Trump upsets Clinton to take the presidency

Despite many polls that indicated Hillary Clinton would win the general election, Donald Trump was declared president-elect of the United States early Wednesday morning with 279 electoral votes. The Republican Party will have control of the House, Senate and White House starting in January. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton claimed the popular vote, along with 228 from the Electoral College. Clinton supporters upset by the outcome of the election and the prospect of a President Trump have organized an event in Washington on Inauguration Day entitled “Not My President” and a “Million Women March” the following day, but President Obama has urged Americans to “mend the wounds” of the starkly divisive election cycleand give Trump his constitutionally-guaranteed chance to serve and lead the nation.

Tesla introduces additional fees for future customers

Potential Tesla buyers in the United States may be forced to reconsider their purchase, as the company has decided to alter its current policy of allowing owners to use Superchargers for free. According to The Washington Post, drivers will instead receive an annual package of charging credits that will expire after about 1,000 miles, and then must pay to recharge the vehicles for the rest of the year. The only way for customers to avoid these fees is to charge the cars at home. According to experts, this adjustment in policy has potential effects for both the economy and the environment, which will depend on both the reaction of potential customers to additional fees and the impact of Tesla’s expanding reputation.

What you didn’t hear about on Tuesday: Three more states legalize marijuana

Recreational marijuana use was legalized in California, Massachusetts and Nevada on Tuesday, meaning that a total of seven states and Washington D.C. now allow use of the drug. According to The New York Times, these additions to the list have raised the percentage of Americans living in marijuana-legalized states from 5 percent to over 20 percent. While the federal government has maintained its ban on the drug, political figures in the west are optimistic that states will soon be able to collaborate on policy and will ask Washington to ease the nationwide ban. Proponents of the movement for legalization feel that it will decrease the problems with disproportionate numbers of minorities being sentenced to prison time for nonviolent drug crimes. Proponents also say that local governments can make money from taxing the production and sale of marijuana. Support for legalization continues to grow across the nation despite health experts’ warnings that there is inconclusive evidence regarding marijuana’s effects on the brain, and no system for police to determine a driver’s level of impairment.

U.S. moves to find and kill at-large terrorists in Syria

President Obama has ordered the Pentagon to pursue killing leaders of a terrorist group in Syria who call themselves Jabat Fatah al-Sham (or Front for the Conquest of Syria). The group claims it has cut ties with al-Qaeda, but United States Intelligence says otherwise. This move on the president’s part demonstrates that he is focusing more on driving terrorism from the region than on working to force current Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down. The significance of this change is highlighted as intelligence information begins to be shared with President-Elect Donald Trump, who has said he will enhance militant-hunting strategies once in office. Analysts and intelligence agents are eager to learn whether the Trump administration will work in direct collaboration with Russia on the campaign, considering both Trump’s history of praising Putin and the failed U.S.-Russia cooperation in Syria over the summer.