The fight against legalized pot is being heavily bankrolled by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies, terrified that they might lose market share.

On the heels of a filing last week that revealed that a synthetic cannabis company is financing the opposition to legal marijuana in Arizona comes a new disclosure this week that a beer industry group made one of the largest donations to an organization set up to defeat legalization in Massachusetts.

The Beer Distributors PAC, an affiliate that represents 16 beer-distribution companies in Massachusetts, gave $25,000 to the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts, tying it for third place among the largest contributors to the anti-pot organization.

William A. Kelley, the president of the Beer Distributors of Massachusetts, did not respond to a request for comment, but his organization's decision to oppose legalization is hardly unique in the alcohol industry.

In Arizona, one of the five states with marijuana legalization ballot measures this November, the Arizona Wine and Spirits Wholesale Association donated $10,000 to a group opposing legalization. In 2010, the last time California considered marijuana legalization, another alcoholic beverage distribution group provided financing to a law enforcement-backed campaign to defeat legalization.

The family of Korryn Gaines has announced plans to sue Baltimore County in relation to a standoff between officers and Gaines, 23. Gaines was shot in a confrontation with police where the details remain murky at best and are disputed by eye witnesses.

The family of Korryn Gaines sent a notice of intent to sue to Baltimore County and the police officer who killed her, known only as Officer First Class Ruby. J. Wyndal Gordon, attorney for the Gaines family, explained at a press conference that Gaines had been shot as the result of frustration and not necessity, making her killing illegal according to the letter of intent.

The family is suing for $2 million from the county and $2 million from Officer Ruby.

Korryn Gaines' death did not receive the attention that other black people killed by the police did, possibly due to the bizarre actions she was reported to have taken that led to her death.

According to the Baltimore County Police Department (BCPD), she barricaded herself in her home and used her child as a shield while pointing a gun at police officers while threatening to shoot.

There are several movies I will watch every time they are aired on one of my generally useless 600 cable channels. They all have the same thing in common - a compelling character portrayal which keeps you riveted and mesmerized by how the protagonist deals with adversity and circumstances beyond their control. The movies I can't resist include: The Godfather I & II, The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Apocalypse Now, and Patton. Another captivating movie, which didn't do well at the box office, is Cinderella Man. The portrayal of Depression era heavyweight boxing champion James J. Braddock by Russell Crowe is inspirational, with a rousing and improbable victory by the champion of the common man. While watching this great movie a few weeks ago I found myself equating the themes to the current presidential campaign.

The Greater Depression

Braddock was an inspiration to all downtrodden demoralized Americans during the Great Depression. The parallels between the 1930's Great Depression and today's Greater Depression are uncanny, despite the propaganda emitted by the establishment politicians, media and banking cabal that all is well. The corporate mainstream media faux journalists scorn and ridicule anyone who makes the case we are currently in the midst of another Great Depression. They are paid to peddle a recovery narrative to keep the masses ignorant, sedated, and distracted by latest adventures of Caitlyn Jenner and the Kardashians. An impartial assessment of the facts reveals today's Depression to be every bit as dreadful for the average American as it was in the 1930's.

The Obama administration has used the identical failed fiscal policies utilized by FDR. $800 billion stimulus packages, cash for clunkers, payroll tax holidays, student loans for anyone with a pulse, and hundreds of other useless Keynesian claptrap ideas have driven the national debt from $10 trillion in September 2008 to $19.4 trillion eight years later, a 94% increase. The national debt in October 1929 was $17 billion. Eight years into the Great Depression, after billions in wasteful New Deal programs the national debt stood at $36.5 billion, a 115% increase.

Perhaps it's just another sign of the times, but people seem to be quite at ease when disrespecting nature if they know a camera is rolling.

In recent years there have been a number of highly publicized and shared incidents of people, often operating in irrational hordes, mobbing wild animals in order to get selfies with them, often killing the animal in the melee. In Argentina beachgoers killed a rare baby dolphin while snapping selfie photos. In Costa Rica a flock of clueless tourists destroyed hundreds of sea turtle nests and eggs in frenzy of a photo shoot. These are two examples of many.

Narcissism such as this is an indication that the human being at large is becoming more disconnected from nature and more attached the self, seeking self-aggrandizement at the expense of the environment that supports, sustains and inspires us.

Some recent examples of this type of self-absorbed sickness, albeit of a different sort, include instances of self-recorded vandalism and outright disregard of nature, where presumably the vandals considered their acts to be fitting of the approval or admiration of their peers and therefore thought to record and post them on the internet, with pride.

