative priority when he takes office?
- If Canada were to join the United States as one state or a collection of states, how would it transform the U.S. economy?
- Was President Biden wise to block the U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger?
- Should Americans be optimistic about the U.S. economy going into 2025?
- Is the U.S. prepared for a large-scale bird flu pandemic?
- How will the terror attack in New Orleans affect the confirmation of the next FBI director?
- What should America’s living and future presidents learn from Jimmy Carter?
- Does the U.S. economy need more tax relief?
- Will Mike Johnson be the Speaker of the House until the 2026 midterms?
- Should the Trump administration continue the Biden administration’s “hostage diplomacy”?
- Which nation is winning the AI race?
- Will 2025 see a further weakening of Iran’s strategic position in the Middle East?
- Should Denmark sell Greenland to the United States?
- Are there still risks of escalation in the Russia-Ukrainian War?
- Is there any way for the Social Democratic Party to avoid a thrashing in the German general elections?
- Will China’s infrastructure plans for its western provinces lead to an economic boom?
- Is the Schengen Area on borrowed time?
- Could rising authoritarianism in Latin America give day to a “Latin American Spring”?
- Is growing skepticism about the effectiveness of international institutions justified?
- Should the European Union think of adding nations beyond Europe’s continental footprint?
New standings for the 2024-2025 Extemp Central National Points Race are have been posted to reflect the results of the early December tournaments that included the University of Texas-Austin Longhorn Classic, the Princeton Classic, and the George Mason University Patriot Games. Check them out by clicking here or the “Natl Points Race” tab above.
As was noted in the Longhorn Classic recap, Robert Zhang of Elkins High School (TX) regained the National Points Race lead as a result of winning International Extemp.
This weekend will feature the first major tournament of the season as Montgomery Bell Academy (MBA) in Nashville, Tennessee hosts its annual Extemp Round Robin, inviting what it deems to be the best 16 extempers in the country. Points will be given to the top six finishers. The winner will receive 150 points.
The last National Points Race tournament that took place the first weekend of December was the George Mason University Patriot Games, held on December 7-8 in Fairfax, Virginia. 66 extempers competed, eleven more than the previous year.
The tournament was won by #13 Kajal Parmar of Cary Academy (NC). Parmar, who was appearing in her second National Points Race final round, defeated #10 Aparna Iyer of Ridge High School (NJ), who was making her third National Points Race final round appearance of the semester, by three ranks. Meredith Vorndran of the Potomac School (VA) tied Iyer for second but lost on a judges preference tiebreaker.
Parmar is the first North Carolina extemper to win the Patriot Games since 2010. That year saw Nathaniel Donahue of Durham Academy win the title.
#7 Daphne Kalir-Starr of the College Preparatory School (CA), a fourth place finisher at the New York City Invitational earlier in the season, finished fourth. Kalir-Starr was four ranks back of Vorndran and two ahead of Eva Chen of Ridge and Shretsa Antil of Ridge, who tied for fifth place. Chen defeated Antil for the position by judges’ preference.
The GMU final round had seven competitors, with seventh going to Anna Benjamin of Cary Academy.
Since the Patriot Games was a fifth tier event, only the top six finalists earned points. Parmar will receive 40 points for her victory.
Here are the results of the 2024 George Mason University Patriot Games (Click here for tab sheet):