I know an intellectual, talking about Harvard inviting him to go talk there, and he was like nah, traveling to the States is too hard. Too much security, too painful, flying hurts. It's not the same America it was back then, either, the Rolling Stones in New York type of thing. A lot of anymosity.

dunno whether your comment is sarcastic or not... But it is definitely not safe to visit china. After the case of the two canadians, it is always a risk and there were some incidents before that also.

In all fairness, I have no doubt the very same thing - getting detained and/or imprisoned under dubious pretences - can happen to you in the US. In fact, given US policing culture, I expect hundreds of such cases happening in the US right now and no-one caring because 'that's just what the yankees do'.

Me either. That's why I live in the Commonwealth of Virginia where I enjoy strong mental health patients' rights. Of course, this also means living without 4th or 5th Amendment protections.