Four years policy debate at GMU

Yes I want to be on the chain - Email: bbigbiggs1@gmail.com

General Notes

- PLEASE treat everyone in the room with respect, especially your opponents

- I flow straight down, it's in your best interest to keep it as organized as possible

- More familiar with policy args, but have and will vote for critical args

- Inserting re-highlighting is good if you are pointing out specific context that is left out and in small doses, not if you are essentially making a new card out of it

• These are my general thoughts but things can obviously change on a debate by debate basis depending on how the round goes

- This paradigm is geared towards policy debate since that is what I judge most frequently. If I am judging you in a different format; do no stress about the nuances here, I adopt to the norms of whatever format I am judging without bias to the best of my ability/knowledge

Notes for Online Debate:

- Please be conscientious of speed and clarity. I never will negatively impact your speaks because of mic issues but I can only vote on what I hear.

- If my camera is off assume I am not there.

Policy v Policy

- I will look through the evidence so a card doc would be useful; however, good evidence shouldn't be a substitute for poor explanation.

- Please make sure to extend full arguments. If you just say there is "no impact to US-China war" in the 1ar with no explanation for why, I will not vote for it in the 2ar even if dropped in the 2nr. That is just a phrase not an argument.

T:

- Limits/ground is the impact I find most persuasive. It will take more work to go for precision or other impacts but I can be swayed

- I tend to err on competing interpretation but actually can be persuaded by reasonability IF explained properly

Theory

Condo - tend to be neg leaning though more than three starts to push it. More open to condo args if the CP's are particularly abusive or if they've read multiple with no solvency advocates

PICs - I'm fine with PICs out of specific portions the aff defends. Not the judge for word PICs (unless they say something absolutely egregious in their plan text)

No solvency advocate CPs - I probably don't think this is a reason to reject the team, but I will likely be annoyed and lower speaks if you don't have one. Exceptions if you're against new affs or it is a very niche CP to answer a specific impact.

Other theory - 99 out of 100 times, if it's not condo, it's a reason to reject the arg. You need a clear reason why they skewed the round to get me to drop them even if it is dropped. Having said that, if you win that a CP is illegitimate you're probably in a good spot anyways.

Clash

Top Level: I've found myself judging more of these debates than I expected so I want to update this portion of my paradigm. I tend to have a higher threshold for 2ar re-articulation of arguments than most judges so I find myself voting neg more often in these debates than other rounds I judge.

Policy aff v the K:

- I tend to err aff on the f/w portion of the debate. Weigh the aff vs the alt, key to fairness, etc. are all args I tend to find more persuasive. Impact framing is the portion of the debate you should focus on. Make sure you're answering all the nuances of the util v structural violence (or any other framing) debate

- Be careful with the link debate. Even if you win that your case outweighs the neg can still win a link turns case arg that can make it tough for you to get my ballot.

K's v Policy Affs:

- Impact framing will essential. You will have a hard time persuading me that I should just reject the aff for some reason, but can definitely persuade me that your impact outweighs/is more crucial to discuss in the debate space.

- Specificity of the link is going to be important. Generic state bad links aren't going to be as persuasive as links to the specific action of the plan.

- Simplify the debate. Don't spread yourself too thin, try and pick just one link for the 2NR (unless two are very poorly answered but I'd cap it there) and really impact it out.

- I find embedded turns case args on the link debate very persuasive if it is a specific link to the aff.

- Clarity on the alt will be important. This is an area of the debate that I feel like gets under-explained throughout the debate. I like some explanation of what your alt materially looks like and how it resolves the link.

F/W v K affs:

- Fairness can be an impact, but I generally find the way teams explain it is more of an internal link to education (a pretty good one at that).

- When the aff is reasonably in the direction of the topic - I tend to place a lot of weight on the TVA and need explanation of lost ground and why the ground you lost is good.

