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.

Ex Input:
It's the patriotism, stupid. What liberal critics don't get about "American Sniper". There' s no denying it . Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" has struck a chord with the American people, and did so by tapping into the deepest civic values we have as Americans - duty, honor, fidelity, courage, love for country...and a love for others . However , no war movie can live on the big screen without a spew of liberal backlash , and this film is no different . Criticism has come quickly from Michael Moore, Seth Rogen, former Vermont Gov  Howard Dean and other Hollywood leftists . Thankfully, some things speak louder than cowardly tweets -- like the more than $200 million in ticket sales the movie has raked in just one week . In fact ,  the new war film featuring Bradley Cooper as well-known Navy SEAL sniper, Chris Kyle, is on pace to become the top-grossing war film of all time . As much as the left would like you to believe it , Chris Kyle was not a bloodthirsty warmonger ; he was a noble warrior who fought to defend his fellow troops, watched over the lives of his brothers, and advanced the cause of (eventual) peace . This is where the true success of "American Sniper" comes to light . The film is not a movie about the Iraq war, or whether we won or lost; or even whether our motivations were justified . Instead ,  it's a story about a man and the many trials of war, including coming home from it . In the words of my good friend and former Army Ranger, Sean Parnell,"[American Sniper] isn't a pro-war film. It's a pro-warrior film." That's the key . The movie is a testament to the warrior - to the man in the arena . Everyone criticizing the film is on the sidelines hurling insults . Chris was in the arena, fighting for us in a dangerous and complicated war . Nonetheless ,  outspoken liberals will continue to cast judgment, saying that they support the warrior but not the war . But they contradict themselves even on that point . The left sees warriors--men like Chris Kyle--as bloodthirsty and ignorant Americans from fly-over country who cling to God and guns in blind support of our military . They dislike both the warandthe warrior . Nothing could be further from the truth . In reality, middle-America is full of hard working people of faith and fidelity who love their nation and believe in celebrating someone like Chris Kyle . These are people who feel like they're already taxed enough, that the government is over-bearing in their lives, that religion has been stripped from every aspect of civil society, and that the president is misguided in his gutting of their military . They are, in a word, patriots . Despite their frustrations with leftists, middle America is the beating heart of our nation and remains the first in line to selflessly strap on their boots and defend the very freedoms that people like Michael Moore use to criticize them . It's awfully easy for progressives to cast criticism down from their isolated ivory towers , but next time they consider demeaning the warriors protecting them afar, as Chris Kyle once did, they may want to consider who protects those towers and keeps them from tumbling . They're not only the folks who see this movie , but more often than not, they're the kind of people depicted in these movies . They're the kind of people who embody"citizenship," and the very idea of living and fighting for something bigger than oneself . Chris Kyle understood that . Today's servicemen and women understand that . And that's why millions of people are seeing this movie . They want to celebrate and believe in America again, if only for two short hours in a crowded dark theater .

Ex Output:
Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper" has struck a chord with the American people, and did so by tapping into the deepest civic values we have as Americans - duty, honor, fidelity, courage, love for country...and a love for others It's awfully easy for progressives to cast criticism down from their isolated ivory towers


