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"At 10:00 P.M. on Election Evening, we were at 97% win with the so-called “bookies”." - Donald Trump, seeking the overturn the results of the Triple Crown

None The Pfizer

After the Trump administration nailed every other aspect of the pandemic response with flying colors, it may come as a shock to learn that its plan to distribute vaccines to hundreds of millions of Americans leaves something to be desired. Specifically, vaccines.

• After Operation Warp Speed spent billions of dollars to hasten the development of coronavirus vaccines, 31 countries around the world have reserved more vaccine doses per capita than the U.S. It’s like ordering an elaborate cup of coffee and then walking out of Starbucks without it, except, you know, people will die. Incomprehensibly, this was a deliberate choice: Pfizer offered the Trump administration the chance to reserve more doses over the summer (“hey man, you forgot your coffee”), the Trump administration took a pass, and Pfizer now can’t guarantee another round of supplies until June.
  
• FDA approval for the Pfizer vaccine—which will launch the deliveries of 6.4 million initial doses (enough to vaccinate 3.2 million people)—could come as soon as this week; in the meantime, Americans are stuck watching the U.K. and Canada sail towards national immunity like the D.W. meme. Authorization for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, of which the U.S. has reserved 300 million doses, will be more delayed: AstraZeneca lost credibility with U.S. regulators when it failed to disclose a pause in clinical trials, and scientists have criticized the lack of transparency around its data. The vaccine is definitely safe and viable, but its efficacy rate is still unclear (especially among older adults), and that means we’ll have to wait.
  
• When vaccines do get approved, it would be nice if states were ready to distribute them as quickly as possible, no? To paraphrase GOP leaders, “eh.” Congress has yet to appropriate any funds for vaccine distribution, which means cash-strapped local public health departments are left to both plan mass vaccination programs and somehow scrape together the money to hire enough staff to implement them. HHS has doled out around $340 million to the states for vaccine distribution; state officials say they need more like $8.4 billion, and needed it weeks ago.
  

Even in a delay-free world, the coronavirus task force warned on Tuesday, the vaccine program wouldn’t substantially reduce the spread of coronavirus until late spring.

• No big deal to Donald Trump, who yesterday shared this psychopathic opinion on the percentage of Americans who have contracted coronavirus: “I hear we're close to 15 percent. I'm hearing that, and that's terrific.” A somewhat bigger deal for the third of Americans who live in areas where hospitals have run critically low on available ICU beds, and who don’t have access to the experimental Rich Old Man drugs that are apparently available almost exclusively to Donald Trump’s friends and keeping Rudy Giuliani tethered to his repulsive mortal coil.
  
• In light of that, it would be nice if the government were to give people money to stay home and slow the spread, no? To paraphrase GOP leaders, “go fuck yourselves.” The U.S. is alone among wealthy Western countries in not providing material help to people during the winter surge, for the very simple reason that the party that currently runs our government is insane. In a sign that another stimulus package isn’t exactly imminent, the White House suggested adding a one-time $600 stimulus check to its discussion draft, but only in exchange for gutting enhanced unemployment benefits. Millions of Americans are at risk of eviction! Canada is paying jobless workers $2000 a month! There’s just no excuse!
  

It stands to reason that the Trump administration’s demonstrated indifference to saving American lives would hobble the vaccine effort, and we can fully expect Republicans to turn around on January 20 and try to blame the ensuing delays and deaths on Joe Biden. No one should give them the time of day. Hard as they might try to wipe it on to Biden’s hands, the blood is on theirs.

Look No Further Than The Crooked Media

We're only a few weeks away from the January 5 runoff in Georgia that will determine control of the Senate. Early voting starts on December 14, and if you're looking for ways to support groups on the ground making sure every voter makes their voice heard, sign up to Adopt Georgia. We'll be sending new opportunities to donate and volunteer every week between now and January, so head over to https://votesaveamerica.com/georgia to learn more about what you can do today.

Under The Radar

The Federal Trade Commission and 48 attorneys general have filed landmark antitrust lawsuits against Facebook, alleging that the company illegally crushed its competition by buying up its rivals and weaponizing its staggering troves of user data. Federal and state regulators have been investigating Facebook for over a year, and this marks the first government antitrust action against a company that’s been behaving like a monopoly for a decade.The lawsuits explicitly ask the DC district court to consider forcing Facebook to sell off Instagram and WhatsApp, a move that Mark Zuckerberg has said would be “existential” for the company. Oh nooo, where would we all go to spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, spur on the downfall of American democracy, and wish an aunt we've never met happy birthday?

What Else?

The president is just straight up tweeting “#OVERTURN” now. That hashtag is gonna turn this whole coup around.
Trump and 17 states have joined Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to help Republicans overturn (#overturn?) election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The Senate confirmed three nominees to the Federal Election Commission, after the agency sat around uselessly for months without a quorum.
The EPA has finalized a rule making it more difficult to enact public health protections, one of several rules the Trump administration is fast-tracking to environmentally screw over Joe Biden.
Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA) is in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus but said he hasn't experienced any symptoms.
An Idaho health official left a virtual meeting in tears because anti-mask protesters had surrounded her home, where her 12-year-old son was alone.
Relatedly, here’s the completely heartbreaking story of Mitchell, SD, one of many red state towns where residents followed GOP leaders in not taking coronavirus precautions seriously until people started dying—and where a group of anti-maskers continued to vehemently oppose a local mask mandate.
YouTube will start taking down new videos that spread voter fraud conspiracy theories, right in the nick of time.
Cartoon voter-fraud witness Melissa Carone said she isn’t self-quarantining and hasn’t gotten tested after testifying next to COVID-positive fart-machine Rudy Giuliani.
Joe Biden might send Pete Buttigieg to China as an ambassador, in the latest indication that he is a mere puppet for radical socialist Amy Klobuchar.
Piers Morgan has been forced to deny a rumor that he played the Central Park Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2, but enough people believe the rumor that we should probably let all of the legal challenges play out.

Be Smarter

A new study found that rural, predominantly Black counties have the highest IRS audit rates. You know, where all the rich white tax evaders live. Humphreys County, MS, where more than a third of mostly Black residents are below the poverty line, is the most heavily-audited county in the country—because so many taxpayers are poor. The IRS doggedly audits taxpayers who claim the earned income tax credit, a program meant to lift workers out of poverty, under pressure from congressional Republicans. As a result, the five counties with the highest audit rates are all poor, majority Black counties in the deep south, and the audit rate is next-highest in majority-Hispanic counties and those with Native American reservations. Try to claim a legal tax credit and get slammed with a year-long IRS audit, while wealthier white populations enjoy an unaudited existence: What could be fairer?

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Is That Hope I Feel?

New York has pledged to divest its $226 billion pension fund from fossil fuels by 2050, and completely decarbonize the fund by 2040.
A universal flu vaccine that protects against all strains of the flu and lasts for years may not be far off.
The House has passed a bill that would broaden marijuana research in states where the drug is already legal.
Taylor Swift donated $13,000 to two mothers on the verge of eviction. Your turn, federal government.

Enjoy

place where cats shouldn't be on Twitter: "* 1 video attached *"

I'm posting under an alternative username for anonymity. I have to explain the environment before I go further.
I live in a small PUD in an unincorporated are a mile outside of town. Every home that is part of a community in this area is in an HOA. I'm in the stage 2 community. Stage 1 has a similar HOA managed by the same company. The community behind us apparently never got a quorum and although they pay small yearly dues, I don't think they have a functioning board and I was told their dues go to their builder since they never finished the HOA process.
We don't have many covenants, power wash your house if needs it, lawns must be maintained (nothing specific), architectural change requests must be approved if they change the outside. Our dues are only $120 a year. There are about 110 homes in our HOA, including 4 homes that are in a different community but have back yards that but up against ours. We only meet once a year and that's coming up in a month, although I don't know what that will look like with COVID.
Our HOA had an open spot on the 3 person board 2 years ago, so I took it. Not long after that, the husband/wife that were the other 2 board members and had lived there since the beginning moved and sold their home. It left me as the only board member for about 8 months. We had our next meeting and only 2 other homes showed up, so we drafted them onto the board. I mentioned if anyone had read about dissolving the HOA, and the older guy we drafted responded with the usual line of "HOAs protect values". I left it at that and secretly continued on the board in a laissez-faire fashion. There wasn't a quorum, so no other business was heard or brought up.
A few months later, both of those members sold their homes and moved. This left me as the only board member. I'm not driving around and trying to enforce anything. We have a lady that owes us $3000 in dues and late fees, but I refuse to sign the foreclosure document. I try to be as hands off as possible.
I'm not sure what portion of our community are rental houses, but I suspect it's pretty high. Everyone that I know of who have complained about an HOA enforcement by the management company are renters who don't know our policies and do things like park in the cul-de-sac blocking someone else's driveway or this one renter we have that looks like they clean their garage out for spring cleaning or emptied their hoarder car out in the middle of the driveway and just leave it there for a week.
Our most recent financial sheet shows we have $20k in the bank. We also own a small lot and the common area that has the neighborhood sign on it. All road maintenance is covered by the state. I asked about using the funds to improve the community and the management company recommended throwing a block party in the spring.
I don't know if I should start a secret or public campaign to dissolve the HOA or continue trying to be the "live and let live" HOA. I'm not worried about me, but I know I'm only 1 vote out of 3 potential board members. I also know I may not be on the board forever. According to our Articles of Incorporation, we have to have a vote of 2/3 of "each class of member". I'm not sure that 2/3 of the owners live in the community anymore, and I can't image getting enough buy-in from someone that doesn't live there anymore to vote one way or the other.
Thoughts?
TLDR: Everyone has HOAs around here. I've been the only board member for almost 2 years.and I try to be as hands off as possible. I've considered starting a campaign to desolve the HOA, but I don't think it'll happen.

Company Name	Title	City
Walmart	Retail Associates (Part Time and Full Time)	Cody
Walmart	Retail Associates (Part Time and Full Time)	Gillette
Walmart	Personal Shopper (Part Time and Full Time)	Gillette
Doordash	Delivery Driver / Courier	Laramie
The Home Depot	Customer Service/Sales	Laramie County
The Home Depot	Lot Associate	Laramie County
WilliamsonHeckt	Business Leaders - Become a Franchise Owner	Casper
WilliamsonHeckt	Become a Franchise Owner	Casper
Aspen Valley Hospital	Registered Nurse - Located in Aspen, CO	Cheyenne
Centra Healthcare Solutions	Case Manager Registered Nurse	Lander
Favorite Healthcare Staffing	Registered Nurse RN OR (Contract)	Thermopolis
Infinity Rehab	Occupational Therapy Assistant	Torrington
Livingston Dental	Registered Dental Hygienist	Afton
Company Confidential	Advertise On Your Car, Earn Passive Income	Casper
U.S. Army	IT Professional (Full-Time)	Cheyenne
BROCKMAN TRIM & FINISH CARPENTRY	Finish Carpenter	Cheyenne
Don Hummer Trucking	Regional/OTR CDL A Truck Drivers - No Touch Freight	Cheyenne
Company Confidential	Advertise On Your Car, Earn Passive Income	Cheyenne
Schneider	Class A CDL - Regional Truck Driver	Crook County
Quorum Health	Part-time OBG opening in beautiful Evanston near Park City	Evanston
Amazon	Amazon Warehouse Attendant (Immediate Openings) - Earn $15. 00 Or More	Gillette
Company Confidential	Advertise On Your Car, Earn Passive Income	Gillette
Amazon	Amazon Warehouse Attendant (Immediate Openings) - Earn $15. 75/Hr Or More	Gillette
Amazon	Amazon Warehouse Assistant (Early Morning Shifts Available) - Earn $15/Hr Or More	Gillette
One Staff Medical	One Staff Medical: Travel Registered Nurse Rn Emergency Room Er	Lander
Loves Travel Stops & Country Store	Tire Technician - Truck Care	Laramie
Cross Country Allied	Travel Speech Therapist	Laramie
Schneider	Class A CDL - Dedicated Team Truck Driver	Laramie County
Schneider	Class A CDL - Dedicated Team Truck Driver	Natrona County
One Staff Medical	One Staff Medical: Travel Registered Nurse Rn Operating Room Or	Rock Springs
Banner Health	WY Town Surrounded by Adventure	Wheatland
Banner Health	Strong Clinic, Helpful Physicians, Supportive Administration	Wheatland
Banner Health	Primary Care Rural Locations	Worland
Navy	Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewmen	Casper
Navy	Purchasing, Supply and Logistics	Casper
Trustaff Travel Nursing	Travel Home Health job in Cheyenne, WY	Cheyenne
RNnetwork	RN-Medical Surgical Travel Nurse Opportunity in Cody, WY - Job# 451877	Cody
Navy	Military Intelligence	Gillette
Trustaff Travel Nursing	Travel ICU/CCU RN job in Sheridan, WY	Sheridan
Host Healthcare	Certified Surgical Technician Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support job in Afton, WY	Afton

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in wy. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

Company Name	Title	City
Doordash	Delivery Driver - No Experience Needed	Laramie
Doordash	Delivery Driver (part or full time) with DoorDash - Make up to $23/hour	Laramie
WilliamsonHeckt	Become a Franchise Owner	Cheyenne
WilliamsonHeckt	Business Opportunities - Franchise Owner	Cheyenne
Centra Healthcare Solutions	Medical-Surgical Registered Nurse	Cheyenne
WilliamsonHeckt	Business Leaders - Become a Franchise Owner	Cheyenne
CompHealth	Physician: Locums Opportunity in WY for Pulmonologist JOB-2600841	Casper
BluePipes	Travel Speech Language Pathologist	Riverton
Grant Trucking	Class A CDL - Truck Drivers	Rock Springs
Navy	Naval Aviator	Casper
Navy	Naval Aviator	Cheyenne
Navy	Naval Aviator	Cody
Malone Healthcare	Traveling Pair? 2 LPN's needed	Casper
CompHealth	CompHealth: Physician: locums opportunity in wy for pulmonologist job-2600841	Casper
Cross Country Nurses	Registered Nurse - Operating Room job in Casper , WY	Casper
AB Staffing Solutions	Cath Lab job in Cheyenne, WY	Cheyenne
TaleMed	Travel OR RN needed (2089266)	Gillette
Malone Healthcare	Emergency Room RN - Travel - Wyoming	Rawlins
Malone Healthcare	L&D RN - Travel - Wyoming	Rawlins
Medical Solutions	Medical Surgical RN Travel Nurse in Rawlins, WY	Rawlins
Advantage RN	Registered Nurse - ER job in Thermopolis , WY	Thermopolis
RNnetwork	RN-OR Travel Nurse Opportunity in Casper, WY - Job# 442945	Casper
Trustaff Travel Nursing	Travel MS RN job in Cheyenne, WY	Cheyenne
RNnetwork	RN-OR Travel Nurse Opportunity in Gillette, WY - Job# 442719	Gillette
Cross Country Allied	Rehabilitation - Speech Language Pathologist	Riverton
Cross Country Allied	Rehabilitation - Occupational Therapist	Riverton
Stability Healthcare	ER Registered Nurse opening in Thermopolis, WY - $1,583/week (134774)	Thermopolis
Trustaff Travel Nursing	Travel Emergency RN job in Thermopolis, WY	Thermopolis
RNnetwork	RN-Medical Surgical Travel Nurse Opportunity in Torrington, WY - Job# 443378	Torrington
Livingston Dental	Registered Dental Hygienist	Afton
Marten Transport	CDL-A Truck Driving Jobs - Average 62 CPM	Afton
Marten Transport	CDL-A Truck Driving Jobs - Average 62 CPM	Aladdin
Marten Transport	CDL-A Truck Driving Jobs - Average 62 CPM	Albin
University of Wyoming	Asst Professor	Bosler
University of Wyoming	Associate Director, Center for Business and Economic Analysis	Bosler
University of Wyoming	Accountant	Bosler
Army National Guard	68W Health Care Specialist	Casper
Quorum Health	WY OBG opening in beautiful Evanston near Park City	Evanston
Quorum Health	Wyoming FPOB opening near Park City	Evanston
PracticeMatch Custom Sourcing	Emergency Medicine in Scenic Wyoming	Gillette

Hey guys, here are some recent job openings in wy. Feel free to comment here or send me a private message if you have any questions, I'm at the community's disposal! If you encounter any problems with any of these job openings please let me know that I will modify the table accordingly. Thanks!

