Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 14h

Given how much money flows from publishers to politicians and media figures who write books that don't sell and never turn a profit, one could be forgiven for thinking publishing is a money laundering operation for bribes and payouts.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 14h

I'll predict that the book will be a flop because nobody outside of the small world of journalism knows who Nuzzi is. The only thing she has to sell is her RFK Jr. connection, and he isn't the draw he used to be. Why publishers pay top dollar for books no one wants is beyond me.

Oliver Darcy @oliverdarcy.bsky.social · 15h

Scoop: Olivia Nuzzi has written a book during her year in exile, in which she is set to in part address her relationship with RFK Jr. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/olivia-nuz...

Have I Got Nuzzi For You

Olivia Nuzzi is set to address her relationship with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in a forthcoming book, galleys of which are circulating among a select group of readers, Status has learned.

www.status.news

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 15h

I watched it last Thanksgiving for the first time in probably 25 years or more. Great movie; holds up pretty well.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 17h

There is a lot to roll your eyes at here, but if we take him literally, imagine what he is actually saying about the strength and power of his God. Sad.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Eric Trump: "We're saving Christianity. We've saving God. We've saving the family unit. We're saving this nation. I mean, DEI is out of the window, Benny. You no longer have Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem. You no longer have Budweiser going woke as hell. All of this is dead."

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 22h

I used to know plenty of Young Republicans back when I was young, and certainly the hate and the racism have always been there, but it's truly astonishing how the new generation has so thoroughly embraced Nazism now that there is little living memory left of World War II.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 23h

Turns out your assumptions about what republican group chats are like is correct www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 1d

Free version if paywalled. These issues, occurring nationwide, are unlikely to break down to simple "left = bad" explanations but are part of a broader trend that extends beyond the classroom. E.g. tech is pushing us toward an oral, not written, culture. www.msn.com/en-us/news/u...

MSN

www.msn.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 1d

The Atlantic claims American kids are getting "dumber" because "progressives" have stopped caring about educational standards, so we must reimpose Republican mandatory testing policies--as though half the country's schools aren't run by Republicans. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

America Is Sliding Toward Illiteracy

Declining standards and low expectations are destroying American education.

www.theatlantic.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 1d

I read almost everything mentioned in this article back when I wrote my "Jason and the Argonauts" book, published in 2013, so it's not exactly breaking news. I was hoping there would be some news-making revelation, but none came.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 1d

The New Yorker hunts for the key to all global mythologies, searching for the oldest discoverable stories. However, nothing in the article will surprise anyone who has read any academic work on mythology in the past 20 or 30 years. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

The Hunt for the World’s Oldest Story

From thunder gods to serpent slayers, scholars are reconstructing myths that vanished millennia ago. How much further can we go—and what might we find?

www.newyorker.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 1d

I wasn't aware that I live near the world's only X-Files museum. I guess I'll have to take a trip over there to see it one of these days. www.syracuse.com/living/2025/...

The truth is in Upstate NY: Step inside the world’s only ‘X-Files’ museum

From severed heads to scripts, this collection offers a comprehensive look at the iconic series that draws visitors from around the world.

www.syracuse.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 1d

It looks like someone read the book I sent him. Brandon Flynn discussed playing James Dean in a recent interview with Variety, and his response is a rather neat summation of the last two chapters of "Jimmy." variety.com/2025/film/co...

While rumors of Dean being more fluid than not have persisted since his untimely death at just age 24 in 1955, Flynn doesn’t mince words when asked why it’s taken so long for his queer life to be tackled in a movie. “The short answer is I just think the whole world is just so fucking homophobic,” Flynn says. “He really became the ideal masculine icon. Like hardcore, James Dean is what a real man is. But he was also emotional. I think that shakes people, especially people’s fragile heterosexuality. I think it’s important that we reveal these stories because Jimmy wasn’t the only one.”

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not sure how I am supposed to trust the Cato Institute's Jonah Norberg as a historian of imperial decline if he accepts the idea that the Roman Empire "fell" when Romulus Augustulus was deposed "that day in 476 A.D." archive.ph/7S9IV

An illustration of the Statue of Liberty wearing a Greek military helmet.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 2d

It's kind of amazing, though, that in the decades CBS News has been part of the same company as MTV News and Entertainment Tonight, they never figured out how to merge together to cut costs and share content, but they integrated fully with The Free Press in (checks notes) ... one week.

