I just went to a website that gave me a full page ad with no X button to close out of it.
Hell no. Shit is going to get so bad if they remove ad-blockers. Fastest way to kill their user-base.
You might want to just rent a few different ships in that range to see what you like. You're right that most ships are role specific, so buying a few different ships in-game for the different roles you want to do is the best idea (if you don't want to spend $1k+ on the game).
I gets a little rough re-grinding the aUEC to replace your ships after a wipe, but the wipes happen less often now so it's worth it.
That still remains to be seen.
He's losing in a big way with these NY cases. There's a strong chance that he'll never be able to do business in NY again, which means a lot of work restructuring his businesses. It's a pretty big hit and will take a lot of time and money to resolve.
The election cases will be held next year, and will determine whether or not he sees jail time. I still have high hopes that we'll see him behind bars in the next couple of years. These cases just take time because of the ramifications if the DOJ gets them wrong.