This is my story for anyone who cares to read it, although it feels more like a mind dump for me, a way to get it all out on "paper". Its long. Very long. So grab a coffee (you can do that now), and read only if you feel like it...
​
I was born and raised in the church. My Mom and Dad are converts. My Dad brought the church back to our family after being baptized in Germany while stationed there with the Army. My Grandparents took the discussions and soon committed to being baptized. My Grandmother stomped out her last cigarette in the parking lot of the church before walking in to be baptized, and never smoked again. This would have been sometime in the early 70's.
​
Fast forward some 15 years or so, and my over-sized dome came crowning into this world by way of my Mother's vaginal canal. A fresh new Mormon, by way of birth. Born in the covenant. My parents were very faithful members and followed all the rules. We listened to Mo-Tab on Sundays. We didn't shop on Sundays. We went to all three hours of church. We didn't get to ride bikes or hike on Sundays, for it is a day of rest, and you shall not move a muscle on The Sabbath lest you be stricken down and smitten with a curse.
​
Growing up, I tried my best to follow the teachings of the church. I believed it. I mean how could you not after feeling what I felt at EFY? That wasn't a manufactured experience, the music and testimonies were descending on us, seemingly straight from the heavens, letting all our young impressionable hearts and minds know we were on the right path.
​
After high school I moved to Utah with my cousins, not to attend college or anything, but to celebrate my newly found freedom by way of NCMOs and occasionally sleeping through church. A real rebel. We lived in BYU approved housing in Orem. I was surprised to see how many people would drink and hook up with chicks and then stand on the pulpit during Fast & Testimony meeting declaring their devotion to the church in an effort to look good for the chicks that they would later drink and hook up with.
​
I met a girl. We were both 18 and decided we loved each other and would be together forever. But in order for us to remain in each others eternal clutches, I decided I should probably go on a mission. She agreed. So I started "cleaning up my act" so I could prepare to get my Patriarchal Blessing, and eventually submit my papers.
​
This took me two years. I eventually held off on the dry humping and booby squeezing long enough for the Bishop to tell me I am spiritually prepared enough to receive my Patriarchal Blessing. Dammit I was excited. A road map to my life. A modern day fortune teller sharing secrets passed down from on high. This would be a special day.
​
My parents and I arrived at a Stake Center where the blessing would take place. We met the Patriarch. Unsurprisingly, he appeared to be a close relative to the dinosaurs. His days were numbered, and the number wasn't very high. We moved to one of the dozens of small classrooms in the building where he laid his thick meaty paws on my freshly combed hair. I always hated that about blessings. Do you have to jack up my hair? Can't you just put your hands on my shoulders or something?
​
With expectations of a 13 page, front and back PB, filled with everything I never knew about myself and the keys to my future, I was disappointed as this man began to speak. His blessing rambled. There were no specifics. He didn't mention a mission, a wife, marrying in the temple, children. And before I knew it, it was over. I stood up to shake his hands, choking back tears. Not because I felt the spirit, but because I didn't. My parents felt the same way. It was a somber drive home because we all felt let down by the blessing I had just received.
Was that what God had intended for me? A cryptic blessing that left me feeling worthless? Was it a trial of my faith? Or was it just the ramblings of a senile old man who wasn't actually communing with God on my behalf? Of course I placed the blame on myself. I hadn't prepared enough to receive it. I dry humped too hard, and that's why it wasn't a good blessing. I'm unworthy.
​
I suppressed those feelings eventually and submitted my mission papers. I got my call. I was going to Brazil! I had 3 months before I reported to the MTC in Sao Paulo. My girlfriend and I spent every moment we could together. Packing in the memories before I valiantly left for 2 years for the betterment of our future marriage and family. We'd been good boys and girls and had kept our hands to ourselves for a few months now. Until that fateful night that would change my life forever, when we got a little too hot and heavy...
​
Apparently good boys and girls aren't supposed to act on the natural feelings they have for each other. No touchy touchy. But touchy touchy we did. We "slipped up". Most of you are probably thinking we romped. P in the V. Maybe even a quick docking session? No. None of that. Just hands in places they didn't belong. I went against the wishes of Boyd K. Packer, because my little factory was up and runnin'.
​
We decided to just keep this one last slip between us. We didn't want to have to delay my mission. I vowed that I would go out and serve the people of Brazil as hard as I could in recompense for my sins. And I did. I worked my ass off on my mission. Walking 12 miles a day through poverty stricken neighborhoods, sharing the gospel. I never left my apartment late. I never missed scripture study. I never took a nap. I worked. But in the back of my mind, that one unresolved sin lingered. The guilt began to build. I'm a fraud I thought. I can't teach the gospel to these people while I have this unconfessed past. So I decided I would call my Mission President and schedule a time to meet him.
​
We met. Turns out he had known about this encounter all along. My ever-faithful girlfriend back home had decided to go to her bishop after I left, who then decided to call my Mission President to let him know that a sexual deviant was inbound. They decided to just keep an eye on me and let it slide as long as I was doing the work. Which I did. So I never knew they knew, until my meeting in his office that day.
​
My mission president was a Native Brazilian. Didn't speak a word of English. He asked me to tell him from my side what had happened that night. I was 6 months into my mission, and just starting to get the hang of Portuguese. I was fluent in gospel conversations and casual street talk so I felt like I would be able to properly explain what had happened that night. But as it turns out they don't teach you the word for "fingerbanging" in the MTC. It was awkward. I stumbled through words and hand motions trying to communicate until he said he understood what had happened and would have to talk to his higher-ups, because he had learned new details that weren't passed along to him before.
​
I waited a week to hear back from him. He sent a message to our Zone Leader asking him to have me call him on a payphone. I listened as he explained in Portuguese that he had spoken with his higher-ups and my Bishop and Stake President back home and they came to the conclusion that I should return home. My heart dropped. I felt sick. How would I explain this to my family? What would they think of me? People had helped pay for my mission, and now I was returning home in shame. It was miserable.
​
They booked my 13 hour flight home and I boarded a plane alone back to SLC. It was a red-eye flight. I didn't sleep. I sat in a row by myself absolutely tormented by my thoughts and feelings. The only thing that brought me peace was knowing that my Girlfriend would be there for me. We could work through this together.
​
I was greeted by my parents at the airport, while they were happy to see me, they wished it hadn't been under these circumstances. We drove home to meet with the Bishop and Stake President. Stopping for Taco Bell along the way. Holy hell I missed Mountain Dew and Grilled Stuffed Burritos so much.
​
At our local meeting house we all met together. They decided that I should work with the Bishop for the next 6 months and then they would discuss me returning to the mission field, so I could serve a faithful two years, not a shameful 6 months. This brought me some comfort knowing that there was a way to redeem myself, even though I felt ashamed to be having this conversation in the first place.
​
At this point all I could think about was my Girlfriend. She was the only person I really opened up to. I needed to see her and talk to her. I called her on the phone. She was shocked to hear my voice and find out that I was home. We arranged a time to meet that evening at an address I didn't recognize. When I told her I had arrived she came out of an apartment building I had never seen before. There was a party going on. She was laughing as she exited the apartment, her look became more serious as she made her way across the parking lot to my Dad's Jeep I had borrowed to go visit her.
​
She climbed in the passenger side of the Jeep, we hugged. I asked her why I hadn't heard from her as much in the last month of my mission. I told her that I missed her. She told me that she was engaged...
​
I'm not an overly emotional guy, but my heart shattered. She was my only lifeline in this shit storm and within 15 minutes she was back at the party with her fiance, as I struggled to make out the road on my drive home through eyes that refused to stop leaking.
​
My eyes looked like they had both been stung by bees as I entered my parents house. My Mom was the only one still awake. I tried to brush it off but couldn't keep it all in. My Mom sat with me in my room while I bawled my eyes out for an hour. It was one of the very few times in my life where I felt like I truly needed someone, and she was there for me. I was 20 years old and that was the first time we really bonded. Not for a lack of effort on her part, but because I was an independent man-boy that didn't share my problems with anyone. Except for that night. I needed my Mom.
​
The breakup through me for a loop. I plodded around Utah for the next couple months despising everything around me. I decided I needed to get out. I decided I wouldn't be going back on my mission. Guess how many times I had heard from my Bishop since I came home? That's right...zero times. I was now just a flunked out Missionary. Dishonorably discharged.
​
I moved around a lot over the next several years. I ended up in Texas with a friend I grew up with, who was very active in the church. I went through the motions, attending on Sundays, accepting callings, teaching Elder's Quorum. I had heard from from my ex-girlfriend several times, messages asking how I was doing. Even after she was married. Until I told her to focus on her husband and not contact me again. I had moved on from her and begun to feel the relief of not having married her and married into her insane Mormon family. I would have been doomed to live a cookie cutter life in South Jordan Utah just a few blocks down from her parents house. Shoot me in the face.
​
I dated. I lost my virginity (woo hoo). I felt guilt. I contemplated cleaning up my act again and going back out on my mission. It would never work. My guilt told me I was too far gone. That I couldn't be forgiven for what I had done since I'd been home and would never be allowed to go back out. The constant turmoil was overwhelming. I wanted to be an active, worthy member of the church. I wanted to meet my wife and marry in the temple. How would I find a girl that accepted me after I tell her my story?
​
I made a move from Texas to Arizona, and I decided it was time to really get things back in order. It was a fresh start. I met with my new Bishop. I told him my story and all the things I had done wrong in the last several years. I didn't drink, I've never done drugs. My sins consisted of being sexually active. They decided a Disciplinary Council was to be held. I was disfellowshipped. Yet I still attended every Sunday. I just couldn't pray in church, hold a calling, administer the sacrament etc. Eventually I was back in full fellowship and called to be the Sunday School President. They liked that I was real, and not a perfect image of Mormon members. But they still had to follow the protocol. I actually loved that Bishopric, they were great guys. Just working in a broken system.
​
5 Years had passed since I came home from my mission. I had mostly learned how to skirt around the conversation of my mission when it came up. I had mostly learned how to manage my emotions, and the guilt tied up in that whole ordeal. Until one day on my way home from work I got a call from my Mom. The topic of my mission came up. And she decided to share a detail with me that had never been disclosed before. She proceeded to tell me about the day that I came home, after I met with my Bishop and Stake Pres. they asked to speak to my parents privately. In that meeting they told my parents that me coming home was a mistake. The mistake happened when I awkwardly tried to explain what happened to my non-English speaking Mission President in Portuguese. He misinterpreted what I had said and was under the impression that my Girlfriend and I had gone all the way. Full P in the V. Which never happened. I was sent home because of that. When I gave my English confession one more time to my Bishop, he realized there had been a miscommunication.
​
Somewhere along the line they thought it would be a good idea to keep those details from me. They looked at it as if they were protecting me from news that I might not be able to take. The last 5 years of emotional and spiritual torment were based on an event that wasn't even real. It dictated the course of my life. All the guilt and pain was essentially for nothing, when technically I should have stayed out in the field and finished an "honorable" mission. I was angry at everyone involved, including my parents. They truly had no idea what I had been through and the impact an event like that has on a young man growing up in the church.
​
Despite all of that I continued to attend church. It was what was expected of me from family and friends. I still believed. I learned how to balance the expectations of the church with what was actually possible, I wasn't as hard on myself when I made "mistakes".
​
Until I met my new potential EC. A pretty Mormon girl with the most warped view of how she fit into the church of anyone I'd ever met. Not her fault, she had a rough family life and most of the insecurities can be traced directly back to that. I wasn't perfect by any means. But by the end of my relationship with her I was convinced I was a horrible person. I was convinced I was a sex addict because I couldn't keep it in my pants. We loved each other, we were physically attracted to each other, but were forbidden to touch each other. The idea of living a celibate lifestyle through our sexual primes had not yet occurred to me as being absolutely insane. It hadn't occurred to me that humans are programmed to be intimate, and resisting it is the unnatural part. Not the other way around.
​
We finally ended it once and for all after 4 long years of trying to force it to work. It was a relief. I felt free. I started dating again. But I was still convinced I was trash. That I didn't deserve a "worthy" girl. I was pushing 30 now. An outcast as far as the LDS Single scene is concerned. I wasn't rushing to be married at this point. I was just going with the flow. I was still active but I had loosened the reigns on being such a Nazi about the rules. Which really just meant that I ate out on Sundays, and would entertain a date with a NeverMo. Again, such a rebel.
​
I met a girl. She was beautiful. We went on a date. The date went perfectly. So perfectly that I asked to see her again the next day. She said yes. I saw her again. It went better than the first date. So I saw her some more. I loved spending time with her. She said I treated her better than any guy she had ever met. How could this be? I was trash according to my ex. How could one girl think the worst of me and another think I am an effing prince? Because she wasn't a Mormon. Her view of men wasn't warped and twisted by a lifetime of impossible standards. I liked the way I felt when I was with her. We built each other up. We had chemistry. She believed in me.
​
We dated for a year before I proposed. I got on one knee in the pouring rain and asked this Nevermo to be my wife. Deciding that I would just continue to be a good example of the church and one day she would join me by way of Baptism so we would live happily ever after. She was a Christian and open to learning, would attend church with me, but I never pushed it. She would be ready when she was ready. When the spirit came to her and told her it was the one true church.
​
It was never a sore spot in our relationship. We communicate very well. But there were bridges to cross. How would we raise our future kids? I didn't want them going to the rock band church that she attended. It was an unknown that was sometimes scary, but that we both assumed would just play out naturally.
​
During my first two years of marriage with her we would attend church. Not nearly as strict as I once was. Sometimes we just didn't go because we didn't feel like it. There was no one there to hold me to those expectations. It was just her, and she didn't care if I skipped church.
​
I started a business. I sold socks with LDS images printed on them. They exploded. We sold thousands and thousands of pairs to LDS youth all over the world who loved crazy socks with an LDS theme. They even made it onto this thread. I didn't know what Reddit was, let alone a sub filled with ex-mormons. When the post started blowing up, our website was inundated with messages about the possibility of Tapir socks. I created a Reddit account to respond on the thread. I playfully responded to a lot of the comments, letting people know that I was just an entrepreneurial minded dude who was pretty down to earth. A lot of you were really cool, some of you were total dicks. Sending profanity laced emails and messages to our company, threatening us for believing what we believed at the time. It was behavior that doesn't belong anywhere, but I recognize that humans, regardless of their religious affiliations, can still be assholes.
​
I ran the business for 3 years before selling it for a solid 6 figures. In a lot of ways it was the last thing that tied me (aside from my active family members) to the church. I was much less active now. I rarely attended church. I justified that I had tried as hard as I could for my whole damn life and always came up short, and that I just needed a break. So I took a break.
​
But I had just become a father for the first time. We had a son. He was perfect. Completely innocent. Which stirred up more feelings of obligation to figure out how we would raise him. My Dad asked if we planned to do a baby blessing. I told him I didn't know yet. I felt the pressure to make a decision.
​
One night my wife and I were deciding on what to watch that evening when we stumbled on a documentary on Netflix called Three Wives One Husband. It followed a number of Polygamous families and their lives in Southern Utah. I held my newborn son in my arms as I watched in disgust at how these families lived. The pain that the women felt sharing their husbands, competing with the other wives for time and affection. Watching as their 40 year old husbands went off to court 23 year old girls that they said they felt inspired to date. Children growing up in those families not knowing any better. Doomed to a life in a cult-like religion.
​
I felt more and more sick as I watched on and listened to the families saying the same prayers I was used to saying. "Dear Heavenly Father, We're grateful for this day...". I listened as they bore their testimonies of their religion and lifestyle. A testimony that could have been dropped into a standard LDS Testimony Meeting and no one would have even noticed. These people were living the life that we would all be living in the afterlife. They were living the life that our Mormon ancestors were living just a few decades prior. It made me feel physically ill.
​
How could they bear a testimony with as much conviction as any I had ever heard in our meetings? Because they believed they were right too. How could my religion which is just a few minor details different from their religion claim to be the one true version, when they were claiming the same.
​
My wife watched as I descended into this dark terrible mood. I felt like the rug had been pulled out from under my feet. I was disgusted by what I saw and how similar it was to what I believed. Which set me out on a mission to prove myself wrong. I started studying church history. I didn't want to read anti-mormon literature, so I read church essays. It all started to feel weird. There were things missing, or details unearthed that were never taught. All right there on LDS.org. In searching for answers to all the new questions I had bubbling up in my mind, I stumbled on FairMormon.Org. I thought, this is perfect! These guys are active members, explaining how it all still works.
​
That's when it all started to crumble. When faced with tough questions about the church, their questions fumbled through possible explanations, but really just highlighted how they had no answers at all. It felt weird to me that I was actively seeking knowledge and education, which I was encouraged to do all through church, but the deeper I got, the less I knew. If the one true church was really what it claimed, then I should know everything about it. I should be able to study it with a magnifying glass, and find no errors. After all, the people aren't perfect, but the Church is.
​
FairMormon was a stepping stone into the world of "Anti-Mormon Literature" aka History. The CES Letter was the nail in the coffin. I read it in a single sitting. It solidified what I was already suspecting, that I had been duped. Maybe not intentionally, but I believed in something that was not true for my entire existence on this planet up to this point. It was a heavy thought to wrestle with. Where do I go from here?
​
Well, I bought a house with the money that I made from selling my LDS business. It's a nice house. I love it. My wife and I had our second child. We've been married for 4 years. Turns out I'm not a sex addict, and completely capable of being in a functional, loving relationship. Turns out marrying a non-member was the best choice I ever made. Turns out I can still teach my kids to be decent humans without a religion. Turns out Coffee is way better for you than energy drinks. I like it, it's really good. Turns out your weekends are so much better with second Saturday. Turns out...I'm still happy.
​
I know this is a freaking novel, but for anyone who has read this far I want to leave a few thoughts. We probably all still have friends and relatives that are still active. Some of my siblings are still very active, some left the church long before I did. While I feel like I have reached a new level of enlightenment, it's not my place to tell my friends and family how they should do the same. When I was deep in activity within the church, that kind of talk was in one ear and out the other. I wasn't ready to hear it, and I was defensive. Focus on what we all have in common. Just as I expected people to respect my beliefs while I was active, I should be expected to respect the beliefs of those who still believe. Everyone's timing is different. We can all still exist happily together, and we should.
​
I am actually grateful for my time in the church. I learned a lot of things that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I love a lot of people that are still very much involved in the church. I don't think any less of them. Life is effing weird. We are all in it together. I hope we can all focus on what we have in common, and build each other up.
​
Shit. Damn. Shit. Shit.
​
Sorry I'm still learning to cuss. Just felt like I should get that out at the end knowing I won't be judged for it here. It felt good.

