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.

My brain tumour will be removed this week, and I can be thankful. On the morning of my diagnosis I rush to get ready for work . It's 6am and I make a cup of black tea . As I carry it across the room , even though I'm being careful, I spill most of the boiling liquid, burning my hand . What's wrong with me, I think . By 10.30am my GP will telephone me at work with the results of a brain scan I had a couple of days before: an acoustic neuroma, sitting behind my right ear, 42mm in size - a brain tumour . The GP says that, so as not to delay things, he's faxing the referral to neurosurgery right away for urgent attention . Faxing? "Any change," he says,"go to A&E  ;". "Change? What does that mean?" I ask , becoming more alarmed with every word he says . "Have you been sick?" he asks . "No." "That's good." I feel sick . Diagnosis is a long, arduous path that is difficult to navigate . People get sick of you being sick and stop listening . To the untrained eye I look fine . But look closer and you'll see that I can't close my right eye , so it doesn't blink . My face is sagging on the right side , I get sores on the right-hand corner of my mouth due to the drool that manages to escape because of facial weakness on that side . Less obvious are the hidden symptoms . Right-sided facial numbness; overwhelming fatigue; tinnitus and reduced hearing in my right ear; a lack of co-ordination leading to an overpowering unsteadiness . All because I have this 42mm tumour that is taking up space in my head, slowly strangling the nerves relating to hearing, balance and facial sensation . I feel stupid for not noticing and not pursuing some of the symptoms when I first experienced them years ago . I listened to others too much when they told me it was normal and didn't listen to myself when I knew it was not . There is a certain amount of relief when you finally get a diagnosis, especially one so definitive . At the end of November, the moment I found out, work sent me home and there I have been ever since . Later that week I get a call from my bank . "Sorry for not calling," I say,"I've had a pretty rough week." I nearly tell them I've just found out I've got a brain tumour , but I catch myself . I realise how powerful that news is . It can get you out of almost anything . I've felt the power every time I've said it , but I still don't believe it's happening to me . My sister had breast cancer three years ago and it's taken all this time to stop the illness dominating her life . She has stopped obsessively searching for lumps, and says:"It's history, old news, like it happened to someone else." Will I ever acknowledge the reality of what's happening to me? I'm a 41-year- old woman, married, with no kids by choice . Children would mess up the vice- like grip my husband and I like to have on our lives . My morning commute takes an hour and a half so I read prolifically . I manage a small IT team at a prominent university . Apart from reading I love to cook . That's who I am: work, reading and cooking . Sounds boring, but I loved it . I haven't finished a book since being sent home from work . And don't ask me what's for dinner . I'll become dithery and confused, and eventually settle on cheese and crackers . After the relief of diagnosis, fear sets in . I know the snail's pace at which the NHS usually moves , so watching it jump into action induces panic in me . Within a couple of days, the hotshot neurosurgeon calls . He tells me it is a slow-growing tumour that I have probably had for years and that a few more weeks while they plan my operation won't make any difference . He tells me that as acoustic neuromas go, this one's big , but the good news is it's benign, it's not cancer , though it must come out and soon . Then the bad news- I will lose all hearing in that ear and one side of my face may be permanently paralysed from the operation . The news that I didn't have cancer didn't register ; I was too busy counting my losses . A few days later I went to a support group for people with brain tumours , where I met people with brain cancer . Their lumps were in places like the memory, speech or personality part of their brains , and for some the prognosis wasn't good . The phone call they got from their doctors was much worse than mine . I came away feeling grateful, devastatingly so . It sounds vain , but facial paralysis bothers me more than deafness . People will be able to see there is something wrong . I worry that they'll stop seeing me and see only a problem with my face . Not satisfied with taking half my hearing, the surgeon may take away my smile, my frown and that weird raised eyebrow look I've inherited from my dad . Not being able to express myself in full feels like I'm losing a big part of who I am . Admittedly, that is a woman who has worked in London for more than 20 years, trained in the art of remaining expressionless and speaking to no one . Now I smile or speak to strangers, luxuriating in my facial movements . I find much more to smile about nowadays . The internet tells me these types of tumours grow at a rate of about 1mm a year . If they have a spurt they might make it to 2mm a year . Has the tumour been growing all of my life? I think back to key moments : did I miss out on promotions due to the fatigue of a growing tumour? I did a degree part-time a few years ago and got a 2:1 . I now think my certificate should say 2:1 (with a brain tumour) . The morning after my diagnosis I was woken up by The Voice . Wake up, it said, there' s lots to do . It has been telling me what to do ever since , and so far it has never been wrong . We all have that voice , but the busyness of our lives causes it to fade into the background . Never has mine been so loud . Do yoga , it will improve your balance . Call your brother who you haven't spoken to in two years . Write a thank-you letter to the doctor who diagnosed you . Tell them you're scared before you have that brain scan . Write a will . My operation, a craniotomy, is planned for this coming Thursday . I have two main worries . The first is the horror of surrendering myself to it . I have to turn up at the hospital at 7.30am . They are trusting me to have eaten or drunk nothing for at least six