Half do, half don't object, and the point is identical bases.
I'm building the most free solution without sacrificing user friendliness whilst being constrained by time - if I'd discovered this sooner I probably would have looked for a different LTS distro that used the regular kernel, and it seems likely I'm going to have to waste the entire evening tonight repeating stuff I've already done. :(
It was only on looking more into Linux-libre that I discovered it doesn't just remove non-free firmware, but actively refuses to load it even if you install it separately.
So I'm going with Debian - still got some more setup to do today, but not oversleeping like I usually do means I at least have a bit of time.
No point arguing that though - they'd just say having the source code means you're free to modify it, (whilst insisting immediately that doing so would be the worst thing ever).