[EDIT 2.22 - fixed two links and a typo]
I’m calling this post “Mormons and Cosmic Consciousness.” Note the title does not refer to “Mormonism,” or “the Mormon Church” or “the LDS church.” Let’s draw a clear distinction between the icky hierarchy (more on that below) and the lay members who serve as the backbones of the organization.
Now if you aren’t aware of many (or any) Mormons or ex-Mormons, you might be wondering “why are we talking about this in SoulNexus?” Or you might be wondering “what the fuck is a Mormon?” Mormons are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a distinctly American Christian sect with headquarters in Salt Lake City. I don’t have time to describe a bunch of church history here—so if you would like a humorous and catchy quick primer, click to watch “All American Prophet,” a song from the Book of Mormon broadway musical soundtrack.
In 2018 I’m taking part in a cosmic awakening journey. In my quest for knowledge and higher consciousness, I realize that a lot of vocabulary that I had retired many years ago are now suddenly seeping back into my perception. Words like “Christ Consciousness,” “God,” “Source,” “Priesthood/Priestcraft,” “Melchizedek,” are woven into the high vibes discussions that occur here at Belthazare’s digital roadside inn created for awakening kittens like you and me. At first I chafed at seeing these words again—they shot me straight back to a time in which I was enmeshed in a negative culture that molded my worldview and gobbled up any free time that I could ever wish to have. Also, being gay and Mormon isn’t any fuckin’ fun either. Our storylines may be slightly different, but I think there are many people at /SoulNexus who resonate with the feeling of embodying the antithesis of everything that their constrictive surroundings or culture have foisted upon them.
So now that Mormonism is in my (or possibly our) rear-view mirror, why am I bringing all of this shit up? Well maybe it’s the Schumann Resonance spiking this week, or maybe it’s my meditation practice, or perhaps the fact that since January I’ve met several Pleiadian starseeds in my town who, incidentally, all share my first name. (Five of us total have the exact same first name. How fuckin’ weird is that?) In any case, I feel that as a soul group we are nearing a flashpoint of zero point or of singularity. As I’ve delved int personal inner work, shadow work, and healing of traumas in my body (etheric, emotional, physical) embedded in my cellular memory—I’ve begun to realize that I’m going to have to walk through some Mormon mud puddles all over again before I reach my own personal Sacred Grove of cosmic consciousness (that’s a reference only Mormons’ll get).
So why do I postulate that people who gravitate to Mormonism are inclined to be cosmically conscious? Well the first big-ass hint is the sheepishly revered hymn “If You Could Hie to Kolob,” which Mormons love to sing but church leadership does not love to shout from the rooftops. What’s it about? Oh, just interstellar travel via thought across the galaxy to the star that God lives on, as well as the universe beyond. Don’t believe me? Here’s the full official hymn with lyrics on LDS.org, and here’s the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing a version of the hymn. Let’s check out a snippet of lyrics below:

If you could hie to Kolob
In the twinkling of an eye,
And then continue onward
With that same speed to fly,
Do you think that you could ever,
Through all eternity,
Find out the generation
Where Gods began to be?

There are a bunch more verses in the hymn, but verse #2 forays more into cosmic territory:

Or see the grand beginning,
Where space did not extend?
Or view the last creation,
Where Gods and matter end?
Methinks the Spirit whispers,
“No man has found ‘pure space,’
Nor seen the outside curtains,
Where nothing has a place.”

The whole song is pretty damn cosmic if you ask me. Or ask any Mormon for that matter. There is one particular Mormon who blogged in 2004 for Times and Seasons who shares resonant opinions with me. They wrote: “We don’t talk much about Kolob in my ward. I have the general impression that the church has de-emphasized the very idea of Kolob. But this hymn is of course only peripherially about Kolob. What it is really about is the endlessness of creation, and that is an endlessly fascinating theme.”
This quote transitions us to the point of this Mormongasmic post. I postulate that:

1. Individual Mormons possess a personality type that is inclined to be cosmically conscious.
   
2. The Mormon church serves as an enticing religion for people who would like to intertwine cosmic-ness with spirituality.
   
3. The Mormon church is a cunningly crafted honeypot which has, at least since the early 20th century if not before, become very effective at controlling and busying its members so that individual members are caught in a feedback loop in spiritually stagnant, docile, compliant state.
   

Whenever you think of Mormons, you probably think of settlers and pioneers, crafts, bonnets, and old-time Americana charm. But I’m here to tell you that once you dive in past that folksy veneer, this church lets its mystic freak flag fly a bit. What are my reasons for this? Let’s explore:

• Mormon gospel teaches that you existed before your incarnation and you will exist as the same person after your incarnation (kind of like “reincarnation lite,” they don’t believe that you’ve been other avatars in this consciousness hologram like I do, but they do believe that you were Susie before you were born in the flesh as Susie).
  
• Christians believe in an afterlife and all, but Mormons go a bit further with their concept of eternity. You are sealed to your soul family for eternity in the Mormon temple. Actions and rituals you do here on Earth matter to your eternal progression. Full impact isn’t realized until further down the line once you’ve departed your temporary body. Mormons believe that after death and Christ’s resurrection and return, the righteous will be reunited with a physical body and that Earth will metaphysically morph into a crystalline orb. A giant-ass Seer Stone in space. Is this a hint at crystalline consciousness? But speaking of those temples…
  
• Mormon temples are places where practitioners bestowed with the Melchizedek Priesthood administer Freemason-derived rituals, handshakes, and symbols to Mormons who attend the temple. We in the awakening community tend to have an understanding that Freemasonry dabbles in occult esoterica, especially at upper echelons of the organization.
  
• Joseph Smith’s genuine curiosity, mixed with his bloviating narcissistic personality disorder, resulted in a random chunk of ancient Egyptian esoterica being woven into Mormon gospel canon. The Book of Mormon was translated from a language known as “Reformed Egyptian” (something that Smith made up) and some ancient Egyptian papyri from recently-dug sarcophagi ended up in Smith’s hands back in the early to mid 1800’s, which were later “translated” into the Book of Abraham. Lithographs of the papyri exist in Mormon scripture, located at the back of the expanded edition of the Book of Mormon that members read. The BOM that you get for free on the street from doe-eyed 19-year-old missionaries will not have the Egyptian facsimiles printed in the back.
  
• Mormons believe that Jesus Christ was Quetzecoatl. What’s extra funny about this is that Mormon Jesus is VERY euro-white and VERY blue-eyed. So that must’ve been a sight to see in ancient Mesoamerica. Honestly, we could do an entire post about the Mormon fascination with Aztec, Mayan, and Mesoamerican civilizations. The Book of Mormon describes the journey of a family from Jerusalem who set sail for the Americas at around 600 BC or thereabouts. What’s in Mormon lore doesn’t quite match up with (mainstream and questionable) world history. From what we know about the Aztecs, Quetzalcoatl was a feathered serpent, a flying reptile (not unlike a dragon). This god was a boundary-maker (and transgressor) between earth and sky. He was a creator deity having contributed to the creation of Mankind.
  
• Mormons (quietly) believe that there is a Heavenly Father but also a Heavenly Mother. To Mormons, God the Father has a divine, feminine complement. Of course in true patriarchal form, Heavenly Mother is completely subservient to her eternal husband. But the emphasis on a divine masculine and divine feminine compliment is, shall I say, unique among Christian faiths.
  
• In 1892, Brigham Young decided to channel his inner H.G. Wells and insisted quite publicly and quite enthusiastically that Mormon missionaries would soon travel to the Moon in order to evangelize to and baptize giant lunar inhabitants. I used to laugh at this notion. However today I kind of suspect that there are hidden bases on the Moon, so who’s to say that such an idea is crazy? Said Brigham: “Nearly all the great discoveries of men in the last half century have, in one way or another, either directly or indirectly, contributed to prove Joseph Smith to be a Prophet. As far back as 1837, I know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth, and that they lived to a greater age than we do - that they live generally to near the age of a 1000 years. He described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style.”
  

This small set of examples are quite cosmic, would you agree? Paradoxically, even though the church dangles these elements in front of members with varying degrees of visibility—they get totally nervous if sleepwalking members get a little too cosmic. In awakening communities, I’ve come across the metaphor that surface humans on the planet are treated as livestock by the elite. I would definitely believe that similar “farming” occurs in the Mormon church and predominantly Mormon cultures/communities. Additionally, you will find that higher-ranking Mormons tend to be titans of business or industry. Most Apostles in the Quorum of the Twelve have achieved monetary success and wealth via a variety of ways. Mormon Royalty includes surnames like the Marriotts, the Romneys, and the Huntsmans. Some of its vaunted leaders, like the late Thomas S. Monson or the new “prophet” Russel M. Nelson look so goddamn reptoid that if they aren’t in bed with the cabalistic forces that seek to control our collective, then I’ll eat my goddamn hat.
Church leaders are the very definition of American stalwart corporatism. And it’s a culture that permeates from the top to the middle of the Mormon pyramid. Looking back at my upper middle class Mormon upbringing, I see how I am so very well-versed in corporate verisimilitude that it unconsciously permeates many aspects of my holographic avatar (that’s what I refer to as my personality or incarnational body). Is corporatism hollow? Yes. Is it meaningless? Yes. Is it political? Yes. Do I rock it? Fuck yes.
Said corporatism is the most obvious public brand of Mormonism and Mormon leadership. And those church leaders run a VERY tight ship. So much so that their geriatric, racist, mysoginist, withered stranglehold will, in my opinion, likely usher in the Church’s demise over the next 5-20 years. But that’s a topic for another post.
So the Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (yes that’s what it’s called), like any good company, has distinct administrative departments that run seamlessly throughout the globe. One of the most powerful forces in this corporation is the church’s Correlations Department. This specific small department has outsized influence and control over the entire organization. Were you to magically switch places with a Mormon right this very moment, you would quickly find that your day would be completely FULL of Mormon-related tasks, and every church calling or task or what-have-you brings a corresponding booklet, pamphlet, handbook, or instruction manual that rigidly delineates what you are supposed to do, or say, and how. These materials are provided by your friends in the Correlations department at the Church Office Building (or COB) in Salt Lake—and your compliance is respectfully requested.
Have you noticed that the Mormons you know in your life are enthusiastic, eager-to-please, talented, and ambitious? But they can also be anxious, self-flaggelating, and averse to ambiguity? Personality traits such as these might be related to conditioning that people undergo throughout their membership in the church. I am of the opinion that said conditioning and personality programming are administered via church media and multitudinous church-related events.
When administering to their (energetically farmed) livestock, church leaders know they walk a very fine line… they want members to be enthusiastic and eagerly devouring the gospel, but they don’t want members to ask too many questions. They want you to probe scripture, but they want you to gloss over concepts like Kolob and Heavenly Mother. When an apostle visits your chapel, they want you to ask questions—but only pre-approved and safe questions. And whatever you do, if you’re in Sunday School don’t bring up the fact that there’s a giant erect penis visible in the Egyptian Facsimile #2 in the Book of Abraham. No homo.
The Mormon church is the veritable definition of a “limited hangout.” They strongly define the boundaries of the livestock pen and what it takes for you to be in or out of the pen. I’ve grown up in the animal pen being told that The Queers and the Femininazis are dangerous and will inject me With All The AIDS if I ever dared to leave. But delicious hyperbole aside, the Correlation department’s reach still only extends so far. Try as they might, they can’t quite control every piece of art created by a Mormon and every piece of media produced by a Mormon. So there are some interesting examples of Mormons reaching for the stars and tapping into cosmic consciousness to the (mild or hidden) chagrin of creepy Reptilian church leaders.
Check out a smattering of curated examples of cosmic Mormonism showing up in the arts and media:

• Battlestar Galactica: “There are those who believe… that life here… began out there!” Remember the iconic opening of this groundbreaking show from 1978? This iconic sci-fi drama was produced by a man named Glen Larson who, how shall I say, borrowed very liberally from Mormon gospel when scriptwriting the show. You may remember on the show how the colonies originated on the planet Kobol, were all life began. Sound familiar? The "Lords" lived there. It was called "The Lost Planet of Ancient Gods.” There are so many Mormon tie-ins to the show that I simply have to link you to this article that breaks them all down. Side note: the BSG/LDS podcast described in the article was also a really good episode!
  
