I agree that there may be as much or more going on

I agree that there may be as much or more going on that we are not aware of.
But you touched on something that is maybe a little under-appreciated. All the toxic stuff is being handled. We talk about catalysts, but what about the lack of them for shorts & traders?
They are organized & have the shares to manipulate pps but with all the noise & nonsense going away, the potential for good news vs bad will weigh heavily on the minds of those wishing to maintain "Demigod status" among the morons. The traders are already saying they plan to hold onto more shares.(not goodfor shorts) Slow rise coming if they cut their losses slowly? Risky? Can they get out of their positions quick enough to avoid big losses. We talk about reverse splits. What about reverse short attacks? This is when a bunch of greedy bashers (misspelled) stay 'til the bitter end & there are not enough lifeboats on their sinking ship.
We are nearing the holiday season so I will be nice. Somebody is gonna get scrooged, imho.