Latest news with #Lombardi
New York Post
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Cat mom accuses Blue Angels of terrorizing her dying 14-year-old cat with ‘sonic barrage' practices: ‘It terrified her so much'
A Seattle cat mom accused the US Navy's Blue Angels of robbing her elderly cat of a peaceful death after their annual practices for a summer fair flyover caused a frequent 'sonic barrage' that would terrify the feline she loved like 'a daughter,' according to a lawsuit. Lauren Ann Lombardi's 14-year-old cat Layla died on Aug. 11, 2024 following a battle with heart disease that was only worsened by the Blue Angels' frequent overhead flying, she alleged in a federal civil complaint filed this week. 5 Lauren Lombardi sued the Blue Angels, alleging it violated her First Amendment right by blocking her on Instagram after she complained the crew's flyovers were terrorizing her cat Layla. Ever Loved 'I just wanted to share what happened to her. I wanted people to know, and I wanted there to be some sort of accountability for that. That's the main thing I wanted to get across was Layla's story,' Lombardi told The Post. The lawsuit hinges on the Blue Angels' alleged blockage of her Instagram account, which she claims violated her First Amendment rights. Every year, the Blue Angels participate in the Boeing Seafair Air Show in Seattle during the summer Seafair Festival. The flight squadron practices and performs over Lake Washington, which is just a few miles away from Lombardi's home. The noise from the flyovers would last for several minutes up to three times a day, she said. 'It's like what I imagine being in a war zone sounds like. It's very terrifying, it actually shook our house when they would go by,' Lombardi said. The cat mom lobbed her first tirade at the air squad in August 2023, her first summer living in the area after moving from the East Coast. 5 Layla, Lombardi's 14-year-old cat, passed away in August 2024. U.S. District Court Western District Of Washington At Seattle 'Stop with your F—king bulls–t you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife. Nobody gives a f–k about your stupid little planes,' Lombardi wrote to the squadron via Instagram. By then, the show had already started. The Blue Angels' Instagram account allegedly blocked Lombardi shortly after. She tried to reach out to call them 'cowards' in a direct message two days later, but it was apparently never delivered 'due to the blocking,' according to the lawsuit. 5 The Blue Angels perform every year at the Boeing Seafair Air Show in Seattle. AP 'I wasn't even expecting to get a response, I was just really angry. I know my messages weren't very nice, but I was just overcome with rage because it terrified her so much,' Lombardi said of Layla. 'The Blue Angels are really cool. Obviously, it's really impressive, but the harm is real greater than the good, and I just want people to know so they can form their own opinions. By them blocking me, it prevented me from being able to communicate that to people who otherwise wouldn't know how harmful it is.' Lombardi claimed that the squad's 'sonic barrage' sent an already-feeble Layla with mere weeks left to live into a panic again the following year. To try and calm her frail feline, Lombardi barricaded all points of sound entry in the house and even used her hands to block the elderly cat's ears. 5 Lombardi said she treated Layla like her own 'daughter.' U.S. District Court Western District Of Washington At Seattle The dedicated cat mom was 'traumatized' by Layla's tragic passing and retired early to ensure her honorary 'daughter' was comfortable during her final months, she said. 'She was everything to me. Pet doesn't even sound right to me, I refer to her as my daughter,' she said. A week after the 2024 fair, Layla was humanely euthanized. She spent the bulk of her final days hiding under furniture around the house, according to the complaint. Lombardi noted that she 'respects and supports' the US military, but still asserted that her feline's sundowning was 'pockmarked by debilitating terror brought on by the actions of the United States Government,' according to the complaint. She doesn't blame the armed forces for Layla's death — though the lawsuit is riddled with complaints about the cat's torment. Instead, she's looking for the Blue Angels to unblock her Instagram account and repay her expenses, including 'reasonable attorneys' fees,' according to the complaint. 5 The Blue Angels are a flight demonstration squadron for the US Navy. AP The lawsuit itself was penned by attorney Nacim Bouchtia, Lombardi's husband and Layla's human father, according to the cat's obituary. Lombardi also seeks to require a refresher course for the Blue Angels on the 'fundamental importance of the First Amendment which the brave men and women of the U.S. Navy are sworn to protect,' according to the complaint. Her two new cat children, Ozzy and Ziggy, named after the late rockstars Ozzy Osbourne and David Bowie, will be experiencing the Blue Angels' practice for the first time in just a few days. In Lombardi's ideal world, the air show would be nixed and replaced with something like a laser light show, but she acknowledged that eliminating the seven-decade tradition would be unrealistic. The Post reached out to the United States Navy for comment. A representative for the Blue Angels could not be reached directly.