hours . Like an inmate at a prison, I will have my possessions checked in . They will give me a gown to wear that is not my own . Then I will say goodbye to my husband, not knowing when I will see him again . Depending on the hotshot neurosurgeon's schedule I may have to wait a number of hours, empty-bellied and frightened . Eventually I will have one side of my head shaved before they put me to sleep . Don't make me do this voluntarily . Treat me like a wild animal running through the woods, take me out with a sedative dart when I am cooking or doing my favourite yoga pose . Then let me wake up when it is all over . Don't tell me I am brave . The people who choose to get involved with me are the brave ones . My husband, for picking me up every time I fall over when I lose my balance physically - and metaphorically . My mother, for clearing her schedule for as long as it takes to get me better . People like my yoga teacher , who didn't run a mile when I approached her for help, but instead restored some of my balance and made me feel strong . My second worry is something I've never been good at in my life . Now I must face it head-on - the unknown . The doctors can't tell me how long my hospital stay will be . Will they need to open me up again because my brain is bleeding? Will I have to have a shunt fitted because fluid isn't draining from my head? Will the surgeon sneeze and nick my facial nerve? Most suffering is in the worry . It means I have to live in the lacuna of uncertainty, embracing not knowing and carrying on , a new skill I practise daily . I know that if you take my life as a whole this is an interruption . This will end . I refuse to make it who I am, my identity . Rather ,  it is an experience, one that leaves its imprint on my body . It has brought my life into sharp focus and revealed what I have to be thankful for: people, strangers and intimates for their kindness and well wishing; my tenacity and determination for carrying me through; and as much as I'm trying to shake it off, my plan for creating a freezer-full of food to be eaten post-op . I am ready .
Diagnosis is a long, arduous path that is difficult to navigate

Boko Haram's deadly advance must be stopped, but how? Last week's massacre of perhaps 2,000 people in and around the Nigerian town of Baga, and the bombings of markets in the north-east using children perhaps as young as 10, mark not a new tactic for the violent extremist organisation Boko Haram, but an intensification of its existing behaviour . Boko Haram is pushing the boundaries of the extreme and is challenging - and seemingly succeeding - in overstretching Nigeria's 7th Infantry Division, tasked to fight the insurgents in the north-east . In recent months it has made significant territorial gains and is in control of many towns around the Borno state capital, Maiduguri , though this is in a constant state of flux as the military defends state capitals and recaptures lost urban centres . Speculation as to the aims of Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, the real name of the network of Islamist, cultist and criminal elements that grew from a radical but initially largely non-violent movement, continues . And the logical conclusion is that it is capturing territory to carve out an Islamic caliphate in north-eastern Nigeria . But the group is decimating what is in its path . And it is greedy : the longer Boko Haram goes unimpeded and the more confident it becomes, the more it seems to want . So perhaps what is its endgame is the wrong question . Boko Haram is fighting because it can , because it is a lethal fighting force and has children and conscripts to send into the field as terrified, intoxicated and indoctrinated weapons and shields . The question that needs to be answered is how did this terrorist threat grow to such horrifying proportions, killing thousands and displacing millions- a threat unimaginable in a democratic Nigeria 10 years ago? And what can be done to stop it? Nigeria's military is around 130,000-strong, and has been previously lauded for its peacekeeping successes in civil conflicts in Africa , but now , with a worsening conflict at home, questions are being asked about just how hollowed out such an important institution has become . There are varying reports as to why the 8,500 troops deployed to battle Boko Haram have been unable to halt its advance . Allegations of corruption; misallocated resources; poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly directed troops; fear; low morale; and deficient interagency cooperation all have a basis . While promises have been made to investigate reported abuses by the Nigerian armed forces against civilians, in December 2014 an army court sentenced 54 soldiers to death for mutiny and cowardice - for refusing to fight Boko Haram . In the short term , preventing Boko Haram from expanding further relies on a more effective military response with a much-bolstered force . But this is impossible without essential leadership from the centre, without tough calls and effective management . The international community will come under increasing criticism for not doing enough to stem the tide of Boko Haram's terror . Assistance has been offered by a range of partners including the US, UK, France, Russia and China - some of it has been declined - but it is likely more offers of assistance will come . Nigeria believes its neighbours Chad, Cameroon and Niger could be doing more . But domestic and international confidence in the will or capacity - or both - of Nigeria's federal government to take the decisions to mount an effective response is fast waning in the face of increasing casualties . Nigerians will go to the polls on 14 February to vote for a new president and national assembly . How much this violence, predominantly in three of Nigeria's 36 states, will affect the outcome is unclear because Nigerians face a range of daily challenges . There are concerns, however, that the majority of people in the states at the epicentre of the conflict - thought to be potential opposition supporters- will be disenfranchised, along with over a million internally displaced people . However politicised the crisis may become in the runup to elections, the insurgency will outlast the event .
