My thanks to Dan Phillips, Mark Sapiro and any others who pointed out (correctly) that I needed fully qualified domain names for several items in mm_cfg.py. My problem evaporated after I changed

DEFAULT_NNTP_HOST = 'bashful'

DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'bashful'

DEFAULT_URL_HOST - 'bashful'

To

DEFAULT_NNTP_HOST = 'bashful.troxlerlabs.local'

DEFAULT_EMAIL_HOST = 'bashful.troxlerlabs.local'

DEFAULT_URL_HOST - 'bashful.troxlerlabs.local'

Thanks again.

Phil