• Ender’s Game: You can see some Mormon themes permeate Orson Scott Card’s most popular tome. The idea of conscripting smartie kids to fight an intergalactic battle has some basis in a Book of Mormon story of the 2,000 Stripling Warriors, where children in one particular pocket of a Mesoamerican civilization were ripped from their childhood and sent to war. Ender’s Game is not an example of direct or semi-direct scriptural storytelling, but it can be perceived as piece of literature that was clearly shaped by the Mormon mindset of its author.
  
• Saturday’s Warrior: South Park creators, step aside. SW is the OG Mormon musical. Nobody outside of Mormon circles really knows about this piece, however. Slate magazine did a recent write-up about the cultural phenomenon. It was penned by a man named Lex De Azevedo, who served as producer and show runner for 70’s glamtastic variety shows like The Sonny & Cher Show and Donnie & Marie, as well as music director for The Jackson Five. Azevedo’s musical is the most cosmic thing in my list of examples. This musical should literally be called “Starseed: The Musical* with lyrics in the opening song like: “Strangers from a realm of light / who have forgotten all / the memory of their former life / the purpose of their call / and so they must learn why they’re here / and who they really are / These are the few, the warriors / Saved for Saturday / to come the last day of the world / These are they, on Saturday.” I will do a full post or a podcast episode someday about the intersection of Saturday’s Warrior and cosmic consciousness. In the meantime, check out this post I made on another Reddit forum highlighting some of the cosmic lyrics. Guess what the sequel was called. STAR CHILD! Time to come out of the #CosmicCloset, Lex!
  

Boy, Mormons sure were having a moment back in the 70’s, weren’t they? It’s heartening to see the artistic and vocal expression of Mormon members turn toward the cosmic. Toward the stars. If Mormons are conditioned to ignore the inner, at the very least we can cheer when we see them reaching upward and outward toward a benevolent interstellar community, as well as reaching backwards in (what we perceive as) linear time in order to connect with resonant populations such as the mysterious ancient Egyptians. In fact, my fascination and fixation (and experience with) the gestalt consciousness known as RA can likely be partially credited my seminary indoctrination in high school. Additionally, I can thank seminary schooling for beautiful campy shit like mormon Aaron Eckhart starring in a 10-minute short church video about chastity. Yes, this video is real. Since this college video, Aaron left the grips of the LDS cult. Aaron “Two-face” Eckhart doesn’t like showing off his Mormon past very much—not unlike fellow ex-Mormon alumni such as Ryan Gosling, or Jewel, or Chelsea Handler, or Dustin Lance Black, or Christina Aguilera, or Katherine Heigl, or (the late) Paul Walker for that matter.
As an ex-Mormon myself, I can only promise another cosmically awakening Mormon a long road of inner-work, shadow work, and and parasitism and/or programming removal. It’s a road worth traveling toward higher and lighter consciousness, but a long road nonetheless.
IN CONCLUSION
Gaia and the meat-suited humans inhabiting its environs are evolving into a reality framework that is much bigger, more timeless, and much more intertwined than anyone previously imagined. As this process continues, we are going to find that sleepwalking humans (who aren’t NPCs) will snap out of their slumber in a shocking, whiplash-like manner. I maintain that there are populations of waiting-to-be-awakened souls who will have an easier time transitioning to this new Earth than others. And I count many Mormons among those ranks.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Oops I mean, all men. ;)

Name: Bartoli Webber
Nationality: English
Age: 32
Appearance: Male. Attractive but otherwise unremarkable in appearance, with brown hair and brown eyes. Attired in a starched shirt, beige suit, and an onassis styled tie, he is arrayed in a series of belts and bandoliers in a fashion reminiscent of the steampunk style. These bandoliers are equipped with various vials containing chimeric plant cultures. In his right hand he wields Agent Green, a gun which fires large glass pellets containing plant seeds steeped in a concoction of growth nutrients.
Character STATS:

Health: 200
Role: Support

Passive Ability - Regrowth: Bartoli regenerates 5 health per second for every plant he currently has alive. This effect persists even during combat.
Bartoli also spawns a green-coloured Bell Flower when killed, which has half the health of a regular Bell Flower but twice the healing. This special Bell Flower can be controlled by Bartoli while dead to heal allies This special Bell Flower automatically chooses a lowest health ally and heals them, but will not switch targets until the ally is topped off. This Bell Flower decomposes when destroyed or when Bartoli respawns.

Bell Flower STATS:
Cooldown: 15 seconds, Bartoli may hold up to 1 charge of Bell Flower even if 2 have already been placed.
Duration between initial cast and Bell Flower being fully grown: 1 second
Health: 250
Passive Regeneration: 15 hp/s (out of combat only)

"Shift" Ability - Bell Flower: Bartoli can place up to 2 Bell Flowers at any location on the map, as long as it's on the ground. Bell Flowers are single-stalked plants culminating in a blue flower which droops downwards like a lampshade. The height of the flower itself rests several inches above Reinhardt's head. When activated with Bartoli's other abilities, the Bell Flower unfurls its five petals like an open umbrella, exposing its androecium and releasing its regenerative contents.

Regenerative Nectar STATS:
Range: 20 meters
Healing: 40 hp/s

Primary Fire - Regenerative Nectar: Bartoli targets an ally (same targeting mechanism as Mercy) and any Bellflowers within range will heal that ally. Two Bell Flowers may heal the same target simultaneously. Bartoli can effectively heal behind walls, as line of sight is dependent on the Bell Flowers and not on Bartoli himself.
Bell Flowers persist after Bartoli's death, but are inert due to lack of command.
Bartoli may heal a Bell Flower using another Bell Flower.
Bartoli may not heal himself with his own Bell Flowers.

Living Glade STATS:
Cooldown: 15 seconds
AoE: 5 meter radius
Duration: 5 seconds
Environmental kills: Possible. Best combined with Agent Green to exploit the push effect of Living Glade with the victim's lowered mobility.

"E" Ability - Living Glade: Bartoli wills a circular patch of animated grass to sprout from any ground location within line of sight. Allies receive a speed boost while moving through this grass field. Enemies are routinely pushed outwards from the center of this field as though on a treadmill (Enemies may speed boost or hop through it and still make positive albeit slow progress.)

Agent Green STATS:
Ammo: 4/4, cannot be manually reloaded, self-regenerates at the rate of 1 per 2 seconds
Damage: 50 per shot, performed over the duration of 1 second
Headshots: Yes
Splash Damage: 50 (Splash cannot headshot)
Splash radius: 2 meters
Projectile Hitbox: The size of Lúcio's primary fire
Projectile Speed: 80 meters per second
Rate of fire: 1 per second
Slow effectiveness: 30% slow
Slow duration: 1 second

Secondary Fire - Agent Green: Bartoli fires a fast-traveling glass projectile from his gun, Agent Green, which coats his target in a concoction of vine seeds and nutrients. Upon contact, the enemy is slowed and damaged by an entanglement of vines. Has a small splash area effect which deals the same amount of cc and damage as a direct hit.
When an Agent Green orb connects with a Bell Flower, the Bell Flower turns purple and casts Living Glade in a 5 meter radius around itself. Purple Bellflowers revert to blue in 15 seconds and cannot recast Living Glade while still purple.
Agent Green is a gun which self-replenishes its seed culture mixture, with visible in-game effects in the glass orb which adorns the back of the gun. The contents of this orb are drained into the glass pellets the gun fires.

Inflorescence STATS:
Health: 800
Passive regeneration: 15 hp/s
Duration: 30 seconds
AoE: 20 meter radius
Line of Sight: Yes
Can be healed by Bell Flowers: Yes
Regeneration provided to allies (including Bell Flowers): 15 hp/s
Poison effect on enemies: 5 hp/s
Armour provided if it survives the ult duration: 100