Last week's massacre of perhaps 2,000 people in and around the Nigerian town of Baga, and the bombings of markets in the north-east using children perhaps as young as 10, mark not a new tactic for the violent extremist organisation Boko Haram, but an intensification of its existing behaviour

Mario Cuomo and the folly of progressivism. How precious in the sight of progressives was one of their saints, Mario Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who died last week at age 82 . He was a model of progressivism and a gifted rhetorician . In most media accounts, references were made to two speeches Cuomo delivered in 1984, one at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco where Walter Mondale was nominated for president, and the other at the University of Notre Dame where Cuomo spoke about abortion and the "proper" role of religion in politics . The thing about progressivism is that it resembles floor wax -- all shine and no depth . In his Democratic convention speech, Cuomo referenced Ronald Reagan's line about America being a "shining city on a hill." Cuomo responded,"A shining city is perhaps all the president sees from the portico of the White House or the veranda of his ranch, where everyone seems to be doing well . But there's another city; there' s another part to the shining city.... In this part of the city, there are more poor than ever . More families in trouble . More and more people who need help but can't find it . ... There are people who sleep in the city streets, in the gutter where the glitter doesn't show." This is boilerplate Democratic rhetoric we've heard since the days of Franklin Roosevelt . After Democrats Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton and Obama, are fewer families in trouble? Are there fewer poor people, especially since Johnson's "War on Poverty" promised to end it? Statistics reveal there are not , so why do so many embrace progressive ideas? If something isn't working , why repeat the errors? As Reagan noted, government too often adds to problems ; it doesn' t solve them . Government doesn't create jobs ; a thriving private economy does . Government welfare mostly doesn't incentivize people to escape poverty, but too often sustains them in poverty and addicts them to government handouts . On the issue of church and state, Cuomo bisected the subjects in his Notre Dame speech . While he said he accepted Catholic teaching against capital punishment , he rejected its opposition to abortion . In this, the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin expressed opposition to both issues while eloquently arguing that the Catholic Church believes that each is part of a "seamless garment" of life and that all life matters and should not be taken by individuals, or the state . This is another flaw of progressivism . Progressives are happy to embrace church teachings when it favors their political agenda, but reject them when those teachings don't conform to their politics . My one encounter with Cuomo came after a column I wrote following his 2007 debate with former Speaker Newt Gingrich at Cooper Union in New York, the site of a famous speech by Abraham Lincoln . I said that Gingrich clearly won the debate and made a mockery of Cuomo's liberalism . Cuomo called me and after identifying himself launched into a tirade that lasted about 90 seconds . He then hung up giving me no opportunity to say much more than "hello, nice to hear from you." Vanity . Vanity . Most obituaries and news reports called Cuomo "inspiring." A New York Times editorial correctly noted:"For all his idealism, Mr  Cuomo's years as governor were dogged by economic recession that blunted his hopes to leave great programs and innovation as his legacy . He had to cut services and scratch for scarce revenue." Inspiration is good if it motivates people to do for themselves and improve their lives . Otherwise ,  it's nothing more than floor wax . May Gov  Cuomo rest in peace .

How precious in the sight of progressives was one of their saints, Mario Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York who died last week at age 82