Make America Glow Again

Later today, I'd like to offer a "serious" post about Cambridge Analytica, although those plans may well be scuttled if we get another bombshell revelation in the afternoon. For now, let us contemplate the mystery that has much of Twitter a-titter: Flashing red lights within the White House were seen and videotaped last night. The spectacle lasted some twenty minutes. I have read that the lights were photographed from more than one vantage point, although to the best of my knowledge, no-one has posted video taken by another camera.

Although many have suggested that we are looking at police lights reflected in the windows, it seems clear to me that these mystery glows come from within. Exterior lights would bounce off the white walls and illuminate the trees. (Besides, modern police vehicles have multi-colored lights.) If you examine the footage closely, you'll see that we're dealing with two red lights blinking at different rates.

Here is a plan of the upper floor of the White House, known as the Residence. If you've never been to DC, you may need to be oriented: The Truman Balcony faces the Washington Monument, which stands to the south of the building; thus, the video embedded above was taken from the north. The light would seem to emanate from the dining room and the kitchen. It's hard to imagine why anyone would place two separate lights in both of those rooms.

Is it possible that the lights are coming from the west sitting hall, which is just outside of Der Donald's bedroom? Video of the west side of the building would be of much help here.

(Some home security systems use flashing red lights to scare away burglars. That idea seems rather silly in this context.)

If you look closely at the video, you'll note the presence of what some believe to be four armed black-garbed men on the roof of the WH, situated directly above the flashing red lights. The four "figures" are immobile and probably are not human beings.

That said: Black-garbed men on the roof are not so unusual. I saw (and photographed) what appeared to be armed men on the roof of the WH during a visit to DC in 2013. At that time, there had been a phoned threat against Obama.

Was the video created with After Effects? Possible -- though the task would not be easy. One wonders why anyone would go to the effort. However: Note that the tree branches do not sway at all, even though the flag indicates a stiff breeze. A special effects artist would want to "freeze" that part of the frame in order to make it easier to superimpose the lights. 

As you might have gathered, the phenomenon has engendered many a witticism. The cruelest comment: "Looks like Melania's working again." Another Twitter-user suggested that lights were placed there to give Putin's agents a marker for the extraction point. Several people have suggested, at least semi-seriously, that the mystery may have something to do with a light-based therapy for Alzheimers.

Most of the jokes have to do with the summoning of demonic forces. Throughout my vast perusal of forbidden books and low literature, I've never read about any occult ceremony which involves strobing red lights. In the cinema of David Lynch, flashing blue lights signal the presence of The Other World. Perhaps Trump is offering his riposte to the Twin Peaks revival.

(BTW, I've seen not a single frame of the new Peaks. I marathon binge-watched the original two seasons on VHS well after its initial broadcast, and I'd like to take a similar approach to season three. Teevee is less fun when it comes in weekly dollops.)