ULTIMATE ABILITY - INFLORESCENCE: Bartoli plants an invulnerable seed on the ground in front of him which blossoms after two seconds into a large lotus-like flower (Nelumbo Maxima) about the size of a sleeping roadhog. This pink flower has an incredible amount of health and releases a cloud of sparkling pollen in a large area around it (very subtle and unobtrusive graphical effect), providing minor regeneration to allies and inflicting a minor poisoning effect to enemies. These effects linger on exposed targets for 2 seconds even after Inflorescence ends or if they move out of range of Inflorescence. If the Inflorescence survives to the end of its duration, all allies with the regenerative effect still on them will receive 100 armour, which will last until broken.
When an Agent Green orb connects with the Inflorescence, the Inflorescence turns purple and casts Living Glade in a 5 meter radius around itself. Purple Inflorescences revert to pink in 15 seconds and cannot re-cast Living Glade while still purple.
Bartoli Playstyle:
I see Bartoli as an interactive builder hero, whose buildings are inert without active micromanagement. Bell Flowers will generally have to be placed in locations where a Mercy would stand, because much like Mercy, Bell Flowers are utterly non-threatening and only require line of sight to allies. This makes Bell Flowers quite strong against non-flanking DPS.
Bell Flowers are individually very weak to dive. They are stationary, damageless targets with 250 hp that a tracer can one clip+melee to finish off. However, Bartoli can prepare for such moments by firing a shot at the Bell Flower and activating Living Glade, which would give any teammate challenging the dive a serious advantage. Allies receive a movement speed bonus around the Bell Flower, can receive healing from the Flower, whereas enemies have to circle around the Bell Flower due to Living Glade's pushing mechanic. And all the time Bartoli can be lobbing AoE shots at range into the area, slowing the enemies and dealing palpable damage.
This lends Bartoli to the ability to set up incredibly strong defensive stations around his Bell Flowers, which are defenseless on their own but provide excellent utility around which teamfights may occur. Beyond the general rule of hiding Bell Flowers from enemy sightlines, it is also generally a good idea to place Bell Flowers within line of sight of each other, and within 20 meters of each other, such that they may sustain one another when under heavy fire, or provide strong 80 hp/s healing to defenders.
Importantly Bell Flowers also serve as a meat shield for the team. A Bell Flower that is quickly taken down can also be quickly respawned on a 15 second cooldown, and any damage Bell Flowers take is damage your team is not taking. This makes sticking near both a Bell Flower and a peeling teammate a good idea for Bartoli, because for the enemy team, killing Bartoli is a far more valuable prospect than killing a Bell Flower. Bartoli will need to take advantage of both Living Glade, and the wall of health Bell Flowers provide, as he dances around the Glade slowing enemies and avoiding heavy fire. A Bell Flower in this case serves as an excellent anti-dive defense as long as Bartoli can stay near its Living Glade, and a teammate can peel for him.
For perhaps obvious reasons, Bartoli would be a fairly bad hero to play on maps with a lot of long-range sightlines. Either you are sacrificing angles and positions your Bell Flower can take, and end up healing a lot less than you should be, or you place Bell Flowers exposed to any form of long range attack, which removes them immediately. Bartoli needs to be able to place his Flowers around corners or in small rooms where Living Glade can give him the edge in a team fight, and yet have the Bell Flowers still have the sightlines to be capable of healing teammates who are openly contesting the point.
Agent Green is a splash damage weapon paired with a hero who has no means of achieving altitude, which means that direct shots are favoured in every scenario barring close range. The slow effect can help line up headshots more easily after the target has received a splash hit, and pairs well with Living Glade to make the movement speed difference between enemy and ally even more dramatic, in addition to making the CC effect of Living Glade even more oppressive. In these scenarios Bartoli can net double value from his shots by hitting both a Bell Flower and an enemy at the same time, simultaneously triggering Living Glade and dealing damage/slow to the enemy.
Living Glade is my way of introducing another support hero with the capabililty of speedboosting teammates. It's weaker than Lúcio's speedboost due to the lack of Amp it Up, and is much less consistent due to the cooldown restriction, and is much less flexible due to it being confined to stationary areas, unlike Lúcio's passive boost which has twice the AoE and travels along with him. Despite these shortcomings, Living Glade works for Bartoli due to his defensive playstyle, where Living Glade works primarily as a zoning/survivability tool which allows his team an edge in teamfights which have already been initiated, usually by the enemy team. Even so, his active Living Glade ability (the "E" ability independent of Bell Flower) can be used to initiate teamfights, just less effectively than Lúcio's speedboost.
You could even use Living Glade's push mechanic in combination with Agent Green's slow for environmental kills.
Bartoli's ultimate Inflorescence is my favourite part of his imaginary kit. I've always had a strong preference for poison abilities in games, especially those which are incredibly weak but last for an incredibly long time. It plays into his theme of being a botanist trying to nurture his garden, by rewarding his team (with 100 armour) if the Inflorescence manages to survive cultivation. Inflorescence is incredibly strong on paper, to me, because of how well it counters the popular low hp dive heroes Tracer and Genji, stops shield regen and Mercy's regen from triggering, and of course by raw numbers alone, if Inflorescence survives its full duration it outputs a total of 160 damage (counting the lingering effect) to all members of the enemy team within range, over 30 seconds.
This, and the low hp/s regeneration Inflorescence provides may sound insignificant, but bear in mind that unlike Valkyrie and Coalescence which output insane amounts of AoE healing over a long duration, Bartoli still has full access to his entire kit whilst Inflorescence is doing work. Bartoli can still heal allies with Bell Flower, cast Living Glade, and grow new Bell Flowers if the old ones die. He can even deal some decent damage and utility by firing shots with Agent Green, all the while the enemy team is slowly being poisoned to death. And if the teamfight lasts long enough, and the Inflorescence is kept alive, then a burst of 100 armour to all allies will grant a measureable burst advantage in the teamfight, and perhaps provide a sense of urgency to the enemy team in destroying the Inflorescence before the 30 second time limit ends. Which may or may not be overtuned in terms of its HP value, but it is very large, and very stationary, and perhaps generally just not that powerful that it should be capable of being removed even as much as 50% of the time.
All in all it's a very patient ultimate. It does not contribute to big plays, and its damage aspect is easily neutralised by decent healing or a Valkyrie on the enemy side. Its healing is half the effectiveness of a Zenyatta orb. It will have very little impact on fights where the enemy team invests offensive ultimates to deal large amounts of damage to the team. Those game-changing defensive ults will be relegated to heroes like Zenyatta or Lúcio, because Inflorescence is about giving the edge in a fight, as long as that fight lasts for a very long time.
Bartoli's passive Regrowth is a way for Bartoli to attain a slightly more interesting variant of Mercy's passive regeneration, where his survivability is dependent on the number of plants he has up. This includes Inflorescence, which means that if he has 3 plants up and is under the effect of Inflorescence's passive regeneration, he basically has a Zenyatta Orb on him as long as his ultimate lasts. Apart from his passive regen, Living Glade provides him with excellent mobility and CC to survive, for example placing it in front of you as you run away from a D.Va, who boostless would not be able to follow you across the Glade. Stationing yourself near a Bell Flower would allow you another cast of Glade around the flower, and you can slow attackers with your secondary fire.
I think that he would be harmless to dive on, due to his very low and limited single-target damage, but if he plays around his Flowers well enough he should be able to evade most close-ranged attackers for meaningful amounts of time.
The second part of his passive is just a fun little thing I'd really like, but he could easily do without. I enjoy silly but situationally effective abilities that you activate after death, like Zyra's death plant thing from League of Legends.
Very Low Effort Character Lore:
The Omnic Crisis left much devastation in its wake, and efforts to rebuild were hampered by the rapidly diminishing rations in many agricultures which saw arable farmland turned to ash overnight. Despite humanity’s best attempts to create alternative sources of nutrition over the next decade, famine teetered on the populace of many developing nations and the worst was feared, until one day, the Royal Society published the work of one hitherto unknown Bartoli Webber.
A geneticist and a botanist at the young age of 22, Webber had managed to create a Chimeric breed of rye, combining the genomes of wheat and rye, silversword and cactus, which could be grown in the most hellish conditions at an accelerated pace; in ash, desert, or tundra, it would provide twice the yield of traditional cultivars with twice the nutrition in every grain. He named this cultivar “Silverye”, and within two months of tentative adoption in many nations, Silverye was observed to flourish and flower in even the most devastating of terroirs. Fears of famine which had escalated to the brink of mass panic over the past decade were dissipated overnight.
The discovery jumpstarted his career. Considered popularly as both savior and savant, Webber was showered with a gargantuan amount of research funding, and other fiscal niceties and accolades. Born the son of a struggling florist, wealth and popularity introduced him to a plethora of unaccustomed luxuries, along with a bottomless well of resources for his experiments; both of which he availed with passionate relish. During this period, he fraternised with scientific associates and socialised in upper society, establishing valuable political connections.
The business of saving the world concluded, Webber decided that the next step was to improve it. He attempted to infuse animals with plant genomes, with the intent of providing them with autotrophy and thereby reducing the overall food consumption of livestock. This was a half-success. With photosynthetic supplementation, the animals were capable of sustaining themselves with half the consumption of their domesticated counterparts. However, the taste of these animals was dramatically altered, with meat products such as “coriander beef” and “asparagus pork” being deeply unpopular with both meat eaters and vegetarians alike.
It was at this point that he gave up on a solution and instead sought an alternative. He decided that in order to cull food consumption, there was one species of animal that did not matter very much however they tasted. With that, he began running experiments on human cells. He began with himself.
After a year of collaborating with Doctor Moira O’Deorain on providing humans with unpigmented photosynthesis, they decided that the results observed from Webber’s organ cultures were overwhelmingly positive, and living human volunteers were finally recruited for DNA modification. However, they were mystified when none of the humans showed any reaction to their experiments. They ran multiple variations of the same genetic program, and a month and 30 highly paid volunteers later, the first and only physical effect to be observed was an induced coma in an allergic patient.
This blow to their research came only a few days after O’Deorain’s discreditment and censure by the broader scientific community, when she published a controversial paper detailing the methodology of custom genetic programs which alter DNA at a cellular level, the same program Webber and O’Deorain had been using in their collaboration. Scientific quorum declared these programs to be methodologically flawed and unethical, and when run yielded none of the results O’Deorain claimed to have observed. Webber’s political protections and popular influence was not enough to shield them from O’Deorain’s controversy, and in the wake of the prognosis of their comatose volunteer, Webber was forced to cease his collaboration on the matter and publically admit the dubiousness of O’Deorain’s genetic program, which was ineffective on all of their human volunteers. Regardless, Bartoli asserted that he had faith in O’Deorain’s methodology, and when O’Deorain was later removed from the Royal Society he was the only one to speak out against her expulsion.
Amidst the negative press, Webber’s frustration at the failures of their experiments was exacerbated. In an act of recklessness and irritation which could only be described as a temper tantrum, Webber conducted the experiment on himself.
When he awoke, he found himself cradled in a meadow of soft, undulating grass, and around him there had emerged a jungle of impossibly tall flowers. Horrified, Bartoli fumbled for egress, until he found himself stood before a particularly impenetrable wall of vines. There he experienced a sharp pang of anguish; and the tree-flowers around him glowed purple, the vines unravelled and slithered away like snakes, the grass beneath him coaxed him forward through the newborn passage; and he realised what had happened.
For the next few days he shut down the laboratory and investigated the full extent of his newfound abilities. He could harvest photic energy through his skin and through the plants around him, and apart from certain nutrients in the form of pills he no longer required the consumption of food. He understood that the plants were spawned from the plant-animal chimera cultures in the various receptacles in the lab. He inferred that they were not discrete entities, and concluded that any emotion that they displayed, gentleness, playfulness; and the actions they’ve executed, lifting a test tube, putting down a test tube; were all manifestations of his will. He realised that he was the mind, and the plants were now his body. He could manipulate regular plants and accelerate their growth, but could not move them, the same way one can flail their limbs all they want but the ear remains stubbornly and infuriatingly stationary.
He was about to publish the successful results, including the side effects, but when he confided in O’Deorain about his planned vindication she urged him to keep the success of their experiments secret, alluding to a mysterious organisation which would be discontented with the public knowledge that her program was not a failure. A few years later, with the promulgation of the Venice Incident this organisation was revealed to be Blackwatch, and with discretion no longer necessary, Webber finally published his paper, and openly incorporated his abilities into his work. With his natural expertise and his unique abilities to detect plant life, accelerate growth and isolate disease at will, he and Mei-Ling Zhou are currently on the fast track in regrowing the Amazon Rainforest, which had been mostly poisoned and destroyed during the Crisis.
That is not to say that he did not have fun with his abilities. Many a socialite would rave about the time at a wedding where Bartoli made a bouquet of different flowers entwine, take root, and grow into a single extravagant tree; and that evening at a celebrity’s barbecue where Webber shrank a great oak down to a copse the size of a bonsai; and one must not neglect to mention the Spanish ambassador’s dinner party where “Bart” spawned a forest of grapes around the dining table, the racemes drooping like strings of rubies and garnets around the guests, which when plucked and burst between one’s teeth outpoured the sweetest and most intoxicating wine.
And who could forget that starry night, when five armed men came into his domicile in Manuas, and tasered him in the chest.
The recent attempt by Talon (led by Gabriel Reyes) to capture him and exploit his abilities has opened Bartoli’s eyes to both the Talon threat and his own full combative potential, when he pushed one attacker off the second floor with a carpet of inimical grass, and nearly asphyxiated the others in a nest of living vines. He was healing his wounds with a conjured Bell Flower when Reyes materialised behind him, but at the same time, Overwatch arrived.
He has now taken up on the offer of his saviours (on the merit that they had to do very little saving) - Tracer, Winston, and surprisingly enough Mei, whom he learns had been keeping an eye on him all along - to join a furtive Overwatch in taking a stand against an increasingly brazen Talon.
Example Voicelines:
Placing Bell Flower: I’m not sure if there’s quite enough sun there.
Placing Bell Flower: I think I’ll call you Amanda!
Bell Flower destroyed: Ah, but that one was my favourite
Bell Flower destroyed: Amanda!!!
Respawning: I made a mistake somewhere, but what was it?
Respawning: Plantboy ready to rumble.
Ultimate(Ally): Inflorescence has been seeded!
Ultimate(Enemy): Behold, the Nelumba Maxima!
On killing Widowmaker: Perrrsonne n’echappe mon regarrd arr bleurr argh (mock French accent).
Activated Voicelines
"Excelsior!"
"Would you like some Aloe to go with that?"
"The flowers of good must sometimes be trimmed to save the seeds of virtue."
"Turn on the lights! I'm starving!"
"How do you get milk from an almond?"
"Aubergine, Eggplant. Courgette, Zucchini."
"Rabbit's foot fern in the Precambrian."
"What a quagmire you've found yourself in."
"A tree would have put up more of a challenge."
"What a curious specimen."
"You are chemiluminescent."
"Asparagus pork for everyone!"
"Belphegor has been hard at work today."
"Teleology, my old mistress."
"I am intoxicating myself."
"Do I have your permission to study you?"
"Dilly dilly."
"Purely experimental"
"I wonder if I can make you better."
"Evolution? How old fashioned."
Map Quotes:
Watchpoint: Gibraltar: Winston, I think you made a mistake here. Oh I’m just kidding, I have absolutely no idea what any of these equations mean.
Oasis: Is this a water park or a university?
Horizon: Lunar Colony: There has been so much cruelty here. It pains me that I can no longer enjoy the beauty.
Volskaya Industries: I hate this place. The curve is stepped and the nuance is outlawed. And it’s so very, very cold.
King’s Row: Father’s shop is nearby, I’ll pay him a visit later. I imagine he’ll be pleased by the company I’m keeping.
Route 66/Temple of Anubis: I hope I don't put on any weight from all the sun here.
Interactions:
Winston: Yes, yes, I know. I am a talking gorilla.
Bartoli: No, that brand of peanut butter. You have good taste.
Bartoli: I’ve read your paper on the Chronal Accelerator, Winston, but I still don’t understand how it works. Your mind is something of a miracle.
Winston: Then biologists like you must be miracle workers.
Doomfist: You of all people should know that conflict is the only way for humanity to evolve.
Bartoli: Thus spoke the Neanderthal.
Bartoli: You do realise that humanity already has plenty enough problems without needing you to create more?
Doomfist: I’m sure you will agree with me, Doctor Webber, that a vaccine is not a problem.
Tracer: Bart, since you don’t have to eat if you don’t want to, does that mean you don’t have to-
Bartoli: Enough.
Symmetra: Your research saved many children in Hyderabad. I am thankful.
Bartoli: What’s Hyderabad?
(Junkertown)Bartoli: Oh look, it’s Junkertown. Vishkar would love to have a presence here.
Symmetra: No, we would not.
Zenyatta: Thank you for that gift, Bartoli. I am fond of bonsai.
Bartoli: You show compassion, regardless of sentiment. For that I am an admirer.
Bartoli: As you can see from this graph, the rate of obesity greatly increases with the incidence of people being named Mei.
Mei: You are such a bully.
Mei: Barty, I think this green tea hasn’t been steeped enough.
Bartoli: What makes you think it was steeped?
Bartoli: So let me get this straight, you were hibernating for a decade, and somehow still managed to not lose any weight.
Mei: Bart! Shut up!
Moira: Hmmm.
Bartoli: Hmmm.
Moira: I saw an opportunity to further my research. It was nothing personal.
Bartoli: But that’s the problem, O’Deorain. That’s the bloody problem.
Bartoli: What exactly are you trying to do here?
Moira: Perhaps you should answer that question first.
Bartoli: That was an interesting paper you wrote, Moira, about how pygmy rabbits react to psychosomatic stimuli.
Moira: Perhaps more interesting was how humans reacted to that paper.
Reaper: I see we meet again, plantboy.
Bartoli: Who are you again?
Widowmaker: A lucky shot.
Bartoli: Luck favours the prepared mind.
Orisa: Bartoli, I have read about your work during the hunger crisis. You are an inspiration to both Efi and me.
Bartoli: That is pleasant to hear. Thank you, Orisa.
Mercy: I appreciate your concerns, Doctor Webber, but human experimentation is off-limits.
Bartoli: Has anyone ever told you that you look very young for your age?
Bartoli: That is some remarkable work Ziegler has done on you. Is it alright if I... observed you, for a while?
Genji: Of course. Oh. You mean… Maybe.
(Route 66) McCree: It's a free country.
Bartoli: Huh, I was hoping it had more value.
Sombra: I have been learning a lot about you, Doctor Bartoli Webber.
Bartoli: All good things, I hope.
(In Volskaya) Zarya: Don’t expect Russia to like you, Webber. My country has never benefited from your perversions.
Bartoli: Don’t worry, I would never expect Russia to care about anyone but herself.
Zarya: You are playing God, Webber.
Bartoli: I understand how you feel. You feel angry, you feel disgusted, you feel outraged. But let me ask you one question: do you know what it's like to feel hungry?
Bartoli: You know, I could probably do something to spruce up the Outback. Do you like spruces?
Junkrat: I was running out of things to blow up!
Lúcio: Bart, you need to come to my party this weekend. Everyone would love to see you!
Bartoli: Let me take a look at the guest list and I’ll consider it.
Lúcio: Bart, do a trick!
Bartoli: Check your pockets. Look. It's a staghorn fern!
Hanzo: Webber, I… I heard that you can grow grapes made of wine. Could you…?
Bartoli: I understand. Though I don't suppose you'd prefer rice wine instead?

