📱 Axios AM: Biden's influencer army

🐣 Plus: Peeps s'mores | Sunday, April 09, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By Instagram   Axios AM By Mike Allen · Apr 09, 2023 ☀️ Happy family weekend, as Easter, Passover and Ramadan intersect. Erica Pandey is your weekend AM host. Give her a follow: @erica_pandey. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,178 words ... 4½ mins. Edited by Jennifer Koons. 🏀 Situational awareness: Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) will have surgery today after breaking a leg during a victory parade in Hartford yesterday for UConn, the men's March Madness champs. Blumenthal, 77, tweeted that a "fellow parade goer tripped & fell on me." Get the latest.     1 big thing: Biden's influencer army Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios   President Biden's not-yet-official campaign will lean on hundreds of social media stars who will tout his record — and soon may have their own briefing room at the White House, Axios' Sophia Cai reports. Why it matters: It's an effort to boost Biden with young voters, and to try to counter former President Trump's massive online following. Hundreds of content creators are working with Biden's White House, including: Harry Sisson, a 20-year-old NYU student who breaks down the day's news on TikTok. Boston College professor Heather Cox Richardson, who has one of the largest Substacks and a huge Twitter following. Vivian Tu, a former trader who discusses financial topics in short clips on TikTok and Instagram. 💡 Between the lines: A briefing space for influencers would show that the press room is no longer the administration's prime media audience. 🥊 Reality check: Biden's social-media followings are much smaller than Trump's, especially on YouTube and Facebook. Biden's strategy is aimed at platforms favored by younger voters, especially Instagram and TikTok. Share this story.     2. 😨 Stunning document leak Locals collect scrap metal near a destroyed military plane in Ukraine's Kharkiv region today. Photo: Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters Secret Pentagon documents leaked on social media, including Twitter, reveal just how deeply U.S. intelligence has penetrated Russia's military, the N.Y. Times reports (subscription). The embarrassing, potentially dangerous breach also shows results of U.S. spying on allies including Israel and South Korea, as well as Ukraine. Senior U.S. officials said the FBI will investigate the source of the leak, and acknowledged the documents (50-100 pages) appear to be legitimate briefing material compiled by the Pentagon's Joint Staff, The Times adds. "The documents appeared online as hastily taken photographs of pieces of paper sitting atop what appears to be a hunting magazine," The Times reports. Former officials say it appears "a classified briefing was folded up, placed in a pocket, then taken out of a secure area to be photographed." "The documents show that nearly every Russian security service appears penetrated by the United States in some way," and that the U.S. is also "spying on Ukraine's top military and political leaders." A Feb. 23 battlefield document names one of its sources as "LAPIS time-series video," The Washington Post reports: "Officials familiar with the technology described it as an advanced satellite system that allows for better imaging of objects on the ground and that could now be more susceptible to Russian jamming or interference. They indicated that LAPIS was among the more closely guarded capabilities in the U.S. intelligence arsenal." Although one slide was doctored to favor Russia, both papers said that most of the documents appear to be unaltered.     3. 🍼 Stat du jour: Parental leave boom Illustration: Eniola Odetunde/Axios   The number of men taking parental leave has surged 183% in the last five years, The Wall Street Journal reports (subscription). What's happening: Though the U.S. has no nationally mandated parental leave policy, employers across the country have steadily been expanding access to time off for child care — especially for fathers. The number of women taking parental leave has increased by 13% since 2018, as employers broaden access to leave for mothers as well. 🔮 What to watch: Laws in seven states plus D.C. now require employers to offer paid parental leave — up from four in 2018, The Journal notes. Four more states will mandate it by 2026.     A message from Instagram Explore 30+ tools for parents and teens on Instagram     Here's how: By allowing parents to view who their teen follows and who follows them, manage daily time limits and be notified when their teen shares reported accounts, once Supervision is set up. Set up Family Center supervision tools with your teen today.     4. 📷 1,000 words Photo: Mark Baker/AP Augusta National crews quickly disposed of three towering pines that fell during a storm near the 17th tee Friday during the second round of the Masters Tournament, forcing postponement of play. Chairs were crushed but no one was hurt. All that remains of the uprooted trees are three 10-by-10-foot roped-off areas — and some wood chips left after workers cut up the trees before hauling them away and covering the holes with green gravel, AP reports. ⛳ Bulletin: Citing an injury, Tiger Woods withdrew from the Masters this morning, ending his streak of completing all 72 holes of every tournament he has played at Augusta National as a professional. Woods, 47, is still hobbled from his 2021 car accident. He had a limp in early rounds that became more pronounced as the weather worsened. Get the latest. More tree pics ... Green jacket today.     5. 💻 Zoom layoffs Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios   Born out of necessity in the pandemic, the virtual layoff seems here to stay, Axios' Emily Peck writes: The practice of firing people via Zoom or email is picking up steam alongside an uptick in layoffs. 💼 State of play: During COVID shutdowns, employers had no choice but to deliver layoff news virtually because offices were closed. Now companies are actually closing offices to do layoffs, a strategic decision to have everyone stay home as the news goes out. This week McDonald's told corporate employees not to come to the office, so that the fast-food giant could "communicate key decisions related to roles and staffing decisions" — or, in plain English, do layoffs remotely. Twitter closed its offices in San Francisco to conduct layoffs last year. Between the lines: Receiving the tough news at home might beat commuting to the office just to lose your job. But getting laid off virtually deprives workers of the chance to commiserate with colleagues. Share this story.     6. 🇮🇶 20 years ago today: Saddam statue toppled Photo: Jerome Delay/AP On April 9, 2003, Cpl. Edward Chin of the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment, covered the face of Saddam Hussein with an American flag before using a noose to topple the bronze statue in Firdos Square (Paradise Square) in Baghdad, Iraq. Soldiers, journalists and bystanders grabbed pieces as souvenirs. Firdos Square has been refurbished as a small park, funded by private banks. Why it matters: The symbolic act marked the crumbling of Saddam's regime, 20 days after the U.S. invaded. Go deeper.     7. 🥚 Egg prices drop for Easter Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   The traditional Easter egg hunt turned into the search for cheaper eggs this year as the price of eggs remained high. But those prices are finally starting to fall, Axios' Kelly Tyko reports. 📉 Weekly wholesale prices have "fallen below year ago levels when avian influenza impacts were just getting underway," the USDA said Friday. 🔭 Zoom out: U.S. consumers will spend a record $24 billion on Easter this year — up from $20.8 billion last year, including $7.3 billion on food and $3.3 billion on candy, the National Retail Federation's annual Easter survey found.     8. 🐣 1 fun thing: Peeps s'mores Here's a new answer to the age-old question of what to do with leftover Peeps: Use 'em for s'mores! Peeps, potato chips and saltines are among the twists on the campfire classic suggested last year in a New York Times feature (subscription). The "Today" show says you don't even need a fire — just use your oven rack. (Recipe) A classic s'more. Photo: Johnny Miller/The New York Times. Licensed by Axios Photo: Johnny Miller/The New York Times. 🥞 Go deeper: Peeps flavors now include Dr Pepper, Hot Tamales, kettle corn and cotton candy — and you can buy a Peeps-shaped pancake skillet.     A message from Instagram How can parents help teens manage the time they spend on Instagram?     Once Supervision is set up, parents can use daily time limits to manage the amount of time their teen spends on Instagram every day. The result: Teens can be more intentional about the time they spend online. Explore 30+ tools for parents and teens on Instagram.   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. 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