Pretty reasonable
Andromxda
Kubuntu and Fedora KDE are probably the safest options. Linux Mint (Cinnamon) should also work. I'd go with KDE, as it looks and feels similar to Windows, which will make it easier to learn for new users. Cinnamon is another great choice for new users. The file system doesn't really matter, ext4 should be fine.
Right, I didn't think about the RPi. Perhaps you could check if there's an open feature request for this, and if not, create one.
You can even bypass these blocks with a CDN like Cloudflare. They let you host a proxy for a website for free. Check out this guide https://champagne.pages.dev/non-piracy-stuff/proxy-websites/
Yes, check out outproxies
Just use a foreign VPN (basically all trustworthy, privacy-focused VPN providers are located outside the US, e.g. Mullvad in Sweden, IVPN in Gibraltar or Proton VPN in Switzerland) and connect to an exit server outside the US
They have ARM versions of Silverblue and Kinoite, but they don't provide patches or the installer for Apple Silicon Macs
Absolutely not
Just use the free tier of Proton VPN, it's a million times better