Your task is to extract the thesis of an opinionated news article by selecting some of its text segments. The thesis is a summarization of what the author wants to persuade the reader of. Your answer should consist of segments of the given text. Note that you are not allowed to combine different sentences.

Q: Paris lessons: US must revoke citizenship of Americans who join ISIS, Al Qaeda. Last week, France faced the threat that is arguably the toughest to defeat-- a threat from within, from its own terrorists . By now, the stories are familiar . France has a problem with homegrown radicals . At least 900 French citizens are among the 2,000 to 3,000 westerners who've left home for jihadist training or to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq . In many ways, the western jihadist represents the worst threat . Able to speak the language fluently, completely familiar with their home countries, and possessing a key weapon -- an American, British, French, or German passport -- they can easily cross international boundaries . The training makes them deadly -- the Paris attacks were notable for their deadly precision and meticulous planning . Their citizenship makes them mobile . That's why any American strategy to defeat jihad has to include measures to not just deny passports to American terrorists, but also strip them of citizenship . This is basic common sense . Most Americans would be surprised to know that joining Al Qaeda or ISIS - the Islamic State - isn't grounds for losing citizenship . The law currently provides that Americans can lose citizenship when they enter or serve in the armed forces of an enemy foreign state . But ISIS and Al Qaeda are not "foreign states," so the law doesn't apply . It's time to close this loophole . In Congress, legislation was introduced last session to address those concerns . It was not approved . Now, in the new Congress - with Republicans in control of both the House and Senate - there's a renewed push to safeguard the homeland . Last week, Representative Ted Poe introduced a measure that revokes passports from Americans who join terrorist organizations . And ,  in the days ahead, Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Steve King are expected to introduce legislation that would strip citizenship from terrorist traitors . This is not an imaginary threat . Not only have Americans joined ISIS , some have even lost their lives fighting for jihadists . In fact ,  as many as 40 men from Minneapolis alone have joined Islamic groups abroad . And just last week in Chicago, A U.S  citizen was indicted by a federal grand jury - charged with attempting to travel overseas to fight alongside the ISIS operating in Iraq and Syria . These men aren't just threats to the United States ; they're also threats to our closest allies . For our allies, the American passport is a ticket of entry, no visa required . And ,  similarly, for British, French, and other allies, their passport is a ticket of entry into the United States . The door is wide open for terrorists to take advantage of centuries of friendship and trust . It is time we slam that door shut . Of course stripping citizenship and revoking passports represent just two small steps - but critical ones - towards a sane national security strategy . However ,  it's difficult to take even these small steps with the Obama administration steadfastly refuses to name our enemies (Mr  President, our enemies are Islamic radicals, not generic "extremists"), accurately describe their ideology(no, they are not "nihilists"), or even to acknowledge their obvious, widespread appeal in the Muslim world . It was sad and embarrassing for Americans to watch as even the leader of the Palestinian Authority marched in Paris against Islamic extremism , yet our president or vice president were nowhere to be found . Even liberal journalists called this absence "pathetic." Marches don't defeat terrorists , but when dozens of world leaders stand together , it makes a statement of determination that is critical for our citizens to see . When our President makes a stand, it signals our nation's resolve , and his absence signaled our government's weakness . In the days and weeks ahead, Congress can send a very different message by passing much needed legislation, putting it on the President's desk, and daring him to veto legislation that would prevent exactly the kind of attack France faced last week . After almost six full years in office, we fully understand the President's approach to combatting terrorism . A recipe that mixes drone strikes with appeasement-- that pulls troops from combat and sends captive terrorists back to the Middle-- is now a proven failure . In my bestselling book, "Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can't Ignore," I demonstrated the consequences of that failure . Jihad rages across the Middle East, Boko Harem rampages through Nigeria , and Afghanistan teeters on the brink of disaster . In the west, recent terror attacks in Canada, Australia, and Paris show jihadists ability to inspire even western Muslims with a message of pure hate and evil . Will the Obama administration change course? Will it finally acknowledge the true dimensions of the threat? It can start with a dose of common sense . It can start by protecting America from terrorist traitors .

