TASK DEFINITION: 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.
PROBLEM: Please Australia, don't let abusive boxer Floyd Mayweather in. While the boxing world's attention is focused on whether a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao might finally happen , Mayweather has announced that he will visit Australia at the end of the month . The world's best boxer and highest paid athlete won't be fighting of course, merely making promotional appearances in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane . Even leaving aside the disturbing idea that real, living people might pay to see the petulant man known as "Money" do anything other than box, there' s an issue: his extensive history of domestic violence . As Phil Lutton points out , Mayweather has been arrested or cited by police in seven assaults against five different women . Mayweather's history of domestic violence began in 2001, just a month after dedicating his fight against Diego "Chico" Corrales to "all the battered women in the world." He allegedly closed a car door on his then-partner Melissa Brim before repeatedly punching her while she lay on the back seat . Not six months later he punched Brim in the neck at a Las Vegas shopping centre . He pleaded guilty and received a suspended sentence . In 2003 Mayweather allegedly punched two friends of his then-partner (and the mother of several of his children) Josie Harris in a nightclub and shook a female security guard . He was issued a citation and found guilty of two counts of battery , though the verdict was vacated and the charges were "dismissed per negotiations." The same year he allegedly pummelled Harris and dragged her from a car by her hair , though she later dropped the charges and testified that she had lied to police . Mayweather bought Harries a $500,000, 25-carat diamond ring shortly afterwards . In 2011 he finally did jail time (90 days) for savagely beating Harris in front of their children . He might have done many more if he wasn't a multi- millionaire and a linchpin of the economy in his home state of Nevada . Even boxing fans, who are usually loathe to judge fighters for their conduct outside the ring(few boxers are angels, after all), are unimpressed with Mayweather . And though boxing is a bit of a cultural afterthought these days, comments Mayweather made in support of abuser Ray Rice before his most recent fight focused the attention of the mainstream media on his unsavoury past . Nevertheless ,  he was unrepentant . Though Mayweather's criminal past might not automatically disqualify him from receiving an Australian visa , he would have to sit a "character test" on arrival . If you watch the video above , I'm sure you'll agree that such a test could be a major stumbling block . In a similar case, Australia granted Mike Tyson, who was jailed for rape in 1992, a visa in 2012 , though New Zealand did not . So should Australia bar Mayweather? What's to gain from him visiting? He's a disgusting, unrepentant assaulter of women and his"I do what I want-ism" is totally undesirable . America might be stuck with him , but I don't see why we should welcome him and allow him to make money in our country . Last year Australia cancelled the visa of pick up artist Julien Blanc, whose techniques included simulated choking of women in bars, after a social media campaign and protests at venues . There has been nothing simulated about Mayweather's repeated punching of the women in his life , so I'd imagine he (and the venues that welcome him) can expect the same treatment . On a more selfish note, I simply can't face the prospect of sections of the Australian media writing seriously about Anthony Mundine fighting Mayweather . Mundine has begun to retweet fans(they are out there) who want him to call Mayweather out . The flow of indistinguishable-from-parody articles has already begun . Please Floyd, concentrate on fighting Manny . We'll be fine without you . No, really .

SOLUTION: Even leaving aside the disturbing idea that real, living people might pay to see the petulant man known as "Money" do anything other than box, there' s an issue: his extensive history of domestic violence

