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Creatures stirring in a cemetery sounds like the beginning of a horror movie, but in this case it actually led to a kitten rescue! When people started seeing little strays wandering around a local graveyard, they immediately contacted West Side Cat Rescue in Buffalo, New York. Founder Jamie Mulligan was on the case in a heartbeat! However, finding the felines was harder than it sounded. According to The Dodo, in order to locate the kittens, Jamie first had to scour the massive cemetery where they were living. This apparently took quite some time! “This cemetery is huge,” said a representative from the animal rescue service. “Jamie spent a while trying to track them down.” Facebook Eventually, Jamie discovered the strays camping out in a hole in the ground beneath one of the gravestones. West Side Cat Rescue shared a video of the woman’s efforts to coax the kittens out of their hiding place in the cemetery. It took quite a few treats and some sweet-talking to get the two cats to cooperate! Once Jamie lured the kittens out of the hole in the cemetery, The Dodo tells us that she moved them into a rescue carrier. After a visit to the vet, she found out that they were, unsurprisingly, malnourished. However, they’re getting the care they need! Facebook Named Lydia and Huber, the rescue kittens seem to have formed a very strong bond during their time together in the cemetery. In fact, they’re so linked, West Side Cat Rescue has decided they need to be adopted as a pair. “Now that they are safe, they are starting to open up and seem happy and content,” the representative explained. “We will be adopting them out together as a pair, since they are so close!” Screengrab from Facebook We’re so glad these adorable kitties are safe and sound. Hopefully, they’ll find a loving home soon! You can find the source of this story’s featured image here. The post Woman Discovers Tiny, Abandoned Critters Back From The Dead — Well, Sort Of appeared first on InspireMore.

What a great way to follow up an epic parade (and rally)

Outside of entomology circles, bugs aren’t generally known as a romantic or particularly charming kind of animal. There are exceptions, however: fireflies, with their eerily beautiful glow, have long captured imaginations the world over, appearing in legends and lore from as far afield as Japan, Italy, and Miranda.But as beloved as they are, their survival is ever more precarious. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced this week that four species of Southeast Asian fireflies have now entered the Organization’s famous Red List – and all of them meet the criteria to be considered Vulnerable.It’s symptomatic of what seems to be a particularly bleak outlook for the beetles. “Only 1 percent of the total known species in Southeast Asia have been assessed, but alarmingly, all of them are at risk of extinction in the near future,” warned Wan Faridah Akmal Jusoh, IUCN SSC Firefly Specialist Group Co-chair and Senior Lecturer at Monash University Malaysia. “This should serve as a wake-up call,” she said in a statement seen by IFLScience. “We need to continue assessing the remaining firefly species in order to better plan for their conservation.”Now joining some of the Red List’s most vulnerable animals are four species from the genus Pteroptyx – specifically, the comtesse's firefly (Pteroptyx bearni), the synchronous bent-wing firefly (Pteroptyx malaccae), the perfect synchronous flashing firefly (Pteroptyx tener), and the non-synchronous bent-winged firefly (Pteroptyx valida). More commonly known as “congregating fireflies”, this genus is known for their spectacular group-formation light shows, illuminating trees and mangroves in giant, synchronized swarms.But Pteroptyx aren’t the only ones facing a less-than-bright future. Recent studies have noted declining numbers of the luminous beetles across the planet, with populations decreasing in Europe and many in North America reaching Endangered or even Critically Endangered status. The problem may be widespread, but the culprits are the same: as humans expand their living and agricultural boundaries, the fireflies’ habitats are destroyed; increased levels of artificial light interfere with the bugs’ ability to send out and receive courtship signals – those lights in their butts aren’t just for our benefit, you know – plus a good old dollop of climate change to boot. In a particularly grim twist of irony, even efforts to counteract these issues can harm firefly populations: “Human environmental management aimed at addressing climate change, such as constructing embankments to prevent flooding and saltwater intrusion, can also impact fireflies,” explained Anchana Thancharoen, IUCN SSC Firefly Specialist Group’s Regional Coordinator for Southeast Asia. “While we might solve some problems, we may inadvertently create new ones for other organisms in nature.”It is, to say the least, an uphill battle for the little glow-worms. But with the announcement of their vulnerable status, the IUCN has also made some recommendations for how to slow the species’ loss. For instance, “designating protection zones to control development within the firefly habitat would assist in striking a balance between nature conservation and anthropogenic developments,” said Nada Badruddin, IUCN SSC Firefly Specialist for Malaysia and Senior Entomologist at Forest Research Institute Malaysia, “while rehabilitating firefly habitats by prioritizing first the least degraded areas, would maximize cost effectiveness.”Citizen scientists could aid conservation by recording and reporting sightings of the insects, the organization suggested, while entomo-tourist activities – that is, exploiting the fireflies for tourism – should be geared towards sustainability. It will take the collaboration of everybody from local communities to national governments, Badruddin said – but the advantages are self-evident. After all, you can’t have a firefly tourism industry with no fireflies.And besides, we kind of owe it to the little guys. “All threats to Pteroptyx fireflies stem from human activities,” Thancharoen pointed out, “[so] we must manage these threats to conserve the species.”

