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Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler uses a “Pinocchio” scale to assign a level of egregiousness to lies he uncovers, with four Pinocchios as the maximum … until now. Secretary of State John Kerry earned himself the full complement two weeks ago from Kessler for bragging about his management of the first global-warming hearing in the Senate, a hearing that he not only didn’t arrange but didn’t even attend. Kessler dug deeper on the tall tales emanating from the event, and found that one of the real organizers has been lying about what took place in the hearing in order to...

One person is dead after a security guard exchanged gunfire with two men who tried to enter Fort Meade disguised as women. The guard got into an altercation with the men outside the gate for the NSA side of the Maryland Army installation just before 9 a.m. Monday. Gunfire was exchanged, and it is believed that the guard shot at least one of the men. At least one gun and drugs were found in the stolen Ford Escape the men were riding in, according to NBC News. From Chopper4, emergency workers could be seen caring for an injured, uniformed man...

A veteran senator who let his mistress drown in a car he recklessly drove into a pond, rented a brothel for an entire night in Chile and sought meetings with communists is being honored by the Obama administration this month. Ted Kennedy received his posthumous accolades from the Department of Labor (DOL) with an induction into the agency’s “Hall of Honor.” The recognition is meant to showcase the life-changing contributions that a unique group of people have made on the American way of work, according to the agency. A special panel comprised of the Solicitor of Labor, the Assistant Secretary...

Secretary of State John Kerry sent a letter to the State Department’s Inspector General requesting a review of email and records management, the State Department said today. The timing of Kerry’s request has many asking if this push for reform is connected to former Secretary Hillary Clinton’s recent scandal involving her use of a private email server, rather than a State Department account. State Department Spokesman Jeff Rathke denied this had anything to do with Clinton, citing instead the State Department’s need to better manage the overwhelming number of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and requests for information from...

— The United States is considering letting Tehran run hundreds of centrifuges at a once-secret, fortified underground bunker in exchange for limits on centrifuge work and research and development at other sites, officials have told The Associated Press. The trade-off would allow Iran to run several hundred of the devices at its Fordo facility, although the Iranians would not be allowed to do work that could lead to an atomic bomb and the site would be subject to international inspections, according to Western officials familiar with details of negotiations now underway. In return, Iran would be required to scale back...

Imagine there's no IRS. It isn't hard to do. No Obamacare to pay for. And no budget deficits too. Imagine all the people, living with a flat tax. You may say Ted Cruz is a dreamer, but he's not the only one. He hopes some day—especially if you live in Iowa—you'll join him, and, well, he'll be president. That, at least, was the message during his announcement, oddly redolent of John Lennon, that he's officially seeking the highest office in the land. It was a conservative wish list to not only repeal the 21st century, but the 20th, too. About...

WASHINGTON - D.C.'s delegate to Congress is making news for her parking skills. Video published by Roll Call shows Eleanor Holmes Norton awkwardly trying to wedge her car between two cars parked in angled spaces near the Capitol earlier this week. You could say that didn't go well. The video was shot Wednesday along New Jersey Avenue Southeast, between the Longworth and Cannon House Office buildings, according to Roll Call. Norton, 77, is seen trying to squeeze her silver, four-door sedan in between two other cars that are parked in angled spots. The only problem? Norton is trying to park...

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., proposed a resolution Wednesday that warns climate change and ensuing natural disasters will force millions of vulnerable and poverty-stricken women to engage in “transactional sex” in order to provide their families with adequate food and water. Lee’s House Concurrent Resolution 29 says that food and water scarcity will be exacerbated by the effects of climate change, forcing increased “conflict and instability” that will particularly affect the strain on women farmers “who are estimated to produce 60 to 80 percent of the food in most developing countries.” “[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic...

<p>Travel schedules of Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif suggest that the parties may gather for a “signing” ceremony on Sunday, March 29 in Lausanne, Switzerland.</p> <p>Omri Ceren, press director at The Israel Project, told reporters via email from Switzerland: “Rumors are swirling about a deal as early as Sunday the 29th: Lavrov is slated to fly in for the 27th-29th, Kerry is supposed to be in Boston on the 30th, and the Iranians are talking about where they want to move the talks for the signing ceremony.”</p>

The French government has formally asked the FBI to assist in an investigation of the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 and of the plane's crash in France on Tuesday, a law enforcement official said Thursday.