"We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one." — Jacques Cousteau

"When drinking water, remember its source." — Chinese proverb

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." — Matthew 7:16-20, Holy Bible

Japan has an amazing food culture thanks in part to the rich volcanic soil and ample rainfall, despite the lack of spacious farms. As it stands, Japan can feed approximately one third of its population from domestic production.

There is a well-documented history of the U.S. government supplying weapons and arms to both friends and foe for political purposes and for profit. In addition to publicly known global arms deals to U.S. political allies like Israel and Saudi Arabia, revelations about the rise of ISIS indicate that U.S. arms and military trainees have been a critical factor in the rise of the terror group.

From 2006 to 2011 the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ran a gun smuggling operation into Mexico to ostensibly dismantle Mexican drug gangs, accomplishing the precise opposite however, in what has affectionately become known as Fast and Furious. Further back in time we have covert operations like Oliver North's Iran Contra scandal of the mid 1980's, and America's involvement in arming rebels in Central America to destabilize uncooperative governments. The list goes on.

Furthermore, it is alleged that the CIA, DEA and other government agencies have been involved for decades in the destruction of American communities by covertly shipping in drugs. Former DEA agent Cele Castillo has been persecuted by the U.S. government for seeking accountability of the George H.W. Bush administration for drug smuggling into the U.S. He would know as he was directly involved.

Police in the US have gotten their hands on a marijuana breathalyzer and drivers in California were among the first to be tested - with nationwide distribution planned for next year.

As part of an initial field test, several erratic drivers were pulled over and asked to voluntarily blow into the breathalyzer. Two of the drivers who took part in the test admitted to smoking marijuana in the previous 30 minutes, and delivered a positive reading on the handheld device.

Other drivers who confessed to smoking pot within the previous two to three hours also tested positive - none of whom were arrested, although those who tested positive were not allowed to continue driving.

"Basically everyone agreed because they were curious," said Mike Lynn, CEO of Hound Labs, the Oakland-based company who developed the device with some help from the University of California's chemistry department.

Lynn, who also works as an emergency room doctor in Oakland, California, and a reserve officer with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, tagged along with officers to assist in the pullovers and testing.

A 'traditionally-dressed' Muslim woman found her blouse set on fire by a man with a lighter in New York's midtown in a disturbing incident being investigated by New York City police as a possible hate crime.

Police said the Scottish tourist felt heat on her arm on Saturday night as she stood outside a Fifth Avenue luxury boutique in Manhattan. She noticed her blouse was on fire.

The woman, Nemariq Alhinai, patted out the fire and noticed a man standing nearby holding a lighter. The man then walked away.

"She saw [the suspect] pull a lighter away and walk away," a source told the New York Daily News who first reported the incident. "He doesn't say anything."

It is not clear what police meant by 'traditional dress' whether she wore a hijab, which covers the head, or an abaya, which covers everything but the face, or a burqa, which conceals the face, as well.

Robots are poised to replace interns as the unrewarded and unpaid worker ants of industry. A study by Forrester Research has projected that by 2021, artificial intelligence will be sophisticated enough to push many out of the job market as we know it.

The future of technology growing bright could signal lights out for taxi drivers, bankers and customer service agents. In a report released by Forrester Research, six percent of jobs could be taken by "early-stage intelligent agents," as soon as 2021. The study cites Facebook, Amazon and Apple as being at the forefront of developing nuanced bots that rely on algorithms like Siri, and that they could eventually replace truck drivers.

"By 2021, a disruptive tidal wave will begin," Brian Hopkins, vice president at Forrester wrote. "Solutions powered by AI/cognitive technology will displace jobs, with the biggest impact felt in transportation, logistics, customer service, and consumer services."

But those industries aren't the only ones that could replace their flesh-and-bone employees with something more mechanical. Researchers at the World Economic Forum have grimmer predictions. They see 7.1 million jobs being replaced with algorithms, two-thirds of which will be "concentrated in the Office and Administrative job family," Digital Trends reported.

Constantly snapping selfies may seem a bit narcissistic, but a new study has found that taking photos on smartphones and sharing them online is actually linked to increased happiness levels among college students.

The research, conducted by academics from the University of California-Irvine's Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences, studied 41 college students for four weeks. Among them were 28 females and 13 males.

The students were first invited to the lab for an informal interview, and to fill out a questionnaire and consent form. They were then instructed to continue with normal daily activities while taking part in the study.

Each student was assigned one of three types of photos to take, to help researchers determine how smiling, reflecting, and giving to others might impact the participants' moods.