The mother of fallen American hero Pat Tillman is "shocked" that the award named after her son would be given to Britain's Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex. The Pat Tillman Award for Service is an annual award given to an individual or group with a "strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger, Pat Tillman."The award was established in 2014, ten years after Tillman died in combat in Afghanistan from friendly fire. Tillman famously turned down a multi-year, multi-million NFL contract to enlist in the U.S. Army after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.Recent recipients of the Pat Tillman Award include the Buffalo Bills Training Staff for reviving Damar Hamlin after he suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest in the middle of a game (2023), retired U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major Gretchen Evans (2022), professional footballer Marcus Rashford (2021), and professional boxer Kim Clavel (2020).On Thursday, ESPN announced that Prince Harry would be the recipient of the Pat Tillman Award for Service. "In honor of his tireless work in making a positive impact for the veteran community through the power of sport, Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex will receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service, an award given to a person with a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger, Pat Tillman," the press release stated. "After serving for 10 years in the British Armed Forces, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan as a forward air controller and Apache helicopter pilot, Prince Harry founded The Invictus Games Foundation, continuing his service by creating an international platform to support wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women – both active-duty and veterans – who are navigating both physical and invisible injuries."Prince Harry will be presented the Pat Tillman Award at the 2024 ESPYs set to air on July 11. Mary Tillman, the mother of Pat Tillman, was "shocked" that the award would be given to Prince Harry and said she was not consulted on the winner of her son's award. Mary Tillman told the Daily Mail, "I am shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award."She continued, "There are recipients that are far more fitting. There are individuals working in the veteran community that are doing tremendous things to assist veterans. These individuals do not have the money, resources, connections, or privilege that Prince Harry has. I feel that those types of individuals should be recognized."Outspoken sports commentator Pat McAfee – who works at ESPN – was also dismayed by the selection and even ripped his own network. McAfee said, "It's going to Prince Harry. Who I don’t even think is a Prince anymore, right? He said don’t call me that? See, why does the ESPYs do this s**t?""When you do something like this, you know the immediate reaction from humans and from sports fans and like people with like just common sense in brains," McAffe stated on "The Pat McAfee Show."McAfee said that the decision to give Prince Harry the Pat Tillman Award had the intention of "trying to piss people off."A petition has been launched to urge ESPN to "rethink" giving the Pat Tillman Award of Service to Prince Harry. At the time of publication, the petition had nearly 25,000 signatures. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Last month, a Manhattan jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records. But Trump's attorneys have "several paths for appeal," legal experts told Blaze News.Following the guilty verdict in late May, Trump's legal team immediately announced its plan to challenge the ruling and expressed confidence that it would be successfully overturned. "This was a verdict that we were expecting. We're going to appeal, and we're going to win on appeal," Todd Blanche, Trump's attorney, told the "Today" show after the jury's verdict was revealed. "The goal is to appeal quickly and hopefully be vindicated quickly."Blanche noted that they did not anticipate that Trump would "get a fair shake in Manhattan.""Every single person on the jury knew Donald Trump as president, as candidate, from 'The Apprentice,' so I don't accept that this was a fair place to try President Trump," he said in an interview with CNN. "The law doesn't say, 'But if you can't avoid it, tough luck.' That's not what the law says. The law says a person is entitled to a fair trial in front of a jury of their peers, and we just think that because of everything around the lead of this trial, it made it very difficult for the jury to evaluate the evidence kind of independent of what they knew coming in."Grounds for appealMike Davis, founder and president of Article III Project, told Blaze News that "Trump has several paths for appeal," including filing a substantive appeal on the merits of the case and an emergency relief from the judgment."The immediate focus should be getting a stay of the execution of the judgment," Davis explained, noting that Trump has "a very good chance" of securing an emergency petition and having his conviction reversed on appeal."The emergency petition can move very fast. That can happen before Trump actually goes to prison or is otherwise confined," he continued. "The appeal on the merits takes many, many months."Trump and his attorneys have argued that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case against the former president was "rigged," pointing to the assignments of acting Justice Juan Merchan and one of Bragg's lead prosecutors, Matthew Colangelo. In a post on Truth Social ahead of the jury's verdict, Trump called the case a "highly political, unconstitutional, and election interfering witch hunt."Merchan's daughter, Loren, is the president of a Chicago-based progressive political consulting firm. Two of the company's Democratic clients have