Sam Adams @samadams.bsky.social · 2d

welcome to the new era of CBS News, where brave truth-telling takes precedence over spelling Zohran Mamdani’s name correctly

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 2d

I have been asked to write articles, edit books, appear in and contribute research to documentaries, fly across the country to speak, etc. all for free.

Scott Bryan @scottygb.bsky.social · 2d

just been asked to host another event – for free.

i am freelance and I have bills to pay.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 2d

Hot Buttered Tomato Juice: "The taste sensation is a surprising 'wow'!" It's a drink made from tomato juice, melted butter, and Worcestershire sauce.

A vintage Land O Lakes advertisement showing sticks of butter and a glass of "Hot Buttered Tomato Juice."

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 2d

"My Tuna Tacos are approved by the U.S. Government and the varsity."

A 1979 Chicken of the Sea advertisement featuring a woman holding a plate of tuna tacos surrounded by basketball players while proudly proclaiming that both the U.S. Department of Commerce and the university basketball team approve of the tacos.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 4d

Free version if you are paywalled. According to the article, James Dean "wasn't Hollywood. He was America." And we all know what that means. www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...

Rebels with one cause: a three-day Midwest blowout for James Dean

The actor, who died 70 years ago, lives on at an annual Indiana festival packed with vintage cars, impersonators in red jackets and an indelible kind of American cool.

www.yahoo.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 4d

The Washington Post reports on the three-day celebration of James Dean recently held in Fairmount, Indiana. Many who wrote books or made films about Dean were invited to speak at various events. Unsurprisingly, I was not. www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

Rebels with one cause: a three-day Midwest blowout for James Dean

The actor, who died 70 years ago, lives on at an annual Indiana festival packed with vintage cars, impersonators in red jackets and an indelible kind of American cool.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 5d

This has a real "last days of Byzantium" feel to it.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5d

Hegseth: "I'm also proud that today we're signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emeri air force facility at the Mountain Home Airbase in Idaho."

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 5d

Wasn't this the whole point of their gender freak-out? From hatred of trans women to fears about sperm counts to terror that circumcision will make you autistic, it all revolves around a very primitive equation of the phallus with power.

Justin Baragona @justinbaragona.bsky.social · 6d

Besides linking Tylenol in pregnant women to autism, RFK Jr. now says circumcision is part of the reason why kids are autistic.

"Children who are circumcised early have double the rate of autism, and it's highly likely because they're given Tylenol. None of this is positive..."

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 5d

My review of Ancient Aliens S21E14 “Aliens in Our Midst”--a total embarrassment in which Travis Taylor humiliates himself by claiming some balloons are actually a Grey alien flying with a jetpack. www.jasoncolavito.com/ancient-alie...

A graphic reading "Ancient Aliens: Unauthorized Reviews" in a parody of the Ancient Aliens TV series title card.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 6d

The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus is not a power assigned to the president in the Constitution. It belongs solely to Congress, like all the other powers Congress no longer pretends to wield.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Q: Have you given any more thought to possibly suspending habeas corpus?

TRUMP: Suspending who?

Q: Habeas corpus

TRUMP: I don't know. I'd rather leave that to Kristi.

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 7d

This is starting to give off mad king vibes. I love the idea that Trump thinks that nearly century-old Amelia Earhart records are just sitting around in random FBI agents' cubicles like they were a Mar-A-Lago bathroom.

CNN @cnn.com · 7d

The Trump administration has ordered FBI employees in Washington, DC, to immediately search their workstations and digital media for any records pertaining to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, a law enforcement source told CNN.

FBI employees ordered to immediately search for records related to Amelia Earhart, source says | CNN Politics

The Trump administration has ordered FBI employees in Washington, DC, to immediately search their workstations and digital media for any records pertaining to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, a la...

www.cnn.com

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 7d

They're bringing back conversion therapy under the bizarre notion that the person doing the conversion has a free speech right to try to convert children, while children have no right to their own autonomy or self-expression. We are reverting to the notion that children are their fathers' property.

Slate @slate.com · 7d

The justice wasted no time. slate.trib.al/KpnL7Ka

With One Damning Question, Ketanji Brown Jackson Defined the Supreme Court’s New Term

The justice stripped the veneer of constitutional principle from the court’s latest blatant culture war.

slate.trib.al

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Jason Colavito @jasoncolavito.bsky.social · 7d

While Meuli's argument relies heavily on folklore comparisons that are less convincing today, modern expert M. L. West agrees with the conclusion and wrote a lengthy analysis of how "The Odyssey" raided an early "Argonautica" for material.

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