A double feature today from FOX News' resident clown Steven Crowder, who most recently compared food stamp recipients to animals. This time, he proves yet again that right-wingers have absolutely no idea what socialism is. (updated)

In this first tweet, he erroneously dates socialism to the 18th century, which would be an understandable mistake if he were still in the sixth grade. (One wondered: did he actually think that socialism originated in the 18th century, or was he just confused about the fact that the 1800s are the 19th century? One never knows with wingnuts.)

Then, after being mocked for it, he deleted it.

But then for some odd reason, he decided double down on that thought, and tweeted this:

So clearly, he actually does think that the Founding Fathers launched the American Revolution to escape the tyranny of King George's socialist British Empire. Glad we cleared that up!

In future tweets, Crowder will explain how the US defeated French fascism in World War I and praise Ronald Reagan for building the Grand Canyon.

UPDATE
Now, Crowder's claiming that socialism has been around since, oh, forever. What an idiot.

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Sean Hannity's lead tonight left viewers thinking Southern California is about to be a fallout zone, passengers returning from Japan to Chicago glow in the dark, and we should all have our potassium iodide pills at the ready. It's classic Fox fearmongering, meant to scare little old ladies and stoke up the heroes in the shadows.

He leads with this:

The deadly radiation leaking into the atmosphere from Japan's nuclear crisis isn't just heading for the United States, it's already here.

Oh really? I checked the radiation monitors online and I couldn't find any. But listen to Hannity's grave drone as he reports the dire news:

But first, DHS officials have confirmed that two flights departing Tokyo -- one bound for Chicago, the other for Dallas -- set off radiation alarms when they arrived in the US yesterday. Now in Dallas, tests indicated the presence of low radiation levels in travelers' luggage, and in the aircraft's cabin filtration system.

No passengers were quarantined and the cabin was ultimately cleared.

Of course, I'm sure no one heard that last sentence because they're all thinking OMG the radiation is already HERE and we're all dead men walking now. But he doesn't stop there. After describing the Chicago flight and suggesting that passengers were triggering radiation detectors, he gives us this:

Now this as the Golden State braces for a potentially dangerous radioactive plume coming from Japan. Now the United Nations projects that the plume will drift across the Pacific, hitting the Aleutian Islands first and then Southern California. That'll be late tomorrow.

Ok, assuming there is anyone out there who actually wants facts and who actually watched this nonsense from Hannity, here we go.

First, as to the DHS reports, here's the Chicago Tribune story, as posted at 12:55pm today, well ahead of Hannity's breathless report:

The Department of Homeland Security is screening passengers and cargo entering the United States from Japan for "even a blip of radiation," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Thursday.

Customs and Border Protection said there have been reports of radiation being detected from some cargo arriving from Japan at several airports. Those airports include Chicago, Dallas and Seattle. Radiation has not been detected in passengers or luggage. And none of the reported incidents involved dangerous or harmful amounts of radiation.

The agency handles more than half a million radiation alarms a year, though many are related to medical procedures.

Hardly the same as his report, which says they "detected radiation".

Now let's talk about that "radioactive plume" heading right for my front yard. And let's talk about Hannity's report that makes it sound like it's an absolutely-for-sure-it's-gonna-happen-any-minute kind of thing. From the New York Times, who originated the report yesterday:

A United Nations forecast of the possible movement of the radioactive plume coming from crippled Japanese reactors shows it churning across the Pacific, and touching the Aleutian Islands on Thursday before hitting Southern California late Friday.

What odds do you give a weather report? A United Nations forecast of possible movement is not the same thing as it's definitely going to happen, brace yourselves, go indoors, lock the doors and windows and put wet towels over your face moment. It's just not.

My problem with reporting like this is that it's "War of the Worlds" hysterical reporting. If a radioactive plume is heading to California, there's not a darn thing I can do about it. It's not like the Japanese intentionally unleashed this after they caused a 9.0 earthquake and a 30-foot tsunami, for heavens' sake. There's also no way to "brace" for such a thing.

So how about some real facts around what MIGHT come our way and what to do? Here's an excellent, science-based FAQ from UC Berkeley that might help allay fears:

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Not much, evidently, which is probably why idiots like Sarah Palin get traction in the first place. As much as I want to disbelieve this study, it explains a lot of our political discourse and thought these days:

If people are furnished with the facts, they will be clearer thinkers and better citizens. If they are ignorant, facts will enlighten them. If they are mistaken, facts will set them straight.

In the end, truth will out. Won’t it?

Maybe not. Recently, a few political scientists have begun to discover a human tendency deeply discouraging to anyone with faith in the power of information. It’s this: Facts don’t necessarily have the power to change our minds. In fact, quite the opposite. In a series of studies in 2005 and 2006, researchers at the University of Michigan found that when misinformed people, particularly political partisans, were exposed to corrected facts in news stories, they rarely changed their minds. In fact, they often became even more strongly set in their beliefs. Facts, they found, were not curing misinformation. Like an underpowered antibiotic, facts could actually make misinformation even stronger.

In light of this finding, consider the following statements:

• The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.
• "I'm not saying [Obama] doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem," Beck said. "This guy is, I believe, a racist."
• "You LIE!"

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The framing in this video and the accompanying article is so utterly dishonest that I have to believe it came straight out of the Pete Peterson foundation. It is that disingenous. However, in this case I think Bank of America and Merrill Lynch might get credit for the actual content, based on the ad at the beginning.

If anyone happened upon this travesty of an "explainer" of a video and actually trusted what was said because it came from a source that is heavily trafficked, they might actually believe the nonsense they spew.

Beginning with the title, where they state as fact that Social Security is running out of money. Except it isn't running out of money. It's the most solvent government program there is. The most solvent.

Then there's the pyramid graphic they show in the video. Nothing subliminal there, is there? This is the thing they forgot to mention called a surplus in the trust fund. As to the unexpected deficit for 2010, that was simply the result of a slow economy and lower than expected payroll tax collections.

But here's the real clue about where they got their tips about Social Security:

The money you pay towards Social Security does not go into a personal account for when you retire. Instead, Social Security is a "pay as you go" program meaning the money that is collected now is used towards current payouts. So…current benefactors rely on the current work force to fund their payments. As baby boomers continue to retire at a record clip, approximately 10,000 on any given day, this model becomes harder to maintain. Back in 1950, there were 7.11 workers per retiree. That number today is 4.5 and in 30 years, economists estimate that number will be 2.6 workers for every retiree.

This is the Peterson connection right here. It's a top talking point of Peterson Foundation devotees. And it is not true. Simply not true. When the tax code was "reformed" in 1986, baby boomers were factored into the equation. They are already paid for.

While it's true that no one anticipated the oligarchs shipping thousands of jobs overseas leaving some baby boomers without an income for the final years of their working lives, it's still not cause to start sounding the SOS alarms. It means that some adjusting will need to be done but not the kind of adjusting that involves "personal accounts." Adjusting the wage base upward will fix it easily.

Yet. Social Security is fully funded until 2036, by Peterson's own documentation. There is no other government program funded 24 years into the future. None. Zero. That projection is exactly on target with what was expected in 1986 when all of the "reforms" were made law. The reforms that screwed people like me into having to defer retirement for two extra years in order to make sure the funds were there to pay my benefits.

When your friends send you these nonsensical emails hysterically screaming that Social Security must be fixed, just remember that the only people who hate social welfare programs are billionaires. Everyone else sees them as their weapon against poverty in their old age.