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 Q]: What the Quran says about the mighty pen. Muslims - in theory - have traditions that value the power of the pen . Islam was revealed to save people from bloodshed and misuse of the sword . That is a paraphrasing of the cardinal's line in one of the Acts of Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1839 play "Richelieu" . The origin of the timeless adage is thought to have originated in Assyrian wisdom - like Islam, moral and value systems of Middle Eastern descent . However ,  the moral, intellectual and ethical systems of that region - including those carried through dialogue with Hellenic ideas in the first three centuries of Islam - have all been subjected to obscurantist and literalist interpretations of revelation . Islam's first command to the Prophet Muhammad was to "read" ; "Read in the name of thy Lord." Chapter 68 in the Quran is named "Al-Qalam" (the pen) . It opens up with the verse:"By the pen and what they inscribe." In Chapter 96 of the Quran one finds another reference to the high value placed on the might of the pen ; "Who taught by the pen. Taught mankind that which he knew not"(96:4-5) . So it should be natural for Muslims today to feel total empathy towards fellow writers and journalists and the families of other victims in France . Especially in solidarity against the cowardly slaying of the Charlie Hebdo journalists and cartoonists . Reading and writing belong to the "genus" of cross-disciplinary activities Islam insists upon repeatedly . Reading, writing and reasoning are all part and parcel of the way of life Islam is all about . In Chapter 55 we find "Allah - Most Gracious! It is He Who has taught the Quran. He has created man. He has taught him eloquence [intelligence]" (55:1-4) . The didactic ethos of numerous Quranic injunctions on the pen, knowing and reasoning, seem to be lost today in the heap of ignorance and obscurantism that is consuming many a Muslim land . Lands where scholars of Islam underwrite political power at the expense of freedom of speech and a rational interpreting of the Quran that delivers Muslims from the yoke of oppression that is consuming Muslim youth and pleads the case of social justice, freedom of thought and tolerance . The sad state of the violence that today engulfs Muslim cities, pitting Muslim against Muslim, is in no small measure the result of the over-politicisation and over-securitisation of Islam . Whole states are disintegrating , and religious and sectarian intolerance is ushering in a horrible era of annihilation and self-destruction . Islam never began with jihad (a holy war) . The miracle of the Prophet Muhammad is that he knew when to retreat(via Hijra or emigration) to build values of solidarity, peaceful coexistence with all kinds of "otherness" (such as in Medina and hostile Arab tribes), create know-how, and voluntarism in faith and membership of community, along with moderation ("wasatiyya") . Quran is the word for "reading" . Those Muslims who, in cold blood, killed French journalists and cartoonists, supposedly to "avenge the prophet" miss the point about the prophet's ways . That includes the injunctions that "Verily, this Quran guides [human beings] to that which is most just"(17:9), and"If anyone took a life unless it be for murder and spreading injustice in the land, it would be as if he killed mankind entirely" (5:32) . Satire, criticism, and cartoons will never caricature the grand stature of the prophet nor diminish the sacredness of the Quran to Muslims and billions of tolerant human beings who share countries, ideologies or friendships with hundreds of millions of Muslims . Denigration comes from the savagery of heinous violence and Manichean ways many self-professed learned scholars of Islam or self-serving politicians knowingly and unknowingly are pushing trusting Muslim youth and entire nations towards the abyss . France has historically accommodated millions of Muslims who fled poverty, marginalisation and even oppression . Many of those come from North Africa where Maghreb countries have benefited not only from remittances, but also from a vast shared space in which Muslims, Christians and Jews have learnt the art of toleration of differences . What the murder of innocents in Paris has done is inflame inter-communal trust , and like the 9/11 attacks in the US 14 years ago, it has placed Muslims in the awkward position of being either unwelcome among host communities or defending Islam . This is because of the insane acts of co-religionists whose Islam is fixated on the "sword" and has little to do with the might of the "pen" that over millennia Muslim luminaries used to connect with others, and spread knowledge - not sow death .
