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]: EEOC: School wrong to fire teacher who gave Bible to student. A New Jersey school district violated the law when it fired a teacher who handed a Bible to a student , the U.S  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled on December 15, 2014 . The ruling was made public Tuesday . The EEOC determined there was reasonable cause to believe the Phillipsburg School District discriminated against Walt Tutka, a substitute teacher . The EEOC also said religion and retaliation played a factor in Tutka's firing . "This is a great indication the EEOC is taking religious liberty seriously and they are going to enforce the law-- and in this case make sure Walt's rights are protected," Liberty Institute attorney Hiram Sasser told me . Liberty Institute is a law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases . "This sends a message to school districts that their natural allergic reaction to religion is misplaced, and not only is it wrong-- but it's also an egregious violation of the law," Sasser said . As I first reported, Tutka was working as a substitute teacher on Oct  12, 2013 , when he ran afoul of school policies . He told a straggling student at the end of a line, "The first shall be last and the last shall be first." The student asked on a number of occasions where the line was from , and Tutka told him it was from the Bible . When he discovered the child did not have a Bible , Tutka gave him his personal copy . It was not all that unusual because Tutka is a member of Gideons International, a ministry known for providing Bibles to school children across the world . On Oct  18, Tutka was summoned to the principal's office , where he was accused of violating a school policy that bans the distribution of religious materials and another that directs teachers to be neutral when discussion religious material . He was fired on Jan  14 . Sasser said he hopes the school district will reinstate Tutka . "If they don't do the right thing, they will face some serious consequences," he told me . "They are going to be liable for damages." I reached out to George Chando, the superintendent of the Phillipsburg School District . He declined to return my call . My advice to him is to do the right thing , or Liberty Institute will go after him like a pit bull going after a pork chop . Sasser said the EEOC ruling should serve as a warning to other school districts around the nation . "You can't just fire people because they happen to hand a Bible to somebody while they are at work," he said . Sasser said he believes the school district was out to get Walt because he is a Gideon . I obtained a copy of an email from Phillipsburg Middle School Assistant Principal John Stillo that suggest the school district had an issue with the well-known religious group . "It has been brought to the administration's attention that Gideons may be near our campus to distribute literature to our students," Stillo wrote in a memo to the school's staff . "Please make sure they DO NOT step foot onto our campus at any time. There will be added police and security presence at dismissal." Gideon International has a long history of providing Bibles to public school students , but many districts have banned the religious society in recent years . Ironically, the Gideons are welcome to distribute Bibles and deliver speeches in Russian schools . The Phillipsburg School District should rehire Walt . And it owes him a big apology . They waged a disgusting public war against this fine, upstanding man simply because he gave a child a Bible . Shame on you, Phillipsburg School District . Shame on you .
[A]: A New Jersey school district violated the law when it fired a teacher who handed a Bible to a student the U.S  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled on December 15, 2014


[Q]: Could Indiana Gov  Mike Pence be our next president? INDIANAPOLIS  - If success at the state level were enough to recommend someone for president of the United States , Gov  Mike Pence of Indiana would be among the frontrunners for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination . According to the governor's office, Pence has "signed into law $643 million in annual tax relief : That includes: $313 million for hardworking Hoosiers, thanks to last year's 5 percent income tax reduction, the largest state tax cut in Indiana history." In addition ,  the state corporate tax rate was reduced from 6.5 percent to 4.9 percent, making it the third lowest in the country and contributing to Indiana's increase in the labor force , which, Pence's office says, has grown by more than 51,000 over the past year, five times the national growth rate . It helps to have large majorities of one's party in the legislature , but Pence consults and has good relationships with Democrats , who frequently vote with the Republican majority because his programs work . Sitting with the governor in his high-ceiling office beneath portraits of two Indiana governors who became presidents of the United States-- William Henry Harrison and Benjamin Harrison  -- Pence tells me he is focused on the upcoming legislative session, which is expected to last four months, and won't think seriously about running for president until the session ends . Then , he says,"We'll probably take some time as a family to reflect and pray and make decisions about our future." In his mind, Pence may have already crafted a winning scenario . He may be focused on his state , but he thinks a lot about the country , which he served for 10 years as a congressman . A former Democrat (like his ideological mentor Ronald Reagan), Pence sees a need to transform his party's image : "The Republican Party has become just the other party to Washington solutions . We have to get back to advancing state- based solutions and reforms . We must be relentlessly optimistic." He paraphrases a Reagan line:"' Why shouldn't we dream great dreams, after all we're Americans .' There was a confidence and optimism I think our party would do well to repair to . ... There' s a lot wrong with our national government , but we've got to stop confusing our national government with our nation." That's a good line for a stump speech . Pence wants to move from opposing bad ideas in Washington, to focusing on the success records in many states . For example , Pence's education agenda includes a goal of taking children in underperforming schools and putting them in good schools : "By the year 2020, I want 100,000 more Indiana students in high- quality schools than we have today . Today, we have 105,000 kids who are in underperforming or failing schools." He wants to fix traditional schools, pay good teachers more, giving bonuses to the best, and expand vocational education to every high school in the state . "We have the largest education voucher program in America . I want to expand that by lifting the cap and encouraging more private investment." Indiana also has 75 charter schools . Pence declines an invitation to comment on former Gov  Jeb Bush's recent remarks about having to lose the primary in order to win the general election , which many conservatives view as an attack on the party's base . If Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic Party's presidential nominee , I asked, is she beatable? Pence answers indirectly, saying he thinks 2016 will be the first foreign policy election since 1980 and that as a former secretary of state, Clinton will have some advantages . That's why he thinks the eventual GOP nominee should do as George W  Bush did in 2000 : name a group of advisers with strong foreign policy credentials to advise him during a campaign and , if he is successful , some might serve in his administration . Mike Pence is a model of humility and restraint . While some characterize Obama as a failed president , Pence will only label his tenure "disappointing." That in itself is in sharp contrast to the hubris, narcissism and self-awareness of Obama . Humility, coupled with a proven track record of success and more confidence in the states and the people, is what's needed at the national level . Mike Pence could be the one to bring it .
