PHOTO COLLECTION: AP Top Photos of the Day, Monday, July 21, 2025
PHOTO COLLECTION: AP Top Photos of the Day, Monday, July 21, 2025
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Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Blue Angels jets killed my beloved pet cat Layla...then did something that tipped me over the edge
A Seattle woman has accused the US Navy's Blue Angels of 'terrorizing' her elderly cat before its death, then violating her rights after they blocked her on social media for complaining, according to a new lawsuit. Lauren Ann Lombardi's 14-year-old cat Layla died on August 11 after suffering from congestive heart disease, which the cat mom claims was worsened by noise from the Blue Angels. '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,' her federal lawsuit said. Lombardi's lawsuit filed in the Western District Court of Washington on Monday alleged that one year before Layla's death, she messaged the Blue Angels on Instagram to complain about the sound, but was blocked by their account. The lawsuit claims, 'Every August, a squadron of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets multirole fighter aircraft descend upon the Puget Sound with the subtlety of a military occupation, conducting screeching low altitude flights with their twin jet engines reaching speeds of over 700 mph.' In August 2023, one year before Layla's passing, Lombardi sent the Blue Angles explicit messages which stated: 'Stop with your f*****g b******t you are terrorizing my cat and all the other animals and wildlife. F**k off' and 'Nobody gives a f**k about your stupid little planes.' A few days later, she attempted to send them another message calling them 'cowards,' but it was never delivered 'due to the blocking,' the lawsuit claims. 'An American citizen exercised her Constitutional right to criticize her government's role in her daughter's suffering,' the filing said. 'In response, a cadre of emotionally fragile snowflakes masquerading as naval officers chose the coward's path: they silenced this citizen's speech, violated their oath to the Constitution, and brought disgrace upon the uniform they claim to honor.' In the summer of 2024, Layla's heart condition worsened and Lombardi said that despite her efforts to block the noise, the Blue Angels' 'sonic barrage' tortured her cat in her final days. '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,' the lawsuit said. 'Whatever bandwidth Layla's walnut-sized brain could previously gorge upon had been narrowed to a single overwhelming frequency: pure debilitating terror.' Lombardi is seeking to have the Blue Angels unblock her account and told KIRO Newsradio she is willing to do whatever it takes. 'They will never be able to wait me out,' she said. 'I'm a very spiteful, vengeful person. I have nothing but time on my hands.' The lawsuit also states that she is seeking to have her attorney fees covered and 'any additional relief as may be just and proper.' Notably, her attorney is also her husband, Nacim Bouchtia, who is listed as Layla's cat father in her obituary. '[The Blue Angels] continued blocking prevented her from expressing her grief and renewed criticism of the government actions that contributed to her beloved companion's death and suffering, compounding her Constitutional injury during a time when her need for expressive speech was most relevant,' the lawsuit said. 'A year later, when that same vulnerable creature died after enduring yet another sonic assault during her final days on Earth, the Navy's Constitutional betrayal compounded the tragedy — an American remained silenced, unable to voice her grief or otherwise hold her government accountable for its role in her family's suffering.' The Blue Angels next show in Seattle is scheduled for August 2 and August 3 at the Boeing Seafair Air Show, according to their website. On social media, many locals were sympathetic to Lombardi and agreed the noise is less than desirable, but felt the lawsuit was taking it too far. 'It's not the Blue Angels, I'm sorry about your cat but I think it had something going on prior to the show,' one person said. 'I certainly can understand a cat having panic attacks from the noise. I have a cat that is very stressed by fireworks. I think a lawsuit is ridiculous though,' said another. 'I'm a cat person. I feel bad for her cat… but this is… a bit much,' said a third.
