Does anyone else have anything to add to this? I thought it could be a really interesting line of discussion :-)
(I'd love to contribute myself I have no knowledge of this topic)
Most FEs don't really dig in to the models this far. Those few that do certainly have their own reasons for skipping this thread.
FWIW, there are a few FEs who have acknowledged that the angles don't work and cannot be made to work without bending the light. They would then simply declare that the light is obviously being bent.
I have seen 2 names given to this light bending:
1) Some say the dome firmament refracts the light. You can find them shining lights through half-dome glass as a demonstration.
2) Some call it Electromagnetic Acceleration or EA. This amounts to a claim that light bends for reasons that aren't known and frankly aren't important.
Either way, I figure the light bends.
To a scientist, the next step is obvious. We should map out everything we know about this bending light. We can't say what's causing it, but we can map out exactly what it's doing. I haven't done this myself. Maybe someday I'll find some time to get back to this. Mapping it out in detail would run the obvious risk of proving that it was impossible, so I don't expect any of the FEs would want to take it any further. Without their support, I don't think the effort of mapping it out would really mean very much.