- When the aff is blatantly anti-topical or an aff that is meant to be a personal strategy, go for clash good. I don't believe you need a TVA in this instance (or should extend one) as long as you have a good reason why the discussions that happen under your model of debate are good.

K affs v F/W:

- The easiest way to get my ballot is if you win your impact and win the "limits/clash means they can't access the aff's benefits even if it is theoretically good" arg you are in a very good place so long as you don't royally mess up the TVA debate or SSD. Having said that: I am open to other strategies, do your thing, but just understand that I will need more explanation than your typical judge.

- We meet probably not ideal unless the neg messed up the interp.

- If you are an aff that is in the direction of the topic, counter-definitions should be your friend.

- If your aff is outside the scope of being able to do so, you need to impact turn their model of debate. I am not gonna be persuaded by a counter-interp that was clearly designed to include your aff. Obviously extend your interpretation, but don't use it to try and mitigate their offense.

- Things to avoid: I do not find blanket stating "k debate is predictable" persuasive. Give me a reason why your specific aff is predictable for the negative to debate if you want to go that route.

K v K

I will not be as knowledgeable in K literature as either team is going to be. The best thing you could do to get my ballot is to make the debate simple. I may not be familiar with a lot of your terminology - and I am not going to vote on something I do not understand - so you may benefit by clearly explaining certain terms or at least having evidence that is clearly highlighted to define abstract terms/concepts.

Impact framing/explanation is going to be key in these rounds.

Tiff Imbimbo (they/them)

I wanna be on the chain please, and feel free to email me after with any questions - tiffanyrose2019@gmail.com

GMU '23

Little About Me: I debated for about 7 years (4 years at the college level and 2 years competing in varsity level). I graduated from George Mason in 2023 and I am now a 1L at Delaware Law. Keep in mind this is my first year out, but I did judge most of my 2nd semester senior year at GMU. I coach a varsity GMU K team as well as some JV teams, so I do have some topic knowledge. When I was debating, I did a year of policy before switching to K debate; I focused mainly on queer theory and debility theory, but I have some knowledge in many of the popular literature bases. I have been both a 2A and a 2N, and I am sympathetic to the challenges of both. Because of this though, I have determined that while debate may be a competitive space, the interactions in the debate space matter beyond competitive success. So yes debate is a game but it also consists of people with real life experiences, and that needs to be considered in round. I think that this is particularly true in novice debate where people are still learning. Otherwise, I want to have fun in debates, and I want to see teams have fun so do what you want and I will most likely be receptive.

First and foremost please give me judge direction; I don't particularly like having to do extensive work for a team. So I wouldn't count on judge intervention from me unless I am specifically told to (judge kick etc...). Meaning please don't card dump me, tease out the warrants and contextualize to the arguments you are making and it will go a long way with me.

Speed is fine with me, but if you are online keep in mind sometimes mics don't always pick up the fastest spreading.

KvK

Alts-- for both side, please tell me what the alt looks like. I feel like often in these debates there is a hesitancy to explain what the alt actually does for the world around us (real world, debate, the round...). This can be through an explanation of 'real world applications' contextualized to actions or thoughts that can happen, or examples of strategies... I just need to know what world I am ultimately voting for or else things get a little more complicated for me especially when it comes to presumption debates. The neg can always kick the alt, and go for the squo and I can be swayed by that if I am unsure of the world of the aff

This however does mean, neg take advantage of the lack of explanation, I will appreciate and it will be reflected in my ballot usually

the permutation debate-- this is also frustrating for me because I am not persuaded by generalized perm blocks; I get it read your blocks, but tell me why they are mutually exclusive not just that they are, yeah no perms in a methods debate but what does that mean for this round (also aff please answer no perms in a methods debate I feel like its usually dropped in the muddle of the 1AR and that makes an easy ballot in some debates)

Clash

I will vote for who won the round, this could mean voting for fwk one round and the K another. General fwk blocks are usually not persuasive to me on both sides. I like argument innovation, and I like when fwk blocks are contextualized to the round we are in. For me, this means having claims about why their particular model fails (not general debate, or general K debate but their model specifically), a TVA that actually uses the lit bases or topics the K teams are reading, in round examples are also always useful if there are any. Also I don't think fairness is an impact, and is at best an internal link to education. Otherwise I like education because of the inherent spill out claims that come from an education impact and I think that can be utilized more in rounds.

