So I tried setting it back to jessie, but all that got me was a sea of 
red or outright refusal to even mark it for install.

Stretch has been out for quite a while, so whats the magic potion folks?

-- 
Cheers, Gene Heskett
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
 soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/gene>