Meadows Presidential Novice Policy Scrimmage
2021 — NSDA Campus, NV/US
Novice Policy Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HidePut me on the email chain: dustyn.beutelspacher@gmail.com
Affiliations: Debated at Niles West in high school, UTD in college. Now coach for UTD and Greenhill school
LD exception - If an argument can be described as a 'trick', please dont read it in front of me. Likewise, if your theory argument is based on something you opponent didn't do, it is probably unpersuasive to me.
TL;DR:
Go for what you want to go for, if you got a K aff, make sure you can beat framework, if you go for a process cp, make sure you can beat theory, etc, etc, I will try my hardest to adapt and judge the round as objectively as possible.
I love line-by-line. The more you engage with your opponent's arguments, the more likely you are to win and the higher your speaks will be.
I won't vote on things that happened out of round or in other debates.
You can insert rehighlightings of the other team's evidence, text of a card only needs to be read once for it to be evaluated.
No racism/sexism/etc, be nice. Don't do that thing where you delete tags or read new affs on paper or stuff like that to make your speech harder to read.
Longer:
I've become more willing to comb through evidence over the years, but it's mostly out of curiosity since debaters seem to be getting better at spinning ev, obviously I have my limits, but the debate includes the debate over the evidence.
I think conditionality is good, it seems to be necessary in this day and age when topics are very broad. I've become more neg biased recently but maybe it's just my disillusion with one unwarranted sentence of condo bad somehow becoming an entire 2ar. Condo in general seems to have gotten significantly more shallow. There probably is some point at which condo becomes bad, but I can't truthfully see myself voting for condo bad absent some egregious neg strategy or technical error.
Since it has come up more than once, my stance on judge kick is that I will presume judge kick if nothing has been said on theory, if the aff wants to win no judge kick, then you must at least make the arg in the 1ar.
You get infinite condo against new or undisclosed affs.
I personally don't particularly like process cps, this is a sliding scale, as consult ICJ or a commission cp seems less competitive than something like a states cp on face, but it seems like people are either unwilling or unable to actually invest time in theory in the 1ar anyways, so it often doesn't matter. I think fiating multiple actors (think both USFG and the states, not the states cp, or fiating compliance with another actor whom you fiat) is probably cheating, but I can be convinced otherwise. I tend to lean neg on theory questions despite all that
I like Ks the more specific the link analysis is. I tend to think of Ks as one or multiple thesis statements that, if won, should theoretically disprove the aff. This means the more you pull warrants from cards, explain the aff in the terms of your K, etc, the more likely it is that you beat the perm since that explanation makes links a lot more salient. That's a lot more persuasive than big aff/neg framework pushes to me
FW/T vs K affs. Since this is the only portion of a paradigm that matters for most pref sheets, yes I will vote on framework, yes I will vote against it. These debates seem to come down to impact comparison, as usually it seems hard to win either topical affs are necessary to prevent the entire collapse of this activity, versus framework is genocide, which makes winning as much of your impact quite important. Fairness impact seem to make intrinsic sense to me if debate is a game, but im not sure why that is a catch-all win if the aff wins debate rounds have impacts.
On a side note, I hate long overviews. Overviews should be for args that either: a. Are significantly more important and necessary for your argument to work, or b. Don't make sense when on the line-by-line (eg, meta-framing for how I should evaluate a debate). If you can do it on the flow, do it on the flow.
Hello my name is Axel Garcia
I'm currently attending GCU (Phoenix, Arizona) and Majoring in Forensic Psychology. I debated in high school for 3 1/2 years as a debater/competitor. I am a debate Coach/Judge (3 years now) for Damien High School if they need help. I debated in public forums and policy debates in high school. I mostly Judge Policy.
Please add both emails
and
Please add to the email chain. Thank you
--
I am 100% honest, really don't know a lot about the topic this year, focused on school. What you can do is this, Explain... ---> https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/71257ee5-18d7-461e-b39b-3277361953dc
-- I am a policy judge
Policy
- I prefer Policy
- I allow tag team CX
-I like any type of argument you run!
- I Love and huge fan of Spreading as long as you articulate and are clear.
- Don't like K's, I will try my best to flow it.
- Everything else I'm good with.