Policy

I am really not persuaded by condo. I feel like when teams read condo it feels like complaining, and I think that having multiple off case positions is probably a good thing for testing the aff, and I feel like condo bad is used as a safety net for a last grasp for the ballot. But not answering condo bad isn't a strat either because I will vote for it if you fumble the arg. Theory is procedural and comes first when evaluating the ballot so please be clear in violations and tell me why it matter, that goes for all theory, and if you are going for theory please spend more than a min of the speech explaining it because it probably won't be enough work for me. I am open to all cps as long as they have a net benefit that is explained/extended. Otherwise I am down for all the policy tricks.

Ultimately--I want people to have fun in debates, so I am down for most arguments as long as people are enjoying themselves. I value explanation and contextualization over a card dump. I don't mind speed but keep in mind that if I don't hear it I won't flow it. at the end of the debate tell me what I am voting on.

Ian Lowery (also goes by "Izzy" and/or "Bishop"),

Assistant Director of Debate at George Mason University (2022 - Present).

Former Policy Debater at George Mason University (2014 - 2018).

Former Assistant Coach at James Madison University (2020 - 2022).

Former Head Coach of Speech & Debate at Centreville High School (2018-2019)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Top Level: I believe that my role as the judge is to absorb the information provided within the round and decide who wins based on the debater's ability to explain and defend their positions. Do whatever you were going to do before you saw my name on the pairing. Treat the following as proclivities that may make my decision easier or increase your speaker points.

I mostly ran kritical arguments during my time as a debater. In my earlier years I did traditional policy but most of my best experience is with the K.

Tech over Truth - I believe in voting on the flow, and unless I am more than 95% sure that a statement or argument is universally false, it can be debated and proven true on the flow. Beyond that, I will still try to be unbiased in my evaluation the argument, but you're rolling the dice.

I will evaluate arguments which suggest that I should not flow or not decide the round based on traditional policy argumentation standards - but I need to be given a clear alternative method of evaluating the truth-value of competing arguments. Otherwise, I don't see how I won't just end up voting for whoever I think was more technical or voting for whichever team I vibed with more (which might be the point... I guess. But trying to predict my vibes without knowing me very well is a dangerous game imo).

Conduct - Don't be a jerk. It's aight to be aggressive, if there's a point/reason behind it. At it's core, I think debate is a game, so everyone should have fun.

Time - I don't keep track of time well in my personal life or in debates. Please don't rely on me for that. Keep track of your own and your opponent's time.

E-mail Chain - Yeah, put me on it: itlowery20@gmail.com

If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

they/them/he/him

currently at GMU, 4 years of ohio policy debate

email chain plz , lindsaylowry01@gmail.com , email me with any questions :)

overall

Do what you do best (to a certain degree), just keep in mind you might have to explain and impact some arguments more than you would with other judges ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. My opinions are listed below for specific args, they are subject to change but are a reflection of my current view of debate.

