My father in law, the governor of New Italy wanted to secede from the Coalition.

Nothing terribly wrong with that, but I'm a Bounty Hunter, so I wondered if this is a bug or a new feature, that Bounty Hunter can become Pirate Admiral and Emperor conquering his own systems with his Battleship and his fleets?

I think that is a bug but a fun one as I would think a Bounty Hunter could be a good leader.

Especially since he can command Battleships and takeover systems quite quickly. *laughing maniacally*

But if this is a bug, I wonder why I get a special mention in the ending score calculations where it says that I have been too loyal (or to stupid) to forge my own empire...

Just got my own empire as well. Took awhile but got the same thing. I am very happy and hope this is not a bug.

Speaking of our empire...I really think we should not have to fend off attack after attack as it seems every other turn I am under attack on my systems. I think it should give you a grace period.

Also I really wish we could do system management from afar. With ships and space travel you think they could pick up a cell phone and listen to you when you are in another system.

Heh, that was one of my suggestions. System Management should be able to happen from the System List, especially since, by the time the game tells you people don't like you(Which they do once as a pop up, but otherwise only in the big news feed at the top left of the screen), they're within a few turns of revolting anyway, usually way too close to get back to deal with. Also, you should be able to preemptively donate money to the treasury, to allow for stuff like low taxes, high everything else, so people love you.