raised at least $93 million in campaign donations, according to a report from the New York Post. The clients' solicitation emails mentioned the New York case against Trump, leading the former president's legal team to argue that Judge Merchan has a conflict of interest with his daughter profiting from the case.Trump's campaign spokesperson, Steven Cheung, has called Merchan "highly conflicted."'Unprecedented republic-ending lawfare and election interference.'Merchan was also slated to preside over a criminal fraud trial against Trump's former presidential adviser Steve Bannon. CNN recently reported that a different judge will be assigned to the case because of a scheduling conflict.Criminal defense attorney David W. Fischer told Blaze News, "Trump's most salient issue on appeal is whether the outside invoices from Michael Cohen and other sources constitute 'business records' under New York law." Fischer previously explained that it is one of the most straightforward strategies for dismissing the case, and he now believes it is the best approach for appeal. "To falsify a record means to take an existing record and change it in a way that changes the character of the record," Fischer stated. "It is not the addition of a false record into a business." "The second strongest issue is that the jury was allowed to convict without being unanimous as to which federal crime they believed Trump committed," Fischer told Blaze News.As part of Merchan's jury instructions, he told the panel that they did not need to be unanimous on "whether the defendant committed the crime personally, or acted in concert with another, or both." Additionally, the jurors were told they did not have to all agree about the "unlawful" means, which could have included violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, falsification of other business records, or violations of tax laws.Merchan told the jury, "You need not be unanimous as to what those unlawful means were ... you may consider: violations of FECA, falsification of other business records, violation of tax laws."Fischer told Blaze News that the appeals process in the New York case "will not be resolved until well into 2025."Trump referred to Colangelo, a leading prosecutor in the New York criminal trial, as a "top Democrat DOJ official," pointing to his former senior role in the Biden administration's Department of Justice. During his previous employment at the New York attorney general's office, Colangelo oversaw a lawsuit in 2018 that led to the closure of Trump's charitable organization. He was also involved in an investigation into the Trump Organization.Colangelo's move from the top-ranking DOJ position to Bragg's team in 2022 was effectively a demotion, raising concerns that the transition was politically motivated. His former position with the DOJ has sparked allegations that the Biden administration was behind Trump's prosecution in New York.A letter from the Biden administration Department of Justice obtained by the Associated Press contended that the department had nothing to do with Bragg's case.Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte wrote, "The District Attorney's office is a separate entity from the Department. The Department does not supervise the work of the District Attorney's office, does not approve its charging decisions, and does not try its cases.""The Department has no control over the District Attorney, just as the District Attorney has no control over the Department," Uriarte added.The House Judiciary Committee launched an investigation into Colangelo's appointment. In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) demanded "documents and communication" related to Colangelo and his "hiring, employment, and termination" at the DOJ. Bragg and Colangelo will testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on July 12, a day after Trump is scheduled to be sentenced in the New York criminal case, in which he faces up to four years in prison. Jordan has argued that Colangelo's appointment to Bragg's team has "given the perception that the Justice Department is assisting in" the "politicized prosecution" of Trump.Bragg's office accused the committee of spreading false information."It undermines the rule of law to spread dangerous misinformation, baseless claims, and conspiracy theories following the jury's return of a full-count felony conviction in People v. Trump," a spokesperson from Bragg's office stated. "Nonetheless, we respect our government institutions and plan to appear voluntarily before the subcommittee after sentencing."The prosecution's star witness in the case, Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, leading up to the trial, used his platform on social media to criticize Trump and his presidential campaign and promote the sale of T-shirts bearing an illustrated image of Trump behind bars. During his testimony, Cohen admitted to earning roughly $4.4 million since he began writing books and making podcast appearances disparaging Trump. Cohen also admitted to repeatedly lying and even stealing money from the Trump Organization.Porn actress Stormy Daniels, another lead witness in the case, also made a profit from the scandal, claiming she had an affair with Trump decades ago. Daniels signed a book deal and also profited from a strip club tour dubbed "Make America Horny Again," which she testified that she did not name.Merchan placed a gag order against Trump, preventing him from speaking publicly about anyone involved in the case or their family members, with the exception of the judge and DA Bragg. Next steps for TrumpDavis told Blaze News, "Trump should absolutely file a civil lawsuit against all of these Biden Democrat prosecutors who are engaging in this unprecedented republic-ending lawfare and election interference against Trump. And state attorneys general, like in Florida, in Georgia, and elsewhere, should open criminal probes — so should the Maricopa County Attorney in Arizona. Congress should assume more aggressive oversight. And when Trump is back in office, his Justice Department on day one should open civil rights and other criminal investigations on this republic-ending lawfare by Biden and his aides and allies."Will Scharf, Trump's attorney, stated last month that the former president's legal team is "considering all options" to appeal the conviction. 