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
From Benjamin Franklin to Pony Express to anthrax: How the US Postal Service shaped a nation
The one government agency that still reaches nearly every American daily — undeterred by rain, sleet, snow or even gloom of night — turns 250 on Saturday. Established in 1775, when the Second Continental Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin as postmaster general, the postal service predates the United States. It was launched nearly a year before the colonies declared their break from British rule. 'The country may not even have come into existence but for the Postal Service,' said Stephen Allen Kochersperger, the postal service historian and a former local postmaster. While it now grapples with concerns over its financial viability in the modern era, the agency has had a long and colorful history that helped shape the nation. It has grown from serving the 13 colonies to delivering more mail than any other postal system in the world, reaching nearly 169 million addresses and employing more than 635,000 people. A new postal service In those early days, creating an American postal system was a key priority for the nation's founders, who needed to communicate with the Continental Army and the colonies. When the Continental Congress met in 1775, it appointed Franklin as the first postmaster because he had served in the British postal service for North America. The early postal system also became crucial to unifying the diverse, fragmented colonies into a nation by spreading ideas of liberty and independence through letters, newspapers and pamphlets. ' People were reading, getting ideas of what it would be like to be an independent country,' Kochersperger said. Westward expansion When the U.S. Constitution was ratified, Congress was granted power to establish post offices and mail routes that were first used by mail carriers on horseback and later upgraded for stagecoaches. Some evolved into highways still used today. Initially running north–south along the East Coast, post roads later extended westward. Historians have said this aided settler expansion into Native lands and was intertwined with the displacement of tribes. As western migration accelerated, mail was sent by ship from New York to Central America and on to California. Delivery typically took two to three months. The Pony Express, operated by private carriers, was started to speed things up. A relay system of riders on horseback carried mail from California to Missouri, the furthest westward railroad stop. The 1,800-mile (2,900-kilometer) journey took 10 days. While legendary, it only lasted about 18 months, until Oct. 26, 1861. The service was scuttled by the Civil War and made obsolete with the advent of the telegraph, said Daniel Piazza, chief curator of philately at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Later, the transcontinental railroad reduced mail delivery from months to days. New types of delivery Free mail delivery to homes began in earnest in 1863 in the nation's largest cities. It was initially created as a response to grief during the Civil War. At the time, the only communication from a father, brother, husband or son usually came through letter-writing. Women lined up daily at post offices, awaiting word. They sometimes got their own letters back, with a note saying their loved one had been killed. Postal officials in Cleveland decided to take mail to people's homes out of compassion. Enthusiasm for home delivery spread quickly, and people living in rural areas wanted it, too. Despite logistical challenges, rural free delivery began expanding rapidly around 1900. By the 1920s, mail carriers mostly had replaced horse-drawn wagons with automobiles. Around that time, mail started being sent by airplane as well. The nation's first regularly scheduled airmail service began on May 15, 1918. The initial routes were between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York, using Army pilots and planes. The post office soon took over air mail, running operations for nine years until turning to fledgling private airline companies, some of which remain major airlines. In the early days, flights were so dangerous that some pilots dubbed themselves the Suicide Club. Thirty-two pilots were killed. Major changes to the system The postal service saw major growth during President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's time in office. His New Deal plan to address the Great Depression put people to work building 2,000 new post offices. After World War II, a booming economy and growing population led to a surge in mail. To handle the increasing volume, the post office needed a faster alternative to manual sorting. So, on July 1, 1963, each post office was given a five-digit ZIP code. Previously, clerks had to memorize thousands of points of address information so they could sort the mail, Kochersperger said. The public was skeptical at first, balking at more numbers. So, the post office came up with a friendly cartoon character named Mr. ZIP, who helped convince people their mail would arrive faster. By 1970, postal workers were angry over low wages and a strike was called by leaders of the National Association of Letter Carriers union in New York. Eventually about 200,000 workers joined the postal stoppage, which led to the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. It authorized collective bargaining rights for postal workers and transformed the taxpayer-supported Post Office Department into the United States Postal Service, a financially self-sustaining and independent agency within the executive branch. In more recent times, U.S. Postal Service workers have faced various threats, including anthrax, a serious infectious bacterial disease. Weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, four threatening letters contaminated with anthrax were sent through the mail. Two workers at a mail distribution center in Washington, D.C. died after breathing in the spores, and thousands were potentially exposed. Three other people were killed, and more than a dozen were sickened. The anthrax scare led to major changes in how mail was monitored and sorted and how USPS workers protected themselves. Years later, they'd be designated essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic and don protective gear again. ___ Haigh reported from Hartford, Conn.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
DailyMail+ Power List reveals America's favorite news anchor: So who really deserves the multi-million dollar paycheck?
For decades, America's most trusted figures were the men and women delivering the nightly news. Millions tuned in religiously to giants of broadcast like Walter Cronkite, Diane Sawyer, and Edward R. Murrow. They were the kings and queens of the anchor desk – steady voices guiding the nation through its biggest crises. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes.
