[Trending News] Huge U.S.A. Flag Hung Upside Down in Yosemite – Gripped Magazine

Climbers have hung the U.S. flag upside down on El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The story first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle here.

What does an upside down flag mean? According to the Free Speech Center, it’s been “argued that the practice of flying a flag upside down was used by ships that were in distress, and only much later became a symbol of political protest. The U.S. flag code, which is not legally enforceable, specifically says that the flag is not to be inverted ‘except as a signal of dire distress in instance of extreme danger to life or property.’”

The flag was displayed in against to the job cuts affecting U.S. National Park workers. The protesters said they were exercising their right to free speech and to draw attention to the notion that “public lands in the U.S. are under attack.” Thousands of jobs were cut in January, but many of them have since been reinstated. The search and rescue team in Denali National Park was reduced, read more about it here, and hundreds of Park Rangers lost their jobs, more on that here.

Yosemite National Park is home to some of the world’s most famous rock climbs, such as The Nose and Dawn Wall on El Capitan, and the Northwest Face of Half Dome. Read about a history-making ascent of El Capitan from fall 2024 here.