'A weak legal case but a strong public relations move.'Scharf told Fox News, "This case is replete with reversible error going back to the very first day, continuing through jury instructions. Every aspect of this case is ripe for appeal. We are going to appeal as quickly as we can. We will seek expedited review of this case.""All options are on the table," he continued. "And we are actively considering all options that could lead to justice for President Trump here, because justice has not been done in this New York courtroom today."Scharf stated that Trump's legal team is considering filing a lawsuit against Bragg for "malicious prosecution," noting that he believes the case "is extraordinarily strong.""This is not a case that would have been brought against any defendant not named Donald Trump and any defendant who frankly wasn't running for president," Scharf told Fox News.Fischer told Blaze News that the potential "lawsuit against Alvin Bragg would be a weak legal case but a strong public relations move for candidate Trump."Ahead of the Thursday evening CNN Presidential Debate, Judge Merchan partially lifted the restrictive gag order against Trump, allowing him to publicly discuss the witnesses, including Cohen and Daniels. The gag order still prevents Trump from speaking about Bragg's team, Merchan's daughter, or others involved in the case.During the debate, Trump claimed that the New York case against him was President Joe Biden's way of attacking his political opponent."[Biden] basically went after his political opponent because he thought it was going to damage me," Trump stated, adding that his campaign has never generated more contributions than it did after the jury's guilty verdict. "That case is going to be appealed and won."Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

We are living through the darkest period in U.S. history when it comes to our fundamental rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association.In more than two centuries of free government, no administration has attempted to muzzle, jail, or perhaps even murder its principal political opponent as the current one has. Never before have lawyers been professionally ruined and criminally indicted for standing up for honest elections or the rights of political defendants. Never before has an administration worked with Big Tech allies to keep ordinary Americans from expressing and sharing their concerns and grievances about failures and corruption in high places, no matter how evidence based. Never before have some of our leading universities joined with the bureaucracy, the secret police, and the spy agencies to combat wide-ranging and well-grounded dissent.My fellow political felons, indicted and unindicted: Be of good cheer!We’re all aware of these menaces, but we need also to remind ourselves of the successes in uncovering and standing up to them. X (formerly Twitter) was liberated from the censorship-industrial complex by the largess of Elon Musk and once again provides a fair and open forum for political discussions, often informative if sometimes intemperate. Murthy v. Missouri (better known as Missouri v. Biden), a legal challenge to the core censorship partnership between the administration and Big Tech, after successes before lower courts, made it to the Supreme Court (which unfortunately then chose to evade the issue on jurisdictional grounds).COVID dissenter Alex Berenson, who played a key role in the transformation of Twitter, is marching forward in court against the Biden officials who gave that firm its censorious instructions. The Stanford Internet Observatory, which harnessed the key university in Silicon Valley against freedom of speech, has closed its doors and seemingly dissipated its personnel and resources.The increasing and spreading awareness of the sheer magnitude, dishonesty, and brazenness of this censorship is itself an important sign. The enemies of freedom have been outed. Their names and agencies are known more and more widely. And now that they are outed, they can be countered in the courts, in the press, on social media, and in the voting booth. So, too, we should take new hope from the fact that so many Americans, including many prominent critics of Trump, have rallied to his side despite the unconscionable legal warfare waged against him.So, my fellow political felons, indicted and unindicted: Be of good cheer! “This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” Americans from the wealthy and powerful to the modest and ordinary are waking up — and waking up in time — to the destruction of their liberties the Biden administration and its deep state and Big Tech allies have wrought.Those of us who saw these dangers early must continue the alarm and reinforce the rally. The citadel of censorship still stands under its meretricious banner of “fighting misinformation,” but as one can see every hour on X, we have taken the war for the restoration of our liberties into the enemy’s country, and the friends of liberty are being joined by new allies from every political grouping.This July 4 let us draw new strength not only from our ancestors’ struggle for independence but their struggle against later armies of darkness and enslavement. This time next year, if everyone does their duty, we will raise a toast amid the ruins of the citadels of censorship that we have overthrown.

Given the alliance’s challenges, it needs real leadership at the top, not a conciliatory Eurocrat.