A: Last week, France faced the threat that is arguably the toughest to defeat-- a threat from within, from its own terrorists At least 900 French citizens are among the 2,000 to 3,000 westerners who've left home for jihadist training or to fight for ISIS in Syria and Iraq
****
Q: Do you really think your fat joke about Chris Christie is funny? New Jersey governor Chris Christie's weight - and whether it will impact any run for higher office- is once again the subject of discussion . (It comes up every year or so, and this year it's bound to come up every month or so.) On Sunday, Christie drew some people's ire by sitting with (ok, and hugging) the owner of the Dallas Cowboys , the team of which he is a fan . It doesn't actually seem to matter what Christie does, though : the kneejerk reaction to a hefty politician is always, inevitably, to insult his body , and now Christie's brother is even reacting to that reaction on Facebook . Fat people are described as gross and disgusting often enough that some of us loathe our own bodies to the point of self-injury . People think we're stupid and weak(or we'd just lose weight, right?) before they even talk to us . Fatness is classified as a disease in the United States . For his part, Christie, with his long history of being fat in the public eye, turned to a weight-loss surgery called lap band in his efforts to lose weight . In that last linked article, those close to him claimed it would humanize him in the eyes of the public - without recognizing that he is, in fact and in fat, already human . Our humanity hardly seems to matter to people going for the easy fat jokes . The truth is that fat people often have a more difficult time finding a good job . (Even, maybe especially, THE job .) You're less likely to get a promotion when your body doesn't match the image of a desirable employee . This bias - this discrimination - on the part of employers costs them top talent and actually winds up adding to stereotypes about us . It's hard for fat people to be perceived as hard workers when no one believes in our work ethic in the first place . But that's hardly the worst of the stereotypes: a couple of years ago, during a televised "debate" about fatness and fat acceptance with anti-obesity spokesperson MeMe Roth and model Crystal Renn, Roth finally gave in and called me stupid - using a single study that proclaim that fat people just have smaller brains and are therefore less intelligent . I laughed : it was a desperate attempt at an insult more than it was scientific discussion , but it was also honest - because it's definitely not the first time I've run across that conviction . Chris Christie, for all of his accomplishments, faces the same sort of discrimination as the fat person passed over for a job because of a hiring manager's bias - he's just facing it on a very intense and public level . People look at him and judge his body . They don't evaluate his intelligence based on his decisions ; they just assume he's stupid because he's fat . They ignore that it does actually take quite a lot of work to get elected as governor - politics is many things, but it's never a cake walk , and he's been involved since 1977 . And America has had fat presidents before - not many of them, but some rather notable ones, including Teddy Roosevelt . Chris Christie is- and this is another uncomfortable thing for someone with my own fairly radical political views to say- a complicated and intelligent politician . His actions are often well-considered (even when I screamingly disagree with them, which happens a lot) and even sometimes moderate, at least in the sense that he occasionally works across party lines ... and certainly across state lines when it comes to the NFL . But the fat jokes keep on coming :. How bout hittin the gym?? ... Christie won't back down , may watch Cowboys in Green Bay via @POLITICO for iOS http://t.co/Vn6SS5J4EB . US News & World Report's David Catanese even said that his brother's defense makes Christie looks bad because... he countered "'crazy, pathetic posts' with one of his own" . Apparently it's more presidential when you take the abuse about your body without anyone saying anything . And the fat jokes keep obscuring the actual conversation that needs to happen about Christie's political views , even as he remains cagey about running for the Republican nomination in 2016 . And if you're one of the people who'd rather insult his weight than talk about his politics , I have to ask: who is the less intelligent person, really? I don't think it's the fat guy .

A: New Jersey governor Chris Christie's weight - and whether it will impact any run for higher office- is once again the subject of discussion
****
Q: From Panama to Ferguson: Countering the devaluation of black lives. Twenty five years ago on December 20, 1989, El Chorrillo, an Afro-Panamanian neighbourhood in the centre of Panama city was the scene of a criminal assault by the military forces of the United States government . A vigorous assault from the most powerful military body on the planet was unleashed by President George H W Bush to execute an arrest warrant issued by a US court on General Manuel Antonio Noriega, the de facto head of the sovereign state of Panama, and up until that time an obedient servant of US interests in the region . Significant elements of the outgunned Panamanian defence forces had barracks in the El Chorrillo community and as a consequence it was turned into a free fire zone by the invading forces, despite the fact that the invaders knew that thousands of civilians also lived in the densely populated community . As Marta Sanchez and others who experienced the assault remembered, the people of El Chorrillo, whose descendants came from the Caribbean to Panama as cheap labour to build the canal, never knew what hit them when they awoke to the sounds of machine gun fire from the 82nd Airborne division . When the firing stopped and the smoke from the fires finally subsided, thousands were dead and the neighbourhood largely destroyed . "Black Lives Matter" is a refrain whose importance is reflective of the value that black people place on our lives , yet we must disabuse ourselves of the illusion that black lives or any other lives matter when they stand in the way of the political and capital interests of US elites and that it is not limited to black communities in the US . As human rights strategist Ajamu Baraka points out:"The black lives taken by the murderous assault on Panama 25 years ago should be a sober reminder that US state violence is not confined to ghettoes and barrios of the US but is a central component of the racist, colonial, capitalist project that is the US. We cannot pretend that police brutality in the US and the devaluation of black life that it represents is restricted just to the black experience in the heart of the US empire." The attack on Panama and the massive loss of life and destruction was a harbinger of the lawlessness and aggression that would characterise US policies in the unipolar world of the late 20th and early 21st century . When President Noriega failed to support US efforts to destabilise Nicaragua and had the audacity to publicly defy the US state with his defiant rhetoric, Bush had a perfect opportunity to establish the terms for what he referred to as a new world order of unchecked US power . Panama became a demonstration project to communicate to the nations of the global south that resistance to US hegemony would be met with ferocious violence . The fact that scores of black lives would be lost as part of the demonstration was of no consequence to the policymakers of hegemony . The structures and relations of repression are linked from the centre of the empire to its periphery states . US police forces train police departments throughout the world through programmes such as the International Taskforce Agent Training, (conducted by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations) including police officers that work in communities like El Chorrillo . The US police forces bring with them their military, interrogation, intimidation and racially biased tactics which involve use of excessive force on civilians . It is also internationally known that police are quicker to use force, shoot and kill black people, the same way that the US is quick to invade smaller countries with less power , because in the scope of the political reality, they matter less . Violence is integral to the project of western colonial capitalist domination from Palestine to Ferguson . "On this 25th anniversary of the US invasion of Panama, we need to remember that the struggle for black liberation is ongoing. US authorities must be made to understand that the value of black life is not determined by the borders that those black bodies find themselves. The destruction in Panama is a reminder to my generation that our demand is not new," says Alicia Garza, National Domestic Workers Special Projects director and cofounder of #BlackLivesMatter . While we remember the victims of the US invasion of Panama, the families of the thousands of victims of US criminality in Panama are still demanding justice and accountability 25 years later . Like the families of Eric Garner and Mike Brown and the victims of police violence in the US, they are part of the long line of victims of US criminality globally . These crimes will continue until the people - black people in particular - are able to build the power necessary to ensure that black lives really matter in the US and across the globe .

A:
"Black Lives Matter" is a refrain whose importance is reflective of the value that black people place on our lives
****