U.S. President Joe Biden visited TSMC’s (2330.TW) Arizona plant on Tuesday as the Taiwanese chipmaker said it would more than triple its planned investment there to $40 billion, among the largest foreign investments in American history.

The expanded investment is a big win for Biden after supply chain issues disrupted the U.S. economy early in his presidency.

“American manufacturing is back, folks,” Biden said in a speech against the backdrop of the new factory draped with an American flag and a large banner reading “A Future Made in America Phoenix, AZ.”

Biden’s recent trip to Asia convinced him the United States is in a better position to lead the world economy in the years ahead “if we keep our focus,” he said.

Mark Liu, chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd, known as TSMC, estimated annual revenue of $10 billion when the two planned chip fabrication plants open, adding that customers would have annual sales of $40 billion from products using chips made there. [nL1N32W2HL]

Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O), all major TSMC customers, said they expected their chips to be made in the new plants.

“We work with TSMC to manufacture the chips that help power our products all over the world. And we look forward to expanding this work in the years to come as TSMC forms new and deeper roots in America,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a speech.

Also joining Biden at the facility’s opening ceremony was TSMC founder Morris Chang, chipmaker Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) CEO Sanjay Mehrotra and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, among others.

The plant, scheduled to be operational in 2024, will make a more advanced chip than initially announced.

TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, is a leading supplier to major U.S. hardware manufacturers. Its $40 billion funding for the two facilities is the company’s largest investment outside of Taiwan.

“Bringing TSMC’s investment to the United States is a masterstroke and a game-changing development for the industry,” Nvidia’s Huang said in remarks prepared for Tuesday’s event.

TSMC’s expanded investment in Arizona is the latest in a string of major investments announced by chipmakers since the CHIPS and Science Act passed this summer. These include International Business Machines Corp (IBM.N), Micron Technology Inc(MU.O) and Wolfspeed Inc (WOLF.N).

TSMC said it would build a second facility nearby to produce so-called “3 nanometer” chips by 2026, the most advanced currently in production.

TSMC also said it was planning to build an industrial water reclamation plant. Chip making is a water-intensive process, and Arizona, which is largely desert, is increasingly struggling with water shortages.

TSMC’s Liu said its Phoenix factories are expected to create 13,000 high-tech jobs, including 4,500 under TSMC and the rest filled by suppliers.

Biden has sought to boost semiconductor production after the pandemic caused supply chain problems that led to shortages of chips for vehicles and many other items.

U.S. semiconductor production accounts for just 12% of the global total, down from 37% two decades ago, said a White House report on supply chain problems last year.

Taiwan’s dominant position as a maker of chips used in technology from cellphones and cars to fighter jets has sparked concerns of over-reliance on the island, especially as China ramps up military pressure to assert its sovereignty claims.

China claims Taiwan as its territory but the democratically elected government in Taipei rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.

The $52.7 billion Chips and Science Act, signed into law by Biden in August, is aimed at preventing a resurgence of supply chain woes.

Biden’s trip to Arizona marks “a significant milestone that TSMC is reaching in bringing the most advanced semiconductor manufacturing back to the U.S.,” said Brian Deese, director of the White House National Economic Council.

Biden’s victory in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election helped catapult him to the White House. Republican Donald Trump had won the state in 2016.

Biden has said he intends to seek a second four-year term in 2024.

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Ukraine’s military said Russia had pulled some troops from towns on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from Kherson city, the first official Ukrainian report of a Russian withdrawal on what is now the main front line in the south..

* Spain has stepped up security at public and diplomatic buildings after a spate of letter bombs, including one sent to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and another to the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid, where an official suffered minor injuries.

* Air raid alerts were issued across all of Ukraine following warnings by Ukrainian officials that Russia was preparing a new wave of missile and drone strikes. “An overall air raid alert is in place in Ukraine. Go to shelters,” country’s border service wrote on Telegram messaging app.

* Ukraine’s military said it had found fragments of Russian-fired nuclear-capable missiles with dud warheads in west Ukraine, and that their apparent purpose was to distract air defences.