LD
- I rarely do LD debate, Spend a lot of time contextualizing your card/s if you're relying on it to win the round. Even if it was already constructive, it's a good habit to cover it thoroughly a 2nd time just in case I missed something.
PF
- Sometimes I would do PF but not always. I prefer PF
- Remember to Spread as long as you articulate and are clear.
- I rebuttal speeches show me the most important issues and why they favor your side, we already had rebuttal speeches and 2 crossfires (PF).
- I appreciate puns in rounds.
- Tag team cx is allowed
Big Question
Big questions once during high school don't know much about it. Except to do your best and I value one overarching argument that's successfully upheld throughout the round over winning on the flow. Big picture analysis
Random bonuses like things that would boost your points
- Using your time wisely. ( not just sit there and do nothing. Think about what you are going to do next )
- Try to act confident, even if you're not, by making eye contact with your opponent and standing up straight, which can make your argument appear more believable.
- Remain calm at all times, and never shout or get angry since it will only make your argument seem weak.
- Always have your camera on when speaking and stand up when speaking
What not to do:
- If you intentionally make any racist, sexist, or otherwise discriminatory comments, I will give you extremely low-speak and notify your coach.
- Try not to clip, if you do and other teams catch it. you lost the ballot, if you are wrong another team loses. But the debate will keep on going.
- Don't play games when you are done speaking or when your opponent is speaking
- Don't go on your phone, to call, chat, or play games, ( you can use your phone to be in call your partner and or if you are using prep time ) <--- on only zoom
-Have Fun!!!
https://www.tabroom.com/index/paradigm.mhtml?judge_person_id=171692 Other Profile can see my record and past judging if needed
email (yes, include both): lpgarcia19@damien-hs.edu; damiendebate47@gmail.com
LD: policy pls (below should still be applicable)
If you have any questions feel free to ask me before the round starts.
TL;DR Go for what you're most prepared for and can execute the best because that's what really makes debate fun and productive. I'm not very familiar with the topic.
My Beliefs:
Debate is good
Tech > Truth
Clarity above all else
Clipping is bad
My leanings:
Util good
I, as the judge, am a policymaker
Fiat is a good thing
A couple Great cards + explanation always beats 10 pieces of mediocre ev
There's not an excuse to avoid line by line
Topicality
I don't think fairness isn't an intrinsic impact, same as education. It can be an internal link to other things but simply ending your impact calculus with "They KILLED FAIRNESS" won't do it for me. Just treat your extensions and impact work like you would any DA. (I WON'T EVALUATE T AS A DA. TOPICALITY IS A YES OR NO QUESTION. RISK ANALYSIS FOR T IS ABSURD). I also lean heavily towards competing interpretations; the quality of your ev does matter.
Kritiks
If your entire strategy solely centers around the K, I'm not a great judge for you. I can certainly understand your generic Cap and Security K but any high theory requires a whole lot of explanation for me. Just because I might understand what you're saying doesn't mean you can weasel your way around with generic links if it's even somewhat contested. If you're aff I'd down to see an impact turn (obvious exceptions, of course, are: racism good, sexism good, homophobia good, etc.) I really do not want to hear Death Good, please do not do that in front of me.
K-Affs (Includes Framework)
I have written my disdain for K-Affs before. I am not going to just dismiss it; even as I maintain a reluctance to vote on them, I am not one you should just breeze through your blocks and force me to do work for you. I will be the first to admit that I need a lot of explanation as noted above in "Kritiks". Given all this said, framework is an uphill battle for the aff. I am not very sympathetic to generic "fairness bad/your education bad" impact turns; I think policy education is generally a good thing.
Theory
The only theory I feel even remotely comfortable voting aff (TO REJECT THE ARGUMENT) on are utopian fiat bad, object fiat bad, riders DA bad, delay cps bad, and floating piks bad. Condo is generally a good thing and I personally think you're better off not reading that 30 second shell if the neg is running just a single conditional advocacy but I understand time skew. Also, in principle, I judge-kick. I think that as I default to Condo being a good thing, and the status quo always being a logical option, it would be illogical for me to choose a plan of action when doing nothing would be better.
Also, I doubt I'll ever vote for Word Piks. This certainly doesn't excuse excessively disrespectful behavior.