Fox News
6 days ago
- Fox News
Seattle woman takes Navy's Blue Angels to court over social media censorship and 'acoustic torture' of cat
A Seattle woman is suing the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels, the military's most famous flight demonstration squadron, after she was blocked from commenting on its Instagram account to complain about the "state-sanctioned acoustic torture" from the group's aerial shows and practices, which she said terrorized her cat in her final days. Lauren Ann Lombardi filed a federal lawsuit July 21 accusing the Blue Angels of infringing on her First Amendment rights. The complaint names Navy Cdr. Adam Bryan; L. Ben Bushong, the public affairs officer for the Blue Angels; and an unnamed social media administrator for the squadron, as defendants. The lawsuit states that the Blue Angels perform shows in the Seattle area near Puget Sound every August using F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jets "with the subtlety of a military occupation" while reaching speeds of upwards of 700 mph, which produces extreme decibel levels. During the shows, Lombardi "engaged in a familiar American pastime of complaining to her government about her government's actions through her government's social media accounts" to advocate for her elderly cat Layla, who suffered from congestive heart disease, and calling for the demonstrations in August 2023 and 2024 to end, the lawsuit states. However, she was eventually blocked from commenting on the Blue Angels' Instagram page. "These thin-skinned bureaucrats blocked Lombardi from commenting any further, thereby muzzling an American citizen while simultaneously blinding the broader public from witnessing legitimate grievances against their government," the lawsuit said of the people running the Instagram account. Lombardi's messages appeared to show her displeasure and frustration with the noise levels from the performances. "Stop with your F------ b------- you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife," one message states. F--- off" and "Nobody gives a f--- about your stupid little planes." She also left multiple comments on the Blue Angels' Instagram posts or tagged their handle on other accounts' posts where she directed users to sign a petition, "We All Want to Feel Safe: No More Blue Angels Over Seattle." When she was blocked from the Blue Angels account Aug. 5, 2023, Lombardi sent the group a direct message calling them "cowards." The message was never delivered because she was blocked. Lombardi said her cat suffered in her final days because of the aerial performances. "Whatever bandwidth Layla's walnut-sized brain could previously gorge upon had been narrowed to a single overwhelming frequency: pure debilitating terror," the lawsuit states. "Every August was good until then, but no August would ever be the same again. Layla's condition continued to deteriorate and she left home again, for the final time. She spent her last week fighting for her life in a specialty hospital before being humanely euthanized on August 11, 2024, surrounded by her inconsolably grieving family. Layla's final days on Earth were marred by sadistic suffering — cowering in terror beneath furniture while her ailing heart struggled against the Blue Angels' relentless noise pollution. Layla died knowing only fear when she should have known only love." The lawsuit noted that Lombardi respects and supports the U.S. military and that her criticism of the Blue Angels was focused on the "environmental and Constitutional harms caused by their demonstration practices and subsequent censorship activities." She is asking a judge to force the Blue Angels to unblock her from the Instagram account, to order the defendants named in the lawsuit to take remedial First Amendment training and to award her the cost of attorney's fees. A spokesperson for the Blue Angels told Fox News Digital the squadron doesn't comment on pending litigation.
