It took 50 years for American attitudes about marijuana to zigzag from the paranoia of "Reefer Madness" to the excesses of Woodstock back to the hard line of "Just Say No."

The next 25 years took the nation from Bill Clinton, who famously "didn't inhale," to Barack Obama, who most emphatically did.

And now, in just a few short years, public opinion has moved so dramatically toward general acceptance that even those who champion legalization are surprised at how quickly attitudes are changing and states are moving to approve the drug — for medical use and just for fun.

It is a moment in America that is rife with contradictions:

—People are looking more kindly on marijuana even as science reveals more about the drug's potential dangers, particularly for young people.

—States are giving the green light to the drug in direct defiance of a federal prohibition on its use.

—Exploration of the potential medical benefit is limited by high federal hurdles to research.

Washington policymakers seem reluctant to deal with any of it.

Paula Deen's empire continues to crumble, as more of her partnerships fall apart. The latest? QVC and Sears Holdings Corp., which runs retailers Sears and Kmart.

Mike George, president and CEO of QVC, announced on the company's website Thursday that QVC will "take a pause" from the celebrity cook.

In a letter to customers, George wrote that QVC, Deen and her team have "talked extensively over the last several days, and together we have considered what is best for our customers, for Paula, and for QVC."

George explained, "For now, we have decided to take a pause. Paula won't be appearing on any upcoming broadcasts and we will phase out her product assortment on our online sales channels over the next few months. We all think it's important, at this moment, for Paula to concentrate on responding to the allegations against her and on her path forward."

A 49-year-old Syrian priest and hermit was killed earlier this week, apparently when a group of rebels attacked the Franciscan Convent of St Anthony in Ghassanieh, a village in the north of the country near the Turkish border.

Franciscan Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the head of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, told Vatican Radio on Monday that Father Francois Murad was not a Franciscan, but had taken refuge in the convent when it became clear he was not safe at the Syriac Catholic hermitage he was building nearby.

Syriac Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo of Hassake-Nisibi told Fides, the news agency of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, that Father Murad “sent me several messages which showed he was aware of living in a dangerous situation and was willing to offer his life for peace in Syria and the world.”

Father Pizzaballa said that Ghassanieh, “like other Christian villages, has been almost completely destroyed and is almost totally abandoned.” He said he believes the only people left in Ghassanieh “are the rebels with their families, rebels who are not from Syria and who are extremists.”