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]: Torture is a crime, time to end the impunity. This week the world has seen headline after headline about the CIA's horrifying practise of systematic torture and cruelty : Mentions of "rectal hydration" and rape threats, sleep and sensory deprivation, forced nudity, stress positions, subjection to cold temperatures, food deprivation, hanging from bars, confinement in a "coffin size" box, hooding, and physical assaults ; a man left shackled and naked to die overnight in a secret CIA facility in Afghanistan ; psychologists contracted to design the best ways to break the human spirit ; doctors ensuring that victims were fit to endure more torture . These were violations of the most fundamental human rights and crimes under international law . But still, no promises to bring any of those responsible to justice . It has been known for years that the US turned to torture as part of its response to the crime against humanity that was committed on September 11, 2001 . Today, the cruelty carried out in the CIA secret detention programme run under authority granted by President George W Bush still has the power to shock and sicken . While the CIA may have exceeded its authority and lied to him , he still had a part to play . But we must not forget that behind the text of the summary report by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) and the details contained within, are cases of real people . People whose lives have been broken , whose humanity was forgotten under this state-sanctioned programme . The case of Abu Zubaydah has long been known . Amnesty International first raised its concerns with the US government in April 2002 . He was the first person to be taken into CIA custody considered by the agency to have high intelligence value . Abu Zubaydah was effectively treated as a human guinea pig to test the CIA's emerging interrogation regime . He was subjected to a range of torture methods, including being waterboarded multiple times . The SSCI summary adds some new chilling details . A July 15, 2002 cable sent by the interrogation team at "Detention Site Green", believed to be in Thailand, ended:"In light of the planned psychological pressure techniques to be implemented, we need to get reasonable assurances that [Abu Zubaydah] will remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life." CIA officers responded that "all major players are in concurrence that [Abu Zubaydah] should remain incommunicado for the rest of his life" . Then , after Abu Zubaydah had been subjected to 47 days of complete isolation, he was subjected to numerous "enhanced interrogation techniques" including physical assaults, stress positions, cramped confinement, white noise, and sleep deprivation "in varying combinations, 24 hours a day for 17 straight days" . Reports were constantly fed back to top authorities . Daily cables sent from "Detention Site Green" to CIA headquarters recorded that Abu Zubaydah frequently "cried", "begged", "pleaded", and "whimpered" . At times, he was "hysterical" and "distressed to the level that he was unable to effectively communicate" . Waterboarding sessions would result in "hysterical pleas" , and on at least one occasion, Abu Zubaydah "became completely unresponsive" until he received medical attention . Abu Zubaydah's ordeal is not yet over . After four and a half years in secret CIA custody he was transferred to Guantanamo , where he remains today . He has never been charged with any crime . The injustice continues . On August 5, 2002, at the same time that Abu Zubaydah was being tortured in Thailand, CIA headquarters approved an interrogation plan for Ridha al-Najjar at another secret facility, dubbed"Detention Site Cobalt" , believed to be the Salt Pit facility in Afghanistan . The interrogation plan for Najjar included isolation in total darkness, lowering the quality of his food, keeping him in cold temperatures, 24-hour-a-day loud music, shackling and hooding . Over one two-day period, he was left with his wrists handcuffed to an overhead bar for 22 hours a day in order to "break his resistance" . On September 21, 2002, his interrogators sent a cable describing Najjar as "clearly a broken man" and "on the verge of complete breakdown" . His detention and interrogation "became the model" for the treatment of detainees at that facility, according to the SSCI . Twelve years later, Najjar remains in US custody in Bagram, Afghanistan . He has never been charged or tried, and is still being denied his right to challenge his detention in court . A petition on his behalf is currently pending before the US Supreme Court . The psychological impact of such intense cruelty has devastated those subjected to it . According to the SSCI, many detainees"exhibited psychological and behavioural issues, including hallucinations, paranoia, insomnia, and attempts at self-harm and self-mutilation" . Majid Khan, who was held in secret CIA custody for three and a half years before being transferred in 2006 to Guantanamo, where he remains today, is said to have engaged in numerous acts of self-harm, including"attempting to cut his wrist on two occasions, to chew into his arm at the inner elbow, cut a vein in the top of his foot and into his skin at the elbow joint using a filed toothbrush" . As the world struggles to comprehend the details in the summary it is important to remember all we've been given is a snapshot, a peek through the keyhole to the dark secrets hidden within . The report released yesterday is just a summary of a full report that runs to 6,700 pages . That report describes the detention and interrogation of 119 detainees held by the CIA . Senator Dianne Feinstein said that "decisions will be made at a later date" as to whether the whole report will be declassified and released . Amnesty International believes this should be done sooner rather than later, indeed should be set in motion now . The Senate committee also needs to address the fact that the US human rights violations and crimes went beyond torture . The CIA detainees were subjected to enforced disappearance  - which, like torture, is a crime under international law . No one has been brought to justice for these crimes . This accountability gap leaves the US squarely on the wrong side of its international obligations . Those responsible, no matter their current or previous level of office, must be brought to justice, along with those in other countries that colluded with the CIA to facilitate these programmes . December 10 marked 30 years since the adoption of the Convention Against Torture - an anniversary which the US would do well not to gloss over . The US ratified the treaty in 1994 . President Obama should make a public commitment to end the impunity being enjoyed by those who authorised and carried out the crimes committed in the CIA programmes of rendition, interrogation and detention . And victims should be offered redress  - most urgently they must be offered treatment to help them overcome the trauma to which they were unlawfully exposed . If they have committed crimes they should be prosecuted and punished for them , but as victims, they too deserve justice . Laying out a catalogue of abuses is not enough . There must be accountability too .
