FYI…

In the U.S., jobless claims jumped by 78,000 last week to nearly 828,000 — a big change from the increase of 18,000 the week before. 

[Democratic] Party officials are awakening to the reality that voters may have delivered a one-time verdict on Mr. Trump that does not equal ongoing support for center-left policies.

The killing of Iran’s top nuclear scientist raised fears of an escalation in violent retribution. While the killing of Mr. Fakhrizadeh is likely to impede Iran’s military ambitions, its real purpose may have been to prevent President-elect Joe Biden from reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, our national security correspondent writes in an analysis.

As Mr. Biden fills out the rest of his team in the days and weeks ahead, the task will force him to navigate tricky currents of ideology, gender, racial identity, party affiliation, friendship, competence, personal background and past employment. 

Da Art of Speculatin’,” written by Regina N. Bradley and published in Fireside Magazine, is about how acclaimed hip-hop duo Outkast blended Black Southern life of the past and present in their music to paint possibilities of their lives in the future. The first line identifies the writer as a “southern Black woman who stands in the long shadow of the Civil Rights Movement. Despite the topic and its author, the person who narrated the audio recording was a young, White male voice actor who spoke in an accent that listeners interpreted as something that would appear in a minstrel show. Read HERE.

Darth Vader | StarWars.com

David Prowse, English actor and weightlifter who embodied Darth Vader, dies at 85. At 6-foot-7 and weighing 275 pounds, he used his imposing physique to give shape and form to Darth Vader’s threatening presence on screen as the embodiment of the Evil Empire. Read HERE.

Wilton Gregory becomes the first Black American cardinal — after three coronavirus tests and quarantine. Read HERE.

The forgotten female chess star who beat men 90 years before ‘Queen’s Gambit’. Vera Menchik astonished the chess world by taking down high-level male opponents in the 1920s and ’30s. Read HERE.

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