Five officials charged with manslaughter over Flint water crisis.

Courtesy of MLive:  

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has charged five water officials -- including a member of Gov. Rick Snyder's cabinet and a former emergency manager -- with manslaughter related to their alleged failure to act in during the Flint Water Crisis. 

Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, former Flint Emergency Manager Darnell Earley, former City of Flint Water Department Manager Howard Croft, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's Drinking Water Chief Liane Shekter-Smith and former district supervisor Stephen Busch will all face involuntary manslaughter charges related to their alleged failure to act in the Flint Water Crisis, Schuette announced in a release on Wednesday, June 14. 

Involuntary manslaughter is a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison and/or a $7,500 fine. 

The manslaughter charges are connected to the death of Robert Skidmore, who died Dec. 13, 2015, due to the area's Legionnaires' disease outbreak.

This almost got lost among all of the Donald Trump coverage, but it nice to see that even though justice moves slowly that it does at least move forward.

And the Michigan Attorney General hinted that Governor Rick Snyder may not be out of the woods either. 

I remember when Rachel Maddow first started talking about this in early 2016. That it took this long for these charges to be filed seems indefensible.

Bill Cosby's attempt to have his sexual assault case thrown out has been rejected. "Hey, hey, hey, you're going to pay."

Courtesy of the LA Times: 

A bid by Bill Cosby’s lawyers to have the sexual assault charges against the entertainer dismissed was rejected by a judge here Wednesday evening, clearing the way for a potential trial. 

The judge, Steven O’Neill, said that he found “no basis to grant the relief request” by the attorneys. They had mounted a case over the last two days arguing that former Montgomery County Dist. Atty. Bruce Castor had made a non-prosecution agreement with the comedian’s lawyer more than a decade ago. 

Cosby has been charged with three felony counts of aggravated indecent assault stemming from a 2004 interaction involving drugs and alcohol with former Temple University basketball staffer Andrea Constand.

I am still not convinced that Cosby will face any jail time, but I think it will be cathartic for not only his victims, but all victims of sexual assault, to see that even money and fame cannot protect these assholes from justice.

I will predict that if Cosby is convicted of ANY of these charges that it will open a floodgate which will see multiple assault charges brought against attackers who their victims once saw as untouchable.

Apparently Walter Palmer, the dentist who shot and killed Cecil the Lion, will not be charged in Zimbabwe.

Courtesy of the Guardian:  

Zimbabwe will not charge American dentist Walter Palmer for killing a prized lion in July because he had obtained legal authority to conduct the hunt, a cabinet minister has said. 

“We approached the police and then the prosecutor general, and it turned out that Palmer came to Zimbabwe because all the papers were in order,” the environment minister, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, told reporters, adding that the American could not be charged. 

Palmer, from Minnesota, has always maintained that he believes he acted legally. Last month he told the Associated Press and the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he was stunned to find out his hunting party had killed one of Zimbabwe’s treasured animals.

Yeah, I guess the negative publicity really ruined the thrill of killing an animal that he lured off of a game preserve with an elephant carcass. My heart bleeds.

What's more they only wounded this magnificent animal and let it suffer for several hours before tracking it and killing it.

But hey if Zimbabwe doesn't think they have enough reason to charge this guy then what can you do?