Here are the areas I think you will need to do some reading for extemp for upcoming tournaments and the rest of this season:
Elections: Sooner or later this won't be over because if the Republicans win big--the Presidential election cycle will have begun--there will be no break. Republicans will step it on on the Democrats and it won't be pretty. Students will have to start building files on the 30 or so Republicans who will challenge Obama.
Further, there are articles out there suggesting Obama will be finished as President and not capable of winning his own party's nomination if he seeks it. So a lot of reading on elections the rest of this season is likely. Polls today indicate the blood bath for Dems this November could be far worse than what they have prepared themselves for...this is big time stuff. The most recent election resembling this was 1932.
There are a lot of scary similarities in '32 and '10 both in the US and world wide.
2). A lot of reading about China and their ability to manipulate currencies including ours is in order. This is a huge and rapidly growing topic. Students need an econ background and need to understand how world currencies work.
3). Some in depth reading on world resources is urgently needed by extemp students. There is growing concerns about a potential resource war (similar to WWII) after the China Japan tiff last week. The US is heavily dependent upon other nations for a lot of resources. China's control of the worlds natural resources is staggering.
4). Budget debt and deficit will be a big topic as November ends. The Obama commission on those matters is due to report and the news will be awful. It will kick of a lot of protests in the US if the Obama administration has to cut services, programs, welfare, etc. But those cuts are likely and the public's response won't be pleasant.
5). MJ: the legality of the drug is a big issue in at least four states elections. Students need to read up on decriminalized, legalization and MJ for medicinal purposes. Oddly, it may outweigh G/L issues as the big social issue over the next year depending upon how those elections come out.
6). Mexican Relations. The recent Texas murder on a Lake dividing the US and Mexico says a lot about the lack of cooperation from Mexico in dealing with their problems and the NARCO terrorists. The murder was apparently caused by Mexican gunmen.
7). Afghanistan-Pakistan. This is a difficult area but a good reading of the Pakistani ISI will scare your students if nothing else. Still, the ISI is the government behind the government. The ISI is badly corrupted, supports the Taliban, perhaps AQ, and potentially could overthrow the Pakistani civilian government and seize control of the nukes. No good for the US or the Western world.
8). Some reading about Muslim growth in the US and in Western Europe is important. While the Muslim population of the US is both a small percentage of the US and not extremist in it's leadership--neither statement is true in Western Europe. By 2100 Muslims will be the majority of several large WESTERN European nations and the firebrand of the Islam being preached is making public statements like: "The Islamic Flag will fly over the White House". The big democracies of Europe have a huge problem on their hands.
9). Follow the shake up of the Obama staff closely. The staff is leaving which is both normal and damaging to Obama. It is not uncommon for significant changes every two years in a White House staff...but the losses for Obama are significant in key policy areas.
10). Finally students need to keep a cool head about politics as they speak. We are in and about to really be in some interesting times of US Politics. Not revealing your political beliefs is important in an extemp round. Using conditional terms like could, would should will help. Don't get the 6 because the judge didn't like the messenger. Have evidence on political speeches, stay analytical, give the other side a little credit within the topic and keep your personal feelings out of the speech!