Previous episode:
https://www.reddit.com/exmormon/comments/b1xpgh/ten_year_anniversary_of_my_name_removal_a_house/
Chapter Three - Home Sweet Zion
Uprooted
My parents had been planning for years to leave Utah as soon as I completed my high school education. Their only goal for remaining in the state as long as they did, was to see that their children did not get life ripped from underneath them, during those critical fragile years of youth, as they had seen occur so many times in other people they knew. Yet they still managed to pull the rug out from under me, by deciding to move back to Arkansas just one week after my commencement ceremony.
At the time when I should have been enjoying life, relaxing with friends, and finding a summer job to earn my way into college or a church mission, I instead spent my time helping my parents organize a yard sale, and pack my belongings for a cross-country move.
Once again, my father couldn’t be bothered by renting a traditional moving van for our property. Instead he found an ancient used farm truck, which he purchased cheap, because the engine needed serious work. After spending the entire spring making the vehicle suitable for transport, my parents and I finally set out from Richmond in early June 1994.
That very same day, Mormons across the world mourned the passing of their leader, Ezra Taft Benson, as they tuned in to view his funeral proceedings. I managed to catch a brief minute of news coverage that evening from a motel room in Rock Springs, Wyoming.
I never met any church president or Apostle, personally. Owing to the nature of events surrounding my life, at that time, I didn’t feel any urge to grieve with my fellow church members. I considered Benson’s passing newsworthy, though, at his advanced age, hardly shocking. To me, the death of my faith’s prophet carried little more weight than news of a deceased Hollywood icon. I already knew exactly who would be replacing him in that position.
Mormon Church hierarchy has a similar structure to Catholicism. Instead of a Pope and College of Cardinals, the LDS Church is led by the Prophet and Quorum of Twelve Apostles. Though naming of a new Mormon prophet takes place in a much simpler manner than a papal conclave.
Since 1844, after Joseph Smith’s assassination, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has observed the practice of apostolic succession. Every church prophet, and apostle, holds that title until death. Upon the death of the prophet, leadership of the church rests with the apostles who meet and vote on a new prophet from among their ranks.
Each member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles is ranked in order of seniority within the group. When a new apostle is ordained, he is assigned the number twelve position. Ultimately, the longest serving apostle is always called to be the next prophet. Even though they meet to cast ballots, the lot always falls unanimously upon the senior member of the quorum. The vote is more ceremonial than anything, but the apostles always emerge stating that a prophetic revelation led to the succession of a new leader.
When Ezra Taft Benson passed away, Howard W. Hunter was the obvious choice for new church president. So, to no one’s surprise, he was ordained to that position.
We arrived in Arkansas a couple days after Benson’s funeral, thus beginning the loneliest summer of my life. I found my first ever full-time job, pushing shopping carts in the Berryville Wal-Mart parking lot, from the cart returns, to store entrance. The pay was horrible, at five dollars an hour, but I did get plenty of fresh air, working outside all day, and I managed to build my strength a little, pushing lines of up to 30 carts at a time.
I had no friends in Arkansas, and the country music dominated region left me few entertainment options. Life was virtually non-existent for me, and I loathed country music. My parents were still relatively inactive from church, so I didn’t bother making many appearances there either. On most Saturdays I found myself making the hour and a half trek north toward Springfield, Missouri, and Battlefield Mall. The drive along highway 13 is one of the more scenic stretches of road you may ever find, and it gave me numerous opportunities to clear my head and think about what I wanted out of life. The thing I thought of most was devising a way to get back to my life, and my few friends, in Utah.
My way of getting back to Utah came in the form of a visit from my sister and brother-in-law in September. Jane wanted to visit the place she once used to live, and John came to see the Ozarks for the first time. Our family spent much of the week visiting a variety of tourist traps, and we even attended a concert in Branson performed by the famous Mormon family, the Osmond’s, who owned their own theater in “New Nashville.”
That day in Branson, Jane and John cornered me in a gift shop, away from our parents, and presented an offer I couldn’t refuse. They envisioned my life going nowhere in my present situation. My parents were being a bad example, or so they said, by not attending church with me. The only way I would ever find true happiness in life would be through church activity and serving a mission. They wanted to help me find my “true happiness,” suggesting I move to Utah with them that same week.
I had exactly three days to ponder this proposal before they made their way back to their home in Logan, but I had already made my decision by the time the words came out of their mouth. Three obvious advantages to making this move became evident: 1 – All my friends were near Logan, where I would soon be living. 2 – As a teenager still, I wanted to get away from my parents, who were clearly cramping my style. 3 – When the basketball season arrived, I would not be able to view Utah Jazz games while living in Arkansas.
The next day our family met together, and I shared with them my decision to return to Utah. I think my mother took the news a bit hard, but at that point I couldn’t care less how my parents felt. I wasn’t going to let anyone, much less my parents, influence my important life choices. She ultimately agreed that I should do what I felt was right and did not stand in the way of my decision. The irony of the situation was that my decision was influenced by what someone else wanted for my life. In two days, I packed up a few belongings, and settled my business in Arkansas, including quitting my Wal-Mart job and closing out my local bank accounts.
On Wednesday, September 21, 1994, John, Jane, and I set off from Berryville, Arkansas in their small overloaded Audi sedan. My mother looked on, tear-eyed, from the top step of our apartment building as she waved goodbye. By contrast, I could barely contain my excitement about leaving that miserable place.
Our travels didn’t take us directly to Logan. Instead we made a one-day detour northeast toward St. Louis, Missouri. After driving through downtown and passing by the massive Gateway Arch (we didn’t have time to stop and take a closer look), the trip continued northward along the Mississippi River.
For just the second time in my life, and the first in memory, I visited Nauvoo, Illinois, the one-time headquarters of Mormonism. The three of us toured all the usual sites, the visitor center, the homes and shops, and the Temple grounds. When the Mormons were expelled from the state in 1846, mobs ransacked and burned their sacred structure. A short time later a tornado collapsed the remaining standing walls, and the lot remained vacant for more than 150 years. In 1994, the church had yet to announce the Temple’s reconstruction, so the lot still sat vacant. We stood together on a barren patch of ground viewing all that remained of the once impressive edifice, a stone perimeter, marking what once served as the base of the Temple’s foundation.
An eerie quiet hung in the air around the Temple lot. Some Mormons claim it is the spirit of thousands of Latter-day Saints that sacrificed all for their God that brings a certain reverence to that patch of earth. I didn’t sense any reverence or peace at all. To me, the whole thing just seemed dreary and depressing.
We also visited the Carthage Jail, where Joseph and Hyrum Smith were both murdered on June 27, 1844. Again, I noted the same depressing mood there as at the Temple grounds in Nauvoo. I was glad when we finally escaped the tribute to death and resumed our own lives of getting back to Utah.
Over the next several months I settled into life in Logan, Utah, calling the brown, two-bedroom townhouse on Third West Street, where John and Jane Doe lived, home. I bounced around from one temporary job to the next until I finally found full-time employment with a metal and paper recycling company. I hooked up with my singing buddies again, and we had a lot of fun performing for various audiences. Most importantly for me at the time, I regained my focus in the church and began making necessary preparations for the next major phase of my life.
Next Episode: Chapter Four - Misadventures in Missionary Ventures

These are insider buys of $10K or more reported to the SEC in the last 7 days. The SEC defines an insider as any officer, director or 10% shareholder. It is not illegal for these people to buy or sell their own shares. In fact, since most of them get paid in stock options, it is expected. However, it is illegal for them to trade on inside information that has not been made public. So for example if there are drug trial results that are bad and not public, insiders cannot dump shares. That said, many people have observed that insiders - in general - seem to have a good track record at timing their purchases.