Ex Input:
What is not being reported in Azerbaijan. While global media appears to be focused on debating the limitations on free speech in France following the attack on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo , it is worth remembering that France is not the only country whose media professionals are targeted . For years, journalists in Azerbaijan have suffered harsh penalties for defending their freedom of speech- from prison sentences to interrogation and the confiscation of broadcasting equipment . On December 26, at around 10:30am, a group of police officers and investigators stormed the Baku bureau of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , ransacking the company's safe, seizing company documents, the official seal and equipment , while keeping the staff hostage in a conference room for over five hours . Once the search was over, the office was sealed shut . The staff was let go only to be forcefully summoned a day later at the heavy crimes unit of the state prosecutor's office for questioning . In just a few days, over 30 former and current staff members of RFE/RL were questioned, including the bureau's cleaner . On December 30, the government accused the radio and its staff of espionage, money laundering and appropriation of funds as part of the ongoing criminal investigation against foreign-funded entities in Azerbaijan . Similar measures were taken against Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS), the Media Rights Institute, and International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) . The offices of all three were raided in August and sealed shut with IREX leaving the country shortly after . The director of IRFS, Emin Huseynov, remains in hiding . Consistent targeting . This is not the first time the RFE/RL station, locally called Azadliq Radio (Liberty Radio) is targeted by the authorities . In 2009, its FM broadcast was shut down . BBC radio service and Voice of America followed suit . For years, the police harassed the radio's reporters, often confiscating or breaking their equipment or detaining them for endless hours of interrogation . On December 5, Azadliq Radio investigative journalist and the host of the radio's daily show, Khadija Ismayilova, was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention for two months . Accused of "incitement to suicide" or "an attempt to suicide" as per Article 125 of the Criminal Code, Ismayilova remains in jail  - even though her accuser, Tural Mustafayev, has withdrawn his complaint . Mustafayev had accused Ismayilova of inciting him to attempt suicide and "insulting his honour and dignity on social networks and among her friends following the break-up of their relations and his intention to marry another woman" . On December 30, the Baku Court of Appeal dismissed Ismayilova's appeal for house arrest . Prior to this charge, Ismayilova was already facing an unrelated criminal trial for defamation linked to her posting a document on Facebook revealing the identity of a man who was an informant for Azerbaijan's intelligence services . In October, when travelling for a conference in Prague, Ismayilova was prevented from leaving the country . A little over a week before this trip, Ismayilova was searched and detained for four hours at Baku International Airport . She was returning from Strasbourg where she talked about the deteriorating human rights conditions in Azerbaijan . Her investigative work uncovered many of the hidden and illegal business dealings of the ruling Aliyev family and other government officials for which she is recognised internationally . Ismayilova is the recipient of Global Shining Award, the Gerd Bucerius Free Press of Eastern Europe Award, the Courage of Journalism Award, and named one of the Brave Thinkers of the world by Atlantic magazine . Was it a coincidence that Ismayilova's detention came just a day after the country's chief of staff, Ramiz Mehdiyev, accused Ismayilova of treason and being a foreign spy? Or that the radio station was raided and then closed in another few weeks time? In his 60-page diatribe on "Western Colonialism", Mehdiyev wrote:"Their main concern is lip service to their bosses abroad and keeping good relations with them . The example is Azadliq Radio's journalist Kahdija Ismayilova . Together with her colleague 'friends' she puts on anti-Azerbaijani shows, makes absurd statements, openly demonstrates destructive attitude towards well-known members of the Azerbaijani community, and spreads insulting lies . It is clear this sort of defiance pleases Ms Ismayilova's patrons abroad." He concluded:"Overall there is an understanding within the society that Azadliq Radio and its employees are on a disgusting path . There is no need to prove that provision of false information is the same as working for the foreign secret service . This is treason . This is what journalists and people with a healthy mindset would think . If the symbol of democracy is Khadija Ismayilova , then it is awful to imagine what future awaits the society." Siyavush Novruzov, an MP from the ruling party, agrees . In an interview with a local news site, Novruzov said:"Every place that works for foreign intelligence and the Armenian lobby should be searched." The Armenian lobby is just another popular tool used by government circles to punish dissent in Azerbaijan . Despite its support for Track Two diplomacy initiatives, Aliyev's regime was quick to accuse Leyla Yunus and Rauf Mirkadirov of treason and spying for Armenia this year . Both Yunus and Mirkadirov have been engaged in public diplomacy initiatives pressing for reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan for over a decade . The authorities were fully aware of their work for years . And yet ,  in what has been by far the most unprecedented year of crackdowns, Azerbaijan continues to maintain a steady relationship with Europe and the image of a transforming country, young and rich, and eager to spend so long as its critics keep quiet . With many of the country's prominent advocates, lawyers, and journalists in jail; independent media platforms under attack; and only a handful of international non-governmental organisations left in the country, there is little hope for the country's positive transformation anytime soon . So long as President Ilham Aliyev keeps saying there are no political prisoners and no limitations on freedom of speech in Azerbaijan- conjuring the illusion of a democratic country- little is going to change in this country .