* The recently liberated Ukrainian city of Kherson has lost its power supply after heavy shelling by Russian forces, the regional governor said.

* European Union governments tentatively agreed on a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian seaborne oil, with an adjustment mechanism to keep the cap at 5% below the market price, an EU diplomat said.

* Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on that big problems had accumulated in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), accusing the West of spurning the chance to make it a real bridge with Russia after the Cold War.

* Lavrov said that discussions with Washington about potential prisoner exchanges were being conducted by the two countries’ intelligence services, and that he hoped they would be successful.

* The European Union needs patience as it sanctions Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, as most measures will only have an impact in the medium and long term, Lithuania’s prime minister said in an interview at  the  Reuters NEXT conference.

* Switzerland has frozen financial assets worth 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($7.94 billion) as of Nov. 25 under sanctions against Russians to punish Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) said.

* Russia said the German parliament’s move to recognise the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine as a Soviet-imposed genocide was an anti-Russian provocation and an attempt by Germany to whitewash its Nazi past.

* Ukraine sacked a top engineer at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, accusing him of collaborating with Russian forces, and urged other Ukrainian staff at the plant to remain loyal to Kyiv.

* Russia must withdraw its heavy weapons and military personnel from the Zaporizhzhia plant if the U.N. atomic watchdog’s efforts to create a protection zone are to succeed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

* In a grim sign of the energy crisis caused by Russian attacks on Ukraine’s electricity grid, nine people have been killed in fires over the past 24 hours as Ukrainians resorted to emergency generators, candles and gas cylinders in violation of safety rules to try to heat their homes after power outages.

* “Remember one thing – the Russians are afraid. And they are very cold and no one will help them, because they do not have popular support,” – Andriy Yermak, chief of Ukrainian presidential staff.

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In 1803 with the stroke of a pen (and 15 million dollars), Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from Napoleon Bonaparte and thereby doubled the size of the United States. For Jefferson it created a new frontier as an extension to his agrarian ambitions and encouraged worldwide immigration to a new land with suddenly and seemingly unlimited territory. It was a coup for the people of the United States and created in the new nation an emerging world power. There was only one problem. The Louisiana Purchase was unconstitutional.

In 1861 with the stroke of a pen, Abraham Lincoln ordered the suspension of habeas corpus and jailed dissidents and northern newspaper editors. Under Lincoln’s order commanders could arrest and detain individuals who were deemed a threat to local military operations and thereby safeguard the security of the Union. Again, there was a problem. The order was unconstitutional.

In 1933 with the stroke of a pen, Franklin Delano Roosevelt began the New Deal by instituting the Agricultural Adjustment Act, a radical measure used to encourage farmers to limit production and even destroy crops. Once more there was a problem. The measure was unconstitutional.

Throughout history, American Presidents have occasionally defied the Constitution for the larger good. Sometimes the best way to “preserve, protect and defend the Constituents of the United States” is to bend it to the point of breaking. When the preservation of the Union is at stake, or its vast enrichment can be had, or its economic boon to the people in a time of desperation can be secured, such extreme measures are sometimes warranted. Historically Presidents who have done so have emerged not as villains but as heroes.

I think that is the x factor we look for when we elect a new president. We want him or her not to be so rigid or doctrinaire in his or her interpretation of the Constitution as to imperil or impede the country. It is a delicate balance that must be negotiated by a political master. At no point, however, do we want the president of the United States to destroy the Constitution.

Donald Trump wants to destroy the Constitution. The twice-impeached loser of the last election isn’t even president any more. He stands on no hallowed ground. He isn’t imitating former greatness by defying the Constitution: he wants to eliminate it. And he wants to eliminate it not for the good or wealth of the American people, but for his own selfish and greedy and corrupt purposes. Donald Trump is the enemy of the people, and he has explicitly come out and shown us as much.

On Saturday, Trump came out on “Truth” Social, to say of the 2020 election: “A massive fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the constitution.” Trump also wrote an “unprecedented fraud requires an unprecedented cure.”

