Yeah, but someone would be offended by some perceived DEI lack.

Yes and no. Everywhere “Western” has an extradition treaty with the USA so there’s no point fleeing to any of those. Russia isn’t a great choice but if he values his freedom it’s probably the least worst option.

For simple tasks you don’t need CLI. Most GUIs implement basic workflows and do a reasonable job at it (obviously not counting the ridiculous amount of time Windows needs to “compute space requirements” while deleting an empty directory. Seems it’s more important to get that little popup on screen and run the animation a few times than actually doing the job).

It’s when you get past the basics that CLI comes into its own. Those grindy things you do in Windows clicking one thing at a time? Glue a couple of commands together in the CLI and it’s done in a tiny fraction of the time.

Your best focus at the moment is your degree, including during the holidays. You can Linux fanboi all you like after you’ve graduated, unless you’ve got some really strong personal convictions that push you in that direction, and it seems you haven’t otherwise you’d already be there.