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Vance Dismisses Prolonged War Risk as U.S. Weighs Military Strikes Against Iran

Netflix Withdrawal From Warner Bros. Deal Clears Path for Ellison's Paramount to Acquire CNN

Trump Administration Pauses $260 Million in Minnesota Medicaid Funding, Citing Fraud

Block Cuts 40% of Workforce Citing AI, Reigniting Debate Over Technology-Driven Job Losses

Anthropic Refuses Pentagon Demand to Loosen AI Safety Guardrails Ahead of Friday Deadline

Pakistan Launches Airstrikes, Declares 'Open War' Against Afghanistan's Taliban Regime

Vance Dismisses Prolonged War Risk as Iran Nuclear Talks Stall

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that while military strikes against Iran remain under consideration, there is "no chance" such action would draw the United States into a prolonged Middle Eastern conflict. Speaking with The Washington Post aboard Air Force Two, Vance said President Donald Trump has not decided whether to pursue strikes to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon or to resolve the matter diplomatically, but insisted any military operation would be "very clearly defined," pointing to last year's strikes on Iran and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as precedents.

The remarks came as the United States and Iran concluded a third round of nuclear talks in Geneva on Feb. 26, with analysts saying Tehran is unlikely to accept reported U.S. demands to destroy its nuclear facilities and surrender its highly enriched uranium. Iran's counterproposal reportedly falls short of core U.S. requirements, instead offering economic incentives unrelated to American demands in an effort to extract concessions. U.S. officials have previously stated that Washington would strike Iran if the two sides cannot reach a deal, and some officials have suggested any future operation could be more comprehensive than the June bombing of nuclear sites.

Washington Post · Study of War (X)

Netflix's Exit From Warner Bros. Bid Positions Ellison's Paramount to Take Control of CNN

Netflix's withdrawal Thursday from its effort to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery all but ensures that CNN will soon fall under the control of Paramount Skydance chairman David Ellison, a technology heir who has a friendly relationship with President Trump and recently oversaw a revamp of CBS News. Ellison has long signaled his intent to include CNN in any acquisition, and the development has unsettled the CNN newsroom, where CEO Mark Thompson issued a staff memo shortly after the Netflix announcement. Ellison attended Trump's State of the Union address this week as a guest of Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and the Trump administration previously approved Ellison's acquisition of Paramount after the company paid $16 million to settle a Trump lawsuit against "60 Minutes."

NYT

Trump Administration Freezes $260 Million in Minnesota Medicaid Funding in Anti-Fraud Push

The Trump administration announced Wednesday it would pause nearly $260 million in Medicaid funding to Minnesota as part of Vice President JD Vance's first action leading the administration's "war on fraud," an initiative President Trump formalized by executive order and highlighted in his State of the Union address. Vance said the federal payments would be withheld until the state takes its "obligations seriously to stop the fraud that's being perpetrated against the American taxpayer," while Democratic Gov. Tim Walz called the move "a campaign of retribution," saying Trump is "weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states" and warning the cuts would devastate veterans, families with young children, people with disabilities and working Minnesotans.

WSJ

Block Slashes 4,000 Jobs in AI Overhaul as Economists Question Tech-Driven Unemployment Fears

Block, the payments company founded by Jack Dorsey that includes Square and Cash App, announced Thursday it would lay off 40% of its workforce — more than 4,000 employees — with Dorsey citing the transformative capabilities of artificial intelligence. "Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company," Dorsey wrote in a letter to shareholders, adding that he believes "the majority of companies will reach the same conclusion" within a year. Shares rallied more than 20% in after-hours trading.

The mass layoff landed the same week a viral report positing widespread AI-driven job destruction triggered a broad stock market selloff, pushing AI disruption fears into the mainstream. But some economists argue the doomsday scenario lacks supporting evidence. Labor Department data analyzed by James Bessen of Boston University shows software developer employment rose 5% year-over-year in January, consistent with two decades of growth, while business software spending jumped 11% in the fourth quarter — suggesting that as AI reduces costs, demand for technology workers may actually increase. Historically, technological advancement has displaced some jobs while creating new ones through enhanced worker productivity, new businesses and lower consumer prices, a pattern that has not produced sustained economy-wide unemployment in the United States.

WSJ

Anthropic Defies Pentagon Ultimatum, Refuses to Remove AI Restrictions on Surveillance and Autonomous Weapons

Anthropic said Thursday it would not comply with the Defense Department's demand to allow the military to use its AI technology "for all lawful purposes," with CEO Dario Amodei saying the company "cannot in good conscience accede to their request" ahead of a 5:01 p.m. Friday deadline imposed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. If the deadline passes, Hegseth has threatened to invoke the Defense Production Act or designate Anthropic a "supply chain risk" — a label typically reserved for foreign adversaries like Huawei that would require every Pentagon contractor to certify it does not use Claude, Anthropic's AI model and the only frontier system currently on the military's classified networks. The Pentagon has already contacted Boeing and Lockheed Martin to assess their Claude reliance, and the designation could particularly complicate matters for Amazon Web Services, the Pentagon's largest cloud provider and Anthropic's leading partner with more than $8 billion invested. The Pentagon awarded $200 million contracts last summer to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI, pressing all four to accept the "all lawful purposes" standard; xAI has agreed, and Google and OpenAI are close to deployment on classified systems, while defense analysts say replacing Claude could take three months or longer.

WSJ · NYT · Axios · The Hill · CNN · Defense One

February 27 1860: Mathew Brady photographs presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln sat for his first portraits with renowned photographer Mathew Brady, including a now-famous beardless image taken just before his Cooper Union address in New York City. Widely circulated in publications like Harper’s Bazaar, the photograph and Lincoln’s forceful speech against the expansion of slavery helped galvanize Northern support and bolster his presidential candidacy.

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