Ex Output:
For years, journalists in Azerbaijan have suffered harsh penalties for defending their freedom of speech- from prison sentences to interrogation and the confiscation of broadcasting equipment


Ex Input:
Obama should show black lives matter by hosting relatives of those killed by cops at his State of the Union. Tuesday at President Obama's penultimate State of the Union address , when Obama points for effect at someone sitting with the First Lady as her guest , every single guest around her should be a family member of someone killed by a police officer . I want to see Michelle Obama sandwiched between Erica Garner - whose father, Eric Garner, was killed by an NYPD officer using an illegal chokehold- and Tamir Rice's 14-year-old sister , who was tackled and shackled by police when trying to help her dying 12-year-old brother . I want to see Leslie McSpadden, Michael Brown's mother there tonight, and a relative of Tasha Thomas, John Crawford's now-deceased girlfriend , who was interrogated by the same police department who'd just killed the father of her children for shopping at Wal Mart . Let America look upon the elder Michael Brown, Kadiatou Diallo (Amadou Diallo's mother), Constance Malcolm (Ramarley Graham's mother), Sylvia Palmer (Akai Gurley's mother) or any of the thousands of relatives of the 1,100 or so Americans killed by police in 2014 . This of course will never happen , but it's what I want . President Obama should use the political theatre of his "Skutniks"- the humans used to give a face to presidential pet problems since Ronald Reagan invited Lenny Skutnik to the State of the Union in 1982 - to focus American's attention squarely on the loss of human life when cops kill black civilians . If President Obama wants us to believe that he thinks black life matters , it's not enough for him to form a task force on 21 century policing : task forces and commissions are where serious reforms go to be forgotten . One police shooting victim's family member up in his box with a nice cop like Richmond, California Police Chief Chris Magnus(who famously held up a #BlackLivesMatters sign) is not enough . We don't need a black kid-white cop hug moment . When the President paired up a black victim of racism with kindly white folks at his "beer summit" in 2009 it was a disaster - at best a distraction, and at worst a prevarication that racism is anecdotal and not systematic . If President Obama is serious about showing black and brown life matters in this country - he's made some progress showing this overseas by winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, though not so much by employing drone warfare in Pakistan - he needs to go big at the State of the Union . He's taken on black lives falling victim to gun violence at his annual address before by inviting the parents of Hidaya Pendleton, a black Chicago teenager who was killed in 2013 shortly after performing at Obama's second inaugural . But as Commander in Chief, with all those black folks at his side, Obama could challenge the mortal violence the state itself wages against its citizens through the local police and say to them: Enough . Ronald Reagan, whom Barack Obama uses as an example for how to sell himself as president, used Lenny Skutnik as an example of how"we saw again the spirit of American heroism at its finest," after Skutnik jumped into icy water of the Potomac River to help the drowning after a plane crash . But are not the kin of those killed by police violence also displaying "American heroism at its finest" in helping those who can't breathe? It is women like Tawanda Jones who are creating a more perfect union when she boldly speaks out about her brother being killed by police - even when dissent is under attack and Fox News broadcasts lies about her . When Erica Garner visits the site where two NYPD cops were killed to offer her condolences, she is saving the union . Every time a woman like Michael Brown's mother calls for non-violence - when she could instead, understandably, lash out with a fraction of the hatred which killed her son- she is keeping the nation from ripping itself apart and acting with the kind of American heroism that presidents should applaud loudly and publicly . Skutnik helped save one woman . The black women who bury their sons and husbands and seek to change the systems that caused their deaths may save countless of lives - and maybe even the soul of the nation . The Black Lives Matters movement is a testament that, once again, black Americans are being called upon to force all Americans to examine our addiction to the violence and militarism that oppresses everyone in different ways . Our first black president, riding an 18 month approval rating high, could choose to do some of that himself tonight, by acknowledging those left behind when black lives are ended by the state and who still choose to use their grief to effect positive change .

Ex Output:

President Obama should use the political theatre of his "Skutniks"- the humans used to give a face to presidential pet problems since Ronald Reagan invited Lenny Skutnik to the State of the Union in 1982 - to focus American's attention squarely on the loss of human life President Obama is serious about showing black and brown life matters in this country