Normal since ICS. Still has nothing to do with using the external SD card with apps that can't access it.
BTW, you can tell adb to push to the external card. Run Total Commander and look at the path to the external card, then use that path (capitalization counts) as the destination.
As for downloads, make a download folder on the external card. When you download a file, copy it to the external card, then delete it from internal storage.
One of these days, Google will get it right.