LinkQuote:
Target Corporation, the eighth largest retailer in the United States, announced in an email to employees on Thursday that it will be leaving the City Center, its primary downtown Minneapolis location.
Company officials cited improved remote work opportunities and less need for space as the drivers for the decision.
"In just one year we've proven that we can drive incredible results, together, from our kitchens and basements and living rooms," said Melissa Kremer, executive vice president and leader of Target's human resources operations.
Target, the largest employer in Minneapolis with some 8,500 corporate workers, says the 3,500 employees who work at the City Center will still have a "home base," but it will be at another Minneapolis location or in the nearby suburb of Brooklyn Park.
A Story of Capital Flight?
On one hand, there is little reason to doubt Target's explanation for abandoning its headquarters. Many anticipated that the pandemic would lead to a normalization of remote work.
"The future of work will be distributed," Erica Brescia, the chief operating officer of Github, told the BBC last fall. "We're going to see a big shift from office by default to remote by default."
Part of that shift, it's reasonable to assume, would be corporations moving away from high-end corporate real estate. Yet it also shouldn't be forgotten (or ignored) that Target's decision comes less than a year after Minneapolis suffered some of the worst riots in US history, prompted by the May 25 death of George Floyd.
The riots which broke out after a video went viral showing police pinning Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, to the ground for nearly nine minutes before he died caused an estimated $2 billion in damage.
Though Target made no mention of the riots in its announcement, last summer I noted that an abundance of evidence suggested that the economic damage of the riots would persist long after the wreckage had cleared.
While I agree, that seems to be the one lesson of history a lot of people can never learn, apparently.Maroon Dawn said:
It is but at the same time, people need to see the consequences of giving Democrats total control of your government at all levels
Trust me, the defense has a rigorous defense to shred the prosecution's "case" on the precise charges as alleged. The state's medical evidence is compromised, highly compromised in my view.Stupid@17 said:
My main concern in all of this is whether Chauvin had any legitimate defenses the jury can't ignore easily.
IE. If the defense evidence is all circumstantial (non verifiable training that he was doing right thing, etc) then id assume he gets convicted even if prosecution has no legitimate case.
Then this settlement being executed like this is essentislly the attorneys for the city just straight throwing his potential innocence under the bus.
aggiehawg said:Trust me, the defense has a rigorous defense to shred the prosecution's "case" on the precise charges as alleged. The state's medical evidence is compromised, highly compromised in my view.Stupid@17 said:
My main concern in all of this is whether Chauvin had any legitimate defenses the jury can't ignore easily.
IE. If the defense evidence is all circumstantial (non verifiable training that he was doing right thing, etc) then id assume he gets convicted even if prosecution has no legitimate case.
Then this settlement being executed like this is essentislly the attorneys for the city just straight throwing his potential innocence under the bus.
If you have ever seen the movie Presumed Innocent there is a scene when the Coroner is absolutely destroyed on cross. (Coroner had said Harrison Ford's dead sperm was recovered from the body of a woman with whom had an extramarital affair. The sperm were dead because of the presence on a spermicide used in conjunction with a diaphragm, only the victim's medical records revealed she had undergone a tubal ligation years before. Even the Coroner's notes confirmed the tube were tied. No reason for her to use a diaphragm.)
But I digress.
Several prospective jurors have noted that they saw where there were two autopsies performed on Floyd* and Nelson has asked them if they would have a problem if the results of only one autopsy is presented at trial. Of the jurors selected so far, none said they would have.
*The state attorneys have already told the court they will never present the Floyd family's paid-for "autopsy" done by Dr. Michael Baden. It was riddled with errors and premature conclusions.
aggiehawg said:Exactly what I said Cahill would do. Same thing was done during the Manson trial as part of damage control.Rapier108 said:
Derek Chauvin trial: 7 jurors to be recalled for questioning over $27M George Floyd settlement publicity | Fox News
Nelson renewed his motion for a change of venue this morning. Cahill still doesn't seem conducive towards granting it. That might change however.
When the first prospective juror this morning came out told the court that she heard about the settlement and from her personal experience, if the city is willing to pay 27 million, they have judged they would lose the civil suit and that Chauvin was guilty. I had to wonder if that would become a pattern today with the other prospective jurors?
That hasn't happened with others citing specifically that they know of the settlement but other were dismissed by Cahill for cause while two more jurors were seated. But if the first seven are questioned again and say three or four of them have to bow out because they don't believe they can be impartial?
Cahill may feel that's he's going backwards, not forwards and reassess the change of venue.
Indeed. Because of time limitations, Nelson was not able to go into further detail but just summed it up as very unusual according to the FBI.Readzilla said:
That seems pretty big to me random super drug combo alone i feel is enough to throw in reasonable doubt