NBC News
6 days ago
- General
- NBC News
Elderly Seattle cat suffers 'terror' from Blue Angels, feline's owner says in lawsuit
The final days of a Seattle cat were spent in "terror" due to Blue Angels fighter pilots, before squadron leaders blocked the feline's human mother on social media in an act of "cowardly censorship," she said in a lawsuit filed this week. Layla was 14 when she died on Aug. 11 last year following a battle with heart disease, which was allegedly exasperated by the Blue Angels flying overheard days — and one year — earlier, plaintiff Lauren Ann Lombardi said in her federal civil complaint. The Blue Angels are the U.S. Navy's flight demonstration squadron and have been performing aerobatic maneuvers across the U.S. since 1946. Lombardi had voiced her concerns about the impact of Blue Angels flying over Seattle in 2023, telling off the squadron in an expletive-laden tirade. "Stop with your F----ing bullsh-- you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife," Lombardi wrote to the squadron via Instagram on Aug. 3 last year. "Nobody gives a f--- about your stupid little planes." Lombardi, a paralegal in Seattle, was then allegedly blocked a short time later. She tried to direct message the Blue Angels with a one-word response, "cowards" on Aug. 5 last year "which appeared to send but was never delivered due to the blocking," according to the lawsuit penned by the attorney Nacim Bouchtia, who is married to Lombardi and was listed as Layla's human father in the feline's obituary. When the Blue Angels returned a year later, Layla had just come home from the animal hospital and was in the throes of her final battle with heart disease, Lombardi said. Even though Layla was heavily sedated, her "primitive limbic system overruled her medication and she fled in primal panic beneath furniture, her labored breathing escalating to clinically dangerous levels," Bouchtia wrote. Lombardi put thick blankets in windows and physically put her hands over Layla's ears "to no avail" as the cat's "walnut-sized brain" was stricken by "pure debilitating terror," the lawsuit said. While her human didn't pin Layla's death on the Navy, the plaintiff lamented that the late feline "died knowing only fear when she should have known only love," Bouchtia wrote. The crux of Layla's parents' lawsuit stems from the Blue Angels blocking Lombardi on Instagram, which was still in place on Thursday, according to the attorney. Whether public officials or agencies can block individuals on social media is still a rather unsettled legal question. Lombardi's lawsuit named Cdr. Adam Bryan, commanding officer of the Blue Angels, and Lt. Ben Bushong, the squadron's social media administrator, as defendants. A representative of the Blue Angels could not be immediately reached for comment on Thursday. Lombardi is seeking to have the block lifted, an order that the Blue Angels not bar "anyone else" on "the basis of viewpoint" and attorneys' fees. Even without the Lombardi and Bouchtia's dealings with the Blue Angels with Layla, they did not appear to be fans of the aviators. They called their performances "auditory carpet bombing" with the "subtlety of a military occupation." They described squad commanders as "emotionally fragile snowflakes" who blocked the plaintiff on social media, transforming "personal tragedy into Constitutional treason." "Layla was the greatest cat that ever lived and her final days on this Earth were pockmarked by debilitating terror brought on my the actions of the United State Government," the plaintiff said.
Newsweek
7 days ago
- General
- Newsweek
Seattle Woman Sues Blue Angels Who Were 'Terrorizing' Her Cat
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A Seattle resident is suing the U.S. Navy's Blue Angels, the U.S. Navy's flight demonstration squadron, accusing them of "terrorizing" her cat and of silencing her dissent online. Lauren Ann Lombardi, owner of cat Layla, whom Lombardi refers to in the suit as her "daughter," has accused Blue Angels jets of creating a "sonic assault" over her house every August, which she says exacerbated Layla's heart condition and "marred" her "final days on Earth," according to the lawsuit, filed in the Western District Court of Washington at Seattle and seen by Newsweek. Lombardi messaged and posted about the Blue Angels' impact on her cat on Instagram before being blocked by their official account, according to her suit. She says she was "silenced," and is suing the Navy for violating her First Amendment rights. "The Blue Angels need to stop being such thin-skinned triggered little babies," she told Newsweek via her lawyer. Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Navy and organizers of Seattle's August Seafair air show, which features the Blue Angels, via email for contact. Main: The Blue Angels conduct their practice performance for their annual show and flight performance during Commissioning Week at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland on May 20, 2025. Inset: Layla, the cat Main: The Blue Angels conduct their practice performance for their annual show and flight performance during Commissioning Week at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland on May 20, 2025. Inset: Layla, the cat Main: Scott Serio, Inset: Lawsuit against the US Navy/Main: Cal Sport Media via AP Images, Inset: US District Court Western District of Washington Why It Matters The August Blue Angels flyover in Seattle is an annual tradition. Blue Angels pilots have been performing across the U.S. since 1946 in front of over 500 million fans over the years, per Seafair. She