***I will try my best to keep my face neutral during debates, however, due to my disability my face might twitch, scrunch, or move in ways that might be interpreted as me being upset. It is not you or your speech. I promise I am still paying attention, but sometimes I am too tired or focused on the debate to control my facial movements. ALSO, for online debates, I will most likely have my camera off because Zoom makes me extra conscious/aware of my stimming/general twitching. Having my camera off allows me to pay better attention. Once again, I promise I am flowing and will give verbal confirmation that I am ready before speeches.***

policy

t - I default to competing interps. unless you give me a reason why competing interps is bad. Have a caselist. Don't (fully) spread through your blocks if you have any inclination that you will go for t.

fmwk - Fairness should probably just be an internal link. I am much more likely to be persuaded by educational impacts. Plz contextualize your fmwk blocks to your opponent.

k affs - In regards to k affs, you do you, I will listen to anything. I am particularly persuaded by performances.

theory - Contextualizing your impacts to a wider vision of debate or the "outside" world (or both) is helpful/important.

case - I love a good case debate. I think shortening your overview and answering specific case args is a better strat. Impact calc vs das is important. Explain case turns clearly and why I should vote on them. You will get extra gold stars if you point out contradictions in evidence.

ks - I am most familiar with this area, as of now. However, please explain your theory of power well. The best way to win your alt is to explain the world it creates. I vibe with refusal alts, just obv explain why refusal is important. I really LOVE contextual links, use your opponent's evidence against them! TBH this is where most of my bias lies, we carry education out of debate rounds above all, so just justify your education and/or knowledge production.

general notes - tech > truth. Your speaks will drop dramatically if you are disrespectful. Don't be racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist, etc. Please try to prioritize clarity over speed, especially in zoom debate. Plz tell me to evaluate evidence if you think it is important.

ld

I expect a V/VC framework but I'll consider alternate F/Ws, just make sure to explain and flush out well. If I cannot resolve the FW debate I will defer to the contentions and impacts. Speed is not a factor. I will probably not have much topic knowledge so make sure to break down acronyms and things of that nature.

pf

Extend your own args, don’t drop your opponents’ args. I usually vote on the flow and default to util for impact comparison unless you tell me to frame impacts differently. I’m most likely to vote for a PF team that nails impact calc in the rebuttals, does solid work extending offense, and uses effective evidence comparison. My 2 biggest pet peeves with PF are (1) labeling literally everything as a voter, and (2) saying "de-link".

About me:

Director of Debate at George Mason University.

Please add me to chain: japoapst@gmail.com

11/26/2023 Speaker Point Update:

I will be utilizing the Regnier speaker point scale

5+ Random Things that Annoy me:

1. Hostility - I am too old, too cranky, and too tired to hear undergraduate students treating opponents, partners, or me like trash. I literally can't handle the levels of aggression some rounds have anymore. Please just stop. Be community minded. You are debating another person with feelings, remember that. Opponents are friends on the intellectual journey you are having in debate, not enemy combatants. Give people the benefit of the doubt and try to practice grace in rounds.

2. Debaters who act like they don't care in debates. If being a troll or giving some performance of apathy about debate is your shtick I am absolutely not the judge for you. Debate is a privilege that many individuals do not have the ability to participate in due to lack of collegiate access or financial well being, and I think we should treat the opportunity we have to be in this activity with respect.

3. Multiple cards in the body of the email.

4. Yelling over each other in cx - everyone will lose speaks.

5. Interrupting your partner in cx - I am seriously close to saying I want closed cx, I am so annoyed at how egregious this is becoming. I will deduct speaks from both partners.

6. Extending Cross ex past 3 minutes. I will actively stop listening in protest/leave the room. Anything past the 3 minutes should be for clarification purposes only.

7. Wipeout, Baudrillard, Malthus, Con Con CPs, Strike 'x' country CPs, trivializing the holocaust, reading re-prints of books from 1995 but citing it as the reprint date, fiating mindset shifts.

Topicality:

The nukes topic is great for the negative and I do not think I will be persuaded on sub-sets arguments against NFU. This topic is too small give the aff a break.

If cross ex actually checked for specification questions (i.e. "who is the actor" - and they tell you "Congress") - that is the only argument the 2ac needs to make against a 1NC spec argument.

NOVICE NOTE: I think it is ridiculous when novices read no plan affs - do whatever you want in other divisions, but these kids are just learning how to debate, so providing some structure and predictability is something I think is necessary. I err heavily on framework in those debates for the negative in the first semester.