[A]: This week the world has seen headline after headline about the CIA's horrifying practise of systematic torture and cruelty


[Q]: NFL 2015: Why I hope Ray Rice gets back into the game. Last year NFL star Ray Rice committed a single act of unforgettable and inexcusable violence against then fiancee Janay Palmer . This year he and his now wife Janay hope he will be back in the NFL, a platform he has used to aggressively combat adolescent bullying in the past . As the founder of an anti-bullying organization, I hope he gets a second chance and continues his anti-bullying crusade this year, and for many years to come . The couple is infamous for what went down in a New Jersey casino elevator , where Ray knocked Janay out with one left-handed strike, leading to his arrest on assault charges . Rice was later cut by the Baltimore Ravens and suspended by the NFL . He won his appeal and is now clear to play , if a team will have him . The couple's botched press conference in May, where he failed to publicly apologize to Janay, led many to condemn him further . Fox Sports wrote,"Most of what(Ray Rice) said left the public and media shaking their heads." I met with Ray the day before that botched press conference while working at the Raven's training camp to help rookies and free agents better handle experiences with high school and college bullying . I encouraged him, when the time was right, to continue his anti-bullying crusade . His eyes watered because he deeply wants to be a hero to children again . Why would an anti-bullying advocate want Rice to have a second chance and to stay in the anti-bullying game under the right circumstances? Because Ray's deplorable but isolated act does not come close to the damage caused by bullying , and it doesn't make him a bully . We need more people like him who, once amends are made, to combat what is now the #1 form of child abuse in America . Rice is even willing to get political to fight bullying . He supported "Grace's Law," a landmark, anti-cyberbullying law passed in Maryland . "I truly hope that he continues his anti-bullying work," says Christine McComas, mother of the late Grace McComas, 15 , whose suicide is attributed to cyberbullying . "His help was probably the single biggest factor that led to the new anti-cyberbullying law named after our daughter, which has already saved lives. His empathy and support of our family in our worst hour will never be forgotten. I have four daughters, so I'm sensitive to domestic violence. I have no reason to believe he is a serial abuser, and think he should be given the chance to redeem himself. Maryland owes a lot to that man." Also, people within the Ravens organization who knew Ray well told me that what happened in that elevator was inexcusable, yet also did not define Ray's real character . Matt Lauer of the TODAY Show, while interviewing Janay, said he received numerous phone calls from people who know Ray personally . They also said that what happened in that elevator was an aberration from his usually strong character . Rice is guilty of a single act of inexcusable violence ; an act Janay says didn't happen before and hasn't happened since that fateful day . By contrast, most acts of bullying are premeditated, and don't stem from flashes of anger but rather contempt and disdain toward a target . Bullies, including domestic abusers, wed power to fear as part of a psychological campaign of cruelty in order to dominate, control, intimidate and isolate another . Yet Janay says Ray's behavior before or after this one event includes none of this . In nearly a year since the punch felt around the NFL, not one woman has come forward to accuse Rice of similar abuse . This supports Janay's statement that what happened was an isolated incident , something Janay said during her TODAY Show interview with Matt Lauer . According to Janay, good may come from this single and deplorable act . She told Lauer that though the claims of serial abuse are false,"God chose us for a reason." The couple also says that this incident, which pushed Ray into mandatory and intense counseling, made them better people, including how it compelled them to rededicate themselves to their Christian faith . If we can't give the Rice family the benefit of the doubt , then let's give them the benefit of time this new year , which will tell us whether he has truly seen the light . I believe that time will do more than tell . I believe it's on his side in 2015 . Paul Coughlin is an expert witness regarding bullying and the law, a former newspaper editor and is the author of numerous books, including Raising Bully- Proof Kids . He is the Founder of The Protectors: Freedom From Bullying--Courage, Character & Leadership for Life , which provides a comprehensive and community-wide solution to adolescent bullying in schools, summer camps, faith-based organizations, and other places where bullying can be prevalent .
