Seattle woman takes Navy's Blue Angels to court over social media censorship and 'acoustic torture' of cat

Fox News

3 days ago

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 Change.org 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.