Trump is wrong, as usual. In fact, we will not “terminate” the Constitution in order to satisfy Donald Trump’s corrupt ambition. Instead we will terminate his freedom. By calling for the “termination” of the United States Constitution, Trump is calling for the termination of America itself. He has explicitly stated what we have been saying all along, that Trump would destroy the country to protect himself.

Donald Trump is the enemy of the people. Donald Trump would destroy America if it meant saving himself. He and his kind can no longer be tolerated. I will say it again. Donald Trump is the enemy of the people. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.

The post The enemy of the American people appeared first on Palmer Report.

Drugmakers GSK Plc (GSK.L), Pfizer Inc (PFE.N), Sanofi SA (SASY.PA) and Boehringer Ingelheim on Tuesday were spared thousands of U.S. lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, as a judge found the claims were not backed by sound science.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach, Florida, knocks out about 50,000 claims in federal court, though it does not directly affect tens of thousands of similar cases pending in state courts around the country.

“We are extremely surprised by this miscarriage of justice,” and “fully expect” the ruling will be reversed on appeal, lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a joint statement.

A Sanofi spokesperson said the decision “significantly decreases the scope of the litigation potentially by over 50%,” with the remaining litigation being only in state court.

A spokesperson for GSK said the company welcomed the decision and Pfizer said it was pleased by the outcome.

Privately-held German drugmaker Boehringer said in a statement that it looked forward to “continuing our vigorous defense of the remaining cases in state courts.”

All the drugmakers have denied that Zantac causes cancer.

Zantac, first approved in 1983, became the world’s best selling medicine in 1988 and one of the first-ever drugs to top $1 billion in annual sales. Originally marketed by a forerunner of GSK, it was later sold successively to Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim and finally Sanofi.

Numerous generic drugmakers also launched versions of the medicine, but none are defendants in the cases in federal court.

In 2019, some manufacturers and pharmacies halted sales of the drug over concerns that its active ingredient, ranitidine, degraded over time to form a chemical called NDMA. While NDMA is found in low levels in food and water, it is known to cause cancer in larger amounts.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 pulled all remaining brand name Zantac and generic versions off the market, citing research showing the amount of NDMA in the products increases the longer the drug is stored and could potentially become unsafe.

Lawsuits began piling up soon after the recalls began from people who said they developed cancer after taking Zantac. Plaintiffs said the companies knew, or should have known, that ranitidine posed a cancer risk and that they failed to warn consumers.

The litigation initially included claims of over 10 types of cancer allegedly linked to the medicine, but were later narrowed to five – bladder, esophageal, gastrointestinal, liver and pancreatic. Some claims involving other cancers remain in state courts.

All of the cases filed in federal courts nationwide were consolidated before Rosenberg in Florida.

In Tuesday’s order, she found that expert witnesses the plaintiffs planned to use to establish that Zantac can cause cancer could not be admitted in court because they “systemically utilized unreliable methodologies” and showed “a lack of internally consistent, objective, science-based standards for the evenhanded evaluation of data.”

State court judges will also have to rule on whether to allow plaintiffs’ experts on Zantac’s alleged cancer risks before state cases can go to trial.

The legal standards for evaluating experts in many states are similar to the federal standard used by Rosenberg, but state judges could rule differently.

The first state trial is currently scheduled to begin in February in California.

Taiwan chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW) plans to build a second chip plant in Arizona and more than triple its initial investment to $40 billion, estimating on Tuesday annual revenue of $10 billion from the plants when they are up and running.

The foreign investment by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s biggest chip contract manufacturer, is one of the largest in U.S. history.

The first chip fabrication facility, or fab, will be operational by 2024 while the second facility nearby will make the most advanced chips currently in production, called “3 nanometer,” by 2026.

U.S. President Joe Biden and others, including the CEOs of major TSMC customers, attended an opening ceremony for the new $12 billion facility in an arid and barren part of northern Phoenix.

“When completed with both fabs, we will manufacture over 600,000 wafers a year, representing $10 billion in yearly revenue,” said TSMC Chairman Mark Liu, adding that customers using those chips would have annual sales of over $40 billion. read more A wafer is the shiny disc that chips are made on.