Disads
I like politics a lot and I like engagement and clash at the link level even more so. Turns case analysis (vice versa for the aff) is always a good thing and should be a must have. Straight turns are fun.
Impacts
I love impact turns and my personal favorites are: Heg Good, Warming Good, Cap Good, Dedev, and CWG. It will take a lot for me to evaluate 0 risk of an impact. It can happen but your cards need to be far better.
senior at Damien
Put me on the email chain- alandebate03@gmail.com
he/him
General:
please be respectful of others
ask me questions before the round if you have any
I'm cool with spreading just don't go warp speed through blocks and always emphasize/signpost, ill shout clear if you're going too
fast. thoroughly extend warrants, shadow extending sucks. Better analysis is better than card dumping and
don't leave it up to me to do the work for you. Good speaks for comparative analysis. I'm pretty familiar with
the POLICY topic but don't assume I know the entirety of an arg.
My email for speech documents is: logycdocs@gmail.com. Personal email for all other correspondence: mikekloster@gmail.com.
HS debate from 1991 - 1995. CEDA/NDT debate at Pace University from 1995 - 2000. I assistant coached at St. Marks from 2001-2004.
Long break until 2020.
I am currently coaching a new program.
Clarity is the top priority above all else. When not on a panel, I'll pause your speech as many times as needed to reach a speed / diction combination so that I can hear every word. Lack of clarity is an epidemic only judges can fix.
"Out-tech" your opponents with depth, not breadth. If the strategy clearly hinges on trying to get your opponent to lose by not having time to respond to a large myriad of under-developed arguments, I'm willing to listen to new arguments in rebuttals so we get to have some clash.
My bias tends to be that the devil is in the details. So, the less your argument can be articulated in detail, with a lot of specifics and clarity, the weaker I find the argument. How specific should we be? As specific at the literature/research gets. Research which is more specific, generally carries more weight then research that is less specific.
Thus, plans that are vague, generic Ks or Ks with vague alternatives begin as weak arguments.
K-affs? These developed during my time away from the activity. The starting point for me will be making sure I understand why these are affirmative and not negative arguments.
Hi my name is Alexanna Mouskondis and I am a junior at the Meadows School. I have been in policy debate since my freshman year.
I would like to be copied in on the email chain before the debate starts.
I do not mind spreading as long as you are clear and I can understand your arguments. If I cannot understand what you are saying I will say clear.
Please make sure to time and flow yourselves.
Be respectful to your opponents, especially during cross ex.
Remember to do your best and have fun!! Good luck :)
ps. If you're funny I will give you extra speaker points <3
Claire Park (she/they)
Email: claireparkdebate@gmail.com
Short Version
- Read whatever you want
- tech = truth
- I like good evidence, I like spins more
- "status quo is always an option" means judge kick
- Judge direction is always good
I prefer to evaluate the debate on what is said in the debate, and I can vote for any argument. I think slight judge intervention is inevitable, but l do my very best to limit it as much as I can.
Online debating
- If I can't hear you or if my wifi is bad, I'll verbally let you know
- My camera will be on, if it is off I am not ready
Background Info
- Georgetown '25: not debating
- Major: Science, Technology, and International Affairs concentrating in Security, especially with AI.
- Notre Dame ‘21: 2N/1A
Case
Please use your 1AC
Disadvantages
Turns case is good
Impact calculus is close to essential
Topicality
Case lists and TVAs are really persuasive to me
Usually, competing interpretations > reasonability
Counterplans
As a 2N, I love a good cheaty and tricky counterplan, so I'll consider it more than the average judge.
Kritiks
Honestly, you can read any K in front of me
Specific links can only help you
K affs
The aff
- I'm fine with them - the closer you are to the topic the better
- I'm more inclined to say that you get a perm
the neg [overview]
Framework [neg]
- Same thing as topicality portion
- I've voted for framework and I've voted against framework - as long as you debate it well I'm all for it
K v K
- My favorite debates to judge when done well, and my least favorite when done messily
Theory
- Similar to the topicality paradigm
- I don't really have a strong opinion on condo
- I'm inclined to think that perf con isn't a voting issue
Miscellaneous
*I'm fine with tag-team cross-x, as long as you give the person who's supposed to question and/or answer the chance to do so
*Also if an argument is dropped, I won't give it weight unless you extend the argument. Don't just point out it's dropped
- I don't really have that many strong opinions on debate that'll affect the decision. I prefer to be convinced of your argument despite my opinion.