[EX A]: Islam was revealed to save people from bloodshed and misuse of the sword

[EX Q]: Where does your tax money go? To many people overseas, the United States government is viewed as an aggressive empire of military bases, drones, and special forces that transcend national borders . But to big corporations, the US government is a patsy that gives away trillions of dollars of natural resources, tax revenues and public assets to grasping giant companies and industries . The US has an unsurpassed record of transferring what belongs to all Americans to a few giant business interests . Unlike any other country, the federal government, under the 1872 Mining Act, gives away hard rock minerals (eg gold, silver, platinum, molybdenum) discovered on federal lands that belong to the American people, to the foreign or domestic companies that find these minerals . In 1986, for example, a gold company found over $9bn worth of gold under federal land in Nevada . The company bought rights to that gold for $5 per acre(less than $6,000 total) without having to pay any royalties on the mined gold back to the Department of Interior . For over 100 years, valuable minerals worth hundreds of billions of dollars have been given away to the mining industry for $5 or less per acre . Once these mines are exhausted, the law only requires companies to do little to clean up their toxic waters and waste . As for other natural resources on federal land such as timber, grazing fields, oil, gas and coal, the companies pay very low fees to the government to obtain these valuable natural resources . The public airwaves belong to the people . Yet ,  under a law passed in 1934 by the radio lobby (sustained later by the television industry), the broadcasting stations control their licensed portion of the broadcast spectrum 24/7 for free . As tenants they pay nothing to the Federal Communications Commission , which represents the landlords , who are the people . These free licenses allow radio and television stations to exclusively decide who gets airtime and who does not . Entertainment and advertisements now make up over 90 percent of the broadcasting time of these very profitable commercial stations, using our public airwaves . For many decades, the federal government has used taxpayer-funded research and development as hand-outs for private industries in the US . For instance ,  the research and development of the Pentagon has resulted in technologies that built the aero-space, computer and containerisation industries . It was the Pentagon that funded the basic and applied research that led to the creation of the Internet . The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has transferred, for free, many diverse technologies that were developed through taxpayer-funded research and development to the transportation, detection and medical service industries . The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded many of the major pharmaceuticals which, under contracts known as CRADA agreements, are given away to large drug companies . The anti-cancer drug, Taxol, was developed with $31m of taxpayer funds by the National Cancer Institute and, after clinical testing, given away to Bristol- Myers-Squibb under a monopoly marketing agreement . The biotechnology industry was formed out of free NIH research programmes . Without a century of freely transferred research and development investments by the US Department of Agriculture, pesticide, herbicide and other chemical industries would not be where they are today . At the state and local level, companies and their consulting firms put the location of new factories, warehouses or large retail stores up for bidding by the states and municipalities . It becomes a race to the bottom by states and municipalities competing against each other to create the most "business friendly environment" with incentives like tax breaks, cash donations and other subsidies to convince companies to locate to a community called corporate welfare or crony capitalism . These deals amount to governments paying companies to make money while depleting their public tax base that pays for schools, public works and other public services . Recently, Tesla, the electric car company, put the location of a proposed one billion dollar factory to produce lithium ion batteries up for bid . Texas, California, Arizona, and Nevada offered large giveaways in incentive subsidies . Nevada won, offering a package worth at least $1bn that included tax vacations, cash reimbursements of expenses and even a cash bonus for signing . Similarly ,  professional sports businesses have routinely demanded taxpayer- funded stadiums and ballparks as a condition of either staying in a city or relocating to another . Many billions of dollars have been spent to make these rich football and baseball giants even richer . This is money that could have been spent to create and improve neighbourhood recreational facilities for participatory sports and healthy exercise . Under those corporate subsidies, the taxpayers are paying far too much (sometimes between $100,000 to $200,000 per job) for their governments' race to the bottom during these bidding wars . There are many thousands of similar corporate subsidy programmes , which are not regularly reviewed by the federal government . Instead ,  Congress just lets them continue on indefinitely without regulatory standards, cost-benefit tests or sunset provisions , which is exactly what these corporate lobbyists are paying for with their ample campaign contributions to these indentured legislators . The most profitable companies in the world make demands for such subsidies . Some years ago the former CEO of Intel Corporation, Andy Grove, testified before the Senate urging continuation of the generous tax credits given to computer companies like Cisco, Microsoft, Google, and Apple . These are companies with staggering profit margins, year after year . Grove was candid when he told the Senators that his industry was not very eager to spend money to do basic research . What these companies do, he noted, is apply the research to their products and services . He called on the government to take this responsibility by extending tax credits (big checks) from the Treasury to pay companies to do such basic work . The unfairness of all these giveaways is inducing a Left-Right alliance that opposes such giveaways . The Left calls this corporate welfare , while the Right calls it crony capitalism . Thus far, the politicians from both the Democratic and the Republican parties have not wanted to make these giveaways debatable issues in their electoral campaigns or the subject of thorough congressional or state legislative hearings . The time is coming for a Left-Right public coalition to go operational and exert political demands for reform of this gigantic largesse , while many other necessities of the people are subjected to cruel, austere cutbacks .
[EX A]: To many people overseas, the United States government is viewed as an aggressive empire of military bases, drones, and special forces that transcend national borders But to big corporations, the US government is a patsy that gives away trillions of dollars of natural resources, tax revenues and public assets to grasping giant companies and industries

[EX Q]: 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 .
[EX A]:
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