President Signs Order Making Ted Cruz Ineligible for Obamacare (cAN'T BE POSTED

The head of the FDIC faced tough grilling today from members of a House Financial Services subcommittee including U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton on a rogue policy that essentially directed banks not to deal with businesses the Obama administration found objectionable. Dubbed “Operation Choke Point,” the Justice Department essentially directed the nation’s top financial regulator to intimidate banks into cutting off accounts or doing any business at all with a list of 30 different types small business owners. The list included gun shops, ammunition dealers ... Tipton also got the old DC song and dance when he asked if the federal...

The No. 2 official at the Homeland Security Department improperly intervened on behalf of foreign investors in three cases involving the U.S. government soliciting investments in exchange for American visas, the agency's inspector general said Tuesday. Investigators said he helped secure the visas, and created the appearance of favoritism and special access. The investigation could not suggest a motive for the official's involvement.

White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough recently spoke to J Street, a left-wing organization that fancies itself the headquarters of the tough-love-for-Israel crowd. J Street's critics would phrase it a bit differently. In a charitable mood, they'd say J Street is all about loving Israel to death. Regardless, J Street is the perfect think tank for the Obama administration to get its message out. Which is why McDonough was there to deliver harsh criticism of Israel and to signal that the U.S., under President Obama at least, will not be as reliable an ally to Israel as it once...

Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration plans to ask for federal disaster assistance for the record-setting snowstorms that wreaked havoc on Massachusetts and piled up about $400 million in snow removal costs. An administration official tells The Associated Press the governor will be sending a letter to President Barack Obama by the end of this week asking for a disaster declaration for 10 Massachusetts counties. …

Giuliani: Well, his — his grandfather introduced him to Frank Marshall Davis, who was a Communist. Readers of The Fact Checker wanted to know if Giuliani’s comments were accurate. So we reached out to Cliff Kincaid, president of America’s Survival, a group that seeks to expose Communist and Marxist influences. The Pinocchio Test We carefully considered the facts underlying this assertion, and the evidence is slim. We may never definitively know one way or another, but it is time to put it to rest. Three Pinocchios

On the front of Monday’s Style section, The Washington Post promoted a forthcoming biography of Michelle Obama by Peter Slevin, a Chicago-based Post correspondent covering Chicago and Obama’s career until 2012. Post reporter Krissah Thompson began with the Obamas living together before marriage until the story went inside the paper, and how Slevin is “looking closely at the role race played in shaping her worldview, particularly at Princeton and Harvard Law.” “To say that during her Princeton years she could not envision an African American president is like saying the sun rises and sets every day,” writes Slevin, who was...

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen shamed herself with a vote that no one in New Hampshire should ever forget. That day, to her eternal discredit, she voted against a bill to help sex trafficking victims - on the order of her biggest campaign donor. The bill was the Justice for Victims of Sex Trafficking Act. Among its bipartisan list of cosponsors are Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The bill would create a sex trafficking victim assistance fund, financed by revenue from criminal fines. Just before the bill was to come up for a vote, the abortion...

President Barack Obama said he takes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “at his word” for saying that an independent Palestinian state will never coexist with Israel as long as he is in office, yet another sign of the strained relations between longtime allies. […] Obama, who placed a congratulatory telephone call to Netanyahu on Thursday, said he indicated to the prime minister that the U.S. remains committed to a two-state solution as the only way to keep Israel secure. …

“By the standards of her profession, Emily Miller has no business calling herself a journalist," Ladd Everitt, communications director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said in a statement. "Miller’s crusade against popular gun laws has been a professional one since the beginning. At this point, area residents can have no reasonable expectation that she will provide objective, impartial coverage on matters of concern to them. If Miller wishes to behave like a pundit and activist, then WTTG should replace her with an actual reporter.”