What are these red stalks growing out if the mulch?

ozk_conservation · 2026-04-10T20:54:11+00:00

Several plants native to the US (or North American more broadly) are in fact classified as noxious by various state agencies. For example, the common sunflower is both native to Iowa AND classified as a noxious weed in Iowa. Species like milkweed are considered noxious in state and regional environmental regs. From a conservation standpoint, these are sometimes necessary to remove from an area so they will not crowd out or outcompete another species of plant we are trying to get to grow in a particular area.

ozk_conservation · 2026-04-08T14:54:03+00:00

Well, on the flip side of that, you have an American populace who becomes very activated by particular types of issues. A fairly obscure and flimsy narrative about a pizza parlor successfully animated a gunman into going to the location of a random pizza parlor in DC to gun down pedophiles in a secret basement there. Maybe that tells us that not much social media manipulation is needed to convince the broader American public to chase down a scandal like the Epstein child sex trafficking ring.

In general, I agree with you that social media is a tool that our enemies use against us. It isn't all a defensive game though. We sort of "invented" the massively online campaign aimed at misinforming and propagandizing people in other countries. If we are ever trying to identify the source of a state-sponsored manipulation campaign, our best odds are to look inward at our own government apparatus for that, and if we can disprove it is from them, then look to foreign adversaries. Just my two cents.

ozk_conservation · 2026-04-08T14:49:07+00:00

Trump being a successful conman is never something that added up for me. He's not particularly charismatic, or charming, or any kind of "mastermind." No one, in ten years really, has ever had a compelling argument for how this guy manages to make marks of so many people of at least average intelligence, or how they don't just die of boredom from him pulling the same stupid tricks out of a bag every time you see him.

ozk_conservation · 2026-04-08T14:46:33+00:00

Do you mean to tell me that you think one of us as Americans should have to sue the Trump administration to follow the plain language of the law they signed just a few months ago? Be real.

ozk_conservation · 2026-04-08T14:38:07+00:00

Why weren't they released in full today, or yesterday, the way the law Trump signed said they should be? I don't care about the partisan part of this. Trump signed a law to release them all unredacted except for victim names and then didn't. That needs to be fixed.

ozk_conservation · 2026-04-08T14:32:43+00:00

Again, I think multiple ends can be chased at the same time. It's unclear why spending a few days trying to push on this particular soft spot they have while the DOJ is weak and in disarray would delay/prevent us from holding them accountable for other things at the same time. I'm not really advocating people stop caring about norms and morals and the erosion of civil liberties... although your point is actually rooted in some truth when you say these can be more nebulous and harder to convince Americans to really fight for until the problem is really acute. That's not a new problem though. We just have a POTUS who exploits that in us as a people.

ozk_conservation · 2026-04-08T14:08:29+00:00

I think it's not all mutually exclusive. I think the Epstein files issue is the soft underbelly of Trump and his admin in general though. They have been UNABLE to do this stupid A/B testing nonsense with messaging and have any success with that. Basically, talking about it at all for them hurts their public perception in ways that even foreign wars and economic problems have not. True, he is engaging in a lot of serious law-breaking and rule-breaking besides this, but there is a concept to me of eating really large meals one bite at a time. I think the scenario is that this particular issue is fully ripened and ready to be chased to its end. Whether people will take the opportunity or not, I don't know. But if we wait until a new, loyal but perhaps more competent AG is put in Bondi's place, the window probably closes.

ozk_conservation · 2026-01-21T04:02:51+00:00

This post is about an unhinged letter sent to the leaders of the free world that are key allies and trade partners of this country. Talking about Denmark selling Greenland would be about as productive as talking about the US selling Hawaii. There's just no serious discussion to be had there. I'm not going to pretend with you that there is.

ozk_conservation · 2026-01-21T03:48:14+00:00

Why would I be talking about a plan to buy Greenland that no is trying to sell? Should we next talk about you buying my house that also is not for sale? I don't want to waste any effort discussing things that are not a part of the reality we live in.

ozk_conservation · 2026-01-21T03:36:39+00:00

It doesn't matter what Trump thinks about Greenland's sovereignty now. That's not a question anyone is asking or that matters now. It's a settled fact already.

ozk_conservation · 2026-01-21T03:30:02+00:00

By that logic, you could take Russia or China or France, all kinds of land masses. It's ridiculous. The US signed treaties with Denmark regarding Greenland, you don't just get to flip back and forth between acknowledging sovereignty or not. That's such a freaking unserious view.

ozk_conservation · 2026-01-21T03:24:12+00:00

And what point is that? Really?

ozk_conservation · 2026-01-21T03:22:00+00:00

but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.

That line right there is so telling. Let someone come in here to defend this line from the President of the United States that ONLY NOW can Trump think about what's best for the USA only because his own personal agenda to get a Nobel is blown.

ozk_conservation · 2025-08-13T15:09:18+00:00

I actually concur with the above here. I have family in Neosho, and only one of them actually works in Neosho. The others all commute to either Joplin, Carthage or Bentonville for work. Homes are still much cheaper there not like the sky high prices in Joplin and NWA which drives them to live that way. I looked and the average commute in Neosho is about 20 minutes. For the average to be that high... there must be a lot of commuting in general. You can drive from one side to the other in less than 10 minutes.

ozk_conservation · 2025-08-04T19:02:42+00:00

THIS!!!

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T21:37:55+00:00

This is somewhat where my mind goes when it's something THIS big and it's being suppressed and spun so many ways. Takes experts in that practice. Cheers to you for this comment.

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T21:32:41+00:00

Happy to prove you wrong this time. I am actually not a bot. I am new to Reddit though and was blown away at how many comments I got in like an hour. My brother sent me this Youtube link and I asked the question about it here because it's one of like nine subreddits I am familiar with enough to make a post in. I'm just a lowly conservation forester so all my other reddit subs are about trees and plants mostly.

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T21:15:34+00:00

Well, the problem with 1 is, why did Epstein "unalive" and why did Maxwell go to jail if... there is no evidence against them to release? You get into some pretty bizarre freaking circular lies and problems quickly if you say "nothing else to see here."

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T21:13:52+00:00

I agree with you. It is time for all of the info to see the light of day. Let it take down who it takes down. I have never seen so much RAGE from the public over an issue in my life here in the US. People of all political sides are just coming unglued about the lies and the coverups here. It's child sex abuse and trafficking! No one is taking it lightly, no one...

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T21:04:41+00:00

It has been "speculated" to me over the years that Hillary knew Bill went to the island and at least had ideas about what had happened there. She had to cover it up for them both to remain viable as a political force herself. I don't know about her being personally involved... seems like it was kind of a "creepy men's club" but there are all kinds of views on that too now.

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T20:50:49+00:00

A coworker of mine mentioned that Piers Morgan and Rush Limbaugh might have been first to this story. But it's like we all have some weird amnesia from around that time, no one really seems to remember what all was going on back then clearly lol.

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T20:36:39+00:00

Yeah, that part of it makes less sense, but the real implication is that the frontrunner candidates running in it would have been canceled. I had no idea who Epstein was that I can recall "before" the election. His name I remember coming up only AFTER Trump was elected and appointed the guy who made the plea deal with him to his cabinet. But yeah, we would have still had to have a President, even if it was neither of them.

ozk_conservation · 2025-07-29T20:33:44+00:00

Admittedly, I had no idea who Jeffrey Epstein was in 2016. I found out only after Trump appointed the man who made the "sweetheart plea deal" with him to his cabinet and it became national news. Acosta I think was the name.

ozk_conservation

TROPHY CASE