PROBLEM: Sexting may make porn stars of us all, but you don't have to be an Adonis. Sexting . Belfies . Cock shots . Instagrammed abs . WhatsApp filth chats . Cam-to- cam sessions with strangers in Rio (or Hull) Xtube videos of faceless, face- sitting civil servants . Can I take your number, asks modern Britain , I'll send you a six-minute film of me masturbating . We're all porn stars now . Technology hasn't merely flung off religion's centuries-long chastity belt but also provided live footage of people in suburban bedrooms flinging off chastity belts, metaphorically and literally . Google it . You'll be horrified by their choice of curtains . The pornification of contemporary life is so vast and so sudden we have had no time to quantify it, or even behold it . But there is deepening concern that the reduction and commodification of human beings to mere body parts - walking, talking sex toys- is having a greater effect on gay men . Russell T Davies, a screenwriter of remarkable gifts who does not so much hold a mirror up to societal sensibilities as kick them into our retinas, thinks so . He straddles the subject in his latest, much heralded gay dramas: Cucumber, Banana and Tofu . In an interview with the Radio Times he worries that texting penis pictures "is the most normal thing in the world" among gay men, with bleak consequences . "That's the grammar! That's flirting! That's extraordinary, isn't it? That's got to create body pressures, hasn't it?" he added . It certainly will not help, nestled in an increasingly narcissistic wider culture that glistens puddle-deep as we regard our reflections . But how much we should worry, and how grave the impact is on gay people - already suffering worse mental health - depends on how closely we frame Davies' perspective . If gay people existed only online or on phones  - deriving their sense of self wholly from reactions to their online sex ads- then yes, this could be catastrophic . But they do not . And if we pan out and rewind to the gay scene of the early 90s, before Davies' Queer as Folk awoke middle England to the wonders of rimming , gay life was no less harsh . I was 16 and skinny when I first stepped into a gay bar in 1993 . Before websites and phone apps, pubs and clubs were much more sexualised than today . No amount of online objectification compares to, say, the Brief Encounter, a long narrow bar in central London, in which one could consider it an achievement to order a pint without a stranger's finger inserting itself somewhere . The other great difference was the message blaring out across gay culture : you are only desirable if you are an Adonis - a "Muscle Mary": no pecs, no sex . Many felt unwelcome, inadequate . It was, say some, a reaction to the extreme wasting suffered by thousands during the Aids crisis . I remember the dire contrast - a crowd of pumped-up tits and, in the corner, a wheelchair cradling a still-breathing skeleton . People turned away in terror . And then ran to the gym . Now , thanks to mobiles and the internet, there is a new message : different body shapes are desirable . Plump, hairy bear? There is a market for you . Older? Click here . Skinny? Hipsters are waiting for you . Yes , if you spend mere moments on Grindr or Scruff you will find a QC, a builder or a nurse reduced to a thumbnail fuck-me photo (it's all terribly dignified) , but there is at least some appreciation of diversity . Progress bumbles , faltering before forging ahead . This happened with gay rights , and it will happen with gay culture . Many might sext but will also consider what it means and how it feels . The wellbeing and mental health of LGBT people has never been so prominent in conversation - just as relevant services are cut . We are, at last, contemplating the internal damage from homophobic hostility . It is no wonder we crave distraction . We just need to put our phones down long enough to ask for support, for such services to be reinstated, and to ask those who bully, degrade and derail equality: why do you hate us? They are often easy to find . They're the married ones lurking in gay chat rooms with their faces concealed .

SOLUTION: Technology hasn't merely flung off religion's centuries-long chastity belt but also provided live footage of people in suburban bedrooms flinging off chastity belts, metaphorically and literally

PROBLEM: Free community college isn't a joke for families who spend half their income to send a child. In the United States today, the odds of getting a degree are more tightly linked to family income than ever before, thanks to skyrocketing college costs and insufficient and misallocated federal and state financial aid funds . Although the federal government distributes about $170bn a year in financial aid to many types of students attending many types of schools , many low-income families still have to pay too much . Low-income families often end up paying about 40% of their family income for a member to attend community college - and , for four-year colleges, the bill can add up to a whopping 59% of a family's earnings . Even middle-class families may be asked to spend or borrow a quarter of their annual income to finance one child's attendance at a public university , while the costs of a private one are yet higher . As a result, many families of modest means are unable to afford college . Students from middle- and low-income families have also become more likely to drop out from public colleges and universities, leaving with debts they can't afford to pay back rather than degrees . But these are more than just personal tragedies : they represent a significant loss to America's economy and competitiveness for decades to come . On Friday, President Obama offered a simple, universal solution: free tuition for two years at community colleges for students who maintain a 2.5 grade point average, attend at least half-time and make steady progress towards completing their program . The federal government would cover three-quarters of the average cost of community college , and participating states would be expected to pick up the rest . The last time a president did something this bold on higher education was the original Higher Education Act of 1965 . Then, President Lyndon Johnson had a huge Democratic majority in Congress to support his proposal . President Obama, on the other hand, faces a tougher road in a government run by Republicans who are reluctant to support spending more money to help poor and middle class people - yet they should forego partisanship and take this legislation seriously . Instead of being available only to the poorest students(like Pell grants) free community college tuition would be available for all . The most powerful and enduring American social policies - Social Security, infrastructure investments like the highway system and indeed public education itself- have always benefitted everyone . As it stands now , America's outdated student aid policies simply aren't fulfilling their mission and are instead actively failing to make college affordable for all students . And, unlike many other proposals to fix the twin problems of college affordability and student debt focused on four-year programs, free community college has the potential to meet the immediate needs of employers , who often say that they cannot find potential candidates with needed skills . Community college programs in fields like nursing, technology and even management are designed to give students the skills that employers need more quickly than the average bachelor's degree program . Obama's plan is far from perfect . It is not a catch-all solution , and other major problems in American higher education still need to be addressed- including for-profit colleges that consume vast amounts of federal aid dollars but often leave students with little more than terrible debt burdens . The costs of private and public four-year institutions should not be ignored , so that the number of bachelor degree graduates will again rise . And the President's proposal only gives students a discount on tuition , which is just one part (albeit a major one) of the cost of going to school . Yet there is no question that Congress should, if anything, seek to outdo Obama with an even more ambitious proposal, rather than negotiate to reduce his package . They should not let this proposal die upon arrival . Families can't afford to wait through more years of inaction . [Editor's note: The author advised the White House on this effort, but was not compensated for her work .]

SOLUTION:
As a result, many families of modest means are unable to afford college Students from middle- and low-income families have also become more likely to drop out from public colleges and universities, leaving with debts they can't afford to pay back rather than degrees