[A]: Last year NFL star Ray Rice committed a single act of unforgettable and inexcusable violence against then fiancee Janay Palmer The couple is infamous for what went down in a New Jersey casino elevator


[Q]: When should voluntary euthanasia not be an option? This week a court in Belgium announced that the convicted rapist and murderer Frank Van Den Bleeken would be put to death by a lethal injection, in spite of the fact that the death penalty is banned across Europe . Van Den Bleeken's case was unusual : having previously been declared insane and not criminally responsible, he had himself asked to be euthanised on the grounds that he would rather die than spend the rest of his life in jail . Today the Belgian justice minister announced that Van Den Bleeken would not be euthanised after all, amid reports that the prisoner had changed his mind . Nonetheless ,  the case provides a fascinating twist to the old debate about euthanasia . Should Van Den Bleeken have been allowed to die? The moral defence of voluntary euthanasia is usually applied to people suffering from a terminal illness . But Van Den Bleeken isn't terminally ill and isn't in physical pain . Another traditional requirement is that the wish to die should be voluntary and competent . But how can the choices of someone who has been declared insane be regarded as voluntary and competent? The concern is that granting his request would make it a case of involuntary euthanasia , and that is usually seen as morally unacceptable . If there is an issue about Van Bleeken's sanity that is because of his alleged inability to control his sexual impulses . But it could be argued that this doesn't affect the validity of his request to be euthanised . The implication is that while some of his decisions might be involuntary or incompetent, this doesn't apply to his choice of death over a lifetime behind bars . Even so , should his request have been granted, given that he isn't terminally ill? One argument for allowing voluntary euthanasia where terminal illness isn't an issue turns on the idea of wellbeing : people should be allowed to choose death where they would literally be better off dead or where their life literally isn't worth living . Another argument turns on human autonomy : we should respect a person's free choices as long as they don't harm anyone else . Someone who is not terminally ill could still satisfy these requirements . Had Van Den Bleeken been allowed to die, critics may say it would have risked opening the floodgates for other similar cases . Belgium has seen a dramatic rise in euthanasia since the practice was legalised in 2002 and permitted in cases of pain and psychological distress, as well as terminal illness . Some are opposed to voluntary euthanasia as a matter of principle . The philosopher David Velleman argues that there isn't a fundamental right to choose between life and death, and that a person's rights don't expand when they become terminally ill or psychologically distressed . He is heavily influenced by 18th century philosopher Immanuel Kant . According to Kant, morality requires that we respect the dignity of persons, and the dignity of persons makes them intrinsically valuable . For Kant, a person's dignity can't be traded against their wellbeing or happiness , and the fact that a person believes that their life isn't worth living doesn't make it acceptable for them to be euthanised . The Van Den Bleeken case puts pressure on these standard arguments for and against voluntary euthanasia . Suppose that, contrary to Kant's view, voluntary euthanasia is morally permissible as long as the person asking to be euthanised would be genuinely better off dead . Relatives of Van Den Bleeken's victim may well argue that the fact(if it is a fact) that he would be better off dead is precisely a reason for not allowing him to be put to death . From this perspective, euthanasia looks like a way for him to circumvent his sentence . Van Den Bleeken's victim was Christiane Remacle, a 19-year-old he raped and strangled in 1989 . Her sisters are reported to have said that Van Den Bleeken should be forced to languish in jail , and their reaction brings out an ambivalence in how we think about the death penalty for murder . Relatives of murder victims often demand the death penalty as the ultimate punishment , but the Van Den Bleeken case suggests that, at least from the standpoint of the perpetrator, the ultimate sanction may be life behind bars . But the intrinsic value argument against voluntary euthanasia can also be hard to swallow, in this case . Christiane Remacle's sisters might balk at the idea that a murderer's life is intrinsically valuable . It's hard not to sympathise , and there remain strong reasons for not allowing Van Den Bleeken to be euthanised regardless of whether his life is intrinsically valuable . As long as euthanasia is seen as a way for him to circumvent his sentence, respect for his victim and her family demands that he isn't given the option .
[A]:
One argument for allowing voluntary euthanasia where terminal illness isn't an issue turns on the idea of wellbeing Some are opposed to voluntary euthanasia as a matter of principle