Date	Symbol	Company	Insider	Shares	Value
05‑19	LTS	Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services, Inc.	Malamed Adam Scott	5,000	10,750
05‑19	CCBG	Capital City Bank Group, Inc.	BENSE ALLAN G	3,571	64,992
05‑19	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	3,075	20,280
05‑19	MNI	McClatchy Co. (THE)	Forman Craig I	3,000	24,660
05‑19	BRKR	Bruker Corp.	LAUKIEN FRANK H	3,200	83,631
05‑19	UMBF	UMB Financial Corp.	Murphy Timothy R.	2,000	141,060
05‑19	NVLS	Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc.	BVF PARTNERS L P/IL	6,253	14,382
05‑19	FH	FORM Holdings Corp.	Abbe Richard	33,000	50,860
05‑19	CRD.A	Crawford & Co.	Sturisky Hilton	2,497	18,328
05‑19	SPKE	Spark Energy, Inc.	Maxwell W Keith III	7,195	274,849
05‑19	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	SCHOEN JEFFREY S	5,000	66,000
05‑19	EFOI	Energy Focus, Inc.	Tewksbury Ted L III	3,333	10,445
05‑19	EGRX	Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pernock David	255	20,321
05‑19	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	GLOSS RODNEY D	2,100	27,279
05‑19	CNBKA	Century Bancorp, Inc.	Filler James J	200	11,840
05‑19	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	4,125	27,225
05‑19	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Seth	101,376	630,123
05‑19	FH	FORM Holdings Corp.	Abbe Richard	6,670	10,280
05‑19	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Brook	101,376	630,123
05‑19	IKNX	Ikonics Corp.	NERGES JOSEPH R	2,000	16,702
05‑19	IKNX	Ikonics Corp.	NERGES JOSEPH R	1,500	12,699
05‑19	LNT	Alliant Energy Corp.	Dunie Deborah B.	3,700	146,566
05‑19	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	2,000	13,180
05‑19	OSBC	Old Second Bancorp, Inc.	BONIFAS EDWARD	2,500	28,750
05‑19	CRD.A	Crawford & Co.	Sturisky Hilton	2,500	18,500
05‑19	INFU	InfuSystems Holdings, Inc.	Morris Ryan J.	15,000	19,250
05‑19	AAT	American Assets Trust Inc	RADY ERNEST S	26,041	1,025,234
05‑19	ICBK	County Bancorp, Inc.	ZIEGELBAUER GARY J.	1,000	23,489
05‑19	MNI	McClatchy Co. (THE)	Forman Craig I	2,200	18,150
05‑18	KNDI	Kandi Technolgies Group, Inc.	Yu Henry	5,000	19,660
05‑18	PATK	Patrick Industries, Inc.	WELCH M SCOTT	5,000	332,500
05‑18	AIG	American International Group, Inc.	DUPERREAULT BRIAN	80,000	4,918,248
05‑18	EDGW	Edgewater Technology, Inc.	DiSanto Frederick D.	1,702	12,203
05‑18	FRPT	Freshpet, Inc.	Cyr William B.	7,300	100,349
05‑18	ANCX	Access National Corp.	Moore Mark D.	1,500	42,075
05‑18	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Holdings LLC	115,889	2,039,426
05‑18	HBAN	Huntington Bancshares, Inc.	STEINOUR STEPHEN D	17,565	217,630
05‑18	BXS	BancorpSouth, Inc.	Campbell James Elbert III	7,000	202,510
05‑18	RTTR	Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	FOEHR MATTHEW W	18,000	11,155
05‑18	ETM	Entercom Communications Corp.	FIELD JOSEPH M	67,916	658,792
05‑18	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	5,400	35,532
05‑18	BEBE	bebe stores, inc.	MILLER LLOYD I III	26,675	98,783
05‑18	SUNW	Sunworks, Inc.	McDonnel Paul Clayton	15,525	22,545
05‑18	SELB	Selecta Biosciences, Inc.	SPRINGER TIMOTHY A	4,860	68,040
05‑18	CNBKA	Century Bancorp, Inc.	Filler James J	900	53,586
05‑18	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	3,900	25,701
05‑18	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	6,500	42,900
05‑18	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Seth	101,376	632,069
05‑18	DKL	Delek Logistics Partners LP	Delek US Holdings, Inc.	1,100	33,690
05‑18	INSY	Insys Therapeutics Inc.	MEYER STEVEN J	8,000	97,680
05‑18	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Brook	101,376	632,069
05‑18	HBAN	Huntington Bancshares, Inc.	STEINOUR STEPHEN D	28,835	357,554
05‑18	WHLR	Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc.	Kelly David	1,435	14,379
05‑18	STRS	Stratus Properties, Inc.	Oasis Management Co Ltd.	2,846	78,180
05‑18	CIVB	Civista Bancshares, Inc.	WURM GERALD B	1,500	30,975
05‑18	CIVB	Civista Bancshares, Inc.	STEINEMANN GEORGE E	1,150	23,805
05‑18	CIVB	Civista Bancshares, Inc.	Parcher Charles A.	650	13,228
05‑18	AAT	American Assets Trust Inc	RADY ERNEST S	20,099	783,861
05‑18	BRKR	Bruker Corp.	LAUKIEN FRANK H	35,000	921,375
05‑18	LBY	Libbey, Inc.	FOLEY WILLIAM A	5,000	40,650
05‑18	CVO	Cenveo, Inc.	PURI NATHU R	4,626	23,884
05‑18	NVLS	Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc.	BVF PARTNERS L P/IL	16,436	37,800
05‑18	BBW	Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.	Point72 Asset Management, L.P.	22,317	234,297
05‑18	REV	Revlon, Inc.	PERELMAN RONALD O	100,000	1,948,450
05‑18	REV	Revlon, Inc.	PERELMAN RONALD O	125,000	2,413,125
05‑18	VNOM	Viper Energy Partners LP	Hollis Michael L.	1,328	23,518
05‑18	PHF	Pacholder High Yield Fund, Inc.	Bulldog Investors, LLC	15,661	124,505
05‑18	DWSN	Dawson Geophysical Company New	BARRETT WILLIAM J	5,000	20,250
05‑18	NVLS	Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc.	BVF PARTNERS L P/IL	10,541	24,242
05‑18	PBHC	Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc.	JOYCE GEORGE P	1,700	25,839
05‑18	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Capital Partners LP	9,111	160,336
05‑18	QHC	Quorum Health Corporation	Miller Thomas Daniel	185,000	527,250
05‑18	KS	KapStone Paper & Packaging Corp.	STORCH DAVID P	5,000	99,982
05‑18	HBAN	Huntington Bancshares, Inc.	STEINOUR STEPHEN D	1,400	17,354
05‑18	RTIX	RTI Surgical, Inc.	Farhat Camille	61,693	286,872
05‑18	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Capital Partners LP	115,889	2,039,426
05‑18	FH	FORM Holdings Corp.	Bernstein Bruce	20,000	32,700
05‑18	SPKE	Spark Energy, Inc.	Maxwell W Keith III	5,615	211,629
05‑18	OLBK	Old Line Bancshares, Inc.	GRAHAM THOMAS H	500	13,546
05‑18	SXCP	SunCoke Energy Partners LP	Sun Coal & Coke LLC	39,400	619,502
05‑18	EDGW	Edgewater Technology, Inc.	Wolf Kurt James	20,000	144,390
05‑18	RLH	Red Lion Hotels Corp.	WOLFE ROBERT G	2,500	16,000
05‑18	BEBE	bebe stores, inc.	MILLER LLOYD I III	72,300	268,002
05‑18	IVTY	Invuity, Inc.	Roberts Eric W	2,000	14,250
05‑18	WHLR	Wheeler Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc.	Zwerdling Jeffrey M.	4,000	39,840
05‑18	CCUR	Concurrent Computer Corp.	SINGER JULIAN D.	190,000	1,168,500
05‑18	NJMC	New Jersey Mining Company	Swallow John	100,000	11,500
05‑18	IMCI	Infinite Group, Inc.	VILLA JAMES	600,000	18,000
05‑18	AVT	Avnet, Inc.	Moriarty Kevin M	6,933	250,143
05‑18	APC	Anadarko Petroleum Corp.	CHASE ANTHONY R	1,905	99,967
05‑18	APO	Apollo Global Management LLC	TIGER GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC	116,600	3,065,531
05‑18	HBAN	Huntington Bancshares, Inc.	STEINOUR STEPHEN D	2,200	27,269
05‑18	FSP	Franklin Street Properties Corp.	Murray Georgia	5,000	55,988
05‑18	CCBG	Capital City Bank Group, Inc.	BENSE ALLAN G	1,429	26,004
05‑18	QHC	Quorum Health Corporation	Koury Shaheed	10,000	27,200
05‑18	QHC	Quorum Health Corporation	MCCARD RAY HAROLD JR	4,000	10,680
05‑18	X	United States Steel Corp.	MASCARENAS PAUL ANTHONY	1,500	28,962
05‑18	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Holdings LLC	9,111	160,336
05‑17	ESXB	Community Bankers Trust Corp.	Barber Gerald F.	1,260	10,017
05‑17	PE	Parsley Energy, Inc.	ALAMEDDINE A R	1,900	60,128
05‑17	PE	Parsley Energy, Inc.	ALAMEDDINE A R	1,600	50,632
05‑17	ESDI	Eastside Distilling, Inc.	GLENBROOK CAPITAL LP	153,846	200,000
05‑17	HD	Home Depot, Inc. (The)	Hewett Wayne M.	350	54,988
05‑17	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Seth	101,376	623,645
05‑17	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Brook	101,376	623,645
05‑17	STRS	Stratus Properties, Inc.	Oasis Management Co Ltd.	5,256	144,540
05‑17	CVO	Cenveo, Inc.	PURI NATHU R	2,294	11,729
05‑17	BBW	Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.	Point72 Asset Management, L.P.	11,286	119,621
05‑17	PHF	Pacholder High Yield Fund, Inc.	Bulldog Investors, LLC	12,248	97,493
05‑17	HVBC	HV Bancorp, Inc.	Froggatt Scott W	900	12,897
05‑17	HVBC	HV Bancorp, Inc.	Froggatt Scott W	700	10,045
05‑17	IVTY	Invuity, Inc.	Roberts Eric W	4,500	31,725
05‑17	APO	Apollo Global Management LLC	TIGER GLOBAL MANAGEMENT LLC	565,072	14,943,329
05‑17	GARS	Garrison Capital Inc.	Tansey Joseph Bertrand	9,000	78,300
05‑17	EDGW	Edgewater Technology, Inc.	DiSanto Frederick D.	2,841	20,394
05‑17	FH	FORM Holdings Corp.	Perlman Andrew D	25,000	39,275
05‑17	FRGI	Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc.	FRIEDMAN BRIAN P	28,093	608,197
05‑17	ETP	Energy Transfer Partners, L.P.	Grimm Michael K	3,000	69,565
05‑17	SRG	Seritage Growth Properties	BERKOWITZ BRUCE R	4,200	162,750
05‑17	PNR	Pentair plc.	GARDEN EDWARD P	64,100	4,173,468
05‑17	BRKR	Bruker Corp.	LAUKIEN FRANK H	38,000	992,336
05‑17	NVLS	Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc.	BVF PARTNERS L P/IL	6,897	15,854
05‑17	VNOM	Viper Energy Partners LP	WEST STEVEN E	14,000	249,628
05‑17	NVLS	Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc.	BVF PARTNERS L P/IL	24,965	57,387
05‑17	NVLS	Nivalis Therapeutics, Inc.	BVF PARTNERS L P/IL	5,510	12,666
05‑17	PNNT	PennantPark Investment Corp.	PENN ARTHUR H	15,000	115,044
05‑17	RDUS	Radius Health, Inc.	BIOTECH GROWTH N V	18,000	593,662
05‑17	VLRX	Valeritas, Inc.	Timberlake John Edward	2,000	10,460
05‑17	CBL	CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.	Reinsmidt Kathryn A.	2,688	19,716
05‑17	III	Information Services Group, Inc.	CONNORS MICHAEL P	5,335	19,846
05‑17	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Holdings LLC	127,014	2,271,849
05‑17	PRGX	PRGX Global, Inc.	Drapkin Matthew A	17,329	105,350
05‑17	REXX	Rex Energy Corp.	Rajan Thomas	3,100	12,400
05‑17	SPKE	Spark Energy, Inc.	Maxwell W Keith III	12,638	462,804
05‑17	LBY	Libbey, Inc.	Burmeister James Charles	1,301	10,681
05‑17	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Holdings LLC	9,986	178,616
05‑17	LBY	Libbey, Inc.	Burmeister James Charles	1,400	11,480
05‑17	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Capital Partners LP	9,986	178,616
05‑17	SXCP	SunCoke Energy Partners LP	Sun Coal & Coke LLC	67,300	1,031,117
05‑17	SWM	Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.	Keenan Jeffrey	1,000	37,800
05‑17	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Capital Partners LP	127,014	2,271,849
05‑17	CBL	CBL & Associates Properties, Inc.	Curry Jeffery V.	2,300	16,951
05‑17	GE	General Electric Co.	Beattie William G	4,000	110,800
05‑17	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	GLOSS RODNEY D	4,300	58,050
05‑17	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	GLOSS RODNEY D	1,600	21,200
05‑17	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	GLOSS RODNEY D	1,600	20,800
05‑17	SWM	Schweitzer-Mauduit International, Inc.	Keenan Jeffrey	1,000	37,900
05‑17	HGV	Hilton Grand Vacations Inc.	Wang Mark D	3,000	107,320
05‑17	LSXMA	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series A	BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC	100,071	3,647,318
05‑17	LSXMK	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series C	BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC	580,907	21,075,829
05‑17	MFIN	Medallion Financial Corp.	RUDNICK DAVID L	61,800	134,724
05‑17	BEBE	bebe stores, inc.	MILLER LLOYD I III	8,000	30,000
05‑17	BEBE	bebe stores, inc.	MILLER LLOYD I III	16,325	62,952
05‑17	BEBE	bebe stores, inc.	MILLER LLOYD I III	58,700	224,422
05‑17	ETM	Entercom Communications Corp.	FIELD JOSEPH M	67,916	663,159
05‑17	MPX	Marine Products Corp.	Rollins Timothy Curtis	2,909	36,865
05‑17	UIHC	United Insurance Holdings Corp.	POITEVINT ALEC II	3,519	52,897
05‑17	AAT	American Assets Trust Inc	RADY ERNEST S	34,300	1,322,608
05‑17	AR	Antero Resources Corporation	RADY PAUL M	500,000	10,555,850
05‑17	INFU	InfuSystems Holdings, Inc.	Morris Ryan J.	9,614	12,979
05‑17	PBI	Pitney Bowes, Inc.	SANFORD LINDA S	5,000	75,444
05‑17	CLNE	Clean Energy Fuels Corp.	Scully Stephen	20,000	49,800
05‑17	FMAO	Farmers & Merchants Bancorp Inc.	Stamm K. Brad	500	30,000
05‑17	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	SCHOEN JEFFREY S	5,000	67,500
05‑17	NJMC	New Jersey Mining Company	Swallow John	300,000	34,500
05‑17	AR	Antero Resources Corporation	Warren Glen C Jr	250,000	5,247,500
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	4,000	26,640
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	4,000	26,620
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	10,500	69,825
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	2,861	19,011
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	2,500	16,325
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	3,000	19,560
05‑17	CNBKA	Century Bancorp, Inc.	Filler James J	460	28,469
05‑17	CNBKA	Century Bancorp, Inc.	Filler James J	724	42,962
05‑17	APC	Anadarko Petroleum Corp.	FLUOR PETER J	20,000	1,036,556
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	2,800	18,228
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	16,800	109,200
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	11,898	77,218
05‑17	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	HAILEY DOUGLAS	10,000	133,750
05‑17	MFON	Mobivity Holdings Corp.	AKIN THOMAS B	85,000	59,330
05‑17	AEL	American Equity Investment Life Holding Co.	Matula Alan David	6,270	150,249
05‑17	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	8,039	52,093
05‑17	MATX	Matson, Inc.	KURIYAMA STANLEY M	3,300	98,175
05‑17	NVR	NVR, Inc.	Ross Susan Williamson	30	67,603
05‑17	NMFC	New Mountain Finance Corporation	Ogens David	3,600	51,732
05‑17	YUMC	Yum China Holdings, Inc.	Ng Shella	4,420	153,574
05‑17	OVLY	Oak Valley Bancorp	HOLDER H RANDOLPH JR	2,790	39,702
05‑17	CUR	Neuralstem, Inc.	Daly Richard J	7,500	30,000
05‑17	CNNB	Cincinnati Bancorp	Bedinghaus Robert A.	1,000	10,000
05‑17	OSBC	Old Second Bancorp, Inc.	BONIFAS EDWARD	2,500	29,000
05‑17	TIS	Orchids Paper Products Company	BERLIN STEVEN R	1,000	13,373
05‑17	IFF	International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc	Winder Investment Pte Ltd	5,300	705,012
05‑17	SELB	Selecta Biosciences, Inc.	SPRINGER TIMOTHY A	11,244	157,483
05‑17	APC	Anadarko Petroleum Corp.	WALKER R A	19,300	1,000,213
05‑17	LSXMA	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series A	WESCHLER, R. TED	100,071	3,647,318
05‑17	CUBA	Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund	HERZFELD THOMAS J	1,670	11,857
05‑17	LSXMK	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series C	WESCHLER, R. TED	580,907	21,075,829
05‑17	CHDN	Churchill Downs Inc.	Rankin R Alex	1,000	164,172
05‑17	ED	Consolidated Edison, Inc.	SANFORD LINDA S	900	71,766
05‑17	EDR	Education Realty Trust, Inc.	Schaefer Kimberly	1,000	37,630
05‑17	PNR	Pentair plc.	GARDEN EDWARD P	231,864	15,143,038
05‑17	DAR	Darling Ingredients Inc.	LYNCH PATRICK C	19,710	299,592
05‑17	CODI	Compass Diversified Holdings	BOTTIGLIERI JAMES	3,000	48,728
05‑17	PNR	Pentair plc.	GARDEN EDWARD P	102,036	6,603,770
05‑17	KODK	Eastman Kodak Co.	CLARKE JEFF	3,000	28,140
05‑17	DWSN	Dawson Geophysical Company New	BARRETT WILLIAM J	5,000	21,000
05‑17	VER	VEREIT, Inc.	MCDOWELL PAUL H	7,000	52,542
05‑17	DKL	Delek Logistics Partners LP	Delek US Holdings, Inc.	3,000	92,998
05‑17	IMMR	Immersion Corporation	SALTICH JACK L	5,000	41,282
05‑17	YUMC	Yum China Holdings, Inc.	Hsieh Louis	30,000	1,045,440
05‑17	FH	FORM Holdings Corp.	Abbe Richard	15,500	23,824