SPEECH PARADIGM
wsd & extemp
I've judged only some wsd & speech, BUT I have done some debates in wsd and know a bit about speech and understand the structure. Honestly, just debate, argue, and convince well and I will judge to the best of my abilities.
USC '25 - Notre Dame '21 - add me to the email chain - [briansnitman at gmail.com]
TLDR: I view debate as a competitive activity which means that my argumentative preferences go out the window once I enter the room or the zoom call. For me, this has meant I have cut arguments ranging from SPARK to Set Col to H-Triv. For me it doesn't really matter, I don't think that any discussion can be objectively pedagogically harmful no matter the content. This means that to me Tech>Truth, and I can be convinced of anything if the other team does not contest it adequately. The only other important thing to know is that for me, the most effective ballot framing occurs when each team can paint a clear picture of what the world looks like after I submit an aff or neg ballot. This means going beyond just extending your impacts, and actually humanizing the whole aff, and almost explaining it in very simple terms. I am also not very card focused meaning: Smart Analytics > Bad cards or even good cards that aren't explained well.
K's - I'll be honest as a 2A my partner and I ran a one-off K strat every round, but I still don't understand all the buzzwords that people like to throw out. For the neg, I am more likely to just vote on just framework than other judges because the aff teams usually don't do any line-by-line. If the alt is just a framework argument then just say it, otherwise, I get confused. Links are usually mishandled and don't require a lot of evidence. K-tricks are cool and I think they should be employed, who cares if it's an easy way out. For the aff, perms make a lot of sense for soft-left aff's - you do need a net-benefit, but it seems pretty easy to win that the alt doesn't solve the aff so long as you answer the outlandish alt solves case arguments. Other than material net-benefits - I think that epistemological net-benefit also makes sense (ie practicality or particularity in policy analysis). The neg usually makes the mistake of not contextualizing the link to the perm - and DA's to perms usually don't have impacts that the alt can't resolve. For me, the perm doesn't need to avoid the links if it solves the impacts to said links. For extinction affs it makes a lot of sense to just go for util and impact turns, but you have to use util as a justification on the framework, otherwise it will be difficult to win.
PTX DA's - Let's be honest the politics card you are probably reading aren't about the aff, meaning that a blanket extension is not sufficient. I don't want to hear "X author says this"; instead take the opportunity to impress me with your civics knowledge and make logical arguments as to why the aff would derail the agenda. The one caveat to the you don't need cards rule is that if the aff has very specific link turn evidence you will be in a bad spot. I think that it is important for the negative to contextualize the link as much as possible. Too often the generic 1NC taglines make it seem like there are a million thumpers and anything can trigger it. What this means is, if your card says that water policy is controversial and thus derails the agenda, you should explain why every other contentious policy issue does not derail the agenda in similar ways. For the aff, you should obviously try to do the reverse and explain why, despite what their evidence says, other issues do have the potential to derail policy items. While the link debate is a little bit more about spin, I think that cards are very important on the internal link and uniqueness debate.
TOPIC DA's - These typically cause a lot of clash which makes them more fun to judge. Hats off to you if you go for a generic disad and just get really good at it. That being said, these disads usually require a little bit more evidence. For me, I think it is more important to contextualize all the warrants in the existing evidence, IE explains what the statistics and studies mean before you read another card that says basically the same thing as the one you already read.
CP's - I was a 2N my junior year and I almost exclusively went for the most abusive counterplan on the topic - thus have fun and feel free to terrorize the aff so long as you can defend it. Theory is great against these counterplans but affs get scared to go for it when the block read their 18 sub-point response. Condo - literally have no preference.
T - This is the one place where it is all about evidence. Intent to exclude is very important to me, otherwise IDK why the aff can't be topical.
Speaks - Technical debating is what gets you the ballot - ethos and pathos get you speaker points - To be honest I probably give higher speaks than other judges
Please add me to the email chain: lexyyeager02@gmail.com
I debated at Meadows for 4 years, qualifying to the TOC my junior and senior year. I'm currently pursuing my master's of public policy at the University of Virginia and continue to stay involved in debate - I've led labs at CNDI for the past two summers.