Theory:

Besides conditionality, theory is a reason to reject the argument and not the team. Anything else is an unwinnable position for me. I genuinely do not know how I lean in condo debates. Some rounds I feel like the amount of conditional positions we are encouraging in debates is ridiculous, others I wish there were more. Open to being convinced in either direction.

Counterplans:

Are awesome. The trickier, the better. I’m okay with most of them, but believe that the action of the CP must be clearly explained at least in the 2NC. I don’t vote on something if I don’t know what my ballot would be advocating. I shouldn’t have to pull the CP text at the end of the round to determine what it does. I err to process/agent/consult cp’s being unfair for the aff (if you can defend theory though, this doesn’t mean don’t read them). Also, I think that perm do the cp on CPs that result in the plan can be rather persuasive, and a more robust textual/functional cp debate is probably necessary on the negative's part.

**Delay and consultation cp’s are illegit unless you have a specific solvency advocate for them. Agenda DA Uniqueness cp’s are too – I’m sorry that the political climate means you can’t read your politics strat on the negative, but that doesn’t mean you should be able to screw the aff’s strategy like that. Have other options.

Important CP Judge Kick Note: I always judge kick if the negative would win the debate on the net benefit alone. However, I will not judge kick to vote on presumption. Going for a CP forfeits the negative's right to presumption.

Disadvantages:

Wonderful. Disadvantages versus case debates are probably my favorite debates (pretty much every 2NR my partner and I had). I love politics disads, however, I can be very persuaded by no backlash/spillover answers on the internal link – in so many situations the internal link just makes NO sense. I think there is such a thing as 100% no link and love thumper strategies. Like elections DA's - not a huge fan of impact scenarios relying on a certain party/candidate doing something once they get in office. Think shorter term impact scenarios are necessary.

Kritiks:

2023 update: For the past several years my work with Mason Debate has primarily focused on research and coaching of our varsity policy teams and novices. I am not keeping up with the K lit as I was a few years ago. Please keep this in mind. Everything below is from a few years ago.

I wrote my thesis on queer rage and my research now focuses on a Derridian/Althusserian analysis of Supreme Court rhetoric - but that does not mean I will automatically get whatever random critical theory you are using. Due to who I coach and what I research for academics, I am most familiar with identity theories, biopower, Marxism, any other cultural studies scholarship, Baudrillard, Derrida, and Deleuze. If your K isn't one of those - hold my hand. I think the most persuasive kritik debaters are those who read less cards and make more analysis. The best way to debate a kritik in front of me is to read slower and shorter tags in the 1NC and to shorten the overviews. I find most overviews too long and complicated. Most of that work should be done on the line-by-line/tied into the case debate. Also, debating a kritik like you would a disad with an alternative is pretty effective in front of me. Keep it structured. Unless your kritik concerns form/content - be organized.

Note for policy v K regarding the "weigh the affirmative or nah" framework question - basically no matter how much debating occurs on this question, unless the affirmative or negative completely drops the oppositions' arguments, I find myself normally deciding that the affirmative gets to weigh their aff but is responsible for defending their rhetoric/epistemology. I think that is a happy middle ground.

Critical Affirmatives:

Nukes note: I think the affirmative should *at least* defend that the US' reliance on nuclear weapons for military policy is bad. Some type of critique in the direction of the resolution. Inserting the word "nuclear" or "weapons" into your aff is not enough of a topic relevant claim imo. In general, I believe affirmatives should defend some universalized praxis/method and that deferral is not a debatable strategy.

Overall Framework update: Procedural fairness IS an impact, but I prefer clash key to education. I find it difficult to vote for impacts that preserve the game when the affirmative is going for an impact turn of how that game operates.

Generic Case Update: I find myself voting neg on presumption often when this is a large portion of the 2nr strategy. I recommend affirmatives take this into account to ensure they are explaining the mechanism of the aff.

