by Brittney Melton

November 21, 2024

Good morning. A deep sea oarfish washed up in Southern California, which, according to Japanese folklore, could be a bad omen. Here’s the other news we’re following today:

President-elect Donald Trump has picked Matthew Whitaker, who has no foreign policy experience, to represent America’s interests as his ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Whitaker worked in the Justice Department during Trump’s first presidential term, initially as chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and then briefly as acting attorney general. NATO is one of the many national and global institutions Trump has criticized over the years. He has argued that the U.S. was shouldering an oversized burden while European allies failed to pay their fair share.

Matthew Whitaker, Trump's pick as ambassador to NATO, speaks during a Trump rally at Montana State University on Aug. 9, in Bozeman, Mt.

Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images

🎧 Whitaker would come into the position with a blank slate that would immediately fill up with Trump’s mandate, NPR’s Stephen Fowler tells Up First. Anatol Lieven, with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, tells Fowler that Trump’s foreign policy priorities require allies from elsewhere. Michael O’Hanlon, with the Brookings Institution, says part of Trump’s statement about strengthening relationships suggests he wouldn’t pull out of NATO and would instead pull back America’s role in European geopolitics. O'Hanlon also notes that Whitaker may have one advantage when dealing with NATO: access to the president.

The 2024 election turnout rate could be the third highest in a century. Republicans did well: They won control of the House, Senate and the presidency, contradicting conventional political wisdom that suggests high turnout favors Democrats.

🎧 NPR's Miles Parks says this belief about high turnout isn't a hard and fast rule. The idea centers around low-propensity voters who only cast ballots in presidential elections every once in a while. Research has found that these voters are usually poorer and less educated, and used to flock to the Democratic Party, Miles says. Trump seems to have changed the game. Exit polling shows he dominated among people without college degrees and won people who say they’re first-time voters. Trump himself said in 2020 that he thought higher voting levels would hurt Republican candidates. However, this year’s election results could shift the GOP's opinions.

➡️ Most of the country moved right in the 2024 election compared to where it was four years ago. This map breaks down where political flips happened.

The Danish navy has stopped a Chinese cargo ship named Yi Peng 3 as part of an investigation into a possible act of sabotage. Earlier this week, undersea cables carrying internet traffic across the Baltic Sea were severed. Yi Peng 3 left a Russian port on the Baltic Sea six days ago and passed over a cable connecting Sweden and Lithuania on Sunday. Shortly after that, the cable operator noticed it had stopped working and later found that the cable was severed. On Monday, the same ship passed over a cable connecting Finland and Germany. Two minutes later, that cable stopped working, and the operator also found it had been cut. Moritz Brake, a marine security expert, told German public media that over 90% of the world’s data traffic runs over sea cables like these, meaning someone is trying to show they can destroy the connectivity within our societies.

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Seeking common ground

Residents of Port Angeles, Wash., fill a room in the Port Angeles Senior & Community Center on Oct. 10 for a weekly political discussion where they talk about national and local government.

Grant Hindsley for NPR

Over the last few years and through this year’s contentious campaign season, there has been a coarsening in the way people talk to each other. Reporters across the NPR Network are looking for examples of people working through their differences. These stories explore how some people are trying to bridge divides.

In Port Angeles, the biggest town in Clallam County, Wash., an informal group of community members have met regularly for about 30 years to discuss disagreements. Although their political views often differ, they appreciate the conversations that emerge from these discussions. Anyone in the community is welcome to attend. Many participants enjoy having a common space where they can have their ideas challenged, learn from one another and engage in face-to-face interactions. Read about how this year's election brought new strain — and new commitment — to group members.

An iceberg floats off the coast of Illulisat, Greenland.

Ryan Kellman/NPR

A lurking issue behind this week's climate change negotiations in Baku, Azerbaijan, is whether Earth has heated to near, or beyond, 1.5 Celsius above preindustrial temperatures. One of the main objectives outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which most countries accepted, is to limit global warming to below this threshold. However, new analyses, scientific studies and international reports indicate this goal is becoming difficult to achieve. The challenge arises from countries delaying, reversing or failing to implement measures to reduce fossil fuel emissions.

🌡️ The World Meteorological Organization reported that 2024 will likely average 1.55 C hotter than the late 1800s. If that's true, this would be the first time a full-year average will pass the 1.5 level.
🌡️ To keep warming below 1.5 C, global emissions would need to fall 42% from 2019 levels by 2030. To achieve this, about 60% of the world’s electricity would need to come from renewable sources.
🌡️ The Paris Agreement doesn’t define how to measure the Earth’s increasing temperature.
🌡️ Extreme weather like hurricanes and heat waves are intensified by climate change. At 2 degrees Celsius of warming in the U.S., precipitation on the wettest days could increase by 20, 30 or even 40% in some parts of the country.

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Screenshot of Sabrina Carpenter in music video filmed at Brooklyn church.

YouTube/Screenshot by NPR

Monsignor Jamie Gigantiello, a priest previously disciplined for allowing pop star Sabrina Carpenter to film a racy music video inside his church, is now facing accusations of mishandling nearly $2 million in parish funds.

Last night, the Justice Department asked the judge overseeing the antitrust case against Google to order the company to sell its Chrome browser.

University of Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma became the winningest coach in NCAA history last night after officially racking up 1,217 wins.

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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