You are definitely on an upward trend - long may it continue.
Yeah, you'll be blogging from China and no matter what you type the censorship software will convert it to "We are all very thankful for the benevolent government we have here in China that does not restrict our civil liberties or humanitarian rights"
Oddly, I am really wary about visiting the USA because of the harsh regime. I don't like the idea of belligerent and/or drunken idiots waving guns around and I find the anti-drug laws extremely scary. There has been a gradual relaxing in the offical attitude towards cannabis in the UK with increasing calls for legalisation but I believe there are a lot of people in prison in the USA who get 3-5 years sentences just for possession of cannabis in amounts that are clearly for personal use not for dealing, and for first-time offences too.
I suppose the impressions you get from the outside are very different to living somewhere day-to-day.
I shan't bang on about my pro-drug feelings but will say this, and in your line of work you will know what I am talking about, alcohol is the substance involved in more violent crime than any other. There are of course other health-related issues too. If anything should be more strictly controlled it is alcohol. The weird thing is that being drunk is regarded socially and legally to some extent as a mitigating factor whereas because anybody knows that being drunk makes most people more prone to doing stupid things I reckon that there is a good case for stiffer sentencing if the offender is drunk.
Yeah, you'll be blogging from China and no matter what you type the censorship software will convert it to "We are all very thankful for the benevolent government we have here in China that does not restrict our civil liberties or humanitarian rights"