I find judging non-black teams reading afro-pessimism affirmatives against black debaters an uncomfortable debate to decide, and my threshold for a ballot commodification style argument low.

Individual survival strategies are not predictable or necessarily debatable in my opinion (i.e. "This 1AC is good for the affirmative team, but not necessarily a method that is generalizable). I enjoy critical methods debates that attempt to develop a praxis for a certain theory that can be broadly operationalized. For example, if you are debating "fem rage" - you should have to defend writ large adoption of that process to give the negative something to debate. It is pretty difficult for a negative to engage in a debate over what is "good for you" without sounding incredibly paternalistic.

Overall Sound:

I am partially deaf in my left ear. It makes it difficult to decipher multiple sounds happening at the same time (i.e. people talking at the same time/music being played loudly in the background when you are speaking). I would recommend reducing the sound level of background music to make sure I can still hear you. Also means you just have to be a smidge louder. I'll let you know if sound level is an issue in the debate, so unless I say something don't let it worry you.

Flowing:

I love flowing. I do my best to transcribe verbatim what you say in your speech so I can quote portions in my RFD. I do NOT flow straight down, I match arguments. I most definitely WILL be grumpy if speeches are disorganized/don't follow order of prior speeches. If you ask me not to flow, the amount I pay attention in the debate probably goes down to 20% and I will have mild anxiety during the round.

Your Decorum:

Debate should be fun - don't be jerks or rhetorically violent. This includes anything from ad homs like calling your opponent stupid to super aggressive behavior to your opponents or partner. Speaker points are a thing, and I love using them to punish jerks.

My Decorum:

I am extremely expressive during round and you should use this to your advantage. I nod my head when I agree and I get a weird/confused/annoyed face when I disagree.

<3 Jackie

*Pronouns: they/them
Put me on the doc chains: pgreddy411@gmail.com

Assistant Coach at GMU, 4 years of debate experience starting as a college novice, I primarily work with novice debaters

Topicality:

I default to competing interpretations. If you are reading a policy aff that has little relevance to the topic, or a very small portion of it, you should have good defenses for doing so. I try to vote off of the flow as much as I can, and then look to evidence secondarily unless told otherwise.

CPs/CP Theory:

Slow down while reading theory/CP texts

You need to provide a detailed explanation of how the CP solves all of the aff's internal links starting in the 2NC. If it does not claim to solve 100%, there needs to be a lot of explanation coming out of the block explaining why I shouldn't care about the solvency deficit as part of your sufficiency framing. You need to disprove perms well. Multiplank CPs with a plank to solve various internals are fun, though planks should be unconditional. CPs should have solvency advocates.

DAs:

Priority for me is link over uniqueness. If you're going to group sections, answer each argument made against that section, don't just read a generic link wall and assume that I'll connect everything on the line-by-line.

Case:

Case debates are great. Impact defense is the most important argument to get on these flows. I will vote neg on presumption, but you need to spend a lot of time on it. Disads on case are cool. Impact turns were amongst my favorite arguments in debate, and I love to see them.

Kritiks:
Top Level: I debated policy all 4 years I participated, but I’ve spent my recent time in grad school engaging in critical scholarship within public health. So, I at least feel mildly more comfortable listening to a K. Due to this, I'm probably interested in hearing your args but will lack somewhat fundamental “debate” knowledge/will lack the experience to relate the concepts in your literature to policy as it exists in-round. This is especially true when using literature bases that are less common/higher theory.

However, if you wind up with me in the back of a round both teams should be careful with if you’re giving enough time to comprehend/incorporate every warrant you want me to get. Giving some extra pen/brain time, like even more than you think you needed, will help you get my ballot more easily. If you’re trying to go for a late-breaking PIK, then flag what args you’re pulling it from earlier in the debate with your explanation.