has accused the Navy of a constitutional violation as it allegedly blocked her from the Blue Angels Instagram account. What To Know Lombardi alleges that the show, which she has called "state-sanctioned acoustic torture," subjected her "beloved family member," Layla, to "pure debilitating terror" prior to her death. Lombardi's constitutional claims stem from her allegedly being blocked by Blue Angel's Instagram page @usnavyblueangels. Her suit alleges their Instagram page must follow government guidelines and cannot block users from engaging with it. The suit states that prior to Layla's death, the Blue Angels conducted flights over Seattle. This led to Lombardi sending several expletive-laden messages and a petition calling for the end of their demonstration to the Blue Angel's Instagram account. She also commented on many of posts. On or around August 5, 2024, she alleges she was blocked by the account. The suit states: "As a result of the blocking, Plaintiff suffered immediate and ongoing Constitutional harm: she was prevented from communicating with the Blue Angels, receiving information from their account, viewing public discourse on their page, and having others see her Constitutionally protected criticism of government actions." Left: Screenshot of messages from Lombardi to the Blue Angels Instagram account Right: Screenshot of Lombardi unable to access the Blue Angels Instagram account Left: Screenshot of messages from Lombardi to the Blue Angels Instagram account Right: Screenshot of Lombardi unable to access the Blue Angels Instagram account US District Court Western District of Washington at Seattle Layla died by euthanasia on August 11, 2024, after being taken to a specialty hospital a week before following the Blue Angels demonstration. A week prior to her death, per Lombardi, Layla was taken home to recover from heart surgery. Lombardi alleges that she was unable to recover because she was immediately scared by noise from the Blue Angels show overhead. "Even through the narcotic fog of sedation and her weakened state, Layla's primitive limbic system overruled her medication and she fled in primal panic beneath furniture, her labored breathing escalating to clinically dangerous levels," says the lawsuit. Lombardi's suit cites several studies related to noise pollution, including one from 2024 from the University of Washington on the impact of military aircraft at Washington's Naval Air Station, on Whidbey Island. Using analysis of the Navy's own acoustic monitoring data, it found that more than 74,000 people were exposed to noise levels associated with adverse health effects. The suit is against Commander Adam Bryan in his official capacity as Commanding Officer of the Blue Angels; Lieutenant Ben Bushong in his official capacity as Public Affairs Officer of the Blue Angels; and an unnamed person in their official capacity as Social Media Administrator of the Blue Angels. The American Civil Liberties Union states on its website: "If a social media account is being used for government business, the First Amendment prohibits blocking followers. So, an account dedicated to a government agency's work cannot block followers. When an individual who works in government posts about their work, whether they may block followers is more complicated." What People Are Saying Lauren Ann Lombardi told Newsweek via her lawyer: "The Blue Angels need to stop being such thin-skinned triggered little babies, and they need to personally and earnestly apologize for the harm they caused me and my daughter Layla." Nacim Bouchtia, an attorney representing Lombardi, told Newsweek: "The First Amendment prohibits government agencies from blocking any client hopes that one day the Blue Angels performances will be replaced with a safe alternative." The lawsuit reads: "Layla's condition continued to deteriorate and she left home again, for the final time. She spent her last week fighting for her life in a specialty hospital before being humanely euthanized on August 11, 2024, surrounded by her inconsolably grieving family. Layla's final days on Earth were marred by sadistic suffering—cowering in terror beneath furniture while her ailing heart struggled against the Blue Angels's relentless noise pollution. Layla died knowing only fear when she should have known only love."
USA Today
22-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Steelers announce official signing of T.J. Watt's record-setting four-year extension
We have signed LB T.J. Watt to a new four-year contract. @BordasLaw📝: T.J. Watt has officially signed his new extension with Pittsburgh. On July 22 at approximately 3:00 PM EST, the Steelers announced Watt had signed a new four-year deal on social media. Watt took the announcement one step further on social media — sending a message to the Steelers fanbase following the historic signing: "What's up Steeler Nation, I'm excited to officially be signed to an extension," Watt said via X. "So excited to see you guys in Latrobe tomorrow. Here we go. It's going to be a special year." Let's get to work 💪 @_TJWatt The last time Watt signed an extension with Pittsburgh — back in 2021 — he went on to win Defensive Player of the Year and tied Michael Strahan's single-season sack record with 22.5. Watt is looking to make a statement in 2025, to help this incredibly stacked Steelers roster reach the promised land — a seventh Lombardi championship. With a new deal in hand, the superstar defender's mission is clear: deliver when it matters most. For up-to-date Steelers coverage, follow us on X @TheSteelersWire and give our Facebook page a like.