[A]: Pence tells me he is focused on the upcoming legislative session, which is expected to last four months, and won't think seriously about running for president until the session ends he says,"We'll probably take some time as a family to reflect and pray and make decisions about our future."


[Q]: The greatest trick Obama ever pulled was convincing the world America isn't still at war. The holiday headlines blared without a hint of distrust:"End of War" and "Mission Ends" and "U.S  formally ends the war in Afghanistan", as the US government and Nato celebrated the alleged end of the longest war in American history . Great news! Except, that is, when you read past the first paragraph : "the fighting is as intense as it has ever been since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001," according to the Wall Street Journal . And about 10,000 troops will remain there for the foreseeable future (more than we had a year after the Afghan war started) . Oh, and they'll continue to engage in combat regularly . But other than that, yeah, the war is definitely over . This is the new reality of war : As long as the White House doesn't admit the United States is at war , we're all supposed to pretend as if that's true . This ruse is not just the work of the president . Members of Congress, who return to work this week, are just as guilty as Barack Obama in letting the public think we're Definitely Not at War, from Afghanistan and Somalia to the new war with Isis in Iraq and Syria and beyond . Thirteen years on, the near limitless war authorization Congress passed for the Afghanistan war remains in place, with no sign that Congress wants to even debate revoking it . This is what will allow US troops to continue fighting, despite the mission supposedly being "formally" over . Just a month before Obama made his farcical announcement last week , he signed a secret order to ensure US troops continue to engage in combat missions against various "militant groups" in Afghanistan for all of 2015 . The war in Afghanistan is over, the President says . The sky is green, the President says . The sun rises in the West, the President says . Another place the United States is Definitely Not at War? Pakistan, where, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the US conducted multiple drone strikes between Christmas and New Year's Eve, killing at least nine people . We don't know who died , but the Associated Press assured us they were "militants", despite the US government's definition of "militant" having been manipulated beyond comprehension . The US Congress, of course, has steadfastly refused to attempt to place any real legislative limits on drone strikes, even those that have killed American citizens - which, as various scholars have been screaming for years, represent an unconstitutional violation of the Fifth Amendment . Meanwhile, the Defense Department quietly announced a few days before Christmas that, later this month, another 1,300 troops will deploy to Iraq in its ever-expanding undeclared war on Isis . A Pentagon spokesperson emphasized these are Definitely Not Combat Troops, despite the US government's current definition of "combat" being so narrow that it's "rejected by virtually every military expert"  - not to mention that the troops already in Iraq are already under "regular" fire, according to CNN . The US continues to launch airstrikes against Isis and various other groups in Syria as well . As the new Congress opens in Washington on Tuesday, it once again has the opportunity to formally debate and actually vote on the war against Isis, a constitutional obligation from which America's politicians shamefully slunk away , preferring instead to campaign for re-election - free of difficult decision-making . Now , almost five months in to a war the administration freely admits will last for years if not decades, hardly anyone seems to care what legal experts across the political spectrum believe : this war is without precedent - and it's illegal without Congressional approval . Now ,  the US Congress is not exactly a body known for its nuance and restraint , and there are many reasons why war against Isis remains a terrible idea , but if either the Republican-controlled House and Senate want to make an actual case for war , then that is their prerogative . But vote on it . Because the Obama administration has already gone down a dangerous path wherein the executive branch can unilaterally carry out virtually any war it wants without any official input from Congress . Given the GOP's newfound hatred of executive power, which the party seem to have conveniently forgotten was pioneered during every Republican administration since Nixon , you'd think Washington's new majority might want to take this tiny step of debating and voting on the Isis war , as is their own constitutional duty . Republicans would do well to use the president's own words against him . As Barack Obama himself told the Boston Globe back in 2007 :. The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation . Since virtually the entire US intelligence community agrees that Isis, no matter how awful and heinous the group may be, does not imminently threaten the mainland United States , maybe Congress can start off the new year by doing its job and actually voting on something required of them months ago .
[A]:
The holiday headlines blared without a hint of distrust:"End of War" and "Mission Ends" and "U.S  formally ends the war in Afghanistan", as the US government and Nato celebrated the alleged end of the longest war in American history Except, that is, when you read past the first paragraph