My default is that the aff gets a perm. It's up to the aff to explain to me why the kritik is not mutually exclusive. Neg teams can win no perms, but I haven't been in the back of a round where this arg was won or made effectively.

FW: I try to be as blank template as I can be for clash rounds. But, despite personally believing in/studying critical discourse, I am too inexperienced in these rounds to register the args a K team would make on framework without giving more time to process them compared to what a policy team would need. At the same time, I'm not great when it comes to parsing through framework/T against K affs. I'll need clear judge instruction for what my ballot should be in these rounds.

Other:

-Clarity should never be sacrificed for speed, though I make exceptions if you're trying to squeeze out one last card. This is especially true of online debate. I'll do my best to flow you, but I could be missing args you want to make if you're not at least differentiating between args.

-I've got worsening audio processing issues and spreading with online debate only compounds this. I'll do my best to try and keep up with you, but don't be surprised if you think you made an argument and I don't catch it. Going slower than your usual speed will definitely improve the chances of me flowing your argument properly.

Debated at Liberty for four years, now working for GMU.

Yes I want to be on the email chain.

If you have any questions feel free to email me addisonjwagner@gmail.com

*if you are emailing me for scouting, please do not put scouting in the subject line. I have a filter and have recently discovered multiple emails I accidentally ignored as a result*

This is subject to updates.

Top level thing: I will be following along in the doc as a result of me noticing a surprising trend of debaters clipping cards. If you are clipping I will dock speaks and auto vote against you. In novice and JV I will give out warnings first.

I take judging very seriously. I recognize the amount of work that debaters put in, and I believe that I should put in a similar amount of work in my judging and decisions to honor the work that you all put into this activity. I am always thrilled to get to judge, and there are few things I enjoy more than judging a good debate.

The things you probably care about

Condo is probably good.

All theory other than condo is probably a reason to reject the argument not the team.

Pretty much everything is up for debate (even what I just said about condo and theory), that is the point of debate as an activity. If someone makes a bad argument, it should be easy to beat. (This is not an excuse to be violent in round but is in reference to silly impact turns and terrible ptx DA's).

I am aff leaning in policy debates on T. Especially on the nukes topic.

If equally debated out I lean probably about 55/45 in favor of the aff in framework debates.

Kritiks: most of my experience and knowledge consists of cap and random philosophers as a philosophy major. Identity based arguments I have much less knowledge about the particulars of your theory. Slow down a little and clearly explain what I am voting for (or against) and you will get my ballot.

CP's are good and should have a clear net benefit. If it links to the supposed net benefit the aff has to point that out.

Technical debate is important. I will not vote on arguments unless they are made by the debaters themselves.

Evidence: it's very important and I give a lot of weight to the evidence read. If you read bad or non-specific evidence it will be an uphill battle to get me to vote for something. I also want to add that a card that states something without a warrant is a bad card and I will not find it persuasive. Additionally, any cards that are specifically citing the other teams evidence and are directly responding to it are grounds for speaker points boosts. I believe that the burden for quality evidence in debate has dropped to horrendous levels and I would like to give recognition where I can for quality research being done. As a result, I reserve the right to throw out pieces of evidence that are highlighted in an incoherent manner and/or do not make a full argument.

Specific cards >>>> Tangentially relevant cards

Long super warranted cards>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Short cards that say nothing or merely a claim

2NC CP out of an impact turn = :(((((((((((

The things I care about (that you might not)

Nukes topic preference: It is my moderate preference that deterrence and prolif be read as off case positions rather than on case

Ethics: if you make a critique of util there should be an explicit counter ethical frame. Just proclaiming that utilitarianism is bad alone does not tell me how I should determine the ethicality of an action. It doesn't even give me ethical basis as to why I should reject util!

Evidence: evidence must be cut and highlighted and tagged to make an argument. Otherwise, I can be easily convinced to reject that evidence.

I dislike the grey highlighting trend.

"extinction" as a tag is bad.