05‑17	EDGW	Edgewater Technology, Inc.	Wolf Kurt James	10,000	71,535
05‑17	IKNX	Ikonics Corp.	Lee Darrell B	1,680	15,120
05‑17	FANG	Diamondback Energy, Inc.	WEST STEVEN E	2,400	248,270
05‑17	JFC	JPMorgan China Region Fund, Inc.	Bulldog Investors, LLC	2,100	41,286
05‑17	PFGC	Performance Food Group Company	Hope James D	1,000	27,600
05‑17	IMN	Imation Corp.	Searing Robert	2,543	10,757
05‑17	CRMD	CorMedix Inc.	Baluch Khoso	75,000	35,625
05‑17	RYI	Ryerson Holdings Corp	Burbach Michael	2,200	19,910
05‑17	IKNX	Ikonics Corp.	NERGES JOSEPH R	1,695	15,329
05‑17	MATR	Mattersight Corp.	MULLEN DAVID B	20,000	51,598
05‑16	EDGW	Edgewater Technology, Inc.	DiSanto Frederick D.	8,003	57,363
05‑16	PLX	Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc.	Manor Moshe	50,000	40,500
05‑16	STKL	SunOpta Inc.	Gough Jeffrey	5,000	44,000
05‑16	HLND	Highlands Bankshares, Inc. (VA)	Lowery Brian	6,000	41,700
05‑16	EGRX	Eagle Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	Pernock David	200	16,448
05‑16	ADC	Agree Realty Corp.	Rubenfaer William S.	2,500	112,300
05‑16	INSY	Insys Therapeutics Inc.	Motahari Saeed	4,500	53,932
05‑16	TRXC	TransEnterix, Inc.	PFENNIGER RICHARD C JR	100,000	53,950
05‑16	IBM	International Business Machines Corp.	OWENS JAMES W	1,718	263,180
05‑16	EVBN	Evans Bancorp, Inc.	Lomeo Jody L	500	19,750
05‑16	CRMD	CorMedix Inc.	TELLEZ CORA M	50,000	24,000
05‑16	CGIX	Cancer Genetics, Inc.	PAPPAJOHN JOHN	19,310	73,318
05‑16	COMM	CommScope Holding Company, Inc.	Watts Claudius E. IV	15,000	551,258
05‑16	EVRI	Everi Holdings Inc.	Raney Eileen F	14,000	94,220
05‑16	IFF	International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc	Winder Investment Pte Ltd	21,700	2,887,326
05‑16	AREX	Approach Resources, Inc.	Wilks Brothers, LLC	150,000	454,890
05‑16	PODD	Insulet Corp.	Spears Michael P	2,500	101,470
05‑16	TPB	Turning Point Brands, Inc.	HEBARD GEORGE	3,000	46,770
05‑16	CTHR	Charles & Colvard, Ltd.	Miglucci Suzanne	20,000	19,000
05‑16	STVI	Snap Interactive, Inc.	Vakil Arash	10,000	30,000
05‑16	X	United States Steel Corp.	Girsky Stephen J	2,500	49,862
05‑16	NXEO	Nexeo Solutions, Inc.	Astor William Waldorf III	10,850	98,171
05‑16	CUBA	Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund	HERZFELD THOMAS J	2,000	14,269
05‑16	SC	Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.	DAWOOD ISMAIL	5,000	61,450
05‑16	FTR	Frontier Communications Corp.	Weslock Kathleen	50,000	65,750
05‑16	GNC	GNC Holdings, Inc.	FELDMAN ALAN D	36,400	249,970
05‑16	DKL	Delek Logistics Partners LP	Delek US Holdings, Inc.	919	28,863
05‑16	PBHC	Pathfinder Bancorp, Inc.	JOYCE GEORGE P	2,500	37,958
05‑16	RDUS	Radius Health, Inc.	BIOTECH GROWTH N V	17,000	576,725
05‑16	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Holdings LLC	92,734	1,668,683
05‑16	OTIV	On Track Innovations Ltd.	Cohen Shlomi	9,745	13,740
05‑16	ABCB	Ameris Bancorp	Bowen William I. Jr.	300	13,220
05‑16	BRX	Brixmor Property Group Inc.	Singh Carolyn Carter	1,000	17,850
05‑16	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Holdings LLC	7,291	131,196
05‑16	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Capital Partners LP	7,291	131,196
05‑16	SEAS	SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.	Hill Path Capital Partners LP	92,734	1,668,683
05‑16	INFU	InfuSystems Holdings, Inc.	Morris Ryan J.	20,000	29,828
05‑16	GAM	General American Investors Co., Inc.	Priest Jeffrey W	1,500	51,274
05‑16	AAT	American Assets Trust Inc	RADY ERNEST S	13,676	526,800
05‑16	MPX	Marine Products Corp.	Rollins Timothy Curtis	2,091	26,509
05‑16	OMED	OncoMed Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	LASERSOHN JACK W	23,507	82,061
05‑16	CVO	Cenveo, Inc.	PURI NATHU R	27,656	141,391
05‑16	PHF	Pacholder High Yield Fund, Inc.	Bulldog Investors, LLC	7,700	60,886
05‑16	CFR	Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.	WESTON GRAHAM M	6,500	588,965
05‑16	CFR	Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.	WESTON GRAHAM M	4,485	411,095
05‑16	LSXMK	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series C	BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC	315,000	11,530,071
05‑16	LSXMA	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series A	BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC	142,065	5,227,552
05‑16	HGV	Hilton Grand Vacations Inc.	Wang Mark D	25,000	902,950
05‑16	FTR	Frontier Communications Corp.	Lass John	8,000	10,760
05‑16	SPKE	Spark Energy, Inc.	Maxwell W Keith III	10,100	365,923
05‑16	SN	Sanchez Energy Corporation	Colvin Greg	5,000	33,745
05‑16	SN	Sanchez Energy Corporation	Colvin Greg	5,000	33,750
05‑16	SN	Sanchez Energy Corporation	Colvin Greg	5,082	33,795
05‑16	SN	Sanchez Energy Corporation	Colvin Greg	1,852	12,388
05‑16	SN	Sanchez Energy Corporation	Colvin Greg	1,770	11,857
05‑16	EDGW	Edgewater Technology, Inc.	DiSanto Frederick D.	10,932	78,342
05‑16	VER	VEREIT, Inc.	Richardson Julie	15,000	111,900
05‑16	PRGX	PRGX Global, Inc.	Drapkin Matthew A	13,457	81,954
05‑16	GWRS	Global Water Resources, Inc.	LEVINE WILLIAM S	10,000	85,400
05‑16	FPI	Farmland Partners Inc.	Pittman Paul A	2,500	25,000
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	3,500	22,960
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	2,900	19,053
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	2,700	17,793
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	4,200	27,762
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	4,700	31,114
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	2,200	14,586
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	1,600	10,624
05‑16	OPK	Opko Health, Inc.	FROST PHILLIP MD ET AL	1,800	11,970
05‑16	III	Information Services Group, Inc.	CONNORS MICHAEL P	5,142	19,951
05‑16	RPAI	Retail Properties of America, Inc.	Imperiale Richard P	1,000	12,500
05‑16	RPAI	Retail Properties of America, Inc.	Imperiale Richard P	1,500	18,690
05‑16	HIL	Hill International, Inc.	Sgro David	15,100	68,403
05‑16	PNNT	PennantPark Investment Corp.	PENN ARTHUR H	17,000	132,073
05‑16	PNR	Pentair plc.	GARDEN EDWARD P	175,000	11,446,838
05‑16	HIVE	Aerohive Networks, Inc.	FLYNN DAVID K.	40,000	171,880
05‑16	MBTF	MBT Financial Corp.	DALY JOSEPH S	4,900	52,920
05‑16	MBTF	MBT Financial Corp.	DALY JOSEPH S	4,200	45,570
05‑16	RLH	Red Lion Hotels Corp.	WOLFE ROBERT G	6,243	42,140
05‑16	UIHC	United Insurance Holdings Corp.	POITEVINT ALEC II	4,205	63,075
05‑16	LSXMK	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series C	WESCHLER, R. TED	315,000	11,530,071
05‑16	LSXMA	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series A	WESCHLER, R. TED	142,065	5,227,552
05‑16	BRKR	Bruker Corp.	LAUKIEN FRANK H	1,920	49,687
05‑16	FBMS	First Bancshares, Inc. (The)	GIBSON E RICKY	1,000	28,400
05‑16	WCN	Waste Connections, Inc.	Lee Susan	600	55,092
05‑16	SXCP	SunCoke Energy Partners LP	Sun Coal & Coke LLC	67,300	1,063,273
05‑16	GARS	Garrison Capital Inc.	Tansey Joseph Bertrand	7,000	61,993
05‑16	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	Nabi Usman	250,000	11,744,625
05‑16	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Seth	94,986	585,351
05‑16	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Brook	94,986	585,351
05‑16	WAIR	Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc.	Bancroft Thomas	500,000	4,426,200
05‑16	HIVE	Aerohive Networks, Inc.	Ritchie John	10,000	43,160
05‑16	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	JAFFER REHAN	95,000	4,462,958
05‑16	GARS	Garrison Capital Inc.	Chase Brian S	2,000	17,500
05‑16	SONA	Southern National Bancorp of Virginia, Inc.	FORCH JOHN J	2,000	12,480
05‑16	SONA	Southern National Bancorp of Virginia, Inc.	FORCH JOHN J	2,800	26,096
05‑16	FSP	Franklin Street Properties Corp.	Burke John N	1,240	13,479
05‑16	FBMS	First Bancshares, Inc. (The)	GIBSON E RICKY	1,000	28,400
05‑16	SRG	Seritage Growth Properties	BERKOWITZ BRUCE R	46,600	1,805,750
05‑16	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	Nabi Usman	95,000	4,462,958
05‑16	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	JAFFER REHAN	250,000	11,744,625
05‑16	ETM	Entercom Communications Corp.	FIELD JOSEPH M	67,916	670,046
05‑16	SEE	Sealed Air Corp.	Chammas Emile Z.	3,000	129,270
05‑15	SWKH	SWK Holdings Corp	CARLSON CAPITAL L P	10,000	111,050
05‑15	CASH	Meta Financial Group, Inc.	Hoople Elizabeth G.	1,000	83,630
05‑15	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	Nabi Usman	125,000	6,053,038
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	Nelson Bradford C	9,547	17,089
05‑15	GE	General Electric Co.	IMMELT JEFFREY R	12,000	336,360
05‑15	PRGX	PRGX Global, Inc.	Drapkin Matthew A	48,820	299,618
05‑15	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Seth	55,151	338,853
05‑15	AUXO	AUXILIO, Inc.	Abouchar John D	5,000	24,900
05‑15	GWRS	Global Water Resources, Inc.	LEVINE WILLIAM S	10,000	85,500
05‑15	PFBX	Peoples Financial Corp.	SWETMAN CHEVIS	1,000	13,450
05‑15	MCC	Medley Capital Corp.	Taube Brook	55,151	338,853
05‑15	NWFL	Norwood Financial Corp.	ADAMS JOSEPH W	700	27,146
05‑15	GE	General Electric Co.	Beattie William G	16,000	448,800
05‑15	FPI	Farmland Partners Inc.	Pittman Paul A	2,000	20,500
05‑15	WAIR	Wesco Aircraft Holdings Inc.	Bancroft Thomas	275,000	2,463,918
05‑15	NEWT	Newtek Business Services Corp.	SALUTE RICHARD J	800	13,940
05‑15	HIVE	Aerohive Networks, Inc.	Ritchie John	10,000	43,060
05‑15	BTU	Peabody Energy Corporation	ELLIOTT INTERNATIONAL, L.P.	136,000	3,401,210
05‑15	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	JAFFER REHAN	45,000	2,179,094
05‑15	III	Information Services Group, Inc.	CONNORS MICHAEL P	5,250	20,055
05‑15	BTU	Peabody Energy Corporation	ELLIOTT ASSOCIATES, L.P.	64,000	1,600,570
05‑15	GER	Goldman Sachs MLP Energy Renaissance Fund	STRANGHOENER LAWRENCE W	4,900	40,124
05‑15	MERC	Mercer International, Inc.	KELLOGG PETER R	20,000	225,880
05‑15	MERC	Mercer International, Inc.	KELLOGG PETER R	9,014	101,813
05‑15	RPAI	Retail Properties of America, Inc.	Imperiale Richard P	2,000	25,560
05‑15	DKL	Delek Logistics Partners LP	Delek US Holdings, Inc.	2,400	76,175
05‑15	AREX	Approach Resources, Inc.	Wilks Brothers, LLC	100,000	301,560
05‑15	ISTR	Investar Holding Corporation	Hufft Christopher L	1,000	22,800
05‑15	CIVB	Civista Bancshares, Inc.	Murray Dennis E Jr	1,000	21,377
05‑15	APA	Apache Corp.	JOYCE RENE R	10,000	513,800
05‑15	PNR	Pentair plc.	GARDEN EDWARD P	290,000	18,941,263
05‑15	CIVB	Civista Bancshares, Inc.	Murray Dennis E Jr	1,000	21,381
05‑15	BGIO	BlackRock 2022 Global Income Opportunity Trust	Rieder Richard M	8,693	87,365
05‑15	AMTX	Aemetis, Inc.	Beebe Lydia I	10,000	12,798
05‑15	AGR	Avangrid, Inc.	Timm Elizabeth	226	10,018
05‑15	NGVT	Ingevity Corporation	BLACKWELL JEAN S	1,500	87,570
05‑15	AAT	American Assets Trust Inc	RADY ERNEST S	15,058	592,683
05‑15	ZYNE	Zynerba Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	ANIDO ARMANDO	1,500	29,355
05‑15	RLH	Red Lion Hotels Corp.	WOLFE ROBERT G	1,592	10,507
05‑15	SRG	Seritage Growth Properties	BERKOWITZ BRUCE R	46,400	1,842,080
05‑15	SRG	Seritage Growth Properties	BERKOWITZ BRUCE R	5,100	201,960
05‑15	WAAS	AquaVenture Holdings Limited	BROWN DOUGLAS R	16,500	275,913
05‑15	LSXMK	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series C	WESCHLER, R. TED	971,623	35,448,013
05‑15	SRG	Seritage Growth Properties	BERKOWITZ BRUCE R	3,100	122,853
05‑15	ORI	Old Republic International Corp.	Bateman Steven J	5,000	97,800
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	EBRAHIMI FARHAD FRED	6,608,428	11,829,086
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	EBRAHIMI FARHAD FRED	520,492	931,681
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	EBRAHIMI FARHAD FRED	61,292	109,713
05‑15	NGHC	National General Holdings Corp	MARSHALECK JOHN	5,000	108,850
05‑15	XRM	Xerium Technologies, Inc.	Staton Mark	10,000	70,300
05‑15	INCY	Incyte Corp.	BIENAIME JEAN JACQUES	500	57,500
05‑15	DUK	Duke Energy Corp. (Holding Co.)	CRAVER THEODORE F JR	3,500	293,049
05‑15	TIME	Time Inc.	Rolfe Ronald S	2,000	25,700
05‑15	CRMD	CorMedix Inc.	Dillione Janet	21,231	10,085
05‑15	CRMD	CorMedix Inc.	Cook Robert W.	50,000	24,950
05‑15	IVTY	Invuity, Inc.	Roberts Eric W	5,000	39,378
05‑15	CRMD	CorMedix Inc.	Kaplan Myron	30,000	14,820
05‑15	LSXMA	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series A	WESCHLER, R. TED	265,606	9,745,589
05‑15	JFC	JPMorgan China Region Fund, Inc.	Bulldog Investors, LLC	10,000	196,556
05‑15	SRG	Seritage Growth Properties	BERKOWITZ BRUCE R	1,900	75,316
05‑15	PGUS	ProGreen US, Inc.	TELANDER JAN	50,000	10,250
05‑15	FHCO	Female Health Co. (THE)	BETHUNE DAVID R	10,000	10,305
05‑15	MYE	Myers Industries, Inc.	SCACCETTI JANE	3,000	51,600
05‑15	ERIE	Erie Indemnity Co.	NECASTRO TIMOTHY G	430	49,983
05‑15	VSTM	Verastem, Inc.	BARBERICH TIMOTHY J	30,000	73,500
05‑15	CPAH	CounterPath Corp.	Bruk Steven	44,200	80,886
05‑15	PNNT	PennantPark Investment Corp.	PENN ARTHUR H	13,000	101,260
05‑15	USAK	USA Truck, Inc.	Creager Robert E.	6,585	39,932
05‑15	IFF	International Flavors & Fragrances, Inc	Winder Investment Pte Ltd	40,000	5,297,532
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	EBRAHIMI FARHAD FRED	12,435	22,259
05‑15	HAL	Halliburton Co. (Holding Company)	Albrecht William E	8,000	370,608
05‑15	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	LUTHER JON L	2,750	133,242
05‑15	VER	VEREIT, Inc.	Roberts Thomas W	15,000	113,955
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	BLANK BARRY W	148,000	264,920
05‑15	CVO	Cenveo, Inc.	PURI NATHU R	10,000	51,128
05‑15	HBAN	Huntington Bancshares, Inc.	Harmening Andrew J	15,490	200,131
05‑15	FHCO	Female Health Co. (THE)	PARRISH O B	10,000	10,195
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	EBRAHIMI FARHAD FRED	2,208,730	3,953,627
05‑15	NNUTU	Royal Hawaiian Orchards, L.P.	BLANK BARRY W	720,300	1,289,337
05‑15	CFR	Cullen/Frost Bankers, Inc.	WESTON GRAHAM M	11,096	999,639
05‑15	BBW	Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.	Point72 Asset Management, L.P.	27,858	296,952
05‑15	PRCP	Perceptron, Inc.	RATIGAN JAMES A	3,410	26,121
05‑15	LSXMK	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series C	BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC	971,623	35,448,013
05‑15	DWSN	Dawson Geophysical Company New	BARRETT WILLIAM J	4,833	21,748
05‑15	AMBC	Ambac Financial Group, Inc.	LeBlanc Claude	2,500	43,325
05‑15	LSXMA	Liberty Media, Sirius XM Group Series A	BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC	265,606	9,745,589
05‑15	SFY	Swift Energy Company	WOOLVERTON SEAN C	400	10,976
05‑15	AMBC	Ambac Financial Group, Inc.	LeBlanc Claude	2,500	43,275
05‑15	QSEP	QS Energy, Inc.	Munn Richard William	42,000	10,080
05‑15	FTR	Frontier Communications Corp.	Gable Steve	10,000	13,000
05‑15	PCTI	PC-Tel, Inc.	Neumann David A	3,000	19,313
05‑15	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	Nabi Usman	45,000	2,179,094
05‑15	ASIX	AdvanSix Inc.	Marberry Michael	764	24,968
05‑15	SXCP	SunCoke Energy Partners LP	Sun Coal & Coke LLC	67,300	1,086,047
05‑15	GE	General Electric Co.	IMMELT JEFFREY R	88,000	2,471,040
05‑15	GARS	Garrison Capital Inc.	Tansey Joseph Bertrand	4,700	42,040
05‑15	TPX	Tempur Sealy International, Inc.	JAFFER REHAN	125,000	6,053,038
05‑15	SWKH	SWK Holdings Corp	CARLSON CAPITAL L P	19,900	220,890

Source: Fintel.io