I using proton more as a middle finger to google than anything else and at that it works fine.

Once again - Proton is legally obligated to comply with the laws of the country in which they are based. This isn't specific to Proton, and they are not going behind your back to do this. In case it's not clear, this data is directly from Proton.

Granted, it’s been awhile since I read this, but don’t their subpoenas driven info essentially say yes, this is so and so’s email account with no discourse content due to encryption?

"From time to time, Proton may be legally compelled to disclose certain user information to Swiss authorities, as detailed in our Privacy Policy. This can happen if Swiss law is broken. As stated in our Privacy Policy, all emails, files and invites are encrypted and we have no means to decrypt them. "

I don’t think that’s bad on Proton’s part. They are obeying the law they are obliged to obey.

Um...obviously, yeah? The alternative to complying with the authorities is to challenge it in court, which is extremely expensive. The important question is not how much information they do hand over, but how much information they have themselves. For example, if your keys are private, proton has nothing useful to share. This is why end-to-end encryption matters, the only avenue to real privacy is to make sure Proton has nothing useful to share. They're not going to host their servers on international waters.

Proton threads are where the leftists equivalents to sovereign citizens pop up. Learn the technology a bit and about legal systems. That's what you have to operate within. If you want to feel more in control, encrypt everything yourself and only communicate/share in encrypted channels. At least then the primary sources of leaks is you and the receiver. If not, you're whining about streamlined performant services that will never be perfect enough for your standards because they operate legally rather than the user unfriendly solutions that you aren't willing to operate yourself for your life (maybe to be passed on) and/or won't run/can't afford to operate the illegal operation

Have they also handed over private keys?

This view might be controversial but here goes. If someone is suspected of a major crime (rape, serious assault, murder, major theft), maybe it's okay for law enforcement to gain access to that person's online accounts.

People might say "but if the government has the power to do that, one day they could do it to you, or they could use those powers to oppress anybody who criticises the government". But isn't that like saying "if you build prisons then one day an authoritarian government might put any critic of the government in those prisons"?

Dang! So what's the preferred email app? The preferred email provider?