Top level: Be nice and debate arguments you are comfortable with! I especially don't appreciate being overly aggressive/rude in rounds. Debate is hard, and everyone is trying their best - so please be respectful. Judge instruction + impact calc + not re-reading blocks in the 2nr/2ar are key to my ballot.
Theory:
- Conditionality is good (but reading 4 cp's that don’t solve or compete with the aff doesn't help the neg)
- I am more likely to buy solvency advocate theory, multiactor fiat, etc than condo bad
- Both teams should point out when interps are arbitrary
- I think cps need to be functionally and textually competitive - cps that compete off certainty/normal means are probably cheating, but it's the aff's burden to prove that
- Word PICs - Read it as a K probably solves all your offense
- If you are actually considering going for theory at the end of the debate, don't just re-read 2ac theory shells. You need to engage with and answer the other team's offense
Topicality:
- I won't be familiar with every violation on the topic - so please clearly explain your interpretation and what a year of debating looks like under your interp
- Giving a case list of unpredictable affs that the aff's interp justifies is convincing
- Impact calc is really important. Just saying "limits" or "ground" isn't enough to convince me that I should vote down the other team
- Intent to define/exclude is important, but contextual evidence is also good
Ks:
- Almost all of my 2nrs were some version of cap/neolib/militarism/ideology/postpolitics k. Given that, I think generic ks that don't engage with the aff produce some of the least educational debates
- this includes teams that just make "state bad" or "reform bad" links
- Reading a k isn't cheating - I think it is better for the aff to make arguments like "weigh impacts the aff solves v impacts the alt solves" or "consequences outweigh epistemology" on fw
- I won't vote on a perm if I don't know what it is - aff teams should explain how a perm overcomes the links rather than reading 5 perms in the 2ac that aren't explained
- Winning framework isn't enough - k teams should have specific links to the aff (whether that's their plan, advantages, etc) and an alternative that resolves their links/impacts
- The aff should never ignore good root cause debating - I think it can serve as terminal solvency deficits to the aff and a reason why the alt is better
- K debates that are very specific to the 1AC are my favorite debates to watch - but if your 2nc or 2nr could be read for multiple different affs on the topic - that's a problem
CPs
- Cps that are competitive and actually solve the aff are great
- Aff teams should extend theory on cheaty cps more often
- Strong solvency deficits o/w a small risk of a net benefit
DAs
- DAs with strong link stories and good ev are great, but spending 4 minutes on impacts doesn't make sense if there isn't an i/L (this probably means topic da > politics)
- Aff teams - cross x of the 1nc is a good time to squash laughable da's
- Defensive arguments that are executed well can take out a da - uq overwhelms the link, no i/L, aff not key, etc are all good if you explain how those outweigh the neg's arguments
K Affs:
- I'm definitely open to planless affs, but you should be able to explain what you solve (otherwise presumption args can be very compelling)
- For the aff: the biggest problem I've noticed in the past few rounds I've judged is that the 2ar just re-reads 2ac/1ar blocks in the 2ar on framework - so make sure you are actually being responsive to the 2nr. I think impact turning the neg's standards is usually a good idea.
- For the neg: I think fairness can be an impact, but you should prove that your interp gives access to the type of education the aff advocates for (that's probably more of a portable impact). You should also explain how fairness is an i/L to other benefits that are unique to debate. I haven't been too convinced when teams go for fairness as an impact on its own. TVAs are good.
- I enjoy k v k debates, but only when both teams actually engage with each other's arguments. Strong links (about method, theory, or another aspect of the 1ac) are reasons why I'm less likely to buy a perm. Otherwise every k v k debate becomes both cap and racism are bad, etc. Explain how the alternative takes a different approach to resolving both team's impacts.
My name is Lauren Zimmerman. I am a senior at the Meadows School and have been debating policy since my freshman year.
I don’t mind spreading, just make sure you are clear and coherent in your arguments. I will say clear if I cannot understand you.
Please be considerate of your opponents.
Please copy me on the email chain before the debate starts. My email is laurenazimmerman20@gmail.com.
Make sure to stay organized, flow all the speeches, and time yourselves because I won't do it for you. Also, If you are funny and make me laugh, I will give you extra speaker points. Good luck and make sure to have fun :)