Liu said the two plants will create 13,000 high-paying tech jobs, including 4,500 under TSMC and the rest filled by suppliers.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Nvidia Corp (NVDA.O), and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD.O), all major TSMC customers, said they expected their chips to be made in the new Arizona plants.

“We work with TSMC to manufacture the chips that help power our products all over the world. And we look forward to expanding this work in the years to come as TSMC forms new and deeper roots in America,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

“AMD expects to be a big customer, of both fabs and we’re committed to working closely with TSMC and the entire ecosystem,” said AMD CEO Lisa Su.

At least a dozen major cranes are still set up around the first factory which is dubbed Fab 21.

Against the background of the new factory draped with an American flag and a banner reading “A Future Made in America Phoenix, AZ,” top executives led by TSMC founder Morris Chang, 91, toasted the factory opening with sparkling wine.

Nearly 600 engineers hired in Arizona have been sent to Taiwan for training, Chang said. “This is a very good sign that my dream of 25 years ago will now be fulfilled,” he said of his wish to build fabs in the United States.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is opening new safety probes into 1.72 million Honda vehicles, 230,000 Jeeps and 390,077 Ram trucks.

The auto safety regulator said it will begin preliminary evaluations into issues involving loss of power and braking, a first step before it could seek to compel recalls.

The largest probe covers reports alleging a loss of power for more than 1.7 million U.S. 2018-2022 model year Honda CR-V and HR-V vehicles. Those reports said some drivers lost power at highway speeds without warning and some reported differential seal leaks resulting in rear differential lock-up as the cause. Some reports allege the rear lock-up caused the driveshaft to fracture while the vehicle was in motion resulting in the vehicle being towed.

Honda said it “will cooperate with the NHTSA through the investigation process, and we will continue our own internal review of the available information.”

NHTSA is also investigating 390,000 2017-2018 model year Ram 2500-3500 pickup trucks after received 134 reports alleging an intermittent or permanent loss of braking performance. Some reports said replacing the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) module and Hydraulic Control Unit (HCU) appeared to correct the issue.

The agency is also looking at nearly 230,000 2019-2020 model year Jeep Compass SUVs after receiving 15 complaints alleging a loss of power while driving that was accompanied by a high coolant temperature message appearing on the vehicle dashboard.

A U.S. spokesman for Stellantis NV (STLA.MI), the parent company of Jeep and Ram, said it was fully cooperating in the investigations.

There are no crashes or injuries reported in relation to any of vehicles in the three new investigations to date. Before NHTSA could demand a recall it must decide at a later date whether to upgrade each probe to an engineering analysis.

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“We the people.” They are the first three words in the Constitution of the United States of America. Power to the people! The power lies with us. We do not have kings in our country. We do have elected representatives.

And very shortly, the state of Georgia will have to make a choice. They will have to vote. Two men are running for Senate. There are two choices. One of them is Senator Raphael Warnock. Warnock is a good man, a conscientious man — a brilliant man.

And so it says in the Constitution. “We, the people,” make this choice. And in Georgia, we must help them make the correct choice. In just a few short hours, we will likely know who has won Georgia. And it must be Senator Warnock.

He’s been doing well on the campaign trail in the last few weeks. People have been turning out to see him. He is ahead in the polls—people like what they are hearing. And yet we still have to keep the activism going. Because — one never knows.

Do not forget the headline from all those years ago “Dewey defeats Truman.” I am saying that we cannot make assumptions. It just isn’t possible. It is going to be too close for that. So please — let’s phone bank, door knock, and help Warnock to the end. And that includes election day.

I do believe victory will be ours. But not if we grow lax and the day before or the day of an election is the time when some people do. I, for one, want 51 senators. I cannot wait to have them. I want to hear that Senator Warnock has been re-elected by the people of Georgia.

So don’t give up, and don’t stop the activism. Let’s see it through to the end. The Constitution gave us the power. With our votes, we, the people, can make a difference. And we will — be getting Senator Warnock reelected and grabbing that 51st seat.

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