In a sense it very much is news. This speaks to something that people have recently been speculating about, namely: Has Gaetz pissed off enough Republicans that they will start dumping their dirt on him to thoroughly assasinate his character? The publication of this article is essentially a giant “YES” to that question of what the “moderate” Republicans are going to do in the midst of this new Speaker crisis.
Carl Sagan wrote a book, The Demon Haunted World, which is all about why people get sucked into nonsense like ancient aliens, and how to deal with it.